Startup Special.

I just wanted to let you know that I have finally decided to officially start doing photography "on the side." I want to continue doing photos for free for my good friends and family (try saying that five times fast! :0)), BUT... if you know of anyone that doesn't fall under that category who is interested have them check out my blog. I currently have a Startup Special that I'm offering, so now is a good time to book a photoshoot.

Once again, thanks to all of you who have helped with my photography in one way or another!

* For anyone who knows the Tullis family...

I just posted some family pictures of them on my blog.

Squeaky Cheese?

Day TWO
(13 May 2009)

The guys went out fishin'

while us girls stayed home.

Most of the day was just chilling and chatting like old times,

plus taking care of and having fun with our two adorable sidekicks :0)

Rebecca and Julia. Too sweet :0)

At one point we decided to venture to the store. When it came time to leave Rebecca didn't have her purse (which meant no keys or access to her car). We decided to go on foot with one umbrella stroller and a baby carrier and all went well.

When we got home we spent the rest of the afternoon making homemade french fries and poutine sauces for lunch. (While out the guys went and bought fresh cheese curds...they even ended up waiting for a few hours to get a fresh batch. Extra fresh. Extra squeaky :0))

POUTINE: is a dish consisting of French Fries topped with fresh cheese curds, covered with brown gravy and sometimes additional ingredients. (Wikipedia)

We ended up having three choices of sauce:

traditional brown gravy, marinara sauce, and BBQ sauce.

*While serving my mission in Québec there was a favorite Poutine place where all the missionaries would go for the BEST poutine in town. There you could pick from at least 5 sauces and had at least a dozen different ways of having your poutine made. I will forever be ruined...the brown gravy just doesn't cut it anymore :0)

If poutine for lunch wasn't enough we had a food competition for dinner. Yep, guys vs. girls! Rebecca and I were in charge of the main dish and the guys got dessert.

We made a delicious carribbean chicken salad and the guys bought melting chocolate along with strawberries, fresh pineapple, bananas, and wafer cookies for dipping. YUM!

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Rebecca and I sporting our Canada sweatshirts...

...well, and making silly faces.

Isn't that the beauty of good friends?

You can totally be yourself without reservation or fear? It's great! :0)

We finished off the day by watching episodes of "Wipe Out."

Yet another WONDERFUL day with the Soderquists!

Tim Horton's to Chubby Chicken.

I don't know if you remember but back in May (or was it June?) our hard drive crashed and I lost all of our photos from our trip to Seattle and BC! I won't be able to get back any of the precious pictures we took with Brie and Grandpa and Grandma Graden while staying at their home, BUT Justin and Rebecca were so sweet and burnt me a copy of the photos from our stay with them.

SO, here is a belated account of our

awesome time with them in British Columbia!

DAY ONE

(12 May 2009)

Leaving their apartment for our first day of adventures.

Brie looks like she's not sure about all this :0)

The adorable Soderquist family, fishing poles and all.

NO, no...just kidding here.
We did have her properly fastened in her car seat :0)

So at the beginning of the day--after our departure being delayed many times thanks to our two little sweeties Julia and Brie--we decided that we'd write down our itinerary at the END of the day!

1) Drove by the Langley Temple, under construction, but exciting!

2) Pit stop and donut run at Tim Horton's. Where else, you're in Canada, eh?! :0)

(I think we'd been on the road for a grand total of 10 minutes!)

3) Visited Shannon falls---BEAUTIFUL!

As Rebecca put so well, now THAT's a real man! :0)

(Brie all bundled up in a Snugli and MANY layers. Too cute!)

4) Took a stroll at a beautiful lake another pit stop

(Yet ANOTHER layer...thank heavens for dads, eh?)

Me after using a stinky outhouse. Yuck.

And have I mentioned that I have this odd fear of a bug

or a snake biting my bum while using one of these beauties?!

Justin and Bry scoping out the water.

Only one thing on their minds: FISHING :0)

(The Soderquist's Subaru...

...has taken them on many an adventure :0))

5) Visited Stanley Park. WOW. Beautiful place with A LOT of potential for fun.

Brie and Me.

(Poor girl was pumped full of formula by the end of this trip.
It was the only way to keep her happy while on the road.)

Me, Brie, Rebecca and Julia.

Rebecca and Julia. Sweet.

Our little family.
(Check out Brie's hat, cowboy style :0))

Beautiful views.

6) Cruised through Vancouver

(I'm probably a nerd, but I thought it was so cool
how the builidings reflected off of the car's roof and windows :0))

7) Got dinner from Chubby Chicken's/A & W (Hence the picture at the top of the post.)

