The Stiles Family

Rewind - Cameron's Birthday

2011-11-14T10:04:00.000-08:00

I have been terrible about keeping up to date on my blogs lately. October was my busiest month yet in my studio, and I also worked full time with Bella Baby and had my family to take care of. Blogging was a little low on my list of priorities:-) But I actually have a little free time (!), so I thought I would hop on here and post a little.

As many of you know, Cameron turned SEVEN this past September. How crazy is that? And why do kids have to grow up so dang fast? His birthday party was a huge success - lot so kids running around, all hyped up on cake and ice cream. And what a cake it was!

Cameron's birthday theme was Knights. He has always been very in to swords and castles, so he picked this particular theme. And he specifically requested a "big castle cake with a dragon on top!" This was really going to put my cake decorating skills to the test! But because I love him like crazy, I was willing to give it a shot. It took three days to make the cake, which I finished minutes before the first guests arrived. The dragon was made entirely out of chocolate (except for the tissue paper wings). The cakes were really yummy, too:-) The bottom was chocolate cake with chocolate cream, bananas, chocolate chip, and a chocolate drizzle for the filling (not recommended for anyone on a diet!). The top was a rainbow chip cake with cherry cream and maraschino cherries for the filling.

We have always loved having a pinata at Cameron's parties, and this year I found a cool red dragon pinata. But that dragon did NOT die easily! Every kid took several turns trying to beat it open. Nothing. Not even a dent.

Even the "big kids" couldn't do it!

So finally we decided that hand-to-hand combat would be the best thing to finish this dragon off, and it was torn limb from limb.

And there was much rejoicing in the land.

And at the end of it all, Cameron got lots of great gifts from family and friends (which included FOUR new swords to add to his collection!).

Seven

2011-09-07T15:15:00.000-07:00

I have been very bad about keeping my blog updated. So much as happened, but I have not had time to sit down and record it all. One of these days I will backtrack and write about our very crazy summer!

But this post is all about my wonderful little boy. Cameron turns seven this month, can you believe it? He just started first grade, and is LOVING it! Just like both his parents before him, he loves to learn. He is already reading at around a 3rd-4th grade level, which is pretty impressive, I think. He also loves math (he did NOT get that love from me!) and science.

In the past year Cameron has lost FIVE teeth! His most recent one was one of his top front teeth, and the little gap left behind is just so dang cute:-) The new tooth is growing in very quickly, though, like all his teeth have grown. The tooth next to it is also loose, and we expect that one to come out in the next month or so. When he was a baby he got all his teeth in very early and very quickly, so it is really not surprising that the same should be true of getting his adult teeth in.

As always, Cameron is just crazy about video games. Here is the odd thing though. Cameron has been "playing" video games since he could crawl. He has been around them all his life. But, sad to say, he is really quite terrible at playing them! He would much rather act them out. He pretends to be one of the characters, or makes up his own character to be, and runs around the house pretending to be in the game. I think I prefer this imaginative play to sitting mindlessly in front of the screen. He is a great storyteller, and will often make up very crazy stories involving some of his favorite characters.

Here are some other fun facts about Cameron:
Favorite Color: Red
Favorite Food: Pizza
Books he is reading: Eldest (from the Eragon series), Legend of Zelda graphic novels, and anything else within his reach!
Favorite Movie: Iron Giant
Likes: Knights, Robots, Dinosaurs, playing with his friends, spending time with his mommy and daddy, singing
Dislikes: Tomatoes, being grounded

Of course, since this is a new year for him, I had to get some new portraits. There is a field full of Black-eyed Susans near our house, and I thought that would be a great place for portraits. Cameron was a silly boy, and wanted to dance and play in the flowers, and I was able to capture some adorable smiles. Cameron has a beautiful smile and a contagious laugh. He brings so much joy in to our lives:-)

Easter Festivities

2011-04-28T15:49:00.000-07:00

Easter weekend was pretty exciting around here. Originally, Easter festivities were going to be at my sister's place in Idaho. But because my dad is in the hospital (that is a whole other story that I won't go into here), we decided to move everything to my parent's house here in Utah. This actually worked out better for my little family, because I had to work Easter Sunday, and we would have missed out. In fact, the festivities were so big, we had to draw it out over two days, Saturday and Sunday!

The house was pretty crowded with people. All of my siblings, their spouses/significant others, and all the grandkids were in attendance, as well as my Grandma Olive, and Aunt Carol and Uncle Steve. Pretty crowded, but lots of fun! We did have a little drama, which seems to be pretty much expected in my family, but we got over it and had a fun time.

We had a spectacular Easter egg hunt with all the kids. We didn't count the eggs, but we estimated there was probably close to 200. It was quite the chore to find hiding spots for all of them. It was funny watching the kids try and find them all. Some we thought were really well hidden they found right away, while others that we thought were pretty obvious they passed by again and again without seeing.

I do have to say that I was a little frustrated with Cameron's "finding" ability. This is an on-going battle in our house. He has trouble seeing things in the most obvious places, and does not seem to understand the concept that just because you can't see it, doesn't mean it's not there. Like it might be hiding under something. Same thing with the eggs. We kept trying to hint for him to look all around, up and down, and in things. But after several minutes of him just sort of glancing around waiting for it to pop out at him, we would give up and point it out. We definitely need to start doing some more "finding" games around the house to develop this particular skill.

Easter dinner was scrumptious - BBQ ribs the first day, and ham the next, with all the best fixings:-) I think everyone was particularly enamored with my cake balls - a ridiculously easy recipe, but the most melt-in-your-mouth deliciousness:-) And the candy haul? Um, did I mention there were nearly 200 eggs? Yeah, we are going to be eating that for a while.

To round off the fun, my dad's sister flew in on Tuesday to spend some time with him. They were only here for a few hours, but it was nice to see them again. I don't think we get to see them near as often as I would like!

So here are the highlights in photos:

Being on a Budget

2011-04-01T16:23:00.000-07:00

Craig and I are not major spenders. I think we are actually pretty thrifty. I do have a hard time saying no to the little things, but I pass up more than I buy. We rarely eat out, we buy clothes on sale, and only when we REALLY need them, and I coupon like crazy to save on the grocery bill. So we were more than a little confused to find that our expenses STILL outstrip our income! By a lot. Go figure.

We decided that the major issue is our debt. I was in debt before we even got married, and poor Craig just inherited that. Since then, we gradually added to that debt, little by little. We never really thought anything about it. Debt was just a way of life. Everyone had it, it seemed, and we were certainly no exception.

Then a couple of years ago both Craig and I lost our jobs at almost the exact same time. It was hard, because we both thought we had job security. We had no savings, and we had just bought a house. We were in trouble! We spent the next 6 months desperately looking for work, and living off our credit cards. Bad, bad, bad! Fortunately, we were both able to find work again, but by that time we found ourselves in a very sticky situation.

We still were not sure what to do. The debt was worse than ever, and there did not seem to be anything we could do about it. Until. . .

I am sure most everyone has heard about Dave Ramsey. He claims to have a solid way to get out of debt. It is not a "get rich quick" scheme, or even some new-fangled idea. We have heard it before. But Dave makes sense. I decided to check out what he has to offer and purchased his book, "Total Money Makeover". If you haven't read it yet, go check it out! I was really excited reading it, and feeling like maybe things were not as hopeless as we thought.

Yes, there will be a long and rough road ahead of us. Yes, we are still scared. Yes, we WILL get out of debt. Don't let anyone try to tell you that debt is just a way of life. Debt is BAD! All of it!! We have dug ourselves in to a deep pit, and now it is time to climb back out.

New Perspective

2011-02-15T18:44:00.000-08:00

We recently had an experience that has changed our perspective. This past week we had the opportunity to babysit my little nephew (10 months) overnight. For the most part, he is a happy little guy, and loves to play. He was NOT happy when it was bedtime or naptime, and he really did not like when I left a room.

It was fun having him over, but it has been a looooong time since we have had a baby in our home, and we had forgotten how much work they can be! I spent a good deal of time cleaning up after him, playing with him, feeding him, etc.

For so long we have been trying to have another baby. We thought that was what we wanted. It was always our plan to have a big family. But despite all our efforts, it just hasn't happened. This has been a really hard pill to swallow, and I have had a very hard time dealing with it. I thought this was what I needed to be happy. To fill fulfilled.

I was wrong.

I have spent so much time longing for the child I don't have, that I have blinded myself to the blessings I have already been given. So many good things have happened to us. We have the most wonderful, bright, happy little boy. The joy he brings to our home in immeasurable.

Now that Cameron is in school I can focus much more attention on my career, and good things are coming from it. I really enjoy what I do, but it takes a great deal of dedication, perseverance, and hard work to run a business. Craig is also able to dedicate more of his time to the things he loves.

I always thought I couldn't really be happy with only one child. But the truth is, I AM happy. I just couldn't see it before. Now we understand what our lives could be like if there was another baby. While we would never turn away such a blessing, we no longer yearn for it like we did. Our lives have changed, and with it our perspective. I don't know that we will ever have more children, but I know that even if we don't, it's okay. I have already been given something great.

Boys and their Swords

2011-01-22T15:58:00.000-08:00

For Craig's 30th birthday this past November I got him his first sword. He decided he wanted some photos to share with his friends online. Well, you know me, I can't do anything simply:-) I used some wicked cool dramatic lighting to really bring the images to life. I tried to convince them to change into some period clothing or something, but I think they thought that was going a little overboard. Bummer. But I think the images turned out great anyway.

I call this one "Lost".

Doesn't he look ferocious?

This one is one of my faves. I call it "Warrior's Prayer".

A Little Christmas

2010-12-17T20:01:00.000-08:00

This time of year is always pretty busy, but I thought I would take just a moment to blog about a few a little things.

Cameron has recently taken an interest in cooking. Where he got this idea we have no idea. Craig can hardly cook at all, and while I can cook (and Craig says I cook very well), I don't really enjoy the task. I prefer baking, but even that is not very enjoyable for me. I don't like the clean-up:-)

But as Cameron grows older, I find we have fewer and fewer shared interests. He is every inch a boy, and well, I am not. But I think cooking is something we can do together. Even though it is not my favorite thing to do, I think it is much more enjoyable when I can do it with my little boy. Besides, I hope to turn him into a little chef, so that by the time he is in his teens, he can be the head chef of the family:-)

We decided to try our hands at some baking, and we chose one of my favorite Christmas cookies - M&M Chocolate Drop Cookies. Cameron did a lot of the work himself - he measured, poured, and mixed the ingredients (his favorite part is cracking open eggs!), and I helped him put the dough on the cookie sheets and put them in the oven. After they were done, I filled them with frosting, and he added all the little M&Ms. I have never seen a little boy so proud of his accomplishments than Cameron was:-) And I was a proud Mommy, too! And, in case you are wondering, they were delicious:-P

It took me a little longer than usual to get our Holiday decorations out. I usually like to get them out right after Thanksgiving, but too many other things have been going on. But, I finally got it all out, and I am thrilled to see my little home all decked out.

Christmas really is one of my favorite times of the year. I love all the glittery things, the colorful lights everywhere, and the way my home looks and feels so cozy in the glow from the Christmas tree. And I love that I have this great old piano to put things on:-)

As you can see from the photo, I have started collecting two things. The first is Santas. I LOVE Santa Claus. He was always a VERY big deal in our home, so collecting different Santas has been a lot of fun. The second thing I have started a collection of is Nativity scenes.

I received my first Nativity scene several years ago after my parents attended an estate sale. The figures are fairly small, but it was a full set - all the wiseman and their camels, all the shepherds and their sheep, the donkey, and even the angel. What it did NOT have was the BABY JESUS! I still set it all out every year, but it bothered me that it had no little Jesus. What is the point, really?

Well, I FINALLY found the little Jesus that goes with this set. There is a little ceramic shop near by, and they actually carried the pieces to this set, and were lucky enough to have a little Jesus (he is hard to find this time of year). So now my set is complete! My next goal is to paint it. I like the white, but I might add some sparkle by adding gold or silver highlights. Or maybe I will go full color. I haven't decided yet.

I have several other sets that I have acquired over the years. Right now a secret friend is leaving little Nativity pieces on our doorstep every night. We look forward to seeing what new piece we will get.

And finally, we come to the tree. My adorable little tree. Yes, it is quite small. I have had this tree since before I met Craig. For many years we lived in apartments, so it made sense to keep a small tree. But now we have our own home, and I told Craig it was high time we got something a little bigger. We are hoping to find a nice one during the after Christmas sale. This one will not gone forever, though! We are going to set it up in the basement to add a little cheer down there. And I can also use it for photo shoots with young children.

So, there is a little bit of Christmas for you. There is surely more to come later!

Thankgiving

2010-11-29T17:45:00.000-08:00

We had a GREAT Thanksgiving this year! For a long while we thought we were not going to do anything. It was our year to spend Thanksgiving down in Vegas with Craig's family, but we were just down there last month for his brother's wedding.

But it turns out that all his other siblings were staying up here in Utah as well (incidentally, all but one of Craig's siblings live here in Utah now. We really need his parents up here, too!!). So we decided to host a little Thanksgiving get-together here in our home. In all the years we have been married, we have never hosted a holiday dinner at our home, so this was very exciting!

We kept it simple with the usual treats - turkey, stuffing, taters, and plenty of pies:-) I was a little nervous about cooking the turkey, but it turned out to be very simple, and, I must say, it was the most beautiful turkey I have ever seen. Looked like something out of a magazine:-) I forgot to take a picture of it BEFORE we started carving it, but you can still see the nice golden color it had.

And the pies! Oh, the pies! All four pies were made completely from scratch - crust and all! Even the chocolate pie was made from REAL melted chocolate and milk. My new SIL Laurel made the yummiest apple pie, and I did the cherry, chocolate, and pumpkin. Yum!!

We had a lot of fun eating, playing games, eating, chatting, and eating. All in all, it was a fantastic day, and we all had fun:-)

A little about Halloween

2010-11-21T18:26:00.000-08:00

I know Halloween is a bit in the past, but I have been pretty swamped and have not had much time to blog about life. And I suppose it doesn't matter, since I am not sure anyone but myself ever comes to this blog. So I write more as a journal for myself than for anyone else. But just in case anyne ever does pop over here frmo time to time, I hope you enjoy these little glimpses into our family life.

Last Halloween (2009) was kind of a bust for us. We really didn't do anything at all. No parties or activities, and Cameron was tired of T&T after only one street. Bleh.

This year was tons better! Now that Cameron is in school we have a lot of school activities to look forward to. I was a little disappointed that his school did not allow costumes. That was one of my favorite things during Halloween - wearing my costume and marching around in the school parade. So much fun!

Since they could not wear their costumes to school, Cameron said he needed a "Halloween" shirt, just for fun. I was hoping to make it a fun mother/son craft experience. Just one problem. Cameron is not really big into crafts. In fact, he does not really like them at all. So I ended up making the shirt, but he was still really happy to wear it:-)

The school did have a Fall Carnival and we went for a little bit. They have a few games and activities, but the place was PACKED, and we had to wait in line for 20 min just to play one 10 sec game. We had to leave before they did T&T around the school, but they gave Cameron a bunch of candy anyway.

Later we went to one of Cameron's favorite places - the dinosaur park! They had a big Halloween event going on all month, and we decided to use our family pass to go and have some fun together. It was a lot of fun seeing the dinosaurs at night. And there was TONS of candy! Cameron had a blast, and so did Mommy and Daddy.

Speaking of Daddy, his work had a little fun for Halloween as well. They all got to dress in costumes, and they invited all the kids to come and T&T around the office. Craig decided to go as one of our favorite TV characters - Chuck. I tried curling his hair, but it was a little too short to do what I wanted it to do. Oh well, he looked great anyway!

We did do a little T&T around the neighborhood, but our area is pretty lame. A couple of years ago we lived in an area that had TONS of kids everywhere - just like when I was a kid. But our area now is practically dead (no pun intended) on Halloween. A scattering off houses passing out candy, and a few kids here and there. Still, there was plenty of booty to be had.

All in all, we had a lot of fun, and Cameron brought home more candy than we could eat in a year. And finally, I will leave you with a few more pics of Cameron in his Buzz Lightyear costume, because he is just so cute!

Family Photo Shoot

2010-11-03T09:44:00.001-07:00

This is the first installment of our family photos this year. We did a photo swap with another photographer, Shantell Urry. There is a big park right across the street from our house, with lots of cute spots for photos. And since I live here, I know where all the BEST spots are - especially the ones that not a lot of other photographers know about.

I was a little disappointed that the leaves were still mostly green. Fall has been sporadic this year - even while some trees are still green, others have already turned color and dropped their leaves. very annoying.

I think we must have been a challenge for Shantell. She had to deal with very low light, a wiggly six year old, and a little dog!

Here are some of our faves. Sorry they are so small. I tried to resize them, but then they wouldn't fit on the blog.

So this last one shows the creek where that body was found. My house is just up to the left, a little less the 100 yards. We actually tried going back to this spot a few days later to see if the leaves had changed, but they had the whole bridge taped off.

Uncle Matthew

2010-10-25T11:19:00.000-07:00

Okay, okay, I know it's been a long time since I have last blogged. I apologize. Life is busy, that's all I can say. But here is a post to bring you a little smile.

Cameron adores his uncles. Well, mostly Craig's brothers, as he does not know my brothers very well. Although his uncles are considerably older than him (but not too old), they still love spending time with Cameron.

