Anyone? … Anyone?

The other day I (Julie) wrote a really long and involved post about fake chicken. Man, it was a good one. At the very end I was trying to insert a picture (a very disturbing picture of a bright red chicken sans feathers) and Live Writer crashed. Of course, I forgot to save my well-written post. I was heartbroken and too upset to start over. Maybe one day when I get annoyed to my brink again with fake chicken I’ll write it again. So sit on the edge of your seats.

The real reason for this post is to try to get myself out and socializing more. My brain is turning to mush and I need to do something other than the norm.

I have a couple of activities planned that I’m inviting all (or any?) of you to join with me.

1-I need to get the kids to the zoo. I’ve waited way too long and now the heat is stifling, which I abhor. But they’d have a blast.

2-Ballet Under the Stars on July 10th at 8:30pm at the Murray Park Amphitheater. Wow. Who knew amphitheatre had an h after the p. Interesting. $8.

3-Rob and I have reserved a campground at Sunrise above Bear Lake for August 21-22. We can probably fit one other small family in our site or you can get your own. We’d like some other kids around Nate’s age so he has someone to play with in the water.

4- Adrienne, Dustie, and Whitney, it’s about time for our annual girls’ dinner out. Or maybe an overnighter where we can split the hotel bill and and do what girl’s do best. PAARRRTTAAYYYY!!!!

5-Rob’s gone with the scouts the week of July 20th and I don’t want to be stuck home the whole time with just the kids keeping me company. So I’m looking for something to do or somewhere to go. Must be cheap…or free. 

Anyone have any other fun things to do? This request includes things with the kids and without. Thanks!

PS. I’ll fee like a big loser if nobody comments.

Potty Tales

I suppose every parent has a bunch of potty tales from their toddlers/preschoolers. Here are a few of mine. Sorry, they’re a bit graphic.

• Nate’s not afraid to bare it all for everyone to see. He has no shame. The other day we were at Cabela’s and he went into the restroom. I was waiting out in the common area outside the bathroom near the front of the store. He doesn’t like the loud flushes of public toilets, so he came out yelling for me with his hands over his ears and his pants and underwear around his ankles.

 

• He was playing at a neighbor’s house one day (don’t worry, it wasn’t any of yours) and I went to pick him up. We were walking down the driveway and I noticed something. I said, “Nate, WHAT is THAT?”. He hung his head and said, “Sorry, mom.” Yep, a big poop was sitting their on someone else’s driveway. I hesitated, decided to have him take off his shirt, pick it up, and throw them both in a trashcan. Disgusting!!

 

• We were at Ikea the same day as Cabela’s and he told me he had to poop so into the restroom he went. A few minutes later an older gentlemen came out and asked me if I was his mom. Turns out, Nate had improperly used the urinal…

Since this is my first child, I’ve honestly just never thought of all the things I should cover when I potty train. It never crossed my mind to make sure he knows what the urinal is and is not for. I told Rob he needs to sit down and have a serious discussion covering all the do’s and don’ts of all things bathroom. I’m sure I’ll have many more of these stories to come. Oh, joy. But you’ve gotta admit, they’re pretty funny.

Foto Friday – Mon Batteur

Unfortunately, with life as busy as it is, Rob doesn’t get to hit his cans as much as he’d like. But back in the day of our dating, the kid was a rockstar!

I’ll start from the semi-beginning. The first time I went to Rob’s house after we had met, he took me down to the basement. There stood, on a riser, a drum kit. Sweet, I thought. This guy is cute and he’s a drummer! So that meant he wasn’t quite as straight-laced as he seemed. Niiiiice. Julie was intrigued…

Come to find out, he played in a multitude of bands in high school, including a hard core band. There’s a picture somewhere of him at that age playing at a club with his shirt off and a mean look on his face. Everyone who knows Rob knows he’s the nicest man alive so it’s really funny to think of him in that other light.

He even played in a band on his mission.

When we met, his new band, FOUND, had just formed and they were awesome. I mean, really great. They played at clubs a couple weekends a month and won every Battle of the Bands they ever competed in by a loooong shot. Since I was the drummer’s girlfriend, I tagged along and helped set up and take down his kit. I wasn’t really into photography at all back then, but I ended up being the band’s photographer. The band members ended up going their separate ways a couple of years later, sadly. But they sure had fun while it lasted.

The above picture was taken at a Christmas event in downtown Salt Lake City. Doesn’t this look like album art? Don’t ask me how I did it. This was years before I took up photography as a hobby. I took it with someone else’s camera, have no idea how I imported it into Photoshop, and don’t know all that I did to it. But I think it is unedited except for the “colored pencil” effect applied to it. Fun, huh? 

Here is a little more more eye candy from shows at Liquid Joe’s and Port-O-Call. They are completely unedited (if I remember correctly). I guess I had an eye for taking pictures even before I knew what I was doing. The quality is a little poor because of the size of the original files.

 

 

Jordin’s #1

My (Julie) niece had her 1st birthday a couple of weeks ago and we celebrated with a family party at my mom’s house. My sister asked us to take some pictures and her one request was to get one of Jordin smiling. I guess there aren’t too many documented moments of this.

