Looking for the right couple.

I am currently working on a website for my photography (I googled "free websites" and found one that should work great for getting my first one up and running.). As I've been looking through pictures and deciding which ones to include...It's been so fun to see how things have progressed in a year's time. Thank you to all of my guinea pigs :0)

One of my photography goal's for THIS year is to dip my toe into wedding photography. But in order to get my foot into that door I need the "ice breaker" wedding...one that I can use for my portfolio to assure people that I am capable of beautifully capturing their wedding day. (Just between you and me...I don't know if I CAN pull it off, but I sure want to try! :0))

SO...I am currently looking for just the right couple. Here's what I have in mind:

• Aren't spending a lot of money on their wedding
• Don't have photography as a huge priority
  
• Are laid back and OK with whatever they get
• Would just be happy to have pictures of their wedding day

Here's where you all come in...if you know of anyone that fits this criteria...Let them know that:

I'm offering a wedding day photo package for FREE!

Contact me* to see if they qualify! Ready, set....
spread the word :0)

*bellepetitephotographie@gmail.com

the Red Barn Bayou.

Rach went out into the cold and set up some spotlights...lighting up the RED BARN Bayou. It was the perfect finishing touch. I didn't really capture it well, but if you look out the window you can see it illuminated a bit.

I wasn't interested in fiddling with camera settings to take non-blurry pictures in such a low light setting... so imagine the glow from a cozy fire, twinkle lights and a few small candles on the table. It was romantic :0)

Torani Blackberry syrup + Club Soda + Half & Half

My Dad served his mission in Northern Ireland and Scotland. I think it was there that he started loving trifle. As long as I can remember we have always made it for his birthday. However this year, Tim and I decided to change it up a bit.

Traditional ---->Tropical.

Thanks to everyone working together (Tim being the master chef and Rach & Bry helping with any and every odd job that needed to get done in the kitchen) the dinner turned out great! Em even arrived just in time to present the trifle and to sing Happy Birthday with us. What a fun evening spent with family.

the Whale tail.

As beautiful as long hair is and as much as I'd love to grow mine out...I just don't have the patience when it comes down to it, and I always end up having it chopped.

After one such hair cut I was feeling particularly lazy and wanting to throw my hair back in a pony tail. I only had enough hair for a tiny little stub---strategically secured with a handful of bobby pins :0). Every time I attempted such a hair do my family would affectionately call it my Whale Tail.

In any case, I was TOO excited when Brie's hair was finally long enough for a whale tail of her own...

Although, she pulls it off much better than me :0)

(15 jan 2010)

the Red Barn Bayou...les préparatifs.

On Christmas Day Tim, Bry & I told my parents that for their present we would make them a fancy schmancy dinner. What my Dad didn't know was WHEN we were planning on doing it. We got Mom in on the surprise and made sure that the whole family could be there at the end to sing him Happy Birthday. In any case, Tim and I teamed up all week to get things ready without my Dad suspecting.

Me & Tim
Making pudding for the trifle.

I think that menus add a nice finishing touch for a "restaurant" at home. This is the one Tim and I came up with. We wanted it to be French meets Southern...

the cover.

The inside.

More on the Red Barn Bayou to come...

Bear Bottoms.

Have I mentioned Brie's bear bottoms before? (pun intended :0)) I think Em or my Mom found them for Brie at a yard sale and they're the best. Snuggly and warm...and the paw prints on the feet are my favorite. Yes, I have a thing for "animal" baby accessories :0)


The day I took these pictures it really hit me how much Brie has grown up in the last year. Just take a looksie here...

Pretty crazy, eh?

A week away.

Brie and I spent most of this last week in Logan. Bry was scheduled to audit a client up there and we figured that we could hang out in the hotel room and see each other at meals and at night. I seriously felt spoiled meeting up with Bry for lunch every day. That NEVER happens on a normal week day. How fun. Anyway, we had a great time! I'll have to post some pictures when I get them sorted.

As a side note: I didn't have internet access most of the time which was...let's be honest...a big change for me, but a good one. I can get a little too attached to the computer. So I'm making renewed efforts to limit how much time I spend sitting here. In fact, one of my goals for the year is to only spend 20 minutes at a time on the computer. I don't know about you but I tell myself I'm only going to check my email and then before I know it an hour has gone by. SO--as much as I love email and Facebook and blogging and Photoshop--I hope that by breaking things up I will get other things done during the day. Here's to change :0)

Recipe Swappers---First Swap is a Success.