One of these uncles, Matthew (not to be confused with my own brother Matthew), recently began serving a mission for our church. He will be gone for two years, which makes Cameron a little sad. So we decided to do a very impromptu photoshoot with the two of them before Matthew (aka Elder Stiles) left.
Cameron was being pretty silly, and kept wanting me to take more pictures, so I shot a few of him by himself. I love my handsome boy!

The beard

2010-08-19T18:36:00.000-07:00

Most everyone who knows me knows that I DO NOT like facial hair. Yuck. I do not like looking at it. Or touching it. And DEFINITELY not kissing it. So why, then, did my wonderful husband decided to randomly grow a beard?

He said he wanted to try it out. He has talked about it for years. I kind of thought it would be one of those things he would try when he was forty or fifty. But he decided to try now. And no, he did not consult me on this decision (he didn't need to, he already knew what I was going to say).

I think part of this desire came with a recent visit with my family. Both of my brothers were there (very rare, btw). Matt, the younger of them, had some very sporadic growth around his chin and face. It looked awful. But when he told us it was TWO WEEKS of growing, I couldn't help but laugh! Bill, the older, has much the same problem, though I think his "beard" might be slightly better. But only slightly.

We have always known Craig could easily grow a full beard without much trouble. We have been a little curious about how long it would actually take to grow one. So for the last week he has been trying to grow a beard.

And I hate it. I mean, I REALLY hate it. Cameron isn't too fond of it, either. And it turns out, Craig himself doesn't like it either! He says he is constantly aware of it, but it never ceases to shock him when he looks in the mirror, or puts his hand on his face. So, the beard is coming off tonight. Hooray!!

I have to say that I am impressed with the growth he was able to achieve in only one week. It is not a full beard, but probably would be within another week if he continued to let it grow. I am hoping that he won't try this again for a long time. Or ever. Maybe now I can convince him to do laser hair removal on his facial hair:-)

A few shots of the beard:

Fostering

2010-08-18T17:05:00.000-07:00

I have a new found respect for foster parents. It is HARD WORK!

Craig and I have been searching for ways to "grow" our family. We recently took a serious look at becoming foster parents. Because the state helps quite a bit, we felt this would be a great idea for us. We already had a spare room, a bed and a crib, plenty of toys, etc. Only the child was missing.

So we started going to the classes that they require as part of the licensing procedure. We learned a lot. We learned things we didn't want to know. We learned that people do terrible things, and a lot of time they do these terrible things to their own children. So sad! Heartbreaking, in fact.

We thought, "We could give these children a safe home. We could give them love. We could give them hope." But then we were told that the state ALWAYS wants to send these children back to their bio parents whenever possible. Even if we feel that is just not cool.

Some of these kids have been through way too much in their short lives. They need A LOT of attention. Which is, of course, a problem for us, since we both work full time. I even work most weekends.

Putting it all together, we decided that fostering is probably not such a good fit for us after all. It would be very difficult to spend the time with them that they really need. And we know that we will probably become attached to them, and it would be very difficult to give some of them back to their parents. I think I could handle it a little better than Craig. He is an all or nothing kind of guy. But it would still be hard.

So, here we are back at square one again. I find we are here A LOT. I don't think I like square one very much. It means there is no progress. We want more than anything to have more children, but nothing has worked out for us. In fact, fostering was pretty much the last step for us. Now that that has fallen through, we are pretty much thinking Cameron is going to be our one and only. It kills me to think that. I always wanted a big family. Never thought I would only have one. I love him like crazy, but I would give anything for him to have a brother or sister. Perhaps it is just not meant to be.

I guess she's not so bad, afterall

2010-08-06T12:07:00.001-07:00

Many eons ago, I lived in a hole-in-the-wall place south of BYU campus. Total ghettosville. But I made a lot of friends and some good memories. But there was one person I did NOT want to make friends with. We called her the "Cookie Slut". I know. Awful. She had this name because whenever any of us tried to visit with any of the guys, invariably she was there. With cookies. And not just any cookies. These were always her best homemade, melt-in-your-mouth, died-and-gone-to-heaven cookies. Us plain girls didn't have a chance. So naturally, we hated her. Okay, hate is much to strong a word. But we didn't like her much, at any rate.

Well, as fate would have it, I ended up actually moving in with her the next year in a new apartment complex. Yes, I did know she was going to be there, and yes, I did cry a few times before the big move-in day. I was certain I was making a big mistake, but something kept telling me I needed to do this. Besides, if I lived in the same apartment as her, I was bound to get some of those cookies, right?

Turns out, Alicia (yes, she does have a name), was an awesome cook in general. Really, I think her homemade Chicken Noodle soup is impossible to beat. And those chocolate bon-bons? Yes, please.

Then here cookies made something magical happen. One night she made a batch of fabulous cookies and invited a bunch of guys a few doors down to come sample them. Too bad she forgot to tell me. So there I was in my jammies, no make-up on, hair not done, and in walks an entire apartment full of guys. Yikes! No where to run, no where to hide. So I just curled myself up on the couch, hoping I looked invisible.

Nope, not invisible. Apparently I caught the eye of one of those fellers, and he sat right down next to me and started up a conversation. And he was smart. Real smart. And I liked him. A week later he asked me out on a date, and I decided I like him even more. And he liked me, too. We've been together almost eight years now:-)

And what about Alicia? Well, turns out she wasn't so bad after all. In fact, she was downright great! I have had many roommates over the years, but she is one of the few that I have actually kept in touch with (thank goodness for blogs and facebook!). She found her Captain Awesome a few years back, and now they are expecting their first baby!

Even though she now lives in Kansas, I still keep up with her. She has been in town because her hubby Brian is an AMAZING organist (I think he played a little for MoTab), and is doing some kind of organ thing at BYU, so Alicia's mom threw her a baby shower.

It was great seeing her again (even though I was reminded how very short I am). Alicia, you are awesome. I am soo excited for you and Brian! And I envy the new little one because he will get to eat your amazing food every day. Thanks for the cookies:-)

The Great Outdoors

2010-08-02T09:23:00.000-07:00

I have always been the outdoorsy type. Despite my cuteness and chic style, I grew up as a tomboy. I was the one climbing trees, digging in the dirt, and bringing home the local wildlife (I still do not understand why my mom would not let me keep the tadpoles).

Craig is not so much an outdoors kind of guy. He is happiest behind a computer. He says he doesn't like fishing (but he has only been once, so how can he really know?), except in the occasional video game. He mostly refuses to help me in the garden (though for our anniversary he did help with some weeding).

We always assumed Cameron took more after his dad. He is ALWAYS playing video games. Or watching youtube videos about playing video games. Or talking about things that happened in games he is playing. It never really occurred to us that hidden somewhere inside him he had the Outdoorsman gene.

A few months ago my dad offered to take Cameron for a night. My dad is a very outdoorsy kind of guy. He loves camping and fishing, and he took us out frequently when we were all kids. So when Cameron went to visit, of course he took him fishing. We weren't sure how Cameron would like it. Fishing is something that requires a lot of patience. What five year old has any of that?

Turns out, Cameron loves fishing! They stayed out all day, and Cameron caught THREE fish!! This was one proud mamma! I let my dad have the fish, though. Cameron, like me, loves to fish, but hates to eat them.
So this past weekend we planned a short camping trip with Craig's cousin Clin and his family. We have been planning this for quite some time. We decided to head up to Echo Lake in the Uintah's. For anyone that has been up that way, you know that the ONLY way up is a on a rocky road (more like small boulder road), using 4 wheel drive. It was very slow going. But so worth it! We were pretty high up (10,000ft), so it was pleasantly cool. There were no towns or highways anywhere around us, so the stars at night were spectacular. We even saw the ribbon of the Milky Way!

We roughed it for the weekend. We could not park the cars at the campsite, so we had to make a small hike, which we did several times to get everything from the cars. There were also no bathrooms, but we brought some shovels;-) Dinner was hot dogs roasted over the fire, and I made breakfast tacos in the morning.

I regret that I did not get a fishing license. Their were some small trout in the lake that would have been fun to go after. Clin brought his fishing gear and was able to catch a couple. By the time Cameron got out to the lake the fish had already gone to deeper water. Also, little Madison was so loud that she scared off all the fish. We don't really blame her, though. She's only two. I did catch a little snake though. That was kind of cool:-)

My biggest regret? No pictures. I know, sad. I brought my "big" camera, but I didn't have my tripod (it broke), so I didn't feel like getting it out. For snapshots I brought my little P&S, but Craig packed it away somewhere and I couldn't find it. Craig should know better than to touch my cameras.

All in all, it was a fun weekend, and we are hoping to do it again. BTW, Cameron's favorite part was sleeping outside in a tent. He looked so cute in his sleeping bag, and said he was "so cozy". Craig and I were not. Our air mattress sprung a small leak. And I had Orion (the dog) with me because he was freezing, so it was a little cramped in my sleeping bag.

On a final note, I am starting to harvest some of my garden vegetables. I have already had a pint or two of strawberries, which I am hoping to jam. And yesterday I harvested my first bell peppers ever! They are puney, but I am happy to have them. I left one on the bush for a little longer, and it turned red, the other is still green.

I also noticed that I have one tomato that is starting to turn red, and a whole bunch more that are starting to come out. I love fresh garden tomatoes!

Well, this post has certainly gone on long enough. But since I am not the greatest at keeping my blog regularly updated, y'all get a an extra portion:-)

Cameron Lost His First Tooth!!!

2010-07-20T16:45:00.000-07:00

Yup, you read that right - Cameron's first baby tooth came out today! The adult tooth is already half grown in, but it grew in behind the baby tooth. As a result, it took a lot longer for the old tooth to fall out. I am hoping the new tooth moves forward a bit. But genetics dictates this kid is bound to have some crooked bottom teeth.

The tooth has been wiggly for a few weeks now, and I have checked on it every day to see how it was coming along. We just kept telling Cameron to keep wiggling it, so it could come out. Today when I checked it was just barely hanging in there, so I knew it was time. I just reached in an plucked it out. He hardly even felt it. And boy was he proud!! The tooth is already waiting under his pillow for the Tooth Fairy:-) Craig came home a few minutes later and Cameron was right there at the door to show off his new "hole" to his daddy. Yes, a proud day indeed!

It is crazy to think that my little boy is losing teeth already. Who gave him permission to grow up? But I love all these new and exciting moments in his life.

Craig asked me to snap one of him and Cameron together. It's funny how a quick snapshot can become your most favorite photo. I LOVE these two boys!!

My First Bridal Show!

2010-07-11T10:52:00.000-07:00

This past Thursday I received a call from Jan Schuurman of Shoootz Photography inviting me to participate as a vendor in their Fantazy Bridal Show which took place at the Wight House in Bountiful. Except the show was this past Saturday!! That gave me only 36 hours to put everything together. I have never participated in a bridal show before, and I had NO studio samples of brides or weddings. A little odd, yes, but everything I have is of portraits. Pretty much the only thing I had was my business cards.

Thanks to the fabulous people at Inkley's in Layton, UT and to Chester at Postnet in North Salt Lake, I was able to pull together a nice presentation. I still did not have samples of albums and such, but I still think my booth looked nice. And I had an added bonus in that my booth had a very large flat screen TV with a DVD player so that I could run a sideshow of some of my favorite weddings.

Saturday was a very hot day, and I think there was another bridal show happening elsewhere. So maybe that is what kept the brides away. At any rate, there were really not a lot of people in attendance. I am not sure if anything will come out of it for me, but I still had fun.

My booth was right next to the best cake decorators ever! Tricia of Sweet Perfection had the BEST tasting cake I have ever had!!! Her Tuxedo cake was really an out of body experience. And her cakes were beautiful as well.

I sat across from Rusty Sessions of Sidewinder Photography. We had a great time bantering back and forth and strutting our stuff, lol. It was all in good fun, though. I did find out that Rusty was one of the judges at the Davis County Fair last year that awarded one of my images with Best of Show, so I give him a big kudos (even if he IS a Canonite!).

Here are some images of me and my booth. In the future I may try some of the bigger shows as well.

We went to the zoo, zoo, zoo

2010-07-11T10:24:00.000-07:00

I am not sure how many people will get the reference to that title. It comes from an old children's song, "We're Going to the Zoo." Very catchy little tune:-)

So, indeed we did visit the zoo this past week. We went with Craig's cousin Clin and his family as part of our holiday festivities. It was very hot, and I don't like all the hills our zoo has, but it was still fun to spend time with family and enjoy watching the animals (two of my favorite past times, as I am sure you all know).

Here's a funny story. I had brought my big camera with me because I could use my long telephoto lens, which is very useful in taking photos of animals who are fairly far from where I am at. I guess people thought I was there working on a project, because people kept asking me if I was a professional, and what I was working on. Apparently lots of people have "big, fancy cameras", but very few have a telephoto lens. Go figure. At one point a couple stopped me and asked me all sorts of questions about photography and cameras and such. I was more than happy to share what I knew, since photography is also a favorite past time;-)

Despite what people say about my "big fancy camera", I was actually wishing for an upgrade. I was using an older model, which has only 6mp, and is terrible in low light. Way to much noise. Still, I made it work for me, and I got a few nice images to remember my visit.

Love these cute kids!

Madison LOVED the little kitties. She wanted to pet all of them. Can you blame her?

I don't often use direct flash, but it really helped bring out this guys iridescent feathers.

So stinkin' cute!!

I wish our pigeons were this pretty. Then I might not be quite so annoyed by them.

Squirrel! There were a few of these just randomly running around the zoo. And everyone had to stop and check them out, lol.

Zuri! She is almost a year old, but such a cute baby! I am not sure I have ever seen a baby elephant in person before.

My boy. Love him!

Our "New" Piano

2010-06-25T16:23:00.000-07:00

I have been wanting a piano for ages. Pretty much since I moved out of my parents' house. I always had a piano growing up, and it was very well used. Most of us kids at least tinkered with it, some of us played it more enthusiastically.

I never really had any formal piano lessons growing up. I pretty much taught myself to play, suing the Reader's Digest Children's Songbook. I had no idea what the ABC thing was all about. The first note I knew was middle C, which for me was 1. The next note was 2, and so on. If there was a sharp, it had a + next to the number. There were no -, because they just used the lower number with the + sign. So a B flat was actually 6+.

Once I had all the numbering down I memorized where the notes were placed on the scale. This was I was able to learn how to play melody and harmony on the right hand. The left hand was totally different. I did not have a number scale to follow for those lower notes. So I would start at 1 (middle C), and count the notes backwards to find the one I wanted on the scale. It was hard work! But I persevered, and pretty soon I had those notes memorized as well, and could play simple songs.

I think I got to be pretty decent at playing. Not great, but okay. Since I never had any formal lessons, I never really had anyone to push me when things got tricky. If I felt the work was too much, I simply didn't do it, choosing to stay with the "easy" songs.

When I was at college I was able to take a beginning piano course just for fun. There I learned that everything I had taught myself was pretty much wrong. I had the hardest time figuring out the right fingering. When you are used to doing something one way your entire life, it is really hard to change those habits. I still don't do it the right way. Oh well.

When Craig and I went on our first date, one of the things we did was head down the music practice rooms in the DeJong Concert hall at BYU. I had told him I had composed a few simple songs, and he wanted to hear them. After I had finished, he said he wanted to play some songs for me. And he did. Beautifully. By memory. Yeah, that boy didn't stand a chance after that. His playing totally won my heart, and I was NOT letting anyone else have him! LOL.

For those interested in knowing, Craig's whole family is very musically talented. They all play at least one instrument, and they are all great singers. They love music so much that when my IL's purchased a Grand Piano, they decided to build a whole room for it! No, I am not jealous. Well, okay, a little. But they let me play it whenever I want:-)

Craig and I have been married now for 7 years, but we have never had a piano of our own. A little out of the budget. The only times we got to play was when we visited family that had a piano. Not really often enough for us to keep up on our skills (well, Craig has skills, I just pretend to).

Well, our dreams have come true at last! Not long ago I was sitting in church (one of those rare times when I actually had the day off), and one of the ladies mentioned that she and her husband where moving and had a very large old piano that they didn't want, and were willing to give away if anyone cared to have it. I practically fell out of my seat! I mean that literally. All the ladies around me had a good laugh. And they kindly spoke up for me.

The piano indeed large and old. In fact, it is over 100 years old! Still in pretty good shape, though. It is seriously out of tune (I can't seem to find a tuner that wants to tune it), but I still play it every day. It is such a wonderful thing to have a piano in the home!

And even better, Cameron loves it, too. We probably won't start him on lessons (and yes, I will make sure he gets lessons), until he is eight. Right now he just enjoys tinkering on it and making up little songs. So cute! He definitely has some musical genes in him:-)

And to show off it's loveliness, here are a few images:-)

At the Dino Park

2010-05-21T13:23:00.000-07:00

I am a terrible blogger. So many things happen, but I get so busy that I forget to blog about them. By the time I remember, so much time has passed that I feel it is all irrelevant. But some things are still fun to talk about.

Here's one of those things. Recently Craig took Cameron to the Dino Park in Ogden. If you haven't been there, you really need to go! This is a place made just for kids. We won a family pass from Cameron's HeadStart program, so we can go whenever we want.

This time they were having a Father-Child day, so Craig and Cameron went together (I would have gone, too, but I had to work). Cameron loves running around checking out all the dinosaurs. HIs favorite is T-rex (of course!), but the Velociraptor comes in a close second. Hmm, maybe we ought to show him Jurrasic Park - I bet he'd love it.

Cameron is also big into Pokemon, and he has a Poke Ball (the thing the Pokemon stay in when they are not out fighting). Cameron was going around trying to "catch" the dinosaurs in his Poke Ball. This is probably one of my new favorite snapshots that Craig took. I laugh every time I see it!

