Sugar Photo Co. is having a giveaway!

no time for anything...

this last week was one of the craziest weeks that i've had in a while, and it doesn't look like it's going to slow down anytime soon. this coming week and next i have 6 more sessions to edit, and a few more sessions to photograph, and then the cycle starts over. i don't mind it, i love it actually! seriously, i am feeling more and more blessed with every session i have or inquiry i get. it's good to be busy, and i am so grateful the business i have and my amazing clients who keep referring me which equals more sessions, more editing, and more experience :)

but luckily, there were a couple days earlier in the week that Brett had off of work (ahh, the perks of working for the government, you get every single holiday known to man off) and we took advantage of every single second to play, cuddle, watch Friends re-runs and try Dickey's BBQ Pit (if you haven't been, run there! sooo yummy). oh, and we drove up the canyon because this photographer wanted a winter picture with her sweet family :) and after freezing our butts off, and slipping every two seconds on the ice underneath this snow, we got our shot! (too bad i had already ordered our Christmas cards a few days before we took this, but oh well) and after Brett having to dig us out for a 1/2 hour, we were able to head home and get warm.

i am so excited for this coming week. my sister and her family are coming into town today, yay for family coming to town! we have missed them so much! Thanksgiving is coming, and i am going to eat every last bite of stuffing until i can't stuff anymore inside of me. more editing and more sessions. family time. and Brett only working 3 days. yahoo!! yay for the holidays!!

it's been busy around here...

we have been very busy around our house the last few days.

as usual, Dylan has been busy watching Toy Story and crawling around like a mad man and walking around every piece of furniture he can get his hands on and drinking out of his sippy-cup and waving to whoever waves at him and babbling like crazy and getting an even more teeth in his already-full mouth of chompers.

Brett has been busy studying for the GMAT and he is starting a course tonight that will help him up his score so he can take it and register for the U's Master's program of Accounting. he has been such a busy guy working his little tail off at work, getting up at 5:30 everyday so he can have Friday's off to be with us and to do yard work to keep our yard looking great. he is the hardest working guy i know. i am so grateful for him and his work ethic and his drive to get things done. because i feel like i have none.

and as for me, i finally have been getting on decorating our home. room by room, instead of just talking and dreaming about it, i've been starting to decorate. the problem has been decorating on the cheap. when you have a limited budget, decorating seems to get pushed to the back-burner, at least for us. but we saved up a little and i did some DIY-ing and our front room is FINALLY finished!!! i am so excited to show you all. we just put the finishing touches in it last night and it felt like Christmas having it finally done and exactly the way i have pictured it in my head.

first, i'll show you what i redid, then show you the full room so you can see the difference.

i got this mirror on KSL even before we were house-hunting because i knew i love mirrors around my house. it's gold with a brown edge. that didn't go with my color scheme for the front room at all so i spray-painted it (hence the tape in the picture) to a light nickel color.

then, i went to Hobby Lobby in search of a couple of really large vases to put on either side of our entry buffet, but every single vase that i was looking at was around $70 a piece. since we aren't rich people, i decided to make the vases i wanted myself. i found a couple of these beauties on the same isle for less than half the price of the ones that were already painted, and since i had a $25 gift-card to the store and a 40% off coupon i got two of them for $12. amazing!! i went to a different store and bought some spray-paint in the color i wanted, and started transforming them.

i don't know why i haven't used spray-paint earlier. it's so easy and fun to redo things and so easy with spray-paint.

so after lots of coats on both the vases and the mirrors, this is how they and the front room turned out...

 and the wall collage that i have dreamed of having ever since i was introduced to Pinterest. after Brett showed me how to use a hammer and a nail and how to hang them, i hung each one of these photos and signs by myself. and i free handed this collage. i set it up on the floor before, but it looked completely different than how it turned out, but i just love it! it was so much fun doing it myself and getting the satisfaction of doing it myself.

so there you have it. i just love it. i have been sitting in this room all morning and just love the feeling of having it just the way i want it.

the living room is next...i have a few things to hang and we are having some furniture made for that room as i type and i am so excited for when it's done :) and i am repainting since i am over the red wall already. ha! go figure. i will post photo's as soon as it's done :)

booming...