I've started up a little monthly recipe swapping group. Today was the first swap and what fun it was! It was great to get together with family and friends, chat, share tips and try everyone's delicious soups. (To see the recipes click here.) Thanks for coming girls! :0) Here's a picture of the soup I ended up preparing:



If any of you girls are interested in joining, click here to check out some details on the blog --->

Sweet&Savory Recipe Swappers

Anger Doesn't solve anything.

This morning I read President Monson's last address to the priesthood, "School Thy Feelings, O My Brother." In it he shared some sobering examples of individuals who allowed anger to take over and the devastating effects that resulted from such a decision.

After having read about feelings and emotions this talk hit home even more. I love how the spirit can tutor us according to our progress, thoughts, desires and goals....as we have something close to our heart and in our mind...the spirit can turn anything into personalized learning material. Here are a few of my favorite quotes from his talk:

• To be angry is to yield to the influence of Satan. No one can make us angry. It is our choice. If we desire to have a proper spirit with us at all times, we must choose to refrain from becoming angry. I testify that such is possible.

• ...we are all susceptible to those feelings which, if left unchecked, can lead to anger. We experience displeasure or irritation or antagonism, and if we so choose, we lose our temper and become angry with others. Ironically, those others are often members of our own families—the people we really love the most.

• “Anger doesn’t solve anything. It builds nothing, but it can destroy everything.” (Lawrence Douglas Wilder)

• May we ever be exemplary in our homes and faithful in keeping all of the commandments, that we may harbor no animosity toward any man but rather be peacemakers, ever remembering the Savior’s admonition, “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” (John 13:35)

Click here to find the full version online.

Strive for Five.

Rainbow of colors.

(Produce from my trip to Sun Flower Market this week)

Thanks to my Mom's great example over the years of nutritious and delicious (and constant reminders to eat LOTS of veggies :0)), Bryan's Aunt Su's advice on how to feed your family nutritiously and then coming across some information at the Sunflower Market*...one of my goals for this year is to strive for five servings of fruits & veggies. I'm excited to start taking better control of my health and my body. I've really been thinking lately that the way we treat our body is in large part determined by how we feel about ourselves. The better we feel on the "inside" (really recognizing and feeling our worth) the better we'll feel on the "outside".

*while getting ready to walk out I noticed some big colorful posters. I went to take a closer look. Each poster was dedicated to a different color and had pictures of some of the fruit and veggies that fall under that color category. At the bottom it had a description of what that color group of fruits and veggies provided nutritionally. It was really cool to see and inspired me to strive for five, but also to strive for a variety of colors each day.

Instead of passing by the radishes, spinach, eggplant and so...branching out to include them in my meals. In fact, this last trip to the store I felt like I was on a treasure hunt, trying to buy the rainbow of colors for my produce (on sale). I ended up getting...

kale
red leaf lettuce
golden delicious apples
bananas
lemons
tangelos
carrots
gala apples
and an egg plant

When I came home I decided to make an inventory of all my fresh fruits & veggies. That way when I plan my meals I can more easily plan them around produce instead of the grains and the meat. The adventure has begun :0)

Anyway, while researching the strive for five I came across a few websites that I thought might be of interest to others:

• To see a cool website where you can calculate how many fruits & veggies you should eat, find recipes for different fruits & veggies, find out how to determine servings, etc., click here
• To read up about the different color categories and unique nutrients that each one provides, click here.

Anyone else striving for five? Any ideas?

Feelings vs. Emotion. Did you know there was a difference?

I was recently reading in "Living a Covenant Marriage: Practical Advice from Thirteen Experts Who've Walked in Your Shoes." (Edited by Douglas E. Brinley and Daniel K. Judd). What a wonderful book...Thanks Don & Robin! One of the chapter discusses the difference between feelings and emotions. It gave me a lot to think about. I haven't ever been the best at handling stressful and frustrating situations. In such situations I sometimes feel like I've checked out emotionally...like I don't know how to handle it so I put it on autopilot and react the same way every time...grumpy, frustrated, snappy and impatient. I know some of you know what I'm talking about :0) In any case, after having read this I'm excited to get in better touch with how I'm truly feeling and then to learn how to react in a more positive way.

If any of you can relate to this, here are a few quotes from the chapter...

FEELINGS

"Feelings come to us humans automatically. We experience them routinely. We can't really control them or their onset....They are reactions to life's experiences."

Feelings:

Shock
Embarrassment
Hurt
Frustration
Worry

EMOTIONS

"Emotion is what we generate within ourselves when we feel something. (The "e" in "emotion" comes for the Latin and Greek term ex, meaning "out" or "from" and when combined with motion literally means to "move out or from"). Emotions, therefore, "come out of us." And, unlike feelings that come to us unpredictably, we decide what emotion, if any, we will display publicly."