A Close Shave

2010-04-26T09:11:00.000-07:00

It has been a while since I have really updated the blog, but a lot has happened, so I am going to try and play a little catch up.

We had a recent scary experience in our home. Back in mid-March, I noticed our cat Ender was looking a little lethargic. I didn't think too much about it at first. But then one evening I was fixing dinner and he came in the kitchen and plopped himself down in the middle of the floor. He NEVER lies on the floor in the kitchen. I gave him a little nudge to get him to move out of the way, but he would hardly budge. Still, he's a cat, which means he's stubborn by nature, so again, I did not think too much of it. He wandered off after a little while.

Later that evening Craig and I were sitting in the living room when we heard the most pathetic yowling. Seriously, words cannot describe it. We thought it was some weird siren at first. Then the cat came limping in. He looked awful. I followed him into the kitchen, where he collapsed on to the floor.

I checked him over, and found a MASSIVE lump in his belly. It was hard as a rock, and was obviously causing him a great deal of pain. My immediate thought was cancer.
I rushed him to the emergency room (yes, they have ERs for pets!), and the doctor immediately rushed him to the back. Turns out the massive lump was his BLADDER. The poor cat had stones that were blocking his urethra. Which means he couldn't pee. Probably in days. Can you imagine being forced to hold it for DAYS??!!

His Urea and Potassium levels were totally off the charts (as in, so high they literally could not chart it). Doc said that had we waited until morning, he would have been gone. He probably would not have lasted even another few hours. As it was, he was just barely hanging on.

Fortunately, the doc was able to remove the stones and drain the bladder. Ender was in the hospital for several days. The house seemed so different without him. We never realized how much he meant to us until he wasn't there. We knew we loved him, of course, but when he was gone it was like a weird void was left in his place, and none of us liked it. Cameron was particularly upset, and really wanted his cat back!

I am happy to report that all is well with Ender. It has been over a month since the incident, and he is back to his normal self. We were told that his issue is very common in male neutered cats (I remember our cat growing up had a very similar problem). Ender is now on a special diet. It is outrageously overpriced, but it will help keep him well. For us, he is worth it. Our pets are not just animals. They are our family, and we take care of our family.

There is a humerous side to this. They used a catheter to drain the bladder, but they had to shave a little fur on his rear. We have been calling him "Baboon Butt" all month, lol. Fortunately for him, the fur is starting to grow back in.

Love this man!

2010-04-20T16:35:00.001-07:00

Just had to share! I was doing a photos for a photography lesson I was preparing, and Craig was my willing subject:-) Yes, I know, he's very handsome! I feel so incredibly blessed (or maybe just lucky!) that I am married to him.

Thoughts on Food

2010-04-07T16:54:00.001-07:00

I have noticed lately an increase in the interest of food. People have become quite obsessive about it. They don't just eat it. They talk about it. They blog about it. And they take pictures of it. It seems so odd to me.

Am I the only one that doesn't care about food? I mean, I like to eat. I am not anorexic or anything. But I don't obsess about it. I can cook pretty decent meals (so says my husband), but I don't LIKE to cook. In fact, I hate cooking. I hate having to sit and plan out a meal, gather all the ingredients, and spend an hour or more in the kitchen putting it all together. Simple is good. If I can't put a meal together in under 30 minutes, it isn't worth eating.

And here is another thing. What is this whole deal with "nutrients"? Have you walked through the aisles of the grocery store lately? EVERYTHING has added nutrients. Vitamins of all kinds have been added to our foods, like cereal, margarine, meat, milk. Pick up any one of those products and read the ingredients. There is an insanely long list of stuff you can't pronounce, and a few "real" things. Or sometimes, they are not even real. I see a lot of "artificial" these days. Even my pet food. I recently went to a local supermarket to look for the best pet food, one in which at least the first three ingredients were protein. But there is a whole lot of corn in those foods. For those not in the know, corn is a filler. It is difficult to digest, and holds little nutritional value, except as a starch, which can be sometimes good, but bad if you eat too much of it.

I think food is such a big part of our lives because we HAVE to have it. And since we have to have it, why not have a variety? For people that cook, kudos to you. Keep on cooking, especially for those of us that hate it, lol. But cook good, wholesome foods. Take the fake crap out of your diet. Grow a garden.

I like what Michael Pollan has to say about food: Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.

If we are going to obsess about food, at least lets do it in a healthy way.

Snakes, Strep, and Stitches

2010-02-22T14:41:00.000-08:00

Isn't that a fun title? C'mon, I know you just got the willies. Or maybe the heebie-jeebies. But don't run away just yet. It's not nearly as bad as you might think, I promise;-)Last week the Head Start program put on a big event. It was all about Dinosaurs, so Cameron was really in his element (I think he takes after his daddy!). There were lots of activity booths were he could make fun projects, like a spiffy dino headband and necklace. He loved helping me make the model dinosaur (he insisted on a velociraptor). The model was made out of this stuff called Model Magic by Crayola. It's very soft and moldable and extremely light weight. It was fun!
At the end of the night they had a guy come in and do a reptile show. He was great! he really knew how to connect with the kids, but made it just as fun for the adults. I loved the baby Green Anaconda the best, but Cameron was excited about the giant tortoise and the albino python. BTW, he said that python is still quite young, so still has some growing to do! It was a lot of fun, we learned a lot, and best of all, it was free. We love having Cameron in Head Start because it gives us an opportunity to share fun things with him that we would otherwise not be able to afford.
So last week was Valentine's, but neither Craig nor I were much in the mood to celebrate. We had Strep! Craig was actually pretty lucky. He eats yogurt almost every day. All those probiotics really helped his immune system, so his Strep was pretty low-key - just a sore throat and some soreness. But I HATE yogurt. Truly nasty stuff, IMO. Sadly, this meant nothing to help bolster my immune system, so when the Strep hit, it hit BAD. Muscle soreness everywhere, fatigue, fever, nausea, headache, sore throat - the works!
Fortunately, we were both able to get the antibiotic rump shot. OUCH!!! This actually caused another problem - my neck muscles felt very tight and very painful. It felt like all the vertebrae had been fused together.

We're all better, now, though, thank goodness! We suspect that Craig and I got Strep from Cameron, who had it a couple of weeks ago. He has a very strong immune system, though, and the Strep went away on its own, without the need for the antibiotics.
Speaking of Cameron, we just took him for his five year check-up. He is FINALLY over 40lbs - weighing in at 43lbs 0oz! I can't remember how tall he is. He has excellent vision, and the doc was very impressed with his development. He's a smart cookie! We have been a little worried about his social behaviors, and we are working with a behaviorist to try and find ways for him to interact more with other children. The hardest part for Cameron was getting all his five year shots. There were four of them, and he was NOT happy about it. I had to hold him down, and I think this was the first time I cried when he got shots. It never bothered me before, but his screams this time were just heartbreaking. Fortunately, it will be a good long while before he will need any more shots.
And finally, the stitches! No, not the boo-boo kind. I have recently started learning how to knit! I have some friends that do AMAZING things with knitting and crochet. I have been crocheting for some 20 years (wow, that makes me sound old, doesn't it?), but I have never learned to knit. But I decided to give it a try. And it is HARD! Or at least, it was hard at first. I had no one to show me how to do the stitches. I just had my guide book. So I was basically self-teaching, which is tricky when learning something so detailed. But, I kept going, and I made this:
Yup, that's a cable knit, folks:-) I won't tell you how long it took me to make that, lol. I have also knitted my very first baby hat, which is very cute. But I want to add a knitted flower, so I will post a picture of the whole thing when I get it finished.

I still think I prefer crochet, but it feels good to learn a new skill.

Are you smarter than a 5-year-old?

2010-01-20T17:32:00.000-08:00

Last night we were talking to Cameron about how the Earth spins and makes night and day. This was totally cool to him:-) We used a flashlight with his globe. We even pointed to where we lived, so he could tell us if we were in night or day as the globe spun around.

Then, Cameron let us know that the atmosphere on our planet is what creates the bright blue sky. He said if we took the atmosphere away, then the sky would just be black. We could still see, though, because of the light from the sun.

This is something I SHOULD have known, but I didn't. Or rather, I never thought about it before, so it wasn't high on my list of things "to know". So, my five-year-old taught me something. I really didn't expect stuff like this to happen until he was much older. This kid is smart!

And yes, he really did say "atmosphere".

No girls allowed!

2010-01-18T16:31:00.000-08:00

We were talking with Cameron about his friends. Cameron has a few "best friends", who he is practically inseparable from. During this conversation, Cameron suddenly exclaimed:

"I want a brother!"

"But what if you get a little sister?" I asked.

"Nooooooooooo!"

Apparently, I am not allowed to have the girl I have always wanted, lol.

Christmas and so forth

2010-01-09T20:38:00.000-08:00

I have been CRAZY busy with work lately, so I am just now getting around to blogging about Christmas. I know that sounds like such a cliché excuse, but it's true. The nice thing is that I have ultimate job security - babies are never going to stop being born:-)

So, Christmas. We headed down to sunny Las Vegas, and that made me HAPPY! In case you didn't already know (and if you don't, you don't know me very well), I HATE winter. I hate the cold and the snow. I am a warm weather and sunshine kind of girl. I am still trying to figure out why I live in Utah, but it may have something to do with how so much of my friends and family live here. So I tough it out every winter:-)

Whoops. Sorry for the tangent. Back on track now. Cameron was SUPER excited about Christmas this year. Last year he was just starting to get the whole Santa Clause thing, but this year it was magical! I have noticed that as I have gotten older, Christmas has lost a lot of that "magic spark". But having Cameron has brought so much of that back. Christmas is such a special time for children.

This year Cameron asked Santa for one thing. He just wanted a space ship:-) Cameron is into anything and everything space related, so this request came as no surprise. And of course, Santa delivered! Cameron got a little model space shuttle with astronauts. For the first few days he would not let it go. It went everywhere with him! But as soon as we got home, he made a special place for it on his shelf, so that "he can always look at it." He still plays with the astronauts a lot.

Cameron also got a model planet kit, where we can paint the planets (we have done the sun and four of the planets so far), several space related books, and LOTS of dinosaurs. That is another favorite of his. I sometimes make up stories for him - "The Adventures of Charlie and Bob". Two dinosaurs (a stegosaurus and a triceratops) who go on many fantastic adventures and meet lots of new dinosaurs. Cameron is excited that we have more dinosaurs to add to the adventures. Finally, I made Cameron a warm pair of jammies with a space theme. I looked all over in the stores, and couldn't find any, so I decided to make some. They are his new favorite pair of jammies, of course:-) After Christmas, Cameron used some of his gift money to buy Spore: Galactic Adventure. For those not in the know, Spore is a computer game where you can create creatures and have them evolve. It is a pretty simple game, but gets a little more complex as the game goes on. The upgrade is all about space adventures. Cameron loves being able to create his own worlds.

I got two things this year that I was especially excited about. The first was a gift card to Massage Envy. I have never had a professional massage, but I have been wanting to try it for a LONG time, so Craig surprised me:-) I already used the gift card, and I LOVED it! I was a little sore afterwards, but it felt good. I might have to go back again!

The second big thing was my new point and shoot camera. it may seem silly for me to want a little "dinky" camera, but sometimes bringing my big camera around can be such a hassle. DSLRs are bulky, and fairly conspicuous. For those wanting to know, it is a Nikon Coolpix L20.

Shortly after Christmas we got to celebrate my niece's birthday. Aubrey turned 4 this year, and had a princess party. EVERYTHING is pink and princesses with her. I often wonder what I will do if we have a little girl who is so into pink and princesses. Not really my thing, never has been. Maybe I can get her excited about space, too:-)

Now that the holidays are over, it is back to work. I am working on some new promotions for my studio that I am really excited about, and of course I am very busy taking photos for Bella Baby Photography. Love those newborns! Cameron is doing very well in school, and now reads whole sentences. He has made several new friends this year, but especially Hayden and Damien - his two best friends! They are inseparable, and have a lot of fun together. Craig is also staying busy at work, and in his downtime he enjoys playing Magic: The Gathering and playing video games. Orion (our dachshund) turned a year old this December. I love him to death, but I HATE his chewing habit (which he apparently inherited from his mom). He's smart, though, and knows LOTS of tricks. His favorite is "beg". This is normally very hard to teach a dog, but he started doing it all on his own, and does it ALL THE TIME. It's his was of getting attention. Do you think it works?

We'll see how long it takes me to blog the next time:-)

Icing on Top

2009-12-18T20:44:00.000-08:00

How about a cheerier topic? My life is not all dark and bleak as some might think. We do have some happier moments around here as well (it is what keeps me thinking positive). And what better topic is there to talk about than cake? Well, okay, photography, of course. But that is why I have a whole separate blog for that!

Once upon a time, I was really big into cake decorating. LOVED it. Except the clean up. HATED that part. All those little icing tips. Yuck. Anyway, I stopped doing ti for a couple of reasons. First, we moved into a teeny tiny apartment. You need LOTS of space when you do cakes, especially large orders like wedding cakes. We had cakes everywhere. It was too much for us. Secondly, I found that the more cakes I did, the more my hands started to hurt. Like really hurt. They would cramp up so bad, I couldn't even uncurl them from around the icing bags. Found out I was starting to develop a little arthritis.

I still do some smaller cakes for special occasions, like birthdays, anniversaries, the occasional holiday. Or when I teach a class on cake decorating.

My mom teaches Home Ec (it's not actually called that anymore, but the new big long fancy name is too hard to remember) at Bryant Middle School in SLC. Since the beginning of the year, we planned on having me go in to teach the 8th graders how to decorate cakes. The plan was for me to demonstrate how to decorate the cake one day, then have the kids do their own little cupcakes the next.

The morning I was supposed to go in for the demonstration we had a NASTY snow storm. The roads were terrible, and it took me nearly two hours to drive to the school. I completely missed the first period class:-( But, I was in time for the Second period. The demonstration went great! The kids loved the little "gingerbread" people (I hate actual gingerbread, so I used chocolate sugar cookies). The cake was covered in gumdrops, sprinkles, cookies, and candycanes. Yumm!

The next day, the first period did get to decorate their cupcakes, then proceeded to have a food fight in the hallways after class. I was so ticked off! My mom and I stayed up past midnight two night in a row trying to finish all the cupcakes and icing. My mom had their cooking privileges revoked for the remainder of the year. But I still went in the next day to make up for the morning I missed. They were a rowdy class. People who teach middle school are either very brave, or very insane. Maybe a little of both.

At any rate, the cakes turned out great, and the teachers enjoyed it (I gave the first cake tot he faculty, but kept the second for myself). Funny thing about cake: I love to decorate it, but I don't like to eat it much. The cake was only a 6 in cake, but we didn't finish it all. We are just not cake eaters. Sad, I know. But here is my cute little Christmas cake in all it glory!

Cheated

2009-12-16T13:25:00.000-08:00

Last year, Craig and I decided to adopt. We have always wanted more children, but it just did not seem to be happening on our own. The doctors were perplexed. There did not seem to be anything wrong with either of us, but for some reason, we were just unable to conceive.

Well, the economy has taken a heavy toll on our little family. We were both unemployed for the entire summer and then some. Although we both have jobs now, and are doing a little better, we have sunk deeper in debt, and it will be a LONG time before we unbury ourselves. As such, adoption has become a distant dream. Our credit is so bad that there is no chance of any agency accepting us int their program, and it will take years to rebuild our credit, especially on our current income.

We briefly toyed with the idea of doing infertility treatments, but these can be very expensive, and are not a guarantee. So, the only hope we have right now of having more children is if I were to get pregnant on my own, which is unlikely.

We had just been coming to the realization that more children are simply not in our future, when lo and behold, my period was late. My cycles are as regular as clockwork, and extremely predictable. Anything outside the norm puts us on sudden alert. I didn't tell anyone for several days, waiting to see what would happen. As the days passed, I began to have a little hope. And then a little more. I could just envision showing Craig a positive pregnancy test on Christmas morning.

I hadn't taken a test at this point because I HATE taking those tests. There is NOTHING worse than seeing a big fat negative staring back at you. But, I knew I had to do it sooner or later, so I went out and got a couple last night, planning to use on this morning.

Well, late last night I suddenly started cramping fiercely. I knew immediately what it meant, and sure enough, within a couple of hours I started bleeding.

My feelings were a turmoil. Anger, hurt, betrayal. Betrayed by my body, and yes, I felt betrayed by God. After so many years, why was I given something to hope for, only to have it ripped away? I felt cheated. Ever since I was a little girl I have always wanted to be a mother, and I have always wanted a lot of children. As I stare reality in the face, it looks more and more like that wish will never come true.

I spent several hours crying alone into my pillow. I hadn't told Craig anything, so it seemed silly to wake him up. But as the tears slid down my face, I decided I had two choices. I could either wallow in self-pity, hating God for what I DON'T have, or I could move on, and be grateful for what I DO have.

I have chosen the latter. Yes, I am disappointed, and I still feel hurt. But I am going to pick up the fragmented pieces of my heart and get on with my life. I have an incredible husband who loves me, and I have a little boy who brings so much joy into my life. I have the best job I could eve have - I get to photograph newborns every day! Although I cannot have any more of my own, it is such a blessing to be around others, each one a tiny miracle.

My life has always been full of trials. At times, they seem overwhelming, and the burden is great. But when I give that burden over to the Lord, I am able to see the light in my life, and the many things He has blessed me with.

