Christmas Week

 We went up north to see my family last week! Of course my mom had every minute of everyday packed with fun to do's.
Day 1 we went snowboarding!

Brandon, Jared, Ryan on the ski lift. 

 We got Ryan a paintball gun for christmas and since he knew what it was we thought we'd wrap it up real nice :)

 on Christmas Eve we spent all morning making white and dark chocolate/ carmel dipped EVERYTHING! YUMMO!

 Charley wanted to get in on the action and stood right under where we were dipping and got drizzled on a few times in chocolate and carmel.

 Christmas eve party we had the Fondas over as usual! We have a music program and games and presents.

 Christmas day was fun! we opened presents and then went to Grandmas for a big christmas dinner!

 Charleys new Christmas present :)

To: Brandon AND Joe. Love: Santa so of course we had to open it like lady and the tramp?....

Chrismas Break Thus Far..

here is our lovely christmas card for this year! I love to make them but i'm not a fan of the post office OR printing of photos at walmart so i'm a digital christmas card sender. so this is me sending our card to all of you who read my blog :)

So far christmas break has been... I was gonna say fun but thats not the word?.... it's been relaxing..... (there we go) Brandon has been working a ton and I am just doing my photography now so when he works just about every day mine and charleys days tend to get boring. I have cleaned the house over and over (whether it needed it or not) i've burnt myself out on photo editing already and (since I can't watch Lost, Lie to Me or Psych with out Brandon) I've REWATCHED seasons 1 and 2 of Arrested Development and season 1 of Monk... and i've only been out of school a WEEK! I think my bed has a permanent body mark in it from where I've sat editing and watching tv all week! Brandon had yesterday off finally so we got out to do something fun! My husband is OBSESSED with guns. He already has 2 but he claims we need more because "they are such a good investment!" and  "they never lose they're value!" and "what happens when I need to protect our home!!??" (I think I need to remind him that we live in Cedar City  Utah?...) and my favorite, "what happens when the government decides to take away our freedom and there are riots and stores close and I have to hunt for our own food!!" ....  I tell him when he's a rich doctor he can buy as many guns as he wants but until then every extra dollar we have is going towards that new sofa you promised me! Anyway, his dad said he wanted to get him a gun for christmas so we went to the pawn shop and borrowed the 2 he's been deciding between.

This one I could BARELY hold up! I shot it, screamed, flew backwards 4 feet, and bruised my shoulder!

Charley has never gone shooting before and as SOON as the first gun shot went off I couldn't PEEL her out of my lap or under my feet!!  she was so scared!!! (i love this picture can't you tell she's TERRIFIED! ha ha ha too cute!)

we let her sit in the car but she was still shaking like CRAZY! 

so this is where she stayed for pretty much the entire rest of the morning ha ha ha

I COULD NOT throw those stupid pigeons on that stupid thrower!! I tried to throw one from right where i'm standing and it BARELY whizzed passed Brandons face and landed by that yellow trash can!!! I did this 3 times until he wouldn't let me try anymore...ha ha ha It was quiet funny at the time :) so poor Brandon had to throw them and then shoot them himself. It was really very impressive!

ISN'T CHARLEYS PUFF VEST SO CUTE!!!!?

Later that day Brandons dad came up and we went snowmobiling up on Brianhead! It was fun but I was dying of claustrophobia in my helmet and neck guard the entire time! Sadly I didn't get any pictures because It was a WHITE OUT and freezing cold but maybe next time!

That night we had some friends come over and we had a big steak dinner! YUM! We were watching "The Killers" after dinner and a gun shot went off in the movie and charley dove onto my lap SO FAST you'd think the shot went off right in the room!! needless to say she remained curled up in ball on my chest for the rest of the movie....

