Totally pointless

Going to school in Rexburg, Idaho in the winter is...an experience. One thing you ought to know about Rexburg is that it is really really cold, and snows. A lot. The snow is never shoveled or plowed anywhere, resulting in a lot of ice everywhere. It has become an art to distinguish between the patches of ice that are bad news and to be avoided at all costs, and the patches of ice that really aren't that slippery and no problem to walk on. You can imagine what happens in the process of learning this art, I don't think anymore explanation is necessary.

There is a particular spot on the sidewalk just outside my apartment complex that has a sheet of ice layers of inches thick, and very slippery. The fear of falling and looking like an idiot exists within everyone, but let me make myself clear, looking like an idiot is inevitable. Let's be honest, we have all spent many flailing moments, looking like an idiot with arms and legs flapping in every direction, staying erect on our feet by some miracle. Somehow, we still manage to justify our dignity since we "didn't actually fall."

Over the past couple of days, the weather has been beautiful and the sun has been shining, aka, the temperature has been above the freezing point of ice. Following our logic, this means melting. This means standing water everywhere, particularly on the sidewalk that used to contain the ice of fatality, which has now transformed into the lake of saturation and depth, and by that I do not mean wisdom.



Upon reaching this complimentary wading pool of ours, a decision must be made within a matter of moments. One has several choices. You can a) attempt to walk around the gigantic puddle and get stuck in the mud, ruining your shoes, b) walk through the mounds of snow remaining to the street, and pray you don't get hit by any angry drivers, or c) suck it up and wade through the pool, still ruining your shoes and also soaking the bottom of your pants. having tried them all, I've come to the conclusion that risking my life, venturing into the street, and going around the whopping waterway is the best choice, in my opinion, even at the expense of driver's road rage. I'll go with option b and take my chances. It has been great fun.

Snowshoe Adventure, survived.

Last weekend I got to go snowshoeing for my first time. It was a lot of fun, but man was it tiring! About halfway through I hurt bad, and by the time we got home, I was pooped. We hiked a very long 6.5 miles and went up to Mesa Falls here in Idaho, and it was beautiful! There were lots of trees everywhere, which was nice for a change from the flat, barren wasteland that I live in, and even though I am surrounded by a ton of snow all the time, I must admit, I even enjoyed the snow. We couldn't have had a more beautiful day for our outing either. The sun was shining bright and there was hardly a cloud in the sky. Sometimes we were hiking in just our T-shirts...and it is the middle of February! It was glorious. I must say though, next time I go snowshoeing, I plan on going at my own pace and my own distance, which you can probably count on being a wee bit shorter.

Cake anyone?

I have two nieces that were born a week apart a year ago. They just celebrated their first birthdays this month. In celebration, my two sisters got together and partied, and seeing as I live only a couple hours from these festivities, how could I miss out? So despite the bad weather, I took the weekend off from school and joined them. It was so much fun to watch them interact with each other, devour their first cakes, open new presents and toys, and gorge ourselves with more cake. Not that I'm biased or anything, but I've said it before, and I'll say it again, I'm pretty sure I have the cutest nieces and nephews ever!

photography assignment 1...complete

I'm taking a photography class this semester and I am loving it! It's a pretty basic class, but it's a good way to solidify what I know and still learn some things. We just had our first assignment, and I had a lot of fun with it. It was simple enough, we just had to take 24 photographs of a single object and then turn in our top four. My roommate plays the violin and I thought it would be a pretty good object to shoot, so she let me take pictures of it. I thought I might share a couple of the images.

The Browns!

It's official, I have the cutest nieces and nephews and the most beautiful sisters ever. In the past six months I've taken all of their pictures and they all make the pictures look so good. Always. My sister Becky came home for Christmas and seeing as her last "family portrait" consisted of her and Micah's wedding picture, we ran outside and took a couple shots. Moses Lake has actually been dumping snow for the first time in a long time, making beautiful shots. I love snow pictures! Fortunately Becky and Micah were willing to freeze a little bit. Becky was even willing to sit right in the snow. I felt bad for making her do it, but not bad enough to not make her do it ;)

and it's finally over

I made it throught the semester!! It's over, and so is my visual media class :) Here's my update and final outcome on the project I blogged about. I'm so glad it's over. It was pretty much the biggest nightmare of my life, and everything that could go wrong with this project did, but it's done now, and that makes me so happy. Anyway, my roommate suggested making a birth announcement for her nephew that was born not too long ago. I thought about it for awhile, and decided I liked the idea. Seeing as her nephew was in a different state, I didn't actually take these pictures, they just sent some to me, but I put it all together. I used photoshop to edit the photos, illustrator to make the rattle, and indesign to put it all together. I've always been a lover of photoshop, but now I'm converted to the other programs also. They're amazing!

The front of the announcement...

...and the back of the announcement

The Jeppsons

I took my sister's family pictures while I was at her house for Thanksgiving a week or so ago. We had such a fun time, I wish I could go back. We had a good time taking pictures, and the kids did such a good job. It was kind of cold and sitting for a camera is never at the top of the list for the most fun thing to do to a three year and almost one year old anyway, but as you can see, Peter especially was full of fun, goofy grins. Fortunately, my parents were right behind me jumping around to get both kids to look, but we never could quite crack a smile from Elsie.

I love these pictures of Elsie. I couldn't decide which one I liked better, so I put both of them up.

She finally gave in and I caught a small smile!

Then my parents wanted a couple quick pictures so it was their turn to jump in the camera hot spot. Family pictures all around!