Somebody Pinch Me

I think this might all start going to my head. I love photography, and it seems like good things keep happening with it... and I just want more and more... and who knows, maybe I'll really go somewhere with this... and maybe I won't, and that's okay too. But... Pioneer Woman chose my photo AGAIN!! I think this makes 4? Go check it out... and read the comments too. Some of them really made me smile. :)

Oh, and I think I'm going to make this one available as one of my fine art prints. Maybe as a canvas? Or do you think framed? Maybe framed... I think I'd like it framed best.

I Heart Faces: Innocent Wonder

I had such a hard time choosing which photo to put in for this challenge... but I kept coming back to this one. Innocence... sweetness... a life of wonder and discovery ahead of her.

I Heart Faces: Smile

I LOVE a subtle smile... a secret smile... a smile that makes you wonder... you know, the Mona Lisa smile. :)  So, this may not be a typical big grin, but I had to pick one of my favorite kinds of smiles for this one... even if it doesn't fit the norm.

Blogging? What's That?

I've neglected this blog, I know... it's partly because something has to go, and facebook keeps me pretty busy. ;) I'm also boring. Very boring. That's why 92.5% of my readers won't even read this entire post. (Don't you love statistics that are pulled out of the air? I do. They're awesome.)

So, lucky you... you get random thoughts about boring nothingness. (Well, 7.5% of you will get random thoughts... the rest have stopped reading.)

That picture up there? I've always loved it, and now I have a reason to love it even more. I'm not going to go on and on about it here, you can read about it on my photogblog if you want more details. It's going to be auctioned off at Paul Cardall's benefit for congenital heart disorders. I'm super duper excited about it. And okay, a little bit nervous. What if nobody bids on it? That would be mortifying. Really really mortifying. I don't know if I'd recover. ;)  Here's my question about this photo: do you see the heart? Do you see that each leaf is a heart, or that the leaves overall make one big heart? I saw the individual leaves first... but Brandon saw the big heart first.

Speaking of photography, because let's be real... what else do I ever talk about?... I got 6th place in the I Heart Faces best face photo of 2010 contest. I'm really excited about it. Not as excited as I'd be if they had been judged and I had won, but still excited. It was decided by votes, so lots of my awesome friends (and a bunch of people who I don't even know) voted for it. I found out last night about 12:30 a.m., and I was dying to tell somebody, but people are sleeping then, darn it. Weirdos. I thought of waking Brandon up to tell him, but I knew he wouldn't remember I told him anyway, so it was useless. And mean.

We all know I don't ONLY talk about photography, because I also love to talk about running. So, just so this post is complete, I have to say that I'm already dying of excitement about Wasatch Back this year. It's 6 months away, but I'm looking forward to it more than Christmas. I'm not kidding. :) We have a team of awesome girls, and we're going to have a blast. I will miss Brandon swearing at us while he's running... that was a highlight of 2010's Wasatch Back, but we'll have to make do without, I guess.

We have more medical bills than we ever did before we had health insurance. What's up with that? I about have a heart attack every time I think about it... maybe that's their strategy... give their customers heart attacks so they can get even MORE money. ;)

Guess what? I learned how to swim!! I am so proud of myself, and proud of my awesome friend, Tari, for teaching me. I never knew how to, and couldn't even really put my face in the water without plugging my nose, but now I am actually really swimming. I love it! So learn this, my friends... it's never too late, and you're never too old. I'm still not sold on doing another triathlon though. Ugh.

I went cross-country skiing with some of the girls yesterday. Brandon bought me some cc skis at DI, so I was excited to try them out and learn. All I have to say, is that I need more time. I loved it, and would like to go lots and get good at it. I will go at least a couple more times this winter, but I wish I could add this to my list of regular things. Unfortunately that list is already way too long.

My kids are awesome. Brandon is the best husband in the universe. There, was that enough about the rest of the family?  ;)

Thank You for your Votes!

I got 6th place on the I Heart Faces contest!!! Click on the button on the side that says "top ten photo" to see!

