The Holidays

Here's us on Christmas! Trevor's wearing the sweater I got him.

We had a great Christmas weekend! Trevor had to work on Saturday, but we got a whole day and a half extra off WITH each other that we don't usually get.

We spent Christmas Eve with a family that we're friends with from Trevor's home ward, and we realized we've done it practically every year for a while now. So next year hopefully we can do it again. They have a tradition to read the Christmas story from the New Testament and the Book of Mormon before opening one present on Christmas Eve, and we really enjoy being there for it :) They have a bunch of kids, some in their teens and some smaller, so it's fun to see the excitement and be close to a family who you can tell loves each other. I like to make Christmas Eve a little special and remind myself why we even have the holiday, because Christmas Day can get a little hectic.

We got up super early on Christmas and got right into opening the presents Trevor and I got for each other. The highlights: I got an iPhone and a standing mixer and new serving utensils! and Trevor got a butt-load of stuff! It's all tech-y stuff for the Mac and/or iron-manish-action-figure-y. We were so grateful we were able to spend a little money on each other this year. I love getting stuff for Trevor :)

We had breakfast with my family--and holy cow! My grandma got us a roaster! Like, for hams and turkeys and such. I already used to to make ribs last night, and they were good. I like that the roasting pan comes out and you wash it separate. We draw names for gifts in my family, and my little brother had me. He's almost 13 and he picked out all my presents himself! They were actually really awesome. He got me shoes that are SO CUTE, and two scarves, and and iTunes giftcard. Perfect :)

We had lunch with Trevor's family, and exchanged gifts there too. I am the proud new owner of a sewing basket with all the fixin's! I totally lucked out this year! (it may or may not have been my use of a christmas wish list...) It was a huge relief that all of us had a little more money than years in the past. We love our families and we WANT to make them happy with cool things they like! We also spent some time singing some carols at the piano. I TOTALLY LOVED THAT PART, even if no one else did. Trevor's mom made us all matching scarves, and we all wore them pretty much the rest of the day.

The best part was spending time with our families throughout the day. Christmas is great :) No one fought, or argued, and we all just hung out.

On the day after Christmas, we saw Sherlock Holmes with Trevor's brothers and it was pretty good! I thought Jude Law was a perfect Watson--not to mention perfect to look at ;)

Now that it's all over, we're going to go exchange a few things, take down all the decorations, and celebrate New Years. It's weird another Christmas is over.

I'm excited for this weekend to start taking pictures again! And for January to get here. There are a lot of babies coming soon, and I'm SO looking forward to it.

Christmas is Coming

It's kind of nice to have something to post about besides pictures :)

We had a madrigal reunion on Saturday and it was so nice to see everyone. I think we've been able to do SOMETHING every other year since we graduated. We even sang a couple of the old songs! I love that we sing! And I love that we love music, and that we are okay singing for no reason but just to sing! I've decreed that there is not enough singing in my house and that we're going to do it MORE. Got that Trevor?

I took some video but you can hear me A LOT because I was holding the camera, and I'm just not sure I want to do that to the world. Plus it's at my house and I'm at work, and I want to actually complete a post about something other than pictures. It doesn't count since I used the VIDEO camera on the camera, right?

Yesterday Trevor's family and I sang in church. But the cool part was actually the MEN of the ward. Whaaa? Yeah, the guys from the Elders Quorum sang a Christmas hymn, and HOLY cow! They were loud, they were in tune, they were energized! That was pretty much the highlight of all the Christmas music I've heard yet :) Surprisingly it really put me in the Christmas mood. I'm done with all my business (I'm pretty sure; but it's so like me to forget something important...we'll see), and now I'm really looking forward to just opening myself up to feel the spirit of Christmas.

I'm looking forward to making people I love happy with gifts that I've chosen for them. I love that the gifts will make their lives easier, and happier. I'm looking forward to seeing my whole family together (well, as much as possible), and to sharing in the spirit with them. I'm happy with the amount of Rudolph and Santa songs I've heard so far, and I'm ready for the good stuff about Jesus! I've loved seeing people I don't normally get to see any other time of year, and I'm looking forward to spending more time with more people I love!

I've even been saying "Merry Christmas" this year! I NEVER say that. It's kind of weird, and awkward, but I've just beel feelin' it, you know? So, Merry Christmas!

My First Couple--Lindbloms

Oi. I can tell couples are going to be hard to take pictures of :\

My friend Megan and her husband Erik (who is probably my friend too) let me take pictures of them this weekend, and we had a really great time, but I was pretty anxious the whole time. It's kind of scary! I feel like I don't know if I'm going to be able to make the pictures work every time! But as long as I get ONE usable picture, I guess I should be okay, right? haha

I was so nervous to look at the pictures I'd taken, I waited a whole day to even look at them! But I think they turned out okay, and I'm excited to get some more practice in and find some new poses and angles and such to use. So KEEP LETTING ME KNOW IF I CAN TAKE YOUR PICTURES :) I'm hoping that after Christmas I can get some more in! I might call you.

Rhiannon

My friends are awesome :) I have had so many people volunteer to help me practice taking pictures, that I don't even have any more time before Christmas! I would have never thought! I am definitely going to keep taking more, so please keep letting me know :) I enjoy it so much!

I did a shoot with my friend Rhiannon on Saturday, and I am so happy with the results! She's amazing and is so pretty; it was so easy to take her pictures! She even did an outfit change OUTSIDE in the WIND and FREEZING COLD! So, THANKS RHIANNON!

