Youth on the Hunt

November was my month to plan the youth activity and so I put together a photo scavenger hunt. They were given a scripture and they could take it literally or figuratively but they had to use their creative to find an object or subject to take their picture with. It could not be in any house hold and could not be on any team members body. We split up in two teams and headed downtown to have some fun.

The first one:

John 12:23
And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified.

Nate is standing by the Railroad Clock

I messed up on the scripture for this one when i did a search it changed statue to statute  and so I just wrote Psalms 81:4 without double checking and wrote statue on the slip as it was suppose to be mine but ended up trading with someone. So Joleesa took her pictures with a statue of one of the founders of Anchorage.
Isaiah 22:19  

And I will drive thee from thy station, and from thy state shall he pull thee down.

Here is Nathan and Joleesa at the bus station. This one is posed a challenge for Mom, Matt, Nathan and Jo as nothing is called a station anymore its all Fire Department, Rail Depot ect. so they final called it good a the Bus station even though its not really called that.

This was my team and let me say that three photographers on one team ment a lot of fun but also  pictures of EVERYTHING lol. Team 1 had taken 12 pictures  Team 2 (which was Micah, Megan, myself, Tim and Levi) took 72 hehe 

This was Tim's slip

Hebrews 12:2

Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us

Incase it doesn't look familiar this is a statue of Butto the lead dog of the first great race. The Iditarod! This is where the ceremonial start takes place every year.

This was my slip and I was rather happy with getting it as it ended up rather random. I've been wanting to play on this train but never have.

Proverbs 22:6

Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

Luke 14:23

And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.

Haha here mom is pointing at the dead hedge 

This was Micah's which this is my second favorite of the night. His is a little more interpative then the rest. His scripture was..

Isaiah 60:8

Who are these that fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their windows

We represent doves in the windows lol  like I said we had fun.

This is my favorite this was Levi's 

Scripture: Genesis 1:14   And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night and let them be for signs, and for seasons,  and for days, and years:

This is the Anchorage's town square per say. It decked out with beautiful lights, a  large less beautiful Christmas tree  and a skating rink that circles the park. Its so pretty I love it 
This is Matt's his scripture: Hebrews 13:2  Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. Here is the angel they were entertaining hehe
This is a two part picture: you can't appreciate the funness ( I know not a word) of the first one without seeing the second one.

This one is Megan's

I can't remember for sure what her scripture was as I had changed it several times.

I believe it was Luke 21:1- and he looked up, and saw the rich men casting their gifts into the treasury.

And how fitting but a penny press. The gift shop was about to close up and we begged to get a picture with the penny press. The guy looked at us a little weird and said most people ask to take a picture with the large bear. We unpuzzled him and explained the scavenger hunt.

The weather was great. Not to chilly and not to busy downtown. We ended the night with homemade pizza and a movie that had us all laughing. I think everyone had fun and we've pretty much decided come April we'll have to do something similar but maybe with a little more of a challenge 

All Things Pretty in Pink

most days (not resent days) I love my job but there is NOTHING I love more then to be given something that I can shut work out of and escape into a side of me that has no limits and I can be as creative as I want.

Last Tuesday was Joleesa's baby shower. Hehe oh boy did I have fun with it. It was exhausting but so fun. From the little details all the way to Joleesa's exhausted happy face when the night was over. Mom will say I went over board and I probably did. It'll be PB&J sandwhiches for lunch for several weeks lol but it was worth every penny and ever second put into.

It started with the invitation which I actually got paid to create. One night I did a coat check for a Governors Award Banquet and it could have been 6 hrs of boringness if I hadn't had my computer. By the end of the night I was well please both with what I was able to put together and the tips I had in my pocket hehe....


Then came the baby shower. Sis Mack had done a diaper cake for Lillian's baby shower and it was so cool. So I googled it and realized these things are insanely popular and actually sell for maga $$$. So I googled some more figuring there had to be instructions of some sort out there to create this fun center piece. Directions in hand I went to work... quickly deciding I didn't like the way the instruction was leading I ventured on my own and I have to say I'm rather fond of the final out come. Every cake needs a topper and it seemed rather fitting that the baby's first bear top it. 

