The Skeltons

35 Weeks Prego Pics

2012-02-02T15:00:00.000-08:00

After Jared got off work, we decided to do some quick pictures of me and my belly bump since I am now 35 weeks prego. So here is our 5 minute mini prego session. :) haha.

SO EXCITED FOR HER TO GET HERE!

Baby Girl's Room

2012-02-02T14:18:00.000-08:00

Baby Cali's room is done!!! minus some cute pictures we will put above the changing table. :)
I have always loved pink and brown together, so this has been really fun for me.

Welcome to Cali's room:

After re-painting these flowers three times... :) haha... I finally got them the colors I wanted. The surfboard is fun with the flowers!

Here is our new glider/recliner my step-dad Terry surprised me with. SUPER comfy!

And yes... I already filled up the window-seat with our games! Finally have a place to put them!

Our baby room is now complete... with BYU in it. :)

Being able to paint and decorate with my hubby was so much fun!

Awesome Book for New Dads!

2012-01-29T19:45:00.000-08:00

Jared came home the other day and said his coworker suggested a book for him to read because we are having a baby. His coworker said it was funny but how funny can a baby book really be?

Well, I am here to say that every time Jared sits down and reads it or reads it aloud to me, he cracks up laughing on almost every page it seems.

It is seriously a great book. We highly recommend it! It like a boy scout manual... has humor... and just gets right to the point. It is called: Be Prepared.

Here is what it says on the back:
An indispensable survival manual for guys entering the trenches of fatherhood, Be Prepared is loaded with on-of-a-kind insights, MacGyver-esque tips and tricks, and no-nonsense advice for mastering the first year as a dad.

Here's one part of the book that Jared thought was pretty funny:
It says: "What your newborn WON'T look like" and has this picture:

It says... this is actually a picture of a three month old. And how it's important that the look on your face as the baby comes out doesn't freak out the mom because the baby will look more like this.....

"What your Newborn WILL look like"

He laughed really hard. So if you want a book for Dad to read that he will enjoy and be interested in, GET THIS BOOK!

Baby Room update

2012-01-20T17:42:00.000-08:00

Baby Room update! Yay! Jared and I have been working a lot on our baby's room the last couple weeks, so I thought I'd share with you what we have done so far. We still have a few things to do... but it's almost done!

first of all, I appologize for the poor quality pictures that I am posting. These are from my phone.... and no... I don't have an iPhone. I have a FREE phone! :) haha. So if the coloring and lighting is terrible... that's probably why.

Ok... here we go... goodbye maroon, hello "fairytale pink"! We only painted one accent wall and in the window pink. Didn't want to overwhelm people when they walked into the room. :) The rest of the walls are a neutral color.

Here you can see the pink a little better. Also our crib (which is almost all put together. Just needs the frame and mattress put in.) Thanks Janell and Brandon for the crib!

Jared and our brother-in-law Brandon made my window seat into a toy chest! It is super cool! I may have to hire them to do the same thing to our guest room! Thanks guys! You did a great job!
Right now I have the wood flowers sitting on it. We will be hanging those on the wall in the next few days.

Oh look... here's the mattress that will eventually go in the crib. :) And a pile of things that I need to put away on top of the changing table.

Slowly getting things organized! Here is her closet. The basket thing is something my mom got when Janell was a baby, and then my step-mom (Leslie) used for my little sister. And now I get to use it! :) It is actually a changing table that I took the changing table part off to use as extra storage in her closet. It works great to hold her clothes!

Here is a picture of the bedding on the packaging.

This is the "surfboard" that will hang above the crib. I was pretty excited about how this turned out. It is a skim-board that my parents (Gloria & Terry) bought Jared that I painted white. Then I had a little fun with the Cricket machine and vinyl! I love her name on it. :) Thanks Mom (Susi) for letting me use your big cricket machine to make her name really big! :)

These flowers are not the right color in this picture... I repainted them... but this is how we are going to have them on the wall above the crib. With the surfboard below them.

So that's where we are so far. We'll take some more pictures when we are all done. I'll even pull out the "real" camera for those pictures! haha

We have been so blessed by all of our family and friends that have helped us out so much. We will be indebted to them forever! Thanks everyone for everything! We are so, so, so excited for Cali to join our family! I'm 33 weeks pregnant right now, so only like 6 weeks left if she comes close to her due date! Crazy!!! :)

Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T00:30:00.000-08:00

I'm a little behind on our blog posts... but just wanted to wish everyone a VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Reflecting on 2011, Jared and I are so blessed. We had some trials... but amazing blessings that have come from them. We are so, so excited for our little baby girl to join our family in two months. What a journey it was to get pregnant...but so worth it! We are so grateful to such loving family and friends that have helped us financially to do invitro, as well as with all their loving prayers and fasting in our behalf. Thank you to you all! We love you all so much!

We had the wonderful opportunity to hang out with my mom and dad for New Year's Eve. We went with them and watched Sherlock Holmes. It was really fun! I feel like I have gotten to know my mom so much better this year. Unfortunately it was because of all the doctors appointments that I went to with her because of the "Stupid Cancer" that has decided to add more trials to my mom's life, but what a blessing it has been to be able to spend so much time with her. She is such a strong lady. I sure do love her!

Jared and I enjoyed playing the Wii as we brought in the New Year, and then made lots of noise with our noise makers and drinking our Sparkling Cider. :) What a great night!

