I've been a little MIA from the photo world but in case you didn't hear....

Hey everyone!

I know it's been forever since you've heard from me. I have been hiding away! ;)

I decided it's time to get back in the game of things so I'm having a huge fall deal!

Book your session by 9/30/09 and you get $10 off the session fee PLUS I will throw in a FREE set of holiday photo cards!!

The details...
Just remember, you book by 9/30/09 but your session doesn't have to take place until 11/30/09! That gives you 3 months to actually plan your session! I probably wouldn't wait that long due to the time of printing for holiday cards....that's just a date for you procrastinators out there ;)

The session fee also includes $75 print credit and a 4x6 spiral bound album of up to 15 images!

I also want to inform you that a set of cards is 25 but I will give you a steal by offering any additional set of 25 for only $20! Try finding that anywhere else!

Want more???

How about if you refer me to your friends or family and I will give you a FREE 8x10 for every new client you send to me!!

Playing Catch up!

So did any of you hear about the family whose picture was found as an advertisement in like Europe or Russia or somewhere? Apparently a guy was on a business trip and saw his neighbors on a sign for a business. Their family picture must have been stolen off a website or blog so I'm going to be extra careful these days and either put my logo on my pictures or size them small so printing is more of a pain. You never know what types of pictures are going to fit someone elses needs. Anyways, read below to see what we have been up to the last few months. I also finally got full time at work so I have been majorly busy.

This is my niece Aubrey. We took her to the Air Show with us. We had a really cool opportunity to go the Friday before it started as Law Enforcement Appreciation Day. It was nice we didn't have to fight the crowds and it was also nice cause it was overcast for the most part. Somehow I of course still got sunburned. It even sprinkled a few minutes while we were there. The unfortunate part was that the pictures just look kind of blah due to the blah sky.








I love having a zoom lens lol.










These were pics I took on Memorial Day. I went out with my boys and my parents to put flowers on graves. I love seeing all the flags everywhere on Memorial Day and everyone remembering those that have passed on and showing their respect.








This photo is my dad looking at his fathers headstone, who served in WWII, I think the flag is very fitting in this picture and it's one of my favs.


So lately I have been trying to go and visit my grandparents 1-2x weekly. I had not been very good at visiting them and they only live like 10 mins from my house. About 2 or 3 months ago my grandma was moved from the assisted living facility she was living in with my grandpa to across the street to a place more like a nursing home. I kept telling myself I really needed to get over there but kept letting other stuff get in the way. Sure I'm busy just like any other working parent out there but I realized it was really about priority. So one day I happen to be with my mom helping her clean out my grandparents home and after we were done stopped by to visit. Wow, I was in for a rude awakening. See, my grandma has dimensia and in the past it's always been kind of a funny thing like wow she asked that question 5 mins ago and this is the third time she's asking. But when I saw this woman I have known my whole life and who in years gone by has been known to not be very nice, this was not the same woman! She was basically a lot more gone than I had realized and boy did I feel guilty! So from that time on I have made it atleast once a week and most weeks twice. I made a decision that I did not want to be filled with regret when my grandparents passed and I had not made the effort to show them I loved them and for them to feel loved. That first day I visited my grandmother knew who I was. The second day she did not. I was very emotional that first visit and I still get a little choked up but I cannot tell you how happy I feel when I walk in that room and ask my grandmother if she remembers who I am and she does! She never ever complains or asks for anything. She is just happy to have visitors and watch my boys fight and play on her wheelchair. She's always in good spirits. Sometimes she remembers my boys but mostly she doesn't. I'll admit I sometimes struggle for what to talk about cause sometimes it feels like I'm telling her things again and again (cause I am) like where I work and who I'm married to. But the thing is, I feel better having gone even though it's a struggle taking my boys to her small little room and them fighting. Or the joys of when AJ or Brock decides to befriend a passerby in their wheelchair and scary things happen lol. Like the other day when we were there AJ was talking to a woman asking her if she needed help. She was in the process of pulling parts of her dirty diaper (only #1 thankfully) off and touching AJ on his arms and face. She was about to tuck the ripped off pieces into the front of his shirt when I rescued him! We were sure to immediately wash his hands, arms and face. Note to anyone thinking of visiting (which I highly encourage), go in the later evening like 8 and the other residents have gone to bed. Anyways, I really feel badly for my grandmother cause she just wants to go home which we are sure is not going to happen until she leaves this world and goes to her Heavenly home. My grandpa is also very lonely and even though he used to be very impatient with my children most of the times we visit he loves hearing them talk to him and watching them play. I love seeing this softer happier side of my grandpa but he is still very lonely. One day my mom and I took my grandma over to see my grandpa and he just couldn't wait to kiss her. It really choked me up. I can't imagine how that would feel if I were in his shoes knowing that my wife can't live with me anymore and I'm just trying to pass time until the Lord takes me home. The first week I saw my grandparents 3x and that was a very emotional week for me. It is very sad but I'm greatful I have this opportunity to visit with them. Right now it just feels like something I have to do but also something I get to do. Like I said before I don't want to feel regret of letting other unimportant things get in the way of showing my grandparents love before they die. I know if it were me, even if I didn't remember anyone I would want to be visited. So here are some pics of one of our first times visiting. I also want to add that if any of my family are thinking of visiting but don't necessarily want to go by themselves I will happily go with you to help break the ice and make it a little more comfortable. Just give me a call!!!

