Blog Overhaul! It's gonna be so pretty!

Hey Everyone!

    As you may notice, my blog looks completely different. Huzzah! I'm in the process of revamping my blog to make it look awesome/professional/amazing with just a little sprinkle of fantastic garnished on top. I'm hoping it will end up being the blog equivalent of this:

I found this picture by googling "explosion of awesomeness". Just in cast you were wondering.

The point of this little note is to let you all know that if some things look off or strange while I'm working on this, feel free to comment and let me know. I'd appreciate the help.

I need YOU to help me fix the bugs on my blog!

A couple of other reminders:

- I'm still offering $50 head shots to anyone who wants them. I'm now officially located in Provo, Utah, but I'll be traveling back to St. George often enough that I can book some shoots down there as well. Please click THIS LINK for more info!

- I'm about halfway to "100 Likes" on my Facebook page! Woot! If I get 51 more likes I hereby promise to do my first blog giveaway. And it will be an EPIC one! Click THIS LINK to "like" me on Facebook so you know how to enter when the time comes.

What with moving and trying to find employment and everything I haven't done a real photoshoot in a few weeks, but fear not loyal readers! I still have SOME photos to show you! These are older ones, but they're the goodies that I keep stored away to print and use in my portfolio. ENJOY!

Another gorgeous sister. I've got four of them!

For those of you who don't recognize her, this is squishy when she was a tiny little squish!

A Tribute To The Coolest 90 Year Old You'll Ever Meet

Hey Everyone!

Today I want you to meet a very special person:

This is my Grandpa!

He turned 90 this weekend!

To celebrate this momentous occasion we (his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren) threw him a HUGE birthday bash complete with:

A Lifesaver cake!

To put my grandpa's coolness factor into perspective you need to know that his job before he retired was as a LIFESAVER salesman. He SOLD CANDY FOR A LIVING. And he had a LIFESAVER CAR!

The cake was made by my super talented cousin-in-law Heather!

A LOT of good food:

Thank you to these manly men for grilling one of the BEST hamburgers I've ever eaten!

And MORE thanks to everyone who was responsible for bringing the rest of the food. I wish I knew who you all were so I could thank you by name!

And of course, a LOT of family members:

All of my Grandma and Grandpa's children, minus Chris.

G and G and Jill!

G and G with Michael, the oldest grandchild.

G and G with Linda and some of her kids.

G and G and Jenna, the oldest granddaughter. Also my rock awesome sister.

My Grandpa and ME!

So, one of my favorite parts of this party was when all the oldest grand kids in every family gave a tribute to my grandpa. I missed the chance by being the second oldest, so I'm going to take this chance to do my own tribute.

Grandpa:

You are one of the best men I know. I've never seen you mad, I've never heard you yell in anger.  Even though you are 90 you've got more energy than I do. Or really, than anyone I've ever met does.

My favorite story that I have of you happened about 5 or 6 years ago when my old car had broken down and you came to Provo to get it and take it back up to the car lot to get it fixed. When you called me later to tell me that you had made it safely. The conversation you and I had went something like this:

Me: I'm glad you made it safely!

Grandpa: It's a good thing we got it up there, it was really struggling on those hills. I had to push it up some of them.

Me: (realizing that my 85 year old Grandpa had just told me he PUSHED MY BROKEN CAR UP A HILL ON I-15)....... Now I'm really glad you made it safely.

All of the memories I have of you are nice ones. And I can't say that about a lot of the people that I know. I remember:

- You as Santa Claus
- The orange park and underdogs
- Living with you and having Christmas at your house
- Lifesavers and Bonkers!
-Lung cars
- Birthday spankings (and a pinch to grow an inch)
- Your willingness to serve and to teach

I'm so blessed to have you as my grandfather, always willing to teach me things or do anything that you needed us to do. You gave me my first nick name that has stuck with me to this day (cool cookie!), and that I believe will last until the day I die.

Because of you and Grandma, we're all here:

Thank you!

I was also able to get some adorable pictures of the great grand kids that were playing around during the party. I did not get them all, by any means, I know there were way more that I wasn't able to photograph, but in my defense once they realized what I was doing a lot of them started running away from me!

 

I LOVE SELF PORTRAITS! (This title should be read while jumping in the air and screaming)

Hey Everyone!

I LOVE self portraits! Unfortunately I don't often get the chance to take some of me, because I like being behind the camera too much.

The result of this is that my most recent picture of myself is about 3 years old:

 

I like this picture! Except that now I don't have braces and I grew my hair out. Oh, and I have different glasses..... 

Then I've got these awesome pictures of myself:

This is my personal favorite.

Needless to say, a day came last week when I decided that taking some new pictures of myself wouldn't be a bad thing. So with the last dregs of the Golden Hour fading I set up a tripod and got started. 

Then I wasted about 15 minutes taking these photos (because I literally CAN'T resist):

 

But after I got all of that out of my system, I did manage to shoot a few good ones. The problem is I don't know which one I like best....

What do you guys think? 

My Mom used to bribe us on picture day. She told us that if we gave her "toothy"smiles for our pictures she would buy us candy. We were all obviously very easily bought as we all have toothy smiles in every class photo.

My hair is a bit weird in this one.... But I like my face in general!

I have no idea why my hair looks so RED in this picture. I'm not sure how I feel about it.

This is what I call my "sexy smoulder". Also known as Blue Steel.