I will be posting some of our Christmas pictures soon!

California Adventures - Thanksgiving Break

2011-12-15T23:58:00.000-08:00

We headed down to California for Thanksgiving and had a blast with family! We went to the beach, played soccer, played basketball, surfed, took all the kids and girls to the beach where it was small and perfect to learn. Have fun checking out the pictures. I can't tell you how fun it is to take pictures of waves and surfing! Silverstrand Beach is so much fun to surf and photograph. As you can tell by the name of our company, Silverstrand Photography, we love the place.

warning..... lots of pictures..... :)

Left or Right? Either one your getting barreled!

Channel Islands

Seeing this makes it hard living in Utah, ha ha

Some Thanksgiving day football

Have you ever seen him with out a smile

Just another reason I love my wife, she knows when to get the good shot!

Silverstrand Beach

Little Rincon

Rincon Point

Hanging out in Santa Barbara on the board walk at East Beach

The girls before meeting up with the others

I love this picture of Sand spit beach with the Harbor channel in the foreground

You can't even tell Jenni is almost 7 months pregnant here

I can't wait to teach my little girl to surf. Being a Dad will be so fun!

Chloe rippin up the waves

Trent, your board is fun to ride, it makes me look good, ha ha

Dang Trent, look at them muscles!

Little man watch Dad surf thinking, man I'm going to shred like that soon! ha ha

26 weeks - mini photoshoot

2011-12-02T11:47:00.001-08:00

Our last trip to California before our baby girl will be born. It was a so fun to go and spend time with family! We have lots of pictures that we will share with you soon!

Jared took a few "belly bump" pictures of me while we were there. It was fun! I was not ready for pictures at all that day... but that's okay. I had on a loose shirt, and Jared said he couldn't really tell that I was pregnant, so I had to push my stomach out for the pictures to make it more obvious. Hey... you do what you have to do to get pictures at the beach when you don't live by the beach!

Here's one at sunset at my favorite beach (Silverstrand Beach):

26 weeks

Thankful

2011-11-17T13:33:00.001-08:00

I can not believe that Thanksgiving is in one week! I thought I'd share some of my most recent fall/thanksgiving decorations that I made. I am so glad that we have Thanksgiving as a holiday. It's nice to be reminded to be thankful. ... and eating lots of yummy food is always a fun thing to do also! :)
I have been so blessed this year, I can't even express the amount of gratitude I feel. Family is so important to me and I am so glad for every moment I get to spend with each and every one of them. I am so grateful for amazing doctors that have been taking care of my mom as she goes through this awful cancer. I am so grateful for my doctors who were able to give Jared and me the opportunity to get pregnant this year. I am so grateful for my wonderful husband and all that he does for me. I am pretty spoiled rotten to have found such an amazing guy! He treats me like a queen! :) I just have a lot of things in my life to be grateful for!

Here are the decorations that I made:

My little fat turkey

and my fall letters

They were really fun to make! I still don't have a fall wreath for my door... guess that can be my next project!

Thanks for being so amazing all my sweet family and friends! Hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving!! Eat some yummy food!!

Teagan's song

2011-11-14T06:49:00.001-08:00

My mom recorded my niece singing this song... SO CUTE! I had to share. :) I LOVE how she says "because".

Baby Update

2011-11-13T20:15:00.001-08:00

So I painted a few flowers and a lady bug for our baby's room. :) I'm getting so excited to get her room decorated!

Here is what her bedding looks like:

We are in the process of making the window seat in her room into a toy box. I will show more pictures of that as it progresses. After that, we will paint her room! yay! It's crazy that we will have a baby in our arms in less than four months.

It's also crazy seeing my stomach get bigger and bigger! It's so exciting too though! :) We are so so so happy to be pregnant! Here's a few random pictures of my stomach growing!

Week 4

Week 7

Week 13

Week 17

Week 22

Week 24

I am definitely feeling more pregnant now! It is so fun feeling her kick and move. Weird feeling... but cool! :) Next doctor appointment is on Wednesday!

Baby Shower at 23 Weeeks

2011-11-05T22:32:00.000-07:00

Baby Shower! My step-mom threw a fun baby shower for me this weekend in Star Valley, WY. It was great! What amazing family that I have! They are all so sweet and generous! Thanks so much! It was fun seeing family that I have not seen for a LONG time... and some family that I had not actually met who married some of my cousins. So fun! :) We didn't get pictures of everyone who came, but here are a few pictures.

... and the FOOD! YUM!!!

Here's me and my sisters:

The girls:

Fun day!

Skeleton Costume Tutorial

2011-11-05T20:48:00.000-07:00

We had some friends ask us how we made our costumes this year... so we thought we would show you on a little tutorial. :)

HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN HALLOWEEN COSTUME (SKELETON)

What you need:
freezer paper
pencil
exacto knife or razor blade
white fabric paint (not spray paint... it didn't work... we tried)
black clothes
iron

Step ONE: draw your design that you want on the paper side of the freezer paper (not the shinny side)

Step TWO: cut out the design with a razor blade or exacto knife.

Step THREE: Iron (NO STEAM) the template onto your outfit. Make sure to get all the edges really good!

Step FOUR: Paint with fabric paint all the openings in your template. (we did 3 coats to make it really WHITE)

Step FIVE: LET DRY!!
Step SIX: Carefully peel the template off of your outfit.

