Joyful Moments-Graduation

Today is the big day!

We're so happy to be graduating!!!

Picture is by Justin Hackworth.
Announcement design by Danyelle Matthews.

Definitely Priceless Moment after paying all that tuition!

On the day of my last test,

we headed off to Zupas for some fondue to celebrate!

We are finally DONE!

"I think marriage is a very important thing to do, and you're missing a hell of a lot if you don't try it."

~Tuesdays with Morrie

by Mitch Albom

On a side note, Mitch Albom is speaking at our commencement!

He's one of my favorite authors, for sure.

We're so happy to be graduating together.

It's always better together! 

What's your Joyful Moment? 

Last week I loved these tulips from Life-N-Reflection.

I love the simplicity.

Please join us in finding JOY!

I will blog about my Joyful Moment every Friday,

where you'll be able to link up your blog as well,

until the following Monday.
Here's the little details:1. take a picture that brings you JOY2. blog about that Joyful Moments, include our button (on the right) or simply link back to this blog3. link up your post below4. visit other Joyful Bloggers and leave JOYful comments!

Feeling a little sentimental

With tomorrow being the last day of class for me EVER

as an undergraduate at the U,

I've become a teeny bit sentimental.

I've started looking at campus differently

and looking at teachers wondering if I'll ever see them again.

This chapter of my life has lasted a long time.

Since 2004 to be exact

{with a a couple of years off in between}.

But I made it.

Even when only one person thought I could.

I thought I'd share a few pics of my favorite day of class.

Jim decided to show a friend how to lasso properly.

Just randomly in the middle of class one day.

It was quite funny.

Until he said, "Now when I say jump, you better jump. Jump!"

He waved the rope above his head and it swung around my ankles.

Yep, little things like that, I never ever want to forget.

Now late night study sessions on the other hand, I think we could all live without those.

I {heart} Aiden

She was running around one afternoon with this headband in one hand

 and a valentine card in the other from her great-grandmother.

When she stopped to look at herself in the mirror, I wanted to capture it

 (even though I only had my cell on hand). 

This makes me smile and she does love that headband.

Weekend Getaway

We had the best relaxing weekend.

It was just nice to be away (or sort of away).

We actually didn't go that far, just a quick trip to Logan (north of Salt Lake).

My family used to go up there every single fall to go see the leaves.

I missed it and decided it would be great to go again.

Our first stop was at the Bluebird Cafe.

Nice and casual.

If you ever have the chance to go, you must order an Ironport!

We stayed at the Anniversary Inn.

 In which I thought that it might be a little too cheesy, but it was well worth it.

Loved the tipi room brought back childhood memories.

Me on the left and my friend Jessie on the right.
We had hours of fun and had lots of outdoor tea parties as well.

I think I want to get one for my future kids, here.

After a bit of relaxation, we were ready to eat. Yes, eat literally.

A trip to Logan is not complete without heading to Gossner's Cheese,
Aggie Ice Cream, and Pepperidge Farm thrift store.

Oh so good!

From there we decided we did not want this to end yet.
We headed out from Richmond where the Pepperidge Farm thrift store is
at and made our way up to Lava Hot Springs.

It was a very pretty drive with snow covered landscape.
Once we made it to the hot springs, it was heaven.
Soaking up all that lovely warmth.

Later that night, we came back home.
With our schedule it could only be one night but hey, we'll take it.

What a great way to spend the weekend.
Don't be afraid to vacation in your hometown, make the most of everything.

Joyful Moments-Valentines Day

Kevin and I are all about celebrating love and marriage.

We didn't have time to send out Valentine Cards this year, but if we could have-they would
 have been something like this.

I especially love the purple roses, they remind me of our wedding and my mom.Both are special to me.
Lovers day was kept simple to the fact that I was really sick.But I was also really sick last year.I really hope that I'm not starting a trend.
It was merely the two of us after a long day of trying to recover for me and a day of work for Kevin.We sat down for a four course meal with some lovely jazz music at Caffe Molise.Oh so beautiful.

I'm really glad that I pulled through. Kevin calculated that we spent 1 1/2 hours, just the two of us without any interruption and had time to just sit and hang out, especially between courses.It brought me JOY and as many of you know, JOY heals.
I was extremely impressed by this dessert.

Creme Brulee with fresh berries. The picture doesn't give it justice.

Kevin gave me these beautiful yellow orchids.I love them and they remind me to smile, even though life is tough right now. 

I love Valentines, a Lovers break from cold, gray winter.We're still going to be celebrating this weekend.But then again, someone once asked me, "Do you ever stop celebrating your husband?"
Nope. Never. There's always something to celebrate.I look and I find JOY.
You may not be perfect,but you're perfect for me.

Please join us in the continuing journey of finding JOY!

I will blog about my Joyful Moment every Friday, 

where you'll be able to link up your blog as well, 

until the following Monday. 

Here's the details for you to join in the photo challenge:

1. take a picture that brings you JOY

2. blog about that Joyful Moment, include our button{on the right} or simply link back to this blog

3. link your blog post up below

4. visit the other Joyful Bloggers and leave happy comments

5. enJOY!

Embrace the Camera Day-Mindy Gledhill Concert

Over Valentines weekend,

we had a blast going to hear the lovely Mindy Gledhill sing {or sort of sing}.

Sweet Mindy had only a little bit of her voice left from a cold.

That amazing woman got up and said that she would turn a bad situation into a good one. 

And that she did.

She asked that the audience be her voice and sing with her.

We did just that, when she couldn't reach the notes, we did.

