r + s

happy sunday

2012-01-22T17:56:00.000-08:00

Here I am at 26 weeks. Holy shiznit this baby is coming. Also, I watched a few episodes of A Baby Story. I'm totes getting an epidural. There's always these peeps who want to go natural, but then want an epidural when it's too late. That ain't gonna be me. Definite props to those peeps, but it seems like I'm gonna want one eventually, I might as well get it right off the bat.

howdy

2012-01-11T19:20:00.000-08:00

I seriously spent many hours yesterday writing a post about my Christmas gifts even though Brittany said it was untimely. But then I read over it and was like-this is some snobby bs right here. So I'm not gonna post it. But I got some cool stuff and I am excited about it.

a Fab Sab

2011-12-18T13:25:00.000-08:00

I just had one of the most hilarious relief society meetings of my life. Our awesome RS president opened the meeting, made announcements and introduced visitors as per usual. Then she proceeded to announce the death of one of the sisters. Sad times. Except that two seconds later she realized that that sister was in the room-not dead. Awkward! She then corrected her mistake that it was actually another sister that had passed away. I looked over at Danielle Hansen (who was visiting) and we about died. I couldn't help but laugh a little and it was horrible because here we are laughing when some poor lady just past away.

Then a nice sister began to teach the lesson on exaltation. During the discussion she said the following:
"Those of you who text message know that we use little acronyms, like BFE. Does anyone know what BFE means?" In my head, I'm dying again. Does she really want to know what *BFE means? Because in my range of knowledge it means something rather inappropriate for church. Then she says, "BFE: best friends ever!" Oh man. Older people are so cute. I started to question whether or not I should educate her on the most recent meaning of BFE and that if you really want to refer to someone as your "best friend ever" you say BFF. That way she wouldn't be using BFE at in appropriate times.

It was a very entertaining meeting to say the least. Hope yours was equally amazing! Oh, and by the way, Christmas is in a week! As Kenny Church would say that Harry Potter would say... Happy Christmas!

*BFE, as I was told, means butt freaking egypt, ie, really far away.

the leavitt babes

2011-12-13T22:25:00.000-08:00

Here is a short shoot with some cute kids.

What we were kind of going for...

http://joopjoopdesigns.tumblr.com

What we were getting....

What we settled with...

What the boys were thinking most of the time...

blah blah blah cool title

2011-12-11T11:02:00.001-08:00

So I'm currently sitting in my bed after eating a tasty bowl of Honey Nut Cherrios with sliced bananas when I should technically be at church. Let's just say I didn't get the best sleep last night and even waking up at 8:30 (which would be super late on a Sunday) was not really working out. I woke up for a second and convinced Ronnie that I needed more sleep. He loves me so much he didn't mind even though he knows that if I don't go to church he will likely be teaching my class. Bless his bloody heart! So I went back to bed and got two more hours of glorious sleep. The thing that woke me up, however, was rather odd. For some reason I knew something was up with my belly... I put my hand on my stomach and it was all hard and baby girl was all up in my business. By this I mean that she was laying/sitting/ crouching a lot higher than normal and my stomach looked super funky and lopsided. I just held my hand there and thought how strange yet interesting it was. Once I got up to go pee (which, btw, all of a sudden started becoming an every half hour kind of thing) she moved back down....way down. She usually sits way below my pant line. I then started debating with myself about whether I should blog about it and here I am.

As you can see from my handy dandy countdown to the right, I am 21 weeks along now. That is halfway there, my friends!! Holy moly. Sometimes I get super excited and can't wait to meet her and other times I get freaked out about being in a hospital with all kinds of needles in me trying to push a kid out of that little place and having my tchotch out in the open for the world to see. So then I go over to my big box of little clothes that I have stocked up [thanks aunt Melissa and aunt Tiffany and mom (none of whom actually read this thing, but hey, thanks!)] and hold up some of the most adorable outfits imaginable and I get excited again.

I apologize for the super crummy pictures. Turns out iPhones aren't that cool.

hello belly. see? it's real people.

because I know you wanted an up close and personal shot

(sorry my fingernails look jiggity-jacked)

I had a appointment with the good ol' doc on Tuesday. Usually this is a big fan fare with Ronnie, my mom and even my little brother Tanner. But mom couldn't make it this time around and Ronnie was in the windy city for training. I ~~begge~~d asked Ronnie's mom Dana to come along. I knew we'd be doing an ultrasound so it would at least be somewhat interesting for her. Those things are getting harder and harder to decipher now that baby girl is taking up the whole bloody uterus. Half of the time I was not sure what we were looking at. For the most part she seemed bent in half with her feet and hands in her face. And she would not move to save her life. I was surprised because she normally moves around all the time, but this time not so much. So the super talented tech measured everything and deciphered her little kidneys and everything somehow. It seems that her arms and legs are pretty long and are measuring a week ahead of the rest of her body. In my head that means she's going to be tall. In reality it probably means nothing. We also got a good shot of her head, face forward. After seeing the print out of this shot I got a little worried. Her head is looking mighty round and my first thought is that she is going to get her dad's head. Something I was really wishing was not the case because that boy's got a big ol' head. And that head has to come out my tchotch. Please start praying for me.

Then I got to meet with the doc. His name is Dr. Martin. Fun fact about Dr. Martin: his daughter is a famous Disney channel star. You know I like my Disney channel stars! That's her on the left. She was in the camp rock movies.

Another fun fact about Dr. Martin: he likes to remind me every single time I'm there that baby's are the best parasite God ever made. Which comes from the discussion of my weight gain and lack there of and how I need to eat more and take my vitamins because the baby will be just fine, but I won't be. I really think I understand now (fifth times a charm!) He also told me about how I might start having contractions soon. That sounds exciting. Then he asked me if I had any questions and I started asking him about exercising. I've been interested in jogging lately but wasn't sure if it was safe. He just smiled at me and asked if I ran on a regular basis.... Well doc.... not really. I used to jog whenever the flip I felt like it. So he said yeah, no. No jogging for you. Then I was like well what about weight lifting? His incredulous smile got bigger. Not really necessary, but if I kept them light weight, sure, but why are you acting crazy? I just laughed and starting asking about push ups. Then he started to laugh and told me that I just need to simmer down now. (He didn't really say that) It was just funny to see how obvious it was that I don't exercise regularly and that now is not that time to start. He recommended prenatal yoga and then I went on my way.

In other news, I have no life. My seasonal photography job is over so I handed back all my equipment and said goodbye. So now I have absolutely nothing occupying my time besides blog-stalking and eating. My own photography is on an indefinite hiatus since most of my equipment up and moved to Nashville without so much as a goodbye. So I'm in the market, as it were, for equipment. But I really can't justify the millions of dollars I would like to spend on equipment because I need to buy a house. And furnish it. And pop out a baby and like clothe it and stuff. So I'm not really sure when I'll be returning to the word of photography. It's quite sad, actually. But I think a new baby will fill that void right quick.

I did get a couple small shoots in before the equipment went bye bye. I'll just put those in a separate post because this one is already super long.

Well Ronnie is going to be home soon so I'm going to feign sleep so it looks like I just woke up.