Thanksgiving and a BIG BIRTHDAY

2009-12-03T14:04:00.000-08:00

What an. . .interesting holiday we had. First, at the beginning of the week we found out that my sis, Jenny, had to go in for emergency surgery. She had appendicitis, and some other complications. Surgery went fine, but then the nurse OD'd her on pain meds and she lapsed into a coma. Not good. The pulled her out of it, and she was actually home in time for Thanksgiving. Crazy! She is doing pretty well now.

For Thanksgiving, we had all the rest of my family at my house, even my bro Bill, who we hardly ever see. I had to work in the morning, but I left instructions on what to cook, so that by the time i got home we could just do some finishing touches and be ready to eat. I worked doggedly all morning, and rushed home, only to find that hardly anything had been done! Only the turkey was finished. The excuse? They got caught up playing video games. I am REALLY starting to hate video games.

So, then I rushed around the kitchen, finishing everything up. Despite the chaos, I think the food turned out pretty good. My favorite were the deviled eggs. Yum!!! And no, I am not going to post a picture of them. Y'all should know what turkey and deviled eggs look like!

It was great having everyone over for Thanksgiving. This was my first year hosting it, and I think it went pretty well. I just wish we had a little more space to put everyone!

As many of you know, I just celebrated THAT birthday. The one that has the 3 and the 0 in it. Yipes! Somedays I really am starting to feel old, but I think that has more to do with me working so much lately. Although, I am VERY grateful for the job I have. We didn't do anything for my birthday, but I did get the day off from work (yay!), and Craig made dinner and brownies for dessert.

Here is irony for you: I love decorating cakes, but I don't like to eat them. Go figure.

Last night Craig and I went out to his work's Christmas Party at the Timberline Steakhouse in Ogden. Seemed to be a very popular place, but I did not think their food was anything grandiose. I guess I just have a soft spot for Outback and Black Angus:-) Great food, low price.

Now we are gearing up for Christmas. Cameron asks nearly every day if it is time to open presents, lol. He is getting some cool space toys this Christmas. He LOVES to hear all about outer space and astronauts. And yes, he is a big Star Wars fan, lol. I love seeing him get so excited to learn about something. This is such a great age for him!

Don't Leave Me!

2009-10-23T16:28:00.000-07:00

Craig often goes out to play Magic: The Gathering (a popular trading card game, for those not in the know) on Friday nights. It's his "guy time". It's fine by me, since that means he won't beg me to play the game with him, lol.

Cameron is not a fan of "guy time" when it does not involve him. Every Friday night he gets annoyed and upset that his daddy goes out to play without him. He REALLY loves his daddy.

Tonight, Craig announced he was leaving to go, and gave Cameron a hug. Cameron clung tightly to him, and pleaded, "Don't leave me!" I have no idea where this kid picks up this stuff, lol. It would have been heartbreaking if it wasn't such an unexpected thing to hear from our five year old. Instead we just busted out laughing. What mean parents we are. :-P

Happy Birthday, Cameron!!!

2009-09-28T15:59:00.001-07:00

I can't believe my baby boy is FIVE!!! How did that happen? Suddenly I have the "big kid" with mile long legs and boats for feet, lol. Not to worry, though. He has assured me that, "I will always be your Baby Boy, Mommy." Oh yes, I love this boy!

The day before his birthday he was not feeling so great. He had woken up with dry heaves and the runs, which was just no fun. We kept him home from school and made sure he got plenty of rest. The next day he was feeling much better. He had no school that day, so we just decided to have a fun day:-) He wanted to go swimming, so I got out his little pool, and he happily splashed around in it for about an hour, while I was busy working on his very special Mickey Mouse birthday cake.

Let me explain the Mickey Mouse theme. Since Cameron was a newborn, I thought it would be great if for his fifth birthday we could take him to Disneyland. Unfortunately, that simply did not work out for us this year. But somehow the idea of Mickey Mouse stuck with him, and he begged for a Mickey Mouse party. We were happy to oblige him:-)

After Craig got home, we took Cameron out to pick out some birthday gifts. Craig and I got him Wii Sports Resort, which we all love:-) We also got him the Star Wars prequel trilogy. Cameron has been a HUGE fan of the original series for some time now, but he has never watched any of the prequels.

That night we started to watch Episode I, but we had hardly got in to it, when Cameron started to look very sleepy. He was asking to go to be even before 8am, so we knew something was up. We put him to bed, and hoped we were wrong.

The next morning he was up early playing his games. I had to leave to teach a photography class, but while I was gone, Craig called to let me know that Cameron was officially sick, sick, sick! All he wanted to do was sleep, and we could not get him to eat anything. Sadly, we had to cancel his birthday party that day.

We kept him home over the weekend, but the illness was very persistent. He had a nasty cough for a few days, and it was very hard to keep his fever down and his appetite up. His doctor suspects he might have had the swine flu. The good news is that it was fairly mild, as far as the flu goes, and we won't have to worry about him getting it again (if it was the swine flu). Happily, he is feeling much better, and back to all his normal activities:-)

Since we could not have his party before, we moved it to this past Saturday. We were a little sad that only two of his friends came, but we still had a lot of fun. I had made a new cake, which was even better than the first, and the kids had fun playing games and getting loaded up on sugar, lol.

I hope that someday soon we will be able to take Cameron to Disneyland. But for now, I think he to a good healthy dose of Mickey Mouse:-)

Cameron's First Day of School!

2009-09-09T08:42:00.000-07:00

Ah, my little boy is growing up! It's a bittersweet moment for me. I miss the little baby, but I have really enjoyed watching him grow and learn.

Today was Cameron's first day of "school". This is only preschool, as he missed the Kindergarten cutoff here by all of two weeks. Sad! We cannot afford a private preschool anymore, but he was accepted into Head Start. He gets to go to the "big kid school", as he calls it, which is so exciting:-)

Cameron is so excited to learn. For someone his age, everything is still fresh and new. He is already learning how to read, and can read little words like, "cat", "mat", and "exit". He also likes numbers.

Here are a few pics of his first day!

I hate scammers!

2009-08-28T18:53:00.001-07:00

We had an interesting experience here this week. Craig has been putting application all over, trying to find any decent job. He put in an application to one company that does property management. The position was for collections, which Craig has done in the past, so he thought he would be a good fit.

Before we knew it, he had been offered a position of employment! But instead of being excited, we became very wary. Craig had never had an interview, and had not even spoken to anyone over the phone. The company turned out to be based in London, which made us even more cautious.

Craig decided to try contacting them to talk with someone live, and get some more info. Instead, they emailed him to let him know that the first "rent" check from a client was on it's way to our home. Of course, this sent up red flags all over. They had not even had Craig fill out any tax info yet, or even ask for a SS number.

We talked to my bro, who is also in property management, and he agreed it sounded very suspicious. It was certainly not how his company handled things. We ended calling the Attorney General for advice. They also agreed that this sounded like a money laundering scam.

The check did come, and Craig took it straight to the bank so they could run a background check on it. Turns out the account was valid, but frozen due to multiple accounts of fraudulent activity! The check was worth quite a bit, and if we had actually put it through the bank, it could have been devastating for us.

Normally, scams are pretty easy detect, but these guys were being very tricky. They gave all their info piece by piece. In the beginning, they never mentioned anything about Western Union, Paypal, or where we were to deposit the money. those would have been immediate tipoffs. The English was very good, and gave detailed instructions. We Googled the company name, and it turned out to be a legitimate company in London. They probably have no idea their company is being used as a front for illegal operations.

Fortunately for us, we were listening to the Spirit, and we were able to avoid being taken in. But it makes me angry that there are people out there who are so willing to prey on the weak and the desperate. They offered a comfortable sum of money for "employment", and because they were so sneaky, I know many people could be easily fooled.

FYI, the scam company was operating under the name of Kalmars Property Management. Hopefully no one else will be duped by these people.

"Lil" the duck - a long overdo update

2009-08-20T17:30:00.000-07:00

I am sure some of you are wondering how "Lil" (aka Lily) the duck is doing. Truth is, I couldn't tell you. Because Lil is no longer here.

After 6 weeks, we were finally able to release our duck back to the pond. He was mostly fully feathered, and getting too big to keep in a crate any longer. He also reeked. I was cleaning his crate twice a day, and it was still in a constant state of filth. Folks, DO NOT keep ducks indoors if you can help it. PHEW!

One surprise we had was the slow realization that "Lily" wasn't a "Lily" at all. In fact, our little duck turned out to be a male. That was my first instinct, and we had even given him a boy name, when I decided to double check by sexing him. But sexing can be tricky, and I guess I didn't get it quite right. We realized he was male when his feet and bill starting turning yellow. It is odd that on all the websites I went to about sexing ducks, they never mentioned the change of bill and feet colors in males. Females will retain a very dark bill and brown feet, whereas in a male they will turn yellow. I am not sure if this is true for all ducks, but it is certainly true for Mallards and their domestic counterparts. I have never seen a case where this is not true.

Lil was THRILLED to go to the pond. The last time I released a duck, Mira, I had to coax her out of her crate, and even then she did not want to leave my side. it was painful letting her go, because neither of us wanted it. But with Lil, practically the moment I opened the crate door he was out and made a beeline for the water! He splished and splashed and dove, and you could just see how very happy he was. I was a little worried that seeing other ducks might freak him out (since he had not seen any for 6 weeks), but he seemed to be right at home among them.

The only very sad part was watching Orion. He strained on his leash to get in the water, too (totally unlike him!), and whined pitifully for his little friend. He really loved that little duck.

Since releasing Lil, we have not been able to find him again, as he looks just like all the other dozens and dozens of ducks at the pond. We were going to put a little tag on his leg, but then I forgot, and by the time I remembered it was too late. Oh well. I am sure he is doing just fine out there, and I am happy that I was able to care for him.

Here are a few images:

This is one of my faves from when we first found him. So tiny and fluffy and cute!

And here he is the day we released him. Not so tiny and fluffy, but still very cute.

Here is Lil in the pond. Notice the female in the top right corner with her dark bill, as compared to his yellow bill and feet.

I hate being broke

2009-08-19T00:27:00.000-07:00

Whoever said money can't buy happiness was obviously never flat broke and jobless. Maybe money can't buy happiness itself, but it sure can make life easier.

It has been over 3 months since Craig and I have worked. We have both put in applications and resumes EVERYWHERE. We have thought outside the box and applied for jobs we never would have thought of before. And yet, the phones are eerily silent. When we do get interviews, we never hear back.

Meanwhile, the bills are piling up, and the collectors call on a daily basis. I agonize over even the smallest purchases, wondering if what I want is really worth it, or if maybe I could get by without it. It is almost physically painful to know we have so much debt over our heads, and no way to pay it off. For some reason the collectors do not understand that sine we are JOBLESS, we can't pay them. And even more weird is how they have special payment programs for people who are working, but for people who are out of work, no such luck. Does that make any sense to you?

We are doing the best we can to get by, day by day. I have had a few more sessions this month, which has been nice, but also some cancellations, which is sad. People just aren't willing to pay money for quality photos, I guess.

The very saddest thing about our financial situation is not being able to take Cameron to Disneyland next month for his birthday. Since he was a baby, I always thought it would be really fun to take him to Disneyland on his 5th birthday. Then they came out with the free birthday pass, which was even better! But, there is just no way we can afford a trip like that right now, even with his free pass. Thinking about it makes me want to cry.

I really and truly hate how so many of the fun things we plan, or things we want, or even need, are centered around whether we have money in our bank account. Day to day living becomes almost unbearable when you know you will have a hard time just putting food on the table, and keeping that roof over your head.

Cakes and Dinosaurs

2009-08-10T17:02:00.000-07:00

This past week we had the opportunity to head out to my parent's house in Price, UT. They are planning on selling their house, and I agreed to take some nice photos of the house. It is almost a shame they have to leave the home. It is by far the largest home they have ever been in, and I know they really liked the area. However, since they are moving closer to us, I don't feel too bad about it:-)

Since this past weekend was also the birthdays of my sister Amanda (who turned 15) and my dad (who's age I will not disclose), I also decided to bake them a cake. The specifications were that it must be a chocolate cake with chocolate icing. I decided to add some strawberries for a little color and flavor. This was a pretty simple cake, but it was really yummy.

My sister took one look at the cake, declared she hated homemade icing, and refused to even try the cake. Sad. Who would not love to eat this cake? So delicious and moist.

On Friday we decided to visit the Dinosaur museum. Cameron loved looking at all the big skeletons and watching the live alligator. My favorite was the phosphorescent rocks seen under a black light. So cool! And for those of you wondering, yes, Craig STILL remembers most of the dinosaur names, even the really long, hard to pronounce ones.

The Things He Says

2009-07-26T22:12:00.001-07:00

We are constantly amazed by the words that come out of Cameron's mouth. Some are sweet, others hilarious, and others, well, we just don't know what to think, lol.

We recently had the opportunity to visit the Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house. the lines were VERY long, and it was late. We finally made it in to the Celestial Room, which was quite beautiful. As we were leaving, Cameron turned and said, "I want to be in that room." We had been through MANY rooms, but it was that room he loved most. Even so young, he feels the Spirit.

Tonight, at dinner, Cameron said the prayer:

"Thank thee for all my books that I can read, Thank thee for my games that I can play, bless the food, In the name . . .What's my line?"

Cameron repeats game quotes frequently. Right now, he is big into Strong Bad. His favorite quote - "Oh, crapsicles!" Other phrases include, "I hope it's not. . .dangeresque." On the phone: "Hello, Commissioner? What? No, I'm not in that business anymore. Stupid telemarketers." This last phrase he says while wearing his Dangeresque sunglasses and talking into a cell phone - he's very authentic:-) I'm not going to repeat the whole thing here, but he knows the "200 Sbemails" song by heart. And the Trogdor song. And all the other songs on that site.

Independence Day Celebrations

2009-07-13T14:29:00.001-07:00

We had so much fun this Independence Day! The morning started out with the Layton Independence Day parade. We were exited because the parade was passing about 50 yards from our house! That was good, because traffic and parking looked pretty bad. I could see some people eye-ing our driveway, lol.

At first, we were disappointed with the parade. I had been watching for days as people were coming to save the best spots. So we were a little surprised and annoyed when the parade seemed to end only 15 minutes after it had started. Nothing really exciting had even come by yet, except for some cool old cars. We went back to the house, but after a few minutes I heard a band playing. I looked outside and it looked like the parade had resumed. Craig and Cameron decided they didn't want to go back, so I decided to take Orion. I'm glad we went because we got to see some really cool stuff. Orion's favorite were the Humane Society walking some dogs:-) He wasn't too sure about the horses though.

In the evening we got to watch the big fireworks show - from our backyard:-) They do the show from Layton High School, which is practically next door to us. The only thing obstructing our view was the house right behind ours, but we were so close to the action that it really didn't matter.

Craig and I both agreed that it is going to take a lot for us to every leave the house on the 4th. We are thinking of having a BBQ next year and inviting friends and family over.

You are probably all wondering how our puppy handled the fireworks, with them being so close. Shortly before nightfall I took Orion out for a nice long walk, just to get out any extra energy. When we got back, we lit our own little fireworks, and Orion snoozed peaceably in my lap. There was a band in the park that was lighting cannons, which were quite loud, but they hardly fazed the dog. When the big fireworks started he started getting excited and barked at them, so we put him in the house. We did not know that Cameron had left the font door wide open (we were in the back), and Orion had plenty of opportunity to run off. Instead, he just ran right around to where we were. He's such a good dog! We found the cat hiding under our bed, lol.

I took LOTS of pictures, and the only way I could think of to share them with you is in a slideshow. So, enjoy!

Orion & Lily

2009-07-06T18:06:00.000-07:00

I just had to post a little video of our dog and duck together:-) Although they seem to get along well, I still have to keep an eye on them. Orion likes to try and pick her up in his mouth, like a mommy dog would pick up her puppies. Lily does not like that so much. But it IS cute to watch her follow him wherever he goes. With Orion as her protector, I am sure she will do just fine:-)

And now Feathers!

2009-07-03T11:42:00.000-07:00

As if our home wasn't already a menagerie, lol

I was out walking Orion a couple nights ago, and we found a little orphaned duckling running around in the street. Of course I could not just leave her there! I brought her home, and have been taking care of her since. We name her Lily (and yes, she is a girl!).

This is not my first experience raising a duckling. Some of you may remember my beloved little duck, Mira (MY-RA), who was my little miracle, sent from my Heavenly Father to save my life. Long story.

Anyway, the big difference with raising this duckling is that now I have a cat, a dog, and a little boy. Cameron just wants to hold the duckling all the time, but the cat and dog would rather just have her as a snack.

I spent the better part of yesterday with Orion and Lily together in the same room. My goal is to completely suppress Orion's natural instinct to attack the duckling. It has actually been going quite well. They were to the point yesterday where they were napping together side-by-side. At one point Lily even hopped up Orion's nose! But I have to keep at it every day, so that Orion always knows that he is NOT allowed to go into predator mode.

The cat is a little harder to work with, but we have been making progress with him, too.

Okay, I know you are all just dying to see some pics of her!

Fathers, Fur, and Friends

2009-06-30T21:17:00.000-07:00

As it has been a little while since I last posted, I will have to play a little catch-up.

First, let's talk about Fathers, and how Craig is a good one:-) Cameron REALLY loves his dad. Craig can often be seen playing video games with his boy, or playing Magic: TG (their own special version), or just hanging out together. They have a very special bond, and it is great to see the two of them together.

