Amber's Bridals

I am happy to say I have been asked to take pictures for a life-long friend's wedding! Anthony and Amber will be getting married September 19th, and I'm so happy he's finally found someone he wants to settle down with! I had a good time taking bridal pictures of Amber, and I hope she is pleased with them (here's your sneak preview Amber)!

What a Weekend

It's taken me a little while to get settled back into life after this super fun and crazy busy weekend!  We headed up to Salt Lake City last Wednesday so we could join my family, the Montgomerys, for Thanksgiving.  That day was a lot of fun, but also quite chaotic!  I guess I bring it upon myself... I love traditions, therefore I create and follow through with many.  Which also means that my family loves to tease me about it... why?  I'll never understand!  Anyways, so I like to make a little something to put by each plate.  this year it was little treat bags with turkeys on them!  I also like to have a little scrapbook that everyone can write down what they're grateful for.  I love to look back and read what has been written as well as see how we've all grown!  I love traditions!  After the yummy dinner at my grandmas (which was also her birthday... Happy Birthday Sweet Grandma Norma) I met up with best friend, Laura Joy!  We played Scrabble (ugh!), good thing she was there to think up words for me!  I has very pleased with the day, even though I missed my mom more than ever!

I promised my Grandma Betty that we'd do shopping together while we were up there... turned out to be the only day we could go was also Black Friday, dum dum dum!  I've NEVER been out shopping that day, I'd rather be putting up the Christmas tree & other decorations... BUT suits were 60% off and that is what Todd would be getting from his parents for his birthday, so out into the craziness we went!  But we got a lot done (Gma's was all done), and had a good time wearing ourselves out!  The day was also Todd's 29th Birthday!  I gathered some family and Todd's friends at Golden Coral so we could eat and celebrate together!  It was a lot of fun, I got to meet new people and mingle with those we've known forever, some even our whole lives!  I am so grateful for good friends and family... life would be terrible without them!  But I'm especially grateful for my husband... so I gave him a Wii!  He was surprised & excited!  I was especially okay with getting him this because he said he wanted it so he could play games with the kids!  He's such a good daddy!

We had to head home Saturday morning because we had two weddings to be to that night, one of which Todd was asked to be the best man.  So first we headed to Parowan where we joined in celebrating the wedding for Nate and Cynthia!  It was a small wedding done in her parent's living room, but I was very impressed by how tasteful it was.  The place was beautifully decorated, and the couple was very happy!  Congrats you guys!

After the dinner, ceremony, and several pictures, we loaded up our little family to head to St George so we could celebrate with Tony and Brie!  Unfortunately we missed their ceremony and were only able to get there for the tail end of the party, but I'm glad we did get there.  They are such good friends and we were especially happy that Tony had found someone!  Ahh, everyone is growing up ;)  Congrats to you guys!

Mesquite Getaway

Saturday night Todd and I headed to Mesquite, Nevada to join our friends, Tony and Brie, for their combined Bachelor/Bachelorette party.  This sweet couple will be getting married this coming Saturday (the 29th) and wanted to celebrate with all their friends.  Todd and I were very excited for the opportunity to go play!  It was a fun-filled night starting with yummy food at the Eureka.  Afterwards we went back to our hotel, the Oasis, so the party could race go-carts... that was a hoot to watch!  And then we headed into the casino to play.  We had a lot of fun... Tony introduced us to Paigow poker, that was a lot of fun.  Todd and I made $40 last for three hours.  It's fun because you're not competing against each other so everyone is talkative and helpful, and with our friends playing too it was awesome!  Even though that picture of me is at the slots, let me tell ya... I don't enjoy them hardly at all.  First, I don't trust computers, and it's just boring... no interaction.  I played $2 there just because I wanted to play Keno, but they didn't do it old school anymore... just on the slots.  One of my fondest memories is when my dad would buy me a keno card while we ate dinner on vacation in Mesquite.  He'd let me choose the numbers and then we'd watch to see if we won.  So I played for nostalgic reasons, but the machine is not the same!  Anyways... it was a GREAT night!!