Happy Holidays!!

on a side note.... This is our family dog Brinklee! We've had him for 3 years and he went missing on the 15th of December :( He got lost in our neighborhood in South Jordan but he's pretty quick and could be half way to Provo by now! He's 3 years old, a Wheaten Terrier, White (obviously), and VERY friendly!! He has a collar on so if he's found PLEASE call the number on the collar! If you have ANY INFORMATION AT ALL please get a hold of me! megvalantine24@gmail.com!! Thanks everyone! We'd love to have him home for Christmas :)

B+!!!!

THE MOST EXCITING THING THAT COULD HAVE EVER HAPPENED TO ME JUST HAPPENED!!!!

 I PASSED MATH!!!! I GOT A B+!!!!! 

5 semesters ago I signed up for 1050 and was told I had to take a math placement test again (mild panic because I haven't taken math since 2005!) so after failing that I had to go back and take 990

-so I worked myself to THE BONE in 990 and failed. 

-So I took it again and got privately tutored from my professor 3x's a week and PASSED!

-took 1010 (again 3x's a week with my private tutor and letting all my other classes fall behind) and guess what?!  failed. this time almost just dropping out of school!!

-thinking I could take 1030 and pass I got permission from the Dean to skip taking 1010 again and go to 1030.... well in 1030 was went 4x's a week with my tutor and letting all my other classes fail AGAIN... I failed again...

-this semester I took a HUGE school load thinking I would have passed math last semester. Since I couldn't drop any of my big classes I had to stack math online on top of my already HUGE work load. I stayed caught up in the class till about the midterm, but then got too busy with other classes and COMPLETELY stopped trying in my math class. I went to the Dean 2 weeks before finals and told him that I was going to fail math again but not because I couldn't do it, but because this semester I simply had no time to try! He told me if I didn't pass math this semester by at LEAST a 65% he was going to send me BACK to 1010!! which was a problem because that means 2 more semesters of math with only 1 semester before graduation... So for the last 2 weeks of my semester I HAULED BUTT and caught up on all of my assignments, took 11 quizzes and 5 tests and studied for HOURS in the tutor center! I have really bad test anxiety, but when I walked a crossed campus to the test center I could barely hold back tears!! I was FREAKING OUT! I knew I wasn't going to pass because I'd only spent about 30% of the time I usually spend on a math class AND I was having a mental BREAK right before the test!!! luckily brandon called me right then and talked some sense into me! So I stayed out in the hall for a minute, took a few deep breaths (thanks yoga) took the test, and waited for my grades to come online! 

I CAN'T BELIEVE I GOT A B+ MUCH LESS PASSING IT AT ALL!!! 

-I'd like to thank my parents who wouldn't let me drop out of school 3 tries ago, and listened to all of my ridiculous fits about how I'll never succeed at anything!

-I'd like to thank my wonderful husband who believed in me so much and pushed me through all the hard days!

-I 'd like to thank my sister who listened to me cry on the phone about it!

-and last but CERTAINLY not least, I'd like to thank my professor Alisha! She pretty much could have taken a part time job with how often she tutored me over the last 3 years! She listened to me have my ridiculous fits, and lifted my spirits when they were low, pushed me through and didn't let me drop out of school every semester for the last 2 years! Thanks Lishy! Your the greatest!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

THE CHURCH IS TRUE!

I LOVE YOU ALL!

Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Christmas break really could not have come sooner this year. I took WAY too big of a school load this semester and Christmas break seemed to never get here! Usually I turn on the christmas music the day after Halloween and start watching all 4 of my Christmas movies over and over and over but this year I was too busy to even realize that November was almost over! We FINALLY got our christmas stuff up this year after thanksgiving and I could BARELY WAIT to get the tree up! Last year for xmas my mother-in-law gave me an "after christmas clearance sale spree"! (For those who are mother in laws or have newly-wed kids this is a GREAT gift!) Our tree was so little last year, so when I went on my "spree" I only got a few new boxes of ornaments and some stuff to hang around the house! I worked in a consignment shop last year and this guy came in 2 weeks after christmas and asked if we'd buy a brand new christmas tree? I said nope sorry. Then he asked if I wanted it? I asked how much and he said "how much have you got in your wallet?" and I said "15$" and he said SOLD! So this year we have a brand new 7 foot tall christmas tree! I only had enough ornaments for a 3 foot tall tree to the day after thanksgiving we went out and bought a few more big ornaments for our big tree and LOTS more lights! Can I PLEASE just say that my tree is the CUTEST TREE EVER!! We got these glittery christmas balls on sticks that shoot out of the tree everywhere and big wood plaques that say things like "have yourself a merry little christmas" and "merry christmas to all and to all a goodnight" etc.  I LOVE having people come over cause I LOVE my tree! I'm never gonna take it down!

