Some of My Favorites

These are some of my favorite photos I took for Blackfoot Jr. Miss. I felt like overall, it's been pretty successful. I've learned a lot, and look forward to learning more! :)

What do you think? Which one's your favorite?

**These images are for viewing only, please do not take for your own use for any reason unless you have gotten consent from me. Thank you.

P.S. Anyone have advice on how to upload images to the internet so that they look good without them being super huge? (Kelsie Christensen?...) Oh, and they do look better if you click on them...

A BIG deal!

A few weeks ago, my visiting teachers were over. One of them is an advisor for the Blackfoot Jr. Miss. She asked me if I'd want to take the girls' head shots, as well as a few others throughout the preparation/event. At first I was pretty hesitant... 18-21 girls! That's a lot!... Especially in one day! The photos would mainly be for the judges, the slideshow, and they also sometimes would put up 8x10s in the foyer... All done as non-profit. (Donation--Basically it would just have to be 1 headshot of each girl for this stuff...) Still, I know how much time it can take. However, from this, it wouldn't exactly be free, I would get advertising out if it. Which I need here. I don't know very many people in Blackfoot. I told her I'd take on the challenge, and she informed me that I could also make CDs for the girls, which I could charge for, that way, I could make back, and earn a little money. (I've been really wanting to get a new lens and a tripod. I should hopefully be able to get both out of this!) I've gotten more and more excited about it, which has also helped me gain more confidence for this big event. I've felt like it's a risk that I'm willing to take, and it will help me get my name out there pretty good, I think! Yesterday, I did my first photo shoot for one of the girls that will be out of town tomorrow, when I will photograph the rest of the girls. It went pretty well, I think. We always have room to improve, and we can grow by taking risks! Tomorrow is 4 straight hours with one 15 minute break! I'm actually really excited... a little nervous, but excited. I hope the weather is good to me and that my hands don't freeze off! Wish me luck! :)

I should have listened...

*Note, there may be some details that you won't want to read in this post... fair warning!

So this morning I was giving Kiely a bath. She was just playing in the bath, splashing around. There were a couple times when it seemed like she needed to go potty, but I'd ask her, she'd say no, and she'd keep playing. I let her know that if she needed to go potty, to tell me so I could put her on her potty. (I told her to say "potty" or "poop" if she needed to go.) Well, there's this tiny little problem, you see... When Kiely says, "food" it sounds more like "poof" or "poo." Yeah. That's where it came in. She was standing up, splashing, holding onto the handle thing and sorta marching, saying, "poo, poo, poo" and I honestly didn't think anything of it... I thought she was saying, "food" and I think I even asked her if she was hungry and wanted some food. Nope. I turn around, and she was doing her classic pooping face, so I ran over to her... Luckily nothing had dropped in the water. (I hate digging it out of the bath water... done it a few times. Then I have to proceed to drain the water, wash the tub then fill it up again to wash her.) Well, or so I thought I was lucky. I picked her up, and right as I did, she pushed it out. YUCK. It wasn't exactly solid, but at least it wasn't diarrhea. Some dropped on the closed toilet on the edge of the lid and the seat, most on the floor, and some got on her leg. YUCK. I think I would have preferred cleaning the tub. Not sure though... Anyways, all is well. I cleaned and sanitized her and the floor, and made it very clear that she needed to say "potty" if she needed to go. The moral of the story is:

1. Listen to your gut instinct. Even if they don't need to go right then, maybe they'd go on the potty if you stuck them there long enough.

2. Listen to what they say. If you told them to say "poo" or "potty" if they need to go, and they're saying it, don't assume any different!

Oops! Maybe it's time to start potty training?

S-T-R-E-T-C-H-I-N-G!

James has recently started training for the Ragnar Relay that he will be participating in in June with a team of 11 other people (He got invited to participate by my sister, Jamie, who is also running). He started out running 1 mile and trying to get a good pace, but then learned that he needs to just run as long as he can, and try to run for 30 min. then go from there. Last night, he did it! :) When he got home, he was stretching, and Kiely likes to try to do the stretches with him. I thought it was so cute, and couldn't help taking a few quick shots of them. (I was making dinner at the time...) Here they are!

She wanted to sit on James' shoulders. Maybe to give him a little more work?!

I love this one. It takes her NO effort to reach her toes! :)

I think it's awesome that James is doing this! He has really enjoyed getting out there, and how great it feels when he's running!

Caught You Doing Good!

This is very unlike me... to have 3 posts done in the same week! But, I wanted to write this down and share it before I forget about it! Yesterday I was in the bathroom doing my hair. Kiely was sitting on the floor looking at this little notebook planner thing she has that she likes to draw (or scribble) in. She was talking to herself as she was looking through the planner... after a minute, I looked down at her and saw that she was folding her arms, and had her head on her arms-- she was praying! :) I was so happy! I thought it was so cute, and also just thought about how important it is that we are good examples to our children. They truly are little mimickers! Kiely has been really good about when we say prayers lately, and will even "remind" me by folding her arms at lunch that we need to bless the food. She is great at folding her arms, and is learning to become more reverent. Oh how we love our little Bug!