Good biz opportunity??

So for all those who would like to come you are ALL more than welcome!! Anthony is playing in the Kaysville Guns VS Hoses (PD vs FD) at Davis High School Friday May 29th (this coming Friday) at 7pm. I'm thinking it will be a hoot to watch and a pretty cheap date! It's only $3 and it's a fundraiser for the National MS Society. There's gonna be raffle tickets and a silent auction. I think it will be pretty fun and for a good cause.

Here's where the biz opportunity comes in...I'm a sponser as Amber Thompson Photography and I'm going to be the event photographer as well! I will have some pictures and a portfolio on display as well as my new business cards set up at a table and I'm hoping to be able to get some new clientelle from this event. Sooo hence the non blogging for the last little while cause I definitely have some things I need to blog about and pictures to add (of course lol)! I also had a fun opportunity to photograph some girls as models for a girl who wants to become a designer. She dressed the girls and then they modeled for us (a few different photographers). It was so much fun and I got some really great shots and have not even had the opportunity to fully edit them all yet. I also have to edit some soccer pics of my nephews and email them as well as some pics of my nephews/nieces to my bro who is in Afghanistan. So as you can see I have some work to do and don't even get me started on the neglect my house as well as kiddos have been feeling since I'm trying to get ready for this event. Anthony laughs at me and says I'm acting like it's a bridal show...yeah sort of, a FREE one! lol.

Anyways, I miss my blogging and sharing with ya'll cause that's usually when I get caught up on my blog reading as well and I feel sooo behind!

Hope to see you Friday!!!

PS I'm waaaaay excited cause I also got a new logo that a completely amazing friend of mine did fo me. I'm sooo loving it and have gotten way good comments on it so far. If you jump over to my biz blog you can see it there!

Playing with my new toy!

Okay well it's not a toy but it's still sooo much fun! I got a new camera...finally upgraded to keep up with competition. It's amazing the color and clarity it has! And lots of new gadgets too! Here's a few from yesterday sooc (straight out of camera) that means I have done absolutely no editing on them. Good thing you never saw what my other pics looked like sooc my old camera! ;)

A post with no pictures??

I know, crazy of me huh? I can't believe it either. Well I can really it's just that I'm at work and felt the need to update my blog but I obviously don't have any pictures on this computer lol.
Hmm trying to think of what's been going on the last few weeks....

