Union Station Photo Shoot Extended

Here are some of the pics I took of my friend Heidi. Isn't she a natural? Beautiful friend! Love ya!

It Only Took Five Years!

As many of you know I went to cosmetology school while I was in high school. I started my sophmore summer and went into my senior summer. Two weeks before I graduated from West Jordan High School I graduated from SLCC with my Applied Associates Degree of Science (provided through the school I was taking cosmo, JATC). Then only a few weeks after graduating from high school I finished my 2000 hours for cosmetology. It took me two full years, but I did it.

Five years later.......STILL HADN'T TAKEN MY TEST!!! I know, I know. What was I thinking?! As I thought about how much time I had put into cosmo school I decided to see if they would still let me take my test. I figured there had to be some kind of a time limit on these kinds of things. Well, I called the state and they said that as far as the rules go now there was no limit. So, it got me thinking. I thought, what the heck. Lets get it done! I called my old instructor from the sandy campus at the JATC and told her my situation. She told me that she was just starting up a stateboards prep class that next week that would go for a month and a half. She was going to be teaching the girls each procedure for stateboards every Monday and Tuesday from May to the beginning of June. Classes were held from 7:30am-8:30am in Sandy!!! Yes, that is a 45 minute drive for me. Yikes! She told me that I could come sit in on these classes to get a refresher so I would feel more prepared. I figured that I might as well take advantage of her offer because she was going to let me do it for free. So, I went back to beauty school. It was crazy going back. There are only a few instructors there that were there when I went to school, but it was fun to see the few that were. Most of the girls there were juniors or seniors in high school so it was funny to have a flash back at what all us girls must have been like. I ended up going to all the classes but two because we were out of town. All along the way my instructor was a HUGE help to me. She let me know what I needed for my kit (supplies for the practical exam) and even supplied me with lots of stuff for it. The last Monday I was there she told me that the stateboards were going to be requiring two extra procedures for people who take their test after June 15th. The two extra procedures were going to be a facial and acrylic nail! :-Z I wasn't even sure I could do the stuff I already had to do let alone do two things I really hadn't done for 5 years! lol So, I got on PSI to see if by any chance they had any openings for the practical exam before the 15th. There are three testing centers for the exam and the only one that came up with anything before the 15th happened to be the closest one to me. But, it happened to be WAY sooner than I was expecting. It was two days from that day!!! I ended up taking the rest of that day off to study and then prepared myself the next day as much as I could after work. I didn't end up getting to bed until about 1:30am and woke up at 5:30 because I was so nervous I couldn't sleep. I got to the testing center early and studied as much as I could then headed in to put my skills to the test. There were 5 other girls there that day. They had us all sit in a room and wait for about 15 mins until they finally came and got us. They took us in one by one to let us know where our set ups would be. There were two ladies in the room with us. One was the speaker who would explain each procedure before we did them and the other lady, the one who was grading us, didn't say a word or even break a smile the whole time. She would just walk around and look at what you were doing through each procedure. The exam was 4 long, hot, nerve racking hours! None of us were aloud to talk either so you can only imagine how you could cut the tension with a knife! lol After we were all done they had us go back to the same room to wait for our final scores. They brought us each in a piece of paper that, under the fold, would say if we passed or failed. Each of us opened ours up one by one. I was honestly thinking that I had messed up too many times to have actually passed it. And the whole time I was thinking, "If I don't pass it this time I just won't take it again". I opened my paper and saw the best word of my day PASS. I did it!!! I passed it even though it had been five years! I can't even tell you how excited and proud I was that I was able to get over my test anxiouty and actually pass one of the hardest tests I have ever taken. It felt pretty dang good. :-) So now I just need to take my written exam, which compared to the practical will be a cake walk. After that I will be a licensed Cosmetologist. I didn't realize how much I have missed it until all this. I have done it off and on throughout the years, but never felt like I wanted to put full effort into it knowing I still needed to take my test. I will still stay working at Verizon of course because it really is a great place to work. But, I may start doing this on the side more now. Maybe I'll get a part time job in a salon to build some clientelle and then maybe after I have kids I can continue that part time. It just makes so much more sense to have all this finally behind me. Yay for passing tests!!! See you all for those new do's! ;-)