There isn't a better confirmation to know if people listen to your music than to ask them sing the words,
as said according to Kevin.

Standing in line while waiting for the concert to start. 

That particular night out was just what the doctor ordered.
A fun trip to Provo to try out SLAB pizza, along with the best cupcakes at the concert.

Believe it or not, Kevin even sang along to his favorite Mindy Gledhill song, Anchor.
On the album she sings it in Spanish {brownie points to Mindy for having it as a bonus track},
I think that's why he loves it.

My favorite song is All About Your Heart.
I hate admitting it, but I have terrible scars on my face from acne.
Photoshop and makeup are my friends. I still have lots of acne too now even though I've been told
it clears as you get older. Um, no, not for me anyway.

While this song was written for my inspiration-NieNie, it has helped me with my own personal image.
I listen to it everyday and it reminds me to worry about more important things such as being a
good friend or even better yet, just being there.


Beauty is definitely about what comes from the heart.

We {heart} you Mindy! Thanks for sharing your stories and music with all of us.
The concert was amazing and I couldn't have asked for a better date night.

For beautiful eyes, look for the good in others; for beautiful lips, speak only words of kindness; and for poise, walk with the knowledge that you are never alone. 
~Audrey Hepburn

{don't forget that tomorrow is Joyful Moments and come back later today, 

I'll finally have the post ready for a really great giveaway!}

A Month of Photos-January

What a way to start off the New Year!

Memories from the month:

1. fun date night and hot chocolate dunks

2. the blessing of baby Jane

3. ski day at Park City

4. Carson's New Years smile

5. Madeline being born

6. a newborn session with Madeline

7. socks on Aiden's hands

8. after school eating a hot fudge FC Topper with Katelyn

All of these moments brought us JOY!

{inspiration from Simple As That}

It's the little things in life, that will bring us the most happiness.

Hugs to all of our readers!

~Lis 

Embrace the Camera Day-different view of Joy

Jim's office, lots of photography/communication books. It's amazingly all organized.

I went to my photography class on Tuesday and to be honest, I was a little disappointed in myself.  It came my turn to show my portfolio and felt like anyone down. I am going to work harder to take better pictures and to take the time to edit them well. 

The topic from that day (once the teacher started to lecture) interested me greatly because we were talking about joy. I explained a little bit about this blog and how I am looking for joy everyday. 

This teacher, explained joy as I haven't heard it before. The assignment is to capture joy in a more intimate that only you could catch of a person that you love. He showed me two pictures. One of his daughter when she was a young brownie with her best friend, with their uniforms and white sneakers. The white sneakers totally make the picture. The other picture was of his wife, it's a profile of her smiling and the background is blurred. Both are quite beautiful. 

The suggestion then came to take pictures of Kevin. I have attempted to take pictures of him in the past, but he always looks lonely or has what I call a Chandler smile (a fake smile). Since then, if I have wanted a nice picture of Kevin, I've always made sure I was in it. Here's my first attempt. I have a plan to get Kevin to warm up to the camera by taking pictures of him tomorrow, Saturday and Sunday. Even though, I already love this, even if it's just for me.

There's a thought for you, maybe it will inspire you take some joyful pictures? 

I hope so.

The Simple Things-Ski Day

As Lisa mentioned on Friday, yesterday was our ski day.  It was the second time I had ever been skiing, and the first time Lisa had been since her mission.  Saturday morning, when the weather was near perfect, we spent most of our time on the bunny hill.  After a few runs to get warmed up, I suggested that we go down one of the bigger runs. 

At the top of the "Bunny hill" at Park City Ski Resort.

 If you look closely at the pictures, you can tell who made it down the hill more smoothly.  Lisa is nice and clean, and I'm covered in snow.  That's snow that accumulated over a number of spills all the way down the mountain.  We both had a great time, though.  Skiing has been added to our list of "things to do again when we get the chance (and can afford it)."  By the end of the day, I could make it down the bunny hill without falling more than once or twice.  Considering my lack of experience and athleticism, I consider that an accomplishment.  Unfortunately, it's one that I paid for today when I was too stiff to want to get out of bed.  This was one of the few times that Lisa was quicker to get out of bed in the morning than I.

If you aren't crashing, you aren't skiing.~Author Unknown

Embrace the Camera Day

The other night, we had so much fun.

It was a great "let's go out on a date" to make you smile.

And it worked.

It ended with hot chocolate dunks.

Thanks to my brother-in-law Tyler.

He taught us all about it over Christmas break.

If you haven't heard of this, you're going to love it.

Especially if you LOVE hot chocolate as much as I do! 

Start out with your best UTE jammers.

Grab the hot chocolate and favorite snowman mugs (thanks Christina).

Then grab the Keebler's Fudge Shoppe Deluxe Grahams

Take a cookie and take a bite on the top of it.

Take another bite on the bottom of the cookie.

Now, here comes the tricky part. Hold the cookie in your mouth and sip like a straw. The hot chocolate will go through the graham cracker.

Then before the rest of the cookie melts, stick it back in your mouth for some chocolate-ty goodness!

It's ohh sooo good.

There are only smiles here!

What a way to end the night. Kevin and I feel very blessed to have each other.

He has been my knight in shining armor many times.

I believe that night topped them all because Kevin brought me lots of light in the middle of darkness.

I was happy. Really happy.

Kevin, I love you more every single day.

In marriage, each partner is to be an encourager rather than a critic, a forgiver rather than a collector of hurts, an enabler rather than a reformer.

~Norman Wright and Gary Oliver