Sunday, June 5, 2011

oh hey there

I know I know. I keep leaving. I should stop promising I am going to be better at this, because really, there are no guarantees here. Let's get up to speed with where we last left off... back in JANUARY.

Weightloss.... never really got past mid-february on that baby. Does it matter that I decided I could eat whatever I wanted over my anniversary weekend [that's right 2 YEARS baby.] and since then i haven't stopped eating what I wanted??

Bro and sister in law got married in march! Wahooie! Quite a road trip! Including an accidental detour into california which meant a 2 hour delay to getting to Utah and a flat tire the day of the wedding meaning we BARELY made it in time to the sealing! RIDICULOUS. Still awesome tho. Kevin looked really happy and Harmony, she was just ravishing.

Taxes happened. Thank goodness. We got a boatload back because we over estimated our income for the year last year and it pushed us into this comfortable place where we decided we could go.....

HOME SHOPPING again!

And yes we did. As soon as the funds came through, Husband was hiring us a Realtor! and by the mid may we had seen thousands of houses [no joke] and finally made a bid on one.

That's right. We are going to be home owners once again! We sign this week and are hoping to get the keys MAYBE on friday if all goes well. We will see:]

We are hoping to flip it into a rental in a year after the primary residency requirements are finished, and look for a new home to do the same thing to. So keep your ears out for anyone looking to rent a home in the chandler/mesa area!

It's a super cool place though! No pictures this time because well, i haven't taken any. But, imagine this:
Tile throughout the house. Fire place. 1500 square feet.

Even though it is 250sf smaller than our last home it feels so much bigger [it helps that it's a one story instead of 2 and most of the square footage is in the living areas versus the bedrooms]

We are super excited. All we will really need to do is paint and replace the counters in the kitchen and of course rake the months of pine needles that have been piling up since the house was foreclosed on!

Over all it's been a good 6 months and i am sorry i haven't brought you along to share it but i am hoping i can be better at this and share more often.


Thanks!


OHHHH btw, My photog. Bidness is back and running. I have decided my favorite shoots are always with seniors so I am going to be focusing on that with a few weddings and engagements here and there as i feel like it. BUT anyways, if you know any seniors who are looking for a photographer send them my way! I can't wait to take their pictures! I am also looking for Juniors who are interested in becoming senior reps for their senior year and get special rewards for bringing in others to get their senior shots through me! They can email me at ampersandphotog@gmail.com or check out my blog at ampersand-photography.blogspot.com

THANKS!!!!

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

So in LOURVE

My brother in-law Kevin and his adorable fiance Harmony were so sweet to ask me to take their engagements!

I was SO nervous. I quit the business a few months ago [not that I was ever really in it to begin with] because it was just so overwhelming. I was afraid they were going to hate them and be stuck with them for their engagements because they wouldn't have enough time to hire a local photographer!

I seriously went to this situation with prayer and study. I read my scriptures. Pleaded every night with the Lord that he would allow me to take photos that they wanted. And worked and watched so many different photographers that I admire so that I could attempt to mimic their work.

I am pretty sure the Lord knew I really needed this. I had so much fun on this shoot and editing [my absolute LEAST favorite part] I actually enjoyed! Looking and studying the pictures as I was editing them, I would suddenly get giddy! I feel pretty proud of them and hope that Kevin and Harmony enjoy them as much as I do!


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Thursday, January 6, 2011

Reward Systems

I found this awesome website
with some pretty gorgeous modest dresses.


It's pretty legit and I really want a dress or two... or three...

As a matter of fact these three would be fantastic.




I really want them really badly.




BUT I have to lose weight first.


So here is my reward to myself.

My first goal is to lose 10 lbs by March 6th.

WHEN I accomplish my goal, I will allow myself to invest in one dress.

Then I will continue to lose more weight to become the healthy person I know I can be.

When I reach that set goal, I will reward myself with a second dress and so on and so forth.

