Meuller Park Canyon

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

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

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

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. . .

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:-)

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

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

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?

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!