Some wedding photos...

Last Friday I went to St. George and took some "groomals" for a couple. Apparently this is the new thing...to take the pictures of the bride and the groom before the wedding day so it's more relaxed for everyone involved. I thought it was a great idea. This couple was amazing to work with and so much fun. We started in ancestor square and finished up at the temple. All these shots are from our temple session so enjoy...

Givaway...of sorts

Okay, I totally stole this off Jerolyn's blog (word for word). I wish I had the same creative writing skills she has but at least I'm owning the fact that I am totally stealing her words. I was one of the first five people on her blog to comment and I'm so excited. Maybe by posting this I'll actually have five people comment on my blog :)


Pay attention kids!

Here's the dealio:


The first five people to comment on this post will get something made by me. My choice. For you.



This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:
1- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make.
2- What I make will be just for you.
3- It'll be done this year.
4- You have no clue what it's going to be. It may be a story. It may be photography, I may sew or stitch(ha,ha) or bake something. Who knows? Not you, that's for sure!
5- I reserve the right to do or make whatever I want!

The catch?Oh, the catch is that you must re-post this on your own blog and offer the same deal to 5 of your own lucky blog readers. So, the first 5 people to leave a comment telling me they are in, win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift by me!

Oh, and be sure to post a picture of what you win when you get it.

Good Luck!!!

This is one of the most beautiful things I have seen and heard in a long time. I just had to share it.

The start of soccer season...

Well, it's here....soccer season has begun. It was not a great beginning for either one of our teams but we have great faith that it's only gonna get better from here. Before I go on about our games I just have to say, doesn't Johnathan look so much older in this first picture. I cut all my boys hair this morning and then we went to soccer games and I took pictures. When I downloaded these pictures to my computer I noticed how much older Johnathan is looking...well, and Zach for that matter. I can't believe how big my boys are getting. With my birthday coming up this week, I guess I'm just feeling old.

Anyway, sorry, back to the games. Both our boys lost today but they both played hard and we were super proud of them. I got more pictures of Zachary's game than Johnathan's game because I had to leave Johnathan's game in the middle to go take pictures of some kiddos at the park (they went well, you can see a few of them at portraitartbyangela.blogspot.com if you'd like).

So, without further ado....here are the soccer game pictures from today.

GO Johnathan

Zachary looks so intense in these next couple of pictures. He was REALLY into the game.

Look at the agression going on...you go Zach

Here is Zachary giving me a thumbs up after one of his three goals

Love the tongue...

My big boy

I'm not sure what the fingers mean, but he thought he was cool.

Happy Birthday Zachary

I only have about 15 minutes of free time this morning but I wanted to hop on the computer really quick and wish my 'baby' boy a happy birthday. Zachary turns 5 today. I can't even believe it. I'm already tearing up thinking about him going to kindergarten next year. He is getting so big. I can't believe that my baby is five. Zachary was born exactly one week before my birthday five years ago today. He was the best birthday present I could have asked for. After having Johnathan more than five years earlier we had kind of a tough time getting Zachary down here to our family. I've always felt very blessed to have this special spirit in our home. He has so much personality and makes me laugh every day. He is kind of spoiled because he has no younger siblings but we try to keep him in check. :) Happy Birthday Zachary!!!

Sorry, the picture is from our snow day this year. I couldn't really find a better one with so little time. I'll try to hunt up some baby pictures for you later.

We had a FABULOUS weekend with the Armstrong family. Such good friends we have. We love having company here in sunny Las Vegas and it was a pretty beautiful weekend to host people who are tired of winter :) On Friday night we went out to dinner as couples and then Saturday Darrel and Brian had a good time looking at fancy cars in the morning then met the rest of us at Alex's soccer game. Following the soccer game the dads took the kids to SkyMania and the moms went shopping. Saturday night Brenda and I were able to go to dinner and a movie and Darrel and Brian took Alex and Alyssa to the Blue Man Group. They had a great time. Sunday was Stake Conference and then both families took a ride to the Hoover Dam. Alex and I were very nervous the entire time (neither one of us is very excited about heights) but we had a good time. They left this morning and so I guess it's back to real life for me. A big thanks to the Armstrong family for such a fun weekend.

The beauty really does grow on you...

