Yearly Christmas Update!

Once again, it's Christmas time and we're looking back at yet another year gone by. This has been quite an eventful year that started with Max continuing to work on his degree with Weber State University and me applying for nursing school with Weber State for the second time.

Fast forward to April which is when I got my letter from Weber informing me of my position as an alternate for the program that started this fall. My mom and I attended a meeting at the school to look at what my points were and see how close I was to the top of the alternate list (because they will not tell you specifically). As it turned out, my points were the same as the student who got the 90th spot so we knew I had to be close to the top! We asked the advisors what I should do and they said to relax and know that if I didn't get in this year that I'd for sure be in the next year. So I patiently waited and on Tuesday, April 28th, Max brought in a small, uneventful looking letter from the box that turned out to be the letter I'd been waiting for 5 years to come - the letter telling me I'd been accepted to Nursing School! It seemed that it was never going to happen, but it did and I along with all of my family are so glad it has! Two days later, my sister got HER letter of accpetance to NIC's Nursing Program so not only do we both want to be nurses but we get to do school togther!

The next month was all about dad and his new wife, Mona. They married the last weekend in May and it was quite a party! It was a beautiful ceremony with a wonderful reception full of fun and dancing. His family came and it was nice to have some time with them over the weekend. The fantastic four (Gary, Carli, Laura and I) had a great time together. We haven't all four been together for quite some time so it was wonderful.

This summer Max and I went up to visit my family in Idaho, including my sis and her awesome boyfriend, Scott. My mom and her new husband met us up there and we all had a wonderful time together. Laura, my mom and I were lucky enough to be able to scatter my Grandma Carol's ashes while we were there and that was a wonderful experience.

In July, Max's mom celebrated the end of cancer treatment!!! She had her last round of chemo and threw a fabulous party to celebrate! That was a long, hard fight and we're all so proud of the attitude Connie had the whole time and are so thankful for the support from EVERYONE!

The rest of the summer was filled with a few weddings that I photographed and I'm looking forward to shooting many more next summer too! My photography has really taken off and I'm so grateful to all my many subjects (especially the regulars, Karalee!) who keep me in busniess!

The summer wrapped up with mom's fantastic wedding! She and Larry got married the last weekend in August (literally two days before nursing school started for both Laura and me!) and it was wonderful! Laura and I gave mom away and stood up there with her as she married a man that loves her more than any of us knows. The ceremony was perfect and the reception ("It's not a reception, it's a party!" as mom puts it) was a party in a can! We danced, drank, ate, made toasts and had a great time! It is so nice to have both of my parents happily married and loving life.

I started Nursing School with Weber State two days later and am finishing up my first semester with two finals tomorrow! It's been a lot of work but I've enjoyed it and am still so grateful to finally be in! Max is also finishing up tomorrow and the one-year countdown to his graduation begins! He'll be graduated this time next year and we are looking forward to it!

As I said, it's been a busy, wonderful and eventful year. We want to wish all of our friends and family a wonderful Christmas and happy New Year and will make sure to keep you all updated through our blog as our life unfolds! We love you all!

P.S. I decided not to post pix with this particular post - but scroll down to check out older posts and see the pix from this very eventful year! :)

ThAnKsGiViNg!

Max and I had a wonderful Thanksgiving with his family at his sister's home! She put on a wonderful spread and we ate til we couldn't anymore and spent a nice afternoon with some of our favorite people. I just want to take a minute to tell all my family and friends (the family you choose) that we are so thankful for all of you! We are so lucky to have people to go to when we're having bad days and celebrate with in times of joy! This holiday reminds me that I have infinite blessings from God to be grateful for every day. A few of the best blessings are pictured below, and I'm so thankful for these and many others.

Hope you all had as wonderful a holiday as I had and I wish many blessings upon you all as well.

A wonderful husband who never ceases to make me smile and laugh!

The love of my life

My brother-in-law and his wonderful girlfriend (who is also one of my FAVORITE friends)!

My Fantastic sister-in-law!

My loving mother-in-law who would do anything for me.

Max and his awesome dad who loves us very much!

I know, I've been such a lazy Blogger...