Just kidding, I wouldn't do that. At least not on a Sunday!

my trip to utah

2011-11-23T20:30:00.001-08:00

Brittany will probably be blogging about this past weekend very shortly, but I'd rather write a blog right now than address the disaster that is my house. I left Las Vegas on Thursday and drove myself up to Provo to pick up Shailynn so we could go to the Breaking Dawn early screening with Brittany in Salt Lake. I got there around 3 and was suppose to be making our sweet B.D. shirts, but I forgot my cords to my Silhouette and cutting freezer paper by hand was out of the question. This is what they would have looked like if I was cool enough to have made them on time:

Brittany's Shirt

My Shirt

Since Brittany is cool and got some sweet early screening tickets for the movie with assigned seating, we didn't have to get to the theater hours early. So we went to the Cheesecake Factory instead.

Funny story - as you may have noticed, we are pretty big Twilight fans over here. But we are nothing compared to some of the crazed fans that exist in the world. For example, as we were waiting around the Cheesecake Factory for our table, a group of women walked in, one in a wedding dress and three in formal dresses. My first thought was, "Oh, she must have gotten married today." Except that it was a Thursday night at a time when if you had gotten married that day you would be at your reception, with your husband. I took a closer look at her 80's style dress with her Downeast undershirt underneath and quickly realized that these ladies did not come from a wedding. They were dressed for the Breaking Dawn premiere. Mind you, these ladies are older than me... by at least 5 years. If you were sitting next to me during this story I would have my hands next to my face with my eyes going back and forth as I said "Cuckoo... cuckoo..." They were crazy big fans apparently. There was another woman amongst them that bought a very impressive Bella wig that had feathers in it. I didn't mind that so much because it was pretty funny. It was just fun to see how not crazy we were. What was even funnier was when Brittany tried to sneak a picture of them from her iPhone. Except that she didn't take off the flash and made it completely obvious that she was taking a picture. She hid the phone as quickly as possible and I laughed my head off at her failure at being sneaky. Good times.

Anyway, after some good grub we went to this crazy theater that had all these food places in it with the different theaters all spread out everywhere. It was a little confusing, not to mention crazy with all the people there, but we found our seats and got excited. Before we even had much time to get too pumped up they just started the movie - sans previews. We were a little bummed because we love previews and there was suppose to be the Hunger Games one showing. Oh well, on with the show...

So we watched the movie. I'm not gonna lie, I was cringing an awful lot. The "love scenes" were so awkward because Kristen and Rob are super awkward. Then the wolves were super creepy. And it was all around cheesy with an extra vampire/wolf fight scene that was not even in the book. The only good parts were Jacob parts. Man, did he look good. He was super presh in the imprinting scene. Overall, I didn't really care for it. But I feel like I should because I care about the books and whatnot. I think I am overall disappointed in how all of them were made, especially when I see how well the Hunger Games looks in comparison. Brittany and I have decided that we are going to just remake the films one day when we are filthy rich so that they are more to our liking. I guess I'll just hold out for that day.

Friday I got to sleep in and then we went to Ikea. I have never been to Ikea before and it was pretty cool. I ate some Swedish meatballs and walked through the entire store trying to get ideas for my future house. I ended up buying some cupcake holders, a picture frame and some crazy down slippers for my mom. It was fun. Then we went back to Shailynn's for some curry and Harry Potter. We all cozied up on the pull out bed together and laughed a lot. Then cried a lot during the movie. Oh, Fred! Oh, Snape! Oh, Harry! Oh, Lupin and Tonks!! Poor Lavender! Sad, sad times.

On Saturday, we drove to Park City for some shopping. It had snowed overnight so everything looked all wintery and Christmasy. I even allowed Shailynn to listen to Christmas music, which I'm usually against until December 1st at the earliest. We got some good stuff and had a lot of fun in the Motherhood Maternity store. I went in the dressing room to try on some stuff. When I walked in I noticed this weird black hat hanging on the hooks that I assumed was some leftovers from someone else. Then Shailynn walks in with another one and says here you should wear this so you can see what you will look like. Turns out it was a fake baby bump. We had some good times with that thing. For some reason, when you put it on it makes you want to dance like your Angie in Baby Mama.

After freezing our patooties off with our shopping, we headed to SLC for this amazing hot chocolate place where the hot chocolate tastes like a melted candy bar, no joke. It was gooood. Then we spent the evening in Brittany's giant bed watching Crazy, Stupid, Love. We like cozy beds. And movies.

Sunday we went to church and then I was supposed to leave, but I felt like shiznit so I slept all day and stayed another night. It was so much fun being around my sister and Brittany for a solid four days. I miss those kooks everyday.

Funny Quotes (to us at least) from the weekend.

B: What is wrong with that dog's mouth???
S: It's dyed. Or it ate lipstick...I can't tell.

B: "We could never be best friends with Suzanne Collins like we are with Stephenie Meyer."
S: "Oh, no way. She's evil and probably mentally ill. I don't think we'd be b.f.'s with Erin Morgenstern
either."
B: "Why not?'
S: " I don't know. She's kind of gothic; she looks like she likes fairies and stuff."

freaking out

2011-11-14T11:53:00.001-08:00

I've been freaking out a lot in the past 24 hours. And crying for that matter. Last night I was laying in bed next to Ronnie with my hand on my tummy, trying to find baby girl. I never really know where she is. Then I felt her move for the first time!!! I freaked out and started crying because she is real. "Holy shiz, there's a baby in there?" Yeah, there is. Sometimes you forget you're pregnant. Even when you're sick everyday and getting fatter and buying baby clothes and thinking of names. It's not just a simple thing really realizing that you have a baby inside you. Until it moves and you can feel it. And then, holy crap there's a tiny little person moving around in there. It's amazing. And intimidating. I've only recently started considering all the seriousness of this. I've always been way excited to get pregnant and have a baby and I still am. But now I'm thinking more about how I will be responsible for the livelihood and happiness of a human being. It's pretty nuts.

Back to feeling baby girl move: I can only feel her when my hand is pressed real close to my lower abdomen, so I'm not at that stage where I'm just standing around and I can feel it. But now I'm obsessed with feeling her move so I do weird things to get her going, like laugh or cough or move into weird positions.

Also, just so you know, I kind of have a belly now. Unfortunately, it's mostly my guts protruding. Baby is nice and low and not poking out much, but thanks to my consumption of lots of dairy I get nice and bloated and my intestines stick out nice and good. So that's what you're seeing people. Don't get too excited.

Another recent freak out was caused by this trailer:

I was balling. I think it's looking amazing so far. I am so excited for this to come out even though I am balling my eyes out just thinking about it!

Another trailer that had me balling uncontrollably in the theatre was this one for "The Vow." I don't even know what happened, but I was like hysterically crying in the quiet theatre over this thing. It was really embarrassing. And Ronnie was laughing his head off at me. Welcome to the hormone roller coaster of pregnancy.

In other news, we are house hunting. The lovely family whose house we are sitting will be back in March so we need a new place to live. We are looking to buy a house since it's pretty much cheaper than renting. I can't wait to have my own house and to start decorating baby girl's room! Wish us luck!

