The Women in My Life

I didn't get a chance to do post for mothers day. I am so blessed to have such great women in my life.

Starting first with my mom- who has given me so much, who would do anything for me and taught me the value of independence. Who has become a great friend to me after I was not the best teenager. She is a great example of unconditional love.

My Aunties who have been there for me my entire life and helped mold me into the person I am today and who have also become some of my best friends. Who are some of the greatest examples of strong women, who I strive to be like everyday.


My Nana who I miss terribly every day and who taught me so much about love and life, Who was the most accepting and loving person I ever knew, and who taught me to keep fighting until the very end. I got so many of my good traits from her and I am lucky for that.

My mother in-law who opened her heart to me, who has been the greatest example of commitment and hard work that I have ever known and who approaches everything in life with grace and determination.

My sisters who are my best friends in the world and I share everything with. Who have been around to pick me up when I was down and wipe my tears when I was sad and also to celebrate with me in times of happiness. Who have taught me so much about myself- good and bad and help me better myself everyday. I don't laugh harder with anyone else. :)

To these women and all other other grandmothers, aunts, cousins, sisters in-laws and friends who are always there and love me for who I am- Thank you. I love you all so much!



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Great America & Jelly Belly

The day after San Fransisco, we went to Great America amusement park. It was a lot of fun and we got a lot of sun.




The day after that we stopped by the Jelly Belly factory in Fairfield on our way out of town. We had the BEST vacation. I loved every minute of it!



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San Fransisco

The day after the big wedding, me, Brett, Alyssa & Kellen left to go out to San Fransisco for the day. First, we went out to Alcatraz Island. It is an island in the middle of the bay that was used as a high security prison until the 1960's. It was really interesting to walk through and learn all about it.

After that we rode in a bike taxi :) from Pier 33 to Pier 39 where the sea lions are.
Then we went out to the Golden Gate Bridge. It was awesome. We walked 1/3 across it and the view was beautiful.

After San Fransisco, We drove south a bit to Half Moon Bay beach and played in the freezing water for a bit.

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The Wedding!!

So this past weekend, I photographed my first wedding. I had so much fun doing it! My cousin Todd and Kelsey got married in the Sacramento Temple. It is a beautiful temple and I am so glad that I got to do their pictures.... here are a few.....
more are up on my photo blog.








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Jeffery James Duval

Another Nephew for me!! My step brother Devin and his wife Crystal had their second little one on Saturday.
They named him Jeffery James Duval. I guess he looks just like his daddy.
Congratulations you guys!





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Reed Lawrence Smith

I have a new nephew today!! After 4 girls they finally had a boy. Congratulations to Elise & Trevor!
He is very cute and I can't wait to meet him this summer.



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Vet Visit

My dogs are old ladies. They both turned 12 years old this year. So of course they are going to have medical problems right. Well, I wasnt prepared for what I heard today.

Lucy has had a heart murmur for 2 years now. We knew about it and she has been on medication off and on for liquid in her lungs. The last few months she has had episodes where if she is too excited or stressed she will fall over and go limp for several minuites. I found out today it is called Syncope and it is a symptom of congestive heart failure. The vet really wanted to do a chest x-ray to see how bad it was and also to see if she had liquid in her lungs. We did the x-ray and sure enough she is in heart failure and has an enlarged heart. Her lungs looked good though. He put her on 2 different heart medications that will slow the heart failure down but it is what it is. He couldnt give me a definite time estimation that she has left. He said 6 months to maybe a year if we are lucky. But she is a fighter so we will see.

Mimi was the real reason I went in to the vet today. Last week she started doing this head tilt thing. She would not straighten her head and it is so strange. I asked Google first and he said that it was most likely an ear infection but I needed to go in to get antibiotics. The vet saw no sign of an ear infection at all. He did say that it was possible that it was an infection so deep in the ear canal, behind the ear drum that he could not see but Mimi was not bothered being touched there so he doubted it. He wanted me to do an x-ray on her as well today to check for the ear thing. He said if he found anything that he would put her on antibiotics. I asked if we could just do the antibiotics now and see if the tilt improves and it saves me a $300 x-ray fee. He agreed to do that so she is on antibiotics. Scary part: I asked what it could be if it was not an infection and his answer was- Brain tumor. great. To diagnose a brain tumor for sure is a $1500 MRI- n0 thanks. but if it isn't the ear, there is nothing else it can be. He told me that most people chose to put thier dog down at that point. He did say it is not painful. I am still hoping that the antibiotics will fix the problem. We will know in the next couple days.

So a lot of money and a lot of bad news later we are home with new meds (that I hide in grilled chicken strips) Hoping for the best cause I dont want to lose my babies.


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Brett's Graduation Party

I am planning a get together for Brett's Graduation. It will be fun for him to see everyone and it is a big accomplishment for him. It will be on April 17th at my mom's house in Orem- Open house style.
So, hopefully everyone that is local can come. I emailed this out but for those who didnt get it, here it is again.







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Packing...

Ugh. Packing is terrible. We spent the entire day in our pjs but it was not relaxing. Kitchen, office/scrapbook room, garage/ under the house, master closet all done. We have to get the rest done tomorrow because Brett has school Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday nights and will be sleeping at my sisters those nights and we load the truck Thursday. We got about 50 boxes from Walmart last weekend and we are going to have to get up early and go over there tomorrow to get more because we used then all already. Good news is that we have been throwing things out all day too.... garbage, recycle bin and a few boxes to go to DI are all full. We have too much stuff.


