Tyson & Lauren

So, my cousin (in-law) Lauren asked me if I would edit some of her wedding photos. Of course I would say yes to any opportunity to mess around with pictures, especially wedding pictures. I asked her if I could post some of my favorite ones, and she said I could, so here are a few of my favorites. Can I just tell you how much I LOVE photoshop?!? Just even the littlest tweaking can add so much. Tyson and Lauren are such a stinkin' cute couple, I just had to share...So, thanks Lauren for letting me share these. I had so much fun with them!

This is by far my most favorite! LOVE IT!
The originals weren't too bad, but it was fun to tweak them and enhance the colors and such. Ummm, I got a little carried away trying different things.
This one is a little dark but I thought it was pretty cool.

I really like my vintage action...
So, obviously I have one favorite texture. I haven't been able to find another one I REALLY like, so if you know of any good places to get some really good textures, feel free to share!! But this one below is a new texture I found that I kinda liked. But still, I really like texture now, but need new ones...

Thanks again Lauren! ENJOY!!

Photography by: Lou Crandall Photo

Silly High School Boys...

So, I'm at sophomore/freshman practice today, and three of my juniors walk in just laughing, and Heidi says, "Bre, come here, I have something funny to tell you." So I went over there and she told me how this boy had called her and asked her if she was at the school about 20 minutes before. She said no, she had been home for about an hour. He got all quiet and she asked why. He asked her if she was sure, because he had some window paint in his car and he had written on her windows with it. He told her that it was a white car just like hers that had tape on the front right side from where her dad hit a deer...So, Heidi has a white oldsmobile, I have a white buick century. Both our cars have tape on the front right side from hitting a deer. He thought MY car was hers, so he decorated the windows...She knew right away it was my car, cuz if they aren't right next to each other, they do look similar, until you get close and hers is crappier than mine...(HAHA, sorry Heidi, it's true. You even admitted it today! :) Lol, so not TOO crappy, but you get what i'm saying. But yeah, Heidi, Michelle, Rakelle and I all got a kick out of it, but the boy felt a lot stupid! He didn't even come clean it off, so I am driving a car around that says "I love Heidi Jo." I thought it was way funny, so I took some pictures! haha, silly high school boys....







Speaking of this sexy car, so you know how I told you we took it in to get inspected and had 3 things fail on it, and it would've cost about $500? Well, thanks to the good work of my wonderful husband and our good friend Steve, we were able to get it fixed OURSELVES for about $50. (Would've been less, but we accidentally bought the wrong doorhandle.) But the one part that was going to cost about $200+ (a leaky hose or something) well..I think the Greg and Steve just cleaned it up really...so we told them that, and they said it didn't look like anything was leaking. Weird huh? It's a good thing we didn't pay to have them fix it. Anyway, I thought that was some good news, that, and you can now open the passenger side door from the inside and the out!! YAHOO!!

PPS...Can you see how green our lawn and trees are in the background! Pretty sweet huh? I love how green they are..though it cost a FORTUNE to keep it that green. We had to lower how long we set our sprinkler system to run because our last water bill was OUTRAGEOUS! Oh well...it made everything super green and I love it!

Yummy Recipe #1

So, Greg and I have made this recipe before, but last night it turned out SO GOOD, I just had to share it with everyone! It's so easy to make...

Clam Chowder

3/4 c. butter

3/4 c. flour

3 1/2 c. milk

2 c. potatos

1 c. onion

1 c. celery

2 cans clams (tuna fish size cans. I'm too lazy to go look at the size)

(I don't have the actual recipe for this part, so I'm going off of how I do it. Bare with me! :)

Cut up potatos, onion and celery. Put enough water in to barely cover the vegetables. Too much will make it runny. Open the clams and add JUST the juice. Put on the stove to boil until vegetables are soft.

Melt the butter and add flour. Whisk it until it is all mixed together. Add milk and whisk  until smooth. Leave on hot stove, whisking often so it doesn't get lumpy. Sauce will thicken as it stands.

