After 25 years....

She had never meet him before; although she wrote him while he was serving his mission in the Dominican Republic. (At the same time and in the same area as her older brother.) He lived in Mesa and she lived in Tucson. When he returned home from his mission they went on their first date together and had a wonderful time. Every weekend after that he drove down to Tucson to spend time with her. They realized that they wanted to spend the rest of their lives together and were sealed in the Mesa, Arizona temple for time and all eternity. After 25 years of marriage, my parents' love for one another has grown stronger and deeper. Growing up I have witnessed that love they hold for one another. My parents have been and are the perfect example of what a marriage should be. Through the good and the bad, they have worked hard to raise a beautiful family and to constantly nourish their love for one another. I am so grateful for each of them and for their unconditional love and support. Thanks Mom and Dad for everything!

Thanksgiving....

Oh how much I love the holidays! It is possibly my favorite time of the year. I mean, really, who doesn't love the holidays. There is good food, family, friends, traditions, and an atmosphere of joy and love. This year, I thought a lot about the many things that I am grateful for. Let's just say that there isn't nearly enough room on this blog to list them all. For now, I will express how grateful I am for my family. I truly have been blessed with two wonderful parents and three siblings who I absolutely could not live without. I love my family so much and am so grateful for all that they do for me.

This year my Thanksgiving was different because Courtney and I were unable to go home to Arizona to spend Thanksgiving with our family. Instead, we had Thanksgiving together. Just the two of us. We were both sad that we could not be with our family but we made sure to make this Thanksgiving a memorable one. I have to say, that I greatly enjoyed spending the whole day with Courtney. Since we are both in school and working, we are very busy and usually only get to see each other for a couple of hours every week when we do laundry or go grocery shopping. It was so fun to be able to hang out with her for the whole day. Even though we could not be with our family, I am so grateful that we could spend Thanksgiving together with each other.

Here is our Thanksgiving adventure.

True Love...

Last weekend was a special weekend for my sister Courtney and I. Our parents, our little brother Tyler, and our little sister Sarah drove up to Provo to spend the weekend with us. However, this weekend was special not only because our family was in town, but because it was the weekend of Courtney's Junior recital. (For all those who don't know, Courtney plays the Viola and is a performance major at Brigham Young University.) The weekend was full of play, laughter, and love. I have to say though, that my favorite part of the weekend was doing a photo shoot with my parents. Here is a sneak peek:

VMAs.......

Hello fellow bloggers! Yes, I know it has been a few weeks since the last time I wrote, but here is my excuse; school has been insanely busy. I have barely had time to breath, eat, or sleep. (Just kidding Mom) No worries though, Thanksgiving break is only one short week away and then I will finally be free. I am so excited:) Alright, let's face the facts, we all know that despite how busy school and work can get, I do always find time to play and have fun. This weekend was especially fun.

My boyfriend Albert works as a resident assistant in the freshman dorms here at BYU. Part of being an R.A. is planning 4 activities for the boys in his hall. One of their activities took place last night and it was the "Video Music Awards". All the boys found dates, were put into groups, and made music videos together with their groups. I had the privilege to be Albert's date and the night began with a walk down the red carpet, which included paparazzi. It was a fun-filled night full of dinner, home-made music videos, and a sweet after party which included a dance. Altogether it was a fun nigh,t despite the fact that I got to hang out with freshman. Just kidding! Thanks Albert for asking me to be your date, I had a fun night with you at the VMAs:) Here are our red carpet pictures:

We had to do a gansta picture for Albert. (He thinks he's black)

No worries, we did a cute one too:)

Trials...

These past couple of weeks have been insanely busy. All my classes seem to schedule their tests and papers to be due the same week. Its almost as if my professors think their class is the only one I am taking because they assign outrageous amounts of homework that realistically cannot be completed withing one day. This comes as no surprise though for I have discovered the method that professors use when scheduling their lectures, test, and papers. Here it is: the first few weeks of the semester start of nice and slow before the first set of midterms. The next couple weeks are gradually speed up before the next set of midterms. Then after thanksgiving break it is pure craziness because professors have two weeks to finish teaching all the material before finals.

However, despite how busy I may be with test and papers that are due in a corresponding two week period, somehow it all works out. Somehow everything that I need to get done does get done and on time. Last week I had a minor melt down as I discovered my laptop, which is pretty much my whole life, had a virus and needed to be wiped clean. This of course meant that I was going to lose everything. I about cried at this news for I had two papers to write that week and couldn't afford to lose everything that was on my laptop. Thank goodness for my wonderful boyfriend Albert. He assured me that everything was going to be ok and that no matter what happened everything would work out. I reluctantly believed him but still believed that it was the end of the world. See, I had a plan for that week and having a sick computer ruined my whole plan which in effect caused me to freak out. Somehow though everything worked out in due time. It didn't exactly go the way I had wanted it to, but my computer got fixed and I was able to write both my papers.