Vote For Me... Pretty Please. :)

Go to I Heart Faces... vote for me, #23!  :)

I Heart Faces: Best Face Photo of 2010

I loved so many faces in 2010... but it has to come back to this one. I'm so in love with this face!

Click on the camera to see other favorite faces of 2010. :)

New Year's Resolution

I'm not even going to talk about how I failed my last year's resolutions. Nope... not going there.

This year I just have one thing I'm going to set a goal to improve in: not sweating the small stuff. I have a list of questions from a talk I went to (Andrew Horton) that will hopefully guide me in this quest:

-Is it really worth getting upset over?

-Is it worth upsetting others?

-Is it that important?

-Is it that bad?

-Is the situation irreparable?

-Is it really your problem?

Oh, I also have to make sure Brandon has clean underwear.

Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!!

16 Years

There’s a storm rollin’ over the hill
And the willow trees are blowin’
I’m standin’ here starin’ out the window
Safe and warm
I feel her put her arms around me
And its a good feelin’ I’m knowin’
Oh, I’ve got a good woman and we’ve got a good fire goin’

We’ve got a feast on the supper table
Bread for breakin’
A blessing from the Lord for makin’ me such a fortunate man
The light of my life in the candle
Her face a glowin’
Oh, I’ve got a good woman and we’ve got a good fire goin’

CHORUS:
So let it rain
(let the rain fall down)
Let it rain
It won’t do nothin’ but kindle a never ending flame
Let it rain
(let the rain fall down)
Let it rain til mornin’
Oh, I’ve got a good woman and we’ve got a good fire goin’

Now there’s a hard rain fallin’ on the roof
Coffee comin’ from the kitchen
I’m lyin’ here listenin’ to the ceiling on the living room floor
I feel her lay down beside me
My love is overflowin’
Oh, I’ve got a good woman and we’ve got a good fire goin’


Oh, I’ve got a good woman and we’ve got a good fire goin’

Finally!!!

I've been waiting for an i heart faces win for awhile now... and I am finally an Angie & Amy pick! Woohoo! 3 Pioneer Woman picks, and now and Angie & Amy... that much closer to being famous someday! ;)

I Heart Faces... Self Portrait

I took this one in the car mirror... leave this girl in a car for ten minutes alone with a camera, and all sorts of fun things happen. ;)

Click on the heart to see more self portraits!

If You Care...

I'm going to be playing a solo on my violin at a concert tomorrow... here's the info:

3rd Annual

A Joyful Noise

A concert

Bring the whole family

and be prepared to be inspired as you listen to many 

different music styles performed by some of the 

Basin's best musicians.

You will be picking your

chin up off the floor!!!

Fri. November 12, 2010, 7:00 p.m.

L.D.S. Church, Cultural Hall

1270 west 1500 south Vernal, UT

This is a community event--come all!!!

Days Like This...

I know why I was born to be a photographer. I love this!

Halloween Mini-Sessions

Just in case you look here, but never at my photography blog... go sign up for halloween mini sessions if you're interested! It'll be lots of fun. :)

(thanks, Molly, for being my beautiful princess model! :)

I Heart Faces... Recipe in Photos

Okay, technically this isn't a dinner recipe, but you could make a chicken pot pie with a homemade crust! I think ANYONE can make a pie crust from scratch, and I'm going to show you how... a step at a time!First, put on your apron. It's gonna get a little bit messy. ;)

Get your ingredients together... I use Crisco shortening most of the time, because it seems to work a little better. You can use the cheaper brands, if you need to. (Sometimes I use butter, or a combination... shortening is easiest.) You also need flour, salt, and ice water.

Put about 2 1/2 cups of flour in a big bowl (I don't measure exactly, and it doesn't really matter for pie crust, as long as you're close). Add some salt.

Add about 3/4 cup of shortening, and cut it into the flour. If you don't have a pastry cutter, use two knives, or a fork. I did it that way for YEARS, which still baffles me... a pastry cutter doesn't cost that much! ;) Just keep cutting up and down until...

It looks like this. It should have little chunks of shortening, but be pretty evenly mixed.