Christmas 2010

We had a wonderful Christmas this year. We stayed home on Christmas Eve, and spent time with our own little family. It was nice to have this time together! We always read the Nativity on Christmas Eve, and eventually look forward to "playing it out" probably next Christmas when Kiely can maybe hold still a little bit more. Christmas morning was spent at home. I woke up kind of early and made Cinnamon pull-aparts. (A tradition my family has had, and that we decided to carry on in our family.) We didn't have any cook butterscotch pudding, and I couldn't find it in any of the 3 grocery stores in Blackfoot! We made due with using vanilla pudding instead, and it worked just fine... I think I might try it with chocolate pudding sometime! :) Opening gifts was entertaining this year, and almost got old after a while. Kiely is kind of a umm... funny kid. She doesn't like lids to be off of things, will tell us when we need to put the lid back on something if it's off, and doesn't seem to really like messes. (Kind of nice!) So, while she opened her gifts, she would tear off little small pieces and hand them to us to throw away, and wouldn't do much more till it was in the garbage! We just laughed about it mostly. Good thing we didn't get her too many presents, otherwise it would have taken all day! It was fun, though. Some of James' favorite gifts were probably his fishing pole and Nike+ ipod. I also got him some arrows and a wrist thing for his bow, some shirts, and ratchet tie downs. Kiely got some coloring books and crayons, alphabet magnets for the fridge, clothes, and some tractors from us. My parents got her books & clothes. She loves the books & the carrier with them, and loves to carry them around the house, and have us read the books before bed. Bryce & Ruth got her a baby doll & a puzzle thing. She loves them both and has fun with all of her new things she got for Christmas. James was so sweet to me this year! He got me a Janome sewing machine, Gingher scissors, and a Dave Ramsey envelope system wallet thing. I'm excited for all of them! :) From my parents, James & I got gift certificates for the movies and Applebee's, as well as babysitting for the date night! I was excited about it, because James & I honestly probably don't get out enough! James' parents gave us some organization binders where we can keep important information and a box for Christmas wrapping stuff (with bows, scissors, tape, etc.) I thought these were neat ideas, because they weren't things that we would probably do otherwise. Sam (James' brother) had us this year. He gave Kiely the pink princess that James & Audrey have been sending back and forth to each other for a few years. (Kind of a funny joke! :) James got a book -- The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader (which he is very excited to read and learn from) and I got a nice sweater. :) Jamie (my sister) had me and my family this year. She made cute matching aprons for me and Kiely, and James also got some honey roasted peanuts. (He definitely prefers those over an apron! haha) Kiely and I have already enjoyed our aprons while we made bread together. She looked pretty cute! Bubba (Derek) also brought back some little purse things and tiny dolls for Kiely and I, and a top for James. Kiely loves the dolls and has to give them kisses before she goes to bed! I went in on getting a KitchenAid with my dad for my mom, and got dad a picture of Christ for him to put in his office. (He wouldn't tell me anything he wanted!) James got some home movies converted to dvd and then did some editing stuff on one part for his parents. They all really enjoyed what we got for them! :) We loved our Christmas this year, and enjoyed spending time with both of our families. Oh yeah, we spent part of Christmas afternoon visiting my family, and then ate dinner & spent time with James' family the rest of the day. I love the holidays, and hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and a fun New Year celebration as well! :)

Kiely helping with the flour

Helping more and smiling at the camera. Isn't she so cute in her little apron?!

Kiely & I in our matching aprons!

I was going to post a video, but it didn't work for some reason. Sorry! You'll just have to take my word on how cute it was to be with our little Kiely Bug on Christmas morning!

Welcome Home, Elder Andrews!

On December 17th, 2008, my little brother, Derek left for the Quetzaltenango Guatemala Mission (actually the MTC in Provo... but that's where he got to eventually...) Exactly 2 years later, he returned from his mission (where he actually ended serving in the new Rhetaluleu Guatemala mission), and got home just in time for Christmas! It was fun to see him come down the stairs at the airport, and be able to welcome him home! We didn't get that great of pictures that night, because there were so many people. (Besides our family welcoming Derek home, I think there were like 4 other missionaries just on his flight, so there were other families there, too.) Derek gave a great talk in sacrament meeting the day after Christmas. We have also enjoyed other things with him, and James has been able to talk to him a little bit about Guatemala, which I think was neat for him. (James served in the Guatemala City South mission, so he could relate a little bit to him.) Derek is next younger than me, so we were pretty close. We're excited for him to start his next adventures in life-- including starting school up at BYU-I in a couple days!

You can't see it that well, but if you look close, you'll see the anticipation and excitement that my mom had! :) I can't remember if this was a false alarm or not, but he ended up not getting in until like 10:30 I think... He was supposed to be there at 8:45!

Holding Kiely, and talking to Jamie & her kids!