Nature's beauty

Testing out a favorite passtime- photography! This is a sunset from a cold evening at the beginning of December. I love the way the clouds have so much shape and movement to them, and how the colors so naturally highlight every detail.

Kick off to Christmas break!

At the beginning of Christmas break, my cousin, Brooke, came up to visit for a few days. She spent the night and we got a load of girl time (but never enough!!). We stayed up early, giggling and talking about our favorite subject- boys, duh!! :) We played in the snow and did our hair. As is our tradition, to top it off, we had a 3am photo shoot....where we capture the other side of ourselves that others rarely ever see. Haha, making the funny faces is always the best part!

Before she left we had a movie party with a bunch of our friends. It was the best way to end the week- lots of fun and tons of smiles. Love you, Brooke!!

Violins and Fiddles

Haha, I was lookin through some of my videos from the good ole' days and came across these two (region orchestra link below). Violin is one of my passions. It's been engrained in me since I was four years old and it's one of those things that I just couldn't live without. This is a clip of a fiddling duet from a recital some two or so years ago.

Family Christmas pictures...

Family Christmas pictures....Take 1-Take 984...



...Take 985!!! (Little bit of an exageration...)

Voice Recital

Sky's been taking voice lessons and loving it. I love his voice, and his range is incredible!!!! It always makes me so proud to be able to call him my brother and friend. His voice recital was last week and the song he sang is one that I've grown to love over the last few months. It's entitled 'The Innkeeper' from The Forgotten Carols. (I'll load the video clip as soon as I find it!!)

Caldwell Men's Choir

Last night was the Caldwell High School Christmas concert and Skyler got to sing with the men's choir as a curtain closer. It was definitely one of my favorite parts of the evening. They did an AMAZING job! I love my brother. :)

Christmas Concert

Last night was the Treasure Valley Young Artists Christmas concert. Our conductor is amazing! She's known for touring and sweeping all attended competitions (nationally and internationally)of every award possibly offered. Over the last many years there's never been a competition she's gone to and NOT won every thing there she possibly could. Mrs. Walker is amazing! While their son was conducting the choir he placed me as a second soprano and I loved that spot more than anything. You can understand then how I was somewhat cranky when Mrs. Walker came back and moved me to alto. I've been singing alto ever since and have grown to love it.


The Christmas concert is always heavily anticipated. The music was amazing, especially as it resonated in the performance hall. Even the youngest kids- The apprentice choir (6-8 yrs) and the Advanced choir (9-12 yrs)- did a fantastic job. :) Once again, it was another fabulous concert.



The following is a link to one of our songs during Spring 2008 concert: 'My Wish For You'- Treasure Valley Young Artists, Concert Choir, Spring 2008 Concert, Caldwell High School Auditorium-

Check out those antlers!

We decided to postpone school and go to the mall with the Johnsons instead. Parker, Skyler and I found some awesome antlers (hahaha) and convinced Tatum to try them on with us. Then we went to lunch at Panda Express and got ice cream from Baskin Robins.

After shopping some more we ended the day by getting our picture taken in one of the photo booths!!! We never convinced the boys to go sit on Santa's lap though...... ;)

2008- A GREAT year!!!!

December already! The year has gone by so fast, it's crazy!! So, I'm going to recap the year in a few of my favorite pictures and even fewer words. 2008 at a glance:

Visiting Temple square....

The Fourth of July (my favorite holiday!!!)- The first picture is from a parade that the scouts participated in. It's one of my favorites from the entire year because I love all the flags and patriotism that it shows. The other one is a still of the fireworks show.

EFY!!!

Spending the week with my cousin. :)

A mini reunion with one of my best friends at the Twin Falls, Idaho temple open house then going to eat at Johnny Carinos.

A day of thanks

I hope y'all had a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving. My grandparents joined us for dinner and my grandpa brought his compact bow, knowing my fondness for the sport. It's been so long since I've shot a bow, but I've always loved archery with a passion, and this was no different. A compact bow was new to me, but I had a blast. Skyler and my dad even took a turn. :)

Cousins

My cousin came to visit while our dads went on a Thanksgiving week fishing trip. We have so much fun with Semisi and have many the entertaining conversation. He spent a few nights with us and we stayed up insanely late. Saturday was his birthday and while the boys went birthday shopping Misi and I tried on awesome 'Spyder' wear. They had some of the most awesome hats!

