Man of the House

Tyler's been at Grandpa's Farm working for the summer, and boy, do I miss him.  I've had to take care of the dog and the lawn, and it's not my favorite thing.  Cooper's been helping with the lawn... and he's doing a great job.  We're working on not missing spots, but I think for a little guy running a machine bigger than he is, he's doing a fantastic job.  :)

Brace Face

That's my girl... with thousands of dollars in her mouth.

At least her braces smile.

Spilling Some Secrets

My FAVORITE actions and textures are florabella's... I've mentioned it before, but not often enough, that's for sure.  I use them more than anything else in my photoshop toolbox... and that's how I get the look I get. Soooo... if you want a chance to win some, and some other AMAZING prizes, head over here.

Awesome Superfabulous Wasatch Back

Well, we DID IT!  We ran 188 miles (189.5 counting the extra 1.5 they threw in on Joel's last leg)!!  It was definitely a team effort (no other way to do it... unless you're like, super insane crazy ;), and I am so proud of us.

Brandon, Dallas, Adam, Annette, Martha and I were in Van 1.  We started at 9:00 a.m. on Friday, with Annette running her first leg.  We all ran our first leg, then passed the magic slap bracelet on to Van 2.  (Dad, Geoff, Mary, Kari, Lisa, and Joel).  Then we had a little bit of a break until they were done running their first legs, and we were off again.  We each ran 3 legs total, ranging from around 13 miles in all to 21.  (Each leg was 3 miles up to 9.6... all different amounts).

I loved the whole experience... yes, there were a few times where I thought what the hell-o am I doing (like my first leg that was SO HOT, or "trying" to sleep for a couple of hours on the freezing cold ground...), but it really was great.  I was so proud of how well everyone did, even with sickness, injury, and exhaustion.  We had a few moments... like sitting at the WRONG exchange for an hour, and the other team wondering where the heck we were... but nobody cared.  We just had fun, and cheered each other on, and I loved spending time with everyone on my team.  (I don't know how much they loved spending time with me... changing in front of them, sweating, gross, and whiny about the stinky stinky stinky hand sanitizer in the portapotties... but hopefully they love me anyway.

There are so many things to remember... and I can't remember all the things that I wanted to remember, and none of you care anyway, so I think that's all I have to say for now.  Oh, p.s.... check out those awesome medals.  You could knock someone out with one of those babies... they're really heavy.

Now on to serious marathon training... although I've been trying to figure out how to go run the Las Vegas Ragnar... yes, I'm having Ragdrawals.  ;)

I Heart Faces... Celebrating Teens

I had to choose this photo for the celebrating teens challenge... what says "teen" more than jumping on a trampoline in your prom dress??

Check out some more teen pics at i heart faces:

Grinning from Ear to Ear

Guess what?  GUESS WHAT???  Pioneer Woman chose one of my photos for her "bug" contest... yes, this makes 3 times that she has chosen one of mine, which thrills me to no end.  :)  It doesn't mean much besides she likes my work, but it still makes me feel so validated as a photographer, especially when I've had a rough photography week.  Now if I could only win an i heart faces contest.... ;)


On another note, this blog post over at Clover Lane is amazing.  Go read it!


On yet another note... Wasatch Back is THIS weekend!  I can't believe it's here already!  Cheer on team "Runners With Heart" from home, okay?

I Heart Faces... Babies

This is one of my all-time favorite photos I've ever captured. My friends had just adopted the sweetest little baby boy, and I got to be the lucky photographer to document one of their first days together as a family.




Click to see more baby images! (And who wouldn't want to see lots and lots of adorable babies??)

Camp & the Amazing Aubrey & a Song & a Birthday

Well, I survived Girls Camp, and actually had a great time!  I took the camera to the lake to see if I could get some photos I like as well as some I took last year... well, here's the story.  (If you're not a photographer this next part might bore you, so you can quit reading... just thought I'd warn you.)  I took a whole bunch of photos that I was pretty excited about, then realized my ISO was set on 3200.  Yup.  That's right... and this was after someone asked if I was a photographer and I said "yes".  Yup.  I felt pretty stupid.  I had it up that high to take pictures at Relay for Life in the dark and forgot.  Anyway, I took some after that, but the "magic" was gone.  :(

I'm so in awe of my daughter.  I was thinking about it as I was watching her pitch at her tournament games last night... I could NEVER pitch... I'd be scared silly, plus I just don't have "skills".  She's also a swimmer, and my swimming skills are laughable. She's so tall and beautiful and slender... she gets more beautiful every day, and sometimes I can't believe she's mine.

I totally got hooked on a song at Girls Camp (no... we weren't listening to music... of course not... it's against the rules... well, not very much anyway.  ;)  Listen to it.  I'm serious. Never Shout Never.

Happy Birthday to Brandon yesterday too... he gets better looking every year.  :)  I made him a banana cream pie after I got home from Girls Camp, but I didn't get a chance to get him any presents.  I'm an awful horrible wife, but he knows I love him.

Relay For Life

First of all, I have to thank everyone who donated and supported me and Aubrey in other ways too... we were able to raise more than we hoped because of kind and generous friends!

I am SO tired, and SO sore, and I have to get ready for girls camp, and I'm pretty sure moving my body right now is an impossible feat.  I'm really glad I did this, though.  I got to know people better, learned things about myself, and saw many brave cancer survivors and heard many inspiring stories.

I walked and walked and walked, and at 2:00 a.m. I ran for an hour.  I was really tired after the running, but it was truly a nice break from walking for my body.  My legs were saying, ah yes, now this is what we're used to.  :)  I walked 15 miles and ran 6, for a total of 21 miles, 84 laps around the track.

There was a boy there who was determined to run 160 laps in honor of his grandpa who died just 3 days ago.  From his diagnosis to his final day was 160 days, so this runner wanted to fight through that many laps, to symbolize each day his grandpa fought cancer.  His was running his final laps while I was running my 6 miles, and he was really struggling on his final lap.  There were a couple of boys who joined him to encourage him, and I joined too.  We encouraged him, and made him keep going that final lap (this is 40 miles... to put some perspective on it) and he made it.  It was a neat experience... and the crazy thing was, he was back out there running again after a brief rest.

Aubrey didn't sleep a wink the entire night and had a blast walking 15 miles and running around playing with her group of friends (mostly kids from our ward).  I was proud of her for her dedication to the relay and so glad she could do this with me.

I have pictures, but I'm far too tired to mess with that right now.  I'll get some up another time... probably after girls camp.  Thanks again for all of your encouragement and support!!