Gibson Family

I'm posting these pics longer than a month after I took them, but hey, I guess later is better than never!

Christmas Quiz

Here's a little quiz my friend Rebecca took and I thought I'd take a shot at it too!

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? - Gift bags...I am lazy. My family can tell you that normally my wrapping paper is the plastic shopping bag the gift was placed in after purchased. But I do tape it all up and put a Post-It note on the top so they know it's from me. :)

2. Real tree or Artificial? I love real trees, but it only worked when I lived at home and I didn't realize the upkeep or mess they made. When Greg and I got married he INSISTED on a real tree, but I wanted the ease and less expense of a fake tree. So we agreed every other year we'd go buy a real tree. I actually think our first two Christmases together we bought a real tree, but by the third Christmas it was my turn for the artificial tree. The best thing about them besides the easy clean up is that the lights are already strung and ready to go! So then our 4th Christmas I told Greg I was ready to go buy a tree since it was his turn. He said the previous year had been so nice and easy and that was the last of the real trees in our house. Now every year Greg just goes and gets the fake tree from the basement and doesn't say a word about a real tree. Greg's mom says it ticks her off since he made her buy a real tree every year and she was the one who had to take care of it. Ha ha...things are so much different when you are the one in charge and cleaning up, huh?

3. When do you take the tree down? My mom and older sister take theirs down the day after Christmas. Although I think it would be nice to have my house back in order, the thought of it all being over on Dec 26th is just too depressing, so I take mine down on New Year's Eve or New Year's Day.

4. Do you like egg nog? I love it...especially with a little Sprite in it. I can feel my thighs getting bigger as I type this!

5. Favorite gift received as a child? Snoopy SnowCone Machine...for sure!

6. Do you have a nativity scene? Yeah, I have a couple of them. But my favorite is the one my Grandma Loveridge made and my Aunt RevaBeth gave me about 7 years ago. RevaBeth was going through some old things and saw it and thought about me (my Grandma Loveridge was my guardian angel on my mission). It is beautiful and it means the world to me.

7. Hardest person to buy for? My mom....what do you give the woman who has EVERYTHING??? But my husband Greg comes in a CLOSE second. His dress shirts have to have buttons on the collar and heaven forbid one year I got him a dress shirt that had TWO pockets (one on each side) instead of just one. Shame on me!

8. Easiest person to buy for? Nicole. She still doesn't know what is going on with Christmas and her birthday.

9. Mail or email Christmas cards? Last year was the first year I've done anything (I wanted to wait until we FINALLY had a child...so I had something to write about) and I mailed them. This year? I don't know. We haven't been able to get a good family picture. Nicole is awful everytime we try and I don't want to send anything unless I have a picture to send with it...hum.

10. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? A Coca-Cola Ice Cream Scooper (made of flimsy plastic). Even Greg will admit it was a bad idea on his part.

11 . Favorite Christmas movie? A Christmas Story...."F-R-A-G-I-L-E....it must be Italian"

12. When do you start shopping for Christmas? About August. I pride myself that I am usually all done by Halloween (except for Greg's gifts).

13 . Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Not that I can remember.

14. Any Christmas traditions? Christmas Eve dinner at Tepenyaki (although I think my mom's going to change it this year) with my family and then homemade hamburgers and french fries at the Cooks along with Grandpa's horribly miserable COMPETITVE bingo game. Christmas morning with my family and Christmas Casserole (Greg's favorite food ever). Christmas Lunch/Dinner with the Cooks. Open pajamas on Christmas Eve. Greg and I open our stockings on Christmas Eve (we have such a fun time with this one), but then Santa fills Nicole's that night and she gets that and one big toy from Santa on Christmas morning. All the presents under the tree are from mom and dad, friends and family.

15 . Clear lights or colored on the tree? I love both, but our tree has clear lights and Greg refuses to hang any lights on the house (maybe I should try this year)...if he did...those would be colored.
16. Favorite Christmas song? The Drummer Boy....BY FAR!!

17. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Since all of our family lives around here, we stay at home. We are very blessed!

18. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Coment, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen, and Rudolph!

19. Angel on the tree top or a star? Actually I have a bow.

20 . Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? See above.

21. Favorite thing for Christmas dinner? Nothing comes to mind for dinner...I'm a breakfast girl....for sure the butterscotch pull-aparts!!!

Halloween

We had a fun Halloween this year. We had Greg's family over for dinner and trick-or-treating. Nicole had a fever so she didn't dress up and didn't get to go to truck-or-treating or trick-or-treating with Corbin (her cousin). It was sad, but she and Corbin still had a great time running around the house and screaming all night.

Painting Pumpkins

Me, Greg and Nicole

Nicole, Me, Michelle, Elijah, Adam



Greg and Stephen trying to act so tough! :)


So every year for the last 6 years Greg and I get together with our friends Michelle and Stephen to carve (paint) pumpkins. We started out carving, but now with kids we are tired and lazy and we paint. It is such a fun tradition! I miss Michelle so much and I hate that when we both bought houses she moved further North and I moved further South. Michelle and I painted our pumpkins with a pilgrim shooting a turkey. That way they will last until Thanksgiving. The men painted BYU...of course. And well, the munchkins...they just slapped paint on their pumpkins and we were all so proud of their masterpieces!

