My Family in North Carolina

I just got back from a week visiting my family in North Carolina.  What a delight!!  Taylor is graduating from HS this year so I was able to take his Senior pix while I was there.  Isn't he handsome!!

WPPI in Review

I just got back from a week at WPPI (Wedding & Portrait Photographers International) in Vegas.  It was AWESOME.  I took lots and lots of different classes, anything from marketing to lighting to Photoshop to living the life you love.  I spent the first 2 full days with Alycia Alvarzez.  She is a renound children's photographer out of FL.  This class was just okay.  I learned lots & lots of great trick, however, these photographers in other parts of the country have NOTHING on UT photographer.  I am continually blown away at the work coming from my UT friends.  We are so lucky to live in Utah!!

Here are a few photos I took at Alycia's class...

(Beware! They were taken with my Iphone)

It got even more awkward when Alycia had the pregnant model show her bare belly and had the random class member snug up to her & touch her bare baby belly.  I sat down at that point, I couldn't take it anymore.

Thanksgiving in Zions

What an amazing place to spend Thanksgiving!! We ate at the lodge next to a panaramic view of Zions {{wowsers}}. After din we drove through the Canyons. We also got out and nature walking and tooks pix. Cathy the Camera's battery was dead & I was so disappointed {{sigh}}. I took these photos with my iphone. Not bad!!

It rained for 2 days strait, which is unheard of in South Utah. All the rain made small waterfalls everywhere you looked. Awesome!! Even more awesome is the rain let up just as we finished din so we could go on our mini nature hike.

This is me, above. Don't ask about the crazy pose. I was totally loopy from all the food I had just eaten and Ali in the bottom photo. Apparently suffering from the same ailment.

Do Not Feed the Wildlife!! {{hee hee hee}}

My daddy with that silly hood that's been stuffed in that coat collar since he bought it. Finally giving it some use.

Thanks Mommy & Daddy for such a fantastic Thanksgiving Day!!

Look how tiny my 6 foot dad looks next to those cliffs.

Thanks Boo for being such an awesome sis & making Thanksgiving so much fun!! Hip Hip Horray for Lady Deckers!!!

Church History Trip

I've created a blog to see all my photos from the trip and those of you who would like copies are welcome to download them right from that site. www.nauvoobyemilie.blogspot.com. Enjoy!!!

I went on the Raddest trip with my ward this past weekend to see all the Midwest church sights. We saw a whole lot in 5 days. We flew into Kansas City Wednesday eve we toured all over and flew home on Monday eve. If someone was forcing me to pick my 3 favorite things about the trip they would be... (in no particular order) 1. The country side was breathtaking. The Midwest had way 2 much rain this summer and the result was the greenest country side I have ever seen. Stunning!! 2. Eric surprising me in Carthidge. He's working out in Missouri and was going to drive up to meet me. He called and said he didn't think he would make it until 2am ish on Friday then he showed up at the restaurant in Carthidge where we were eating dinner - I nearly passed out with excitement. He's such a sneaky little sucker!! 3. All the different little creatures I saw. I am such an animal lover. I saw so many unique looking birds, a bunny just came right up to me, lots of white tail deer, butterflies a plenty, a possum or 2 and way too many bugs. Alright and the very close runner up is the late nights with my hysterical roomies!! Thanks girls you made the trip a hoot!!

One of our first stops was Adam-ondi-ahman. What a peaceful place. Imagine that 3 trees growing out in the middle of the valley.

Here's some of those birds I was talking about. This was taken on the temple grounds. Just behind this pair of birds is the Mississippi river. Two little birds sit'n in a tree k.i.s.s.i.n.g!!

Andrea, Rebecca & Betsy - the 3 reason my stomach and back hurt from laughing so much!! No need to sleep if all your going to do is laugh all day!!