Here's a couple of my favorites:

From Rhiannon's Finals

From Rhiannon's Finals

From Rhiannon's Finals

From Rhiannon's Finals

And here's all of them:

Matthew's Shoot

My little brother Matthew was my first test subject for taking portraits. Here's the result.



p.s.
If you read this post via email from me or view it on facebook, you'll have to go to the original post on my blog to view the slideshow. Sorry. http://beckygreen.blogspot.com

Christmas Vase

Yesterday my boss's wife brought in some Christmas decorations, and it gave me some wonderful inspiration :) I love it when you get an idea you know you can accomplish quickly. Those are the projects I thrive with--not the ones that take a month to finish, haha :)

I found a 2 foot vase at TJ Maxx for $7, and got some cheapo ornaments for like $5. Then I went to Michael's and rummaged through their ribbon section and their fake plant area for some red and gold berries. I only found the kind I wanted on stems, so I took 5 minutes and cut them off.

mmm, Christmas :)

I also found these blocks for $10. I've been looking for something like this for a while, so it was worth it to me.

Then I filled up the vase with ornaments and the red berries and gold sparkly ones; I sort of just filled it up around a ribbon inside.

And arranged it with the blocks and some $2 tower candles! I used a couple of scrapbooking glue dots to hold the ribbon in place and to hold some of the ornaments together.

The pictures kind of don't show the whole thing, but I LOVE IT :) It totally transformed my dining room and I'm super happy. And once I got home, it only took me like 15 or 20 minutes!

Saying it out loud

I am going to work out twice this week.

I want to take your picture :)

I would love to try taking some pictures of some people I know to see if I can do it. If anyone wants to let me take some pictures of them, totally let me know. And we can laugh together if they turn out crappy :) I'm thinking someone might want to try on their wedding dress again, or have some pictures taken with their kids, or OF their kids, or just get some pictures taken of themselves or with their boyfriend or husband to help me out, FOR FREE :)

Most of my pictures so far aren't of people, so I'd love it if anyone would like to help me expand my portfolio!

Thanksgiving, CHECK. Christmas CHECKAROONI

I can't believe it's already Christmas time! Thanksgiving is over, fall is over, it's officially December, and Christmas is knocking. We had an INSANE Thanksgiving week--probably the craziest we've ever had.

• Trevor's boss called him Wednesday afternoon and asked him to put together a last minute sales flier by Friday. And since we were planning on leaving for Idaho WEDNESDAY night, he had to hurry and make it before we left.
• We headed out the door on Wednesday at 5:30, just in time for the Northbound traffic, for our 4 hour drive to Idaho.
• Got there at 9:30--but the drive was actually kind of fun. Trevor and I had some time to finally talk (he's been working SO MUCH overtime lately since they have a new manager) and complain about work. Trevor read to me while I was driving, and we playing this new game where I have to guess the genre of music that Trevor plays for me from his iPod. Seriously difficult... Even after 5 years, I STILL can't keep track of it all! Maybe I'll do another post about what genre is what...
• Checked in to our hotel--which was another cool part--they upgraded all their furniture and bedding and stuff, so it was pretty nice :) AND they have the FoodNetwork. So we went to sleep to the sultry sounds of Dinner: Impossible.
• I let Trevor sleep in on Thanksgiving and headed over to help with the dinner prep at 9. My Grandma pretty much did everything before we got there but I did the potato washing, haha. We hung out with my family and played The Game of Things until dinner at 2, promptly took a 15 minute nap and had pie at 4, just in time to head back to Salt Lake at 4:30 PM so Trevor could get 7 hours of sleep before he had to be at work at 5AM the next day for Black Friday. Ugh.
• At 5:30 PM driving home from Idaho Trevor got a text from his boss saying not to come in until 1 PM instead of 5 AM. WHAT THE CRAP?! So we missed out on Thanksgiving evening with my family for no reason, AND it put a new crimp in our plans for a second Thanksgiving dinner with Trevor's family on Friday night.
• Back home by 8:30 with no reason to go to bed so we had leftover turkey sandwiches and I read Harry Potter to Trevor. You know, I never get tired of reading, "I'm a WHAT?" "Yer a wizard, Harry."
• We got up at 8 on Friday and hit Best Buy and Target for some SWEET deals. We saved probably $150 on stuff we were going to buy for ourselves and for Christmas gifts anyways! We got a new printer for $25, and I got a memory card adapter for $20. And Trevor got World of Warcraft for $5... so that means Trevor has been on the computer since Friday, haha :)
• We had Thanksgiving dinner numero dos on Friday (after Trevor got off work) at Trevor's mom's and it was fantastic :) We shared the food making responsibility and took everything over in crock pots. I LIKED this and I think we should do it every year.
• Saturday Trevor went back to work for another 12 hour shift, and I stayed home and finished Christmas shopping, cleaning up the house, and putting up the TREE and decorations while listening to Christmas music! It felt SO good to get the tree up so early! Thanksgiving was DONE, and Christmas was HERE! I also started on my Christmas cards that night too. Seriously, I'm feeling incredibly accomplished right now, haha (oh, but I accidentally got a mini-disc for the card adapter stuck in the iMac... I'm still trying to figure out how to get it out. The disc slot is on the side of the monitor and when you put in the disc, it just slides in and there's not tray or manual eject button. Apparently I'm not smart enough to realize the disc was too small and just dropped it in...)
• Sunday we chillaxed and Trevor finally got to play WoW uninterrupted by work. I foresee a LOT of reading on my part for the next few weeks. I tried WoW and it was interesting. I'll let you know if I like it when (if) I play more.
• So yesterday was Monday and it's officially December, like I said, and I'm READY for Christmas! Tomorrow we're going to see Christmas Carol at the Hale Center Theater, Friday I'm making Christmas Toffee with a friend, and sometime this weekend we're going to the Festival of Trees! AND I'm 75% done with Christmas shopping, and we aren't poor, haha :) I'm hoping my head start on Christmas will give me more of a chance to spend time with friends and family this year. I'm excited to fit in as much Christmas as I can this year!