Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today I am especially thankful to all those who have supported me. The friends and family who comment about my photos and say such encouraging things. And to my wonderful clients.

"The best compliment you can give a photographer, is to book them."

Thank you for all of your support! I truly love what I do.

Coming from 37,996 feet up

I am writing to you from 37,996 feet in the air! I am on my way to Las Vegas to visit my family and friends for my 22nd birthday!!! I'm not so excited about turning 22 really. I kinda want to be 21 forever. 21 is the perfect age. When people lie about their age, they jokingly say they are "21." And everybody wishes they can just be 21 again. So does that mean it is all downhill for here? But the oh so thoughtful Alexandra Beckstrand introduced me to Taylor Swift's new song "22" and I'm getting excited! As long as I'm listening to this song (as I am right now) I am excited about turning 22! This will be my theme song for this week, and perhaps the year.

I have been away from my blog for a few weeks now. And I promise that it is for a very good reason! I am working on something SUPER exciting and I cannot wait to tell everyone!!!!! But your going to have to continue to wait. But this will be BIG and helpful to such a deserving family! Get excited and get ready to help share a special story with the world! Once the big news is revealed, I'll talk all about what has been going on the last few weeks, why I haven't been blogging and a little out of touch, and why this story has taken so long to finally tell.

You're just going to have to wait until then. I don't know when "then" is, you'll have to find out with me.

In the mean time, I will blog about some of my adventures in Vegas. I'm celebrating my birthday while I'm in Vegas, but I still have no clue what I should do!! Any suggestions?

Roasted Red Pepper and Sweet Potato Soup

Today is an exciting day! It's General Conference! The leaders of the LDS church will be talking to the members of the Mormon church and the public who have an interest in our faith throughout today and tomorrow. We just finished watching a session earlier today and another session will begin in just 2 hours!

You can go to this page to find a list of ways to view General Conference:
http://www.lds.org/church/events/members-and-friends-of-the-church-invited-to-participate-in-october-2012-general-conference?lang=eng

When we lived in Las Vegas, the first session of General Conference began at 9am. We had a tradition of a big delicious breakfast before watching conference! Now that we live in Florida and the first session begins at 12pm here, we changed our tradition to lunch!

We got today's recipe from Landen's Blog:
http://thecloakroomatvictoriastation.blogspot.com/2012/10/sisters-share-it-all-favorite-fall.html

The recipe has been handed down from blog to blog and now I am sharing it with you!

Roasted Red Pepper and Sweet Potato Soup

2 large or 3 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped
3 red bell peppers, seeded and chopped
1/2 ;arge yellow onion, chopped
1 tbsp. minced garlic
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
dash crushed red pepper flacks (This is optional, the more you add the spicier it is!)
1/2 tsp. basil
1/2 tsp. oregano
1/4 dried parsley
4 cups vegetable or chicken broth


Preheat the oven to 450

Coat the Sweet potatoes and bell peppers in olive oil. Place chopped sweet potatoes and bell peppers on a tinfoil lined baking sheet. Sprinkle basil, oregano, parsley, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes over the top of the vegetables.

Bake for 25 - 35 minutes, until the sweet potatoes are nice and mushy!

Put all ingredients, including broth, into a blender and blend until smooth. Bring the soup to a boil on the stove. Let cool. Serve. Enjoy!


This was the perfect Fall General Conference lunch! AND it is "Skinny Girl" Recipe Approved!

1000 Days

A couple of weeks ago I asked my husband I could take him on a date next Wednesday. He said yes :). I told him that we will be celebrating a special occasion in our marriage; a milestone of sorts, but I wouldn't tell him what it was until next Wednesday. This drove him a tad bit crazy. He never stopped guessing, trying to remember what happened on that day 3 years, 2 years, or even 1 year ago.

Tuesday night was like Christmas Eve for Ben. He tried to get me to tell him at midnight, but I refused. We FINALLY got to sleep and the next morning I woke him up with a kiss and a "Happy 1000 dayaversary."

We have been married for 1000 days!