Step SEVEN: Add any embellishments that you want. :) (optional) haha

Here is how our final product turned out:

Happy Halloween!

Love,

The SKEL-e-TONS

Halloween Edible Eyeballs

2011-11-05T20:31:00.000-07:00

For Halloween this year, I made these "edible eyeballs". They were really fun to make, and pretty tasty! They are fun for little kids to help with too! My niece and nephew love making these!

They are oreos and cream cheese that you mix together... and then rolled into balls.

You then dip them in white chocolate.

Top with gummy lifesavers and a chocolate chip.

Final Product: Yummy EYEBALLS! :)

Try them out next year! :)

BYU Football Games

2011-10-30T18:58:00.000-07:00

Another BYU football game! Every year since Jared and I have moved to Utah, we get the BYU All-Sports Passes. It's pretty fun being able to go to all of the football games as well as a lot of the other sports. Adam and Bekah get them too so we always have some family to go with! :) Go BYU!

When my Grandma Jeanne found out that we are going to have a baby girl... she said, oh no is Jared sad? NO WAY! :) Jared said, "oh grandma, they have some pretty cute girl BYU stuff at the BYU bookstore! No worries!" :) haha

Here's me and Jared at the game

And here is Adam and Bekah.

Happy Halloween! and 22 Weeks Prego!

2011-10-29T20:00:00.000-07:00

We had a fun time at our ward Halloween party tonight! We ate some YUMMY chili and cornbread and all the kids got to go trick-or-treating to the rooms. It was awesome!

This year I decided I wanted to make our costumes. I'm glad we did! Everyone said they loved them! ...yes... the Skelton Family went as "Skeletons" :) Even our baby girl got to dress up! haha!
We took pictures on how we made it... I'll put those up in a couple days.

So I guess these are my "22 weeks Pregnant" pictures as well. I'll try taking more pictures as my belly grows. :) I haven't been doing very good at that.

Jared and I also carved some pumpkins this year. Not the most beautiful pumpkins, but hey... we had fun carving them! :) I did the silly face and Jared did the silly little monster.

Hope you all have a HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

It's a GIRL!!! 20 Weeks

2011-10-20T15:37:00.000-07:00

We went to our Dr. appointment today to find out if we are having a boy or girl.

And the baby's legs were crossed.

After 1/2 hour of trying... the dr. had me get up and jump around for a few minutes.

Still legs crossed.

Then she had me go to the bathroom.

Still legs crossed.

Then she had me drink some orange juice and we went to our second Dr.'s appointment.

Still legs crossed.

Then for a brief second we found out!!!! YAY!!! We're having a girl! Two pictures... then she crossed her legs again. haha. It was hilarious!

We are so excited!!!

Getting in the Halloween mood...

2011-10-10T20:28:00.000-07:00

Last week, my mom and I went to Janell's house and did a few fun crafts for the Halloween. I was so happy with how they turned out. We had a "WICKED" time. haha
I made the Wicked. (I love the witch hat on the "d". )

My mom made the Mummy. SO cute. LOVE it.

I didn't get any pictures of the cute things Janell made... hopefully she puts them on her blog. :) She made a cute witch. And Brickman and Grandma Glori made a really fun rocket.
We also made some fun "fall/thanksgiving/christmas" things that I'll post later.

Today for F.H.E., Jared and I decided to go buy some small pumpkins to carve. Here are our masterpieces:

Mine is the silly face on the left and Jared's is the funny little guy on the right.
So fun. I can't believe October is here... but we might as well enjoy it while it is here, right.?

Wakeboarding with our friends!

2011-09-25T17:14:00.000-07:00

Wakeboarding and just boating in general is so much fun! We were invited to go out by our friends David and Mandi this past week. We had a blast, tubing, wake boarding and skiing! Here are a few pictures and videos from our evening!

Dave having fun tubing

Bekah getting ready to tube

Jared realizing the wake is a little bigger today with more people

Mandi holding the flag with her little man

Most of the girls!

Adam in between tantrum tries


Dave clearing the wake!

Game Day!

2011-09-25T14:24:00.000-07:00

On the day of BYU's first home game, we went to lunch with Grandpa Marvin, Grandma Jeanne, Grandpa Haskell, Gloria and Terry. We went to Olive Garden, I had the chicken Marsala. Really good. We had a great time with them and we also went on a bike ride with Adam and Bekah before heading down to the game. We won't mention the game any more than that. Very sad and disappointing night! ha ha

Jenni's Birthday!

2011-09-25T14:14:00.000-07:00

Jenni's birthday was a little over a week ago but we want to get some fun pictures from all that we did. My family was up and we celebrated with them, then we went to dinner the Tuesday before Jenni's birthday to Asian Panda. Thank you Grandpa Haskell for taking us there. We recommend it. Great food and amazing service! Thank you everyone for all the fun around Jenni's birthday. On Jenni's birthday I took her to Olive Garden that night, one of her favorites and we had a wonderful dinner. We tried to go camping that weekend as another fun thing she wanted to do but it rained so we stayed home and did fun stuff with Adam and Bekah around the house. Jenni is such an amazing wife and will be an incredible mother! I love you babe!

Teagan and Jenni's birthday is the same day

Yummy specialty drink!

Jenni's new comforter set! Many pitched in for it.