This year for christmas it's my families turn to have everyone and I am SO EXCITED I can barely stand it! My sister and Brother-in-law live in Missouri so we NEVER see them and they'll be here saturday! We can't make it up until monday and it's KILLING ME! My mom got us tickets to see Scrooge at the Hale Center Theatre and I can't wait to do all of our Christmas traditions! Make sugar cookies, go to temple square, watch movies, sit around the tree!!!! This week is going to go by SO SLOW so I booked all of my photo sessions for the whole break this week just to keep me too busy to notice, hopefully that works out for me.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT!

I-AM-AN-ART-STUDENT!

I hate being with Brandon when people ask what our majors are. Theres Brandons response which is... "oh I'm a double major in Business and Biology with a minor in chemistry" ( thats when the impressed faces appear) then its my turn... "I'm a art major, with en emphasis in photography" and faces are interested, but no longer impressed ha ha ha. Unless they too are a "Utah Photographer" (aka someone with a nice camera parading around with the idea that they they have a talent in this field as well) then the reaction is usually much different than Brandons impressive Med School line up.  The worst was when I was single and I'd meet boys moms, it'd seem to be going really well and then they'd ask me what my major was... DUN DUN DUUUN! As soon as nursing major didn't escape my lips I was no longer a competitor for that boys heart (or at least according to his mother I wasn't). I saw this the other day on my friend (and fellow art students) facebook and I just love it!

Except they need a section that says "ohhhh so you're  just gonna live off your rich doctor husband! okay that makes more sense now" I need to tell people I'm an art major FIRST then let Brandon quickly follow with what his major is so the conversation starts with his ha ha ha

A farewell to photography.

Today I hit yet another milestone in my life, I attended my last photography class at SUU. I don't graduate until May but next semester I was told "you have 10 credits left and you may choose any art classes you'd care to take". So after looking over the list of offered photography classes for next semester and being less than impressed with the selection I thought to myself "why don't I take classes that I WANT to take? This will probably be my last opportunity to take them anyways..." So I decided against taking any of the photography classes and for once in 5 years went with what I wanted to do. So heres the line-up
Art history 2 (easy!)
Ceramics 1
Painting 1
Silkscreen
and Yoga!
13 fabulous credits of every class i've ever thought "oh, that would be cool to try" and I can't wait! Yeah, I guess i'm sad that I won't be doing photography with my photo friends for my last semester but most of my friends are graduating next week anyways. My best friend down here in college has been in the photography program for as long as I have and she's graduating this week (unlike me... stupid math...) we usually make our schedules just about the same every semester and I wouldn't have survived half of them with out her. She's so funny and crazy and I'm gonna miss her a lot but her not being there next semester also made me realize I REALLY wouldn't miss photo class that much.
So here is a farewell to photo classes. Your all I've known for the last 5 years of my life and I'm sure in a year from now I'll miss being a student again. Everything from here on out will have to be youtube tutorials and networking. Wish me luck!

Photo taken in Sweden, memorial for an organist. 

A slice of humble pie... in the face!