When vegetables are soft, and sauce is thick, add the sauce to the vegetables (DON'T strain the vegetables of the water) and mix together. Add the clams and voila! Clam chowder. It's delicious with saltine crackers too...

Now, I always thought that clam chowder was gross...it had onions in it..YUCK!! (I'm one of those people who if it sounds or looks gross, it IS gross!) But once I tried it, SO GOOD! I always add more potatos than it calls for. Well, I should say first that it makes a LOT! Greg and I always HALF it, and we sometimes have some left over. (not last night though, cuz it was SO GOOD!) But I like more potatos, so I put in about 2 cups or more when i HALF it. For you onion haters out there, if you cook them long enough, you can't taste them...SERIOUSLY! I put in about a cup last night when we halfed it, which is what it usually calls for, and I was a bit worried, because although i LOVE THE SMELL of onions, i HATE THE TASTE. (okay, not the taste, but the texture? maybe?!?) But anyway...that may have been the difference. It adds flavor. But yeah, I like more potatos, but you can put as many as you want in. I do not like clams still.  The texture is too weird for me, so you can pick those out. I honestly don't know if adding the juice in when you boil the vegetables adds flavor, so you could try it without clams if you're not a clam fan, but I don't know. You can always pick them out! :) Anyway...so that's my delicious recipe for now! If I think of more, I will let you know. 

So yeah...I had some thoughts for you earlier when I was thinking about thoughts to share...but I don't remember them now. Oh, our first volleyball game is this Thursday at home against Bountiful at 4:00. Should be fun to see how that goes...

What's been happening...

So, it's been FOREVER since I last blogged..(yeah, I get annoyed when people go more than a day to blog..) so I decided I would give you all an update on what's been going on this past week...

Saturday I went to the fair with Greg. He volunteers at CAPSA (an abuse center) and they asked him to sit at their booth. We were there for about 4 hours just sitting, watching people. Can I just tell you that there are some INTERESTING people in this world. Wow..yeah...anyway, so while we're sitting there, I see a friend that I haven't seen since December when she quit kmart to have her baby. I haven't seen her baby yet either so I get up and give her a hug and I'm just talking to her for a while...well, I'm saying goodbye and Shay suddenly yells, "BREANNE!" I of course had no idea what she was yelling for, and it kinda freaked me out, so I asked her what...and she said, "You have two different shoes on." Sure enough. I had one black flip-flop and one BRIGHT blue-green flip-flop on. Somewhat embarassing.....

Monday we had volleyball tryouts. We actually had a lot more girls try out than I was expecting. It was a really good day, but can I just tell you that I am SO GLAD we never had tryouts...for the coach's sakes...I mean, granted, there were times when I wished that we had cuts...lol, that's kinda mean, I know, but admit it, all of you are agreeing with me on that one. Anyway, it was really tough to cut some of the girls. but it had to be done, and I'm over it now..lol...kinda, but I have to tell you about this one girl. So, there's this girl who is really little, and she doesn't speak English. Well, I wasn't expecting much from her, cuz she was a sophomore and didn't play freshman year. So we start out with passing, and I kinda overlook her, and I made the rounds and was talking to the sophomore coach Julie about some of them. She pointed to this girl and said, "She's got pretty good ball control." So I looked over, and holy cows, she was getting perfect passes. She didn't have the "correct" form, but I wasn't gonna try and fix it for her, cuz it was working. Well, so I was happy about that, and even in butterfly drills she did good. So then we move onto setting...again..this girl was pretty good. onto serving...WOW.. She had some power for a little girl. I swear she is Brazilian...she most definitely isn't white!!! I've decided I'm going to learn Spanish just for her...So that was good. Practices the past few days have been pretty good. We've had a bit of drama, and I am ready to pull my hair out already...but I won't get into that, cuz I don't know who actually reads my blogs! Ugh...seriously though, I am about to go nuts. Good thing I don't have to play everyone....

