I'm leaving on a jet plane...

to NEW YORK! March 27-April 2 I will be going to New York with the art department at UVU. It is going to be amazing! So, if you have any suggestions on things I should do on my "free day" or anytime in the evening, let me know!

This was what we woke up to Wednesday Morning

It's a Hit!

So I recently posted a picture of some cute Halloween treats I made for a photo shoot on my website blog (click here to see it). The image also got accepted on Foodgawker and Tastespotting (two awesome sites for finding recipes and pretty food pictures). I submit photos to them on a regular basis. Sometimes they get accepted, sometimes not. Normally when they get accepted the number of hits (per day) on my website jumps from 15ish to about 300. Well... the two days after the images were accepted I had 800 and 1400 hits. Crazy!

Ironically, I didn't like the image as much as I thought I would but the cute owl cupcakes were what made it so popular. Those definitely are cute. Well... The second day I got an email from the site where I found the idea for the cupcakes. She said she had had a lot of traffic on her site from mine. She thanked me for posting the cupcakes on my site and asked if I would be interesting in assisting/helping them with their next photo shoot. As you can imagine I was thrilled! She thinks the next shoot will be sometime in December (after their photographer has her baby). So I'm looking forward to that! Yay!

Bill was Baptized

Two week ago my Grandma's husband Bill was baptized. It was an amazing experience. All of the 8 missionaries that helped teach him were there, along with about every other missionary in the area. All of the grandchildren sang two songs and the missionaries sang the closing song. There was standing room only in the room with the font. He has a lot of people to support him. Here are a few pictures:





This is a cake that Karron and Kimberly made to celebrate Margo's birthday while we were there.



We stopped at the falls because I haven't seen them (that I remember). The ducks were lined up all long the edge of the fall for about a mile. I wish I could have captured a longer line of them.

Life in AF

Things are pretty normal right now. Nothing really new or exciting. Since Kevin and I are both working and going to school we have been pretty busy and seem to only see each other a few hours a day. Kevin spends lots of time studying and I spend time thinking of concepts for images. We spent a lovely weekend at Anna and Dave's house watching conference. They were kind enough to let us have loads of vegetables from their garden. That's pretty much it really.I've put some new work up on my photography website... If something happens I'll let you know! But for now you may just have to wait another month...

Happy Anniversary!

Kevin and I have been married for two years today! Sometimes it seems like we've always been married and sometimes I can't believe it's been two years. I do know that it's wonderful though. On Saturday, Kevin was being a little suspicious. I tried going down to the kitchen when he came running to the bottom of the stairs and wouldn't let me in. I went back upstairs and waited until he said I could come down. When I did go down... this is what was waiting!

Three of my favorite things: sunflowers, sparkling cider, and junior mints. How could an anniversary get better? Seriously, I think I may be addicted to both Junior Mints and Martinelli's. I'm always tempted to buy them, wherever I am. While we do try and reserve sparkling cider for special occasions, I do often try to come up with "special occasions" so that we can buy it.

P.S. Don't you love our awesome plastic "wine glasses"? There was some good reason for purchasing plastic (which I don't remember)... and they were cheap. My brother always uses one when he come over. Makes me laugh.

Cheerleading Shannon

While we were in Overton we went to a football game to watch Shannon cheer. It was a lot of fun. She told Kevin he was distracting which I think was a result of us trying to make her smile. If you made eye contact and smiled really big she would smile bigger too. She did a great job!