I haven't been feeling very well lately, I can't decide if it's a cold or what but it's really taking me out! As most of you in the blogging world know, I quit my job a few months ago, my boss called and asked if I could "save her life" and come work one saturday (today) while she's out of town so I agreed... little did I know I'd be on my death bed with the flu. The store is located where Yamaha Motors used to be. Their main store is now where the pawn shop is and the garage where all the "toys" were kept is where my store is. (Needless to say this makes for VERY hot summers and VERY cold winters). So today I've been sitting in my empty store playing the "woe is me" game, I think you all know it?

- I don't even NEED to be here right now!
- why did I agree to this?!
- I'm freezing!
- It HAD to be pouring rain TODAY!
- I CANNOT feel my toes!!
- I hate that we only have a space heater!
- my back is killing me! I'm so achey
- No one is even coming in today cause of the rain!!
- I wish I was home watching christmas movies... (you get the point).

I went out to my car in the rain, got my lunch, brought it back to the store, opened it ... and then this woman and her 2 kids come in JUST as I'm about to dive into my lunch break! so i'll put that one on the list too

- oh my heck OF COURSE someone comes in once it's time for my break!!
- thanks a lot!!
- i've been in here all day with NO ONE and then someone FINALLY comes in now! great......

The whole time they're in the store they are discussing the christmas gifts they are getting for their 2 other siblings (they must have drawn names?) the whole time the kids are pointing out things for their siblings while the mom is doing the math and trying to find something in their budgets. Finally they pick their items and come up to my desk.... achey, sniffling, and coughing I stand up off my

"Bob Cratchit"-esque stool to ring them up and the woman says "oh my word! you look terrible! (thanks lady) are you sick!?", I replied "oh yeah, I've been fighting this for days!" then she says "you know what always helps my colds? The carmel apple cider from Starbucks! 2 sips of that and I'm all better!" so while ringing her up as fast as I could so I could get to my lunch I replied "oh i'll have to do that thanks...(not)" I gave her the bags "you feel better dear, I just hate to see people so unhappy!"  "okay I will thanks! (get out of my store) have a good day!" Once she left I FINALLY started to eat lunch and I immediately went back to
-my back hurts!
-great now my food is cold!
-what a crappy day!
-is it 6 yet?
-I need to go take a bath... in my crappy bathtub at home
-I'm so sick of my stupid apartment
-I want a house
-I hate living in cedar! i'm so over this place, crappy rainy weather!....

and then the door opened again (letting out ALL the warm air i'd accumulated around me from the space heater) annoyed, I looked up and it was same little lady who was just in here?... she walked across the room, up to my desk, and with a big smile on her face said "here, I could just tell you weren't having a good day and we need you to get feeling better on top of that!" and she handed me a nice steaming hot cup of carmel apple cider from Starbucks... "oh! thank you so much! you really didn't need to do that!" to which she replied "oh we don't really NEED to do anything do we? you get better now!" and she turned and left the store..... wow....  This lady was worried about her budget for her kids for christmas and yet she'll still go get a $5 cup of cider for a complete stranger in the pouring rain! It REALLY turned my entire day around. Out of sheer excitement I tend to skip thanksgiving and move right to christmas and this year i've been trying not to do that but that really brought out the christmas spirit fire in me. Instead of always focusing with what's on my plate I need to better understand that other peoples plates are just as full and I need try to lift others like this women did for me today. Someone else in the world needs you to be that person for them and I hope I can step up and come through for who ever that is.  The lord loves us and is aware of our needs and it's through others that he shows us that.

Senior Showcase

This week is an exciting one for me! My senior showcase is being exhibited here in Cedar City all week. After 5 long years of college and hours and hours of preparation and setting up for this exhibit I must say it feels like a pat on the back to finally see the finished product of my college experience. I've even SOLD a few of my pieces which is an enormous boost to my self esteem I must say :)  I'm coming in on my last semester of college ( and it's gonna be an easy one!) I'm taking ceramics, painting, silkscreen, art history and yoga so this gallery is really my last huge assignment for college (unless I don't pass math AGAIN) and it feels so good to have it done and passed me. now yes, it goes all week and I still need to be there every night but the stresses of it are gone. I'll put up some "Before pics" and at the end of the week (so i don't spoil it for those who are planning on coming) i'll post some "after pics". Thanks to everyone who came opening night! It was a huge success! Thanks to both my families who are driving all the way to Cedar City just to see it! I love you!