Union Station Photo Shoot

As you all know I have a passion for life through a lens. I love getting to help capture those special moments for people. My friend Heidi also shares the same passion. We have both been wanting to get together and take some pics together to bounce some idea's off each other so we finally did. We went out to the Union Station in Ogden. I just got a new point and shoot digital camera and wanted to try it out and she has her Nokia SLR that her dad gave her. I was unaware that my new camera wouldn't let me adust apeture or shutter speed so unfortunately my camera wasn't taking the best pictures with the lighting. We ended up using Heidi's camera the whole time to take turn taking pictures of each other. We wanted to practice different poses and figure out how to use the natural light. We had a lot of fun and they actually turned out pretty good. We both thought it was easier than we had anticipated. I think one of the hardest things about photography is knowing the right poses. I think some of the best pictures come from candid shots. Heidi is putting all the pics we took on a CD, but she emailed me a few so here they are.

Caineville 4wheelin' Trip

This weekend we FINALLY took some time off for a small vacation. We planned a wheelin' trip with our friends Mike and Hilary. They invited some of their friends to come too. We made the four hour trip to Caineville with mine and Hil's quads and the guys dirt bikes. We stayed in pretty much the only hotel in Caineville. Me, Landon, Mike and Hil all shared a room and the other guys shared one next to us. We left early on Friday morning so we had some time to ride when we got there. We dropped our stuff at the hotel, got our riding gear on and headed for the dirt hills. It took me a while to get used to riding the wheeler, but once I got the hang of it there was no stopping me. LOL We rode until there was not enough sunlight to ride then headed back to the hotel for some grub. The hotel had a grill so we were able to bbq some hot dogs and hamburgers. We were all pretty exhausted from waking up early and riding in the blazing heat so we headed off to bed. We woke up pretty early the next day to get a full day of riding in. We woke up to a little friend hanging outside our doors. There was a baby deer that is apparently known at the hotel as Fresco. He was coming up to us wanting us to pet him. He was acting like he thought he was a dog! lol After all the fun with Fresco we packed up lunch and chairs and headed back out to the hills. We all rode our hearts out! All of that suddenly came to a hault when Landon and I returned from a quick ride around the hills around us. He had noticed that one of the wheels on the 4 wheeler was wobbling. When we looked at it we were surprised that the wheel was even still on at all. The bolts on the rim had shredded almost all the way to nothing. We drove to the only place that may have something for us to fix it and they couldn't do anything for us so sadly I was done riding for the trip. :-( I had Landon drop me off at the hotel so he could head back out with everyone else and get a few more hours of riding in. It wasn't so bad. I got to take a nice long shower, get in a little nap and some time to relax before they all got back. Plus, I had gotten in a good day and a half in of riding so I was happy. Once everyone else got back we headed into town to have dinner at one of the only restaurants in Caineville. After we ate we all headed back to the hotel and just relaxed and went to bed. We woke up the next morning and some of us went out and rode and the rest of us got everything cleaned up to head home. We were sad to have the trip end so quickly, but it was nice to be back home in our own bed. Today Landon and I had the day off together so we went and bought some rims for the wheeler from a guy off KSL so we'll be ready to get back out on the trails. Then we went to see the movie Fighting. It was okay. I probably would wait for it to be out on redbox. We had a really fun weekend. It was relaxing and fun. And it's always nice getting to spend some time together away from our crazy jobs. We're hoping to get back out on some trails soon!