It sat in the middle of the table. Pictures I've taken through out her pregnancy so far (along with a 4D framed ultrasound picture) flanked the right side and pink and white plates, cups and napkins were to the left. Holding the utensils is a little red wagon that say's ITS A GIRL. ( there was a flower arrangement in it that was delivered to Jo the day after she found out the gender)
A party needs balloons and when it comes to baby themes they sure do have a collection of fun ones. My favorite is the big pink foot print. (the bear holding the balloons is from Jessa)
Here is a close up of the diaper cake. This is 80 diapers each individually rolled and tied off with clear stretchy craft line. The diapers are fittingly baby Winnie the Pooh.
Our house has such warm lighting that everything either looks so pale or very orange ( the wagon is actually red and the ribbon a bold pink but oh well)
Every party needs streamers so going across the room was 3D hearts, paper flowers and butterflies 
Matt and Nathan came by to whisk Dad away for some male bonding. Which apparently consisted of streak, chicken, shrimpp and abundance of other food lol 
Every party needs games. We had peoples water breaking (melting ice to release a pacifier), passing a box left to right to right to right as mom read a story about the Right family. Here is a picture of one as Dallas's mom had to guess how big her baby bump was and got it right on the dot. 
Then it was present time and boy did this little one get spoiled with some pretty cool and creative gifts as well.
here was a gift from Dallas's mom- an umbrella wrapped in receiving blankets and filled to capacity  of lots of cute girly goodies 
I remember when gifts use to be wrapped but I have to say the bags are getting just as fun as the actual presents and just as expensive lol 
Every baby needs needs noisy toys *whispers* so do big kids Matt rather enjoyed playing with it when he returned hehe 
This was Megan's gift that was sooo cool. It was a laundry basket filled with clothes but not just simply folded in the basket much more creative then that.....
She created what seemed like a never ending but totally coool clothes line of cute baby clothes
These type gifts are so fun but you almost dont want to take them apart 
a friend of mine and Jo's that we use to work with stopped by. This is her little girl. Who I absolutely love and think next to my future niece is the most adorable little girl (Im sure some will disagree :-) which is okay hehe)
In the end while all of use were tired to the bones Megan had a burst of energy  and so all the baby clothes from the shower and what was previously bought came out to be organized and put away. I do think this little angel has more clothes then I do which is simply shocking lol 

I Got Mail!

and it wasnt an email! There is something so fun about getting mail but there is definitely something even more fun and thats getting a fun card made by Sis Emily from Sis Becki. I dont think I deserve such a fantastic thank you it only took forever and a day to for the dvd to get to her. Well at least the second one the first one got sent to the same address but different city because the duffus of a Fed Ex clerk put down the wrong zip code :-P I guess he was feeling creative because the zip code doesnt exist and so whoever was on the New Mexico side had to get even more creative in trying to read the clerks mind as to where it was to go... when from the beginning they could have just read the package that I had nicely written the correct address with a real and right zip code but I guess that wouldnt be as entertaining. Hope whoever in Sandia Crest is enjoying a DVD of nearly 1,000 pictures of people they have no clue who are hehe. (Sadly unless the recognize the flag I dont believe they'll know its from The Church of God. I don't recall any pictures in which I zoomed out that the banner showed. Oh well )

The funny part is Dad took it to Fed Ex the second time and sent it Expedite Air which means it would be on the next FedEx flight out the package went flying on the 12th and promptly arrived on the 13th. Now according to the envelope Sis Becky was very prompt in sending a beautiful "Thank You" in return on the 13th. For 44 cents it arrived with in two mailing days lol. Got to love living in Alaska the mail is just as unpredictable as the weather.

It was a wonderful way to end a very long and busy day. Normally the mail has already been gotten by the time I get home or Dad calls me on my way home from work that he hasn't gone out to get to pick it up before coming in the house (yes its just at the end of a short drive way :-P) Joleesa, Mom and I were talking about the shower tomorrow and made me remember that one of our aunts had let me know she was sending a card in the mail for Joleesa (which was mail from MN on Tuesday and arrived today -told ya its random) and I was thinking it odd that it hadnt arrived yet as usually for a standard letter its 4 mail days max. and thats when we realized that the mail had been neglected. So here at 11pm Joleesa and I both get to joy of opening beautiful cards :-) I love it


haha I just had a whole blog about mail and the one before that was about the weather :-) wondering why people read this :-D