This is my poster advertising the gallery, we put them all over town and campus to get people there.

this is our Gallery space right when we got to it. It looks much different now.

 This is me cutting out my pieces onto foam core.

 This is where I was for pretty much 18 hours, hanging and leveling pictures over and over again. 

HALLOWEEN

 For Halloween we had a cookie decorating party at our house! It was way fun! I made a ton of cookies to take to my neighbors and we had a blast decorating all of them

 This is Simone and Trevor.... we love them lots....

 This is their daughter Lanaya... Brandon loves her lots :)

 Heres the group!

 At our ward party simone, trevor and lanaya dressed up as royals! I loved it!

My FAVORITE was the cute little blake family! They were awesome!

My momma and jared came down to see us too! They stayed all weekend and we had a blast! Shopping in st. george, watching movies, eating good food, and movies! doesn't that just sound like a weekend with my mom?... I'm behind on my blogging so more pics to come!

Nails

A friend of mine is learning how to do acrylic nails and I volunteered to get some! She did a really good job but I CANNOT get used to these!! I can't open things, I can't zip my pants, I can't TYPE! I cant pick things up, I can't scratch an itch through my jeans!! They look cute but boy these things are ROUGH!!

Weekend with Mal Pal

Last weekend my good friend Malorie and her friend Rose came down and stayed at my house. It was so fun to have some friends over! We never have visitors and I LOVE them! On saturday I had a wedding to shoot and they had a baptism so between the 2 events we went for a hike up in the St. George red rock. It was fun to get Charley out of the house and back into hiking mode! 

 Charley is the best outdoor adventure dog EVER!

 Tired and a little dehydrated (I left her water in the car oops)

Climbing the crack!

Also, my little sister-in-law Aubrey and her boyfriend Brady had homecoming this weekend and since it was semi formal they decided to make they're outfits out of duck tape... they are pretty impressive...

Love you guys!

Christmas Fever!

I am one of those annoying people who start the Holidays WAY too early. I whip out the Christmas music November 1st and I can BARELY make it to Thanksgiving without setting up my Christmas Tree! Don't get me wrong I LOVE FALL but this year, fall stinks!! I mostly love fall because of fall CLOTHES, pea coats, hats, sweaters, scarves and MOST OF ALL BOOTS!! I LOVE BOOTS!!!! LOVE BOOTS!! I don't think you are understanding how much I LOVE boots! It's october 6th and as of last week it was still 85 degrees! NOT boots weather! This week it has rained for 3 days straight and it's been FREEZING! People are pulling out the fall clothes left and right and braving the rain! so SINCE fall is half way over and it's STILL not acting like fall my biological clock has already started to skip Halloween and move right on to "The Holidays"! I have had to PHYSICALLY stop myself from watching a christmas movies and I've already started  my new Christmas playlist on my Ipod! So yesterday I decided in order to stop skipping October and to stop wanting to pull out my christmas stuff  I needed to try to be more welcoming towards fall. So I went and bought a fall center piece for my table! Maybe if I TRY to like fall a little bit more I'll stop trying to skip it? ...We'll see how the experiment goes?

Sorry Art Wins!