Well for those of you waiting to hear the news about my job..I did not get the full time position. I am very bummed about it but what can I do? So you won't find me sitting around sulking about it but when I think about it I do feel sullen for a moment. I was a little surprised at how many people were as shocked as I was though. Definitely re-affirms my feeling of loyalty to my Weber County Family ;)

We finally got our taxes done just 2 days before they were do and boy did we get a surprise...very little money! We knew it wouldn't be as big as it had been because of the fact that I mistakenly forgot to file the taxes that Anthony made in 07 so we owed the IRS a little over 1K. But we didn't realize we had somehow "made too much money" this last year. Really? Who took it?!? Where did it go?!? Cause I was sure feeling we had made a lot less than the last few years and have been hurting financially. Whoops is this airing my dirty laundry? Oh well, I don't care. I'm not the type of person that dwells too much on what others think of me lol.

So on a better note, I am finally cleared from physical therapy and the chiropractor so I just got a nice check in the mail ;) Too bad it has to go somewhere useful even though we "make too much money" lol. (Just alittle hint, it's amazing how much of a difference paying your tithing makes in your tax return)! Anthony will be cleared soon as well so that will be nice to not have to juggle our schedules around that anymore.

Those of you who are on facebook know this but I have been working out the past few weeks and I am feeling great! I feel like my life is finally going in a better direction and even when we have downers (like not getting the full time job), it doesn't get me down.

AJ is doing really well in school and is learning a lot. He leaves us little notes (mis-spelled severely) but we love that he is writing and trying atleast. Anthony won't like me posting this but one day he was being quite grumpy and AJ had wanted to play the x-box with him. AJ ended up giving him a note that said, "dad I dispise the way you are acting and don't want to play the xbox with you anymore." Wow, it was a huge wake up call to Anthony but also we were surprised that AJ used a word like dispise and used it correctly! AJ just wrote another note last night while we were working and we tried to reading it last night when we got home but asked AJ to translate it for us today but he said he didn't know! lol what a funny kid!

Brock is definitely his own little person and knows what he wants! He wants to be big like his brother and likes to copy him but I think that is more out of love than not sure who he is. He hates it when we go to our jobs and he loves it when we come home. We never get sick of him running up, screaming our names and throwing his tiny little strong arms around our legs and hugging so tight!

Anthony got a surprise from work. He has driven his patrol car into the ground and they are finally getting him a new one. As of 7-1-09 he should be driving a brand new Dodge Charger! You're so jealous aren't you? I know I am and it will be parked in MY driveway! LOL!!

Well I think I will stop there. I would love to post more about Easter but I will save that for when I have pictures to post with it. I'm sure, as always, I have some random pictures to post as well. Until then......Oh yeah one more thing. Take a look at my new photography blog.

Sucking me dry.....

Okay so maybe really it's my electricity lol.



So last weekend I heard someone say they splurged and bought those compact florescent lights fo their whole house. They said it was kinda expensive but they last way longer and saved them about $50 bucks a month on their power bill! We had bought some at Costco awhile back and spent a bunch of money. Then Anthony replaced our kitchen lightbulb and I freaked out. This is how it looks....

UGLY WHITE FLORESCENT LIGHTBULB! UGH!!

Anthony and I were at Home Depot in Layton last night and saw a 4pk 60W for $1.85. I had heard that they didn't come in a tungsten color (like yellowish and warm). I was thinking "hmm save some money and help the environment, or keep the nice warm feeling of my home?" Well guess what? I can do both!! We found these!
Soft White light bulbs!!
The clerk says they are about half off right now until probably the end of the month. And this is how the lights look in my living room with regular light bulbs...

and now the soft white florescents....

There is not a huge difference. They are very bright and still have a warm feeling to them. I will be watching to see if it makes a difference in my power bill and even how long they last. I think we will definitely be putting more of them in the house.

Mommy Award

Ok so it's not like I really deserve a Mommy Award but this is a tag I saw on a friends blog and I couldn't pass it up.

Here are the rules:
1. Admit ONE thing you feel awful about involving being a mom. Get it off your shoulders. Once you've written it down, you are NO LONGER allowed to feel bad. It's over with, it's in the past. Remember, you're a great mom!
~ I hate that I have a short temper and I'm a YELLER! Patience is surely not one of my virtues and I think that has a lot to do with my temper (by the way, thanks DAD!)I really want to work on that with my kids, especially AJ. I'm sure the poor kid thinks he can't do anything right. And to any of my neighbors that read this, sorry for rattling your windows when I yell lol. Ok so maybe I'm not that bad but I'm sure they have heard me before, but I hope not.