A Very Random and Exciting Halloween Weekend

2011-11-01T12:43:00.000-07:00

I've said it before and I'll say it many times again: I have the best friends and family in the world. I scheduled my gender check ultrasound with Miracle in Progress this weekend and my sister and bestie drove down from Utah for this 15 minute appointment. I heart them. We also had Ronnie's mom, sister and their respective partners join us along with our good friends Drew and Heather. This place is pretty rad. A nice room with lots of couches and the most comfortable bed for me. They even warm that jelly that they squeeze on your belly for the ultrasound! It was amazing! Here are some pics:

It's hard to tell in this picture, but baby had her hand under her head with her elbow,

like she was just relaxing in there having a good time.

Kind of like this:

So we're having a baby GIRL!!!! I'm soo excited. I'm not gonna lie, I really wanted a girl as our first child (I have some theories about some things.) So this whole time I've just assumed I was having a boy so I would be happy either way. And I am. Now I can't stop thinking about nursery colors and first outfits and names. Oh the challenge of picking a name!! Ronnie and I can't agree on anything. We have some time so I'm not worried about it. It's finally starting to hit me that there is so much to do and many things to decide on, but it's all very exciting.

So after all this exciting news and a delicious lunch at Cafe Rio, it was time to start thinking about our Halloween plans for the night. A week or two ago Shailynn told me she wanted to do something fun for Halloween on Saturday night so we could dress up. I looked up some prospectively fun activities - none of which we participated in. But we did dress up! I went through many costume ideas, but then I saw this mask from Lady Gaga and I really wanted to make it.

So I hit up JoAnns and busted out my glue gun. It came out pretty chintzy... I thought I would go all out as Lady Gaga with a wig and hot pleather pants, but I got lazy and just went as a masquerader with Ronnie and Brittany. Shailynn dressed up as a mime.

We ended up at Serendipity where we drank some fabulous Frozen Hot Chocolate and then went to the Bellagio to watch the water show and see the Botanical Garden. Suggestion for the future: NEVER go on the strip on Halloween weekend. There are a lot of very nude people.

Disco nails to match my disco mask.

Sometimes Ronnie is a creepster.

See what I mean?

It was very fun just spending time with the coolest people in the world.

Just for Laura Cutler

2011-09-27T19:13:00.000-07:00

Ha ha, you ask and I deliver.

I never have any idea how to start these things. It feels weird to just start listing off the recent going-ons of my life. But that's what the people want. And that's what they will get.

For the most part, I have learned to manage my nausea. It's called lots of food and a fun little pill called Ondansetron (we'll call this ondi for short.) Ondi is great and makes working manageable. Except that the stupid insurance only gave me 12 pills. Each pill lasts 6 to 8 hours. So I only take them when I work which makes my weekends pretty miserable. This past weekend was pretty nasty. On Sunday I woke up feeling growdy but was able to keep down some slimfast in the morning, but after that I couldn't keep anything down. As ya'll know, when you are pregnant and don't have anything in your stomach, you throw up. Or your body tries to. That's what mine did all day. Dry heaving and some throw up. Fun times. The next day wasn't much better and I almost thought I needed to go to the hospital because I wasn't eating or drinking anything. But, I was able to keep some small things down, go to bed and take an ondi this morning and keep food down. Don't worry I'm not letting that happen again. I have a huge refill coming tomorrow! Also, from these experiences I have learned to not fear throwing up anymore!! That's a pretty big deal.

In other good news, Ronnie passed his last CPA exam!!! This is huge!!! These tests are freakin' expensive and difficult. I'm soo proud of him. Now he just has to have a set amount of audit hours and he will be a CPA.

I should take a moment and brag about Ronnie. This whole sickness period of my pregnancy has not been easy on him. If I am feeling any kind of sick he has to stay far away because I get super nauseous just smelling him (sad times, I know.) Also, I have to eat immediately after I wake up before I really get moving or else I'm sick. So he has to wake up and make me some breakfast before I can even get up. Did I mention that some of my days start at 4:00 AM? Yeah, I have to be at high school shoots at 5:30 AM, so we have to be up around 4 and leave the house by 5. He also has been doing all the laundry, dishwashing, shopping and food-getting. He is amazing. AND... he still loves me!! Man, I lucked out!

Not too much else has been going on. I usually come home from work and go straight to sleep. Ronnie pretty much does the same thing. We're super boring these days, but hopefully that will change in a couple weeks when my nausea all of a sudden disappears! (here's to hoping!)

I'm anxiously awaiting November for a few reasons. Reason number one, we will be finding out the sex of our baby, November 5th!! We are going to this place called Miracle in Progress where you go into this big room with lots of couches and they show the ultrasound on the wall, like a movie so everyone can see the reveal at the same time. I can't wait!! Lots of family and friends will be making the trek to Vegas to join us. Then it's shopping time!! Oh my goodness I just want to shop soo bad! But I really can't until I know who to shop for!

Reason number 2, Breaking Dawn is coming out!

Sorry this picture sucks, I took a screen shot from the trailer. I see this scene and just die. (Side note, doesn't it look like Stephenie Meyer is in the picture? Look at the woman in the front left. I'm going to do some research and confirm this fact.) Can my next wedding please look like this? Thanks. So, I know this movie is going to be horrible. I can tell they changed stuff already that really irks me, but the anticipation is so much fun. Especially when you share it with your besties. It's looking like I might be watching the premiere in Salt Lake. Because me and the BFF always do these things together, no matter what.

Update: It's totes Stephenie Meyer. I'm such a bad fan for not even knowing that.

I am a wimp

2011-08-27T15:58:00.000-07:00

So the fun times of morning sickness have set in. Except that it's not just in the mornings, of course. It's most of the day. Which isn't so bad right now when I'm not really working. But next week I start working more and I'm kind of freaking out about it. When you have to push a hundred kids through a picture line you don't really have time to throw up. Did I mention that feeling nauseous is my least favorite illness of all time? I'd rather be stuck on the toilet all day or have a fever or a sore throat over being nauseous. Lucky for me I haven't actually thrown up yet. But I do everything in my power to keep it that way. So lately I have been spending my days in my bed or on the couch watching Lost. (I'm kind of hating Jack right now, and especially hating John Locke)

One of the hardest parts of this whole nauseous thing is the fact that you are suppose to be eating all these calories and getting all the right nutrients for that growing human inside you, but most of the time nothing sounds appealing and even if it did you are going to have to move around all nauseous-like to make that food. It's not much fun.

Today my sense of smell got boosted. You know how I know? I walked into Subway and almost threw up on the people in front of me. Same thing happened in the drive-thru at Del Taco. Then poor Ronnie came home from work having had Thai for lunch and I couldn't stand his breath. So bizarre my friends.

I hope that you do know that I know that I am being a super big wimp and being slightly ungrateful for even writing this. I know that I am sooooooo lucky right now to even be pregnant. I went for a long time thinking it wasn't going to happen for me and I know a few people that it doesn't happen for them. I also know mothers who go through nothing short of hell to bring a kid into the world. So I am grateful to be here at this point in life, grateful that my nausea is pretty mild and that I can still walk around or leave my house if I want to. But I wanted to document this experience so that I can look back on it in the future and remember how I felt and when I felt it.