In Loving Memory

President Gordon B. Hinckley, prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, passed away Sunday night. He was/is such a sweet and fun man. I especially loved his playful personality, he's very unique! It's been interesting to listen to what people will remember him most for. He was the prophet for 13 years, as long as those my age can remember, so his influence was incredible. It's also reminded me of several things I've overlooked... "The Six Bs", the obvious conference center and all the temples he's had built, and so on. But I mostly enjoy the personal stories. For me, it was a talk he gave the spring of my 8th grade year (1998) titled "Living Worthy of the Girl You Will Someday Marry." I know the title doesn't make sense, but what it is is a talk he gave at the Priesthood Session of General Conference that year. It's telling the young men how to live worthy of their future wives. I was awestruck by his respect for women (especially young women in this case), it made me want to be that young woman he was talking about, to live my life worthy of those standards he's setting for the men as well! These are his words:

"As I looked at that gathering of beautiful young women (at a Young Women's Conference the previous week) the question moved through my mind, 'Are we rearing a generation of young men worthy of them? Those girls are so fresh and vibrant. They are beautiful. They are bright. They are able. They are faithful. They are virtuous. They are true. They are simply wonderful. They are simply wonderful and delightful young women."

The talk was amazing to me, and as a Young Women at such an impressionable time in life, they were words I wouldn't forget and I read many times over again! He is going to be greatly missed, because he was so incredible. Knowing what I know (and other's know who have a testimony of this gospel) he is now with his wife after fulfilling a marvelous long life. And the church will not waver because it has been so well organized, by God himself, that there are things being done so that we, the members, will be sustaining the new prophet before we know it. It is all a great thing and we are all so grateful for the time we shared with Pres. Hinckley!

Congratulations Laura & Quinton

What a day! I am so so so very excited to post these wedding pictures because I took them for one of my very best and the very longest friend I have ever had! I may or may not have told you all this, but there was four of us girls in the nieghborhood that grew up as close friends. Sheena got married first, I followed a few months after, Wendy joined the married club next while Laura headed onto an LDS mission to Australia. When she returned she'd soon announce her engagement to her boyfriend, Quinton Taylor. Now this is a great story of persistence since Quinton has had special feelings for Laura since they met way back in high school, but Laura wasn't as interested in him. Yet we'd arrive home from one event or another and would discover him hanging out with her family... it's a great strategy, I could see the potential. But it wouldn't be until years after graduation that Laura would realize that she too was in love with him. The day she told me I was so shocked, but so excited that this magnificent friend of mine had found something so special. They still followed through on their missions (he went to France) because it was that important to them, and I think that is so wonderful, and now we've come full circle in the story. I was grateful to be asked to be the photographer for their wedding since I would give them the best price (it was my wedding gift to them)!! They are so cute and I am so incredibly happy for them! I wanted to spotlight them and the pictures I took, but it was definitely a chore to find only a few to post... but here they are, my favorite five!

p.s. Today is also my Blogiversary!! Yay for one year of posts!! Click here to go back to the very beginning!

Innocence

Today Sheena and I hosted a bridal shower for our long-time friend, Laura Joy. This is the same fabulous friend I did the bridals for... yeah, I love her! So we decided to assign each guest a room, I like showers where I have a starting point to buy gifts. Well, her sister-in-law took off on the "bedroom" assignment... but what was so cute and innocent was Laura's soon to be four-year old niece's perception on the gift items. First Laura pulled out the "edible bra", then the KY Jelly then a couple other "bedroom necessities"... anyways, this little girl says, sharing with the group the gifts given, "A candy swimsuit! And hand sanitizer." Then she continued on demonstrating, pretendingly, how to use the "sanitizer"... "You put a little on your hands, rub it on the bottom and top, then shake..." so innocent an so fun!!

Bridals

Our wireless router has been on the fritz so I've had limited internet access thus the lack of posts, but life definitely had not been so limited... A couple weeks ago I took out my life-long friend, Laura, for her bridal pictures. This'll be the first wedding I've ever done professionally, what an adventure! I had a lot of fun, but I was also really frustrated cause my mind would draw a blank whenever I'd want to set up another pose. I was so worried that we'd spend all this time & have just one pose... how boring, but when I got looking through them, in the end I had used most of the poses that I had visualized in my mind after all! I was frustrated with the setting sun in combination with the overcast skies, it put a rush on the whole session. A photographer friend suggested still using the flash to pick up the "sparkle" in the person's eyes, but I mostly forgot that tip as I was struggling to capture the best light... that may have made a huge difference?? So there was a lot to learn from this photo shoot, but in the end I was very satisfied that I was able to create my dear friend with some great photos that didn't look as though her amateur photographer-friend took them! So here are some of my favorites, I hope you all enjoy!