So we tried the swing. It worked!

This girl loves to play with her boobies.

A few more cute shots.

Family can check out the rest of Jordin’s pictures here. You’ll know what the password is.

15 Questions for Julie

Do you dance crazy when no one is looking?

I dance crazy when my kids and husband are watching, but don’t dance at all when no one is looking. What’s the fun in that?

Do you like to sing in the shower?

Not out loud but I constantly have songs stuck in my head and it seems to happen most often while in the shower.

What is the one, single food that you would never give up?

Ice cream. I have it almost every single day. Baaaaaad Julie.

What is your weirdest "quirk"?

Freaking out about my throat drying up before I fall asleep. I HAVE to have a glass of water next to the bed and I HAVE to take a gulp RIGHT before I lay my head on the pillow and then swallow AFTER I get comfortable so I can limit the possibility of needing another drink before I fall asleep. I won’t even talk because that increases the odds. It’s pretty bad.

What do you think is the most useless class in high school?

Study skills. I guess some people need it, but who wants to study about studying??

Have you ever gambled at a casino?

I’ve been tempted but no.

Where did you go on your first airplane ride?

The St. Louis airport on a family trip to Nauvoo.

Last thing you bought?

A toilet seat, this time with plastic hinges. We had metal hinges and Nate’s “misses” corroded them so much that the whole thing broke apart yesterday. Pleasant.

Favorite Sundae topping?

Probably marshmallow. Kind of juvenile, huh?

If you don’t know the words to a song do you improvise?

Oh, yeah. I’d be the BIGGEST loser on “Don’t Forget the Lyrics”. Rob makes fun of me for not knowing more than 5 words to every songs.

Favorite cheese?

Gruyere.

If you weren’t in the profession you are, what would be your other dream profession and why?

A few things, actually. Obviously planning people’s vacations would be a really fun job for me. I’d love giving them amazing memories.

Or some kind of consumer advocate. I dislike so many of the business practices out there and it really irritates me when companies, government, etc. take advantage of people.

But maybe a business consultant. I have great ideas and love telling people what to do (hehehe) but I’m not that great at carrying out those ideas myself. Plus, consultants make a lot more money than my other two options. 

Can you remember your earliest childhood memory of happiness?

Running naked (except for shoes) two houses down to my great-grandma Clonts’ house where she fed me lucky charms. I was two or three.

Can you remember your earliest childhood memory of fear?

I was afraid of falling from the treehouse when I was three or four.

What is your perception of how people see you?

Quiet, somewhat smart, and boring.

Southern Expedition – Day 1

Rob and I had so much fun on this trip. How could we not? Just the two of us away from all distractions. I take that back, the scenery was SO distracting!! It’s frustrating as photographers to see something amazing before you and not be able to capture what you’re seeing. Even with a wide-angle lens it seemed impossible to capture the feeling of being among miraculous landscape. But we sure tried.

We drove 2 1/2 hours from West Jordan to Torrey along Highway 89. I’ve driven I-15 a billion times so I decided to go the back way and see new scenery. It was nice and didn’t take us any longer. We stopped for lunch just outside of Capitol Reef National Park and veered onto Scenic Byway 12. We were driving through beautiful Alpine elevations and I started dozing (Rob was driving). All of a sudden, Rob said, “Julie!” I opened my eyes and low and behold we were on top of a huge ridge looking at over 150 miles of rolling, rocky open space in each direction. I read that this is the place in all of the US where you can see the furthest due to both the elevation and the quality of the air. It was breathtaking (I’ll probably use that word a lot). I dare you to drive through here without stopping, pulling over, and enjoying.

The weather was supposed to be rainy, but the sky looked fine so we decided to get to Zebra Slot Canyon as fast as possible, just in case. We REALLY wanted to hike the slot. We turned onto Hole-in-the-Rock Road and 6 miles down got out to start our hike. With an eye to the sky the whole time, we hiked a couple miles through washes and finally got there. There was only one other person there, a photographer, and he left just after we arrived. So it was very quiet and secluded. Talk about cool!! The striped walls were beautiful and the sand was very fine. We took our time there and then hiked out.

We drove 6 more miles down the road to Devil’s Garden. This was very cool, too. We had fun climbing up the stone structures and looking far into the wilderness. The sky was beautiful and the breeze was perfect. It was very peaceful and I felt close to the earth.

It was getting dark so we decided we had better get into Escalante and check into our cabin. We had planned on camping, but the weather was supposed to be terrible so we decided to reserve rooms. Turns out, the weather was perfect. Oh, well. At least we got showers. The outfitters overbooked so we didn’t get to stay there and instead stayed at a motel. But not before having some good pizza on the lit patio watching jack rabbits cross the road.

Just writing this makes me wish I was back out in secluded, silent, awe-inspiring nature. The calmness it brings is amazing; the best drug ever, I’m sure. 

To see more pictures, click here.

And Rob says the “piece de resistance” is coming up for Foto Friday.

