Merry Christmas

I know this is a little late, but how could I resist this gem of a picture I found of my dad while visiting for Christmas. Love it. Love him.

There is not enough that can be said about being surrounded by family and friends. We love them all and are very blessed to have them in our lives.

Hope you had a Merry one, we sure did.

Tuscany

It was so much fun to have my mom with me for the week in Tuscany! We had such a great time. We stayed at a 1,700 acre working farmhouse, the food was amazing. The countryside was beautiful but I was a little disappointed that they had just tilled all of the fields, so we weren't able to see as many rolling green Tuscan hillsides. It was still amazing though, I think my mom caught the travel bug on this trip...who could blame her :)


Me in Florence


San Gimignano from afar


Me and my mom




a little church I can't remember the name of


Tuscan sunrise


Cathedral in Siena


tower on the Piazza del Campo in Siena (we climbed to the top!)


starting the climb up the tower


the stairway


view from the top!


Cyprus trees at dawn at the farmhouse


tree on a hill at the farmhouse


me and my mom

Can't believe it's over already

So, my boss does photography workshops in Italy every year and I was lucky enough to get to go and help out with it this year. We were there for two weeks, one week on the Italian Riviera two days in Florence and a second week in Tuscany. Loren spent the first week with me and my mom came over for the second week. We had a blast getting to know new people and visiting different cities every day. We would do short photography classes in the morning and then spend the rest of the day traveling to surrounding areas seeing little villages, monasteries, beaches. Here are some pictures from the first week. I'll post more from the second week later to split it up.


view from our hotel in Camogli


eating gelato


at the port in Camogli waiting for a boat


the beach at San Fruttuoso Monastary


swimming in the mediterranean on the Cinque Terre


one of the towns on the Cinque Terre


umbrellas on the beach


more umbrellas, love them


another view of the Cinque Terre


pretty clouds and ocean


Vernazza at night


pier at Portofino


Portofino boat


at the lighthouse in Portofino

more pictures to come from Tuscany, Ciao!

2 weeks in Italy...

it was hard but somebody had to do it.
Pictures coming soon!

birthday, wedding, birthday, rodeo, holiday, rodeo, 7th year anniversary, vacation (whew)

I think the title speaks for itself. Massive picture overload...

Coconut, lime, ginger cupcakes with lime frosting for Loren's big 30! (I found the dirtiest picture I could to commemorate)

Me and Loren and Tad and Emily's fabulous wedding (Loren's looking pretty hot in his sear sucker suit :)


Me and Emily (her tan is slightly better than mine :)


My 27th birthday celebration with Van helping blow out the candles


3rd of July hike before meeting up with Tad and Em for the Oakley Rodeo


fireworks at the rodeo




4th of July, took the canoe out for a little row


waiting for 4th of July fireworks in Holladay park


sunset at the Draper Days rodeo where we saw a bull jump over the fence into the stands, CRAZY!

                                                             Me, Kristin and Kim

                                              Kristin teaching Sam all about the beach



                                            Zack, Loren and Jake surveying the waves


evidence that Loren should have asked for help applying sunscreen :)




sunset on Laguna Beach


our camp at the beach in La Jolla


Sam eating sand


my honey enjoying the sun


the beach at Del Mar, fun boogey boarding beach


a little beach volleyball at the beach house


view from the house


the beach house


Elsie chillin with Loren


the whole gang