Feeling Creative

One thing that I have never considered myself as is creative or artistic. Some people just have that mindset, and thats one thing thats always attracted me to Brian. He's an amazing artist and just has that vision that only truly artistic people have. So my solution to feeling more artistic? Buying a nice DSLR, gaining a basic knowledge of photoshop, and letting my uncreative self go wild. Trust me, those things can make anyone feel artistic ; ) One day I would like to start doing engagement/wedding photos, but thats a long ways away. For now, I'm just having fun taking pictures of Brian and Jackson and pretending like I know what I'm doing. Here are my endeavors in the photography world.

I think this one is my favorite, you really can't go wrong taking pictures of two handsome guys : )

I just have to point out what a big boy Jackson is becoming!

I think I have a thing for lightpoles.

What a sexy man I married ; )

Determined to Fight Cancer

Have you ever seen the movie Julie & Julia? It's about a woman who starts a blog as she cooks through the Julia Child cookbook. Brian and I felt, as I'm sure just about everyone else did, invigorated after watching the film and felt determined to start a blog that would hook thousands of readers and end in a book and movie contract based on the blog. Of course, those dreams were abandoned within a few hours and probably never spoken of since. While I'm not starting a blog about this adventure, recent events have sparked my interest in blogging about something meaningful to me. Let me explain.

As many of you probably know (because I'm pretty sure only immediate family even read this blog :) ) my darling, sweet, kind, loving sister Kim was diagnosed with breast cancer. The fact that within a little over a year of my mom dying of non-smoking lung cancer after a 5 year battle with it, my dad, aunt, and sister were all diagnosed with some kind of cancer. This could almost be comical if it wasn't so devastating and crippling to my family. This extremely rare hereditary disorder called Li Fraumeni that resides in my family's gene pool has been ever present in my life, and I think I have become almost indifferent to it. Li Fraumeni is basically just a gene that some people in my family have that makes us more susceptible to cancer, to put it simply. So you can understand how in my mind it seemed that "You get old and you get cancer, and that's that." I don't want to sound like I am complaining, and the last thing that I want is people's pity, but all I'm trying to say is that this looming threat that seems to have always been in my future has finally made an appearance in my generation. My sister Kim was the first to find out she had cancer out of all our siblings and cousins, and it was a wake-up call to someone totally apathetic to the idea of cancer. The fact that someone so wonderful as Kim could get diagnosed at such a young age of 31, with 2 kids ages 4 and 9 months, just chills me to the bone with fear and pessimism. So my solution? To start eating healthier, and this is where the blog comes into play.

My goal is to start eating healthier. Of course, I know myself and my usual plans to "start exercising everyday" or "stop drinking soda" usually end before they've even started. That's why I'm putting some accountability on myself so that when friends or family ask me how my little "project" is going, I won't be able to say, "That journey ran its course." Instead I'll be encouraged to tell people that I'm eating healthier and loving it. I got 2 cookbooks in the mail today and I can't wait to dive in. My goal is to have at least one of those meals a day (again, I know myself and I know that I won't be able to go cold turkey on potato chips and corn dogs, so I'm pacing myself). If I like a recipe, I'll post it on this blog. If I don't, I'll just skip it.

Let me make a few disclaimers. I don't think that eating organic or more fruits and vegetables will stop me from getting cancer, I'm not that naive. If I'm supposed to get cancer, I'll get it, but at least I'll feel that I didn't do anything to help it, and I'll feel prepared. Also, I don't think that anybody who doesn't eat this way should be doing it or they'll get some life-threatening disease, or that those who have been diagnosed with cancer could have done anything to stop it. Once again, in our family if you're gonna get it, you're gonna get it. I'm just excited to start learning about superfoods that help me fight it and to hopefully start starving cancer early.

So... Who's with me to fight cancer? ; )

Valentine's Day

Traditionally mine and Brian's Valentine's Days consist of going out to sushi, but this year we decided to switch it up a little bit. Instead I went out and bought Lobster Tails, something I have never even eaten, let alone cooked. A simple Google search took me to an easy recipe that didn't take long and that I already had all the ingredients for. The recipe was 1 tablespoon lemon juice, 1/2 cup olive oil, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon paprika, 1/8 teaspoon white pepper, 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder, and 2 lobster tails found on http://allrecipes.com/. Basically I just kept marinating the lobster while grilling it until cooked all the way through, it was delicious! I also bought asparagus and decided to try my own recipe which was soaking the asparagus in freshly squeezed lemon juice and soy sauce, sprinkling brown sugar on top, then broiling it. Surprisingly it actually turned out really good, which is saying a lot because I really am my biggest critic when it comes to cooking and am usually self conscious the whole meal! Brian then took care of the second course which was his World Famous Not Bob's Shrimp on rice pilaf. His shrimp recipe is based on Brian's dad's Not Bob's seasoning that he invented and it calls for about 1 to 2 tbs of Butter, 1 tsp Worshtershire sauce, 1 can of Chicken Broth, 1 tsp Black Pepper, about 1 to 2 tsp minced garlic, about 1/2 pound of shrimp, and about 1 to 2 Tbls of the Not Bob's seasoning. He also made these cucumbers that were SO good! Its just sliced cucumber sitting in freshly squeezed lemon juice, you'd be surprised at the flavor that stuff has! And the best part is that you just stick it in the fridge for a quick snack later on. Trust me on this one, if you're looking for a healthy snack these were DELICIOUS! I also made some Red Velvet cupcakes with home made cream cheese frosting and a white chocolate bottom. And of course I had to take pictures of the whole things because we usually don't eat so luxuriously ; )