She got really pretty dresses

Her Dad made her a case to put her bridal bouquet in. Very pretty!

Her sister made a cool decoration

Little Cottonwood Canyon Hike

2011-09-16T16:41:00.000-07:00

I had the wonderful opportunity to go on a little hike with my mom, dad and grandpa Haskell up Little Cottonwood Canyon a few weeks ago. Mom was feeling good and the doctor recommended her getting out and getting some fresh air... so that's exactly what we did. We went to the canyon to see all the pretty wildflowers. They were BEAUTIFUL. The people that were up there said that they bloomed about a month late this year. Which worked out great for us!

Here is a beautiful field with yellow flowers. I think they were daisies.

Beautiful White Columbines:

Here were my hiking buddies.

Here's a pic of me: Hi :)

Grandpa Haskell stayed by the car and bugged :) the workers. :) While we went on the hike.

We had such a fun time, and it was so beautiful, that I wanted to share this with my husband. So two weeks later... Jared and I went up again.

Yumm. smells good.

And we even got to see some moose while we were up there.

I think these were just on some thistle or something... but we thought they were cool.

Yes... snow still on the mountains... and it was the end of August. Crazy.

Jared and I hiked all the way up to the lake. It's called Cecret Lake.

I told my mom that I want to make it a tradition to go up and see the flowers. It was really fun.

A Fun Summer Morning on the lake!

2011-08-30T21:34:00.000-07:00

Adam and I had the opportunity to go out with our friend and go wake boarding and water skiing at 6:30am last Friday. My Dad was an AMAZING water skier and still is. I decided to try skiing a little more lately and see what he liked so much. My little bit of water I was throwing out is nothing compared to what he used to do. His side would touch the water because he was turning so hard. Maybe some day.

Jared trying to be like his Dad

Adam at about 6:50 am with the sun coming up!

Our Miracle

2011-08-21T13:49:00.000-07:00

Yes! We are pregnant! We are so so so excited! After 4 years of trying to get pregnant, working with some really amazing fertility doctors, we were finally able to get pregnant through two tries of in-vitro! Yay! :) When the nurse called us to tell us the results of the blood work after our second attempt at in-vitro, and she told me we were pregnant, I could not help it but cry. I was with my mom when she was getting Chemo, and we just sat there and cried. I was so overwhelmed with happiness.

We are about 12 weeks along right now. I've been really sick, but it's totally worth it! What a blessing! What a miracle! We've been able to already hear the heartbeat twice. So that's pretty cool. Once was an ultrasound where we "saw" the heart beat and also heard it when we were 6 weeks pregnant. The second time was last week where we got to hear it again with the Doppler machine. So amazing! What a neat sound! I still can't believe there's a baby inside me. Crazy! :) Anyway, just wanted to share the news with everyone. A lot of people already know, so we thought we would make sure everyone knew. Thanks for all your prayers! We love you guys! Our due date is March 5th.

Looking for Models

2011-07-19T12:37:00.001-07:00

While driving in the car with my mom in Provo, I look over... and I see one of our images on the side of a bus! How cool is that? So we got a camera out and followed the bus all over town until we were able to get a picture of it. This image was from one of our casting calls for a couple to take pictures at Trafalga. They had a great time, and are now famous! ha ha

We have another amazing opportunity to do some fun pictures for

Boondocks Fun Center.

We are currently looking for our models for that shoot. Below are all the details if you are interested or if you know anyone who would be interested. Let us know as soon as possible, and you may be on the next bus or billboard! :-)
BOONDOCKS Model Search #1

DATE: Thursday July 28th
TIME: 5:30PM
DURATION: 2 hours
MODEL TYPE: Family (parents and 4-6 kids ages 5 or older)
ATTIRE: Casual
PICTURE TYPE: fun posed & candid picture on and around attractions
ADDITIONAL PERK: -pizza for dinner that night -passes the night of the photoshoot AND -passes for each family member to come back another day.

BOONDOCKS Model Search #2

DATE: Friday July 29th
TIME: 5:30PM
DURATION: 2 hours
MODEL TYPE: Business Age (20 - 30 year old guys and girls.)
ATTIRE: Casual
PICTURE TYPE: fun posed & candid pictures on and around attractions. We want these pictures to look like a business took their workers to boondocks for the day. We don't want it to look like dates.
ADDITIONAL PERK: -pizza for dinner that night -passes the night of the photoshoot AND -TWO passes for each person to come back another day and bring a friend.

If you are interested, please send us a picture(s) of your group to: silverstrandphoto@yahoo.com and include your name and number so we can let you know as soon as possible if you are selected be our models.

Looking forward to another fun photoshoot!

Tonight's Lightning & Thunder storm in Orem, UT

2011-07-05T22:50:00.000-07:00

I've always wanted to get lightning in a picture and was never in the right place at the right time. Tonight we had a cool lightning and thunder storm. Jenni and I went out into the garage, opened the garage door and sat in our camping chairs watching crazy clouds, cool lightning and some loud thunder. Way fun! Here are a couple of images I captured hand holding my camera. I wasn't able to find our tripod mount. Enjoy!

Freedom Festival

2011-07-01T07:54:00.001-07:00

There were like 25 hot air balloons every where! What a beautiful day July 1st is!