He gives the example of a wife waiting for her husband to come home from work. He's later than usual and starts to worry. The longer she waits, the more worried she becomes. She hopes that nothing has happened. However, when he walks in the door instead of showing concern and worry she emotes anger. The author, John Livingstone, goes on to say, "Emotion can cover up initial feelings like a smokescreen. Negative emoting can occur so forcefully that our original feelgs are eclipsed entirely by what we choose to emote."

In conclusion, Livingstone says,

"We cannot control the events and circumstances that naturally create feelings in our hearts. Negative feelings may come in ways that cannot always be anticipated. But emotion is a different matter. We can choose which emotions to display. We can choose to respond as men and women of God, or we can return evil for evil, as does the natural man."

Little Miss Breebsie is walking!!

Brie's been working up to walking for the last several months and this week she finally decided to make it happen! So far she occasionally crawls if she falls down, but usually just picks herself back up and keeps on cruising. It's fun to see! :0)

Winter Getaway 2010.

The getaway started with Bry bringing home these beautiful flowers on Friday morning. He usually gets me gerbers (since their some of my favorite), but he wanted to change things up. I'm glad he did. The vibrant colors are beautiful!!

We got a bit of a late start, but by 11AM we were on our way.

I think I'll make it a getaway tradition to take funny pictures of myself
in the car while Bry's filling up or running in the store ;0)


The drive to Manti was absolutely beautiful.
Take a look for yourself...

I couldn't help but pull out my telephoto lens to snap a few shots.
Or a lot of shots :0)

Driving down Main Street in Manti. This was a first time here for both of us. I loved the small town, homey feel.

Our first stop was the Manti Temple. WOW. The hymn that came to mind was, "A Mighty Fortress is our God." A mighty and majestic fortress it was. Quite the sight to behold. Bry was sweet and offered that we first wander the grounds for a little photo shoot of the temple. He knows me well :0)


(If you click on this picture, you'll see on the enlarged version the snow falling through the sun rays. It was magical.)

me and my sweetie.

(a wedding party and a COLD but beautiful blue-skied day.)




We came across this little wooded path behind the temple.
We didn't last long though, it was FREEZING!!!!!

But we did last long enough to spot...

Some beautiful deer.

By that time we were ready to head in from the cold. It was so nice to be inside of the warm, clean, reverent temple...to feel of the wonderful spirit there and to meet some of the wonderful saints in Manti. We felt so at home and had a lovely time doing a session. We even got to see one of the famous spiral staircases. Overall, it was such a sweet experience to share together and a perfect way to spend the afternoon.

After leaving Manti we headed to Richfield, where we checked into our hotel.

Bry was able to use some of his hotel points--that he accrues when he stays at Marriotts while traveling for business--to reserve us a beautiful room. I loved the modern look and the accents of lime green throughout.

Once we had unpacked our things and changed into more casual clothes we were off to Pepperbellys for dinner. (Pepperbellys = a unique retro service station feel meets Mexican)

I LOVE booths (they make me feel like I'm having my own dining experience instead of surrounded by a restaurant full of other diners) so we requested one. Usually Bry sits across from me, but the table was TOO wide and we felt too far apart (it's TRUE!), so he came and cozied up next to me :0)

Other than getting a strawberry lemonade to share, we decided to order some of their "Mexican" items...chips & bean dip, quesadillas, an enchilada, tostada and sweet pork smothered burrito. OH and to finish it off we got their fried icecream with caramel & chocolate, whipped cream and sprinkles on top. Yum. It was A LOT of food, but we wanted leftovers to take with us :0)

The next day we woke up at 8:30 and enjoyed just staying in bed cuddled up and chatting...without a cute little one year old wanting us to get her out of her crib :0)

We had a yummy continental breakfast in the lobby and then I insisted on bringing up something to eat in bed while watching Saturday morning cartoons. I brought up Strawberry Pop Tarts and Bry brought up some cereal. None of the cartoons really interested us so we ended up watching a few fascinating minutes of "The Woodwright's Shop." Ok, probably not a show for everyone, but it brought back good ol' Saturday morning memories of watching, "This Old House" and "Bob Ross." :0)

We savored a few minutes of lounging around on a Saturday morning, got packed up and were off!

We considered driving to Bryce Canyon or Capitol Reef, but, since we probably would have run out of time, we got back on the road and....