Afterwards we went to Red Robin and Krispie Kreme for lunch. They sang happy birthday and we laughed some more. I never get tired of it...!!

Alex

WARNING: May contain inside jokes. :)

This post is dedicated to Alex: the one that keeps us all on our toes. ;) Or the victim of our many TPings....(sorry about that one, dude!!). Kidding.

Alex is amazing in a million ways. Always cares, keeps us laughing- I appreciate it. He's the best traveling buddy ('specially when you're going places like Djibouti) and pretty good with paperclip decorating. Thank you for all the great memories and inside jokes. You've been such a blessing in my life over the last year. Y'all mean the world to me. Thank you for everything!!!

~She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named

Ethan

This post is dedicated to Ethan: the party planner (kidding, ethan!!!). The person that's always encouraging frienships and untiy. A super bedroom decorator (haha, inside joke), and awesome friend. Thanks for being the best otter-pop-eating buddy of all time. :) Haha...and for keeping me company during meetings (namely class, byc, etc, lol). You've been a lifesaver the last year and I appreciate it. I'm so glad we're friends. Thanks for everything!!!!!!!
~She-Who-Must-Not-Be Named ;)





ps-....I STILL can't reach those ones in the corner...right above your head....and they won't blow down. :( I guess it's time I get a chair.

First Snowfall

Yesterday was the first snowfall of the year at our house. It didn't lay sheets of it, but it layed enough to make the ground white. And when it turned into water, the water froze creating our driveway into it's own little ice rink. I guess summer really is officially over. :(

This is our house from my bedroom window this morning.

My Grandpa

Last Sunday a big family dinner was held for my Grandpa's and Aunt's birthdays. We ate and talked and talked and ate, and had a great time. My grandpa is so funny and always makes me laugh.

My angel

Life brings so many gifts, and some of the best ones are the little things that are huge, but only to you. To every one else they're meaningless. My angel is one of those priceless gifts. She's the best friend that I could ever dream of. Love ya, little sis!

'East of the Sun and West of the Moon'

Skyler and I attended a play entitled 'East of the Sun and West of the Moon.' It was a lot of fun and very entertaining. But my favorite part was seeing our friend Cody and his great acting skills!!! Way to go, Cody!

Haha, I couldn't help myself, but I must brag about my friend for a slight moment. For those of you that don't know him, Cody's awesome in a million ways. He always keeps me laughing every time we talk, and has the most amazing voice!!!!!...(Sorry, Cody, I couldn't help myself....forgive me??)

Cousins~Friends

My gorgeous cousin, Brooke!!!! I love her. :) When she visited over the summer so many wonderful memories were created and the week was a blast. We're alreay planning for future opportunities (like the upcoming summer!!). She's so talented and sweet. Keep a smile on your face, girly- it's beautiful. Heaps of Idahoan love.

A lesson of life

There have been a million reminders lately that life is too short to let any opportunity pass you by. Live your life to the best it can be. Laugh with all the breath you have and love every moment that life presents. Quoting a friend, "Live for today, for yesterday is gone and tomorrow may never come." To all my friends and those I care about, I don't say it enough, but thank you for being so wonderful to me. Y'all make my world that much brighter every day and add to the happiness in it. May the Lord bless!

Smiles

On the way to seminary, college, mutual, or just hanging around I've learned that my favorite thing to do is smile. Life always looks brighter from behind a smile. :)

Girraffe, anyone??

A day out with dad, and look at the fun we had!!!

Shopping trip!

Friday Jamee, Tatum and I went window shopping at the mall. We ate pretzels, tried out the eyeware, and had some awesome girl time. Jamee and I found some pretty cool shades! (She's such a cutie!)

PS- We chose out some heels for a "friend" (as a joke), though we hope he NEVER wears any of them. Haha, which ones look better??