In honor of such a wonderful dad, I baked a wonderful cake! It has been a while since I last did a cake. This one was only a 6in, but by the end of decorating my hands were almost numb with pain, and I could barely move my fingers. In case you all were wondering, that is why you do not see very many cakes from me anymore! But I was happy to do this one, and even happier to see that I had not lost the old skills:-)

Here is a Cameron funny. As we were getting ready to cut into the cake, Cameron said, "We already had Mother's Day, and now it is Father's Day." There was a little pause, and then he asked, "When is Little Boy's Day?" So, we decided we would have to put together an "unofficial" Little Boy's Day. Stay tuned for that!

Things have been going very well with our puppy, Orion. I am happy to report that he very rarely pees in the house anymore. However, he still has the habit of pooping on the carpet. Yuck! Just yesterday Orion pooped in the living room. Craig was the one who found it (I was downstairs) and I had assumed he had cleaned it up. Nope. He waited for me to get it. Next thing we know, Cameron had JUMPED in the poop, and SMEARED it across the carpet. it was really ground in there! Fortunately, I have a special enzyme cleaner that took care of it - no stain, no smell.

Of course, Cameron went to time out. I told him he needed to think about what he had done. Through his tears, he proclaimed, "I think I need a nap. I need some quiet time." I could not agree more!

Orion is still a great motivator for exercising. We still go on two walks a day, and I am now in my third week of jogging. I can now jog about 1/3 mi. Still not much, but baby steps, right? I am also keeping up with my pilates. And all this exercise has made a noticeable difference. I think I have probably lost at least an inch off my waist, and my whole body feels leaner and firmer. I am feeling really good! I am not sure if it is due to the exercise, but I have also had FAR fewer migraines this month. It may still be too soon to tell, but I am hoping that this good be what my body has really needed all along.

Another good thing has come from my new exercise regime, and that is that Craig has now taken up running and other exercise again! I think he has seen how much it has benefited me, and it motivated him to do likewise.

The exercising has been great for Orion, too. He is well on his way to becoming a very healthy and balanced dog! But I was feeling a little guilty for spending so much time with my dog, and not as much time with my son. So now Craig and I have committed to taking Cameron to the park every day so that he can run and release his own energy.

Hmm, can one little dog really help a whole family get in shape? Stay tuned!

This past Saturday we met with Craig's cousin Jessie and her family, as well as Clin and his family down in Salt Lake. It was a gorgeous day as we toured Temple Square. I have been there quite a bit lately for photoshoots, but it was nice to just wander around leisurely, and it was nice to see family.

My favorite part was when we saw the Joseph Smith movie. SO AMAZING! If you have not had the chance to see it, GO SEE IT! It was just incredibly powerful, and only served to reinforce in my mind that I know Joseph Smith to be a true prophet of God. He did more for us than can be imagined, and sacrificed even more to make those things happen. He was truly inspired, and loved by so many. I realized later that we actually saw the movie on the anniversary date of Joseph's martyrdom - June 27, 1844. Coincidence?

And finally (I know this is getting long, just bare with me), Saturday night was our Ward party. We went to the Layton Surf n Swim, which is a bog wave pool located in the park next to us. We had not been there before, but we had a lot of fun! The food was great, and Cameron LOVED the wave pool! It was pretty shallow for the most part, and he could walk out pretty far, but mostly he enjoyed sitting in the inner tube and riding the waves:-) We decided we will need to go back again when we get the chance.

Well, that is all for now. There are a few other things, but I will cover those in another post later.

Adventures at Wheeler Farm

2009-06-19T19:47:00.000-07:00

Cameron and I were invited to go to Wheeler Farm in SLC with some friends. Cameron was soo excited! He has not seen his friend Ethan since we moved more than 6 months ago, so this was a very special treat. And I was happy to see Ethan's mom, Veronica again:-)Veronica

Ethan and Cameron

For those that have not been to Wheeler Farm, it is a great place. There are lots of animals - horses, cows, chicken, rabbits, geese - as well as other fun things. It is also very scenic, and a popular spot for photographers.

Veronica had brought along another friend, Brandy, and her children. It was so much fun for the kids to run around, and such a beautiful day. I think their favorite was playing in the tree house and on the old tractor. Cameron enjoyed riding the little pony:-)
Yes, he STILL has that old sword! A hero is only as good as his sword, after all:-)

We did have one scary moment. We decided to have a little lunch, and Brandy headed to her car to get some food, while Veronica and I watched the kids and found a place to sit. After a few minutes, Veronica suddenly realized that one of the children was missing! I told her I thought I saw him following his mom to the parking lot, but when Brandy returned, little Andrew was not with her.

A frantic search for the little boy ensued. It was very busy, with many families and children around, making the search a little more challenging, but what really had everyone worried is that the river that runs though the farm was running very high and fast due to all the rain we have had. Andrew had been playing near the water earlier, and everyone's first thought was that he had fallen in.

Within moments, other moms had stopped what they were doing to join in the search. Farm helpers went into action, and everyone rallied to find the lost boy. Fortunately, he was found soon after, wandering the parking lot. As I had thought, he had followed his mom out to the parking lot, but she never noticed he was there.

Afterward, many moms came to share their relief that he had been found. Many had tears in their eyes. Even though they did not know the child, they still felt the sense of dread of losing a child, and the ultimate relief of finding him again. Moms can be very protective of their own children, but can also be very protective of other children as well. It is God's gift to us to feel so much empathy towards others, one I am very grateful for.

The funny thing is that Andrew really had no idea what all the fuss was about! All he knew is that his mom and every other woman on the farm was crying and making a fuss over him, which I think scared him more than anything else. It was good I was there, as well, to help keep the other kids calm and their minds preoccupied with other random things. They had started to pick up on the sense of panic, and were very worried, so I helped to calm them down.

Aside from that harrowing experience, i think we all enjoyed ourselves. The kids had fun running around and playing, and us women enjoyed chatting. It was something we all needed. By the time I got home, the day had definitely caught up to me, and I completely crashed. I slept for several hours! An exhausting day, indeed!

Snake in the Grass

2009-06-18T11:35:00.001-07:00

I am outside a lot, and particularly in my garden. I love digging in the dirt and helping things grow. Of course, there is a lot more than just plants and soil in my garden. For one thing, there are bugs. Lots of them. I am a little miffed about this, as they are eating up my plants. This is particularly annoying in the vegetable garden. I have yet to be able to pick any edible strawberries. As soon as they start to ripen the bugs get in them. Very annoying. I was hoping to grow things organically, but we have such a nasty bug problem that I don't think I have any other choice than to spray.

Another thing I have a lot of in my garden are spiders. Spiders everywhere! Normally, I am okay with these 8-legged critters. I leave them be, and hope they make a dent in the bug population (it doesn't seem to be working yet). But seriously, I there are times when I feel like I have come across every spider known to mankind! I have seen tiny spiders so small that I can just barely see them. Others are fairly large. Some have fancy markings, and others have no markings at all.

Again, I normally just leave them alone. But we have a major outbreak of Huntsman spiders (daddy long legs). While not dangerous to humans, there are just so many of them, that I end up squashing a few. There is one spider that I don't like. It is a fairly large spider, about the size of a penny, and has a very fat abdomen. The unusual thing is that it is all white - no markings that I can see at all. I have also not noticed any hairs. In essence, it is a naked spider, lol Kind of pretty to look at, but that is where the fun stops. The other day while I was out weeding, I cam across a good size specimen. Not wanting to kill it, I decided to pick it up on the end of my shovel (the big kind, not a little trowel) and set it out of the way. Well, I thought I had moved it, but it just seemed to have totally disappeared. I could not find it anywhere. I went about weeding again, and a few minutes later, I found it ON MY LEG!! I have no idea how it even got there. I brushed it off, and it disappeared again. Could not find it anywhere.

Just yesterday I found another one in a different area. it was pretty close to the house, so I decided it HAD to go (sorry folks, no spiders in the house. Except for Sheila, but she never comes out of her cage). I aimed carefully with my trowel and smashed it into the rock it was sitting on. But when I removed the trowel, it was gone! Completely disappeared. Again. I find it incredibely creepy for a spider to keep disappearing. Like it is invisible. Gives me the willies.

There is one critter that I always look for, and that I absolutely love. And that is the garter snake! I had no idea we even had any until I scared one out of my mulch pile. I love snakes. All snakes. I think they are beautiful and just cool little animals.

As I was letting the dog out a little bit ago, I happened to look down by my porch stoop and spotted a little garter snake sunning itself in an old seed tray. I quickly caught it (and it peed on me, lol), but I was excited to show Craig and Cameron. It was just a little guy, but so cute! Orion was not at all interested in it, thank goodness. But of course, I had to get some pictures! I promise this little guy was completely harmless to humans, and was not very big, so I felt safe in handling it.

I'm a Jogger

2009-06-16T12:56:00.000-07:00

Yeah, did I just write that title? So here's the thing. I am OUT OF SHAPE. I may look nice and trim on the outside, but on the inside I am a pile of mush. And even on the outside the mush is starting to spill over a bit.

Cesar Millan, the Dog Whisperer, says that dogs need LOTS of exercise to help them stay healthy and balanced. A dog with too much pent up energy can quickly develop psychological issues. I didn't want that to happen. Nearly every day for the last month I have been taking my new puppy, Orion, on two walks a day.

We started out simple, just walking around the block. Then I started taking him around two blocks. Then I started taking him on the trail near our house, and then around our block. Then we took the long trail and walked even further, so that the walks would generally last about 30-40 minutes. Twice a day. I could tell this was good for both of us.

Not only were we BOTH getting some good exercise, but I was also helping to establish my role as "pack leader" for Orion. Orion has a few anxiety issues that we are trying to resolve, and taking him on long walks really helps put him in a calm-submissive state of mind.

But I felt like this was still not enough. It was time to step it up once again. So, we started going on shot jogs along the trail. Maybe 100 yards. I am not sure how Orion really felt, but even going that short little distance was like torture for me. Now I know some of you runners out there are probably rolling you eyes. I told you, I am out of shape. But I am working on it.

Now I am working on a new morning routine:

First thing, I let the dog out (because he is still a puppy and will poop or pee on my carpet if I wait to long to let him out). Then I do 20 min of pilates. This helps warm me up and stretch me out. Immediately after I take Orion out for our walk/jog. When we get back, we take a few moments to cool down, and then we can eat our breakfast.

The evenings are simpler. We do not run on our evening walk. It is more a chance to release a little more energy from the day and just relax a little. It is a very calming time for both of us, and we both go to bed tired and wake up refreshed.

For a long time I have been struggling to get into a fitness routine, but I would always start strong and peeter out fairly quickly. This time I took it slowly, and I still am. Baby steps. But I think my real motivation is having a companion to do this with. It would be next to impossible for Craig and I to run together. Aside from the issue of what to do with Cameron, Craig's legs are WAAAY longer than mine. Just walking together I practically have to jog just to keep up with his stride. But Orion is perfect. He is a little dog with short legs and probably only a little more stamina than I have right now. We easily keep pace together, and somehow running with him has given me new purpose. It makes what I normally consider I tedious task into something far more enjoyable for both of us.

Moral of the story? Get a dog, get in shape!

PS. In case you have not seen them, check out Orion's latest photoshoot on my photography blog!

We've adopted!!

2009-05-20T11:46:00.000-07:00

Okay, I know everyone is hoping for a human baby, but that's not going to happen anytime soon. So we got a new puppy! Truthfully, Craig is not overly thrilled with having a dog. But then, he didn't really want our cat at first, either, but now he is pretty attached:-)

Orion (the puppy) is a pure bred miniature dachshund. My sister breeds them, and had a couple left from her December litter. He just turned five months old, and is as sweet as can be:-) he follows me everywhere, which is cute sometimes, but kind of annoying at others. Like bed time. Craig does not want him in the room as night, but he is not fully potty trained yet so we can't just let him wander around the house unsupervised. So, he goes in a crate. Which he hates. He will literally bark ALL. NIGHT. LONG. Fortunately, he is kept downstairs, so his barks are fairly muffled.

Here are a couple pics of him.

This first is when he was five weeks old. I took pics of all the pups at this age. Anyone who adopted one got a free print of their puppy in the "newborn" stage. I don't know about anyone else, but I love having his baby photo:-)

And these were from just the other day. Our lawn was a bit overgrown, and he was practically lost in all the tall grass and dandelions, lol. To get around he had to leap like a little deer, and when he held still all you could see was his tail and the tip of his nose sticking up. I mowed the lawn this morning, and he seems much more comfortable now.

Our House

2009-04-25T16:42:00.000-07:00

Since we moved I have not shown any pics of our new house. Well, that was partly because it was buried in snow and was rather blah. Now, with spring here in full force, everything is green (even though the lawn is more weeds than grass, lol), and the flowers are bursting. Actually, that was a very pleasant surprise. We had no idea we had so many tulips. They are EVERYWHERE. Sometimes in odd places. We think the seeds must have been spread. It is so much fun to see all that color.

We will likely be changing the garden quite a bit next year. I want lots of purple and gold tulips, irises, daffodils, daisies, lavender, and maybe some pansies or violas. I am a big fan of flowers:-) We are also putting in a vegetable garden in the back. The plot is already there, although it is very weedy. We are going to extend it out a little further. I plan on putting in raspberries along the back fence, and then the garden itself will have strawberries, bell peppers, jalapenos, carrots, onions, cucumbers and maybe a few other things.

Some people love cooking. I love digging in the dirt. For me, it is sooo therapeutic. I love being out in nature, seeing all that it has to offer. I love the smell of freshly turned dirt, and newly mown grass. You can never find those as candle scents, lol. The best smell? The smell of the earth right after it rains. Mmmmmm.

So, a few more changes you might see in the future: We are taking out the tall aspen in the front. It is already half dead due to bug damage, and I do not want it falling on my house. We are also taking out a bunch of trees in the back because they are interfering with the power lines.

We do plan on replacing some of the trees (because a yard without trees is just boring). I really wanted to put in a weeping willow. I have always LOVED those trees. But even though we have a large yard, those trees can get enormous, both in heighth and width. So, I am considering a weeping dogwood instead. Not quite the same, but still pretty. We want to add some cherry trees, and a blue spruce or two, and possibly some lilac. I would love to have some Texas Mountain Laurel, but not sure how it would fair up here. The blossoms look like bright hanging grapes (they are purple), and they smell like candy:-)

Yup, lots of plans for our yard. In a couple of years, it will be transformed into an oasis of color and peacefulness:-)
We don't have a lawnmower yet, so our yard was very ovegrown. It is mostly various weeds, most of which are dandelions. LOTS of dandelions. We did borrow a lawnmower today, so it is not quite so bad looking now, but still not great. The lawn we are saving to work on next year. It needs so much work, we just can't do what we want to do with it this year. Still, even dandelions can be pretty in their own way.

Nieces and Nephews

2009-04-25T16:24:00.000-07:00

I have a new nephew! Baby Austin was born on April 17, weighing only a sleight 6 lbs 12 oz. That's kind of funny, considering that his big sister, who was born a whole month early, weighed nearly that much when she was born. We expected Austin to be a bit bigger. But tiny is cute:-)

Austin is the spitting image of his daddy, just like Aubrey was. Guess he's got some good genes:-) I love his great big eyes.

Here's a couple pics of the newest member of the family.

We also have a new little cousin, Chloe, who was born on the 14th. She lives down in Vegas, though, so no pics of her.

And here are a couple of cute ones of Madison, our "niece". She is really a cousin, but we think of her as our niece, and we are Uncle Craig and Aunt Sarah to her. And we call her parents Aunt and Uncle to Cameron as well. We are pretty close with them.

Madison is so cute with her great big eyes and her adorable curls. She is talking more and more, and is so expressive. We love spending time with her and her family.

Infertility Breakthrough!

2009-04-15T20:21:00.000-07:00

As you know, I have been diagnosed with Unexplained Secondary Infertility. In almost three years of trying, I have not been able to get pregnant even once, even though by all accounts Craig and I are "super" fertile. In my doc's own words, "All the tests indicate that you and your husband are both so fertile you should have been able to get pregnant on the first try." No one could tell us what was wrong, and the only "advice" we have gotten is "Just relax and keep trying." That is terrible, unprofessional advice in my opinion. I mean, it's not like you would tell a cancer patient to "just relax" and then they will magically get all better!

We were thinking very seriously about adoption, but when my Craig lost his job, that dream got put on hold. We can't adopt until he has good job security.

So, I have been doing some research, and came a across a book by Dr. Alan Beer called "Is Your Body Baby-Friendly?" It talks about how our immune systems play a significant and even vital role in our fertility. Women who have any autoimmune diseases, or have a family history of them, are at risk for infertility. Basically, an autoimmune disease puts the immune system out of whack. In some cases, the immune system could be acting so aggressively so as to prevent a pregnancy from ever happening, or attacking the embryo, so it dies before it has the chance to implant. That totally blows my mind, thinking that I could be conceiving over and over, and yet my body is attacking the embryos.

I know I am at risk for this, because autoimmune diseases run in my family. A lot. In fact, I am beginning to develop arthritis in my hands and knees, and arthritis is an autoimmune disease. Believe it or not, there is a connection between that and infertility. Almost all autoimmune disease start the same way from the same cells, they just attack different parts of the body. People who have one type of autoimmune disease are at risk for developing other types. Thus is the case with infertility.

This is not to say that ALL infertility issues stem from an autoimmune disease, but many do, and I would not be at all surprised if such were the case for me. The great news is that it is treatable. I can undergo immunotherapy to help me conceive and bear a child. The clinics that do this say that a general success rate is to get pg within 3 cycles of starting the therapy. The down side is that the clinics are in California and Chicago - not exactly nearby.

