Brook and Andy's Big Day

Brook and Andy have been pushing their wedding date back, I don't know how many times. They've been waiting for her temple divorce to go through. Well, now it's a go ahead for this Friday.

Brook and Andy decided to just set a date and get married either way; if the divorce goes through they'll get married in the temple and if not they'll get married civilly and go to the temple in a year to be sealed.

They really didn't want to have a civil ceremony. Andy felt like it would put a cloud over what is supposed to be a happy day, which I don't blame her. However, they needed to set the date and get married so they can start moving on with their lives. So they set the date for May 15 and prayed the divorce would go through by then.

The good news came last weekend, the divorce went through and they can get married in the temple. We are all so excited for them. They've asked me to take some pictures at the temple, I don't think they really looked at the engagement picture I took for them. Some turned out okay but I wished they'd turned out a lot better. I have to keep telling myself that I'm learning.

Friday is going to be a busy day. Brook is getting his endowments out, then married, pictures, with the finale of an open house. They are going to be exhausted, I'm going to be exhausted.

It is going to be a day that my whole family has been waiting for for a very long time. We all knew that Brook would eventually come back to the church and now he has.

It is so awesome to see the change in him. He is so much softer, don't get me wrong he's always been the biggest softy but now he doesn't have the hard exterior to get through before you saw the gooy insides. He is adorable! I love watching him with his wife-to-be, I've been waiting a long time to see him this happy.

2nd Day of Frost

I know these aren't the best pictures. I haven't quite figured out how to make my pictures crisp yet. But Oh how I love to take pictures of beauty.



I love it when the Lord gets out his paint brush and changes tall evergreen trees to a crisp white. The contrast is amazing.



I really need a macro lens so I can get really close to those delicate frozen spires and capture their true beauty.

Frosting

We woke to a beautiful frost this morning. I wanted to capture the beauty but didn't quite get it. I get so frustrated when I can see how I want a picture to turn out in my mind but I don't quite know enough about my new camera to get it to read my mind.



I loved the little spikes on the stem. It looked so forbidding yet majestic. The Lord is truly the ultimate artist.

One of these days I'm going to take an amazing picture and every one will say, "Oh, that is the most beautiful picture...who took it?"

Me and C

My best friend, C, and I love to take pictures. So we decided to try our hand at taking one picture a day and sharing it with all of you. You can see our pictures at:

ct1000words.blogspot.com

Fill free to take a gander and comment, but please remember we are both amateurs and are doing this for fun. Be gentle.

We will not be posting pictures Saturdays or Sundays.

Picture Perfect

Big D was snowmobiling with Mike, my brother-in-law. He came across this place that he knew I'd love. He took me back there the next day and he was right. I spent the next hour and a half taking pictures of every thing. I think I ended up taking over a hundred pictures.

Needless to say, I am still trying to get used to my new camera so not many of the pictures turned out, which really ticks me off. I think this is actually the first time I've actually got to play with my camera. So hopefully I'll get better.

We showed up at this spot right in time. The lighting was perfect but it was fading fast. There was so much to take pictures of that I couldn't quit saying how awesome it was.

Once again I was very giddy.

Here is some of the pictures, enjoy:

Goals

I have recently finished my list of 50 Goals in 550 days. I read them to my husband and he asked me if I know how long 550 days is. Yes I know how to count. I am excited about this new challenge I have placed before myself. I know some of them are easier than others and some seem stupid to others, however, I am planning on finishing them all. I think my biggest challenge is going to be number ten: take a picture of each one of my kids for 365 days, that is 1,460 pictures. It is going to be especially hard on weekends when they go to their grandparents house, I don't know what I am going to do then. Maybe I can send the camera with them and ask Bug to take the pictures for me, is that cheating?

Goals are such a good habit to get into. I was raised with others telling me to set goals for myself. Being the obstinate child I was, just ask my mom, I never took them up on it. I have recently in my adult years discovered the wisdom behind setting goals. I have learned that it helps with my self-esteem when I meet a goal. I took a challenge to read the Book of Mormon three years ago. The Prophet offered the challenge in August, I think, and asked that we finish it by the end of the year. I didn't decided to get involved until October. I mapped out how many chapters I had to read a day to finish and on December 22, 2005 I finished the Book of Mormon for the first time in my life. I enjoyed the challenge so much that over the next two years I set a goal to finish all the books of scripture and on December 17, 2007 I finished my last book in the Bible. That was one goal I was scared I wouldn't make. It took me three months to get through the book of Isaiah. I finished it and now I can mark myself up there with people who have read all the books of scripture, that means a lot to me.

Everyone has their own goals in life. Some have the goal to make it through one more day. I had days like that after my son died. Other's have goals to be rich. I have a goal to be happy and I believe by focusing most of my goals on others I will learn how serving others makes me happy.

Self Discovery

I have discovered a new blog recently that I have really enjoyed. It is "Modern Acropolis" written by a very talented young lady named Marie. Her blog has so many options to discover a little more about who she is (I have actually borrowed some of her ideas for my blog). I am drawn to her energy that comes across when I read all the jars she has her hand in. She has recently started a new photography project called: Project 3173. There are six ladies from six different locations around the United States who take a picture and post in on this website everyday. I am lucky enough to be a part of this project. I am excited about the challenge of 'everyday', I hope I don't forget. This project is forcing me to look at my surroundings and try to find something worthy of taking a picture. I find that photography is what I do when I am not feeling all that creative. It helps to stimulate me and get me in the mood to write. Photography also helps me discover who I am and how I see the world.