GOOOD Night

Got to Love Technology :o)

Wahoo I figured it out... So it's been about a month now sense I've gotten my iPhone and could figure out how to blog with it. I can take pictures edit pictures post pictures receive pictures and a whole load of other things but I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to blog. Other the my professional pictures and any designing I do I really don't get on my computer much these days so if it can't be done with my phone It probably gets neglected. So we'll see how well I blog now. Let see how truly wonderful my phone is and see if I can post pictures from it. Oh well it'll have to wait I got a connection error. Maybe next time I got some pictures from the snow storm that blew into today. I'm sadden by the fact that I actually don't find the aspect of winter pretty anymore. I know 6-7 months of it lay ahead and that just depresses me. I'm going through a phase where I've got an itch to move. Well actually it's something I'm praying about if this itch is really God pulling on me I don't want to neglect to do His will just because in my eyes I see so many reasons to stay. Then I look outside and just dread the winter ahead :(

I need to go out with my camera and remind myself how beautiful winter is here. I see things so much clearer through a camera lens

SNOW!!!

and lots of it... before I would be jumping for joy and giddy like a little kid but now adulthood has corrupted that excitement :-P I dont have my studded tires on my car yet and it has me nervous. Now I know plenty of people drive (especially in the lower 48) in snow with out studs but it just goes to show how the unfamiliar makes some uncomfortable.

I've got so much to blog about as my weekend was actually productive but I am feeling quite miserable I dont know if I'm coming down sick or if my body is just craving more sleep... I dont know but I'm going to give into that craving and head to bed

Procrastination, Pictures, and Prayer

So mom is going to kill me I put off my laundry again- though I'm sure instead of killing me she'll just say I told you so. I hate laundry its not something I can start and be done with before moving on to another project. No I have to stop what I'm doing and go back to it. I can multi-task like no other but I HATE doing it. If I had my way if I start something I don't go on to something else until I finish it. Which is why I always get frustrated when mom or dad or someone asks me to stop what I'm doing to go do something else. Today I figured out a little bit why that is. When you are doing something creative and all that inspiration is  flowing from who knows where you don't want it interrupted. 

Anyway so I ditched doing laundry to take Joleesa's 20 week pictures at 21 weeks :P  I love my little niece :-) yup I my birthday present (or I suppose if Jo is like Mom and delivers 2 weeks early it could be Jessa's birthday present) is going to be a baby girl. I've never seen an ultrasound done before (outside of fake Hollywood ones) and I stood in that room staring at the screen in awe struck wonder at how fearfully and wonderfully we are made. This little one is just barely 12 oz and yet we could see her little eyes, ears, nose and lips. I thought I was going to have to use my imagination to figure out what she (I was convinced it was for sure a he-I was wrong hehe but I'm okay with that) looks like. With todays technology no imagination needed I almost felt like I met her. 

As I was taking pictures today and looking at Joleesa's expanding stomach I stood amazed that that little life I got to see was in there. When we found out she was having a baby girl I stopped at the store as I wanted to get something for Jo (hehe I've bought alot of somethings for her) and I saw these little shoes she's holding in the picture. Shoe's this little one will never walk in but I pray every time I see them (as they've been sitting on the coffee table) that where those little feet take her that she leave an imprint on the lives left behind - one that will speak of God's love and grace because I pray this little one will know it in abundance.

Of all the things I've bought for my niece nothing excited me as much as when I found they were still printing the  baby book "I'll Love You Forever, I'll Like You For Always"  Mom and Dad bought that book for me one year for Christmas and its is my alllllll time favorite children's book. Well my little niece I may not be your mommy (you've got a pretty wonderful one) but I'll love you forever and I'll like you for always ..... for as long as I'm living

 :-)

Please be in prayer for Joleesa as the ultrasound tech did not get a good picture of the baby's heart. God's got His hand on this little one and I know everything is alright but our human nature fears the worst and on Tuesday she goes back in for another ultrasound and I heard her cry yesterday as they had to postpone it (she was suppose to have it on thursday, then moved it to Friday and now Tuesday). The unknown usually fuels fear but God knows and gives peace.