I am not sure when exactly we would be able to get testing done and possibly start treatment. Craig just barely got a new job (yay!) so we will need to save for a bit. But I am hoping that by this time next year I can be pregnant:-) It is such an exciting thought! Finally, I may have found an answer, and a solution to go with it!

Update on Craig & Sarah, too

2009-03-13T23:03:00.000-07:00

As some of you are aware, I recently lost my job at Lifetouch National School Studios. While I was sad to leave, I was also a little bit happy at the thought of not having to get up so ridiculously early in the morning, and also having my car to myself again (as it was previously loaded with all my equipment). Things were tight for a little while, and then I got a new job. With Lifetouch Preschool Studios. The irony is killing me. Now I am back to early mornings and car full of equipment. But so far I like it. Working with little ones is lots of fun (usually). And I get paid more, which makes me plenty happy.

So, we thought we were going to be doing pretty well, when out of now where, Craig lost his job, too. It came as a completely unexpected shock, and a heavy blow. They closed his whole branch. He is currently looking for new work, and hopefully he will be able to find something that will be right for us.

In the meantime, he is starting training to become and actuary. I am not exactly sure what that is, but I know it has something to do with economics and statistics, which is what he really likes to do. Once he gets a job, it pays quite well, with the potential to earn more if you take certain tests. We are really excited about it!

I am also continuing to work on building my photography business. I am doing everything I can to get my name out there. New clients are rare right now, due to the economy, but when it turns again, I want people to remember me first when it comes to finding a photographer.

We love living in our new house. Having a house is soooo much better than an apartment. Now that the weather is warming up, we are noticing flowers coming up in our yard. There is a little plot in the backyard that I plan to put a garden in. Garden fresh veggies - yum! Cameron loves visiting the park and the library, which are both next door to us, and I love having the mall and shopping centers close by. Seriously, I think we are in the best location ever!

Well, that's the news. Wasn't all great, but we are hanging in there. Times are tough for a lot of people, but it just makes you stop and realize what is really important in your life.

A little bit of Cameron

2009-03-13T22:25:00.000-07:00

Cameron has become quite the little chatterbox lately. For so long we were worried he would never learn to talk. Now we are worried we will never get him to stop, lol. Here's a few fun things he has been saying lately:

Today Cameron got out his tool set and was banging on the walls with a hammer (don't worry, it was plastic). When Craig asked what he was doing, Cameron responded, "Don't talk to me. I'm very busy!" Such a hard little worker!

Cameron: What's that on the wall?
Teacher: What? This? (pointing to a fire extinguisher)
Cameron: That's a fire ex-ting-wish-er.
Teacher: Wow! How did you know what that was?
Cameron (very matter-of-factly): Wall-E has one. It made him fly.

Cameron came downstairs the other day to find me on the computer and said, "Mommy, you have to get off the computer so I can check my email." Ah, they start so young!

Cameron just visited the Pedi of his annual check-up. They wanted to check his vision, and asked him what a series of shapes were on the wall (instead of the letters we normally use). When she pointed to a + symbol, Cameron immediatley resonded, "A plus sign". The nurse was pretty surprised that a four year old knew what it really was. Most kids guess "T" or a cross. How did Cameron know? There is a little + symbol on the Wiimote. He knows all things video games:-)

Earlier tonight Cameron was playing with his lightsaber, and asked Craig to "cut off his head". When Craig did so, Cameron stopped and bowed his head. When we asked him to come over to the table to finish his dessert, he said, "I can't, because my head is cut off and I can't see!" Then Craig "cut off" one of Cameron's legs. Cameron lifted it up and balanced on the other leg, but Craig cut that one off too. At first, Cameron wasn't sure which leg to stand on, but finally he dropped to the ground (because he had no legs). Then Craig "cut off" Cameron's arms, and he put them behind his back. Then he started rolling around on the ground trying to get to other places. One thing is sure - this kid has an active imagination!

Some other things to note:

Cameron got a clean bill of health from his Pedi last week. She was concerned about how much time he spends playing videos, but since he is running around playing the characters more than he is actually playing, I figure no harm is done. She also told as that Cameron should have a bike. We agreed, so the next day we went and got him one! I haven't been able to take any pictures of him riding it yet. He loves it! He feels like such a big boy riding a real bicycle:-)

Cameron is a great lover of books. From the time he was a baby, we have always read books to him every day. Now he is learning to read by himself! He knows almost all the letters and their sounds, and is starting to learn how to put the sounds together to make words. Just little ones right now, like CAT, UP, CUP, BALL, WALL-E, WII, and CAMERON. He also recognizes words like METROID PRIME FUSION, MARIO, and ZELDA. I told you he likes video games:-)

Not too long ago I took Cameron with me to scout out a new location for a photoshoot I had coming up. I decided to test out the light and location by using Cameron as my model. He LOVES having his picture taken, and sometimes I let him take a picture of me. I got some great images of him while we were there, and I will post some of my faves here. My problem is that I have so many great pictures of Cameron, and no walls to put them!

Aerospace Museum

2009-02-08T18:22:00.000-08:00

On Saturday, Craig and I took Cameron to the Hill Aerospace Museum. It was great family fun, and didn't cost a dime. Woohoo!

Seeing all the different kinds of aircraft, from the Wright Brother's first airplane, to the fearsome jets we have today, was really cool. When you put it in years, we have really come such a long way in only a very short time. Orville and Wilbur were excited to fly 20 yards. Now we are sending people to the moon and we have jets than can travel from New York to London in less than two hours!! I think we are truly blessed to be living in such an age of technological advancement.

Of course, who would I be not to get some great photos of some of those cool planes? Here are a few of my favorites from the day. I was having so much fun with the planes, I think in the few hours we were there I took over 100 pictures, and there was still so much I did not get around to shooting. Another time, perhaps.

A replica of the Wright Brothers' plane. The light from the window was hitting him just right. Love dramatic lighting!!

Doesn't he make the cutest little astronaut! He thought he was going on a mission to Mars:-)
Tom Cruise, eat your heart out!
Cameron's first experience with a flight simulator. Let's just say I am glad it was only a simulator;-)
Big fancy planes everywhere, but all he really wanted to do was play with the toys. Go figure!
One of my favorite shots. I love the flag hanging behind this jet. I think it might have been a memorial as well - notice the folded flag in the cockpit.
I'm not sure what it is, but I find this image very moving. Perhaps it serves as a reminder that even the great shall fall. Or maybe that despite their beauty, machines such as this were designed to fight, and to defend. Many people have given their lives for the freedom that we enjoy today. May we never take it for granted.

New Family Members

2009-01-26T17:44:00.000-08:00

We have two new members of the family!

Those who know me, know that I am a great lover of animals. Recently, my beautiful betta fish, Rajion, passed away. Two moves in barely over one year's time was just too much for him;-(

Although I mourn his loss, I was anxious to get a new betta, as they bring me so much simple joy. So off the the pet store I went! I had in mind a nice golden or yellow male betta, and I found two very nice specimens. Just as I was about to make my final decision, I happened to glance over at the section of female bettas. And that is when I saw her - perhaps the most beautiful little she-betta I have ever laid eyes on! Her scales literally sparkled!

In keeping with the theme of dragon names (because Bettas are truly the dragons of the fish world), I named her Saphira, for her bright sapphire scales.

Not long after Saphira came into our lives, my SIL asked me if I wouldn't mind taking her Betta, Julio. She is expecting a new baby soon, and the tank upkeep was becoming a little too stressful for her. I was more than happy to take her little fish. Sadly, Julio has suffered from some sever fin and tail rot, and a loss of appetite. Fortunately, I have been treating him with medications, and he is doing much better. He may never again have the same splendid fins he once had, but my hope is that he is just happy and comfortabe.

We also gave him a new name, as we felt Julio was simply not a fitting name for any fish, LOL. Again, in keeping with the dragons, we named him Kokusho, or the Evening Star (those of you who play Magic: The Gathering may recognize this name). This seemed an appropriate name for an older fish past his prime.

And here is a pic of Kokusho when he was younger and healthier. Such a pretty fish!

In other fishy news, we recently had a scare with our two goldfish, Feather and Firefly. Moving fish can be so hard on them, and they became so stressed that they became very ill. One day, i found Firefly floating upside down in the tank!!! Feather was also floating, but not quite as bad. I was in a near state of panic, as I have become VERY attached to my goldfish. I immediately did a 50% wate change and fasted them for several days. Then I fed them a strict diet of peas (I, myself detest peas, but the fish love them). Peas are very healthy for goldfish, as they help clean the body of toxins, while adding vital nutrients to the body. And they are like candy to a fish - a very special treat! At any rate, I am happy to say that both fish are doing quite well now, much to my relief. Feather still gets a little floaty after he eats, but that is just him.

So, if you have any fish, and are in need of some guidance, feel free to ask me any questions! I'm always happy to help my little fishy friends:-)

A lil bit of Christmas

2009-01-13T15:55:00.000-08:00

Ah, finally a moment to sit and blog about Christmas! Well, technically I still have LOTS more to unpack (I HATE moving!), but I am taking a little time out today.

This was really the first year that Cameron has really been excited about Santa Claus and presents. I thought about taking him to the mall, but I did not want to battle the crowds. But he was still able to meet Santa at the ward Christmas Party. What did he ask for? A new Lightsaber! Cameron is very big into Star Wars:-)

Even though we knew we were moving, we still decided to put up our own Christmas decorations. Christmas is my favorite holiday, and I like to do it up right:-) We still have the little tree that I have had since my college days. Next year I plan to get a real tree, and then hit the after-Christmas sales for a nice pre-lit tree (do you have any idea how painfully annoying it is to string lights on a tree?).

We spent Christmas Day at my parent's home in Price, UT. Craig had to work both on Christmas Eve, and the day after Christmas, so it was a very shot trip for us. But since we still had so much packing to do, we felt it was probably better this way, anyway.

The guys had a lot of fun on the computer. They seemed to be glued to it almost the whole time.

It is rare to have everyone together. All the kids, in-laws, and grand kids were present. While the boys were busy on the computer, the girls were busy trading off who got to hold the newest addition to the family:-)

The Loot. And was there ever a lot of it! Granted, more than half was for my sis Jenny and her family with four kids. Makes sense. Still, it is fun to see so many presents under the tree. Adn that Tree! That is the only tree I can ever remember having. I think my parents got it when I was about 6, so it has been around for about 23 years!!!! Seriously, it looked like it was about to fall over. Time to get a new tree, don't you think?

And what did Santa bring Cameron? A new Lightsaber, of course! He was sooo excited to get it. He has hardly put it down since:-)

We had to leave before we could eat the Christmas Dinner. We wanted to make it out of the canyon before it got too dark. As it was, it was stil dark, and snowed a lot, but we took it easy and made it through okay. Cameron was so tired from the day that before we had even made it out of my parent's neighborhood he was sound asleep, and slept the entire way home! Unfortunately, that meant he was awake for a while after that.

It was a good Christmas, and it was great to see family again. Now I am looking forward to a new year full of new adventures!

We have a house!

2009-01-09T13:49:00.001-08:00

Sorry I have not updated my blog in so long. It's actually kind of funny and ironic. I visit quite a few blogs, and sometimes I get annoyed or sad when people don't update their blogs often. You'd think I would learn to take my own hints.

So, the big news is that we are in a house! Our very first home! We moved in this past Saturday, and already we are in love with it. We now live in Layton, near the High School. At first, I was o sad to leave our apartment. We had so many good memories there, and I was sad to leave behind some good friends and a great ward.

But from the moment we moved in our new neighbors have been great. They are helpful and friendly, which is great. We had a slight hangup with the furnace. It is really old, and we discovered that it had a couple of little leaks. Nothing too serious, and the gas company was able to patch them right up. But one thing I notice is that the house is much colder than our apartments, probably because there is so much more to heat. The basement is like sitting in a refrigerator, which wouldn't be a problem normally, but we are using it as my studio and office space, so it needs to be warmer.

And yes, I know have space for my studio! No more rearranging my living room to put up backdrops! Now I can put them up and leave them up! I have TONS of room for the camera, lights, backgrounds, props, and people! I am uber excited about it!

I would show some images of the new house, but I haven't taken any yet (werid, i know!). As soon as I do I will post a few.

I will also address the subject of Christmas as soon as I get all those images onto the computer, so stay tuned!

Super Mario Bros II

2008-11-10T17:16:00.000-08:00

I finally got around to doing the "professional" photos of Cameron in his costume. I remember a time when I could stick him in spot, and he would just sit there until I told him to move. Not anymore! He will not sit still for anything, and the madder I get, the more he thinks it is a game. GRRRR! As a result, a lot of the images were out of focus, the the focus just feel somewhere else other than his face. Still, I think they are really cute (mommy goggles on, of course!)
I also did a couple of him without the accessories. I like these so much I think I will use them as his four year old portraits!
And finally, I have to show off my four year old's skills with a camera:-) After we were done shooting him, I asked if he would like to try taking a picture of me. I don't think he has ever taken a picture of anything before, so this was a first. I showed him how to hold the camera and look in the little window. And this is what we got! Check out the focus and composition! Yup, I'm a PROUD mommy:-)

Itsa me! Mario!

2008-11-05T13:30:00.000-08:00

For Halloween this year, Cameron wanted to be Super Mario! This was by far the easiest costume I have put together, and the cheapest. I carved some custom Mario pumpkins, too, but we were so busy that we never got to set them out. So next year we will probably carve some more to go along with the theme. I use Styrofoam pumpkins every year, so that I don't have to worry about all my hard work rotting away!

Here is cute Cameron as Super Mario!!
I was really sad that we missed our Ward Trunk-or-Treat this year. We spent a long time preparing for it, but we did not expect them to have it in the middle of the day! That is okay, though, since we still got to take Cameron trick-or-treating. We also got to go to quite a few Halloween parties, including some for work, with a friend, and one that my bro Matt and his wife Christina planned. It was all a lot of fun, but now I am tired!

Four Years Old!

2008-09-26T17:27:00.000-07:00

My baby just turned four! How did that happen? I must have blinked somewhere in there, dang it!

On Cameron's birthday we surprised him with a balloon bouquet, with a GIANT balloon. His eyes lit up when I walked in the door holding them. He LOVES balloons:-) We let him open one present (we saved the rest for his party). It was a brand new sword! Up until now he has been playing with homemade cardboard and ducttape creations. Although they looked alright, they tended to fall apart quickly. We wanted one that would last a while longer. We got him a plastic sword in just his size, and it even makes cool sword sounds!

Last Saturday we had a Super Mario themed party for him. He loves anything Mario, and was so excited about his "Mario Party". We were planning to hold the party outside, but it was cold and windy and was threatening rain. It was a little crowded in our apartment, but the kids had a lot of fun.

Cameron had a little melt down at one point, and had to take a little time out, but he perked right back up when it was time to open presents! His favorites were the new Mario toys - two RC MarioKart toys, and a Mario and Yoshi action figure. He also likes his new Nerf guns! Typical little boy, LOL.

After presents we busted open a big pinata. Well, I shouldn't say busted. This one had strings attached to the bottom. Each kid takes turn pulling on the strings. Most will just pull out, but only one actually opened it. The kids loved it. Finally it was time to sing Happy Birthday and eat cake! I made Mario Mushroom cupcakes! Most were red, but we had one "one-up" mushroom for Cameron:-)
"Uncle" Clin showed up dressed like Mario! What a treat for this birthday boy!
It was a great party. I am excited to see what this next year will bring for us. Cameron is learning and growing every day, and it is so fun to watch all of his changes!

What's Keeping Us Busy

2008-08-09T15:25:00.000-07:00

The trouble with being a grown-up is that time goes by way too fast. When I was a kid, it seemed like days would last weeks. Not it is the other way around. How did that happen? We have been so bus lately, and it seems there is never enough time in the day to get things done. But here is a little update to let you you know what has been going on.

Cameron is doing VERY well with the potty training. He is almost completely day trained, and often stays dry through the night. He still has some trouble with poopoo, but we are getting there. I am most excited because I know we have purchased our last pack of diapers! Well, at least until the next baby comes along, LOL.

Cameron has taken a liking to the scriptures! The other night I was reading in the Book of Mormon, and he came in the room and wanted me to read to him, so I did. We read about Lehi's dream, which he LOVED! He won't stop talking about it now! He is always talking about how Lehi was lost, but found the tree with the fruit that make him happy. He talks about the big building with the bad people inside that laugh at the good people. And he talks about holding on tight to the iron rod. We are very excited that he wants to be involved with religion and scriptures. He loves going to church and learning about Jesus. I hope that this will be a continuing trend!

Recently Cameron and I made a trip up to Idaho to visit my sister, Jenny and her family. Jenny is due with a little girl (Jessica) in September, and I was able to do her maternity photos. They turned out great! I did her hair and make-up, and then we went out to our grandma's farm where Jenny boards her horses. We did photos all around the barn, adn I even had her get on a horse! It was a lot of fun:-) You can check out some of my favorite images on my photo blog.

We are continuing to work very hard. School will be back in session soon, which means I am in full working mode. Long hours, long drives, lots of kids! This season I am a head photographer, which I think will be really nice. I like to be in charge. We have lots of new people to wrok with, but we still have lots of really good people here from previous seasons. it is really nice to be bale to work with so many good people.