Random motherhood thought of the day: I was in the bathroom (for the umpteenth time) and started thinking about potty training and how I have no idea when you start potty training or how to do it.

just a heads up

2011-08-26T12:31:00.000-07:00

This is probably going to turn into a pregnancy blog. Sorry! I'll try to spare you the nitty gritty, but what else am I suppose to do with all my down time?

You've been warned. My feelings won't be hurt if you skip out for a while.

Also, I so welcome any and all pregnancy advice!! Bring it people. I know these books only say so much.

Thanks, peeps!

Another also, I have no intentions of showing my bare belly so no worries there.

a little more than you wanted to see, but a lot of what you want to hear

2011-08-25T14:04:00.000-07:00

Technically, I shouldn't be writing this post for at least another month or two. But I can't resist. We've finally done it. I've finally made it to that stage in life that I thought was not meant for me. I'm joining a world that was so untouchable for the longest time. Now that I'm here I don't really believe it. It's surreal. Mind boggling. But those 3 pee sticks have pretty much confirmed it.

This first one was a little inconclusive. There are suppose to be two lines, but the second line was really faint. However, the bright line was in the wrong spot to be a negative. I better take another one.

Enter dollar store test a few hours later. Yep. two strong pink lines. But, hey, this is from the dollar store. We best make sure this is legitimate.

The infamous E.P.T. I was supposed to be taking this one when I woke up Friday morning (which technically I did, I guess) but I woke up at 4:00 in the morning needing to go so I took it then. I didn't want to waste precious hormone-filled urine.

So here we are. After 20 months of trying. I have jumped for joy. Prayed in gratitude. Smiled unceasingly at Ronnie. Held my belly in awe and unbelief. I haven't even seen a doctor yet to really confirm everything. But you few followers of mine can handle this. I always thought it odd when people hid pregnancy. Yes, I know I could still easily lose this baby early on. And that would be sad and a little hard to talk about. But I would rather you all know and have your support no matter what than leave you in the dark. And I can't help thinking that even if something were to happen, I would still be grateful to have given that little spirit a body.

Now I'm hitting the baby books and trying to find a doctor and thinking about names and due dates (I think I will be due somewhere around the end of April)

Crazy stuff people. And to think that just a few days ago I had finally (and happily) excepted the fact that Heavenly Father had a little something different in mind for me right now. I guess that's what it took to get here.

bun in the oven

as of late

2011-08-17T14:19:00.000-07:00

I know you are all eagerly awaiting another post. (yeah right.) But, I will grace you with one anyways. So far I have spent my summer doing some graphic work for a lady from my ward who moved out before I got there and who I have never met. It's been fun. I also have done some random photo shoots here and there. Then I did a bunch of stuff for girls camp and then went to girls camp. I was called by my stake to be a ycl leader. Not gonna lie, it was a ton of work and not so fun at times. Then I got to camp, got closer to my girls and watched them get closer to each other and to the gospel. And then I had one of those "ah ha" moments. Girls camp is so divinely inspired it's insane. So good times there. Then I interviewed for a job and got hired! I now work for a company called Dorian Studios and will be a photographer for school portraits. It's pretty exciting stuff. I've been training for the past two days and I think it will be pretty sweet. I've taken a million of these photos and have been in a million of these photos for practice.

Let's see, what else? We are down to one car now. My explorer has decided that every 20 miles it wants to shut down. Not really sure what's wrong, but we don't really care to find out. After I start working for real then we will be looking for a new car.

I have also been working on launching my "official" photography and design business. I'm in the midst of designing a new website and getting ready to launch it. Be looking out for that.

Ronnie is still plugging away at his tax accounting job. He is in another busy season right now so his hours are a little longer, but I'm so grateful for his job and his ability to support us. He's been working so hard at keeping us going and keeping this huge yard up. Bless his bloody heart.

No news on the baby front. I think I've finally accepted that there are other things the Lord wants me doing right now. So the my new goal is to figure out what that is. Wish me luck!

Now I must get going. This messy house has been calling my name since before camp. It's pretty scary.

Peace out snitches.

Cutie McCuterson

2011-07-09T13:15:00.000-07:00

Love this kid. I can't believe she is already one year old.

I really like big pictures in blogs. I want to load all the pics form this shoot in a post, but it might be pretty obnoxious.

the bestest bestie in the world

2011-07-08T18:11:00.000-07:00

This post is long overdue. I have one of the most amazing best friends in the world.

Her name is Brittany Warnock.

We met when we were babies and became best friends in first grade. Then I moved to Apple Valley for the rest of my primary education. We remained friends, but were distant. Then a miracle happened. I graduated high school and moved to Las Vegas to live in my great uncle's condo with two of my cousins (Shilo & Ashley) and the lovely Brittany. Some of my fondest memories of life took place in that apartment. It was here that our friendship was rekindled and then strengthened.
Since then we have become the bestest of friends.

She is one of the most beautiful, loyal, caring, hilarious, thoughtful people in the world. We have some of the most awesome common obsessions. We think a lot of that same thoughts and end up finishing each others sentences.
I feel so lucky to have someone like her in my life.

She is also one of the best gift-givers in the world. For example: Brittany drove down on the day before my birthday from Provo just so I won't be alone the day of my birthday. On top of that she got me a charm bracelet.
I've never had one and always envied hers. This girl knows me well.

Thank you, Brittany! For being such an amazing best friend. I feel so lucky I have you!

**Update**

I totally forgot to mention that she is also brilliant. As in really smart. As in Valedictorian, straight A's in college kinda girl.

Yeah, you should pretty much be really jealous that she's not your best friend too.

Another Gold Party!

2011-06-20T12:13:00.000-07:00

Howdy! I'm having another Gold Party this Wednesday at 6:00 pm. This is a sweet way to get fast cash for your old, unwanted gold. Stop by for some Oreo truffles at least.

Warning!!! This post contains Hunger Games Spoilers!!

2011-05-17T17:49:00.000-07:00

I just finished reading Catching Fire and Mockingjay for the who-knows-how-many time. I really needed somewhere to vent about it. I was about to on Facebook, but Ronnie hasn't read these ones yet and I didn't want to spoil it for him. But all I can think is really, Suzanne? Really? Cinna? Boggs? Finnick? PRIM??!?? Man that woman knows how to rip out hearts and crush them and then put them back in your body just to be ripped out all over again. Mockingjay is absolutely nothing but depressing. Oh and what she does to Peeta! Unthinkable! I'm actually sincerely concerned for Suzanne's mental health. Who thinks of this crap?

I don't know why but this last go around got me really attached to Finnick. I just want to break down in agony when he is getting eaten by the mutts and Katniss drops the Holo to kill them all!! After all he's been through!! Gosh!! It just doesn't seem fair! And Katniss lives. Sometimes I wouldn't mind if she actually died. It's insane how she even survives all the crazy situations she's put in. And in the last book she seems so pathetic. Which is understandable since she's been through hell, but I get slightly annoyed at times. (Ok, I don't really mean all that. She's secretly my hero/me. Because you know you picture her as you as you read, right...?)

