halloween...

halloween 2007 was a great sucess. we had a good time dressing up, going to john's work and passing out candy. eleanor enjoyed walking up and down our street. she made sure to wave and say hi to every trick-or-treator. she also ate more then enought candy...no wonder she woke up at 2am with a tummy ache.

john-the mountain man

i've got to give a little shout-out to john. this year he went with his brother and his family on the deer hunt. last week for four days they woke up at 5:00 am (and he wonders why i didn't go with them) and headed up to either spanish fork canyon or near strawberry. on the 3rd trip out john shot his very 1st deer. neither of us enjoy (i've actually never tried it...but i know i'd hate it) deer meet so we figured we just make nothing but jerky. now the question is...who wants jerky.


*note to readers. i know this picture is very disturbing with the deer looking right at you. trust me, it was really creepy taking this photo. i wish they'd closed the poor things eyes. and no, i did not let eleanor see this. i'm afraid she would have permanent damage. the poor girl freaked out when her pinata got smashed.

why i'm not at church...

saturday, october 27, 2007
6:15- eleanor wakes up
6:20- eleanor will not go back to sleep. i get out of bed and start cleaning the house.
7:30- house is clean. eleanor gets a bath.
8:10- remember i need a babysitter for this morning.
8:11- call miaka and schedule to pick her up at 10:30
9:30- john gets out of bed.(he needed the extra sleep. he was up until 2:30...long story)
10:00- shower and get ready.
10:30- pick up miaka and drop things off at lori's
10:45- leave the house and head for american fork
10:55- arrive to funeral
1o:56- cry
11:10- cry
12:10- still crying
12:15- leave funeral a tad early
12:30- get home. dress eleanor, gather a few things
12:45- take miaka home and head off for elk ridge
1:25- arrive at john's parents house.
1:50- lilly gets blessed
1:55- leave elk ridge
2:35- arrive to evan's party
2:36- start taking photos
2:45- telling kids to say cheese
3:10- shoving food into my mouth (first time that day)
3:35- still saying cheese
3:50- sneak out of the party
3:55- rest
3:56- done resting. gather up costumes
4:30- leave for walmart to pick up last minute costume items: john's velvet pants and extra dark makeup
5:30- leave malmart (insert comment on how much i HATE walmart)
5:32- eleanor learns to say trick-or-treat
5:34- eleanor says trick-or-treat
5:37- still saying trick-or-treat
5:42- wondering why we taught her trick-or-treat
5:45- experience deja vu (leave for elk ridge)
6:15- arrive to elk ridge, again deja vu
6:16- put on eleanor's costume. eleanor plays with cousins
6:25- john and i transform into siegfried and roy
6:26- take two photos and camera batteries die
6:35- leave for steve's party
6:37- arrive to party.
6:40- eat
6:45- pull out 3 WRAPPED candies out of eleanor's mouth.
6:46- still pulling out candy
7:00- watch a little guitar hero
7:01- wish i played guitar or STILL had one
7:10- watch eleanor dance to the music
7:11- wondered where eleanor learned her skills
7:45- leave elk ridge
7:46- eleanor takes her first nap for the day
7:50 -deja vu again
8:30-arrive to lyndsay and matt's party and wake eleanor up
8:31- wondering why we didn't go with a "prettier" costume theme
8:45- enjoy seeing all the creative costumes
8:55- eat
9:00- enjoying the party
9:10- eating
9:11- eleanor starts acting up
9:12- realize how good eleanors done ALL day.
9:20- matt takes a few photos for us
9:35- almost asleep
9:36- fighting our tired eyes
9:37- realize we need to get home
9:37- home!!!!!
9:38- eleanor and john dead a sleep.

siegfried, roy & harriet

and its over...

i can't tell you how happy i am that today is thursday and this week is finally to an end (my school week that is). monday night i realized that i had a four page paper for my history of photography class due on wednesday. i had not done ANY of the 200+ pages of reading for it or given it any thought. i then thought i should check out my online writing class and see what was due. come to find out i had a big assignment due on friday, of course i totally spaced this assignment as well. i also had a big assignment due in my digital imaging class AND a midterm for my gender studies. then on top of it all, i got a call from my counselor saying she HAD to meet with me on thursday to talk about graduation. let's just say i was a little stressed this week. thanks to some good friends (tiff for helping me cheat with my writing class and lori & crystal for watching eleanor).