...enjoyed more beautiful & snowy scenery, being together, chatting and listening to Michael Bublé's "Crazy Love"....and decided to visit Fish Lake.

Bry's (Stevenson) relatives spent many a Summer family reunion there, so we thought we would revisit their old stomping grounds.

We pulled into the parking lot and were surrounded by trucks...



...and more trucks!

I think we were the only car there! Our little Chevrolet Malibu :0)

The vehicle next to us had the best bumper stickers plastered all over their side door. My favorite was the "Have a Crappie Day" :0)

And here it is in all its frozen splendor...

Fish Lake.

We couldn't help but walk out on the Lake to talk to some of the ice fisherman. After all, I had NO clue what ice fishing was all about. We couldn't pass up the opportunity to get a little 101 education. AND plus, it's not every day that you get to say you walked ON a Lake :0)


Me, walking on Fish Lake.

Afterward we headed home. Our excursion to Fish Lake made for a lot of driving, but we enjoyed the beautiful scenery and the chance to chat, set goals and plan. What a great trip!!

Bry, thanks for planning such a fun getaway. You're awesome! I sure love you :0)

**Now it's time for me to let the Valentine's Day scheming begin!**

Winter Getaway.

Bry and I got back from a wonderful winter getaway...pictures are of course en route, but in the mean time I just wanted to thank Julia, Mom, Em and Ben & Ashley for watching Brie while we were away. THANKS! We had an AWESOME time. Getaways are great :0)

When things get too quiet.

A few days ago I was sitting here at the computer--typing an email or working on a blog post or something--when I noticed that things were a little TOO quiet. I went to investigate and this is what I found...

That's right, Brie had found the butter. And what a sight it was. TOO funny...I couldn't help but grab the camera to get a few pictures :0)

Bringing in the New Year.

Yay for spending New Year's Day up at
G & G Stevensons with Bryan's family!!


(G & G gave Brie this little bear hoodie for
her birthday and doll for Christmas. TOO cute! )

I am now teaching the 12 year old sunday school class in our ward, and am so excited for a fresh start! I really enjoyed my class last year (12-14 yr olds), but had so many things to work on as their teacher. It just felt like every week was a chatting fest. We had some great weeks, but on the extra chatty weeks I walked away feeling frustrated and wondering how someone who graduated in teaching wasn't able to manage her sunday school class. But there is always room for improvement and the need to humble myself...to rely on the advice of others and the help of the Lord. So here's to a new class and a new chance!

Last week I asked everyone to write down three goals. As part of my classroom management plan each week and month we're going to report on how we did with our goals. And then if we, as a class, collectively meet our overarching goal we're having a pizza party this summer. Today when I presented the plan they seemed excited, so far so good. I hope this will motivate us all to try harder and longer to acheive our goals this year. I know that I sure could use some extra motivation :0)

In any case, I'm grateful for
new beginnings and clean slates.

Think Simple.

As mentioned in a previous post, my sister-in-law Heather makes the CUTEST cards! Since she was out of school for Christmas break we decided to have a little Girls' Night In. She and Julie braved the snowy roads and came over to make cards. We joked at the beginning that we should have a 30 minute timer for each card. We should have. It can take FOREVER to come up with a cute design and make it happen. In any case, 3 hours and 6 cards later...we had a great time!


It's funny though, Heather is great at embellishments and I go for the simple. So we tried to meet in the middle...I tried to take my cards up to the next level, and she tried to simplify. It was hard for both of us. Maybe we'll stick to what comes naturally :0)

Thanks, Julie & Heather for a FUN evening!

Winter pictures with Little Miss Breebsie :0)

I don't know about the rest of you but I love the snow!

OK, let me rephrase that, I love the snow when...

1) I get to look at it from inside where I'm toasty and warm
2) I'm still toasty and warm, dressed up as the Michelin Man, but playing out in the snow
3) I don't have to drive
4) I don't have to trudge around in the slush and cold

AND

5) It is freshly fallen and still white and beautiful--not the ugly grey it turns after a few days of smog or yellow when peed in by your neighbor's dog!

Anyway, last week when we got all sorts of snow, I couldn't help but get a few snapshots of me and Brie. But that's easier said than done when it's just me and Brie at home. Here are some of the results...

Not TOO shabby.
At least we're both visible in the picture
and looking at the camera :0)


Later that day (29 Dec.) Em, must have read my mind because she asked if she could take some pictures of us. That sweet girl! Anyway, here are a few of them...


(To see more, click here.)

.
.
.
.
.

snow

more snow
and still MORE snow.


HAPPY WINTER, EVERYONE! :0)