Hawaii Day 7

2011-06-26T21:37:00.000-07:00

The last day of Hawaii we went to big beach and man was it beautiful.

Hawaii Day 7 - Zipline

2011-06-26T20:51:00.000-07:00

This zipline was awesome. We actually met a friend of my brother Ryan's who was our guide. I can't wait to go on a zipline again. How cool are the turtle pics down below. Oh, and sorry if I put too many pics from our trip. It was just way fun.

This is my favorite!

Hawaii Day 6 - Molokini

2011-06-26T19:21:00.000-07:00

This day was awesome! We took a snorkel trip to Molokini and had a blast. We saw a turtle, white tip reef shark, tons of fish and lots more. Below are a few pictures from our snorkel trip.

Jared and Lavell Edwards

2011-06-22T11:43:00.000-07:00

We were able to take some fun pictures of Lavell Edwards and his wife in front of this sweet airplane the other day for the Boy Scout Auction that is coming up. It was really fun. Jared made sure to bring something to have Lavell sign this time. (he forgot last time he took pictures of Lavell) :)

Last Christmas, our cousin, Andy, gave Jared this sweet helmet that had Gary Crowton's signature on it. Jared was able to add Bronco's signature to the helmet when we went to a baseball game in the spring, and now Lavell's! Pretty cool!

It was awesome! Jared was a little nervous around him, but hid it well. Lavell and Patty told us that they will probably use the pictures we take for their Christmas Card! SWEET! What a cool experience! Thanks Dad for the opportunity! (he's the one that hooked us up with his opportunity. He's in the boy scouts). GO BYU!

Hawaii Day 5 part II

2011-06-12T19:24:00.000-07:00

After Dad and I got back from Scuba Diving, we relaxed a little while Mom finished a massage that we all got for her for Mother's Day. She was in heaven. It helped her knee to feel better for a while so she really liked that. Once the rest of the gang came back from shopping, we headed up to Hanalua Bay to go snorkeling. It was quite amazing. One man actually owns the entire bay. Enjoy some fun pictures of our adventure.

The owner! I asked Dad why he didn't own a bay? ha ha

Hawaii Day 5 -Scuba Diving

2011-06-07T23:42:00.000-07:00

On Monday, Dad and I went on a scuba diving trip for the morning out to the Molokini crater and also to St. Anthony's shipwreck. We had a blast. I had such a great time with Dad. It was my first scuba dive trip and I am happy that it was with Dad. Dad and I were the only ones on the boat so it was our Captain, our guide and Dad and I. Personal treatment, ha ha. We went out to Molokini, got our gear on and then jumped in. Our guide and the captain both said that they normally would not allow a new person to have a camera because they forget where they are and don't pay attention to depth, breathing, etc. They said they couldn't believe that it was my first time and that I did so good.

On our Molokini dive we went down to 110 feet but mostly stayed around 80 feet. It was so clear, like 200 ft visibility. We saw octopus, trumpet fish, crazy clear spear looking fish and tons of others.

On our second dive we went to St. Anthony's shipwreck which was at 65 feet. It was funny because by the captain GPS coordinates, we were right over it but they couldn't find it so I told Dad, that looks like it, and the captain said yep, there it is, ha ha. We jumped into the water and headed down to find two sea turtles hanging out on top of the wreck. We took pictures with the boat, with the sea turtles, and with a ton more fish.

Hello Mr. Turtle!

I didn't photoshop this, the light hit his mask perfectly

So clear that the bottom, 55 ft down looks pretty close


Dad, Captain Jon and I

Hawaii Day 4

2011-06-07T22:30:00.000-07:00

Day four was Sunday so we took it easy. We went to church and had a great time there. I wanted to ask everyone what they do for work so I could get hired and move to Maui!!! We played games at the hotel, relaxed, and then we went down to Wailea area and found a nice beach to take a walk on. It was a beautiful day.

Hawaii Day Three

2011-05-27T21:08:00.000-07:00

How cool are Sea Turtles! On our third day on Maui we headed up to Kaanapali Shores to go snorkeling at the Black Rock. This place is so cool. We saw Sea Turtles, crazy fish, eals and had a blast jumping off the rocks into the crazy clear water! Later that night we went to the Old Lahaina Luau. It was so cool. We had tons of food and the Hawaiian heritage dancing was really cool to. It told quite a few stories. It was pretty much the perfect day. Snorkeling in clear, blue, warm water and then amazing food, cool dancing, etc.

How cool is this dude!

The Luau

Wow, that Luau was so exciting, ha ha, j/k he only dosed for a minute!

ummmm, ahhhh, ummmm well he has a better tan, ha ha

Hawaii Day Two

2011-05-20T20:19:00.000-07:00

On day two we took off early in the morning and went on the Road to Hana. We had a great time. It took all day but we had so much fun going to water falls, black sand beaches, jumping rocks and pretty much traveling through the jungle. It was funny, we saw three places that said "we have the best banana bread". It was quite the competition. ha ha. We went all the way around the East side of Maui. We came out on the south end of the island part way up the Volcano Haleakala. Beautiful Sunset pictured below.

HAWAII Day One

2011-05-14T18:51:00.000-07:00

We had a great time on our first day of the trip. We got in, got a few groceries and then we went down to Wiahlea to snorkel and swim in a nice pool. Here are a few pictures from that day.

More Easter Fun!

