Photography!

Aaron and I have been wanting to get into photography. So we took the plunge and got ourselves a great camera. Now we're learning all we can about photography. Aaron's ahead of me in the game. He works with cameras at work and so is more familiar with some of the technicalities of photography. When I pick up our camera, I feel like a 3 year old trying to drive a car. I have so much to learn! But I'm excited! Here are a few of our first photos.


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Here's to learning a new skill!

One year on her mission!

Congratulations to my little sister! Today marks one year on her mission. She is serving in the Taiwan Taipei mission. She is an incredible woman. I look up to and admire her in so many ways. She is a go-getter and has accomplished many amazing things in her 22 years.

I miss her and can't wait to see her in the spring!

Twilight

I got sucked into Bella's world this week. I got Twilight Monday afternoon and finished it in 24 hours. I slowed down a little and read New Moon in 2 days.

I went with some girlfriends to the Twilight movie premiere last night (this morning) and loved it! Of course, a movie can never reach the depth that a book can. But the movie was great.

Happy 30th!

Wahoo! I'm 30licious!

Turning 30 was not a difficult transition for me. Throughout my teen and young adult years I had a lot of friends in their 30s whom I admired and respected. They were mothers, they were happy with who they were, they lived the gospel of Jesus Christ, and they were babes. So I've been looking forward to this stage in my life.

Celebrations started with the 5k on Saturday morning, then dinner that evening at Red Robin. I looove their steak fries.

How many people can an ice cream sundae feed?

Early morning birthday surprises! The day was especially nice because Aaron got to be with us the whole day! No meetings!

Aaron and Lily made me crepes for breakfast. Notice Lily's tiny crepe in the pan and the teeny tiny spatula in her hand. Lamby ate that crepe.

Uncle Neal, Aunt Chris, Beth, and Natalie and her family drove all the way up from Tucson to surprise me. So kind. It was fun to see my little kids play with Natalie's kids.

Mom made a delicious lasagna dinner for the whole crew.

Aaron and Lily know me so well. They made me a rich nutella cake. Chocolate and hazelnut. It was so satisfying. And yes, I blew out all 30 candles in one blow.

You may have noticed that food was an important part of my celebration. That is for two reasons. 1. I take so much pleasure in eating good food. 2. I usually prepare and clean up after three meals every day (plus snacks). But on my birthday, each meal was prepared for me and cleaned up by others. It was an appreciated gift!

My family made my birthday really wonderful. Thank you for your love and birthday wishes.

Halloween celebrations

Mom came to visit us for Halloween and my birthday. We were so glad to have her here. She took us to a pumpkin patch and we had a great time. There was a corn maze, train ride, petting zoo, pumpkins to find, cool bikes to ride, and more. We had so much fun together!

In the corn maze.

Carter loved this incredible tractor. He loves tractors. He has tractor toys, books, and it's his favorite word to say. He was blown away by how big this thing was.

We made sugar cookies...soft, thick, flavorful. Yum!

Lily is so good at frosting cookies.

Carter is so good at eating cookies!

We shared some with our neighbors.

We didn't carve our pumpkins this year. We decorated them with a kit Mom brought. You can see Lily's pumpkin on the table. Look closely, maybe you can see the lipstick and eyelashes on it.

My little cowpokes. I adore them!

We got to go trick-or-treating as a whole family. Lily was a pro. We got a kick out of watching Carter learn to trick-or-treat. He watched in joyful disbelief when people put candy in his bucket. After a while he gave me the bucket and carried a candy in each hand. By the end of the night the snickers bar was a melted squishy mess, inside the wrapper, luckily!

Yes, Carter's mustache is real. Someone actually asked us that.

The kids weren't the only ones loving their costumes. Aaron fell in love with the cowboy boots he wore that night. He's turning into a redneck!

Trick-or-treat!

First race ever!

I wanted to run a race for my 30th birthday. I've never run a race and wanted to do something new and challenging. I chose a 5k the day before my birthday. Aaron, the kids, and Mom came to cheer me on.

Before the race. I was excited! The sky was blue and the weather was perfect.



Aaron and the kids waited on the side lines about a quarter mile from the end. I got a good luck kiss from Lily and ran on with renewed energy!

Mom was at the finish line. I hoped to finish the race in 35 minutes. I finished in 29 minutes!!

It felt great to run a race. I felt invigorated and a sense of accomplishment.


Some friends have invited me to do the Ragnar Relay del Sol with them in February. We'll have to see about that one! It sounds crazy fun and so challenging.

HTML mishap

I made a Halloween post and unfortunately it won't publish to my blog because there is something wrong with some of the HTML code. So I'll try to get it worked out. What a way to start my blogging adventures.

Will this hat fit me?

I found this adorable hat through my girlfriend's blog. Lily would love it. But I might try it on myself! You can enter the drawing too. Click here! She also sells her cute stuff on Etsy.