Don't get me wrong. I don't re-read books I don't like. I love this series. Except that I hate it. Well, mainly the last book. I'm one of those readers that likes happy fairytales with rainbows and unicorns. The whole point of reading for me is to escape reality and unpleasant stuff. So I like to escape to Forks and Hogwarts. Definitely not Panem. But there is something so addicting in her writing that keeps bringing me back. It could also be my lack of books, but I think there's more to it than that.

I have no idea how they are going to make these into movies. They are insane and brutal and heart-wrenching. I'm not even sure I want to see the movies. Oh, who am I kidding. You know I'll be at the midnight premiere. Even though some of the casting looks sketchy. Except for Peeta. I love Peeta so far. And Woody Harrelson as Haymitch! Pretty genius, although I liked EW's pick of Robert Downy Jr better.

Well, that feels a little better. Now I need something uplifting to read to recuperate from all this depressing reading. Sorry for the patchy writing. I'm not much of a writer.

"And may the odds be ever in your favor."

The Visosky's

2011-05-09T22:15:00.000-07:00

Easter weekend Ronnie and I drove down to good ol' California in hopes of soaking up some sun on a beach. The weather forecast, however, looked dismal so we stayed in town (as in Lucerne/Apple Valley.) On Friday evening I picked up the Visosky children and drove down the street to the riverbed. It actually had water in it this time around which is always a delight. The wind was not our friend, unfortunately. I went to reshoot the next day and poor Gavin got cut up on some barbed wire so we had to leave early. We still got a couple good ones. And we had a good time in the water.

We got some great goofy pictures that I will probably add later when I feel like editing.

I Heart Ugly Betty

2011-04-28T23:20:00.000-07:00

So I'm in season three of Ugly Betty (via Netflix.) I love this show! Betty pretty much has my dream job and she totally has the dreamiest boyfriends. And sometimes I'm like how did that happen? Then I remember it's a show and they can do whatever they want.

America is a babe. Especially when she is America and not Betty.

Boyfriend #1 - Christopher Gorham aka Henry Grubstick

Boyfriend #2 - Freddy Rodriguez as Gio

Boyfriend #3 - Val Emmich as Jesse

Boyfriend #4 - Daniel Eric Gold as Matt Hartley

Ok, Daniel is like Josh Groban's little twin brother.

And I love Josh Groban. So I kind of indirectly love Daniel.

I might have left out her very first boyfriend, Walter, but he didn't really make the cut in my book.

Sorry for the totally random post, but sometimes you just gotta share this things with the world.

J & J

2011-04-15T23:54:00.000-07:00

Last weekend my sister Shailynn drove down with my cousin Megan and our friend Azlyn from Provo on their way to Apple Valley. We caravanned down to California for Azlyn's bridal shower which Shailynn was hosting. We had a great time Friday getting our nails did by my mom, hitting up some wedding stores for Megan, almost eating pastrami sandwiches but then getting Claim Jumper instead. We laughed an insane amount and shared a bed so we wouldn't have to sleep in a creepy room. Saturday we prepped and hosted the bridal shower which was fun since we got to see a lot of people we grew up with. On Sunday I hit up the Lucerne Valley ward while the girls headed back to provo. Jurnie and JuJu had spent the night so I brought them with me. I invited them to do a photo shoot with me for fun and they got real excited. They wanted to be glam girls so we got some "glamour shots". The timing wasn't so great because we had too much sun, but we had a lot of fun. Here are a couple shots we got that weren't absolutely silly.

Megan + Scott

2011-03-26T11:39:00.000-07:00

So I have some amazing cousins. Something I've always admired about my family is that we know all our cousins and love them! This here is Megan Godard. My Hottie-McHotterson cousin. She is the biggest sweetheart in the world! And now she is engaged and moving on to the married part of life. I got to shoot her engagement pics a couple weeks ago.

hello there!

2011-03-08T10:25:00.001-08:00

hi friend! welcome to my blog: a place of ramblings, photography, a pinch of fashion design and a dash of graphic design. here's a little bit about me:

I married my best friend in 2008 and now I'm enjoying the blessings. I like to change my blog background every two seconds. My hobbies include stalking blogs and having random photo-shoots. I believe that Vogue nights should be a regular occurrence. I'm obsessed with Roswell, the JoBros, Twilight, Harry Potter, Pride & Prejudice and The Hunger Games series just to name a few things. I'm a glorified teenager in her 20's. Life is good.

My Life as of Late

2011-03-02T19:56:00.000-08:00

Throughout the day or week I can think of 3 or 4 blog posts that I need/could make. Then I sit down at my computer and my mind goes blank. I forget what I want to say. Or I feel too pressured to say something clever or funny that I just end up closing the window.

Most recently though, I've decided to be a little more candid. I want all of my 11 followers to know just who I am. Ok not really. But maybe a little bit.

My life has been boring for the most part. I babysit the aforementioned babes Monday through Friday now. Ronnie works late thanks to tax season. I stalk blogs all night and sometimes during the day. I change my blog background when I start blogging again after a long period of time.

Last weekend was pretty exciting. I drove up to Provo on Thursday to celebrate my bestie's birthday. I got to stay at my sister's basement apartment thing-ama-jig which is completely adorable and kind of makes me jealous. Friday, Brittany and I hit up the mall and I got some sick gray Gap hot pants. Then Britt got a mani while I watched every available manicurist watching their netbooks in between clients. Can I just say that there were at least 9 tables and each had a netbook chillin on it. It was random. And I know you were all very intrigued by that little piece of information. Moving on with life....

Friday night we dressed up our jeans with some heels and hit up The Cheesecake Factory like ballers. Unfortunately, everyone in the Utah county decided that the CF was THE place to be that night. We had to wait forever and a day to get a table. We about died because we were all in our hot heels. That's the price of being cool. The food, however, is well worth the wait and pain.

Saturday was kind of a life-changer kind of day. Let's just say that I'm known for liking some ridiculously immature things. Like the Jonas Brothers. And Hannah Montana (Miley Cyrus-not so much.) And Twilight and so on and so forth. However, I was in no way a Justin Bieber fan. He was so young and the hair and I was just not interested. Well, maybe you saw it coming, but I surely didn't. Brittany forced me at gunpoint to see the new release of the Justin Bieber movie as part of her birthday celebrations. I decided I would be the bestest best friend and see it with her even though I felt more than ridiculous buying that ticket. And then the movie began.... and it was amazing. I was converted. This kid really has talent! And he's so cute! I wanted to shoot Brittany during the movie for what it was doing to me. You see, Brittany and I (and Shilo and Ashley for that matter) we're the obsessive type. When we like something, we LOVE it. We are obsessed with it. It consumes our life. We mourn over the fact that we don't have actual relationships with these people. It's not the healthiest situation, but at least we always share in these obsessions which makes life bearable.

After the movie we ate at Cafe Paesan, which is also amazing. Then we headed to Brittany's apartment to pimp it out Justin Bieber style for her chocolate fountain party. We rocked the night with fondue and a mad dance party. It was fabulous. I freakin miss those peeps everyday of my life.

Overall, it was a wickedly awesome weekend. Luckily I only have to wait about 8.5 more days until I see them again.