i left my midterm feeling pretty good. my teacher is a complete nut and her test was wild. my appointment with my counselor was good. just 4 more classes needed to graduate. (but i think i'll end up taking at least 2-3 others just for fun). i was also able to pick up my prints and get them mounted just in time for class. i have such a love/hate relationship for critiques. i get to antsy when people go on and on and on about some absurd point. oh and come on, just because you are in the art department does not mean you need to dye your hair blue and walk around campus with no shoes.

so yeah, i'm glad this week is over. we are having a few friends over for dinner this weekend, attending evan's birthday party and just relaxing for the remainder.

assignment two

for my digital imaging class i had a series of four 8X20 montages. i'm thrilled with the outcome!

october in a flash part II

bull riding night:

john's brother got us all tickets to a professional bull riding contest. i wasn't too thrilled about going, but i must admit i wasn't ready to leave when we did. the entire night cracked me up. i loved watching how into it the fans were and all the sound/fire effects were great. i really felt like a redneck!!

{i love ella's cowgirl atire}

{the whole gang}

american fork v. lone peak:

our nephew mike invited us to the american fork v lone peak football game. john went to american fork and hadn't been to a football since. it was actually really fun! it got pretty chilly so we left at halftime. john was glad to hear af killed lone peak. sorry mike.

{a girl after my own heart...cheetos lover}

{go cavemen}

grandpa & grandma hatch birthday/anniversary party:
john and eleanor got to go to grandpa and grandma hatch's anniversary and birthday party. john's grandparents are so cute and nice! i had class and was so do miss the party. eleanor loved playing with all her cousins. i think there were 8 great grand"girls" born last year.

{grandpa & grandma hatch and grandma martin}

zoo with cousins:
during uea we went up to the zoo. we knew it would be pretty crowed so we got there right when it opened in hopes of beating the crowd. it was such a perfect day. there was no one there and the animals were so active. also, the weather and leaves were beautiful! we all had such a good time and are hoping to get one more visit before its too cold.

{zack and the white alligator or crocodile... not sure which}

{ella and dad checking out the bears}

{just before she ripped it to shreds}

{1.2.3...her new favorite thing}

october in a flash...

this month has been such a fun and packed month for us. since i've been in school i haven't had much time to keep my blog up-to-date. i'm always thinking of things i need to add on my blog...but just can't find the time. right now eleanor and john are taking a sunday afternoon nap and i'm sacrificing mine so i can cross this off my to do list this week. here are the cliff notes for october so far...

st. george and oliver paey's blessing:

the first of the month we took a little weekend trip to st. george and cedar city. john's high school bud was blessing his little boy and we thought it would be fun to spend a night in st. george and watch 42nd street at tuacahn. the musical was really good...but it was FREEZING cold. we also got to do a little swimming and just hanging out in the hotel. we got to meet little oliver (i'm still going to name my first son oliver) and he is really cute. its always nice catching up with old friends.{tyring to get the red rock in our self-portrait}

{nothing new...ella loving the swing}

bear lake get away:
you've got to love fall break! this was my first time in my 6 years of college to get a full week off for fall break. we had plans to go down to az (was even going to take john to st. johns for the first time and go to my 10 year class reunion) but we ended up having too much going on and decided to stay home. john actually surprised me on sunday morning telling me i needed to get packing for our little 3 day getaway. he wouldn't tell me where we were going, just somewhere close and cold. thanks to lori's smarts, i found out we were going to bear lake. i was so excited. i've been wanting to go up there for quite some time. the ride up was beautiful. the fall leaves were in full color and it was our first time to drive up logan canyon in the fall. we won't miss it next year!! the condo we stayed out was great! i was surprised at how big and nice it was. we had such a fun little vaction. we were surprised to find only 2 restaurants opened and only one gas station. we did a lot of driving and even ventured up to montpelier idaho. i was excited to finally go there. if you play ticket to ride you become quite familiar with this little city...and i mean LITTLE! again, we had such a good time. thanks john for the surprise! oh and how could i forget. eleanor decided she wanted to start walking! she took off with about 20 steps. by the end of the trip she was walking all over the place. way to go!!! we also stopped at a great pumpkin patch in logan and got a car FULL of pumpkins.

