Our Roller Blading Revival

Brad & I have been talking for a while now about buying some roller blades, because we loved to roller blade so much as kids and tonight we finally made the trip to Sport Authority and carried out our long lived dream (okay, maybe long lived if you consider that to be a few months....but hey, it sounded more touching that way). Afterward we headed over to the church parking lot next door where we could skate around and reacquaint ourselves with our childhood past time in the back lot without too many people being able to see us and our handicapped moves.

Let me just say, I have no idea how I ever used to do it. I remember spending hours at classic skating, or even out on the streets with my friends, just rollin' around with no fear of falling, and not many falls to recall in general. But today, I was pretty nervous about rollerblading. Brad was a little timid at first too, but warmed up pretty quickly and was roller blading circles around me and the church parking lot in almost no time. I refused to leave the back lot due to the fact that people would be able to see me more visibly, and because I couldn't force myself to use the brakes on the blades. I was hesitant to because it puts me just a little bit off balance and requires me to lift one foot 1/4 inch off the ground in order to do so. I know, pretty terrifying right?

Everynow and then I would find myself getting brave and picking up speed to maybe 0.5mph, and would quickly slow myself down as it would throw my balance off. Brad on the other hand was having a blast, but was getting a little brave himself when it came to speed. About the time his arms would raise over his head and started flapping like a bird in order to balance himself, I'd find myself saying "you're getting a little brave there....might wanna slow it down a notch". That must be the motherly side of me. Anyways, I don't have any pics of us on our blades yet, which for our sake and pride is probably a good thing. But here are some pics I found online of our new found toys.

my blades

Brad's blades

New Photos & Sweet Zebra Toes!

So, as you know I am going into graphic design and therefore, naturally, like to spend oodles of time on Photoshop. And because of that addiction, I have over-exhausted/edited the photos I currently have and am also tired of looking at the ones that are currently hanging on the walls in our house. I decided we needed new photos of us. Yes, maybe a little vain of me...but it was true. So I called up my sister-in-law Amy who is actually pursing her degree in photography and did our engagement photos, and asked her if she'd mind doing a few shots of us so I can be entertained once again while looking at my walls and playing on photoshop. Being the sweet person she is, she agreed, and I think our photo shoot turned out pretty well. You can see some of my faves below.
(Disclaimer #1: These photos are ones that I have edited, I haven't seen Amy's edits yet so if you don't like these ones, don't hold it against HER :p)

Here are a few different edits of this photo, I'm pretty sure it's my favorite of them all. I love the calm surreal feel of it.

A few other faves:

In other entertainment & awesome family connections....my cousin Hailey is attending beauty school and I took her up on the opportunity to have some zebra gel toes done for me. For those of you who are aware with my inpulsive, uncontrollable obsession with zebra print anything (seriously, if it's zebra print, you can bet I'm buying it and if you try to stop me you might pull away a bloody stump.) you'll realize how excited I was about this.
(Disclaimer #2: Please ignore my disgusting toes. Many of you know they are freakishly long and require me to wear a 1/2 size shoe larger than what I may otherwise would have to. But aside from that I had an ingrown toenail removed a while ago and was told it would not grow back ever again....well, I've got news for that doctor and all else who claimed that....you just may be wrong. But that's another story, and probably a little too much info for you all. Sorry).

New Hobby/New Job

Just when I thought all of the fish in Utah were gay (because they wouldn't take my bait after 6 seperate fishing trips and not even a bite), they totally go and redeem themselves! Okay, maybe the word "redemption" is a little generous, I'm still a little skeptical. But hey catching a fish is catching a fish, no matter the size right? Brad and I have re-discovered our liking to fishing. During the winter my dad was kind enough to take us ice fishing a few times, and now that the weather is nice we love to go out shore fishing. It's nice to get away from everyday life and hit up the banks of the lakes. So far this year we have been to Deer Creek a few times, Otter Creek, Strawberry, and Tibble Fork. The fishing so far this year, at least for us, has been kind of slow. Brad caught a couple fish at Otter Creek, and one at both Deer Creek and Tibble Fork. I didn't catch any until our most recent trip last night, which was to Tibble Fork. I was just beginning to loose all interest in fishing, and then...as if it were a sign, my first fish of the season finally sucked it up and took my bait. Thank you, Mr. Fish! I was becoming frustrated because I don't even want to eat them...I'll let them go after a quick snap shot with the camera....infact, I'd be willing to give them all of the Power Bait they want while on shore, straight from the bottle--no hook, before releasing them back to their home! That's how generous I am to these fish...appparently they don't trust me a whole lot. Anyways, pictures can be found below of our trips.

In other news, I finally have a new job lined up to start on May 20th, and I am incredibly excited! I have been at my current job with Work Care for 3.5 years, and am starting to really burn out. I fear I don't have too many "do you have picture ID's?" left in me after this long, and it's time to move on. I will be working with IHC doing Insurance Verification at Utah Valley Regional Medical Center in Provo. I'm really excited for this new experience, and they will provide me with tuition assistance for my graphic design program which is always a bonus!

Couldn't resist taking a picture of the pretty mountains and Tibble Fork:























These next two are my fish I caught at Tibble Fork. I told you they were HUGE :p They probably totaled 10 inches put together. I felt like a kid at a fish farm....but hey, whatever it takes to keep my faith in fishing, right?

























These are a couple of Brad's fish he caught this year. The top fish currently resides at Deer Creek while the one you need a microscope to see in the bottom picture is from Tibble Fork....it's a Brook Trout.

Jessi

I got the go-ahead from my aunt to post these announcements I created for my cousin. I won't tell you which one she chose to print and mail out, for those of you are lucky enough to know the Palmers (or be related to them like I am :D) so that there is some element of surprise when you get them in the mail.

I was eager to post them because I've had a few people who have seemed interested in offering me some design opportunities and thought I'd share a little bit more of my work...which before now only consisted of our wedding announcement and mock magazine on our blog. Jessi wanted her announcement in green, purple and brown and not "too girly". The "not too girly" part was interesting for me to deal with because, for those who know me, I'm about as girly as they come and love anything in pink, and adorned in sparkles and curly-cues. :D It was a good experience for me though, and allowed me to focus on the person I was creating the announcement for and their interests and preferences. Overall, I think they turned out pretty good. I'd like to give a shout-out to Jessi and a congrats on graduating from highschool! Way to go, and thanks for letting me be a part of it!

P.S. Some of you may be wondering if Brad is okay...or even alive. The last two posts have been, perhaps selfishly, about me. In response to your concern, I'm pleased to announce that he is alive and well. (Amazing seeing how he has to live with me, right?) He just finished up the semester at UVU and is planning on taking some classes this summer. He's been working hard at work in preparation for Alpine School District's end of year online testing, so that's been keeping him pretty busy...but hasn't cut in to his fishing time to much. We've been on multiple fishing trips over the past couple of months, and he's been enjoying that as a nice break. So far out of the two of us, he's had 2 fish plus a couple of bites to my 0 zero fish and 0 bites. I'll post some pics soon....