I learned something new at the Old Nauvoo city. We visited the printing press shop. They explained that when they put in the type the most frequent mistake was transposing the P's & Q's. So they would say, "watch your P's & Q's". Interesting!! I think it's quite appropriate that Rebecca is holding them - not that I'm hinting at anything!! :)

Please feel free to right click and copy or drag & drop these photos. I will have additional photos posted by the beginning of next week on www.nauvoobyemilie.blogspot.com

Meet me in St. Louis

I had a killer weekend in St. Louis. I met a friend there and we toured around, took pictures, ate way tasty food, visited the farmers market, saw a play, enjoyed 2 museums and walked and walked!! As promised here are the photos of the arch. Did you know the arch is the tallest man-made monument in the United States.

We visited the farmers market on Saturday morning. It put the SL farmers market to shame. If you can imagine, this place is filled with a very wide variety of smells. We decided to try boiled peanuts. Not really something I'd recommend. This was such a fun day!!

I've never seen so many peppers!!

Family Reunion Bananza

Over the 4th of July we had my mom's side extended family reunion!! What a flip'n Ball!! Here are some of my favorite shots. To see more check out... www.palisadesfamilyreunion.blogspot.com

This is my gorgeous sister-in-law Taya who hates getting her photos taken (don't we all - however, she really takes it to the next level.) Last year's family photo did not include her. I had to tell several of my single girlfriends that my handsome older brother was NOT available! I caught her in a rare mood, in her swim suit no less and here you have it!! RRrrrRRRrrrrRRR!!

I've been so blasted busy the last few weeks, I'd decided I really needed a break. I brought Cathy the Camera just in case, not planning on taking very many photos, if any. Oh my, give me the most darling children on the planet, in the most fun place ever. How could I resist!!

This is a shot of the boys playing a horse shoe game of sorts that uncle Kim & cousin Wilson brought. Boy oh boy did they get competitive!!

This is a shot of Aunt Sandra showing the cousins her scrapbook of all the old family photos.

Dax is so cute in Tyler's helmet. We did a hole bunch of four wheeling. There was a canyon real close to the lake called 6 Mile Canyon. A pretty little stream, and really cool rock formations. That ride may have been the highlight!!

This not actually hers at all!! She was trying to convince us and all the neighboring campsites that if fact it was hers. But, no it really wasn't at all. Katie & Brielle, I hope you finally got to ride you bikes today after a weekend of having it taken over by Lia.

This is my handsome older brother Ryan. He is hysterical!! The first night, Ali & I swore we heard someone tapping on our window. We got all freaked out and went running upstairs and had Taz, my younger brother come and check the window. We figured out it was just the fireworks (okay, so it totally sounded like tapping!! Even my parent in the next condo over thought someone was tapping at first.) The following night it happened again, but this time it was loud and hard. We run to window and peaked out and there was Ryan running for cover. What a punk. He saw us and we saw him - we laughed & laughed and then settled in for bed. About 30 minutes later we hear something small like a pebble hit our window. We laughed, thinking he's gone back out there - he totally can't fall asleep and is bored. This goes on a few more times. Then I get a grand idea to go lock him out of his condo. So I wait for the next tap to make sure he's still out there, then I ran next door to lock him out. THE DOOR WAS ALREADY LOCKED. I freaked out, it totally wasn't Ryan out there. (Dad & Mom had the only key, there is no way he track it down to lock the door behind him just to go out to tease us.) By the way, it's like 1:30 in the morning by this time. Ali and I watched out slits in the blinds for a good 10-15 minutes for any sign of preditors. Nothing!! But the tip taps just kept on coming. We had no choice - we called Mom & Dad!! We scrambled over to their condo and told them all about it. We decided to entarigate Ryan, who was upstairs. We found him laying in the bed in a room by himself (1st clue something was up!) He was laying under an open window with no screen (2nd clue!). After a good 5 minute of Ali shining her cell phone light in his face did he admit that he had been hanging out the window throwing small items at our window. What a punk!! The next morning we found an assortment of pennies & golf tees under our window. All I have to say is, Ryan you better watch your back!!