This semester of school is a big one for me. I am taking 16.5 credits and out of those there are 3 classes that require "my FULL attention". The first is math, math is my nemesis... this is my 5th semester of math classes, out of those 5 I have failed 4 of them, I'm taking it online this semester and I HAVE to pass this time! So obviously math needs to be my top priority! NOPE! I'm also taking Advanced Contemporary Landscape. In this class I have ONE assignment, Shoot a series of work, print it, frame it, curate it, advertise for it, and hold a gallery for it. So OBVIOUSLY that gets my main focus! NOPE! I'm also in my Senior Portfolio class which requires us to make our own website AND produce a series of work to display on campus in the Senior Portfolio Gallery at the end of the year! So duh THATS my main focus! NOPE! I am applying to Grad School in January! I need to have my applications done, my grades up, my portfolio perfected and my letters of recommendation sent.... so WITHOUT QUESTION this is my TOP priority!... nope....All my main focuses are shadowed over by my LAST priority... my job. My job requires me to sit on a tall stool in a tiny furniture store and try to sell home decor to the 2 or 3 people that come in everyday. The only work I can get done at my job is my Math but I am taking it online so 90% of the time I don't know how to do it unless i'm in the tutor center receiving help... So how do we solve this?.... 

YEP! I am quitting my job for the sake of ART! I am meeting a lot of really important Grad School connections this month at a conference in Arizona and I NEED to revamp my portfolio before I do that. I'm realizing that in order to have my portfolio where I want and to be able to focus on my art  the life of a furniture salesman has got to go! I'm SO LUCKY to have a husband who understands my need for art and is so supportive about me quitting for that reason. I'll support him in Medical School if he'll support me through Grad School :) we're a good team I think. I'm putting in my 2 weeks notice on Monday so wish me luck! My boss is NOT going to be happy.

Blog-aholic

So I love to blog. I love to read blogs. I love to design blogs. I LOVE it... and I'm embarrassed to admit that I actually have THREE blogs! The Valantines Family Blog, Valantine Photography Blog and My Artist Blog! I've only had it for a month or so but it's kinda where I put my thoughts, Ideas and lessons I learn as an student. I showcase more of my fine art that people don't usually see there.
 It might be kinda boring but you may follow it if you'd like :)

My Life As An Aspiring Artist

Golfing, Rivers, BBQs and Nose Jobs

 Brandon decided since he studied SO HARD for the MCAT and he work SO HARD in OCHEM and Physics he'd buy himself some new golf clubs! He found this place online where you can buy nock-offs that are AWESOME so he got some Pings and he loves them! I'm glad he's got a passed time other than school work now.

 Me and Charley said goodbye to summer by going to our favorite place in Cedar City! There is a bike trail about 2 minutes away from my house that runs along a river that charley just LOVES to play in!

 I throw rocks into the water and she tries to find them but gets so sad when she can't find them and bring them back to me..

 it's a little low right now but we like it that way.

 Ryan, Aaron and I took Jared and a few of his friends to Lagoon for his Birthday! SO FUN but I can't believe that boys already 11!

 My good friend Jamie got home from her mission a few weeks ago so my friends and I all had the traditional summer pool party at my house! SO FUN!

 Nate and Malorie brought their dogs who jumped in the pool so immediately Charley wanted to get in too. She was too scared to swim cause she couldn't touch the bottom like she can in the river but she LOVED floating around on this sled?

 once a year we try to see how many of us we can stuff in this shower... we get fewer and fewer people in every year. (it looks like we're naked but we're not I promise!)

 Jamies homecoming!

 oh how I LOVE my friends!!

So... I guess I whistle when I sniff?.. it doesn't bug anyone but my mom and she has REALLY been pushing for me to get it fixed! There is a bone that goes up the middle of your nose and I don't have one. It must have gotten infected when I was little (getting hit in the face with volleyballs didn't help either) but I guess there is something you can do to fix it now? Anyway I get to the Dr. with my mom and he says "here we're gonna shove this up your nose...

yep... it looked JUST like this but worse! the circles on the side are about the size of a quarter! He numbed the inside of my nose by sticking wet floss stuff WAAAAY further up then I ever knew possible and then just SHOVED it up there!! It didn't hurt but it was the WEIRDEST experience of my life!! After that it took about an hour for me to start hating life!! It rubs my nose raw and I can't BREATH!! It hurts to even put my finger on my nose! I want to get it out so badly but I'd have to go up to SLC to do that so I have to leave it for a while. We'll see how it goes... pray for me.... :)