2. To remind yourself that you ARE a good mom, list SEVEN things you love about your kids, you love doing with your kids, or that your kids love about you. These are the things to remind yourself of EVERY DAY that you rock!
~1 I love that Brock is such a cuddler. He really is a tough brick of a kid but he's so lovey at the same time. What a great combination!
~2 I love it when AJ comes up and gives me surprise hugs and says "I love you mom". We are always in a power struggle so the sweet moments are oh so sweet!
~3 I love hearing my boys play. Brock wants to be just like his big brother. I adore their companionship and I'm so greatful they have each other.
~4 I love going to the park and having family activities. Last summer we had fun times going to Lagoon, parks, and the Raptors games.
~5 I love how smart AJ is and the talks we sometimes have (that is when he holds still long enough to listen lol).
~6 I love how tough Brock is, he just jumps, climbs, runs, falls and hardly ever cries about it. That kid has NO FEAR!!
~7 I love it when my kids become little artists. AJ likes to color nice pictures and Brock is my painter. That kid could paint for hours!

I award:
Stephanie Thompson
Mandy K
Kristin
Mandy C
Delia
Sara
Carrie
Melanie H
Melanie T
Raini

Penelope!!

If you have not seen this movie you need to! It's gonna be my newest favorite romantic comedy! Especially this scene that I'm posting, I hope I do not ruin the movie for anyone but, nah I don't really care. I love it too much! Let me just say this if you have not seen the movie don't watch the clip but I guarantee that once you do see the movie you will want to watch this clip over and over just like me!! LOL. I will warn you though this clip has the S word in it so if that offends you don't watch it. Also the score for this scene is very very well done.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PYG3HoWvug

Big weekend followed by a big week!

Wow so Anthony decided to take off this whole week since it's our anniversary. We had this idea in our heads of relaxing together all week and just being able to hang out. Hmm what's that saying where "when you make plans life makes different ones" or something like that.

Well Saturday we did sit around and do nothing all day. Wait, let me take that back. We did stay home all day but Anthony did several batches of laundry (go him!) and I sat down and ended up designing a custom birth announcement. My first one ever! I will change the info on it to make it more generic and then post it on here so ya'll can see what I will be adding to my photography business. I will also do highschool graduation announcements, baptism announcements, Christmas cards, etc and they will all be custom! That means you would tell me which pics from the session you wanted to use, what colors you liked, we would discuss a style and I would design it! Okay so enough with me selling myself.

That night we did get to sit down and have a date night after the kids were in bed. We rented Quarantine. I was quite impressed. I had heard it was actually scary but lately all the "scary" movies have been lame. This one was good enough that I made Anthony come with me downstairs afterwards to change the laundry! LOL. He thinks I'm silly.....okay me too ha ha.

