What Happens When We Know We're Being Photographed

Picnic at the Park with Pictures

I want to take advantage of the (fading) nice weather here in Utah, so we've been trying to do some picnics and spending time at parks. We went to Rock Canyon park about 2 weeks ago, and I just barely am getting these pictures up. Yeah, we're kind of silly, so try to overlook that. Or go with it. Whatever.

Women and Creativity

While I was doing my usual work-breaktime-walk-around-the-grassy-area, I was reading different talks from General Conference in April. I stumbled across the transcript of the video presentation from the Young Women's meeting. President Dieter F. Uchtdorf had an amazing quote in that video, and it really impacted me.
Here it is:
"Sisters, trust and rely on the Spirit. As you take the normal opportunities of your daily life and create something of beauty and helpfulness, you improve not only the world around you but also the world within you."

Ever since moving into our  third apartment, I've just had this HUGE impulse to be crafty, to create yummy goodness to decorate the tiny world around me. I've started a TON, and here is the one that I've actually finished (wait, I take that back, I finished one more, about 2 days ago, but didn't take a photo of it yet)

My Halloween Rag Wreath! It was actually super easy to make. Just took the Saturday morning General Conference session :) I bought an awesome fabric pack from EBay (actually one pack for Halloween, one for Thanksgiving, and one for Christmas). I cut the 4" squares in half, and then just smushed them together/tied them in bows/hot glued them on to a wire wreath frame. Then I augmented that with orange/purple/black/green ribbon and tiny ornaments from JoAnn's. I am super happy with how it turned out. I still want to add a BOO or SPOOKY or some word to the middle. But here it is, a FINISHED CRAFT PROJECT! Woot!

President Uchtdorf  gave a great October 2008 Conference talk to the women of the Church. He talked about Creativity, and the importance of creating in our daily lives. I adore this quote (taken from here)

So, the question is....
What do you create daily? What inspires you in everyday life?

An iPhone Update on Our Lives

I feel like we've fallen behind in updating on our lives.
Luckily, regardless of where we are, I almost always have my iPhone with me, and I've gotta say, it takes awesome photos. Even though it's not the newest version 4 (with a bigger picture size), I still love that option to take random photos everywhere we go. Plus, the App, ShakeIt Photo, is absolutely incredible. It instantly makes any photo better, and it's fun cause you've gotta shake it (like a Polaroid Picta!) for it to "develop". So some are from that app, others just from the good ol' Camera.
(sorry, the order is all off, cause I rushed to upload them (while at work - eek!) and post this, and didn't take the time to re-organize them)

Waiting for the first of the Rooftop Concert Series, with Benton Paul, to start.

Probably the HUGEST zucchini I have EVER seen. From a co-worker's garden. I made 2 chocolate zucchini cakes with it (no pictures of those - I rushed taking them out of the bundt pan, so they looked horrific)

First football game of the season! Sporting our 5 buck shirts

D sitting in LaVell's spot in the skybox at the game this past Saturday (we won't talk about the outcome of said game, however)

D with 2 of his cousins, Adam and Tommy, at the first football game. Their whole family came up from Vegas that weekend

D often sends me photos of him in his tux outfit when he's at work. I love that handsome man smiling at his camera phone, through my camera phone, at me.

Our  view from the skybox last weekend. Awesome view, beautiful day, miserable outcome of the game.

D took a photo of what I was taking photos of in August - Ilarene and Jason's wedding! Then he texted this to Jason right away so he could have a photo on his phone of the big day

My sister, Karen and her husband, Brigham were flying out of Salt Lake after spending the weekend in Idaho for his sister's wedding - confusing, I know - but I drove my bootie up to SLC to get the chance to see her before her flight. We ended up spending an hour and a half chatting in the visitors' center on temple square, trying to keep cool in the ridiculous heat. It was SO NICE to see her - honestly, seeing my family gives me much-needed stress relief and the ability to keep going with my hectic life.

At our 2nd apartment (out of the 3 we've lived at so far), the door to the laundry room was painted with chalkboard paint. Dylan was so cute and would often leave me messages on here (shoot, I totally forgot to do the same for him - I liked his too much to erase them!). This is what was on there right before we left.

For a friends' dinner a few weekends ago, I was in charge of the dessert. I made a D-Licious pudding cake, then made buttercream frosting for the first time ever, and topped it with raspberry jam and fresh raspberries. Masterpiece, no?

Waiting for the rooftop concert to start. It was a beautiful night, great weather - we just totally didn't think ahead to bring chairs, so we brought blankets and got sore back ends from sitting on the cement parking surface for 2 hours

This was on a drive back from Manti. I love the silhouette of the windmills against the blue blue twilight sky, in the shallow valley between the mountains

One of my freshman roommates, Taryn, got married to one of our freshman friends, James D. Carlson (future General Authority name, right?), and we went to their reception. I've gotta say, this was one of the best receptions I've been to in a LONG time. An ice cream bar, REAL food, and then they totally had an all-out dance party for a good hour or so. I had a blast.

The things we do for love

Not to toot my own horn as a husband, but I merely am writing this post to show Julie how much I love her. Since we have been married, I have watched more chick flicks and gal TV in six months than I did in 24 years combined. Easily. Probably even more in only one week than my whole life before that. I have watched more episodes of Project Runway (probably in double digits) than I have NFL football games this year (0). I have watched more episodes of Say Yes to the Dress and What Not to Wear (I don't even want to count) than I have Yankees games (well, to be honest, still a few, but small in comparison). I have watched the sappy movies (P.S. I Love You), the dropping the one you're with and finding someone better movies (Sleepless in Seattle, The Wedding Planner), the romantic comedies (Failure to Launch), and the ultimate throwing off the shackles of the patriarchal institution of marriage movies (Eat, Pray, Love). Maybe the worst part is--I haven't minded. I'll take any opportunity I can to spend time with Julie. And, hey, I am finally learning all the lessons I missed out on not having sisters...but, chick flicks still suck.

Who wants to watch this?

When I can watch this?