2011-05-10T22:00:00.000-07:00

We had so much fun over the weekend! Lazertag at Trafalga, dinner at the house, and a few photo shoots. Enjoy!

Lazer tag at Trafalga, we were blue for BYU and WON!!

The fam eating some Easter dinner

I had to get the kids laughing some how!

This dude is going to play football for BYU, don't mess! ha ha

Best buds!

Easter time with family

2011-05-10T21:34:00.000-07:00

Easter time is always wonderful and it's always better with family. We couldn't believe it but the two days before the Hamilton's came up it snowed! April 22nd and we had 5-7 inches of powder just off of the main runs. It was so cool! Adam and I caught a run with about knee deep powder. We couldn't believe it was a day before they closed and we had great powder. We all had a blast! Skiing with Shell and Trent was tons of fun and then we had a great time with the kids once they got out of ski/board school. They are going to be good when they are older!! Here are a few pictures from our fun day on the slopes. We missed Jenni and Bekah! Jenni was working that day and Bekah came up and babysat the kids that weren't in class for the first half of the day.

BYU football at BYU baseball

2011-05-10T18:09:00.000-07:00

Jenni and I had a great time at the game relaxing in the shade on a beautiful Saturday. It was great to see Bronco (Coach Mendenhall). He introduced me to David Almadova, the head of sports marketing right now at BYU. I'll have to stop by and say hi soon.

Bronco signing my helmet! He was very nice and we talked for a bit.

Maybe I'll work with him some day!


Bronco and his boys throwing out the first pitch

Diving the Crater!

2011-04-09T17:19:00.000-07:00

Adam and I are fully certified now!! We finished our open water dives at the Midway Crater. It was so cool. We had fun going down to about 50 feet. We have some fun pictures and videos below. They put cold water into the crater to keep it around 95 degrees. Other wise it would be around 106.

The Crater

Adam, Mike(instructor), Jared

Jared with crazy fingers, ha ha

Jared and Mike (instructor)

Adam in a nice silhouette

The bro's

Hanging out up top

Adam's perfectly blown bubble!!

Getting ready

On the dock before jumping in

Timpanogos after our dive

Adam is drinking from a hose which puts cold water in to keep the temp down

Our scuba certification!

2011-04-03T11:18:00.000-07:00

Adam and I found an amazing deal on KSL deals to get Scuba certified through Scuba Ted's. It was only $125 and it would normally be about $250. We started two weeks ago going to Springville on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6pm-11pm. It made for late nights getting home around 11:45pm but it has been so much fun. I already loved the water, but getting to stay under the water has been awesome.
The longest we stayed under the water in the pool we trained in was 35 minutes. Both Adam and I passed our final and now all that is left is our two open water dives!! We are going to the Midway Crater up by Heber. It is about 96 degree water and is 65 feet deep. Click on the link and you can see a little of what it is like. I've included some pictures and video I've taken of our pool dives and I'll put more of the crater on in another post.

Weekend Warriors, powder at Sundance!!!

2011-03-27T15:14:00.000-07:00

Adam got some free tickets through is company and we took the chance. It was a nice sunny day when we got there and overcast and ready to snow when we left. Sundance got 25 inches of snow the 48 hours before we got there. We found a cool cliff to drop so we got a few videos below. ENJOY!!!!

Skelton brothers have a little too much fun!!!

2011-03-01T21:19:00.000-08:00

This past Saturday Adam and I headed up to Snowbird for some fun. We were really excited because it had snowed over two feet the previous 2 days. Well, as we were on our way up there, we got stuck in a hour and a half of traffic. We left at 8:30am and should have arrived at 9:30am but got there at 11:15. It was hard knowing that we were missing some amazing snow!

Well, we got there, got our stuff on and then head up the mountain. Adam and I got some of the best snow ever. We got thigh deep powder in some of these shots. We couldn't help but smile. The best and funniest part though was when I came down a steep part of the mountain and then stopped to turn and take pictures of Adam I lost my balance and fell head first down hill. The snow was so deep that it slid down all the way to my googles. I had to brush the snow off of me and out of my face. I finally was able to flip over and get up but it took a few minutes to dig out. Then I gave the camera to Adam and I started down the hill towards him. Just before him I turned and it pushed tons of snow down onto him and covered him up to his neck. He held the camera up in the air and kept shooting but didn't catch me. I asked what took him so long and he said when you are covered up to your neck, it takes a bit to get out! ha ha. It was so fun.

Then we came home and had the chance to watch BYU beat up San Diego State and we are now #3 in the nation. Such a good day.

Saturday fun

2011-03-01T18:14:00.000-08:00

So what did we do on Saturday?
Well... I was at work all day while Jared was doing this:

Jared and Adam spent the day skiing and snowboarding. They said they had a great time! They have a ton more pictures...so I'll have Jared go through them and do a blog post.

I'm glad Jared is enjoying this snow. :) I'm ready for it to be gone. SPRING... where are you???! haha

A Wonderful Valentines Day!

2011-02-16T16:33:00.000-08:00

So, we posted about the day before Valentines Day but we hadn't posted yet about THE day! Well, it all started early in the morning. I got up early and started making breakfast for us. It was really good. Heart shaped pancakes, bacon, and scrambled eggs with cheese and meat in them. SO GOOD! Jenni came down and help with me so that I could get to work on time, she is amazing!