I am super excited and hope that I lose weight quick so I can get to the awesome rewards already!

Fat Cat


I started my diet this week.

There have been some trials and some discouraging moments and it's only been 4 days.

I will survive.

Starting Sunday I go all natural. If God didn't make it, I can't eat it. No processed foods whatsoever. No sugars whatsoever.


We will see if I survive.

I finished reading a great book today. I started it on Tuesday so I guess that makes it really great:]

It's called Fat Cat by Robin Brande


It is this really great story about this girl [Cat] who is this science GURU and decides to do her big science fair experiment on "dieting" per say. It is hilarious. It gives you butterflies. It makes you want to puke [in a good way]. I loved it. And you want to know the best part??


The author is my aunt.:] That's pretty great. Especially since I really like her book. It would kind of blow if she wasn't a good author. But she really truly has a gift! Her other book that I have read, Evolution, Me, and Other Freaks of Nature is just as amazing! It's persuasive and captivating and loving. I just can't get over the awesomeness.

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Urban Outfitters Should Furnish My New Home

If I could register for wedding gifts, I would completely go a different way than we went originally. To begin, I would probably register at Target and Urban Outfitters. I love UO. It's beautiful.

As a matter of fact, if I were registering today. I would go crazy. This is a simple list of what I would do if i could redo my bathroom and kitchen RIGHT NOW:] This is simple necessities, no art pieces. yadayadayada..


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1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16.



I know Christmas was just here and my birthday isn't until September.... Buttt I hear I love Jennie Day is coming up soon. So if anyone cares to love me:] My wishlist is a GREAT place to find a gift:]


[P.S. I love Jennie Day is EVERY DAY.]

10 Blessings From 2010

1. My new job. I have been able to support my family as Kyle is going to school full time and starting his own business.

2. Getting Health Insurance from a job. This has been such a blessing on our family. Going from paying out of picket close to $1,000 every month for poor poor poor individual insurance plans, to a huge group insurance from my new job. I honestly don't know how we were able to shovel out as much as we did over the year and a half that we were under our own plan.

3. losing my summer job. I never have been "let go" from a position before. It is NOT a good feeling. BUT I cannot be more grateful for it in this situation. I had been offered this job and my current position at the same time [though my current job would be starting about a month later] I accepted both for some reason and started at the Dr's office in june. My experience with my june job turned out to be one of the hardest experiences of my working life. I have never been pushed so hard or felt like I was drowning so much. I am a perfectionist and I was not perfect at this job. And they wanted better than perfect. They wanted you to catch on instantly and not make a single mistake. I can definitely understand the need for no mistake whatsoever in a DR's office, but you have to give the new girl a break. I have never cried over a position so much. So even though it was such a difficult experience I am sooo grateful for it. Because of this position I learned that I will NEVER work in a DR's office again. This position was able to help me get the apartment we are currently living in. It was able to help me realize the kind of business I want to work in and the people I want to work with. This job held my family finances over until I was able to start at my current job at UoP. When I first was offered my job at UoP I was really not interested in taking the job, but for some reason, I never turned them down. Then I lost my June job and found out why the Lord blessed me. When I started at the UoP we were put through THREE weeks of training, 1 in the classroom week and 2 weeks on the job practicing and learning and trying with assistance at our hand and foot. At my June job, I had 8 days of training. 1 day in classroom learning how to sign in and about the company - not the position and what it entails- and 7 days watching and no instruction on how to go about my position. I am SO grateful I lost my June job and was blessed to find a higher paying and amazing job at the UoP. But I am also grateful I had the time at the June job so that I would be grateful for the CLEAR blessings at UoP.

4. My Parents. There have definitely been some tight months here and there with my job being the only way of providing for the family. My parents have been so amazing at helping us through our tough times. May it be letting us have dinner at their hour 2, 3, 4 times a week, or coming over and helping me get organized time and time and time and time again. They are awesome and I dont think KNOW we wouldn't have survived this year without them.

