Great start to 2009!

Happy New Year to all!

I'm really excited about this year! So far I'm starting off on the right track.. I started back at boot camp this week. I'm really excited to be back at camp.. we have the BEST trainer in the world, Sam. He is amazing and will bust our butts back in shape, literally. I am eating healthy and even though I've only been back a few days, I'm already feeling so much better about myself. I am really looking forward to losing the vacation and holiday weight I put on... and keeping it off this time :D

I also started my Digital Photo I class this week. The class goes on for 6 wks at UTA and then I will immediatly start Digital Photo II and that will also last for 6 wks. Who knows.. in 12 weeks you might be looking at a new photographer :D :D

I have been having so much fun w/ photography so far and I'm so eager to learn and start using all the new knowledge. I met my friend Michelle when we first started boot camp around this time last year. From the time we starting talking we really clicked,, we are so much alike and like to joke around and laugh alot (imagine that!!). When we started talking, I found out she is a photographer, and a great one for that matter. I told her about my passion and she has helped me so much along the way. I was able to photo a wedding with her a couple months ago and had SO much fun. Of course I'm still learning, but she is so helpful and so amazing and makes me want to accomplish and learn so much more. I'm really looking forward to "playing" with her more often and going along w/ her on more photo opportunities. She said she was really happy w/ the creativity in the pics I took at the wedding, which makes me a happy happy girl. The technical stuff will come, she said.. but she thinks I have the eye for photography. She has become a really good friend and I'm really looking forward to her bachelorette party in March.. I'm SO happy for her on her engagement, its finally her turn!! Check out her website/blog and see how amazing she is!!! http://www.peyronetphotography.com/


She snapped a picture of me when we were shooting at the wedding reception.. Do I look like a professional or what? :D

Chadd's 30th Surprise

After much preparation, I was able to pull off (as Chadd says) "the BEST birthday surprise EVER!" I planned a ski trip to Angel Fire NM with some of our closest friends; Tracy, Eric, Nicole, Travis, and Shane. 01/03/09 - 01/07/09

Here's how the surprise went down:

Chadd knew I had a surprise for his birthday but he thought I was throwing a party or having something in town. He knew he needed to get into work early cause we were doing something for his birthday that evening. Sat morning, after he left for work I packed our suitcases and got everything together. Nicole, Shane and I went and picked up the 15 passenger van we were driving to NM. Of course only the guys were allowed to drive. We drove out to Saginaw to pick up Tracy, Eric, and Travis then headed to the airport where Chadd works, which isnt far from their house. When we got to the airport, I called and had someone open up the gate for me.. we drove around to the back of the hanger and had the same guy tell Chadd he had needed to go outside. When he walked out the door we were all standing by the van with our ski coats, goggles, and other ski wear on and yelled "surprise". He was so confused just looking around.. We said "we're going skiing!!" His response was "when?" ha ha.. We told him the van was packed, ready to go, and we were leaving right then. He hopped in the van and we were off.. He said it was the best birthday EVER and was SO excited!!

*I had magnets on the van that said "we're going skiing" and "happy 30th" :D

We stayed in a beautiful cabin called The Elk House, which was only minutes to the bottom of the mountain where we skiied. http://www.elk-house.com/

The skiing was AMAZING!! There was SO much snow when we were there. The 1st 2 days we skiied, it was SO cold and like a blizzard on the top of the mountain, but it sure made for good snow. The 3rd day we skiied the sun came out and it was a beautiful day to ski and wasnt as miserably cold. There isnt much nightlife in Angel Fire but the girls enjoyed making "gourmet" dinners at night and we had so much fun hanging out at the cabin together. Here are some pics to enjoy:

Here are some pics of the restaraunt on top of the mountain, the beautiful white trees, and the slopes! Look how deep the snow is!

I have some videos of us skiing too.. I'll add them as soon as I can figure out how to do that.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHADD AND TRACY!!!!

Wedding Pics

I finally got my pro wedding pics.. had to wait 1 year to get all my negatives. I have been working on photoshopping them here and there.. here are a few I've worked on ! :D We really need to sit down and pic which ones we want for our album.. Can you believe we still havent picked out our album pics?! ugggh!

Introducing..

Baby Connor was born 11/13/08. What a cutie patootie!! Here are some pics I took.. he wasnt too happy about me taking pics, course he was only 3 days old!! I just love my baby Connor and his big bro Carson. We'll have a photo session with the 2 brothers very soon!!

Baby Jude needs your prayers!

One of my best friends and coworker of 10 years had a little boy in Sept, Baby Jude Ortiz. He is so precious, little gift from God. During Jennifer's pregnancy she was told there were problems with Jude's brain. She went through many tests and the Dr's encouraged her to terminate the pregnancy. Jude was born 09/02/08, beautiful as ever. He has been growing and developing like normal, except that his head size was in the lower percentile. Other than that, he smiles, laughs, has learned to roll over, all the sweet things babies do in the first few months.