So then Sunday we had to get up really early and head down to West Jordan to see my newest little 1st cousin once removed get blessed! Ha ha that's a funny sentence. My cousin had a little boy and they were blessing him . He is soo adorable, I might be doing their family session soon and I'm hoping to be able to do a few shots just of him (hint hint Delia!!) After that we drove home, had a little bit of a nap, the home teachers came over, and then we went to my moms house for Brock and my niece Aubrey's bday parties. I was driving everyone nuts cause they were watching Grease 2 and I LOVE that movie!! Really, I'm weird cause I like it better than Grease. I'm a bigger Michelle Pfeifer fan than Olivia Newton John. And I think they made Olivia too slutty at the end of the movie. Anyways I was singing all the songs and my family was all pretending I was bad. Yes I can say pretending cause they really can't say I'm a bad singer.
So Monday came and I realized I had not done my drug testing so in the morning we took AJ to school, went to the chiropractor, I set up appts for drug testing and then after AJ got out of school we headed off. First to Ogden to hit a few clients there and then we drove up to Logan so I could test my clients up there. It was amazing cause for the first time everyone tested quite fast and I didn't have to do any waiting around. I had a few guys that said they had just gone so I told them drink 8oz water and sit for 20 minutes and you will have enough. Since we were that far north we headed up to Preston Idaho where my sis in law Jane lives and surprised them with a visit! The boys were really excited to see the horses and cows and rode in the tractor and brushed the horse. Anthony took me for a ride on the 4 wheeler and it was rainy and cold. Here I am dressed in my nice clothes from doing drug testing out on a dirty 4 wheeler and getting in a dirty truck to feed the horses. I love that kind of dirty work and getting my hands dirty. In a few weekends we will be spending the weekend up there while Anthony paints and I told my brother in law Wes I'm bringing my grungy clothes and I want to go out and work with him. He thinks I'm crazy I'm sure! Heck, now you all do! HA HA. So after that we had hamburgers for dinner, with beef that was right off their farm, man it was gooooood beef! And then we went into a town called Lewiston and they have this really awesome movie theatre that's either styled all old fashioned or has just never been redecorated! I'm talking, I was expecting a stage instead of a movie screen. It's only $2 per person and all treats and drinks are $1 or less! They play a family movie every monday night and we saw Marley and Me. Oh my awesomely sad movie! lol. I cried, Anthony cried, I think 90 % of the people there cried! If you haven't seen that movie you need to see it. I will warn you though it was a little less family oriented than I thought it was. I'm just waiting for AJ to ask me what sex is! lol. There wasn't any dirty scenes just a few of Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson making out, ya know that before hand stuff that always happens in movies but never in real life LOL. And then of course they said the word sex quite a few times. Cross my fingers and knocking on wood, he hasn't asked me yet!!
Today Anthony is out with a work buddy and one of our neighbors snowmobiling. When he gets back he is working a game tonight at Davis so I will be going with him.
Tomorrow we are gonna try to find a car to buy and we STILL do not have money from the insurance company! I finally called them today and they said they will send it out tomorrow and we should get it on Thursday. Thursday we will probably be car shopping again and then I am still working Thursday and Friday. So all I wanted for our anniversary (which is tomorrow) was to go Snowboarding....Well it's not gonna happen so I told Anthony he owes me big time. Today was the day we were gonna go cause Wolf Mountain (Nordic) has awesome deals! If you like to ski or snowboard and don't need to go somewhere fancy you should head up there. On Monday nights it's family night so a family of 4 can ski/board for $40!! And individuals are only $10 for night skiing. Tuesdays is buy one full price ($25) and get a 2nd for $10! That's why we were gonna go on a tuesday but I'm a super awesome wonderful kind generous supportive wife so I let him go snowmobiling instead. So maybe next week or who knows, we will go snowboarding. I'm just not good enough or experienced enough to go night skiing cause that's when the snow gets harder and more frozen and it makes it harder to snowboard. Maybe once I get better I would love to head up there more often and just do night skiing for cheap. And if anyone is interested we would totally love for someone to come with us! If you ski or board and want to try, Wolf Mountain is an awesome place to go!
Well that is about it for what has been/will be going on in our lives. Hope you enjoyed!

Love is in the air....

In light of it being February and the month of LOVE - I thought I would post these few fun works of art. As you know, not only did we just celebrate Valentines Day but on the 25th will be our 9th Wedding Anniversary! YAY we made it! Enjoy! ;)


Family Night, we played Jenga....... Like Brock's tattoo?

Photo Contest!!

In case you missed it on facebook, I'm doing a photo contest where you can win a FREE photo session! Go to my photography blog at www.everlasting-images.blogspot.com to see all the details! Hurry, it ends Feb 3!!

Good luck and get commenting!!

Happy Birthday Mama C

This is my beautiful mother in law MamaC.

She is an amazing person who is the best Nana to my kids. She is smart and caring and would do anything for the people that she loves. She is one of the strongest women I know. She has gone through a lot in her life and never let any of it get the best of her. She persevered and pushed through the tough times. She learned from everything in her life to help her be a better person. She is so humble. She works very hard. She is an amazing helper and a great example. She is a great wife, mother, sister, Nana, friend and neighbor.

Thank you for all you do. I love you MamaC.......