But once again, I remind you that I am a very busy girl! I have been going 90 miles an hour for the past 6 weeks! I have been in school 18 hours a week and at work 36 hours a week, plus I've had 1-2 photo shoots every weekend since October began! But It's been so great! I'm doing wonderful in school and if you'd told me I'd be doing this well 2 months ago I would have told you you were nuts and must be thinking about my smarty-pants sis, Laura! But Seriously, I'm doing well, the best I've ever done in classes like this, I guess it makes a difference when you like what you're studying huh? :) It's finally all making perfect sense and I'm getting it, not struggling through it! So I'm happy about that! Max is changing his schedule soon so he can resume the normalcy of working days, not nights. I guess I'm the only weirdo that actually LIKES working nights! :) So I'm happy for that because I think he'll feel better in general because he will be getting good sleep for the first time in a year! A couple weeks ago we went to our wonderful friends' Halloween Party and had a blast! I dressed up as a roman emperoress and Max went as Maximus Decimus Meridius (well a Roman gladiator anyway :) ) and we looked great! Our friend (and fellow photographer) has been wanting to go out together and photograph each other with our hubbies, and we finally nailed down a date and did it.! It a was blast and the pix turned out great! Now I just have to decide which one to use for our Christmas card... Hmm... I'm taking votes on the ones below!

Option #1, My fave!

Option #2, my other fave!

Option #3

Option #4: Max likes this one because he says it looks like I'm pouting, I didn't mean to, I think I look ridiculous! :)

Option #5: I love this one because Max is always making me laugh. God, I love this man!

This is a picture I took outside of my condo a couple weeks ago. It was the most PERFECT fall day. All the leaves were literally falling off the trees all around me, it was heaven!

This is just a picture I took while I was waiting for one my photography shoots to start. I just love this leaf. There is some tree up here in Bountiful that has these leaves that change into this blazing red color in the fall and I LOVE it! I love looking up into the mountains and seeing sprays of this color. It makes my soul sing!

And here's one pic from the party, can't really see our costumes, but I'll find a better one and post it soon! :)

It's been awhile, Sorry!

So I haven't blogged since my nephew's birthday... But when I update you, you'll understand why! The following weekend was my mom's wedding! It was FABULOUS! We had such a wonderful time! Everything turned out great and I've never seen my mom happier! Larry is a wonderful man and is part of a wonderful family and it's great that our two families are now joined together as one.

First dance as husband and wife

Tailgating, again! :) We make weddings way fun!

Larry and his boys

Mom and her girls
(we're just one boy and one girl short of the Brady Bunch!)

The Happy Couple

Two days after my mom's wedding, I FINALLY started Nursing School at Weber State! Ugh! It was rough that first week! I cried so much and wasn't quite sure if this is really what I wanted to sign up for, but we're finished with week four now, and A+, A- and B+ test scores later I'm feeling like I can actually do this and I'm remembering that, "Oh yeah, I DO want to be a nurse and all I wanted this year was to be in Nursing school, so I better shut-up and get studying!" Thanks to all my friends and family who have been so incredibly supportive, especially Max and my mom. Baby, you are my rock and you keep me going when I think I can't anymore. And ma ma, you are just so proud of me, I can't even stand it right now! You never miss an opportunity to tell someone what I'm doing and how excited and proud you are that I'm doing it. Thank you! Thank you! Thank You!

Many, many, many more books than this, but this is all I was studying at the time...

My awesome patch that cost $3.00 on my unisex scrub shirt that cost $50.00!!! But I'm in school, I can't complain too much; it'll be over before I know it!

Cason is One!

My little nephew had has one year old birthday party today and so we went and did presents and cake and ice cream! He was so cute and had a good time with his cake! I'm so glad Joe and Jerry invited us so we didn't miss it!

GlItTeR ToEs!!!

Hooray for glitter toes! They are the newest, fantastic, fun thing to do with your toes! I've seen tons of people where I live, and tons of people, including my fave aunt and her daughter with them up in Idaho and Washington. So I decided I wanted to have mine done too! I found a blog in which a woman shares her little secret of how to have glitter toes without spending a ton of money and having to have the gel on your nails that is very hard on them and hard to get off when you're done. So here they are!

All you do is get loose glitter (I got a huge pack from Walmart with EVERY color I could possibly want) and then you paint your toe nails with a coordinating nail color, and while the polish is still wet, cover your toes with glitter. Then take a clear top coat and paint over the glitter to seal it in. I did a couple coats to make them extra sparkly and shiny! Then take a small paintbrush or make-up brush and brush away all the extra glitter that sticks to your toes. Make sure to do it over a peice of paper so you can save the excess glitter that spills. I'm thrilled with the result! I think they look great and now I just have to see how long they last! I posted a pic, but you can't laugh at my ugly feet! I hate my feet, but I wanted you to be able to see the finished product because the woman I got the idea from didn't. Here are my Glitter Toes! :)