While at work, I called PF Chang's (one of our favorite restaurants) and was able to get a reservation for 4:45pm. During my lunch break I went and bought Jenni a new necklace and earrings. You can't really see them in the picture but I'll try to get one of them later.

So I got off work early, rushed to pick up our car from the shop and then picked up Jenni and made it just in time to dinner. It was SO good, I'm not going to lie. I can't get anything there but the Mongolian Beef, because it tastes so good. Jenni got the honey crisp Chicken, also really good. We actually got the deal where you get a soup, a starter, 2 entrees and a mini dessert. We loved every bit of it.

After eating, we were full, so we got a red box and decided to go home and relax on the couch to a movie. At the end of the night we needed to use some strawberries so we made chocolate covered strawberries. A favorite of Jenni's. All in all, it was a wonderful day to spend with my beautiful wife. She really is amazing and does so much for me. Thank you Sweetheart!

Day before Valentine's Day Dinner

2011-02-13T22:18:00.000-08:00

Yumm! Bow-Tie Pasta, Alfredo Sauce, Chicken, and Cesar Salad. :) That's what I surprised Jared with for dinner tonight. I knew he planned on taking me out somewhere tomorrow, so I thought I'd make a "fancy" dinner the day before. It was fun! I got to use my nice plates and our fun wine glasses...yes we had water in ours. haha. And some fun little heart confetti! Anyway, can't wait until tomorrow! I love Valentine's Day! It's my favorite holiday!

Happy Valentine's Day tomorrow!!!

MORE Exciting News!

2011-01-24T13:24:00.000-08:00

So I just got off the phone with this place called Fertility Lifeline that we've been working with to see if we qualify for financial help with the in vitro process. We've sent them all our tax info and pay-stubs and birth certificates... you name it... we sent it.

They just told me that we qualify for the program!!! YES! I am so overwhelmed with happiness and thankfulness I can't even explain it. It's amazing how everything is just falling into place. WOW. I know without a doubt in my mind that it the Lord blessing us.

So this will save us up to $4,000. That's such a blessing! We are so so so so thankful for all the prayers and fasting all you have done in our behalf. Thank you!

We love you all!
Jared and Jenni

Exciting News

2011-01-24T09:05:00.000-08:00

As many of you know, Jared and I are going to be doing in vitro in the next few months in order to get pregnant. We are working with the Reproductive Care Center in Sandy...which is an AMAZING place to work with! We highly recommend them to anyone who may need help getting pregnant.

This is a very exciting time in our lives, yet a little stressful. It is a costly procedure... we have been blessed to no end by our loving friends and family who have gifted and loaned us money to help us start our family. We are indebted to them forever. We love them all so much! This would not be possible without their help. Because of this, I have been looking for a job so I could help pay people back. Well, I have good news!

I JUST GOT OFFERED A JOB!!! YAHOOOOO!

Wow, what a blessing this was! I have been looking for a job... well it seems like forever. Applying to TONS of positions, and not even getting an email back let alone a call. Well on January 18th I got an email from my brother-in-law and sister. (Buddy and Janell). It was a job position from MONSTER for a photography studio here in Provo. THANK YOU BUDDY AND NELL!

I start on February 1st! :)

I am so thankful for such wonderful family members and such a loving Father in Heaven that helps you in times of need. I really am so blessed.

They said that I can still do my "side business" of Silverstrand Photography as long as I don't have a studio in my home. So that's wonderful because I don't have a studio in my home. I do all my shoots on-location!

So there's the news! HOORAY!

Spending time with the Fam

2011-01-17T22:54:00.000-08:00

Here is a pic of me and Jared... this pic is of him today... he's actually looking pretty good in this picture! He's been sick all weekend, so it's nice to finally see him happy and smiling again!

I wanted to do a quick little post of this weekend. Mom doesn't have an immune system, so she can't be around sick people.... so that's why Jared isn't in the rest of the pics. He was at home being sick in bed. Poor guy!! He was doing a TON better today though, so that's good. I think the medicine finally is doing it's job!

Janell and her kids came down for the weekend. I met them at mom's house on Sunday. We had a great time just hanging out and watching some home videos. It was awesome! Then today we all went out for lunch at Olive Garden. It was fun hanging out with the fam for the weekend. Hopefully Jared isn't sick next time they come so he can hang out too! :)

Here we are driving to Olive Garden:

Waiting for our table:

Brickman being a goof:... have to tell you... this cute little guy shaved his hair off to help his grandma (my sweet mom) be strong when she is going through Chemo. What a sweet boy huh!

Olive Garden is probably my favorite restaurant. It is so YUM! So that's what we did this weekend.
:)

A wonderful 4th Anniversary!

2011-01-15T19:45:00.000-08:00

Wow, what a wonderful day. It all started the day before went I got Jenni some beautiful roses and some how was able hide them in the fridge with out Jenni seeing them until the next morning. We had a great breakfast together. We made hash browns and eggs, mmmmm. For lunch, Jenni, Haskell, Mom and Dad and I went to Mama Chu's, a yummy mexican restaurant.

After work, I came home and we got ready to go out to dinner. We debated on what restaurant to go to... then decided to go to Good Wood and eat some yummy ribs. They were really good! We ended the evening with a movie. What a great anniversary! Can't believe it's been 4 years already. WOW! :) It sure went by fast!