Meanwhile, I continue to work hard to get my photography career going. There have been plenty of setbacks, but also many moments where I see my hard work paying off. I have done several photoshoots this past month, and I have more planned. Nothing excites me more than being able to capture memories for other people:-)

Craig is working hard as well. He is still working two jobs, but he is currently looking for something that will pay a little more and be a little bit more of what he wants to do. He has sacrificed quite a bit, and I love him for it. But it will be nice to get my husband back:-)

Well, that about covers it for now. I think the next few months are going to be even busier for us, but heopfully I will be able to find the time to hop on here now and then.

Fun on the Fourth

2008-07-07T20:51:00.000-07:00

Independence Day was a rousing success this year. On July 3rd we went to Eagle Mountain golf course to watch the firework show. It was great! We had really good seats, too, right in front of the pond. Cameron was really nervous about the fireworks at first. Well, okay, he was terrified. But after a few minutes he calmed down and started to enjoy them, and imitated the BOOM sound, followed by the SWIIIISSSHHH of the firecrackers. It was pretty funny listening to him. The fireworks themselves were great, possibly one of the best shows I have seen in a long time.

The next day, July 4th, we took Cameron to see Wall-E. Craig and I LOVED it. I would go so far as to say it is one of Pixar's best! Cameron liked some parts, but he grew restless sitting in the theater. He is used to being able to run around and act out all the parts while watching movies. In the evening, Melanie and Mathis invited us to spend time with them and their extended family. It was Mathis's grandpa's birthday:-) We had a fun b-b-que, with fresh homemade ice cream for dessert. Yum! Cameron and Aubrey had a lot of fun chasing each other around the year. Aubrey kept tackling Cameron, and there was nothing he could do about it because he couldn't run away because his pants kept falling down! Actually, he thought it was so funny that his pants kept falling down, and would run around the yard until they did. What a nut! LOL

Later we did some of the little fireworks. They lit off a lot of smoke bombs. The sulfur triggered a major migraine that lasted a couple of days. Bleh. Cameron LOVED the snaps, those tiny paper tissues filled with gun powder that you throw on the ground to make them snap. He wanted to do them again and again! He also enjoyed the sparklers, and pretended they were magic wands (like Harry Potter, of course). All was fun and games until he put his hand in the wrong place. His sparkler had just burned out, and he tried switching it to the other hand, but grabbed it a little too high. He was pretty badly burned, with two angry blisters on his hand. I wanted to cry, too whenever I looked at him. I could tell he was in a lot of pain. The sad part is that we were RIGHT THERE! Craig was hovering over him the whole time, but it happened so fast we couldn't even stop it.

Well, aside from that one incident, it was a very nice holiday. We really enjoyed spending time together as a family, and with other family members as well. We are so busy these days that time together is a rare and valued treat:-)

Guess who's wearing Big Boy Pants?

2008-07-04T21:19:00.000-07:00

Cameron is!!!! After what seems like AGES, he is finally starting to show some real interest in the potty. I was starting to worry it might never happen! I thought for sure I would have the only kid in college still wearing diapers, LOL. All his younger cousins are either potty training or are already potty trained.

Cameron has good incentive to use the potty now. We promised that if he used the potty all the time we would get him a special RC Mario Kart toy. He's VERY excited about it:-) Every time he puts his peepee in the potty he gets to put a marble in a jar. When the jar is all full, he gets the toy!

So far he is doing very well. He has had a few accidents, but for the most part he has been very good. He loves wearing his Big Boy Underpants, especially the ones with Elmo. We are hoping to have him fully day trained within the month. Wish us luck!

Meuller Park Canyon

2008-06-21T20:25:00.000-07:00

Our ward recently had a B-B-Que up at Mueller Park Canyon. We have never been there before, and we were surprised by how close it was to our house - maybe about a 10-15 minute drive. It was GORGEOUS there. I would love to do some photoshoots up there. Any takers?

I took tons of photos while we were there. Some of my favorites you can see on my photo blog. But here are some cute ones of Cameron and Craig.

This is sooo Cameron! He is really big into swords. This one is just cardboard wrapped in duct tape, but I know he will be using the real things someday. He's going to be a sword master:-)

Cameron and Trains

2008-06-01T17:38:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I met with the Utah 2Ps Photography Group. We went to Ogden Union Station, a fantastic place for a photo shoot! I had to bring Cameron along because he is crazy about trains (duh, he's a boy!). He loved it! He's never been on a train, or even really up close to them, so this was a real treat. The train as really old and rusty, but the kids didn't seem to mind. Admittedly, I am a little afraid of trains myself (too much Fried Green Tomatoes!), but this one was pretty dang cool. Here are a few of my favorites. There are LOTS more on my photo blog.

A Visit to the Zoo

2008-05-30T20:22:00.000-07:00

Cameron and I went to the zoo today with our Playgroup. The weather was PERFECT! Such a gorgeous day! Of course, everyone else wanted to be out enjoying the day as well, so it was really crowded, but not too bad. The biggest down side was when everyone wanted to see the same animal, but people kept hogging the prime spots and WOULDN'T MOVE, so that others couldn't see anything at all. C'mon people. Use your common sense. If you know the place is crowded, get in, take a couple pictures, and move out so that others can enjoy it, too. Sorry, pet peeve.

Cameron's favorite were the elephants, of course. He has liked elephants ever since we can remember. He also liked riding the train, even though it was way too short a ride, and went too fast to really see anything.

Here are some of my favorite shots of the day:-) If you want to see photos of the animals, head over to my Photo Blog.

On the train. I asked him to make a happy face:-)

Cameron really liked the playground. He lives for slides!
Cameron and his friend Ethan racing up the tower.
Scared face. Not very scary, but definitely very cute!
Wow! Look! A picture with me in it! On rare occasions I find myself in front of the camera. What a weird place to be! LOL

Miraculously NOT pregnant

2008-05-14T13:16:00.000-07:00

I don't get it. I really don't get it.

This past cycle I was put on Clomid to help stimulate my ovaries and hopefully produce more eggs, which in turn would give us a much greater chance of getting pregnant. On cycle day 21 I went in for some bloodwork. They wanted to test my progesterone levels to see if I ovulated. I was pretty certain I had. Well, I just got the results back, and my levels were at 54.27!!!! That is RIDICULOUSLY high. A normal non-pregnant woman would be expected to have levels of around 8-10, maybe a little higher. But not THAT high. So imagine the nurse's surprise when i told her I was almost certain I am NOT pregnant. How is it even possible? Everything was perfect. PERFECT! And still no baby. I have no symptoms, and i had a negative urine test. Seriously, what is going on? One would think I would be pregnant with twins right now, but no such luck. An unsolved mystery. I hate mysteries.

Picture a family. . .

2008-05-10T17:06:00.000-07:00

My family, that is! Yup, here we all are, in all our glory. Or something like that. When my mom graduated, the whole clan came in to help celebrate. And of course, that means a family photo shoot:-) Okay, it is no easy task to get a good sized group of people all looking and smiling in the same direction, plus focus on composition, lighting, focus, etc. Add to the fact that I had to be IN these photos, and you have one challenging task before you. But, I think I pulled it off fairly well. Here are some of the highlights. You can see more over on my photo blog.

I love to scrapbook, but I usually prefer paper scrapping. I love the feel of all the different textures. But this time I wanted to create a page that I could share with other members of my family. Digital scrapping was the way to go! This is my first ever digital LO, and I have to say I am pretty proud of it! Don't know that I will make a regular thing of it, but I have to say the clean-up time was pretty nice, LOL.

My mom, the Grad:-)

2008-05-05T13:41:00.000-07:00

I know Mother's Day is right around the corner. So I would like to take this opportunity to tell my mom how much I love her and admire her. I love her determination, her ability to face obstacles head on, her loyalty to her family, and I love her for all of the sacrifices she has made. Possibly the biggest sacrifice she has made was her education. Her dream has always been to get a degree. But life wasn't going to make it easy for her! Still, she never gave up her dream, and only a couple of weeks ago, she received her Bachelor's degree from Brigham Young University! Way to go, MOM!

Here are some of the highlights:

All the grads in the Marriott Center. Mom is in there somewhere:-)

Our favorite organist, Brian, and his beautiful assistant, Vanna White. I mean, Alicia:-)
Valedictorian. Does anybody ever really listen to the speeches? BORING!!! Sorry, but I just can't get excited about sitting through a bunch of speeches, especially when you know something really cool is about to happen!
Okay, this wasn't so bad. These girls sang "The Prayer", one of my favorite songs. They did a beautiful job.
The Dean. Yet another speech. There were others, too. *yawn*
Alright! The Action! My mom giving a big smile as she was handed her diploma case. No, there's nothing inside it. She has to get that later.
The Happy Graduate:-)
My dad presenting my mom with a lei. She really liked it!
A montage of photos I did with her.
My very favorite. BYU's logo is Enter to Learn, Go Forth to Serve. I felt it was very fitting for this photo. I can't help but cry every time I see this. I am so proud of my mom and her huge accomplishment. Congrats, mom! You're the best!

If you feel so inclined, you can see more images from our photoshoot on my photography blog.

Unexplained infertility

2008-04-15T16:00:00.000-07:00

So, I went to see my doc yesterday. Seems I am there a lot, these days. Anyway, we discussed the results of all the tests we have had done in the past several weeks, and he has come to the conclusion that there is no scientific reason why we have not been able to get pg, particularly when we were successful in the past. So, I have now been officially diagnosed with Unexplained Secondary Infertility. There is not much they can do, except put me on Clomid and hope that it will increase our chances of getting pg.

We are just going to keep going and doing what we can. Obviously, the Lord has a hand in this, and we need to continue to be patient - not always an easy thing! Wouldn't it be so nice if the Lord would let us in on the plans he has for us sometimes?

Easter

2008-04-06T17:39:00.000-07:00

Still playing Catch-up. Hey, YOU try working full time, trying to run a business, taking care of a kid, and the house, and still find time to even think about posting on a blog!

Anyway, Easter was really nice this year. Cameron was excited to wake up and find what the Easter Bunny had brought him. It was quite the haul!After church we went over to my parent's house. Cameron got to try his hand at dying Easter eggs. His favorite color was purple. Every time we tried to take the egg out of the dye, he wanted us to put it back, so it could be "more purple".

Once the eggs had dried my dad took them outside to hide. The Cameron and my sister Amanda went out to find them. Cameron has really sharp eyes, and was able to find some well hidden eggs.

After the egg hunt, we had a nice family dinner with everyone. Mom, Dad, Amanda, me, Craig, Cameron, Matt, and Christina. I love when we get together as a family:-)

Um, Happy Birthday, Aubrey?

2008-04-06T17:22:00.000-07:00

The problem with being a photographer and taking lots of photos, is that sometimes I take so many, dump them onto the computer, and completely forget about them! I know, it's terrible. I was going through some of my folders today, and came across these delightful photos of my niece, Aubrey, on her 2nd birthday - back in JANUARY! I feel so pathetic. Anyway, if you missed out on the fun, here are some highlights.

This cake was so cute! I loved the little frogs. And for those who may be wondering, no, I did not make it. Taking pictures of cakes is sooo much cleaner!
Opening presents. There was quite a mountain of them to go through, and each time she opened one she wanted to play with it, of course, LOL.

Little Princess. Isn't she just adorable?
Bounce! Bounce! Bounce! Possibly the most obnoxious gift she got, LOL. Not only is it noisy when it bounces, but it also plays music. Loudly. It's absolutely perfect for her:-)
Aubrey decided she wanted to cut the cake.
And eat it.
She loved her two little candles. And I love this photo! I think it really captures the wonderment that every child has. Happy Belated Birthday, Aubrey!

Hard Times

2008-03-20T23:22:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a BAD day! it seemed like everything was going wrong. I think I was PMSing big time, which was depressing me more than normal. It was odd, because even though I knew I shouldn't be thinking negative thoughts, my head wouldn't let go! Weird. That doesn't happen very often these days.

Anyway, I am feeling a lot of pressure from work right now, in more ways than one. I do A LOT of driving for my job. When they hired me, I had to show that i had a valid driver's license. Well, I don't. There is a hold on my license because when I got it I was asked if I had any history of depression, to which I answered in the affirmative. Unbeknownst to me, they then put hold on the license, but failed to mention that when they issued it to me. I didn't know until i moved to Vegas and tried to get a new license. In order to get the hold taken off, I have to have a signed medical release from a doctor stating that I am not going to drive myself off a cliff in an act of desperation. Or something like that. It's pretty ridiculous. I live in Happy Valley, UT - Prozac capitol of the world! EVERYONE here is depressed. If you can't drive just because you have some sort of depression, the streets would be empty! Okay, maybe that's an exaggeration, but you get the idea. At any rate, I have now been suspended from working until I can get this straightened out. After calling 20 different doctor's offices (that is NOT an exaggeration), I finally found one that will see me on Monday.

So, I may get that taken care of, but I may have to quit my job anyway. As mentioned, I do A LOT of driving. the company pays the regular hourly rate for drive time, plus $.10 a mile. It's not enough! Most of what I am earning pays for gas and daycare, and there is hardly anything left over to make the job worth my while. Craig wants me to work at the call center he is at - a thought I absolutely dread. Yes, it would be more money, but then I really WOULD be depressed.

What we would both really like is for me to be able to work full time with my photography business. Just 3 weddings a month could be enough for us to get by. but building a business takes time, and you also need capitol, which of course we don't have. What an annoyance! We'll get there eventually, it's just the road gets a little bumpy on the way.

And speaking of bumpy roads, here is the latest update on our TTC journey. I FINALLY got in to see a doctor. I was feeling it was about time. He ran some blood tests, which came back normal, so the next step for me is an HSG. That is where they inject some dye in to my uterus which will show if I have any blockage in my tubes. My doc seems to think this is the most likely culprit. He's also having Craig do a semen analysis, but only as a precaution. He is pretty sure that Craig is fine, but just wants to make sure. If there is some blockage, hopefully it will not be too bad and they can clear it out there. If it is bad, then they can either do a surgery to correct it, or we can move on to IVF. The surgery would be good, because that could open the way for more children in the future as well. However, it is a little risky, so that is something to think about. On the other hand, IVF may help us conceive, but it is very expensive. It is covered on our insurance, but we still have to pay the deductible. So many choices!

And here is one more road block. Cameron is not doing well at daycare. We were really hoping he would have adjusted by now, but every day is the same. He cries throughout the day for Mommy and Daddy, eats very little, and does not interact much with the other children. he has some good moments, and has shown a little improvement, but not as much as we would have liked. Right now they have him in with the younger 2 year olds. He towers over them, and I worry about that. Not to mention I don't think it is beneficial to his social skills to be in with the kids who have none at all! We are having a parent-teacher conference to discuss the matter and talk about solutions.

The good news is that Cameron is doing very well otherwise. His speech is improving more and more every day. He knows his colors very well, can count to 10, and recognizes many letters on sight. he is still totally addicted to video games, which is why we like having him in daycare. He gets to do so much more! We do worry about his eating habits. He weighs exactly the same now as he did one year ago! But he is lots taller, so he has thinned out quite a bit (still has some cute chipmunk cheeks!). He laughs a lot, and loves to make up games and play pretend. He loves swords, and has recently taken a liking to knives, so we have to be VERY careful to keep them well out of his reach.

Well, that's all. Kind of a long and depressing post. That's called Life, folks. We just keep pushing though and hope something better is going to come along soon.

Would you like to take a survery?

2008-02-21T16:32:00.000-08:00

Were you named after anyone?

No. My mom just really liked the name.

When was the last time you cried?

Yesterday as I was catching up on Oprah. Her shows can be so touching!

Do you like your handwriting?

Not really.

What is your favorite lunch meat?

Turkey, sliced really thin.

Do you have kids?

Cameron, age 3. Been working on #2 for about 20 months now.

If you were another person, would you be friends with you?

Possibly. I have a really outgoing personality, which I like, but sometimes I can be very talkative, which I don't like.

Do you use sarcasm a lot?

All the time!

Do you still have your tonsils?

Yup.

Would you bungee jump?

I would have before kids and marriage. Now I won't risk it.

What is your favorite cereal?

Cookie Crisp! Yes, I like kids' cereals!

Do you untie your shoes when you take them off?

Yes.

Do you think you are strong?

Emotionally, yes. Physically, no.

What is your favorite ice cream?

Cookies and cream.

What is the first thing you notice about people?

Their personality. I don't pay much attention to appearance until after I get to know them.

Red or pink?

Red all the way! Pink is just gross!

What is your least favorite thing about you?

My nose. it has a bump in the middle. Others say they don't notice. I say they are blind.

Who do you miss the most?

My friends. All of them. Anyone want to visit?

Do you want everyone to send this back to you?

Sure.

What color pants and shoes are you wearing?

Black and Black

What was the last thing you ate?

Fruit snacks

What are you listening to right now?

The humming of the computer.

If you were a crayon, what color would you be?

Wisteria. Isn't that the best name? It's a really pretty pale purple.

Favorite smells?

My husband, my son after a bath, and baking brownies

Who was the last person you talked to on the phone?

My husband

Do you like the person who sent this to you?

Yup. Didn't think I would, but she turned out to be okay after all;-)

Favorite sports to watch?

I only watch BYU football.

Hair color?

Blonde

Eye color?

Dark blue, with green right around the pupil

Do you wear contacts?

On occasion. They dry out in my eyes, which is supremely annoying, so I usually jsut wear glasses.

Favorite food?

Steak, medium rare.

Scary movies or happy endings?

Happy Endings. I hate scary movies.

Last movie you watched?

Music and Lyrics. Cute movie:-)

What color shirt are you wearing?

Navy blue with sparkley glitter all over.

Summer or winter?