Ok, can I have a mini pity party real quick? Thanks a bushel. (That's a lot right? Because I'm guessing a peck is a little and a bushel is a lot. Correct me if I'm wrong.) I'm in a weird stage in my life. I'm not really doing anything that I thought I would be. Like using my college degree that I paid up the ying-yang to obtain. I'm not a mom. I'm not a Disney star. I'm not a fashion designer. I've always avoided real jobs in the graphic design industry and such because I never felt confident in my work and I always felt like I didn't want to start a career when I'd have to leave it to be a mom. But here I am not a mom. And it's not from lack of trying. We've been trying to start our little family since November 2009. It's been tough at times. Especially when ALL of our friends here have children. We are the oddballs in these parts. (Another reason why I like to frequent Provo - lots of my favorite peeps with no children) Don't get me wrong; I love our friends here and I especially love their children. It's just that sometimes you wonder when the heck it will be your turn.

On the flip side, I have learned a lot from this experience. I actually knew this was going to be a trial of mine, thanks to my patriarchal blessing. It says to be patient with the Lord and that every child will come in it's time and place to me. (Hopefully that's not TMI) I'm grateful the Lord loves me enough to give me the heads up. And enough to help me realize how much I need Him and how this life is not really in my control. (I'm kind of a control freak) I've learned to stop judging other couples and mothers. I used to think you could plan it all out-when you are going to have kids, their sexes, the time in between each child. Ha! Yeah right, Shannon! It's pretty much all up to the Lord. And thank goodness for that. He knows a lot better than I do what time and place will be best to start our family. And I know we will one day.

Ok, I think that's enough poor Shannon for today. Or week. Probably year, actually.

Thanks for tuning in. And just to brighten your day after that pity party, here are some silly pictures starring Aurah and I photobooth style.

And here's happy Hadley rockin' a headband I made her.

Insert Something Clever Here

2011-03-01T19:56:00.000-08:00

Don't worry. I fully intend to catch up around these parts right quick. My mac was MIA for a while, but she's up and running and so am I.

p.s. Happy Bieber day.

Gold for Cash Party

2011-02-08T17:00:00.000-08:00

Come! Or tell your mom to come. Or better yet, bring grammie!!

If you don't think you can make it to the party but still want to know how much your gold is worth you can bring it to me sometime before Saturday and I can get it evaluated for you and then give you a call with the selling price.

The Christensen Family

2011-02-02T19:12:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures of a family photo shoot I did with Drew and Heather. This was our second go-around as I took some pictures for them before Christmas and lost them ~~in the fire~~. I mean they were on my stupid external hardrive.

Anywho, yay for bigger pictures!! I finally googled how to get bigger pictures in my blogs. Just upload them to Flickr and then copy and past the link from flickr into your post.

Check 'em:

Most hilarious picture of the day: just look at Aurah's face!

Thanks for stopping by. For some more pictures worth your while check out this link:

Awkward Family Photos

Eye of the Tiger

2011-01-20T17:11:00.000-08:00

Yo, Adrian! It's another giveaway!

All Things Thrifty Silhouette Giveaway

Look at all the amazing things you can do with it!!

Custom Clothing (Thanks to Heat Transfer Material)

Source: Little Miss Momma Blog

Vinyl Cutting....

Source: Silhouette Blog

Paper Cutting....

Source: Silhouette Blog

These are only a taste of the many possibilities! I'm at the point of buying one on Saturday if I don't win. I feel like I could run a business with this machine!

Party in the USA. Or in my living room.

2011-01-17T22:49:00.000-08:00

Just had a fabulous weekend with my BFF Brittany and her Provo BFFs Kristin and Sam. I would blog all about it, but Brittany did a swell job. Check out her blog at brittanywarnock.blogspot.com.

I miss them already!!

In It to Win It

2011-01-17T22:11:00.000-08:00

www.beneathmyheart.net is having a Silhouette giveaway as well!!

Guess Who FOund Another Giveaway?

2011-01-17T19:28:00.001-08:00

Me!! I'm gonna win this thing if it kills me!!

I entered to win a Silhouette Craft Cutting Machine http://tinyurl.com/4kk2xyh@iheartnaptime

My Desperate Attempts to Win a Silhouette

2011-01-17T12:48:00.000-08:00

So have you heard of the Silhouette machine?? Best. Invention. Ever. It's pretty much a glorified Cricut but waaaay better!! You don't need all the bloody cartridges and you can use your own computer to design and cut whatever you want!! It can cut vinyl, heat transfers, paper and more. It's AMAZING!!! Or so I've heard... I don't exactly have one myself yet, hence this crazy rant about how wonderful it is. I really want to win one so I've enter this giveaway from Craftaholics Anonymous by following blogs, tweeting, facebooking and blogging about it!

If you want in on the action, check this out: http://tinyurl.com/6joxqun

Wish me luck!!

In Mourning

2011-01-06T20:50:00.000-08:00

I've been in mourning for the past few weeks. Why? Well, let's just say I don't have the best track record when it comes to external storage devices. Recently, I put ALL of my photography on an external hard drive. Then I dropped it. On the cold, hard, unforgiving tile in my kitchen. And now it's gone. Out of my life. And with it all of my precious amateur photography.

Sad, sad times.

So Much to Blog, So Little Time

2011-01-06T20:45:00.000-08:00

Ok, not really. There's plenty of time, but little motivation. Especially since I don't have many, if any pictures to go along with it all. And nobody likes blogs without pictures!

Update on the Withaegers

2010-12-06T11:36:00.000-08:00

Sorry, this is an old post that I never published but it needed to be done.

I rarely talk about all the fun stuff going on in the lives of Ronnie and Shannon, so here's a little update. Ronnie is still working away at RSM McGladrey, but all the deadlines have passed so he's been able to relax a little more. I'm still watching Aurah and Hadley during the week. Hadley's almost 6 months old and has moved on to solid foods and solid poops. Yay!

Our holiday celebrations thus far have been pretty low-key. We did no Halloween related activities during Halloween (sad times.) We did hang out at the Hansen's home for an hour or two, but it was Sunday and we didn't feel like doing much else. Actually, that's not entirely true. There was this fancy party we were suppose to go to with Drew and Heather (aka dad and mom of Aurah and Hadley) but Ronald misread a text message about the timing and we missed it. But I'd rather go with the "it was the Sabbath Day and we didn't want to break it" excuse.

Thanksgiving was a little more exciting. My BFF Brittany drove home for the holiday and stopped in Vegas for a few days. Then my cousin Ashley and her husband Brandon flew into town. They currently live in Virginia so it's been a while since we've seen them. We had some fun times together. While Ash and Brandon were here we took some photos down at Lake Las Vegas for their Christmas cards. Most of them turned out like poop, but we got a couple good ones.

For Thanksgiving day we lounged around all day until 4:00 and then went over to Ronnie's family's house for dinner. It was delicious!

On her way back up, Brittany stopped again in Vegas so on Saturday night Ashley, Brittany and I went to Savers and found some amazing clothes and had a Vogue Night. I will post the pictures from that later (most were disappointing because we did it at night and the lighting was horrible in my house.)