Mix ice cubes with your water for really cold water, which makes the dough easier to work with. (Don't put the ice cubes into your flour though! ;)

Add water to the flour/shortening mixture. I usually add about 1/4 cup right away, then about half of a 1/4 of a cup until it's the right consistency. (Maybe about 1/2-3/4 cup total.)

Each time you add water, toss it around with a fork. Don't mix too much, though!

When you can grab a handful and press it together, like this, you've added enough water. It should be on the dry side.

Flour your surface and rolling pin well, and form half of the dough into a flattened round ball. I LOVE this dough rolling thingy from Pampered Chef, so if you're going to make a lot of pies, look for one! You can also roll it onto waxed paper, parchment paper, or plastic wrap, or right on the counter. It's just a little harder to pick it up that way.

Roll from the center to the edges, in circles, until you have a bigger-than-your-pie-pan circle. If you have a spot that seems to have a big hole, and another that has excess dough, just rip off the excess and press it into place on the hole.

Fold the dough into 1/4ths for easy transfer to the pie pan.

Carefully unfold it, but don't worry if it tears a little. These things can be fixed! :)

See? It happens. Just patch with excess dough, and it'll turn out just fine. Roll out the top crust just like you did the bottom crust. Set aside.

Put your filling inside the crust. You can make your own filling, or use canned filling if you're feeling lazy. It'll still taste good, because you have a homemade crust! I usually add more filling than this, but I didn't want to open another bottle, so we're skimping today.

Put the top crust over the whole thing, then fold the top crust under, catching the bottom crust with it. You can trim the crusts before folding if you want, but my family likes extra crust, so I just let it be.

Pinch the crusts together between your thumb and forefinger. This is my favorite edge to do, but you can do whatever you like. Just make sure the top and bottom are sealed together.

You need some vents in the top... I like to cut designs with a knife, like an apple, or leaves, or loopy things, but you can just cut slits if you want. (You don't have to be an artist... nobody cares if it looks perfect, as long as you made them a pie! ;)

Pour a little bit of milk on the top.

Then spread it out with your fingers. I know, it's weird... I used to try to brush it on with a pastry brush, but it's just a pain. This is much easier, and I promise my hands are clean.

Sprinkle sugar on generously. This makes a pretty, sparkly, yummy crust.

Bake. Admire. Admire some more. Then eat!

Check out more recipes in photos at I Heart Faces!

Life and Stuff Like That

A couple of days ago I said something like "we've got to do this thing before summer is over". That pretty much sums up how fast September flew by... I still think it's summer.

 This is how I feel about winter coming soon. ;) Actually this is my adorable niece, Maylee, and this is how she told me she was done with our photo session. If you look closely you can see Tanner on the left trying to be sneaky and keep her from falling off the chair. It makes me laugh... the whole picture.

 I love. love. love. this picture. Love it. Tanner is Brandon's brother, and I see a lot of Brandon in him... and when I see him with his first little baby it brings back so many memories of my husband with our babies, and it almost makes me a little teary. But not teary enough that I want to try that again. ;) I'll just enjoy the memories. It's so much fun to see Brandon's youngest sibling with a baby of his own... time flies, doesn't it? He was just a little kid when we got married. Sigh. WE were just little kids when we got married, come to think of it.

 And Tanner's beautiful wife Leisha? It's so much fun to see her as a mom... she is a natural, and you can tell she loves that little Maylee more than anything, just as it should be. :)

       I made my year of canning absolutely nothing official by missing the concord grapes. I like to be thorough with my failures... ;) 

Dad and Mom Smith got us tickets to go with them to the Saturday afternoon session of conference, and it was fabulous! We were sitting maybe 8 rows back from the front... we really couldn't have got much better! It was so neat to wave at the prophet afterwards, and to see all of the apostles so close. We all loved the whole experience, and are really grateful we were able to go. (And only sorry that Mom & Dad had car troubles on the way home and had to get a motel. :(

Life is good. Not perfect, but good. And that's enough. 

