Challenge #1

How it all began: how you met, first date, first kiss, how long did you date? first picture together.....etc.


Well, on January 20th ish of 2009 I attended a protest at the State Capital against lowering funding for higher education in Utah.  At the time I was attending Snow College.  A bus had been arranged to take students up to the capitol; however, it was full when I arrived.  One of the girls standing near me offered to drive anybody to the capitol who was willing to pitch in for gas, so I went to Salt Lake in the back seat of her car.  I was sitting with an individual who I had never met before but who I now know and love as Camille Johnson.  At some point on the ride we began discussing boys, as is common among college girls. After vocalizing my opinion of dating a man based on his computer rather than his vehicle Camille excitedly called Alan up to have him rattle off the specs of his computer box.  It was an awkward phone conversation, let's be honest. 

After that we found each other on Facebook and began emailing daily.  I would run to the computer lab between classes to see if I had a new message from Alan and was ecstatic every time I had a new message in my inbox.  Soon emails turned to phone calls and text messages.  Samm was kind enough to put up with our phone conversations- he and Alan were rooming together at the time.

We first met in person on March 28, 2009 at Riverton City's first annual half marathon; Alan offered to come volunteer for the event.  The following week we went on our first date: Sunday morning session of General Conference followed by a picnic in the park. The week after that we went bowling with my friend Karleigh, and surprisingly shared a first kiss.

The memory of our first kiss makes me laugh every time.  We were sitting on the couch discussing the physics of vision, mainly the near point of the focal range.  I started teasing Alan by moving in and out of this focal range when suddenly we kissed.  Personally, I think it's the perfect first kiss story.

We dated for a few months from that point marriage became our focus.  I'm glad we got to know each other through emails and phone calls before we met in person.

Here's our first few pictures together!  Sorry for the quality, they was taken in Photobooth.

Wedding Challenge

I have a friend participating in this challenge on her blog and thought it might be a good way to document a few facts about our relationship.


1. how it all began: how you met, first date, first kiss, how long did you date? first picture together.....etc.
2. when you knew he was the one: self explanatory.. but how and when did you know?
3. proposal: how it happened, how long were you engaged for? was it a total surprise?
4. the ring: tell us about it! did you pick it out? did he? tell us about his ring too!
5. engagement/bridal pictures: let's see em!
6. the colors: show some of the flower and colors you used
7. the dress: was it what you always imagined? did you have it made for you? white or ivory?
8. the little accessories: veil? shoes? jewelry? what did your bridesmaids wear?
9. the ceremony and reception: where was it at? what day did you get married?
10. the cake/food.
11. your song and/or the first song you danced to at your wedding.
12. favorite part of the day and least favorite part of the day: can be anything.
13. honeymoon: where did you go? was it enjoyable?
14. thoughts on marriage: what is the easiest/hardest part? if you could change anything, what would it be?
15. first place that you lived together: pics if you have them!
16. kids: do you have any yet? if not, when do you plan on it? how many do you want? any tips on good/bad birth control?
17. most recent picture of you and your significant other and what you love most about them.

Full Time Housewife, in Training!

With a new full time position created at work there was a need to downsize the part time help.  As such, I have been  laid off.  For the first time in a long time I'm with out a job, and being a self diagnosed Workaholic I went through my few days of sadness as this reality sunk in.  Surprisingly, though, I woke this morning with a vigor and a desire to work hard as a house wife!  I think it will take me a few days to get a routine down but I am ready to make sure my house is clean as can be.  Once my house is significantly cleaner than it may or may not currently be I have sewing projects to complete before the baby comes.  Hopefully I can live up to the name of "Housewife" and "Stay at Home Mom."

Ode To Running

My feet on the road
You know, I do miss you so
I can't wait to run!

So the most difficult part of pregnancy, at this point, is being unable to go running.  I often dream of running, and not struggling with my asthma while I'm running, only to wake up feeling jealous.  Walking is still a physical possibility for me, though walking as quickly as my non pregnant self used to might not be. 


Oh well, only a month and a half left before we can start running again.  At least I can go walking and I'm not bed ridden.  Thank Heavens!

Soon to be Missionary

Madam Camille has been kind enough to let me take pictures of her again.  It's always fun to do a photoshoot with Camille.  Here are some of the better shots:

 

She'll be a good little missionary, me thinks.

Lightroom

Photographers are like runners at times.  Both feel so passionately about their hobby that they are eager to share their knowledge and learn from anybody who seems to take an interest in it.  It's amazing what you can learn by talking with strangers who are passionate about photography.  For instance, last summer while Heidi, Mom and I were in Jackson Hole shooting at Mormon Row a gentleman arrived at the location just after the buffalo had walked past.

He was disappointed to have missed the buffalo but excited that we could be there for that magical moment.  We later saw this man again as we were shooting pictures of the Tetons.  Mom struck up a conversation with this gentleman asking what he did, what some of his pieces of equipment were, etc.  During this discussion he mentioned a piece of software called Lightroom which he used for post-processing photos.  He told us that Lightroom is made by Adobe with photographers in mind and that is much easier to use than photoshop for editing photos.  

Well, kind gentleman, we finally took your advice and purchased Lightroom.  Adobe is kind to students by giving great discounts on software.  I picked up Lightroom from the bookstore for Mom and now we have it running on both of our laptops.  I can't believe how wonderful this program is!  Here are a few examples of what I've done in Lightroom:
 

Camille Before

 

Camille After

 

Camille Before

Camille After

I still have much to learn about this software, but I have enjoyed using it so much already!  I definitely would recommend this to anybody who classifies them self as an amateur photographer who is new to photo editing, especially if you can get the student discount!

Geek Zodiac

 

Quite delightful.  I'm a fan of the "Super Hero" type font used for the title, though I'm ashamed to admit I don't know the name of that font off the top of my head.  Alan disagrees with categorizing Jedi Knights as Ninjas; I'm still debating, though.

So in my routine of checking up on the world via internet (i.e. email, web comics, news, etc) I came across this delightful find: The Geek Zodiac!