Isaac Makes Cookies with Grandma Nancy

On his way down to Overton, Isaac called and asked Grandma Nancy if she would make chocolate chip cookies with him. So, today they did. They discovered a bag of M&Ms that served as a third of the chocolate chip requirement. I've decided that Isaac mostly watched (and ate and waited) while grandma did all the work. He made a noble attempt at being the dishwasher, but that didn't turn out so well for the beaters and a large puddle appeared on the floor right below the sink. He was, however, very careful to place the dishes on the counter next to the sink and made sure each of them were perfectly placed. Here's a little bit of how the event looked:

Watching the mixer -- Sneaking and Eating M&Ms

Sneaking Chocolate Chips -- Blowing His Nose :) -- Putting in the Chocolate Chips

Licking the Beater -- Cleaning the Beater -- Putting the "Clean" Beater on the Counter

The "Clean" Beaters -- The Dough -- Putting the dough on the pan

"Grandma, will scoop one into my hand?" -- Can you guess where it went? -- Patiently Waiting for Cookies to Cool

50 years is a wonderfully long time

My Grandparents celebrated their 50th anniversary today! They are such great people and wonderful examples to their family and those around them. We had a gathering last night at Sundance to celebrate their anniversary and Kevin's birthday. Interestingly, Kevin has been a live half as long as they've been married.

To the Doctor again... well... Car doctor at least

Mr. Bugg had to be towed to the car shop late Sunday night after he wouldn't start. This is the second time he's been this month. Thank goodness for car insurance that covered towing. It saved us a lot of hassle and stress. Turns out gas isn't getting to the engine and thus can't start. Supposedly it will be a cheaper fix than replacing all the glowplugs (like the last time). This is supposeded to be Mr. Bugg on the tow truck, but it's a little hard to see.

As summer ends...

I can't believe school starts this week! I'm very excited though! For those of you who haven't heard, I just found out I'll be receiving a full tuition scholarship for my last two semesters. It's the Deans Merit Scholarship which is based on GPA and my portfolio. I feel very blessed to have received it.

So lately we've:

Camped at Timpanooke







Saw Big River at Sundance. It was awesome!





Had a few crazy rainstorms



Rode in Carls' "new" truck



Kevin also biked most the way up the Alpine Loop and is currently biking in Draper going over the mountain into Alpine.

I've been playing around with my new 50mm Macro lens taking pictures of dishes and ganache covered cupcakes. They don't look super pretty but they taste delicious!

Someone found me!

Ever since I "announced" my new website I have been trying to upload images to a site called Foodgawker, which is a place where food bloggers and others upload pictures for all to see. The images link to the person's blog. Well, I received a comment on one of my posts but nothing since. I've been wondering if anyone really looked at the blog or not.

Today, as I was browsing through Foodgawker, I saw and image that resembled my Fresh Lime Sherbet Float image. I decided to take a look. As it turns out... "Real Mom Kitchen" saw the post on my blog and did a post about it herself and referenced me! (see here) I was very flattered and excited that at least one person is looking at my blog!

This may or may not be a hint for those of you who read this to stop by some time and make a comment on the photo blog. I think its pretty interesting :)

Vernal

We went up to Vernal this weekend for Eric's baptism. While we were there we went to the fair. The kids got to plant and harvest vegetables, feed chickens, bale hay, milk a cow, and pick an apple. Everything they collected on the way was "sold" at a farmers market where they received a coupon for a treat at the store. I thought it was a fun idea.


We also had a delicious chicken salad...


I love the front of Anna's house with the yellow gate, yellow benches and yellow flowers. So pretty!

Too Long

It's been way too long since I last posted here. I have been hard at work posting a blog however, but it is on my new website! I've been hesitant to announce it because it still needs some tweaking. It's close enough (and I'm so excited about it) that I decided I would share!

Here are a few things we've been up to lately as well:

Bookbinding -- My mom and sister took a bookbinding class that was recommended to us by my friend Becca, who has made some gorgeous books with her photography. It is so much fun and a lot easier than I thought (one you do it).



Went to Idaho for a Northrup Family Reunion. This always includes chocolate chip pancakes or waffles. You have to be patient to get a waffle but it is well worth it (mine always has peanut butter, syrup, and whipped topping on it).

We also had a barbeque and played lots and lots of cards. I think Kevin and I spent at least 15 hours playing cards. Another tradition is a home made pinata by Jared and Kimberly. Somehow it always works out that Brianna's birthday is the week of the reunion, as it was this year, so we celebrated that as well.