Last week, Jude started having seizures. After a few days of spells the Neorologist (sp?) finally advised them to take him into Cooks ER. After many tests, an MRI, they have been told that he may not make it past early childhood, and will not live as a normal child. Jenn & Mike are such great people and truly need all the prayers they can get! They need prayers to keep their strength so they can be strong for baby Jude and strong for eachother. Click on Baby Jude in "blog life" on the right to read more about Baby Jude. Jennifer updates her blog pretty frequently to help keep her family and friends updated. We love ya'll!!

The Hardaways

I took pictures of my Best Friend Melissa and her family. It's really hard to get bad pics of them, they are all so photogenic!

Here's just a few I took.. I think I ended up with 80 something really good pics. I had a really good time! Isn't Carson such a cutie pie?!

Love you guys!

I'm gonna be an aunt!

My Sis is prego!! One thing that makes me the happiest person in the world are my two little angel babies, my nephew Noah and neice Ashlyn. I cannot wait to have another one I can play with and take places!! Hopefully Sis and I can be prego together!! She has been trying for 2 years and I think we had all given up hope that she could have a third. Now that she is finally preg, this is our chance :D We're workin' on it.. check back hopefully soon!

Photography

For my 30th birthday, Chadd bought me the camera I wanted so bad (along with my sis, Mom, and in-laws who also pitched in THANKS GUYS!). I got the Canon 40D and I LOVE it!!

I had to honor to shoot with Cris Owens, mother to a great friend of mine, at a wedding a couple months ago and had SO much fun!! I haven't been doing much with my camera lately though. I recently started looking around, trying to see what I need to do to further my knowledge in photo. I have a list of things I want to buy to start the weekend gig and home studio I want so badly, but also know before buying a bunch of stuff, I need to learn in depth about my camera and photoshop.

So, I found a program through UTA where you go through a series of classes and come out w/ a photography certification. A photographer friend of mine said the certification wont do me any good, but the knowledge will for sure. My sister and I started our first class this past Monday, Digital Photography & Basic Photoshop. We are both VERY excited to get started and I cant wait til I'm all done... the certification doesnt do anything, but it will definately be self gratification.

Tomorrow I'm also going to take pregnancy and family pics of my Best friend Melissa, Kevin, and Carson (with little Connor in tummy). I cannot wait!! Just wait til you see the pics.. Melissa is probably the most photogenic person EVER so I know I'll get some amazing shots!!

Saturday I'm taking engagement pics for a really good friend of mine, Wendi & Allen.. They are such a cute couple and I cant wait to get some really cute pics of them!!

At some point I'll start posting some pics on here for everyone to see, and maybe even start a photo blog.. who knows! Sis and I want to start a little business of our own, at some point, and are up for name suggestions so email us if you think of something good!!

Prayers Please!

At the beginning of the year, our family was hit w/ some very devistating news. We found out that my Aunt Pat and Aunt Sue have lung cancer. After a long battle in ICU, my Aunt Pat is still recovering.. which we thank God for every day. My Aunt Sue is still going through Cemo, and we are still praying every day for her recovery.

This past week, our family was hit with even more devistation. My cousin Johnny, who is only 45 years young, with a loving wife Linda, and three small children, has cancer. The cancer is in his rectal, colon and bone and is between a stage 3 and 4. He is still in the beginning stages of meeting with Dr's to determine what steps are going to be made to rid this terrible disease. We just need a ton of prayers for our family. We have a huge circle of prayers and support through our family & friends, which brought my Aunt Pat back.. and we need those prayers and support again.

For the family who wants to read his story and keep up w/ his progress, you can go to http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/johnallevato.

To Johnny and the family - We love ya'll very much! Keep your heads up and stay as positive as you can. Your family and friends are behind you, praying for and supporting you! xoxo

Our 1 year anniversary!

I cant believe its already been a year!!! WOW!!! And its been so GREAT! Everyone says the 1st year is the hardest, if this was hard... I cant wait to see what lies in our future. I cant wait to spend the rest of my life w/ the most wonderful man!

So.. for our anniversary we're going to Jamaica in November, we postponed the trip cause of work reasons. We cannot wait!! We're also going to Vegas in Sept for our friends 30th birthday, but will celebrate 1 night for our anniversay too :D

Anniversary celebration here:

Sat night we just went to laid back dinner at Fadi's, BEST food ever!

Then Monday on our actual anniversary, I took Chadd to see "Tropic Thunder", which he's been dying to see. We went to Studio Grill and had dinner while we watched the movie. It was a really fun night. BUT.. the best part is before we left Chadd gave me my anniversary present!!!!

I got a dozen red roses and the sweetest card with a letter he wrote to me. Inside the card was also a pic of a little pup... YEAH!!! I finally get a baby yorkie pup!!!

So, I introduce to you a new part of our family..... PIPER!!!!

She is the cutest little baby I have ever seen before.. and we just knew when we saw her she would be the one!! She is 12 wks and only weighs 1.3 lb. She will get around 4- 4.5 lbs. We picked her out last night.. I took her to the vet this morning to get her checked out and she is perfect!! I cannot wait to spend my life w/ this little angel baby! We are SO in love w/ her already! Kitty isnt so sure what to think just yet, but she was sniffing at her and I'm just hoping they'll be best friends! Here she is!

I have the best husband in the world!!! :D :D :D