Senior Pictures

During our trip, some of my sister in law's friends saw me with my camera and asked if I would be willing to take some pictures of their boys who had skipped the senior picture thing. Of course I would! They were quick shoots and the guys were really polite and cooperative. I have been photographing babies and children so long that I forgot how nice it is to work with someone who holds still and follows direction. Here are the handsome guys.

Prom

The night of Kayla and Blaine's wedding, Blair's nephew, Tyler, went to prom. I asked Tyler's mom, Jennifer, if I could tag along for pictures so I could see the kids all dressed up. Tyler's a handsome guy and his date was a beauty. We took a few pictures of just Tyler and his date then headed over to a house where 20 couples were going to meet for dinner. Some awesome moms got together to put on the dinner. The house was completely decorated and filled with tables set to rival any restaurant. Lucky kids. After dinner they apparently all took a "party bus" to and from prom. It was fun to see them so excited--and to remember my own proms. What do you remember about yours?

Kayla's Wedding

Blair's niece, Kayla, got married a week and a half ago. Here are a few pictures from outside the temple. Kayla has gorgeous eyes, as you can tell from this next picture.

The bridesmaids and Kayla's sister, Hannah (in red)

Kayla with her sisters

Graduation

Our little family has had a very eventful two weeks. I'm in the process of editing pictures from events/trips, so check back in the next few days for more posts. It all started with graduation...

Blair's Dad came from Arizona for the event.

His sister, Jennifer, also came from AZ and his brother, Chris, just moved to UT so he was able to come, too. My mom came from ID as well (not pictured).

Ella almost stole the spotlight from her daddy.

Blair in front of the building where he attended most of his MPA classes.

Can you guess what Ella's favorite part of the day was?

As soon as the ceremony was over, we raced home to pick up our bags and then went to catch a flight to AZ. Ella slept soundly on the plane and didn't even flinch during the bumpy landing.

We took off to AZ so quickly because Blair's niece got married the next day. Pictures of that to come...

Time to Celebrate

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We have a very exciting week coming up! I could gush about how proud I am of Blair and how brilliant he is, but I would say that whether he earned these degrees or not. Graduate school has certainly stretched us both in many ways and I'm so glad Blair will get some recognition this week for his accomplishments. He has worked very hard and has been a great example to me of faith and sacrifice. I love him so much and I look forward to our next adventure together!
A lot of people have asked, so in case you were wondering, I have completed my coursework for my graduate degree but I still need to complete my thesis project. Because I'm waiting for data collection, I probably won't finish until this coming winter. Luckily, I can work on it long distance if we move. I anticipate graduating next April!

Happy Easter!

We had a beautiful Easter Sunday! The Easter bunny skipped our house this year (he didn't want to tempt Ella with goodies that she can't eat) and I decided not to kill myself over a big meal. Instead we had a nice time at church and spent the afternoon wandering around campus with the camera. The real purpose of the outing was to take pictures of Blair for graduation announcements...but I took just as many pictures of Ella as I did of Blair. She was picking at the grass and eating it in most of them.

She looked too sweet in her easter dress. I made the little hair bow to match.

And Blair even managed to get me out from behind the camera.

And here we all are together...gotta love auto timers.

Happy Easter!

Winding Down

April is always an exciting time around here. And by exciting I mean busy, stressful, and fast-paced. Classes are winding down which means papers and projects are due and finals are just around the corner. I'm trying to make fast progress on my thesis writing but I usually have to wait until Ella is in bed at night. We're happy that Blair will be finished with school soon and we're looking forward to his graduation and visiting with family. We just have to hang on for a couple more weeks! Ella, as always, brings us so much joy. Here are a couple of recent pictures.