Next up on our calendars is Shailynn's bridal shower on Saturday, her endowment two weeks later, Christmas, and then her wedding the week after that! Exciting times!

That's about it for now. Tune in next week for a look at the latest Vogue Night.

Ashley and Brandon

Ashley was kind enough to snap a few of Ronnie and I as well.

Ronnie refuses to wear this sweater any other way while out in public...

We like to get a little bit goofy.

Later dudes!

Brian + Shailynn

2010-11-30T09:13:00.000-08:00

My sister, Shailynn, is now happily engaged to her BFF Brian Brown. They are getting married New Year's Eve!! Which is right around the corner!! Our family is crazy busy getting everything ready. I took some pictures of the couple a few weeks ago for their engagement. They didn't end up using them for their invitations, but I thought I'd post them anyway.

We took the following pictures at my house in Las Vegas back in October

and only because I begged Shailynn to let me do a photo shoot in between

General Conference sessions.These are my favorites for sure.

I tried some different editing techniques on various pictures. There's so much you can do, it's really hard for me to leave pictures untouched. But the ones above were pretty decent out of the camera so I didn't do too much to them. The ones below, however, I decided to play with a little more.

Cheyne's Shoot

2010-10-25T18:53:00.000-07:00

This is Cheyne. He is my cousin who currently lives in Huntington Beach. No, he's not polynesian (although my family wishes desperately they were.) A few weekends ago he came up to Vegas with my sister and her boyfriend. We chillaxed and watched General Conference. Cheyne heard about this photo contest held by a shoe company and he wanted to enter. You had to submit a picture with you and a pair of their shoes. In between sessions we went into the backyard and took some pics. Here are my favorites:

Love That Shot

2010-10-06T14:47:00.000-07:00

Lately, I've been feeling like I need a little more direction in my photo shoots. Normally my protocol is to find some funky fun clothes and go somewhere random and take pictures with no clear direction. Sometimes I get some sick shots, but I feel like the pictures could be stronger with more direction or a theme of some sort. I discovered iHeartFaces a while back thanks to my idol Becky Earl, but I only recently starting following them. iHeartFaces is a blog that has, among many other things, a weekly photo challenge. Each week they have some sort of theme and invite people to submit images to go with the theme. I love seeing all the submissions. There are some seriously talented folks out there. iHeartFaces has got me seriously inspired. Now I feel like going through all of their old challenges and shooting some sweetly inspired pics.

iHeartFaces recently led me to another similarly inspiring blog call Love That Shot. They are having a sweet giveaway that required I submit a picture to enter. I selected this picture of Aurah from the farm. Some info about the picture:This picture was completely candid aka no staging. She was given the cowboy hat at the entrance of the farm and they happened to have some fake ponies to ride as well as the real ones. Whilst she was riding said fake pony I documented the moment. It was shot around 11:00 AM in the shade. I used an action from the Pioneer Woman called Vintage to make it look all westerny. I darkened the blacks and pulled up the contrast and presto it's a pizza. I mean a westerny picture.

Loving these!

2010-09-30T20:14:00.000-07:00

I'm just working on editing some photos I took of the girls and I love these! I love the whole western vibe going on so I thought I'd share. I have a million more cute ones but I'll let Heather decide what to do with them. Click on them to see them bigger.

The Babes I Sit

2010-09-07T15:10:00.001-07:00

Here are the gorgeous girls I babysit these days. They are so fun! Aurah is 3 years old and baby Hadley is 3 months old. We like to watch movies, swim, jump on the trampoline, paint, and build towers out of blocks just so we can knock them down. One of Aurah's favorite games is the "Why?" game. For example:

Aurah: "Why does Maleficent want to capture prince Phillip?"

Me: "Because she doesn't want him to save Aurora."

Aurah: "Why?"

Me: "Because she is mean."

Aurah: "Why?"

Me: "Because she is evil."

Aurah: "Why?"

Me: "I don't know."

Aurah: "Why?"

Me: "...."

Hadley

Aurah

Provo Vacay

2010-08-31T16:59:00.000-07:00

Shailynn graduated from BYU! Ok, so she really graduated in August, but my computer took a year and a half to load all the pictures. We had a fun weekend celebrating this milestone.

Our activities included:

- Hiking Mount Timpanogus

- Visiting Park City/The Olympic Park

- Riding a huge zipline down a bloody mountain.

- Watching a really boring, yet delightfully short graduation ceremony

- Eating a fabulous meal at the Cracker Barrel

- Enjoying a fabulous concert by Jack Johnson

- Hanging out with cool cousins (the Godards)

- Rafting with said cousins down a river

Here are the pics!

I heart PS

2010-08-18T12:44:00.000-07:00

I did a photo shoot a while back with a little one named Kate. It was my first photo shoot with a youngin' and it was a little more challenging than I expected. My Photoshop trial ran out before I could edit the pictures I had taken, but thankfully I have Photoshop again so I got right to it. I took around 230 pictures and liked about 8 of them. I got the idea to put a few of the pics in black and white and I think that really salvaged these pictures for me. I realized during the editing process that good lighting in the eyes is key to a good picture. It really makes the picture pop, as you can see in the last photo.

P.S. I went to Provo last week to celebrate my sister's graduation from BYU so a blog documenting that experience will be up shortly :D

My Hot Cousins/4th of July

2010-07-13T16:17:00.000-07:00

We enjoyed our Independence Day weekend in Huntington Beach and Lucerne. The Godard family trekked their way up to California from good ol' Gilbert to spend time with the fambam. I freakin' love this family!! Ronnie and I drove to Lucerne on Friday night and then drove with McKayli, Tyler and Tanner to Huntington on Saturday. On our way to the beach we stopped at the Gap to visit Cheyne in action. Then we headed to Bolsa Chica to meet up with the rest of the family. It was a bit chilly so I didn't even shed my blue jeans and tshirt (hence the reason I am still the whitest person in my family, nay the world.)

We went to church in my uncle Michael's ward on Sunday and then headed back to Lucerne that evening. We spent the forth taking fun pictures, roasting the biggest marshmallows I've ever seen and eating some random food with grandpa late at night.

The gigantic marshmallows. The picture does not do them justice.

Sweet baby Jacob! That marshmallow is pretty much the size of his hand.

Brigdon showing his smore who's boss.

I rarely ever need an excuse to have a fun photoshoot. McKayli and I are both aspiring photographers so it was clear that we needed to have one! I was lucky enough to capture some of their hottness.

McKayli, Kassie and Megan. Hotties!

Ronnie decided to contribute as well.

My favorite! McKayli would not stop laughing...

but when she did we got this shot that I love.

Here are some early shots of supermodel Kassie. If she ever gives up sports, an education and her morals she could always be a model! j/k

Summer: Poolside in the other LV

2010-07-13T15:27:00.000-07:00

Towards the end of June we headed to good ol' Lucerne Valley to visit some family that came in from out of town. It was fun to just relax and have fun chilling with cousins. Here they are!

Jet!

Malik!

Gavin!

Ronnie with Julianna, Jet, Kai and Jurnie

Kai showing off his undies

JuJu and Jurnie getting their Vogue on.

Kai taking the plunge.

Oh yeah and it was my birthday. My mom got a cake for Tanner and I to celebrate.