Laura's Home!!!

My FABULOUS friend arrived late last night from Australia where she had been serving an LDS mission! Yay for her! Laura and I have been friends since we were toddlers and even now our parents still live next door to each other! I have many fond memories with this special person... playing pirates on the playground in my backyard, sitting next to the fire hydrant that divides our yards and talking late into the night, joking about the "snake" that lived in the weeds on the side of our house (which is now cement & we tease my dad that the snake is gone now since he killed it with his weed whacker), saving up nickels to buy gum cigarettes (which I'm sure was my bad influence ;)), being totally jealous of any other friends that took her attention away from me, helping her plant flowers in their garden in spring, and so on. I am so proud of the hard work she did and so happy to have her home! Of course, I'm trying to talk her into a trip back so she can show us girls around now!! For the time being, though, she decided to share a little treat that's real popular down under... a TIM TAM SLAM! You take this Milo drink (like our hot chocolate but bitter... not so yummy for me and even she admits it took her a few months to start liking it). After you mix the mix with a bit of sugar, milk, and boiling water, you get a Tim Tam cookie, bite off a corner from each end, then suck the Milo through the cookie like a straw. It was a lot of fun, the cookie melts really quick, so you have to catch it and eat it before it falls into the drink! WHAT A HOOT! So happy to have my friend, Laura, home!!!

Scooby Doo

Our friend, Cory, is getting work where ever he can as they save up to pursue an acting career in New York. One of his current jobs is dressing up for Cartoon Network to promote boomerang and comcast. I could NOT resist this excellent oppurtunity to snap some shots of my kids with their friend dressed up all furry like. Liv did NOT think this was so neat. And the more I tried to explain that it was Cory in a costume the more confused she got. Gary, on the other hand, absolutely loved this big creature. He has a thing for large stuffed animals & what does this guy look like... a GIANT stuffed animal. He was all about trying to cuddle up next to him, and eat him as he likes to do with everything except food. You can't tell in the picture though... the kids are too involved in each other. Oh now, Gary's touching Liv, and Liv's freaked out by the Scooby Doo... but, hey, I'm smiling all nice and pretty for the picture!

New Year's Eve

Last night was a lot of fun. We had friends over to play games... this is a very important factor for this special holiday. New Year's Eve is not among my favorite holidays, especially since I've become a mom that gets tired around 10p. Nonetheless, it is still to be observed if I want to remain normal! So we played games with Cory & Melissa Huff and Jared & April and their daughter Casaday. Liv & Casaday had so much fun playing together & were extra cute when it came to bed time. Yeah, I wasn't expecting to put her down on this very odd day, but she was wiped out! Liv was ready to sleep, but Casaday wanted to chit chat with her all keep on playing. I don't blame her cause if the situation was reversed there wouldn't even be any attempting to put Liv to bed at a friends house. The kids ended up watching a movie while the moms & dads played games (well, by then the mom's were playing a board game upstairs & the dads had escaped to the "man cave" in the basement to play Halo2!). At midnight there was kisses & then for real bed time!

Good Friends, Good Times

Last night we had some of Todd's friends over for dinner. These people are great! Todd has known some of them even as far back as Junior High... talk about loyalty! There's Nate Kelley, Adam & Julie Kelley, and Cory & Melissa Huff. Anyways, so here we are at dinner. I made up some easy, but yummy Navajo Tacos. Then we played games & even exchanged some presents! Extra thanks to Nate for letting me open his present... he wanted me to wait until Christmas, but I had an itch to unwrap something BAD! Thanks dude! And a reminder to Adam & Julie to play nice with their presents :)

I was totally worn out by the end of yesterday. I watched my friend, Emily Wilde's, two kids... which I was glad to do, but it was non stop commotion all around the house. It really made me feal for couples who have twins or more... it's a nice thought to think that my four kids will gradually come instead of a sudden boom of kids all at once! Anyways, her two kids are so cute, though, & they were nothing to complain about at all, so don't get me wrong... it was easy enough, just busy! This here is Parker (3) with Liv & the lower is Charity who's a few months over a year... she's a climber! Good times! Followed by a very sound sleep :)