What a FUN day!

Next BC post will be about the boys gone fishin'

while the girls had fun at home making poutine :0)

"I love to see the temple..."

Since General Conference in April, Bryan and I have been trying to make a more concerted effort to have the temple be more central for our family.

I must admit that I have often taken the temple for granted, and that it's easy to give into excuses and find reasons why not to go. I have found my testimony lacking, but I know that as I put forth greater efforts to gain a greater testimony of the temple that the Lord will bless me... bless me more than I even know. If I find myself not having a very meaningful or fulfulling time at the temple it is probably because I haven't taken the time to make it meaningful...I haven't prepared, I haven't put my heart into it.

Just like anything else,

the law of the harvest applies here as well.

In any case, I have felt progress the last few months as I have more frequently made it a point to be at the temple....whether for participating in ordinances, strolling around the grounds, taking part in openhouses and so on.

I was able to go twice to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple openhouse---once with Bry and once with Mom, Rach, Tim, Brie and Nicole (one of Tim's doctors from St. Jude Children Research Hospital, and good family friend). This was Brie's FIRST time being in a temple. It was really special watching her take it all in. She was especially mesmerized by the large chandelier hanging in the entry way of the temple.

Brie's first time at the Provo Temple...during a morning walk with dad and Bryan. (Here she was looking up at the statue of Angel Moroni. What a tender expression.)

I LOVE how well maintained the temple grounds always are.

Look at those flowers...they are amazing!

A few shots of the Logan Temple while visiting last weekend.



(Tickets for the Oquirrh Mountain Temple Dedication.)
Such a moving and motivating experience.


Impromptu stroll around the Provo Temple grounds after the temple dedication.
It was neat to be there with family...
especially to have Lilli, Isaac and Brie with us.
(AND, two years from this date Bry and I were sealed here.)



Any thoughts on how we can make the temple a more integral part of our daily lives?

As always, Bry thought of everything!

So we decided that Bry would be the one in charge of planning our anniversary getaways...he's so good of thinking of all the little details that make it so fun.
Needless to say that he planned our getaway last weekend, and of course it turned out GREAT!

Part of the fun for me is having it a surprise so it wasn't until we were passing Ogden that I figured out that we must be heading to Logan. In any case, here is a little play by play:

Bry had a bag full of fun snacks for the car ride up to Logan (2 kinds of trail mix, peanut butter M&Ms, Goldfish crackers, plums, etc.).

Around lunch we decided to stop for a quick lunch at Wendy's. (I don't know about the rest of you but a Wendy's Kids' Meal is one of my favorite fastfood choices, I know not super healthy, but come on...mini fries, mini frosty, mini hamburger and drink :0))

The cashier asked if I wanted the toy. I was about to tell her no when I realized that their toys--that I once thought were a waste of money--are perfect for Brie!

Neither of us had been to the Logan Temple so we did a session.

What a BEAUTIFUL temple!

Bry reserved us a lovely room at the Marriott SpringHill Suites. While walking into the lobby he pointed over to the check-in counter at a bouquet of flowers and told me that they were for me. He had picked them out online, called in and arranged for them to be there when we checked in to the hotel. What a sweetie! (He pointed out that he had picked this particular bouquet because there were TWO of each kind of flower...in honor of our 2nd anniversary. Cute!)

The room was super nice (living room, fireplace, two TVs, etc.) and because the jacuzzi tub wasn't working we got hotel points AND dinner reservations...

...to the Elements Restauraunt, on the manager's tab!

(A bummer turned into a blessing!)

It was an excellent dining experience...great service, delicious food, perfect weather and a beautiful view of the sunsetting over the river. Wow! (That's our table in the right picture.) We probably wouldn't have gone somewhere that nice otherwise (or at least been able to order a full meal--appetizer, drinks, main dishes, dessert), so it was a special treat.

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So as nice as it was getting away just the two of us...
we were both SO excited to see our little Breebsie when we got home.

What an awesome anniversary! Thanks Bry :0)

AND thanks to everyone who helped to babysit Brie so that we could getaway!!
(Mom, Julie & Walt, Heather, Em, Dad & Julia, and Alan & Liz)

So that's why...

...Brie has probably been a bit fussier than normal and has been waking up more at night. She just had her first tooth break through! Wahoo! :0)

(Maybe when it's a little more visible I'll take and post a picture.)

What a joy.

I was just washing some dishes and peering into our room where Brie is playing in her crib...and all I could think was, what a joy. I sure love that girl! She is the sunshine in our life :0)

2th Anniversary :0)

(This week we got a really sweet letter from Grandpa and Grandma Graden. In it they wished us a "Happy 2th Anniversary". Must have been a typo but it's been a fun little running joke the last few days that we're celebrating our twoth anniversary :0))

I'll post more later about our AWESOME anniversary weekend, but for now...