Let's see...oh yeah...I FINALLY got my new website up and running! It's so much easier than the last one I did, and I personally think it looks better. So be sure to check it out.... www.btadesigns.com I guarantee it won't be the last time I change it. I'm constantly learning new tricks to web design. I want to make it look as professional as possible. We'll see how it goes...

So, I think that's about it for the past week. Not to exciting, huh? yeah, I didn't think so...but it's all good. Life is great, couldn't ask for anything more!

Kenz Part II

Here are a few more of Kenzie...There will probably be another post later on..For now, enjoy!!!

And another thing...So, if you haven't noticed, my blog looks a little different. Well, to be honest with you, i did it completely by accident. I don't remember what I was doing, but I had to change something, and so I had to re-do the background color, and I picked what I thought was black, but it wasn't. Then I just randomly picked a few other colors, and well...I really like how it turned out. Now I'm debating whether to make those colors my "business colors" (for now) so...let me know which one you like better...or if neither one...I may change it, I may not. just wanted some second opinions. Greg likes the blue one best, but I am kinda liking the brown one. However, then i would have to go through and change my entire website that I just changed...so, hmmm...yeah, oh well. I just want opinions, so let me know!

McKenzie

So, my mom and sister came to Logan on Saturday, and we did a SUPER QUICK and SUPER EARLY shoot. I had to be home by 10 to get ready for the activity, so it was really rushed. I felt bad, and we weren't able to take many pictures, but here are a few of my faves. I'm sure there will be more. i haven't really even touched them. These were just a couple I did today. So yeah..Here goes it...


My fave so far...a little Vintage Action..


Isn't she cute...lol...such a nerd!


Stayed tuned for more...

Just some advice for any potential clients...If you want a photographer to do you pictures...make sure you plan enough time so you won't have to rush. You will feel more comfortable, and the photographer will definitely feel more comfortable. I know she's my sister, and these pics were just for fun, but I felt so uncomfortable the whole time knowing we only had about 30 minutes (plus the travel time) to do pictures. So that's just some advice. Also, the best time to do pictures is about 6 or 7 at night. Just FYI! :)

For Michelle....

HAHA...your posts make me laugh! I wish I could comment on them, instead..i will just tell you here that i love all your posts...and I agree with what you said about the book. totally predictable, and some totally cheesy lines! (okay, I said no more commenting on the book from me...so I'm officially done now...) but yeah..lol, They still make me laugh, and Kennedy (i doubt I spelled that right, sorry..) Is getting so big and so cute. Fun pics!!!

Breaking Dawn...NO SPOILERS...just don't read the middle paragraph...

Alright...So, I finished the book. It wasn't too bad, but definitely not as good as the first 3. It was a lot more suggestive than the first three too, which I really didn't like. It really didn't go into a lot of details, but I still don't think it's very appropriate for young readers. Not saying they shouldn't read it...so mom, you can let Kenzie read it, but I just think there is stuff in there that doesn't need to be read by younger readers, if that makes sense. But I do get that Bella and Edward are in love, and that's what happens when people are in love, and it really was sweet how in love them seemed to be. Don't get me wrong there. I really just think the author had a lot of crazy sexual fantasies...Anyway...that being said I'll give you my other reasons for why i didn't like it...

Bella's character is totally NOT consistent with the other books. I don't know how to explain it well, but she seemed like a totally different person in this one. She seemed more like 30 than the 18 year old she was. Bella's relationship with Jacob. It was okay in the first three, but this book...TOTALLY WEIRD! Like really. It just bugged me the way they were together. Suddenly Bella's superwoman....I found that interesting how in the end she saved everyone, though she had only been a vampire for a few days. I was hoping they would fight in the end...and they didn't...