I remember very well when we first moved from western Washington state where I grew up to Utah I thought, 'oh my gosh this is so ugly'. I was in between my ninth and tenth year of high school. I loved the green grass and the green trees of Washington. The mountains were covered in the most beautiful pine trees and everything always smelled so good. Well, usually it smelled like rain but to me that was beautiful. Then we moved to Utah and the mountains had no trees on them. The landscape was different and the summers were HOT. After a few years Utah beauty grows on you. Now I look at the mountains and think about how majestic they are and I see the beauty around me. When I was newly married my husband and I moved to Idaho; Meridian, Idaho to be exact. We loved it there. We thought the mountains were beautiful, the trees were wonderful. We loved to drive up towards McCall and see the river and pine trees. In the Fall when the trees would lose their leaves it was a sight to behold. I know it's no East Coast, but to us it was Heaven on Earth.

A few years ago we moved to Las Vegas. It is a desert here in all aspects. The ground is only green if you water the heck out of it, or put in fake grass (which even some houses in our neighborhood have by the way). SOME of the trees lose their leaves, however, not in the gorgeous way you see in some other states. But, like I said in the title, the beauty really does grow on you. It's a different kind of beauty, the raw, ruggedness kind. The beauty of Washington state is different than the beauty of Utah, which is different than the beauty of Idaho, which is different than the beauty of Nevada. The trick is to see it everywhere.

This past weekend I was fortunate enough to take my camera with a friend and go explore some of the beauty of Nevada in the form of Red Rock Canyon. We had a wonderful time photographing nature (well, we mostly photographed rocks, but that's still nature...right??). We got to see some of the raw and natural beauty that Las Vegas has to offer; and here are just a few of the many pictures I took that day...enjoy.

Girls Weekend in Vegas

Okay, for those of you who have me as a friend on Facebook these are all new pictures. For those who don't you'll still get to see new pictures, you just won't know what the old ones were :) Anyway, I aplogize for the lack of blogging. It seems like everytime I write a post now I am apologizing for my lack of postings. Maybe I should take a hint.

This past weekend we had a girl's weekend in Vegas. My mom turned 60 this month and to celebrate, her daughters, and daughters-in-law came to Vegas to party (mom style). The only one we were missing was my sister, Missy, who we would have LOVED to have but was sick and stuck at home. Everyone arrived on Friday night, we stayed up really late chatting and then had a fun filled Saturday. We went to the Outlet Mall and to In-n-Out, Target, Nordstrem (sp?) Rack, then to the Grand Lux Cafe for dinner and on to the Blue Man Group....and oh, the fun wasn't done yet, we topped off our day at the Peppermill (which incidently hasn't changed since it was built in either decoration or what the waitresses wear). It was a GREAT day and we squeezed every ounce of fun we could have out of Saturday. We also on that day managed to fit it Joy and Amanda on the Lazy River of the resort and taking Darrel to the airport before meeting some of my favorite people at the Grand Lux for dinner. WOW, hopefully that all just made sense.
Here is Elise, Angela, Mom, Jackie, and Joy posing in front of the Blue Man Theater. Amanda was snapping our photo.
Mom and Amanda getting ready to enjoy a fabulous sundae from the Peppermill.

Elise, Mom, Amanda, Joy, and Jackie posing in front of the Peppermill. Good times!

These next group of pictures represent our Sunday night. At church on Sunday we sang "How Great Thou Art" and it was so much fun. I knew that would be a highlight for my mom and dad and I was right. They are just so easy to please when it comes to their children singing :) After church mom and dad left with Jackie but Elise, Joy, and Amanda's flights didn't leave until early the next morning. Elise really wanted to see the dancing water at the Bellagio so we headed on down to see the atrium and the dancing water. Here are the shots we got in the atrium at the Bellagio.

This next picture would be Johnathan video taping a video....a lovely use of tape, don't you think?? So funny.

Here is me with my boys. Darrel was out of town the entire weekend. Friday night for a scout campout and Saturday night through Monday for a family funeral in Arizona. The boys were troopers and a big thank you to my dad for keeping an eye on them the whole weekend.

And, last but not least, Amanda and the chocolate fountain. Or as Danny (her husband) puts it..."her crack cocaine"...funny. We love you Amanda!!!