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The Move- updated

The move to Ogden is proving to have a few more bumps in the road than we would like. We found the PERFECT place. It is right off the street that Bretts work is just 2 miles down the road and it is a mile from my sisters house. It is a newer townhouse- built in 2009, 3 bedrooms 2 1/2 baths plus a small loft. It has a garage and a backyard for the dogs and a patio for Brett and his barbecue grill. And the best part.... it is cheaper than what we are paying for our Lehi place and the deposit is very reasonable.
Now the bumpy part: It is currently occupied by a family. They put in their notice a while ago and had said that they would be out by the 15th of March and then we old move in on the 26th... at least that is hopefully the plan. They said later that they might not be out till the end of the month. The management company of the house has been trying to get a hold of them all weekend to get a concrete date and they are being avoided which makes me nervous... I just want them to get out so we can get in. It really is perfect and we have not found anything even close to what this place is so we are willing to wait but not knowing a for sure date makes it harder to make plans. We have to be out of our place by the end of this month... the latest we could move out and in would be April 2nd. In the mean time, Brett is commuting to Ogden everyday for work until we do move in so the sooner the better.

This week, my sister and her husband went to Las Vegas for spring break and left us thier house. So that way Brett doesnt have to drive from Lehi to work this week. I am a bit bored. My homework is done and I am left to spend my spring break alone until 5. But if I wasnt up here I would most likely be spending it alone at my house until 7 after Brett drives all the way back. So we get some more time together and save a ton of gas money.


UPDATE: So heard back from the townhouse management today. She said that the tenants will be out by the 31st. But so do we so that's a bit of a crunch. So we will most likely have to stay at my moms for a few days while the house gets cleaned. They said we could move in on the 6th at the latest but we are hoping we can move all the stuff into the garage on the 31st. But this place is worth it.

Today is Brett's 3rd day at his new job. He really likes it there- his favorite part is hat the breakroom is always stocked with snacks and there is a Mt Dew fountain drink machine. :) He is basically just learning all about the company and just doing what he is told for now.



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Big news- Update

Hello friends & family!

No we are not pregnant :) but I thought it was about time for an update from us. Things are going pretty great here. The biggest news is that Brett will be graduating with his masters degree in a month and a half. 1.5 months!!!! I can't believe this chapter of our lives is just about over. I am so excited and Brett obviously is even more excited than me. It will be nice to have evenings with my husband again. I will be throwing a party for him which will be on Friday, April 15th in Orem. But I will send more info about that later. Brett has been doing interviews with accounting firms and companies for the last couple months. It has been a long process with a few disappointments. Today we had a really happy moment. He got a job offer for a company in Ogden called JD Clark & Co. They do accounting and administration for hedge fund investments. He doesn't know much about it yet. He starts work on the 14th. So that means that we are moving to Ogden. We are starting to look for a place and hoped to get moved up there in a few weeks or so. My sister and her husband also live in Ogden so it will be nice to be close to them.

As for me, I am still loving school. I switched my major so that now I am a graphic design and photography double major. After looking at it, the classes required are not that different and I have done some classes for one major that can be used also for the other and the other way around- plus I really love photography and design. So, I am doing a lot of digital stuff this semester and I really love it. Other than school, I am doing some photography on the side- including a wedding coming up in 2 months. fun :) I am learning a lot and still loving my new camera. I will finish up the semester at UVU and commute down after we move for my classes twice a week. After that, the plan is that I will transfer to Weber State and continue my education up there.

Brett and I have a much needed vacation planned for the end of April. We will be in Northern California for the wedding and after we are staying a few days and going to San Fransisco. It will be a week after graduation for him so it will be really fun to get away for a few days. Hopefully his new job will let him have the time off... if not, then we will make it work another time. :)

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preparation overload

So the reality is getting more and more real that I will be shooting my very first wedding in 2 months for these guys....


Cute couple right? I Love my new camera, however it has been a big pain int he butt learning to use it... thank heavens for my digital imaging teacher at UVU who has been so so helpful and has spent tons of after class time explaining things to me. The engagement shoot well pretty well. I had a little over exposure problem however I shot them in raw format so I was able to fix most of them where you don't even notice.

I made their announcements which are now being prepared to be mailed this week.


I will take Kelsey's bridal pictures when the spring decides to come and the wedding is April 29th in Sacramento CA.

Until then, I am left preparing. I have spent countless hours already preparing, bought books, watched videos.... everything I can do to make me feel more confidant and prepared for this. I love that this is happening for me because it forced me to learn so much about my camera and wedding techniques. :)

Photography is fun!



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Valentines Day

Today is Valentines day for most..... well not really for me. I am at school all day till 5 and Brett is at work till 4 and then off to school until around 10 tonight. So we did our valentines celebration on Saturday night. It was quite romantic. We went to see a movie during the day- we saw Just Go With It. It was really funny and cute. Then we came home and started cooking.


The steak was SO good. I got the recipe for the Garlic Cheddar Biscuits that they serve at Red Lobster and they turned out great. I had never made a homemade cheesecake before and it turned out super good as well.... no disasters in the kitchen (surprisingly) :)

We ate it in candlelight with Martinellis and made romantic toasts to each other with our wine glasses. It was fun (and sappy)

Happy Valentines to everyone I love! I hope you all have a great day and no matter if you have a valentine or not, I love you!!


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school....

School is a little different this semester than last semester. I am much more involved in the digital classes... Digital Media, Digital Imaging, & Digital Prepress. They have been so much fun and I am loving what I am doing. I am also taking a 3d design class because it is required. Its ok but I would rather be playing on my computer in Photoshop or In Design. :)

Here are a few things I have done for assignments so far...



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