The Walker Family

This is my good friend Kristen's (we worked together at Omniture) family. I am CRAZY about her little daughter Genavie. Whenever I see her, I'm just happy.

Janet's Bridal Shoot

I was so sick the day we went to the State Capitol and did this shoot...I could hardly hold the camera straight!!! Well, that and because my new external flash is HEAVY! :) Here's a quick preview of a few shoots. I hope you like them Janet!!

Our Trip to Mexico

At the top of the Coba Temple

ChichenItza
After swimming in a cenote (cave/sinkhole)
Just before we went repelling (I know...the helmets are sexy beyond words)
Richele repelling
Greg cliff jumping in the sinkhole

The first of September Greg and I went to Riveria Maya, Mexico. It was our first trip (and probably the last for a long time) without Nicole, and even though we missed her tons, it was so nice to get away. My sister Kami was such a sweetheart to volunteer to take Nicole so we could go somewhere. Kami decided now was the only time since we both want to have another baby soon (we'll have to see how that works out since it's much easier said than done with our history). We ended up leaving 2 days after our 7 year anniversary, so even though it wasn't planned as an anniversary trip, we counted it as one. Everyone there was on a honeymoon, so we had to fit in somehow! :)



We were gone for five days, one day each to get there and get back, so we only had three days at our all-inclusive resort. We planned the trip to be relaxing and do nothing but swim, sit on the beach, and drink pina coladas. Well, anyone that knows me well knows that kind of plan does work out! I have ants in my pants and I want adventure!! Greg and I NEEDED the relaxation, but instead opted out (still don't know if that was the best idea). Our first day there we did relax and swim and eat..not much more. But the second day we went repelling, went on a zip line, went hiking and kayaking. Then we swam in a huge underground grave and then climbed up the tallest Mayan ruin in Coba (near Cancun). It was amazing!!!! Our third day we went and explored ChichenItza, the largest discovered/restored Mayan town in the Yucatan and went swimming in another cave/sinkhole. We were exhuasted by the time it came to head home, but we had some great adventures and great memories!

Tanner Family

These pictures are of my best friend Jill and her darling 3 kids! I'm so glad Jill called me. We had a fun photo shoot, and then 2 days later had a great double-date (without the kids...even better!). Wow! Seeing each other two times in one week...what's the world coming to? Jill, we need to do it MORE...and Melissa, you need to move home!!!!

Hall Family

Here are some pictures I took of my older sister and her family. We also took the pictures for Cameron's 5 year birthday. I can't believe my sweet baby boy is 5!!!

Francis Family

These pictures are of my friend Rebecca and her husband Bart and two year old daughter Addison. Rebecca and I used to work at Omniture together in the accounting department. Rebecca is lucky and still gets to work there. I'm sad I'm not there anymore, but it's great to have Rebecca there to fill me in on all the happenings. I took these pictures for Addison's 2nd birthday, and even though Bart was really sick, we were still able to get some great family shots. Thanks Rebecca for having such a darling daughter for me to photograph and for being such a wonderful and fun friend.

A Few More Pics

Here are just a few more pictures that I really liked. The first one is of Greg's brother and his family. I took it at our Cook family reunion in Bear Lake in July. That reminds me that I need to post pictures from our Cook family vacation and our Loveridge family vacation from this summer (both happened to be at Bear Lake). We got some great pics of nieces and nephews and brothers and sisters playing on the boat (well, mostly crashing while tubing...now that's what I call entertainment!).

Make Up Shmake Up

This morning, as with every morning, Nicole had a tantrum while I put on my make up. She wants to play with my brushes, powders, mascara, etc. and I am the mean mom who won't let her. I actually made Nicole her own make up bag filled with empty cases and tubes, but NOOOOOO that is not good enough, she HAS to play with what I'm actually putting on my face (even though some of those cases were ones I used last week and she cried for then, but now doesn't want). So every morning is a constant battle. I have made the mistake of letting her play with some mascara and eyeshadow, which resulted in black and very colorful marks all over her face, arms and legs, but best of all over my furniture. Lesson learned and now I'm sticking to my guns (it is hard, as all you mother know) and hopefully one day the crying for make up with stop (or at least calm down a little).

So anyways, this morning was bad! But I let her cry and tire herself out a little. I then asked her if she wanted to color and she said yes. So I brought her crayons and her Strawberry Shortcake coloring book into the bathroom and let her sit on the floor by me and color. It worked for a little bit and I could finally paint my face in peace (this is all yet another reason why I think I should boycott make up, even though the world is a much happier place if I do put it on). Well, the peace lasted about a nanosecond and the crying started again. I looked down to see what the problem was. Nicole had make some beautiful colorful marks on her page, but was now holding the white crayon and completely upset that her coloring wasn't showing up on the page. This crayon didn't work and that was NOT acceptable. I thought it was hilarious! So I grabbed the white crayon and hid it behind my back, grabbed an orange one, made some marks to show her that this one worked, and Nicole's coloring resumed. All was right with the world. Nicole was quiet and making art, and I was attempting a miracle of art on my face!

Goober 1 & Goober 2

Last night I took pictures of my neice and nephew, and my sister Kristi. The kids (affectionatly called Goober 1 and Goober 2, because, yeah, they act like goobers...whatever that means??? :)) were crazy and hyper, but I think we got some great shots. Here are a just a few samples. After pictures we went and ate french fries and milkshakes. It was a great night!!!