fear is a funny thing. it can keep us from reaching for our dreams and goals if we let it. But, it can also push us into doing things that we are most afraid of, because the fear of not knowing whether or not we will succeed outweighs our fear of the unknown.

fear drives me to do a lot of things. good or bad. it always has. for a long time, i let fear keep me from pursuing my dream of starting my own business. i let it overtake my want to take a leap of faith. for a long time, fear drove me away from reaching my ultimate goal.

well, a few months ago an amazing opportunity blessing that i am sure wasn't coincidence pretty much fell into my lap, and this opportunity opened doors and made it all possible to start my business. i would go into it, but it would take a while. then more fears sank in. "what if it bombs?" "what if nobody likes my style or what if nobody wants me?" 
well, so far, those fears have been suppressed, or hopefully, have disappeared. thanks to lots of prayers, referrals, blessings and taking chances, my business is not only going better then i ever thought it would at this point, it's going really well. booming, if you will. i have several shoots booked the next few weeks, and i have gotten calls and emails to schedule for later in the season and into the Fall season for a wide variety of sessions. it's AMAZING, and pretty surprising considering i just started this business just a little while ago! i feel so lucky, especially since this business i feel like is super competitive. i know it's not like this for everyone, and it may not always be like this for me (knock on wood) but i am grateful that my leap of faith, at least for now, has taken me places i only hoped i could go. it's so flattering to have people ask me to take their photos, and truly an honor, to be able to do what i do, and absolutely love it. granted, i'm still learning with each shoot, but i feel like i'm really starting to get the hang of this and it's awesome!
i just wanted to say thank you to everyone who has supported me, pushed me, and encouraged me, to follow my dream. and most of all, thank you to those who refer me and those who ask me to take their photos. it is more rewarding than i can even describe.

ana + will

this was my first-ever photoshoot...and it was a blast! these two are seriously hilarious. we were laughing pretty much the entire time. they are adorable together and i am so glad they were so willing to help me get some good practice and be patient with me posing them and switching my camera settings constantly!! thanks guys! you did awesome!

thanks again guys!!


(ps, sorry for all the different editing techniques...i found a lot of actions and was trying them out. these are practice runs after all)

and here we go...

so a lot has happened this week. i should be packing but...i got my lens (i just couldn't wait for Christmas) and i got my photoshop (Brett is only going to be a student for another week, and the discount was just too massive to wait to get it) and i have been having fun all week playing around with both. it's pretty much impossible to want to pack when you have your dream toys at your fingertips.
Brett wiped my old laptop so it's now my "work" computer loaded with internet and photoshop and pictures. that's all. and i have been taking pictures constantly, scheduling (practice) photoshoots, scouting out locations to take the two shoots at, and playing around with photoshop and making my watermark for my future business. today Brett and Dylan and i loaded up in the car and drove all around Logan for 2 hours looking for spots...and we found some goodies! i seriously cannot wait for my first photoshoot tomorrow, it's going to be fab! it's going to be of my good friend Ana and her boyfriend/almost fiance Will.

man, if you have ever had photoshop or remember playing with it for the first time, that thing is a doozy for the first little bit...so much to learn! but i have been spending hours and hours watching tutorials and reading articles and i am starting to get the hang of it. yahoo!) so, you are the first to take a peek at my very first edit in photoshop and my watermark.


before shot:

after shot:

what do you think?! ahhh! i am just so happy about it. it didn't take me that long to do the edit either. i didn't want to over-edit..just little subtle things. i really need to stop playing around with this but it's super hard to stop once you actually start understanding what everything does in there! oh, and a special thanks to my super hot husband who was a wonderful sport at being my model for the day in 14 degree weather :) love you sweetheart!

ahhhh! here's to my first-ever photoshoot tomorrow! so excited!

say cheese...