I learned a valuable lesson from this experience that I had last week. Although there may be trials and tribulations they are for our benefit. Even though at the time they are frustrating and hard to bear, in the end they can make you a stronger and better person. For me, I learned that I must be flexible and that I must take it one day at a time. I can't stress out and worry about those things in which I have no control over. Despite what happens, life goes on. Laugh at those trials that seem to hard to bear and remember that they are only making you stronger. Remember "Love Life, Be Brave"!

True Friends....

A couple weeks ago I had the opportunity to do a photo shoot with two of my dearest friends. I had asked Courtney and Amy if they would be willing to be my models and they were quite anxious to oblige. If I may say, both Courtney and Amy love to be photographed. As roommates last year, they had photo shoots with their whole apartment almost every month. Needless to say, they were not in any way camera shy and had already perfected the art of modeling. I was extremely excited to take photos of these two girls because they are absolutely gorgeous and so much fun to be around. During the shoot there were moments where I was laughing so hard that I couldn't even take any pictures. Thanks Courtney and Amy for being such beautiful fun models! (I know they are all serious pictures, but we did have lots of fun!)

Salt Lake City....

We were only one week into the semester and were so anxious for our three day weekend coming up. After only one week of college classes, we were already in desperate need of a three day weekend. Why is school so draining? The whole week, my boyfriend and I, had been planning what we could do to make our three day weekend amazing. And I have to say, it was an amazing, fun three day weekend. Why? Because on Monday my boyfriend and I drove to Salt Lake for the day. We had so much fun. The hour drive to Salt Lake was entertaining as we sang, rather well I might add, our hearts out to every song that played on his IPod. When we got to Salt Lake we went to the largest mall I had ever seen, Gateway Mall. Not only was the outdoor mall itself huge but it had the largest Forever 21 I had ever walked into. I seriously thought I was in heaven. However, we didn't go to the Gateway Mall just to do some shopping, we had gone to the Gateway Mall to eat at "Tucano's", a Brazilian restaurant. It was my first time eating at "Tucano's" and it certainly was delicious. Our day trip to Salt Lake was a great day full of fun and laughter and a perfect way to end our three day weekend.

Hiking the "Y"...

Before returning to BYU for another fall semester of classes, my boyfriend and I made a list of all the fun activities we wanted to do throughout the semester. At the top of our list was to hike the "Y" mountain, which we did about a month ago. I was so extremely excited to go on this hike and had been anxiously awaiting since my freshman year of college. Since I have been running for three days a week for a year now, I thought I would be in great shape to go on this hike. However, I was mislead and pretty much died the whole way up the mountain. The view from the top made it all worth it though. We made it the top just in time to watch the sunset and I had the chance to capture the beautiful moment with my camera.

Sunday Afternoons in the Park....

Last Sunday, my sister and I went on a photo adventure at a park nearby. It was an absolutely gorgeous afternoon; making it the perfect afternoon for a photo shoot. It was so fun doing a shoot with my older sister as my model. A lot of our friends say that my sister and I are exactly alike. I take this as a compliment, because my sister possess qualities and characteristics that I wish I had. She has an outgoing, fun-loving personality. She is beautiful, smart, kind, and deeply passionate about her music and her viola. I am so proud of her and all that she has accomplished and I am so extremely grateful to have her with me at BYU. We have had many fun adventures together up here at the "Y" and I cannot wait to see what this school year has in store for us.

Cutest Little Girl....

About a month ago, a neighbor of mine asked me if I would be willing to take some pictures of her adorable two year-old daughter, Ryleigh. Duh....of course I would love to take pictures of this little girl! She is to darn cute not to. During the shoot her mom consistently tried to get her to sit still and pose, but all Ryleigh wanted to do was run around and play on the park. This was completely fine with me. I believe the best photos of children are the ones taken in the moment.

Family Vacations...

It was the summer after the completion of my first year of college. I had endured three semesters of classes and was in desperate need of a break. I was also homesick and more than anything, anxious to return home to be with my family for the rest of summer. I was also anxious to return to mine, as well as my family's, favorite vacation spot, Bear Lake! Every summer, without fail, we take a trip to Bear Lake to relax and leave the stress and worries of the world behind. Unfortunately, my older sister, Courtney, was not able to come with us and we missed her greatly. However, I had an extra addition with me on this trip, my new Cannon 50D camera. In such a beautiful place as Bear Lake, it's impossible not to go on a photo adventure with my mom, who is also a photographer. Here are the results:

Hello All...

Hello Family, Friends, and Fellow Bloggers. Here is the launch of my first photography blog. Hope you all enjoy.