Vacation

My whole family was in Utah so we headed down there for 10 days. It was MOSTLY fun, despite the two bouts of stomach flu our family caught. We did lots of shopping and eating out of course, took a day for golfing. Benjamin gave us a tour of the facility he works at, at Golf Tek. We were able to get hooked up to the cameras and actually work on our swings a bit. We got pedicures, got our faces painted by aunt Amy, went to the drive-in and got to hear Kimberly give a concert of some of her songs. We also got to tour an awesome WWII private collection. And we finished up our trip at Flaming gorge, we didn't do much there because that's when the flu bug hit bad, so we ended up getting a hotel in Rock springs and stayed until Sunday for baby Desch's blessing. I also threw in a few photo sessions while I was there. Lots o fun. And now my family has all departed to various parts of the country and we will anxiously await the next time we can all be together. We did get in a nice family picture before we all departed. I was impressed with how good we look considering about 3/4 had been sick the day before! Aren't those mountains perdy?! Too bad Hilary's fence was taken out that evening by a crazy driver who ran into her house! (and tore up the sod the guys had laid a few days before)


Brother Ben and fam getting ready to leave flaming gorge, they were so sick, but it was kind of funny cause they were in their car listening to "so you had a bad day".


"enjoying" lunch at flaming gorge, just minutes before Claire would start puking for 7 hrs straight. You can tell Kimberly is feeling really good too.


Papa Ray holding baby D after the blessing-he was one of the only non-sick ones.






twinners! I had the girls together at the mall and I kept getting asked if they were twins.


I threw in a picture of strawberries we picked from our garden before we left. YUM! They are So much better than store bought. We got home and our garden looks like a jungle. My beets and green beans are nearly ready to be picked and we also have a few little zucchinis that will be ready soon.
Also I thought I would mention the kids finished up swimming lessons before we left. They both did great and I didn't get a single picture darn it.

Giveaway preview and a Nashville singer

Here are a couple previews!

Baby Announcement Design

Whipped this up this afternoon. I've got a bunch of ideas for more!

Giveaway winner preview.

I am so glad I got such awesome kids for the giveaway winner! They were so adorable and well-behaved. They have got some serious modeling skills!

Previews and a Utah Wedding

So I got the chance to photograph a wedding down in Utah. It was so fun. The bride and groom were awesome and laid back. The bride had the coolest feather bouquet. SO CUTE! And the weather was PERFECT.






I've got three more previews coming, hang tight!

Changes and Deep Thots

Things are a little different around here because... I got a job! That seems weird to post. I have been struggling the last few months with boredom. I'm sure that sounds really awful to some of you. The weather has been so crappy, there's not much to do around here and my kids are really good, they are at ages that they play really good together. I knew I didn't want to get a real job- anything that kept me away from them, but I just felt like I needed something else, even with my photography. Also I didn't want a job with crappy pay, that just isn't worth my time. So I just happened to be roaming Indeed, which I do every few months just seeing what's out there. There was one for Cartvertinsing doing appointment setting. The last job I had with Wyndam was doing the same thing and I had had great success with it so I decided to put in an application. A few days later I got an over the phone interview and I guess I sold him on myself because he said through over 150 applicants he was putting me directly on his team! It seemed like it happened so fast! I started calling that following Monday. So I basically call people, try to get them to set an appointment with my boss for him to come sell them advertising. I am finally finding my "nitch pitch". I get a percent commission off of everything he sells. So far, he hasn't dissappointed! So I have been working 1-2 hours per day. I can stop and start as much as I want. I have no required hours because I am a contracted employee so if something is going on with the kids I can take the day off. I usually do an hour in the morning and then an hour in the afternoon when Jake is napping and Claire is playing outside. I love that when they need something I can stop right away and help them with whatever they need. Like I will set up the playdoh, dial for 20 minutes and stop for a few minutes when they are done to get them started on something else, or if I have hit my goal for the hour I will stop. I have been getting around 2 appointments per day, which I guess is really good, so I'm satisfied and so is my boss. Anyways, it has really been the perfect job and I am so thankful to have found it and I really hope that I can continue with it for a while. Plus, my boss thinks I could possibly get a salaried position along with dialing do the training too. So I might look into that. I am so thankful that Chris works so hard at his job so that I don't have to work. That is such a blessing to our family. Anyways I just thought I would post.

Oh and the deep thoughts, I don't know if I have mentioned this, but Jake will randomly and thoughtfully ask-Mom, Jesus love me?? I always say YES and then he says "ya, Jesus loves me!". Today he followed that up with "and the cookie monster isn't mean?" "no not mean" "ya, just funny". He's always doing some deep thinking. Cutie.

Mesa Falls

Before summer started we wrote down a list of things we wanted to do this summer. The kids LOVED our camping trip to Yellowstone last year and wanted to go on another "hike". So last Saturday we decided to take a day trip to Mesa Falls. Chris swears that he's taken me there before, but I'm pretty sure I had never been there. It was SO much fun. It was a perfect day that will be logged in my memory forever- I hope :) The weather was nice, the kids were so good. It was peaceful and the views were great. I can't believe I've never been up there before! It's the perfect little day trip.

First we stopped and fed fish. There is a little spot in the river where you can throw bread to the trout and these HUGE fish jump and fight for it. It was pretty cool and the kids loved it. Then we stopped just before the falls and ate a picnic and hiked to an abandoned railroad tunnel-that was pretty cool, and a little scary since you are basically walking on the side of a cliff. Claire started worrying about snakes, but after we talked to her for about 10 minutes about why she didn't need to worry about it she was back to her happy self. Then we headed to the lower and upper falls. It happened to be free Mesa Falls day (which we didn't plan) so Smokey the bear was there and they had little demonstrations going for the kids.



The kids are standing next to the snow measuring pole. It's either that, or to measure the height of bears that steal food from your camp as they leave:)

The upper falls were awesome, I got some cool photos. I have started this little thing where I take a landscape picture of places I want to remember and hang them up as art in my house. So it can still look like nice outdoor photography art, but it has a special meaning to us.

I love this picture of us! I am kind of getting bored of pictures where everyone is looking and smiling-there's no personality. I know we will be laughing at this picture for years to come.



After the falls we went to warm springs? I think was the name. It was a fun little drive with great views. It had the coolest waterfall, we dipped our toes-it was cold! But it felt good.



After warm springs we headed home and stopped at Big Judd's for a burger and fries. Perfect ending to a perfect day.

And Chris and Jake are leaving tonight for the father and sons campout and I'm feeling all nostalgic and don't want to let my little baby go. He's getting so big, and so is Jake ;)