Category Archives: family

joy!

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My cousin, Ali, got married today. His name is Blake. Isn’t he a fox? Isn’t she a babe? (When I’m around the Aunties, I regress to their vernacular). As I refuse to be one of those people (you know, the ones who get in the way pretending to be photographers when there are professionals there), I didn’t get very many shots. But here are a few.

Blake, the fox, and newest addition to the family. He’s actually Ali’s sister’s husband’s brother. Work it out. So, we all know that there children will be cute!
The beautiful bride! Seriously, my cousins are GORGEOUS!

Michelle (aka Shelly), the youngest sibling. She is so fun! And such a sass! Apparently, it runs in the family.

So, this was not the shot I was going for. I cropped it. But I think it is framed well, if only the bouquet were perfectly (or at all) in focus. It’s not, but you can see what could have been.

Ali and Drew, her younger brother and only boy. He is such a great kid! See what I mean. My cousins are “beautiful people”. And, the best part is, it is an “inside and out” beauty.

Her florist was amazing! The colors were absolutely stunning.

Anne and Tyler’s little girl, Ashley. This is what Ali and Blake’s children could look like. She is seriously adorable, but I think she was a little overwhelmed by all the people. It’s too bad I didn’t get a picture of the dress. It was darling.

So, this one isn’t from today, it’s from Ali’s shower two weeks ago, but it has to do with the wedding…and it shows the four sisters, Anne, Ali, Maddie and Shel. Could they be any cuter? I don’t think so!

I just loved the cake. Stunning and non-traditional. This is probably my favorite picture. So weird that it involves food.

My fantastic grandmother, the new hair, and my aunt Kristen (the Aunties are total babes)…it’s a little out of focus, but such is life. When you don’t have a “point-and-shoot”, it’s a little more difficult to have someone take a picture for you and have it turn out.

The mother of the bride, Kendall, and Kristen (aka the Aunties). They are the best of friends and both so fun and such hotties! I love having such a wonderful, fun, loving family. (This one is out of focus because the lighting was low and I couldn’t hold still enough).

The wedding was absolutely amazing. I cried. Not that it means anything. This was one of those perfect days. I love perfect days!

picture addiction

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So, I think the idea behind Wordless Wednesday is to just post one picture, so I did that last week. But here’s the thing. I love taking pictures. And I love taking pictures of my nieces and nephews. I posted one, but I took about 300 – I love digital. So, I feel the need to direct you to my sister-in-law’s blog where that are a few more pictures posted. And here are two more from my 24-hours in Vegas after the marathon.
The sad truth is that the shot of T in the air took about 20 shots. Trying to capture a kid, flying through the air, with a 50 mm lens (a lens meant for portraiture, not action shots) and no auto-focus…no simple task. But, with such a darling model, the practice is quite enjoyable. And I happen to love how my brother looks catching his little boy. He’s such a kid at heart!

And a few more…
*On a side note, I was talking to Justin and he asked me why, when I post about finishing a marathon, I get 20+ comments, but when I post pictures of his kid, I only get 4 or 5. Hmm, I wonder. Maybe something to do with FINISHING A MARATHON???

(almost) wordless wednesday

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My little brother, Justin, actually snapped this shot. I was sitting on my bum because I could barely move. I love it, though! I think he did a great job…which is impressive since it is soooo hard to get a good shot of an almost-two-year-old, and add to that the fact that we were indoors, with no flash and no auto-focus. Justin…now you just need my camera!

semi-wordless wednesday

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I am not posting this because I want to discuss my political affiliations…but I thought this bobble-head of Mitt Romney was hilarious. My dad contributed to his campaign and this came in the mail a few weeks later.

The Happy Sumo is happy when you go on a Saturday…just not during the week, at lunch time.

The following pictures are of my nephew…as he “smiles” for the camera. Apparently, he picked up this trait up from his favorite auntie (or at least used-to-be-favorite…until I became the bad auntie this weekend when I “took” him away from his parents so that they could go to a movie).




No words necessary for the rest…except that it felt good to see the world through a camera lens again. It had been too long.





advice from an older sister…

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I emailed my fabulous sister this morning, seriously stressed out because the practice test I took last night didn’t go so well. I kept hoping she’d email me back, but when I hadn’t heard from her, I finally called her on my lunch. We had a great conversation (she’s fantastic for boosting the ego) and I felt much better. And then, when I got back from work, this is what I found. She gives some pretty good excellent advice (is that better, Erika?), I must say. And per her advice, I’m done “studying”, which is why I’m blogging.

What do you know…you did send me an e-mail. Huh.

Here’s some more advice from your big sister extraordinaire about what you should do for the next 20 or so hours.

1. 3pm: Stop studying.

2. 5pm: (when you get off work): Go buy a small, exceedingly small notebook (like what you see reporters using in TV shows)

3. 5:15pm to 10pm: Relax; spend time with J, C, and T, keeping in mind the entire time that life is about people, not test scores. This will help you keep your perspective. Seriously; during the AZ bar exam, for which I was not nearly prepared, I spent most of my off time at Brad and Shelley’s. Hanging out with their kids worked wonders. I still remember hearing Brittany pray that I would do well on my “spelling” test.

3a. At those times when you think, “I really need to review such-and-such subject,” simply write it down in the little notebook. That’s what it’s for. DO NOT ACTUALLY
REVIEW THE SUBJECT AT THIS TIME.

4. 9:55pm: Make sure that Dad has agreed to be your back-up alarm clock.

5. 10pm: Go to bed; if it helps, set your music system to play peaceful music (Jon Schmidt’s “Morning Light”?) for 30 minutes.

5a. Your little notebook should be on the night stand. When you wake up in the middle of the night, completely panicked about such-and-such subject, write it down then go back to sleep.

6. 6:00am: Wake up; get ready.

7. 6:30am: One hour to eat breakfast, which should be a combination of healthy carbs (fruit, for quick pick-me-up) and protein (for endurance). SIZE: not so small that you’ll run out of steam; not so big that it will drag you down.

7a. As you’re eating breakfast, do a quick review:
FIRST 15 minutes: Review the subjects you wrote down, which will probably number between 10 and 15. DON’T actually open the books; instead, just review the rules in your head. You will have memorized the rules for the vast majority of thesubjects; this is your chance to convince yourself that you do indeed know the subjects down cold.
SECOND 15 minutes: For the three to five subjects that you do not know cold, openthe books and look up the rule/formula. Come up with a quick tricks to help you remember. You won’t know these cold, but the quick review will help your confidence.Remember though: NO MORE THAN 15 MINUTES, so here’s the math for how much
time you can spend on each:
3 subjects: 5:00 minutes each
4 subjects: 3:45 minutes each
5 subjects: 3:00 minutes each
THIRD 15 minutes: Do some EASY practice questions from the Princeton Review book. This is just to warm you up, SO DON’T LOOK TO SEE IF YOU GOT THEM RIGHT; however, because I know you are going to look, I re-emphasize that you should only do the easy questions.
FOURTH 15 minutes: If he’s up, play with T; otherwise talk to Dad, or go out on the kitchen balcony and gaze north at the Mt. Timp Temple (the focus here is on the whole perspective thing again).

8. 7:30am: Drive to the testing center. Listen to music that you can sing to. Actually, not just sing, but belt. Recommendation: the “Hairspray” soundtrack, especially anything sung by Tracy Turnblad; best song “You Can’t Stop the Beat”

9. 7:45am: Chill, mediate, pray, whatever. But at this point, you’ll probably be feeling so pumped up, you’ll be bouncing around.

10: 8:00: Knock ’em dead.

I hope you all are as lucky as I am to have such fabulous siblings.