I Heart Faces... Smirk

I'm a Marathoner

This journey starts sometime months ago when my silly brain said, "hey, you should run a marathon this year". And I tried to tell my brain to shut up, but it didn't... and I asked Annette if she would want to do it too (since we ran our first race ever together, our first 1/2 marathon together, our first Ragnar together) and the crazy girl said yes. So, here we are... registered and stuck. We've got to run this thing or die trying.

Training was tough at times... I had to run some of my very long runs all by myself, but I loved the feeling of accomplishment each time I ran farther than I ever had before. It's empowering. It helped that Annette was running the same training plan as me, and we could encourage each other. I had a glitch when I got tendonitis in my right foot, but since the doctor said I could run on it, I did.

I felt great the week of the race... confident, not worried, ready... until about 2 days before. Then I thought I might throw up, cry, stay home... I was a little nervous. ;) Luckily both Annette and I made it there and we were as ready as we would ever be.

We had fun going to the expo the night before, buying socks and sweatshirts (Annette bought mine because she's jerky that way... sigh, friends. What are you going to do with them? ;), then eating the obligatory pasta dinner (which I paid for, because if a friend is a jerk, I have to be a jerk right back) which was actually pretty good, AND we got to "spin the wheel" and both of us got great prizes that more than paid for our entry fee to the race, even though we both said we never win anything good. (Annette won a camelbak and I won a car organizer thing... it's impossible for me to explain.) Then we talked until almost 10:00... wishing we could talk longer. I miss living with our back yards connecting and being able to hang out whenever we want to.

I actually slept great that night... until I dreamed that I ran 1 1/2 miles of the marathon in high heels and a dress, finally realizing I was running in heels, then running back to the start so I could change into my shoes. I was relieved when I woke up and realized I hadn't started the race yet. It was almost time to get up at that point, so I got up and started to get ready.

We went to the buses that would take us to the starting line in the dark and the cold, and then the bus drove us up to the top of the canyon... and that ride took FOREVER. I kept thinking "this is what we're running... we're running this far, and the bus is never going to stop". We did finally get there, stood in line for the potties, then found the "tent of heat". It was so weird... people mushed together in a tent, sitting or standing, many with their heads down, nobody talking, and all facing the same direction in the dark. I said that it looked like some sort of strange ritual or something, and some dude next to me said "hey, that's what I thought too... I'm just waiting for the spiritual leader to come". He reminded me of my brother Geoff but with long hair. (What I could see of him in the dark).

Then, it was time to start, so we stood there freezing until the guns went off... then it was the slow surge of masses of people moving forward. It was exciting to finally be starting, and it felt good to get the blood flowing. It was cold for quite awhile, and I did wish I had brought gloves.

The first half of the race was downhill, which is nice in a way, but oh boy, I started feeling muscles that I don't normally feel, and it HURT! It was also very hard to judge how fast to go... I knew I needed to keep a fairly easy pace, and not go out too fast, but how do you judge that for your first marathon? It felt easy, I was breathing super easy... so I figured I should go with it. Annette and I were running together most of the race, and we kept asking each other if we were feeling good... and we were.

The scenery was gorgeous, and I had to keep reminding myself to take it all in. We hit mile 13 at 2 hours, which is slightly more than my half marathon time. Probably too fast, but that was a few years ago, I felt good, and it was downhill. I ate a gu at almost mile 9, and 1/2 a gu 14, and was drinking water at most water stations, but not all.

I still felt good at this point, but my hips and thighs were already feeling very sore from that constant downhill. The run was still gorgeous, and I had lots of moments where I thought, "I LOVE this! I'm so glad I'm doing this!" It hurt, yes, but totally manageable. At around mile 18 it started to feel a bit harder. My legs were screaming, and it was getting hot. When we were almost to mile 19 Annette and I parted ways. I would've stayed with her, but I felt like I had to run the exact pace my legs felt like at that point, so I went ahead. (It was the plan from the beginning to stay together only as long as it felt right for both of us, so don't worry... she told me to go). I ate another 1/2 a gu sometime around this point, and part of another a few miles later, but I'm not positive when. (Things get a little fuzzy at this point).