{one of the two restaurants. a pizza joint}

{no, the mery-go-round was not even plugged in}

{john's first visit to paris...he wishes france}

{eleanor's first steps. encouraged by the phone charger}

{a recommendation from my parents... a+}

{pumpkin patch logan, ut}

{ella stirring}

part I of our october break

eleanor's invites...{for mindy}

{front}

{back}

{inside}

i pledge...to npr

yesterday on my way home from school i was listening to npr. its that time of year again, the fall fund drive is here. i kind of hate this week on npr and get a little annoyed with all the goal talk during each program. right when i starting to get annoyed and about to switch from radio to cd, i heard a name of friend (well a friend of john's) come across the radio. justin hasckell from elk ridge, ut. they said he just became a member and thanked him for his contribution. thanks justin...you inspired me. i'm making my pledge tonight.

eleanor's very first birthday party...aka fiesta

don't normally do these....but what the heck

Where did you meet your husband? fall semester of 2000 (i think). we had one class together. we didn't really talk that semester but both noticed each other. the following semester we had two classes together. the second day of class i saw john sleeping in the hall about an hour before our class. i woke him up and told him he had missed class. he didn't find it as funny as i thought he would.
Where was your first kiss? under mistletoe on valentines day 2001. we were eating dinner at my apartment while studying for a test. lets just say this wasn't your ordinary mistletoe kiss.
Did you have a long or short engagement/courtship? hum..we dated from march to sept 2001. he then went on his mission. he got home in august 2003 and we got engaged feb. 2004.
Where did you get engaged? machu picchu, peru. we were on our way to pick up my sister from her mission in chile. he totally surprised me. i remember he told me that when we get back from our trip we should start looking for rings. we just happened to be in machu picchu on valentines day. typically i wouldn't prefer to get engaged on valentines day, but being in machu picchu was perfect. we took a hike up to a temple and he stopped on the trail and asked me. it was raining and perfect! i of course started laughing when he asked me. he was so cute!!
How was the honeymoon? great. we spent it in scottsdale. we were building our home and decided to take a short honeymoon and then went to spain for our one year anniversary.

trip to the zoo for eleanor's birthday

on friday john, eleanor, sara, lori, evan and i visited the zoo. it was a beautiful fall day and we really enjoyed having sara, lori & evan with us. as you can see, sara took some amazing photographs for us. thanks starla!

after about 2 hours of the he zoo we took a little break and headed up the canyon to ruth's. again, the fall weather was so nice and we enjoyed a yummy lunch outside. after lunch sara had to go take some bridals while the rest of us returned to the zoo for another half hour or so. i really like hogel zoo. it's small, clean and has plenty of shade. of course eleanor loved all the animals. i don't know what to think about this animal lover i'm raising...i really don't know where she gets it from. anyway, john bought a season pass so i'm sure there will be plenty more trips during the next 12 months....

september 20... eleanor turns one

a year... an entire year.wow, it seems so strange that our eleanor is one! she was so cute on her birthday! john took both thursday and friday off to celebrate eleanor's "birthday week". i've never been one for just "birthdays" in my opion it needs to be "birthday week". right when she woke up john and i sang happy birthday to her and she thought she was SOO cool. (i'd been singing happy birthday to her all week prepping her for her big debut). right after her birthday we jumped in the car and headed down to magleby's fresh for some breakfast, or should i say suryp (i go there just for the suryp). after breakfast we took eleanor to the photobooth to get her photos done. i'm a HUGE fan of photobooth photos and have been trying to get her to one at least once a month. i was a little disappointed in the quality, but they were still cute. i plan on taking all my kids photobooth photos on their birthdays.

after the photobooth we headed to old navy to pick up an outfit for eleanor's birthday party and to let her see that dang dog in the store. for some reason eleanor is a HUGE animal fan. john and i wonder where she got it from because we both don't care too much for animals. after old navy john had to take her to petsmart to go see the animals. i know, its kind of lame, but it made her day. we looked at every animal and ALMOST bought a bird. we are still thinking about it.

the rest of the day john and eleanor hung out together and i headed up to school. i wanted to stay home, but i had my first critique and could not miss it. i felt a little guilty not being with eleanor, but she and john and a good time playing. after school i went to the airport to pick up sara. she came into town to shoot some bridals and we were lucky to have her for eleanor's birthday party. my next post will include many great photos sara took of our trip to the zoo and eleanor's birthday party. she did an amazing job!!

oktoberfest fest

last sunday we decided to venture up to little cotton wood canyon to attend our 4th oktoberfest. correction, we didn't quite make it to #3 last year. somehow we got to the peek of big cotton wood canyon before we realized we were in the wrong canyon. (i still get a kick out of this and johns still embarrassed about it). years past we've always gone up on saturdays and found this year that sundays are much more exciting. there are a lot more people and it makes for some good people watching. of course the brauts and sauerkraut were delicious. john finally decided to try sauerkraut and actually enjoyed it. of course john and i stuck out like a sore thumb with diet pepsi in hand and a kid in a stroller....