Look No Hands!

I grew up on the back of a horse. This is me at about a yr old.

My mom and dad trained horses, and we raised a few along the way. . .

This is Kellee and I on a BLM horse my dad trained. Dad let us name the horse, and we decided to call this horse star buck because he had a star on his head, and he bucked really hard with my dad!

This is me on the back of a donkey that I trained one summer. . . it's a long story but a pretty funny one. . . I'll have to share that another time. Kellee is standing in front of me on the ground. She was probably about a kindergartner in this picture and I was about a 4th grader. I was so proud of that donkey.


I am the oldest of 3 girls. My sister, Kellee is 4 years younger. When we were little girls, we did everything together. We even shared a horse and a saddle for years. You would assume that I mean that we took turns, but nope, Kel was behind me holding on to the leather straps everywhere we went. We followed my dad on our 24 year old mare for years while he trained horses. He was our hero. He still is.

My parents still barrel race competelively. This is my mom running her horse a couple of years ago. I'm so proud of my mom and dad that they are still so young and active!

Just a shot of my little family a few years ago at Thanksgiving at my parents place.


So you're probably wondering what sparked this particular entry. My mom sent me this video a couple of weeks ago. It was on Ellen today and it got me thinking about it again. This girls is running what is called a reining pattern. In it you use your feet and your hands by way of a headstall and bit to give your horse cues to do lead changes where they change the dominant foot, and you do things like the slide stops and back up, and you go really slow at times and really fast at times. It's really fun to watch, but it's even more fun to do. Anyway, this girl does in bareback with no headstall at all. The first time she does a slide stop, I started crying! It just really got me. This gal is a great little rider and what a great little horse. I grew up on 30 acres, and I'm a suburbian girl these days, but this took me back to the good old days when I spent my time following dad and wore braids in my hair every day and I learned to whistle and loved the smell of the sagebrush. Good times.

working hard or hardly working . . .

I shot this cute family a few weeks ago. I loved the kids! They were so funny. She did not stop! Usually, you can sort of get a child's attention long enough to snap them holding still. . . no. She was on the RUN! They remind me so much of Ryen and Hunter. Active kids for sure. I love a challenge. It was really fun, Bret and Sara were the nicest people, and just super easy to work with. This nasty stray black cat would not leave us alone! Luckily Jason was there to shoot it away, but for awhile, I don't have a shot without our little friend. Thanks for a great time guys!

The Other Boleyn Girl . . .

I have been wanting to read this book for about a year now. My bff (inside joke)Kodi called me one day and was just raving about this book. It's about Henry the VIII and his quest for a male heir and the consequent lobbing off of a few of his wives heads. Good stuff! I finally got on Amazon.com tonight and ordered it. I'm excited to start it. One of my new years resolutions was to read more. It falls into the whole enjoying life category. I LOVE historical fiction. I only have one problem with books. I have a teeny tiny bit of an all or nothing personality, and I tend to start a 500 page book on a Monday night, and finish it up on a Wednesday morning. . . I'm in the bathtub reading it, finding ways to prop it up and read while I load the dish washer, duck taping it while I'm on the treadmill. . . you know, normal stuff. Anyway I'll let you know how it turns out!

Here's to Good Friends. . .

When my husband and I were engaged, I met my friend Mendee at work. One day we were chatting and come to find out she was managing these apartments, and we were looking for a place to move into after we got married. So we move into this. . sorry Mendee total getto townhouse on 3900 South and 9th East in SLC. I think we paid $405 a month, AND it was RIGHT across the street from an Iceberg Drive Inn. I would walk over to Iceberg at least weekly to get grasshopper shakes when I was SUPPOSED to be on bed rest with my first baby. That might have SOMETHING to do with the unfortunate prego lbs, but who's counting right? Anyway, Mendee & Trent and Jason & I got to be really good friends during that time. We actually lived at those getto apts for 4.5 years while Jas was going to the U. Anyway, we kinda lost touch over the past few years as I have with a couple of my good friends since I moved to St George. We were both really busy raising our little families and time got away from us. Anyway, they came down here a couple of weeks ago and we hung out for the weekend. It was really fun. Our second babies, Brinlee and Tait were born 2 weeks apart so they had fun getting to know each other too! This is their little boy Clayton, who I had never seen before. We had fun taking some shots of him, and he was a pretty good sport considering how late it was! Thanks guys! See you again very soon.

Cute Little Will

I have to first of all give a little disclaimer here that I didn't take these particular shots. A great photographer, and friend of mine in Lehi, Shannon Brems . . . Images by Shannon took these baby shots. I enjoy designing on the side of my photography, and I designed these cute little baby announcements for Will's mom. I made her a couple of options. This isn't actually the one she choose, but I just loved it anyway, so I thought I would post it on my blog. This is for a two sided announcement, so there is a front and a back. If anyone needs baby announcements, I do custom designing! I'm also running a special right now on infant photography. I will do a free announcement design for anyone that books an infant sitting in the month of March! If you are interested, give me a call 435.619.5782!

7-11

I snapped this shot the other day and I just loved their little smiles. My kids are getting so big. It's bitter sweet. I love the freedom it gives me but they just aren't babies anymore. Zach is 11 and Tait is 7. How did that happen? I resist change. . . Thought I'd share this.

23rd Floor

I shot this beautiful wedding with my sister and sometimes co-worker a few weeks ago. It was on the 23rd floor of the Wells Fargo Building in SLC. It was such a fun day. You'll notice a couple of shots include the groom and his friends playing a little "Rock Band" in their spare time. He really got into the vocals! Love it. The couple was just wonderful to work with and we had a nice time creating these images. Kellee is a very creative person, it's always great fun to see what unique fresh ideas she comes up with! We enjoy working together when we get the chance! Thanks Kellee-