Awkward Posing

Rob and I were thinking about adding some “oomph” to our portraits. We feel like we need to be more creative in order to express the personalities of our clients. Here are a few examples we’re going to try:

“The Headpile”

 

 

“Never before has a birthday cake photograph been so chilling.”

 

 

“After experimenting with different poses for these four siblings, the photographer finally nailed it.”

 

 

 

Anyone interested in making an appointment with us so we can try one of these new techniques??

If you want to see more, visit Awkward Family Photos. You’ll have a good laugh.

Earthquake in the Morning – Weber Segment of the Wasatch Fault

 Link to Photo Source

That’s right, the Weber Segment of the Wasatch fault will rupture tomorrow morning at 6:00 am.  Are you ready? 

Really, are you ready?

Are you ready?

OK, so maybe it isn’t a real earthquake; however, the City of Ogden, “in cooperation with County, State, and Federal Agencies will be conducting a citywide disaster drill.”   The earthquake drill will begin tomorrow morning at 20th Street and Grant Avenue.

“Residents will be allowed front-row seating to witness firsthand city emergency services operate. Events include full scale EOC (Emergency Operations Center) activation, house fire containment, simulated derailment resulting in evacuating five city blocks, building evacuations, to name a few.”  This is a great opportunity for the local entities to run thorough the drill and figure out where their plans fall short and fix them.  As public we will greatly benefit from this drill when we actually have a real emergency.

An emergency preparedness fair will also be held on Park Blvd between Grant Ave and Washington Blvd from 10am to 3pm.  They will be covering many subjects and you’ll likely find out how to get ready for the earthquake.  I don’t think we all realize the impact that a large earthquake will have on our lives.  It is a big deal.

A few months ago I blogged (check out the cool videos) some information from the Big Southern California Shakeout, a very large scale earthquake scenario where the public was also involved in the drill.  A large scale scenario will occur in Utah in the next few years.

Anyway, props to Ogden City, go to the preparedness fair, and get ready.  The big one strikes tomorrow!!!!

Lately

It’s gonna be a long post. Here are some of the things that we’ve been up to lately.

Madeleine said her first prayer with help. It was soooo cute! She folds her arms, mimicked what Rob was saying, and then unfolded her arms when we said amen. Very, very cute.

She and Nate LOVE to wrestle with each other and the little 1-year-old instigates it half the time. When they get on this kick, Rob and I just leave the room because there’s no stopping the madness that ensues.

We finished painting and decorating Nate’s bathroom. It looks really cute with real starfish stuck to the walls and a clear canister of shells. He’s always asking us to go to the beach so I thought I’d go with that theme since we already had light blue paint hanging around. It’s simple, but that’s how I like it.

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We’ve been trying to stay somewhat isolated from the world for the last week since there’s been a cold going around here. But every once in a while we let ourselves go outside somewhere where we’re not confined in a room of breathing, unsuspecting people. Although, there’s nothing sweeter than a baby with snot streaming down her face. I love it when she wants to snuggle and wipe it all over me. Ahhhh……

Saturday we enjoyed the air show from an elevated neighborhood under construction. It was a great view with no crowds. Can’t beat that. The kids (and Rob) had so much fun playing in the dirt. In the middle of the show, Nate had to go to the bathroom and there was no bathroom anywhere. Rob and I were up on a hill and Nate was down below. We told him to go “over there” to pee. To him, “over there” meant 5 feet away from a group of playing kids. He pulled his pants down around his ankles and let loose for all to see. Oh, man. Pretty funny, but I think we need to teach him some modesty.

I’m assuming it’s normal for a 3-year-old boy’s favorite scripture story to be Jesus being crucified. That’s the only scripture story he wants before bed. And yesterday he told his first lie. He or Madeleine colored on his sheets but he kept naming his different cousins telling us that they did it. “Xander did it. Jason did it. Addison did it.” Oh, man. 

Yesterday I took the kids to pick strawberries at Day Farms. It was so fun! I enjoyed picking while the kids enjoyed playing in the mud. Nate even weighed his box of mud he brought home. They came home covered and happy. I ended up with 6 pounds of delicious strawberries and Rob’s already eaten about 2 pounds of them. Last night we had strawberry waffles for dinner and strawberry shortcake for dessert. We made strawberry syrup and a strawberry dessert for the freezer. Tonight we’re making strawberry/nutella crepes for dessert. Wow.

Oh, I must not forget, THANK YOU!!! To all of you who submitted suggestions for my next book. As soon as I’m finished with my current one, I’ll be doing a little research on Amazon to help me decide which of your recommendations I’ll take. I’m pretty excited, actually!

Aaannnddd….yesterday I received my FIRST comment from a totally random person in the blogosphere!! I know, that’s old hat for some of you, but I’m stoked! She found our blog on Google which I think is totally cool. So Jennie W, thanks for making my night!

Guess What Rob’s Doing Right Now??

Scrubbing all 3 bathrooms.

AAAAAAHHHHHH, YYYYYEEEEAAAHHHH!!!!

(and he’s not doing it because he’s being punished for something).

Gotta love him.