Summer. I hate the cold.

Hugs or kisses?

Hugs from friends, Kisses from my husband and son.

Favorite dessert?

Brownies. No better thing in the world!

Most likely to respond?

No one ever responds. I sometimes wonder why I even keep this blog. Is anybody actually reading it?

Least likely to respond?

Same as above.

What book are you reading right now?

I am actually not reading a book. Well, there is an e-book called Women and Money by Suse Orman, but that doesn't really count.

What is on your mousepad?

Blue.

What did you watch on TV last night?

Mythbusters, who were busting MacGyver myths. I was in heaven!

Favorite sound?

When my little boy laughs

Rolling Stones or Beatles?

Beatles.

What is the farthest you've been from home?

Turkey

Do you have a special talent?

I am good at a lot of things, like art and photography. I can also flip a peanut M&M from the tip of my nose into my mouth.

Where were you born?

Provo, UT

Whose answers are you looking forward to getting back?

I would be ecstatic if ANYONE wrote back!

BEWARE OF SCAMMERS!!!!

2008-02-10T21:36:00.000-08:00

For a long time Craig and I have discussed off and on about getting Cameron into modeling/acting. Nothing big, just something to help add to his college fund, and maybe get him interested in something more than videogames. Cameron has such a laid back personality and is very easy to work with. And he's cute;-)

Well, we found one agency (TRU Talent Management) that we thought was great. At first. They seemed ligit (had good standing with BBB), and everything seemed to be in order, so we signed a contract with them. BAD IDEA! ALWAYS do your research, and be sure it's thorough!

Only two days after signing the contract, Cameron was scheduled of a photoshoot. Now, I am a professional photographer, and I feel perfectly capable of doing all my own photos and editing. So when we went in, I explained that to them. They normally have a policy that states that only THEY can do the photos, editing, etc. I told them that if they were not willing to work with me, I would go elsewhere. So they decided to let me do the photos, but were not willing to renegotiate the contract. I told them I needed to think about it a little more and talk it over with Craig, and they said that would be okay.

Two days later I called to tell them we would not be interested in their services, and wanted to cancel the contract. They told me no, that I only had 48 hours to cancel form the time I signed (a point they failed to mention, and which was not written on the contract), and demanded ALL FUNDS IMMEDIATELY! Yikes! Of course, we are furious, and will be taking legal action. How can a company demand payment when no services were provided? Such a scam! Rule #1: IF YOU HAVE TO PAY MONEY TO GET MONEY, IT'S A SCAM!!! That seems pretty obvious, but these people were pretty sneaky. They are duping a lot of people. I want to put a stop to it!

However, this has not spoiled us on the idea of getting Cameron into acting/modeling. We just need to find a GOOD agency. Meanwhile, I am building up Cameron's portfolio. Here are some photos we have done in the last couple days.

Tribute to Gordon B. Hinckley

2008-01-27T21:38:00.000-08:00

There are few times when a piece of news is heard and felt throughout the world. Today we lost a great man, Pres. Gordon B. Hinckley. I have been around a few years, and I remember other prophets. But they never had so much impact on my life as Pres. Hinckley did. I loved his willpower, his energy, his great love. I felt such a strong connection to him, though I never had the opportunity to meet him personally. What a great example of love and life he shared with the world! There are very few who have walked this earth that have accomplished as much as he has. I will miss his quick wit, his humor, his great example of service, his love for the church and his family. His love for his wife was such a wonderful example for me in my marriage, and I hope that Craig and I will share that some deep love for each other as Pres. Hinckley shared with his with, Marjorie. He was true to his faith, his family, his country, and his world. His influence upon this earth will be felt for many years to come, and his great legacy will live on forever. We thank thee O God for a Prophet!!!!

Whoa! Time for an update!

2008-01-26T22:24:00.001-08:00

I apologize for my lack of attention to the blog recently. But I have a good excuse! In case you didn't already know, we have relocated to Utah! Woohoo! I can't say I wholly regret living in Vegas. I know that if we didn't move there, I certainly would not be in my current career path. In fact, I beleive that's why the Lord wanted us to go there in the first place. But it definitely wasn't always fun, and sometimes it was just downright dangerous!

We now have a nice 3 bedroom apartment in North Las Vegas, and we love it! Okay, well, not so much the freezing cold temperatures. But we like the area, we like that the chapel is only 50 yards from our front door, and we like our neighbors! Imagine that!

Craig has accepted a job at a call center temporarily until he can get hired at a bank. Just before he was supposed to graduate we discovered he was deficient in a GE credit. He tried to get out of it, but the college was adamant that he take it. The credit is to fulfill the Multi-cultural credit. "Wait!" you say. "Didn't he serve a mission to South America? Doesn't that fill a multi-cultural credit?" Yes, but that's the international credit. He needs a National credit. And living in Vegas, where you can travel the world without ever leaving the city, doesn't count either. He is taking a class online, but unfortunately the only class that was available is Women's Studies. Yeah, I rolled my eyes, too. I think he might go insane before he's through, LOL.

As for me, I have been working diligently on getting my photography business up and running. The good news is that I have my website up now! Woohoo! You can check it out here. Please tell me what you think! And yes, a few of you might be surprised to see some very familiar faces;-)

Cameron has adjusted very well to the move. He definitely misses his Grandma Stiles and all his uncles, but he LOVES playing at cousin Aubrey's house! We are hoping that the two will grow up to be good friends. Cameron has had a pretty bad illness lately, which we suspect was RSV, but it looks like it has finally run it's course, and he is on the mend. Here are a couple of photos of him I took a couple of days ago. He was being such a little ham in front of the camera! He could be a model, LOL.

Christmas at the Chocolate Factory

2007-12-20T11:19:00.000-08:00

We took Cameron to the Ethel M chocolate factory to see the lights at the cactus garden. They really go all out, and it is so beautiful to see! Cameron was not very enthusiastic about it, but I blame that on the fact that he had been very sick the night before. He was feeling a little better, but he was still very tired. So tired, that he fell asleep within 15 minutes after we got the gardens. Poor little guy! Of course, since he fell asleep, we opted to not take the tour through the factory, which I was really bummed about. Nevertheless, I think I got some great photos of the lights. Here are some of my favorites!

Fall Fun

2007-12-08T13:06:00.000-08:00

Here in the warm south we are finally getting into Fall. It's colder and we've even had some rain. There are leaves everywhere, so we took Cameron out to play in them this morning. He had a blast! He kicked and tossed and rolled and jumped! So fun to be a kid! He wasn't too thrilled with them getting on his face, though.

Been too long!

2007-12-03T10:00:00.001-08:00

Well, this is what happens when you move in with your in-laws who have a crappy old computer. Oh wait, let me back up. Here's the story:

Our old apartment management has been trying to kick us out for a while on a minor technicality that wasn't even our fault. Well, they finally succeeded, so back at the end of October we moved out of there, and in with Craig's parents. We were annoyed, but decided to think positively. That got a lot harder when I lost my job. Yup, fired. Can you believe it? After all the hard work I put in to that chapel, not to mention the MILLIONS of dollars I helped make for them, they just decided to let me go. It happened quite suddenly and unexpectedly. Not even a cake. Sad.

However, there is always a silver lining and we have been doing our best to find it. We have been planning to move up to Utah for a ling time, and now it is official. We spent a weekend searching for a place to live up there, and found a beautiful new apartment in North Salt Lake. We felt it was home from the moment we saw it:-) Craig also had an interview with Zion's Bank. It looks very promising! But even if that doesn't work out, we are certain that something will. As for me, I am working very hard towards opening up my own photography business. Very soon I am hoping to have my website up and running, a big step for me! In the meantime, I am enjoying the time I have to spend at home with Cameron and getting other projects done. You know, all those "if only I had time" projects. It's been great!

Here are a few photos to satisfy you visual needs, LOL

Cameron wanted to be Young Link from the Legend of Zelda video games for Halloween. By far the easiest costume I have made for him. It's really just a modified Peter Pan costume. But he really looked the part, and acted it, too, as you can see from this fun montage.

My Grandma Olive and Grandpa Gaylord have made their annual trip down here to Las Vegas. They come for rodeo. This will more than liekly be their last year here. Grandpa is turning 91 this December!
My Aunt Carol and Uncle Steve helped G&G make the trip down here. We had a nice dinner with all of them before S&C had to head back up to Idaho.
On Thanksgiving morning my father-in-law had the ultimate pleasure playing Ultimate Frisbee with his five sons. I was the lucky one who got tot document it all:-) Look at these fine men!

Here they are in the heat of the action.

And my poor husband after playing for only 30 minutes! He was really pooped. Time to exercise, Honey!
On the way back from the game I saw this cute little hummingbird and captured some great photos!
And finally, the cutest little boy in the world, all dressed up for his Christmas photos. Have you possibly ever seen a cuter smile than his? I think not!

3 Year Photos

2007-10-11T18:04:00.000-07:00

I took Cameron to the park yesterday to try and get some 3 year photos of him. This kid wouldn't sit still for nothing! He was far more interested in doing what he wanted to do. I was only able to coax some smiles out of him when I put a pinecone on my head. Nothing better than mom making a fool of herself! I am going to try and get some indoor studio shots, too. I have a lot more control over things when I am indoors. You can see more photos from this photo shoot by visiting my Photography blog.

My Dæmon

2007-10-06T08:41:00.000-07:00

If any of you have ever read the Golden Compass, then you will know that it is a great book. In that story, a person's soul is on the outside of their body in the form of an animal. It is known as a dæmon. I took a little quiz to see what my dæmon would be. Do you think it is a good fit for me? Please let me know!

On Being a Mom

2007-10-04T16:29:00.001-07:00

AMEN!

Yay for Sheila!

2007-10-03T11:28:00.000-07:00

When we first moved down here to Nevada, our tarantula, Sheila, Had a little accident and broke two of her legs. She limped around for a while until she molted. At that point the front leg was then missing entirely, and the one behind had only grown half way. We were sad:-(

But she just recently molted again (they do this about once a year), and we are happy to announce that her limbs have been restored! Well, they're not perfect. They still have some growing to do. But we have hopes that within time she will fully regrow both limbs.

So here are the latest of Shelia, our beloved Chilean Rose tarantula!

Isn't she gorgeous!
The shell. If you look closely int he red spot you can see the fangs. Yup, they shed those, too!Here is a good look at her regrown limbs. The red arrow points to the limb that was previously missing entirely, the white arrow to the half-limb.

Harry Potter Party!

2007-10-01T11:46:00.000-07:00

We had Cameron's birthday party last Friday, with a Harry Potter theme. Cameron LOVES Harry Potter! We had a great turn-out this year. In fact, it was pretty crowded in our teeny little apartment. But everyone had lots of fun, and that's what counts.

I had this spectacular vision of a Hogwarts castle cake in my mind. It was going to be truly amazing. However, I had to work the day before, and I was really busy the other days of the week. So I only had the day of the party to prepare, and although I was up early in the morning to prepare, it just didn't come together as planned. But the kids loved it anyway.

Cameron's favorite part was playing with the balloons. His favorite color is orange (yes, 3 year olds have favorite colors!), so he loved the orange balloons.
He got lots of gifts, but his favorite is his new Harry Potter magic wand. His favorite spell: Obliviate!

And just because I am insane, here's a pic with all 8 party kids. They were all surprisingly good, except for one. Any guesses who that one might be? Hint: he's sitting on my husband's lap!

Happy 3rd Birthday, Cameron!!!!!

2007-09-18T19:44:00.000-07:00

I can hardly believe my baby turned 3 today! Time has just flown by! And now I am having a serious old people moment, LOL. We spent this morning watching Cameron's home video, starting with his U/S's. Seems so long ago, I almost can't remember even being pregnant. And he looked so tiny! Well, in comparison to how big he is now, anyway. He was never REALLY tiny. A regular chunky monkey:-)

Let's take a walk down memory lane:

Just hours old

Less than a week old with his daddy
Blessing Day, 3 weeks old
Learning to crawl, 4 1/2 monthsHis first Easter. See the cute puffy tail?

6 months old. Ridiculously cute smile:-)

First Camping trip, 8 months old
First Birthday! Computer geek. You should see what he can do now! July 2007. Babies and Nature: God's two greatest creations.
Second Birthday!
Christmas 2006. One of my favorite pics of him!
May 2007. His first horseback ride
Look at this face! Makes me want to cry every time he does it;-(
July 2007

And finally, a few from today, showing off his new Mario t-shirt:

Bedtime

2007-09-11T10:42:00.000-07:00

Ever wonder what it's like to have kids? This guy tells it. . .er, sings it. . .like it is! Every thing he sings about in this song has happened to Craig and I, often on a regular basis.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uISuvTiTYJA

Brought to you by the Number 8!

2007-09-03T23:34:00.000-07:00

8 Things I'm passionate about:
1. My husband
2. My son
3. Photography. Some might say I border on obssessed with this one:-)
4. Music. I LOVE music! I'll sing it, play it, dance to it. Without music my life would be an endless void.
5. My Religion. I'm full-blooded Mormon and proud of it!
6. Gilmore Girls. The greateset show EVER. Until the final season which was totally lame. But the rest was AWESOME. Our first daughter will be named Lorelei.
7. Brownies. I just can't pass them up.
8. True Friends. The kind you would do anything for and would do anything for you.

8 Things I want to do before I die:
1. Learn to speak Spanish fluently
2. Have more kiddies:-)
3. See my kids grow up and have kids of their own
4. Visit as many temples around the world as I possibly can.
5. Learn to be more organized. Or at least be less messy.
6. Have a successful photography business.
7. Learn to be more patient and less sarcastic
8. Hang glide. I want to see what the birds see, how they see it.

8 Thins I say often:
1. "I hate my job."
2. "I REALLY hate my job"
3. "Cameron, stop!"
4. "I love you."
5. "Dude. . ."
6. "Woohoo!"
7. "No more chocolate milk!"
8. "Yo!"

8 Books I've recently read:
1. The Divide by Nicholas Evans
2. The Smoke Jumper by Nicholas Evans
3. The Horse Whisperer by Nicholas Evans
4. The Loop by Nicholas Evans
5. All the Harry Potter books
6. Pastwatch by Orson Scott Card
7. The Princess Bride by S. Morgenstern by William Goldman (The first name is part of the title. There is no S. Morgenstern)
8. Thud! by Terry Pratchett

8 Songs I could listen to over and over:
1. Anything by William Joseph
2. Anything by Celtic Woman
3. Anything by Jon Schmidt
4. Anything by Bryan Stiles (that kid never ceases to amaze me with his talent!)
5. "Honey, I'm Home" by Shania Twain
6. "Everything I Do, I Do for You" by Bryan Adams
7. "I Stand all Amazed", any version. It will always bring me to tears
8. "Ascension to Cosmo Canyon" by Reuben Kee (from a FF game)
I realize that is technically a lot more than 8 songs, but I DID mention that I am passionate about music:-)

8 Things that Attract Me to My Best Friends:
1. Being able to put up with my sarcastic and too often negative attitude.
2. Personality. I don't have boring friends
3. Sticking up for me when the going gets rough
4. Being an ear to vent to and a shoulder to cry on
5. Supporting me in my many ventures in life
6. Understanding that I hate to clean, and not caring that my house is not perfectly spotless.
7. A really cute butt (okay, this only applies to ONE best friend, but he's my VERY best friend, and he does have a cute butt!)
8. They love me for just being me.

8 things I've learned in the last year:
1. Kids really do grow way to fast.
2. I hate deserts!
3. I HATE living in Vegas!
4. Moving the light closer to your subject will create a much softer glow, whereas moving the light farther away will create more contrast. A bigger light will also create softer glow, and will far more cost effective than a smaller light.
5. Beware the crocodiles. They lie in wait, then slaughter you as soon as you start to feel comfortable.
6. Food is waaaaay to expensive.
7. I'm a gamer!
8. Just because the Lord does not answer a prayer right away, does not mean he is not listening. Sometimes we have to learn patience and trust that He knows what is best for us.

8 People that I think should do "8
Anyone that wants to! No pressure!

Busy, busy, busy!

2007-08-17T12:42:00.000-07:00

I am not purposefully neglecting my blog, it's just that I have been sooo busy lately. Things at work have become extremely chaotic. Stress levels are through the roof! But it has not been all bad. I've had the opportunity to do some really amazing weddings.
One of the weddings was that of my own Cousin-in-law, Naomi. She as married in the Albuquerque temple. It was a beautiful day, perfect for a wedding. And it was a lot of fun, too. I was a little nervous at first becuase I have never been there, so I really didn't know what to expect. But I have become pretty good at learning on the fly. Naomi was beautiful in her gown, until it got covered in cake, LOL. I don't think I will ever understand that tradition of smashing cake in each other's faces. Messy, messy!

If you would like to see images from all my recent weddings, hop over to my photography blog and check them out!

A kid and a cat

2007-07-26T09:53:00.000-07:00

I was trying my very hardest to take pictures of my cat, Ender the other day. Normally he is very cooperative and a real ham in front of the camera, but I guess he was in a lazy mood that day. No sooner had I sat him on the towel I was using as a prop, than he promptly rolled over and went to sleep! Crazy animal. I did get him to wake up and do a few descent shots.

Well, of course Cameron came in, and wanted his picture taken, too. It's been a while since I have taken pictures of him against a backdrop, so I thought it would be a good idea. Cameron really is a ham in front of the camera. I had to do some silly things to get him to laugh, like put TP on my head and make a lot of silly noises, but he loves it. I hope he always does.

If you would like to see more images from this session, please visit my photography blog!