I hit mile 20 at 3:09:06. Things started to hurt even more, and when I got to around mile 21 I thought about my sister chasing me with a knife (that was her way to encourage me... she told me to imagine that at mile 21). It wasn't very helpful... I was kind of wishing that she would catch me with that knife and put me out of my misery. At this point, I totally understood why everyone says the last 6 miles are the hardest. I believed it, but now I was feeling it, experiencing it, living it. It was mostly mental, like everyone told me it would be, because my legs had nothing left. I was determined to continue running to the end. So many were walking, but I wanted to run it all the way... besides the couple of water stations that I walked through (because I could barely hold a cup) hurt so bad to start running again... it was easier just to "run". Around mile 23 we had a short but fairly steep downhill. It hurt so bad I almost cried.

Somewhere around mile 24 I heard someone yell my name, and it was my sis-in-law Melissa, sticking her head out her car window and waving her arms at me. It was the perfect thing at the perfect time... I was having such a hard time at that point, and it was so unexpected and encouraging. She wasn't able to make it to the finish line in time, because of the traffic, but I was so glad she was there, and that she saw me, and it meant so much to me that she would come cheer me on. I cried a little after I passed her. ;)

I was running so slow at this point, but I had to keep going. I wanted to be done soooo badly, and whenever I saw someone along the side with their finishers medal it would remind me that there IS a finish, and I will make it, and I WILL be one of those who are DONE! (Yeah, I was a little jealous of them too. ;)

Finally I turned a corner and saw the finish line. Oh, the glorious, beautiful FINISH LINE. I cried a little right there. It was one of the best things I've ever seen in my life. I ran, looking for my family, and then saw them all of a sudden, cheering me on. It was such a great moment. I. had. finished. a. marathon. 26.2 miles... 4 hours 19 minutes and 37 seconds... and it felt amazing. They called out my name, I raised my arms in victory, and then I was through the finish line. They handed me a medal, I went and got my sweaty, ugly picture taken, and wobbled over to the chocolate milk and bananas.

Minutes later I heard them call Annette's name, and I waited for her to come out of the finish maze. I was so proud of us... we did it! Yet another big racing milestone that we accomplished together. A girl came over to me and told me my family was looking for me over at the side (super nice of her... looking for me for them), and I got to hug my kids, who gave up birthday parties and jobs to come see their mom run through a finish line. I got to hug my mom-in-law, who kept my kids overnight, drove quite a distance, battled crazy traffic, tried to find a parking place, kept 3 kids safe in crazy crowds, and was there to cheer me on. Yeah, she's one in a million, and I am amazingly lucky. I love her so much, and it meant SO much to me that she was there, and that she helped my kids be there. Brandon had to work, and couldn't come, which was SO hard for me, but it all turned out okay.

Annette sat down on the grass, but I literally could not sit down. I had to bend forward, put my hands on the ground, and lower/plop myself down. It was very strange that my legs just wouldn't do what they were being told to do. I needed to take one step forward to hand someone a cell phone, and my leg wouldn't move. My foot was okay the whole race (thank goodness) but was killing me at this point.

Well, I could go on forever, I'm sure... and this has been a ridiculously long post, but I'll try to wrap it up. This was one of the most amazing and one of the most horrible things I've done, which I'm pretty sure makes it a good marathon. It was tough... physically tough, mentally tough, but I feel like I accomplished what I wanted to, and I pushed through, even when it was more than I thought I could do. I am so thankful for all of my family and my friends who have encouraged me all along the way, and there at the race. I know I've put so much of myself and my energy into training and running this marathon, and Brandon and the kids have never ever complained. They put up with crappy dinners, a messy house, and a tired mom, and only encouraged me. I love them. I felt the love and support of all of my friends while I was running the race, and I knew so many of you were thinking of me... that helped so much! Thank you!

I am a marathoner. I've looked 26.2 miles in the eye, and I've finished. It wasn't a perfect race, but it was a good race, and I'm really proud of me. So, the question so many will ask... am I going to run another one? Not next year, but maybe... maybe the year after. :)