5. Kyle's Parents. They are so intuitive and it is clear that the Lord guides them throughout every day. From the Fast Sunday devotionals they offer to the family once a month at sunday dinner to the car they sold to us. They are truly amazing and a great spirit in our lives.

6. The Temple. We don't see each other very often thanks to our schedules, so we don't get to attend the Temple often. But when the opportunity is there and we take it, the difference is GREAT in our life. We are so blessed to live so close to one that we can literally be there within minutes. The spirit is strong there and it blesses us well when we attend regularly.

7. Kyle's schooling. With Kyle's business being the hopes of our income for our future schooling was never a "necessity" but I am SO grateful for the initiative Kyle has had for completing his degree. He is so smart and has been very successful in class. We have been very lucky to even get grants and attend NAU local campus that is several thousands of dollars cheaper than ASU.

8. Time. We have been so lucky with our ridiculous schedules to still find time for each other. Even if it means that Kyle spends 15 minutes lying with me before I go to bed and he goes off to study or watching a movie or a football game together on a Sunday afternoon, we still see each other and spend as much time as we can together. Absence really does make the heart grow fonder because the time away has made us realize how much we still like each other and that we DO want one another around.

9. Our teeny apartment. Moving to a smaller place was NOT something I wanted to do. But as we have done so I found that it was much easier to throw away things that had not been used and were just taking up space in the spare bedrooms of our house. I am not where I need to be on the declutter scale but I am definitely 10 steps further ahead than I was before we moved!:] Thank goodness!

10. Being forced to move from our beautiful house in Gilbert, to our teeny apartment in Mesa. I am so grateful for this blessing in disguise. The fact that we were able to sell our home so quickly that is barely effected Kyle's credit. How close we live to my parents. The fact that we are in the same ward with my dear sweet grandparents. We moved from a ward SO BIG that you never saw the same person twice. We knew no one and were absolutely stunned that the bishop even remembered our names, to a ward so small it barely even has a primary. But I love how small it is. It's so much more family like. Everyone knows everyone and when someone needs help, there is more response because you actually know the person you are helping. Our old ward was so huge we had over 20 kids in our primary class. I could barely keep their names straight, let alone afford to provide them a present at the end of the year or on their birthdays. This fabulous new ward, our Sunday school class we teach has a total of 5 kids on a good day. I have gotten to know these kids individually and really have become their friends. Some have even added me on Facebook. All in all, I am soooo grateful for the window that was opened when I saw what I thought was the last door shut when we moved.



I am so grateful for 2010 and hope that 2011 is filled with many more blessings. [Hopefully they aren't blessings in disguise though. I much prefer knowing right away what my blessings are not finding out that they were blessings down the road:)]

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Laundry and Resolutions

The worst part about doing laundry is knowing that there will always be one more set of clothes to wash tomorrow






Monday, I was sooo lucky to have off.
Kyle and I had lots of plans for creating peace
out of our mess of an apartment.




We slept in instead.

We DID get our laundry done though!
Our washer is currently broken [for the 2nd time this month] so

1. our clothes were piling up higher than our THREE laundry baskets could handle
2. We had to go to the laundromat around the corner

2 hours and $25 later we had no dirty clothes in sight.


My least favorite part of laundry is the folding and hanging after. It's MISERABLE.

But you would be shocked to hear that I folded and hung everything and even cleared out my closet out of the clothes that are either too small or I NEVER wear:]

I DID save a few old faves that don't fit anymore as "goal" clothes that I want to fit into when my resolution is complete.



Speaking of Resolutions,


Thank GOODNESS it's not technically the new year
yet because I am doing TERRIBLE.
So far today I caved and had
1 Blueberry Muffin
1 Naked Drink
2 Nutrigrain Bars
and 15 pretzel M&M's


I'm hoping tomorrow I will be stronger....

Or will at least have healthier snacks around.

Or no money..





That would work too I suppose.



All photos via We♥it