Sisters

Ryan's been having the time of his life working outside of Portland for the past 3 weeks. But there is a silver lining, since he takes the car and I'm minutes away from going into labor, we invited Audrey to come live with us for about three weeks just in case this baby makes his arrival while Ryan's out on his pleasure cruise.

Needless to say, Audrey has been the buoy to a sinking ship. If there were a way to imitate the last two weeks of pregnancy, it would be a great torture device for those really bad people at Guantanamo Bay, not that I am a proponent of torturing people. "Anything, I'll do anything, just get it over with!" Okay, it's really not that bad, but to have Audrey here truly has been a pleasure cruise for me. Four words are all I need to say for you to understand the magnitude of her help: she vacuums my stairs.

Not only is she a great help, but a great friend. The bargain-finding, treat -making, people-watching duo of the good ole days has returned and I am quite enjoying it and Kate has only good things to say as well (I want my Audgie). Thanks audge, love you!

Just can't get enough

I was so lucky to travel to Montana, again. Got to see my parents, again. Got to enjoy unbeatable weather, company, scenery, etc, again.

Everyday Heroes

While at BYU I TA'd for a professor who was blind. Brother Cowan. Although his sight was gone, you would never consider the absence to be a hinderance to his abilities. His bookshelves housed scores of titles filling floor to ceiling, wall to wall. When he asked me to retrieve books from these shelves, someone with 20/20 vision, he often gave up in his descriptions and just got the book himself. He could describe the width, texture, heighth, etc with perfect accuracy. He could identify students from up to 5 years past with the sound of one sentence uttered. In short, he was amazing. Not only were his physical abilities so commendable, but he still tops my list of compassionate and kind people.

He was an everyday hero. An inspiration to me to buoy my strengths and strengthen my weaknesses. If I were in Utah, I would love to nominate him for this great project my friend Alli is doing called Everyday Heroes. Alli is amazing and would love to photograph your everyday hero in order to raise money for a great cause! Plus, it's a great deal for you! Alli is an accomplished photographer, she can even make our family look good, amazing.

Happy Day

Make a Smilebox photobook

Ryan is in Brazil (brasil?). I'm in Montana. We miss each other. Happy 3rd anniversary to you Ryan!

Utah is raising it's (mishapen) head all over the country! Read on!

Trying to give your hair the defying gravity look? Don't have the Southern Idaho/Rural Utah 'extra lobe' gene? Watch this demo! Just don't tell anyone hailing from cities south of Provo UT, they just might go nuts trying to fill the 30 min they spend trying to create their bump every morning.

This is real, Ryan saw it on tv pulling an all-nighter for work while he was in LA.

Say yes to the dress

Guess what this used to be? It used to be one of those articles of clothing that inhabits the back of the closet for way too long. One of Ryan's old dress shirts. Then I made it into a dress. I even had to make my own pattern. I am pretty proud of my sewing prowess on this one.

Next project - recovering the chair Kate's sitting on.

insert red-neck joke here

Go ahead and laugh, but I did take out 4 targets with 7 shots.

Kate was impressed.