We had a light breakfast then got our workout on at Disney's Blizzard Beach Water Park! And it was a work out! Blizzard Beach was built as a Ski resort, but the snow melted! So each water slide is at the top of a mountain, and you take a ski lift to get to the top. We didn't use the ski lift, and that was the ultimate stair master! With a great reward at the top!

Then we went home and got dressed for part 2. I made Lunch, then we headed out to a far away part of town!

We played GIANT CHECKERS!!! (I won :)

Then to Ben's surprise, we stopped by Rollin College and saw their play "The Miss Firecracker Contest." It was cute.

We had a great 1000 dayaversary!!!

People who have support loose 3x more weight

Ben and I went on a 6 mile run this morning! Well... more like a 4 mile run and 2 miles of gasping for breath as we walked home.

But I did it. And I have now stuck to my diet for 36 hours! Woah! Is it time for cake yet?

On our walk home, we passed by a house with this cute sign on it. It reminds me of somebody I miss a whole lot, and her German Shepherd pup.

Alexandra has helped me and supported me a whole lot these last 36 hours, and I wouldn't be able to carry on without the support I have been given. I wish we could be work out buddies, and I wish we could walk our spoiled rotten dogs together!

But we're doing this together! Me, Ben, and Alexandra! And anybody else who wants to join us. Because...

People who work together to loose weight, loose 3x more weight.

So grateful for my support group.

Introducing "Skinny Girl" modified recipies

This morning, Ben brought a magazine article to me that caught both of our attentions. The magazine is put out by Disney, and the article talked about an incentive program that neither of us knew about. Disney is offering a monetary incentive to any Disney employee and their spouse, who is enrolled in Disney's medical program, to stay fit, healthy, and in shape.

This surprised me when I read it, but it does make sense. Everybody who is on Disney's medical plan pays the same monthly payments no matter what their health is like. It's worth $300 per person, per year, to save money from medical expenses that occur more often when we're not healthy.

Each employee and enrolled spouse can earn up to $300! If your BMI is in the "healthy zone", you receive $150, and if your Blood Pressure in in the "healthy zone", you receive another $150! Disney takes these measurements in January. If you do not make the cut, then you have until August 13th to lower your score by 5%. Very do-able.

Ben is being serious about this challenge! He is already in the "Healthy Zone," but he wants to make sure he stays there! Plus he's getting ready for 2 upcoming marathons.

I am in the "overweight zone". I have to loose 11lbs by January to be in the "healthy zone." My goal is 35lbs.

So to help with this challenge, I am going to be taking Chef Ben's (my husband) recipes and modifying it into a "Skinny Girl" recipe. I'll be substituting things like Pasta with Spaghetti squash, and sandwich bread with lettuce wraps.

I've already modified Chef Ben's Eggplant Parmesan by taking out the breading and the cheese and substituting the pasta for spaghetti squash. This brings the recipe down to just vegetables and seasonings. Since he bakes the recipe already, this was an easy one, and SUPER yummy!

I'll be posting recipes on Chef Ben's blog along with the super "Skinny Girl" version starting next week! This means that come January, you'll already have a list of recipes for your new year goals!

Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep

I got today's photo shoot idea from this picture I saw on pinterest:

I'm getting ready to apply as a photographer for the volunteer orginization "Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep," abreviated as NILMDTS. At first it seemed like the process to volunteer my talents should be easy, but when I found that it was not an easy process, it did make sense to me.

Picture taken from www.NowILayMeDownToSleep.org

NILMDTS is an orginzation of volunteer Photographers who remain on call for their local hospitals. When a mother goes through the painful experience of having a still born baby, they are offered the professional services of one the NILMDTS professionals.

This is such an emotional and sacred experience. I completely understand why NILMDTS wants only the best photographers, whom they are confident will produce beautiful pictures that will last forever.

Part of the application process includes submitting 20 pictures showing your skill level in using light in different ways (Natural and artificial). Today's project helped me feel more confident in my upcoming application.

These are photos of the cute Aidan Mullen: