Survivor

I have debated over posting these photos, because I'm such a BABE in them, but there you go. It was yard day, and I honestly did not think I would be photographed, so I didn't bother taking my hair out of ponies. So, I'm a huge Survivor fan, and the winner from Survivor China just happens to live here in my thriving metropolis. So, he invited four of the other survivors from Survivor China, to come to our city for "Corporate Survivor". All of these people in my city signed up, got put on tribes, and had competitions, and in the end someone was crowned soul survivor. So, being the huge nerd that I am, I went to the first challenge. I was totally thinking I'd have to park a mile away, hike in, show up an hour early and on and on. Not so, it turns out that I'm one of the only survivor fans here, because when I got there, no one else was there. The 5 Survivors were sitting there, by themselves, no one bugging them, nothing. I was so star struck, all I could do was stare. This is seriously killing what little bit of pride I have to admit this, but I was dying. I didn't dare go talk to them, and my girls wouldn't go with me even though I begged, bribed, anything. So, after a lot of staring, (and I'm sure they were creeped out because I was just staring with my massive, goofy grin), we went home. Well, my fabulous neighbor offered to go play paparazzi for me if we went back, and she would talk to them with me. So, we went back, and got to talk to my personal favorite of them all, Courtney, for like 10 minutes. It was so fun to ask all of my "I've always wondered" questions. It was such a fun experience, and as you can tell by my gargantuan cheeser, I was a little bit more than just a bit excited. I loved it.

mom and baby

There is nothing more beautiful than a woman with her baby. My good friend let me take these photos of her, and her little. It was a wind fest, but so worth it. They're fabulous.

canyon

3 weeks to go

I got to take my cute friend's maternity pictures. She is so beautiful, and seriously no one should look that cute 9 months pregnant! These are the first photos I've taken with my camera that are for someone else, and I was a bit nervous about it. But, when all is said and done, I love my camera.

Swan Lake, Chinese Style

Watch this all of the way through if you can. It's rather long, but OH MY HEAVENS!!!! It is amazing!!!

my favorite things

I love making things. I would rather make anything than buy it, just to learn how to do it. Here are my favorite things that I've been making as of late.






These two bags, Bird Crowned with Glory, and the Cupcake bag, I made for a church auction. I have made hundreds of bags over the past few years, but I must say that these are two of my favorites










At a church function around Christmas time, a fabulous woman in my ward was wearing this super-girly apron, and I fell in love with it. She let me bring it home, where I made a pattern, and whipped up a ton of them. You can see the originals at funktionhome.com, they're spectacular.













The first time I saw these hair flowers on a child, I laughed my head off. Now, I don't think they could be cuter, and they are so easy to make. We pretty much have one in every color for every occasion. My good friend has a thriving business selling these in Denver, and they go like hot-cakes. I can't get enough of them.





Last, but not least, I have a fetish with yummy drinks. So, here is the recipe for my personal favorite summer time slush.
in a blender, combine:
2 cups of ice
1 cup of milk
1/2 cup of hot chocolate mix ( the kind you mix with hot water)
1T Pero (or some other version of Mormon "coffee")
blend it all up until it's thick and slushy.

MMMMMmmmmmmmmm!!!!!

mid-life crisis

I was talking to a friend of mine the other day about the fact that we were both probably not going to have any more children. She mentioned something about being in a mid-life crisis. I never thought that would happen to me, but as she said those words, I realized, that's exactly what's happening to me. I am in this weird phase of my life. I never wanted to be here, I don't want to be here now, yet I am. My kids keep getting older, and fight as I will, they are all going to be in school darn soon! I have spent some amount of time worrying about this since my oldest was born, and now, it's come much sooner than I would have had it. I am so excited about new prospects, but I'm terrified of the unknown. I have loved having tiny kids around me so very much, that I don't believe I can be happy without it. I always thought that I would have a whole bunch of kids, and that by the time the youngest were in school, I would be ready to move on and do my own thing. But when that didn't happen, I am now entering into this all too quickly. I do love that I'm getting tossed out of my comfort zone, because I know I will grow so much. I feel like I felt when I got on a plane to Paraguay to serve a mission for my church. I've never been so afraid, however, that certainly was, by far and large the coolest thing I've ever done in my life (next to marriage and kids of course.) So, this next phase of life too, will be huge, and wonderful I guess, if I can get my emotions together enough to handle it.