HoMe AgAin

Max and I are back from our yearly vacation up north. We go up to Coeur d' Alene, ID every year to see my family and spend time at our wonderful lake cabin. We didn't actually make it to the cabin this year but we had such a great time with ALL my family, literally. My mom and her hubby, my dad and his wife, Max and I and the rest of the bunch were all up there at the same time this year! We got to spend at least one night with everyone and a few with my sis. We played in downtown Cd'A and went to Spokane, I did family pictures for my Aunt and Uncle and my mom, sis and I had the wonderful opportunity to go spread my G-ma Carol's ashes at a lake that she and my grandpa used to love to go fishing at when they were alive. It was the most beautiful funeral/memorial, or whatever you'd call it, I've ever been a part of. It wasn't formal or anything, it was just the way it was supposed to be, the way my beloved grandma would have wanted it. Just the people she meant the most to remembering her and celebrating the wonderful woman she was. It was a rainy, cool day and right after we finished spreading the ashes, mom said a prayer and we were just sitting in the boat and the whole lake got really peaceful and calm and it felt like all was right with the world. Even though it was a sad thing to be doing, it just felt like it was happening exactly how she would have wanted it to. We were all at peace. I love her so much and I think about her often. I feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to do this with my mom and my sis and to have had my Grandma in my life for as long as I did.

Mom being silly with the airplane hat

Laura and I dog-piled on mom!

Laura and I made penis pasta for my mom! He He!

Laura and I riding a moose in downtown Cd'A? Yep!

My sis, mom, Jeff (her step-brother), Leah (Jeff's niece) and me on the beach at Lake Curlew, G-ma and G-pa's favorite place. Be at peace G-ma, we all are.

The peaceful and calm lake after we spread the ashes

Looking out at the lake from the dock

The beautiful Spokane River. I think I'm going to have this one blown up and framed!

NO MORE CHEMO!

My mother-in-law was diagnosed with the worst type of breast cancer over a year and half ago. She has been doing chemo and radiation for 18 months and is FINALLY done! She had her last treatment on Thursday, July 16th and we are all so thrilled. She has been a trooper through it all, keeping our spirits up by being upbeat and positive. I love her so much and I'm so proud of her for making it through this so strong and I'm glad to say she's beating cancer! She hosted a party to thank everyone for the support she's gotten over the last year and half. She got 100 pink balloons and we all took one, yelled "Save the ta-tas" (a breast cancer awareness organization), and let them all go to signal the end of this! It was a beautiful day and so many people came to show how much they still support not only Connie, but the rest of us as well! I thank God for all he's done for all of us through this trial and for pulling us through to other side of it!

Connie (mom-in-law) and her husband Dave (father-in-law)
He's been wonderful through all this and he loves her so much!

Max, Tracie (his sister), Art (his brother) and Dave and Connie
What a wonderful family I married into!

Connie and Me
I love her dearly!

"Save the Ta-Tas!"

All the wonderful women who worked at her cancer treatment center who were there every step of the way! They were magnificent and we were so happy they came!

Summer!

I was at my mother-in-law's house the other day and just shot a couple cool pix of the bees enjoying the summer flowers in her beautiful garden! I love summer!

iNdEpEnDeNcE dAy!

So we went down to South Jordan and had a bbq with my mom, Larry and his son's family! It was so much fun. We played with the baby and the kids, ate good food, had some drinks and watched some darn good fireworks! Max helped the older boys fill and tie water balloons and in the process got totally SOAKED! (front and back) But he dried out nicely because the weather held and didn't rain like the silly weather man said it would. Hooray for that! The hightlight of the night was probably when Cayson, the youngest got ahold of Larry's wrapped cigar and knawed on that for awhile (pix below). It wasn't anything fancy or big, just friends, family and good times! What a great way to celebrate our wonderful country! God Bless America!

Look ma, No Hands!!

Cayson with grampa Larry's cigar enjoying fireworks.

Carter with the LAST water balloon that all the big boys wanted him to pop.

Carter thoroughly enjoying his hotdog that he DIDN'T drop on the ground.

Max & Baby Cayson!

Thank God for Best Friends

Isn't she just gorgeous? Beautiful Bee!

Kiss, Kiss!

I wish I didn't look pregnant in this one, but it's my fave!

Trying to keep it together to do a serious picture. Not happening!

So my best friend, Brittany, surprised me and flew in from Florida a couple weeks ago. We got to get together and took pictures and had dinner and we talked into the wee hours of the morning like we used to when she lived here. She was my maid of honor at my wedding in 2006. Max hasn't seen her since then and I've only seen her for a couple too-short visits since then so it was so fantastic to see her for more than a couple hours this time. Thanks to my wonderful husband for taking pictures for us! I've missed her so much since she moved away 6 years ago. She's the best friend I've ever had and even though we live so far apart now, when we get together nothing's changed. We have things to catch up on but it's like we just saw each other yesterday because we are so close. She's talking about moving back to Utah in about a year and half and I hope it works for her to that! It would be so great to have her close again. I love her so much and I'm so thankful that she's in my life. Love you Bee!