Oh well. I think i just got my hopes up for some really good book, and it wasn't the greatest. i should probly read it again, cuz I didn't really pay much attention in some parts, so maybe it really is good, and I have just been in a weird mood and couldn't enjoy it...But yeah. I guess that's my opinion. okay, I'm done with this...lol, I am really annoyed by it...okay...goodnight everyone...ENJOY THE BOOK! :)

Wakeboarding and Breaking Dawn

So, today was my first day of my new calling. We went boating and wakeboarding. It was actually a lot of fun. We went to Newton Dam (if anyone knows where that is. I didn't know where it was...) But it wasn't too bad. The girls had a lot of fun too, I think. They were able to tube and boat and wakeboard and swim. After they had their fun, a few of the girls and some of us leaders decided to take our turn at having some fun. I have NEVER wakeboarded, let alone been on a boat, so it was all a new experience for me. Emily, the first leader to try, told us she had only done it once, yet when she got out there, so popped right up like a pro, and lasted pretty much the entire ride. She was awesome. I made Danielle go next, because she had never done it, so I wanted to make sure I wouldn't be the only one embarassed...(haha..how mean am I?) But she got out there like a trooper. Had some semi-successful tries, but wasn't able to get all the way up. Then it was my turn. I was really nervous, cuz i have never done any boarding of any kind, so I didn't know what to expect. But...I'm happy to say that I totally kicked butt! I got up on my first try (and every try after that!) I was so proud of myself. It's a killer though. holy moly, my arms and my legs and my hands were DEAD after just a few minutes. I will admit i fell a few times, but I made sure that if I felt like I was gonna biff, I would lean back so I landed on my butt and not face plant. (My biggest fear!) I even hit a few waves (which totally scared me) and...I did it one handed...How's that for a pro! But it was a lot of fun. and I can now add wakeboarding to my list of things I've done...Greg also was able to make the trip with me. i was so happy, so it was a fun filled day that we were able to spend together. Here is the nasty little dam we went to, and a picture of Greg...Love him!!



On the other hand...***Warning...Breaking Dawn Spoiler Ahead***

okay, since I warned you, you can't get mad...Can I just tell you how disappointed I am in this last book, I'm only through "book 1" yes, it's split into different books about the different characters! That bugs me way bad when authors/movies do that! Second. For her being a so-called "LDS Author"...wow...I would definitely NOT RECOMMEND THIS BOOK TO ANY TEENAGER!!! I mean, the first 100 pages are about Bell and Edward and what happens on "honeymoons." Granted there aren't a LOT of details, but there is a lot in it that I wouldn't want my little sister to read. Why does she have to spend all that time telling what happens on their honeymoon. Everyone knows what goes on during honeymoons, we don't need to read about it...plus, we also know where that leads, so just keep it simple and come out and say she gets pregnant instead of DRAGGING IT ON AND ON...Okay, i don't really know how to explain all that and it probly doesn't make ANY SENSE...I'm just way bugged by it, so I thought I would share my opinion. I'm just annoyed, and expected better. I honestly don't see how she'll be able to make it into a movie without it being rated R. Just my opinion, so mom, don't let McKenzie read it until she's older..(haha) not that it's better when you're older, I just don't think it's a very appropriate book. Anywho...that's just my opinion. Let me know what you think if you've read/are reading it. I'm only on page 153, so maybe my opinion will change..We'll see!!!

I've decided...

That I really like textures. I will admit I still think sometimes they ruin the pictures, so you have to be VERY careful with how they're used, but I messed around with some of Lindsay's wedding pictures, and I really liked out this one turned out, even though that's the type of "ruining texture" I hate. Oh well, I liked it though. (PS Linds...check out my photo blog under your pictures to see the "enhancements" on your pics. I will send you a link to the rest of them when I get done, and let me know if there are any you want me to send you. k? :) And the ones after are two of Morgan's that I did. I've learned to LOVE the first one. and the second one just added to the picture...but yeah, so those are my late-night thoughts! ENJOY and let me know what you think!



I also found this Vintage and Funky action that I've decided I really like too. This isn't typically my style, but I guess I just have to be open-minded...I find that I like a lot more than I thought I did!

Oh, and remember a few/lot posts ago how I said I had my FINAL business card/logo designed, well, I've changed it already...and not only that, but I've designed a BRAND NEW WEBSITE, that I am SO excited to get finished! I love it, and it's 10X better than my old crappy one..haha, I'm terribly picky, I know! but yeah, here's the business card anyway...