Busy Bees

Friday we were back to our old shenanigans up in Green Valley. Ah-mazing. Hopefully my dad and Taylor are ready to climb because it's totally happening when they are here.

Saturday was full of photography madness! In the best way! We woke up to rain but decided to press on with a Senior shoot that we had planned. It worked out so well. We got some great pictures in a cute little bookstore and were able to meet up again after the rain dried up to finish his shoot in Snow Canyon.

In between the Senior shoots Chad had another one lined up with my boss' family. They are so fun and we had a blast with them. By the time we finished up we were both dead. All that running around and hiking pooped us out. So we finished up the day at Culvers for our first meal of the day lol.

We were going to go out Sunday and hike around and take even more pictures but I was toast so we hung out at home in our pajamas eating swiss rolls and ice cream watching food network and HGTV. The perfect lazy Sunday!

Phototgraphy Special!

We had so much fun making this floral crown a couple weekends ago! We couldn't wait to see how it photographed, and I was the lucky guinnea pig. Not a bad gig when your hubby's a photographer. Chad's revamped his website and is offering some killer deals on family/couple shoots right now for the holidys. Mini sessions that don't take up a lot of your time and don't make a huge dent in your wallet either. If you live in the St. George area, or know anyone who does, check out his website to see even more of his work and get in touch... or you know, leave a comment ;)

Photographs  by Chad Hampton Photography

Mukuntuweap

This place never, ever, gets old.

Winter Wonderland

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Friday we were feeling pretty cocky about our current situation. We live in St. George, land of the sun!!! We weren't going to let a little snow stop us from rock climbing all weekend like we had planned.  So Friday we went out, and while cold, we still were able to climb and have a good time all bundled up.

Then Saturday came. And the weather straight up laughed in our faces as it proceeded to snow ALL DAY LONG (8 inches of snow, third largest amount on record). After breakfast we realized it wasn't slowing down any time soon. I wanted to bundle up, stay indoors, and eat cookies until I passed out in my hot cocoa. Chad had other plans. And his plans ended up being pretty freaking great once he convinced me to peel my butt off the couch.

We went out to Snow Canyon State Park, and finally saw it in the Snow. It was gorgeous, all white and red. Rukia hasn't had a more fun time in her entire life, and we loved all the hiking, photography, snow ball throwing, and (Chad's homemade) hot cocoa drinking in the middle of a very snowy and deserted desert. It really was magical. And as long as this only happens once this winter, it will continue to stay magical.

Fall?

 

The desert really doesn't have fall like Michigan has fall.

Who would have thought, right?

So we ventured up north, just 20 minutes or so, and soaked up all the Fall that southern Utah had to offer us that day. We may not have the burning reds or fiery oranges but we still have a little somethin' somethin' going on. By the time the trees are changing here in town Michigan will be covered in a foot of snow, ha!

Jackpot

We hit the jackpot of Christmas lights a week or so ago. We were driving by the park downtown and found it blinged out with tons of Christmas lights! The trees were glowing since most of them still had leaves. It was beautiful and Christmas-y and we only had to wear jackets. Not having snow is really shaping up to be wonderful. :)

We had a great, relaxing weekend. It was definitely needed to recover from the past week. Chad has finals this week and then he can relax! We can both relax!

No Meatless Monday today, unless someone out there needs a recipe for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches or bean burritos. On a happier eating note we made Debi's awesome brownies this weekend. Our fridge may be bare but at least we had everything we needed to bake! I'm pretty sure you all know what we will be eating for dinner tonight.

I hope your all having a wonderful December full of Christmas lights and treats!

Challenge

November goals went pretty a-ok.

1. Juice: didn't happen. It wasn't our lack of commitment but lack of budget. When we aren't poor kids going to college we'll try again. Not quite sure when that'll be....

2. Workout! Check. Now I just need to do it more often and harder!

3. Be Thankful. We made a pretty little tree out of branches and cut out leaves on the cricut. Everyday we wrote something we were thankful for and hung up the leaves. Of course I didn't take one picture of this though!

4. Play the Piano. Didn't happen once a week. There was a grand piano where we spent Thanksgiving though so I played a few days for quite a while. Chad may have sung along, loudly. It was sooooo fun. And the piano was rockin'.

2. Floss and Rinse. Check!


This month is going to be awesome! I can feel it :) It's no longer 110 degrees for starters...  it's Christmas time (duh) and my family is coming to spend a week with us! Woot! Here are the goals I have for making this a rockin' awesome December:

1. I found this on Pinterest and thought it would be a fun way to document Christmas all month long, and help me practice my photography.

2. We are also doing a Christmas Countdown!

3. Walk the pup. We are horrible dog owners and never walk our dog. She'll go with us when we are out running and biking but we haven't been very good lately. The past week was better and I hope to take her out with me everytime I run.... at least 3 times a week. She sleeps like she's dead whenever we take her out for more than a couple miles.

Keeping the goals light this month, I'm sure I'll go overboard in January as usual. This month we are just going to try to make it through the end of Chad's semester and then enjoy the holiday season!

What goals do you have for the end of the year? 

Happy Thanksgiving!

We thought our Thanksgiving might consist of the two of us at home in our p.j.'s eating a giant chocolate cake and watching Christmas movies Frasier. And while we would have enjoyed that we did get a better offer ;) Ashley and Pat invited us to tag along with them to his mom's house in California. We happily agreed and before we knew it we were off to a new state, walking along the beach, eating Mexican food for every meal, watching our crazy dog play with Linda's fun pups, and eating way too much turkey. Yup, that's right, turkey. It's the holidays, we splurged and went nuts.

 

Some things we are thankful for this year:

free meals from Cafe Rio

friday night Date Nights

snuggly scaredy cat animals

skype
a fancy smancy camera

a husband who likes to snuggle while sleeping, even in our king bed

mountain bikes
a dishwasher
mountains and sushine
a wonderful home (with windows for the sunshine!)
friends and family who travel so far to see us

Happy Thanksgiving friends!

My Phone Has Eyes

Our weekend:

 Date Night at Home, A plethora of desserts, errand running and Sunday morning naps for all!

My Phone has Eyes

Guess what? I put on my big girl pants and acted like a responsible adult again this weekend. Well, most of the weekend. Ok, when I wasn't staying up all Friday night, watching movies, eating pizza, skipping church, and snacking on junk.... I was being a responsible adult.

The house is once again clean peeps! Three loads of laundry done, and put away (which is the real kicker) dishes done, and floors swept, mopped and vacuumed. Dinners have been prepped. Beans made, veggie burgers assembled and froze, mac and cheese readied, banana bread baked. Lunch and Dinner was made last night. Gasp! That's right, we didn't have ice cream or cereal for Sunday night dinner! Mostly because we don't have cereal and I ate all the ice cream last week due to the whole wisdom tooth thing. I also used that as an excuse to wear my pink sweat shorts and ratty t-shirts all weekend, ok all week after work too. Chad's one lucky guy.