Happy 2 years Bry!

Ish liebe dish :0)

Sister Synergy.

About a week and a half ago three of my sisters-in-law and I spent the better part of a day making gift baskets--shopping for cute little things to spruce them up, brainstorming which product to put in which basket and then finally arranging them. It was really rewarding, after a lot of synergy between us sisters, to see the baskets come together.

Basket-making crew :0)

(Good thing we had some older kids to take care of the youngs kids otherwise we wouldn't have gotten much of anything done. Aside from the chaotic moments when all the babies seemed to get hungry and then sleepy at the same time, we all teamed together to get these baskets made. Go girls! :0))

The

"Man Basket"

as we jokingly and affectionately called it :0)--was comprised of a hunting/fishing cookbook, 4 heavy duty steak knives and a mix of Black Bean Chili. Check out the outdoorsy tree bark basket too.

A few more of the baskets, all wrapped and ready to go:

I took a snapshot of each basket before it was wrapped
(since the light reflecting off of the cellophane made it tricky to see the contents.)
Here are a few of the snapshots:

I love how this basket turned out.

I think it'd be perfect to give as a...

going-away-to-college present.

With the cute baby blue, multi-purpose basket, plastic scraper and spoon, a cute kitchen towel and a bright green plate and matching bowl (for dips and chips and such), and last but not least...a 100 Calorie Snack Cookbook. So fun!

Don't you just love the fun vintage lime green kitchen towel?

(I don't know if any of you have heard of Rada Cutlery. I honestly hadn't until my sister-in-law Beth gifted us some of their product for our wedding...and now I love it! They have great quality and reasonably priced knives & kitchen utensils, cookbooks, mixes, etc. Great stuff. In any case, she is a reseller and is getting more and more into fun gift baskets (as shown above :0)), catalog parties and such. She'll have a website up soon, but for now if you're interested in seeing the line of product just let me know.)

Je m'ennuie de Québec! (I miss Québec)

So usually I have to include a picture in every post...it just seems naked otherwise, BUT... I wanted to write a few thoughts down, am feeling under the weather and don't want to bother with uploading pictures from my camera at the moment.

Almost 4 years ago I started my mission in Québec City. Although the Québecois accent and expressions seemed so foreign, along with many other things, I felt so welcomed by the wonderful members in the branch where I was serving. Among those members was a big-hearted, FUN and loving couple, Jules and Jeannette Lefebvre. (Jeannette was the Relief Society president and Jules wasn't a member of the church...not yet!) They warmly welcomed my companion and I, one Sunday a month, into their home for supper. What a warm home, delicious food and wonderful company. I loved being there and felt so at home with them. I ended up spending the first 7 months of my mission in Québec City so it really felt like a home away from home.

A month ago, after 14 years of marriage---dear Jeannette who had been waiting and fasting and praying and waiting some more for her husband to join the church---Jules was baptized!! :0)

Then after 20 years of being in the church and wanting to come to SLC Jeannette finally made it to Utah...Jules getting to come to Salt Lake City (and already seeing 5 temples!) after only 1 month of being in the church :0)

They, as well as one of their dear dear friends---Marie Hélène---are staying with us for a few days, and what a joy it has been! It's wonderful having a family from my home away from home come stay in my home (well, my parents' home :0)). I have so loved catching up with them, having them meet my dear Bry and sweet Brie...speaking French and Québecois, English and Franglais, and reminiscing about my mission. What sweet, wonderful memories that I will always hold dear. How blessed I was to serve among the people of Québec!

Bry, my sweet guy!

Happy Birthday to You...

Happy Birthday to YOU...

Happy Birthday dear Bryan, Happy Birthday to YOU! :0)

(From a mini shoot I did of Bry. For more pics, check out my photo blog.)

Since I LOVE pictures (taking them, looking at them and using them in different projects.) I decided that one of the Bry & Sar Graden Family traditions would be making a photo collage placemat for each person on their birthday. Here is Bry's for this year.

(I'm printing it out--11 x 14-- and then laminating it.)

I just wanted to wish my sweet, wondeful husband a HAPPY 26th BIRTHDAY! You are the LOVE of my life and how blessed I am to be married to you. Thank you for your...

patience

love

diligence

sense of humour

care

desire to improve

hard work...

and the list could go on, so let's just say...

THANK YOU for the wonderful husband and father that you are. You REALLY are Bry.

Je t'aime. Ish liebe dish. I love you.