We got some cake in the face thanks to Tyler. Yes, I know I'm unnaturally white. The lighting on my camera was all off too, btw.

Grandpa!

My grandma!

A sick sunset.

Hottie McHotterson, Tiana

A Long Time Coming

2010-06-18T18:58:00.000-07:00

My apologies for the centuries since I have graced this space with a new blog!

Where do I even start?!?

I guess I will start with my long term sub job that I just finished up. I was oh so blessed to be a sub for Amy Riggs for her maternity leave. It was about 5 1/2 weeks at Walker International elementary school. At first it was uber stressful figuring out everything and doing some lesson planning. However, it was the end of the school year so there was a lot of fun activities including a field trip to the water park, a talent show, and a banana split party.I really learned to love it (and now miss it.)

I fell in love with these kids! They were so smart and funny and kind. I'm really sad that I won't see some of them ever again! I honestly would love to just follow them through school and watch them grow.

Walker has a dual language program so I basically taught two classes. My homeroom were the "All Stars" and I would have them for about half of the day and then we'd switch with my partner teacher, Yusta Flores and then I would get the "Rock Stars." These classes were aptly named. The All Stars were my best students. A lot of smart, well behaved kids. The Rock Stars were the rowdy bunch. They were a lot of fun nonetheless. Here are some pictures from my time with them.

The Rock Stars

The All Stars

This is my partner teacher, Yusta. She was a dream to work with. I've never met someone so kind, funny and loving. She loved life, people and teaching. It was soo much fun working with her. She always made me laugh. I will miss her greatly!

I love me a contest!

2010-04-20T12:24:00.000-07:00

So there is this great blog out there- thequeenbeemarket.blogspot.com and they are having an event in May that features items from over 40 vendors and 2 charities.

I'm here to spread the word.... and to try and win a contest. By tweeting/blogging/facebooking this info I have a chance at winning some gorgeous stuff from Allora Handmade.

Here are the deets:

We're thrilled to announce the Queen Bee Market- a hip, modern, and fresh handmade art and gift show in the San Diego area. Held on Saturday, May 1st, perfectly timed for the week before Mother's Day and beautiful San Diego weather (but really, when isn't it beautiful weather in San Diego?). Unlike any other craft fair or boutique, Queen Bee will feature vendors from all over the handmade scene. With purses, jewelry, home decor, children's items, accessories, baby products and more- you won't want to miss out. There's sure to be something for everyone. In addition to unique product, we'll also be focusing our attention on giving back to the San Diego area. For more information, read what we're up to on our charity page. We can't wait for the big day!

What up!

2010-03-18T16:33:00.000-07:00

Spring and I have a love/hate relationship. Spring loves to bring some of the most beautiful weather and the most beautiful blossoming trees and flowers.

It also likes to dump large amounts of pollen on my newly washed car.

Thanks again, Spring, for all that you do.

P.S. I'm sorry for being a lame blogger lately. I definitely have some crap to blog about but I haven't felt like it yet. Hopefully this weekend will give me that feeling again.

Here's a brief look at my life lately:

1. I am officially a substitute teacher and have subbed three classes so far.

2. I almost got scammed on Craigs List.

3. Ronnie and I have been house hunting and are hoping to put an offer in soon.

4. I went up to Utah for my best friend's birthday and had a blast with her and my sister which included a mini Vogue night.

5. The aforementioned best friend came down last weekend for the Mountain West Conference tournament and brought some cool friends. We had fun at the dam and what not.

6. I dyed my hair and am now a brunette!

7. I have the best husband in the world who brings home fun New Moon stuff for me.

8. I have been blog-stalking nonstop! I'll share some sweet blogs with ya later.

Wow that's plenty to be carrying on with. I'll be back soon!

The Little Girls Section

2010-02-11T10:24:00.000-08:00

I made a very exciting discovery yesterday... I was walking all around Target and decided to just drop by the little girls section. I discovered that they carry some pretty big sizes. Their larges were about the same size as adult smalls. And their size 14 jeans are around an adult size 3 jeans. Soo I picked out some items and tried them on... they fit! The main joy in such a discovery is that little girls clothes are cheaper than adult clothing (duh, right?) I even found some shoes in the little girl's shoe section that fit me! I was pretty elated as I walked out of Target with three items from the little girls section that were cheap and cute!

Here are the pictures of my discoveries.

I found a cute black t-shirt with optional beading, dark skinny jeans and a pair of simple black flats.

The Shirt Dress

2010-02-05T14:30:00.001-08:00

I made my first dress! It was pretty much an accident. I had all this left over material from my sewing class I took eons ago and decided to try and make a funky shirt, sans pattern. I made it

a little too tight and little too long, so now it's a dress for a very skinny person.

I wanted pictures of the dress and tried my luck with Ronnie as my photographer, which didn't work out too well. He didn't really know how to focus or how to keep the camera still. He blames it on his inflexible hands and wrists (which we have all decided are not developed

entirely.)

So sorry for the not-so-good pictures, the lighting in our house stinks. But I had fun making this dress and hope to make some more once I start working again.

One of the two pics that were in focus.

An example of what most of the pics look like.

I am very grateful he tried nonetheless. He's the best husband in the world!

This Week's Obsessions

2010-02-04T23:35:00.000-08:00

1. "Set the Fire to the Third Bar" by Snow Patrol and Martha Wainwright

This song is one of the sole reasons I want to see Dear John. That and seeing Channing Tatum cry like a girl.

2. My purple Miley Cyrus/Max Azria peasant shirt.

It's so comfy! And it was only $3.00 I might add.

3. Mandy Hafen's Valentine's Day sugar cookies.

I ate three today and had to stop only because I ran out of cookies.

These aren't her cookies exactly.

I ate them all before I could take a picture for this post.

La Rayna

2010-01-13T09:34:00.000-08:00

This is La Rayna! I know I already posted pics on facebook, but for some reason I feel it necessary to place them here as well. I pretty much created this blog to talk about the adventures of Ronnie and I, but also to display my photography (and hopefully its progression.) Some of these are actually not on facebook, so feel special that you get to see them!

It's Like a Tank Top

2010-01-10T17:53:00.000-08:00

So I was meandering through Joann's the other day and found this fabulous black and white fabric that I could not part with. I brought it home not entirely sure what I was going to do with it, but thanks to Etsy.com I was inspired to pimp out one of my tank tops. It was just an experiment but it was a lot of fun. Thanks to some inspiration from Ronnie, I will also being using this fabric to pimp out my bedding. Just some pillows and what not.

Now my thoughts are consumed with fun sewing projects; from fun dresses to fabric-covered wooden lettering for my bedroom wall. I'm starting to think I need to get a job solely to fund said projects. Blasted Joann's! You're cute fabrics are taking over my life!

Here are some pictures of my tank top.

It's like a tank top.

Here We Go!

2010-01-06T16:54:00.000-08:00

I did it. I have joined the blogging universe. I figured I stalk people daily, I might as well have my own blog that others can stalk. You are welcome.

I also have recently acquired a beautiful Nikon D40x camera and hope to document my life in pictures. I feel empowered. Ambitious. Clueless.

Wish me luck!