First Adventure On New Four Wheeler

Yesterday Landon and I had the day off together, FINALLY! Our schedules have been opposite this whole month! So, since we only had yesterday to get out and enjoy some time together we thought no better way than to take out the new four wheeler on a ride. We packed up the Escape' (like Dorey says it on Finding Nemo lol) and the trailer and headed out. Since we weren't going to be able to stay over night somewhere we decided to keep it close. We went to a nonexistant town called Delle. I say nonexistant, but it might as well be. I think the only thing it consists of is one gas station. On our way out there we had a little accident. One of the wheel covers on the trailer snapped off and flew on the side of the highway. That was mishap number one. Once we got out there we had a great time. The weather was perfect. It was a little overcast so it wasn't so scorching hot and there were only about 6 other people there. I have never really rode four wheelers on open land like that. I have always grown up riding on 4x4's in the mountains. This was a nice change. There were some fun hills we played on and then we went out to some open ground and raced each other. We wanted to test the four wheeler to see how it matched up to Landon's dirt bike. I tell ya what, it is VERY quick! It stayed pretty close to him. After me winning nearly every race ;-) we headed back to the car to head out. We stopped at a gas station to clean off the bikes then went to visit Landon's dad and step mom since Delle is so close to them. As we were on our way to their house, after washing the bikes off, we had our second mishap. As we were just going into Landon's dad's neighborhood Landon's dirt bike flew off the trailer. We think it was a combination of the wetness from the wash down and some tie downs we had bought from Walmart. The bike was still hanging on by two of our good tie downs by the time we saw it dragging. It was dragging for a total of about 5-10 seconds, so not too long thank goodness. Luckily enough there wasn't anything broken on the dirt bike. It has a few scratches on the plastics, seat and handle bars, but there's no serious damage. Needless to say, we were frightened to make the journey home after that. Landon went and bought some more of the better tie downs we had gotten from Steadman's and triple strapped them both down. The dirt bike was tied down so tight it looked about 2 feet shorter than it normally was. Beside my extreme anxiety, we made it home okay. So, one fun first day of riding with some very interesting turns along the way. We hope that our next riding trip won't consist of any of those intersting turns. We got some fun pics, but I will have to put them up later.

Happy Easter!

Easter was here and gone so fast this year. Landon spent the entire Easter weekend with bronchitus. No fun. He stayed home and slept all through Easter Day while I went to his sister's for dinner. We had some scrumchious ham, salad, funeral potatoes, Deb's famous pretzel salad, rolls, and angel food cake for dessert. Thanks Steve and Heather for hosting! :-)

Just Another Day in Paradise

Have you ever had one of those days that you thought to yourself "wow, I am so blessed". Today was one of those days. Nothing super big or special happened. I just felt overwhelmed with happiness realizing all the blessings that I have in my life.

Landon and I both had the day off today, which in the near future won't be as often on Sundays. We both got to sleep in this morning, wake up to a beautifully sunny day and watch conference together. I couldn't help but feel the spirit during this conference. All those men are so close to our Heavenly Father. They all always have such inspiring things to share with us that I hold in my heart. Still being so new to the Gospel I try to soak in all their knowledge they have to share. It's crazy to think that it's already been almost 4 years since the first time I not only watched conference, but attended a live session at the Conference Center. An even crazier thing to think about is how far I have come since those far away four years that have passed. In the same year that I had made my life altering decision to bring the Gospel in my life, I met the man I would marry the next year to come in the house of the Lord. In between sessions today we watched a special they had on for the dedication of the Draper Temple. It's in fathomable to think of all the time and effort that goes into each of our temples. Each room has such equisite detail. The feeling you have while in the temple is indescribable. There is no beauty as powerful as a Celestial room in our temples.

After watching the 179th General Conference we made a scrumchious dinner. We took advantage of the sunny weather and barbequed some steaks. After eating we watched one of our new fav flicks, Marley and Me. Being parents to our own lab we could relate to a lot of the things they went through. Watching that movie is like seeing us ten years down the road....married (done), buy a house (done), get a puppy (done), have three kids (that's the plan), possibly move around depending on Landon's jobs, and enjoying the family life. For those of you who haven't seen the movie I won't ruin the ending for you. All I will say is that I soiled my pillow with streaming tears. Landon even let a few drop. We have a soft spot when it comes to love for dogs. :-) Mia has been the closest thing to a daughter for us. We don't feel like we are waiting to start a family. With her we feel like we've already started ours. Eventually she'll have to share her territory with some little ones, which I'm sure she'll welcome with lots of slobbery kisses. :-)

Putting an end to our day in paradise we are going to get in some good cuddling, read a little and hit the sack. Guess we better get to it!