Brian also knows how much I love to get flowers so he went out and bought me some : )

 

The lobster tail, asparagus, and cucumber with a glass of red wine. (Just kidding its Apple-Cran sparkling cider)

Brian was drunk off the deliciousness of the lobster tail

The amazing Not Bob's shrimp

If you want anymore details on the recipes, just let me know ; )

Obsessed With Editing

So I posted my pictures that we took last week that I thought turned out really great, and then I discovered Photoshop Lightroom. Basically all I can think about now is editing my pictures and when I can take more. No denying it, I am obsessed. So here are the edited versions of a lot of the pictures I took, a lot of them may be subtle or may be even HORRIBLE but I am just loving pretending like I'm artsy and creative and cool, all of which I am not. Enjoy!

Our First Photoshoot

Brian and I bought the Nikon D5000 about a month ago to take pictures of Jackson because our old point-and-shoot was just such a poor quality. My dad was the one that talked us into it because we seriously don't have ANY money but he told us that he and my mom went through the same situation with a video camera and just bought one because they figured that by the time they did have the money we would've been all grown up! So we were sold at that point and began our search for a great deal on a camera. Little did we know that we would actually find that great deal that very day we started looking, we found this Nikon for $250 cheaper than anywhere else at Walmart! So since then we've just been messing around trying to figure it out, and we finally felt comfortable enough to head out to Barny Shwartz Park on Wednesday night for Jackson's first photoshoot, and this is what happened! (These aren't edited because we're still figuring out Photoshop Lightroom) Brian's so artistic and creative he picked it up right away, the pictures of me are the ones he took and the lighting is just perfect!

Lately I've been going on a lot of photography blogs and just figuring out what kind of style I like and one thing I've learned is that I LOVE pictures with sunlight just like this and of course Brian figures it out first try : )

Can I just point out Jackson's CRAZY hair in this one!? So funny!

Jackson took this one

Okay so I definitely wouldn't call myself a photographer yet but I'm excited to keep learning! Luckily I have 2 sisters and a few girlfriends that are amazing photographers to teach me how to do it!

Superbowl Weekend

Four years ago, Superbowl Sunday would have consisted of going to a friend's house, eating yummy food, then sleeping through the ENTIRE game, boys yelling and all. I wouldn't have been able to tell you what a first down was, any positions besides the quarterback, or even how many points a touchdown equals. Boy how things have changed...

THIS Superbowl Weekend was filled with family, friends, football, food, and snowboarding. Friday night Robert, Marty, Brian, Jackson, and I left for Fresno and stayed in a hotel, compliments of the Welty's. Saturday morning Robert, Brian, and I packed up our stuff, said goodbye to Mima and Jackson, and headed up the mountain. We were a little worried when we didn't see a speck of snow almost the whole way up the mountain and the temperature was getting into the 40's, but the day ending up being so perfect for a weekend snowboarding trip. It was warm enough that we weren't freezing our butts off and the snow softened up very nicely, but it cooled down later so it didn't turn into slush. Brian and I hadn't gone snowboarding in 2 years (what with the pregnancy and all) and even then I had only gone 5 times that winter 2 years ago. But all was well and we picked up right where we left off, Brian of course shredding it up and just being awesome as always, and me tailing behind and carving both ways occasionally.

Sunday I made my mom's yummy recipe for pasta salad consisting of bacon, tomato, and Santa Maria style seasoning; and homemade cookies. We then headed to the Espinal's home where we ate delicious tacos. It was so fun for Brian to finally watch a game with a bunch of men instead of with me (but I will say I am learning the game quite nicely and even enjoy it!) The boys yelled, jumped up and down, wrestled, ate meat, you know, all the manly stuff. The girls sat at the table and pretty much talked about babies and birth stories, two of my favorite subjects ; )

We just absolutely LOVE our ward! At some of our old wards like in Idaho we never really felt like we connected with anybody but here we have so many fun friends with kids Jackson's age that we can relate to. We have Girls Nights, Play Groups, and FHE once a month with all the young families in the ward. We seriously want to stay in this ward forever and watch Jackson and our other children grow up with these kids!