yesterday was my photography class...it was soooo fabulous! i don't know why it has taken me so long to sign up for one of those. i wish i had done it a long time ago. once i got there (i will just sum up my morning for you, my alarm didn't go off in time because my phone decided to die the one time i needed an alarm, the drive to Ogden was complete rain/snow, and my gps got me lost, but i was only 10 minutes late somehow) i learned more than i ever thought i could about my camera. and i also learned i need to buy a new lens asap. i just have the standard lenses the camera comes with, and Camille (the photographer holding the class) let me borrow her 50mm f1.8 lens for the 6-hour class (that is what we were using to shoot and learn about) and holy moly! i found what i want for Christmas this year. that thing was amazing. i got home after the class and was trying to take pictures with my lens and it was total crap. i couldn't get nearly the same results as i got with the 50mm. i need that lens!
 She also taught us how to do everything on our camera's manually which i LOVE! it took pretty much the entire class to get the hang of doing everything manually, but i will NEVER go back to having my camera on auto again. you can do so many things with it when you control everything. it was awesome. i have been taking pictures all day today just applying the techniques i learned and the functions of my camera. i love it. i was always so scared to use my camera manually because i thought it was so complicated, but once you know what all the buttons mean, it's a breeze. she gave us each a manual she made explaining all the functions of our camera's and the basics of Photoshop (yep, i now need/want that too) and tips and tricks she does. that thing is incredible. i just love that manual. it explains everything i need to know about photography. she also split everything she went over into 6 sections and made it really easy to understand. then after each section she had us go and do a 'photo assignment' so we could apply what we learned and she would come around and help us and answer questions. she was so good about answering all the questions we had and helping us understand everything she was talking about.
she also set up a 'mini-shoot' for us, and she had models come in so we could practice our new-found techniques on them in different lighting. it was wonderful. it was snowing hard outside but we braved it and it was totally worth it. oh, i just loved it all. the time went by so fast and i didn't want to go home, i was having so much fun learning about my camera.
here are just a few of the 500 pictures i took yesterday (and no, that is not an exaggeration).

so what ya think? not too shabby eh? (*note: the pics of the side of the chair and the green balls were one of the photo assignments we did, we had to make the background blurry and focus on one thing.) this class was so worth every penny, the snowy drive and getting lost. i can't say enough good things about this class! Camille was such a great teacher and really helped us try to understand the concepts and helped us to get everything she wanted us to learn. i am so happy i took it. i wish i had another one to look forward too. oh, and if you want to read and see more pictures of the photo class, you can go to Camille's blog post about it HERE (and you should because I am in a picture or two:)

thanks again, Camille! you are seriously amazing!! i learned sooo much and can't get enough of practicing everything you taught us.

Photography Class...

So, I am not sure if a lot of you out there know this, but in the last year or so, I have really taken an interest in Photography. And not just a little interest...kind of an obsession? Yeah, that word is definitely fits how I feel about it. I just LOVE it. I love taking pictures of anything and everything, and I love the editing and being able to transform pictures in different colors and ways. I took those photo's you see at the top of this blog, our family ones, and I edited them afterwards and I think they turned out pretty good. Not amazing, but good. But anyways, my friend, who just left on his mission in May sold me his DSLR camera for a very, very generous price and I must say it was the best purchase I have made in a long time. I love that thing! I take it with us almost everywhere we go just in case there is something to take a picture of.

Well, I love my camera, but I don't know a whole lot about how to use it to it's full potential. So, one of my best friend's older sisters, Camille Garrison (who is an amazing photographer by the way, see her blog here) has been doing photography classes for a while, and I have been super tempted to sign up for one but have been a little bit...nervous? I don't know, I guess I am just scared of jumping in with both feet and actually learning about photography, my camera and how to take amazing photo's instead of just trying to teach myself. Don't ask me why because I don't know. So I was looking at Camille's photography blog a few weeks ago and saw that she was going to be doing another photography class in the middle of November. I talked to Brett about it, and really decided that this was something that I want to pursue, this is something I want to major in and get my degree in, and eventually want to turn into more than just a hobby and a love, I want to start my own business once I feel that I am good enough. My passion is that strong for it. So, I did it! I signed up. Sounds lame that I am proud of myself for doing that, but I am. It's just scary to go after your dreams sometimes, even if you are taking baby steps to achieve them (hey, that could be an inspirational quote or something :) So November 16th, I am starting my dream. I. can't. wait. It's going to be great. She is printing up amazing books for us that are catered to our types of cameras, and she is going to have models there that we can practice the techniques she shows us on, and she is going to show us how to use Photoshop (well, as much as she can in 7 hours). Once I get good enough, or where I want to be with my photography, I will buy Photoshop. But not yet. That is yet another baby step I will take when I am ready.

So November 12th, come as you may. I am ready for you. And oh so excited :)