Fields of gold

Bruce and I are so blessed to live so close to family. His sister and Brother in law came down this weekend from Bountiful to get some family pictures done. It's been an ongoing discussion every time we would get together to plan a time to finally take them. I love this family, they really do make you feel so at ease because they are so laid back. They put up with all my small posing demands and even drove to two different locations I've been wanting to try out. I LOVE the fields of gold... I found this spot while biking with my sister, I think it makes for a great picture spot.

After we were all through with pictures we headed to our apartment to make some pizza for dinner. Just try to imagine having 11 people in a small one bedroom apartment! I couldn't believe we all fit! It was a blast, aside from the lack of space. It felt really good to give back a little to his sisters family, they've done so much for Bruce and I and we are extremely grateful for that.

Anyways it was a fun, fun weekend and as always here are some of my favorite shots of the afternoon.

My Fair Lady

Bruce surprised me the other day when he called home and asked if I wanted to go see the play "My Fair Lady" up at the U campus. Of course I was thrilled, I love going to plays. So yesterday night we got all dressed up (well, dressed up for Bruce is jeans and a collared shirt)=) and headed for the theater. We had the perfect seats, right in the middle of the theater about halfway up from the stage. The play was long but very funny and the costumes and acting were all amazing.
During intermission Bruce pointed to a guy who had stood up and said, "Hey look it's President Monson". I looked and didn't believe him at first. I thought it was some look a like, because as I told Bruce that night, the president doesn't go anywhere without his body guards and besides what are the odds that we would be in the same play as the prophet!
Then while Bruce was out talking to his cousin Tadd on the phone, I looked over my shoulder to find FOUR guys dressed in black suits standing all along the side of the theater wall. While disbelif was filling my mind I turn back to this man Bruce had said was the prophet and loads of people started lining up to meet him. I stared dumbfounded that the prophet was sitting just three rows down from me! It was awesome to just sit and watch him interct with people and see him outside of General Conference.
Needless to say, I'm still in shock that we saw him and apparently Im still getting used to living in Salt Lake City where things like this happen all the time! We had a great time though.

I also wanted to say THANK YOU to Seriously So Blessed, who gave away a bounch of free stuff. If you havent checked out her blog you should. I won a free photo sesson with Blue Lilly! Which I will probably give away since we were so blessed to have her photograph our wedding just recently. Fun TIMES, it seems I have been winning a lot of things lately actually...Maybe I should start giving free stuff away...hummm.

Soccer Boyz

Bruce has always loved soccer. Even at the age of 24, while going to school and working part time he has found time to be not only on the school intermural team, but also plays with a team every Saturday as well. I went to watch his game today and even though the other team forfeited (because they didn't have enough players) I watched in envy as he ran up and down the field kicking the ball this way and that. I love that he still has a great desire to play this game he has grown up loving and playing most of his life. He's really quite a great soccer player and it's great seeing him get so excited to play even if he does come home moaning and complaining about how sore he is.=)
My favorite part of the day was watching all the younger children with soccer balls trying to play the same way everyone else was. Among these couple of children was Duncan and as you all know he is quite the little soccer player! Just like his Dad and Uncle Bruce. So of course I had to get a million pictures of everyone. I hope everyone doesn't get tired of my photography obsession, I just can't help myself.

Here are some shots from the day.

Bruce is in the red and Jimmy's in the blue.








Jimmy trying to hid from the camera, I was too fast for him!
I also LOVE this shot of Duncan, What a CUTIE!


Holly watching the game. If you look carefully you can see Jimmy in the blue right next to Holly.






Uncle Bruce playing soccer with Duncan.

A Special Sunday and Some Home Improvements

Some shots taken one evening looking through our window from the apartment.

I don't often feel this way, but on days like today I feel so blessed to live in Utah. Today was stake conference which meant not going through our normal church routine but heading down to the conference center and sitting among 21,000 other members. We had over 70 stakes that attended, which isn't something you see in California. As we stood in line waiting for our turn to enter the huge conference center a thought hit me, so I turned to Bruce and asked, "Do you think one of the Brethren will speak today?" He looked at me with those all knowing eyes and said, "Ya, I'm sure one of them will be". =) I'm not yet accustomed to Utah's blessing of being so close to the church headquarters, but to my surprise Elder Ballard and President Monson were both in attendance today. What a sweet treat that was! I've always wanted to see with my own eyes one of the prophets of our time. I know that sounds dumb but it was the coolest thing ever. My favorite part about the whole thing was when the whole congregation sang. I don't know why, but the spirit touched me and I thought for those brief moments that we had all become united in our hope and faith that we are all sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father. I thought about the earlier saints and all the horrible things they had to endure, yet they had one another and that one commonality among them, they were led by a prophet of God and they had a Father in Heaven who loved them beyond any worldly sorrows they would face. I love the gospel and love the spirit that was present in today's meeting.

I also had the opportunity to go to Ikea this weekend because I wanted to get some curtains for our living room. I found some really cute green ones that I love. I couldn't find a rod that was brown so I bought a gray rod and spray painted it brown. It turned out pretty good, except that Bruce got a bad headache from the fumes of the spray paint. LOL I like the saying my sister and I had while growing up, "Beauty is pain" sorry honey!=)
Here are some pictures of the apartment with our curtains, Enjoy!


BEFORE:

AFTER:

My next project will be to do the curtains for the other windows you see here.


Bruce and I got these lamps from the lady who made our wedding cake. She had this huge shed filled with crafts, I saw one of these lamps first in her home and I was going to go out and try to make one of my own but she had two and gave them to us. A good wipe down, bulbs and some cheap shades from WalMart makes for some totally awesome lamps. I love them!=)
My little sister made this out of clay and gave it to Bruce and I for our wedding gift! Super sweet of her. I finally found a cool shadow box to frame it in, so now its out in the open for people to see what a cool sister I have.

Playing Wii, but not really...

The other night I got out of the shower to find Jimmy and Bruce playing video games on the couch. For those of you who know, we don't have a television... so how, you might ask, did Jimmy and Bruce play video games if we don't have a t.v.?

Need I say more?=) I thought it was hilarious watching how into it they got even if they were play on a laptop. I think playing the wii with friends and family has brought his inner child out.
I had a good laugh and thought everyone else would too.

Love

While editing this picture I got to thinking about our little court we live in and how much I have come to love and respect the people who live here. Tonight while walking to our apartment after work, I stopped and started chatting with some of my cute neighbors. During the 15 minuets or so while talking a series of things happened one after another; a family had just come from Sams Club (or somewhere to that extent) and was struggling to bring in groceries, a mom carrying her crying little girl while struggling to push her baby's stroller and one of the mothers had her child in her arms while carrying in groceries...I was touched when these two girls reach out to each of these people to see if they needed some help and helped in any way they could. Though it wasn't anything spectacular or huge they did, it reminded me of a quote I like that goes something like this:
"It is not how much we do, but how much love we put in the doing. It is not how much we give, but how much love we put in the giving."
~Mother Teresa
Truly that love was shown tonight in our court and I'm so grateful for those examples. I need to be better in this aspect in showing love and not just going through the motions.