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.... :)