I want to let my beautiful wife know that I am so happy and so excited to spend the rest of my life with her. She makes me so much better as a person and I am so glad that our friends thought enough to set us up.

Here's us at Good Wood:

Before we left for dinner:

My first attempt at taking the pic. oops... had it zoomed in too far. haha

And the rest are just us being goofs showing off the pretty roses.

Sports Photography

2011-01-12T14:54:00.000-08:00

I just want to brag about my husband. :) He did a great job on our last photoshoot. He went up to Brighton and took some senior pictures of Riley snowboarding. I'm editing the pictures right now... and am having a fun time editing them. You can really tell when the photographer has a passion for what he is photographing! And Jared definitely has a passion for sports photography! Great job babe! Love you!

Riley's sneak peek will be on our Silverstrand Photography Blog in the next few days... so check it out! :)

Broken Heel

2011-01-10T22:41:00.001-08:00

Have you ever seen those movies where the girl is walking and then all of a sudden her heel breaks off of her high heel shoe? I really didn't think that REALLY happened... until it happened to me at church last Sunday. Yes... there I was in Sacrament meeting...

and SNAP

My heel just broke off. And they were my favorite shoes too! grr! So while I went into a meeting after sacrament meeting... my sweet husband ran home and got me a different pair of shoes. My hero! :)

So I guess it really does happen... so be careful out there ladies! haha

California Livin!!

2011-01-02T22:41:00.000-08:00

Man, I love Christmas and I love going to see the family in California. We went to the beach to ride bikes at Venice Beach, tide pools, surf, watched movies, played games and so much more. We attached a few pictures from our trip. Happy New Year to everyone!!

Sad day... Provo Tabernacle

2010-12-20T12:52:00.000-08:00

Many of you know about the Provo Tabernacle... it caught on fire last Friday. Jared and I went over on his lunch break and took a few pictures. It was really sad to see such a beautiful building on fire. This building was over a century old! I'm not sure how it started. I heard that it might have been an electrical fire... but I don't know for sure.

We were suppose to go to a concert that Friday night called Gloria, but weren't able to go.

Christmas Tradition - The Forgotten Carols

2010-12-12T17:32:00.001-08:00

This is a Tradition that started when Janell and I were very young. Every Christmas we would drive to Star Valley, and mom would put in a book-on-tape called The Forgotten Carols. We looked forward to listening to it every year. This tradition, over the last few years, has grown to going to the play! If you have never heard of The Forgotten Carols... you really should get tickets and go! You will love it! Michael McLean does such a great job!

So... last week after my sister, Mariah's wedding...(those pictures will be up soon)... :) Jared, me, Janell, Brandon, Brickman, Mom, Dad, and Grandpa Haskell all went to the Forgotten Carols. It was so much fun! It makes you really think about the true meaning of Christmas and the importance of it. I cry every year because something has touched my heart. This year was not any different. I was crying. :)

Here's a pic Jared took on his phone of me, Janell, and Mom going to the Forgotten Carols! :)

What are some of your Christmas Traditions?

Shout-Out to Jenna!!

2010-12-10T07:42:00.001-08:00

My very cute friend Jenna has a super cute blog that she started: The Mommy Diaries.
Right now she is doing a GIVE AWAY! A Diaper Clutch. Here's a pic of what they look like:

So cute! Go to her blog and check it out! Here's the link: http://jjreynoldsfamily.blogspot.com/
Make sure to "follow" her when you go there!

- Jenni

My mom

2010-12-08T19:03:00.000-08:00

I love my mom!

Today I spent the day with my mom at the hospital. She is such a brave and tough mom! On Thanksgiving we found out she has cancer. My mom is being really upbeat and optimistic. She has gone through a lot in her life already. This is another trial in life that will make her even stronger. I look up to my mom. She is an amazing lady. I love her so much!

She has gone through so many tests and procedures already... and today she had an ultrasound and had a shunt put into her heart in preparation for the chemotherapy treatment. We were at the hospital from 10am to 6pm. LONG DAY! The surgery went well. More tests and procedures tomorrow morning..... My mom is going to beat this! She is so amazing! I love her so much! We are praying for her every day!

You are amazing mom!

Dad's New 44 MAGNUM!

2010-11-27T17:45:00.000-08:00

This is Dad's new gun and holster he got for his birthday/Christmas present this year. I of course had to do a little photoshoot with it! :) It's a pretty gun and a 44 MAGNUM!!

We went outside and Jared and Dad shot it a few times at a piece of metal. It has a lot of kick!

I put the camera on high speed to see the gun in action. haha. Then did a little photoshop to put it all in one image for fun. Like I said... a lot of kick! :)

Here's dad laughing because we're not sure if Jared even hit the can! haha

Here are a few more FUN shots of just the gun.

Cool gun dad!

September fun... (yes it's a little late) :)

2010-11-24T10:27:00.000-08:00

So this post is super late... I've been really bad at getting these posted. This is from back in September! haha. We went to Colorado to visit family and go to the BYU vs AirForce game. We had so much fun! Here are a few pics:

The Stadium:

Me and Jar by the balancing rock.

Levi holding up the Balancing Rock. haha :)

Pretty!

Danielle & Jose

Adam on top of a super tall rock.

Me. hi! :)

Levi sportin his dad's cool glasses.

hmm... wonder what's on this side of the fence....

Pretty again.

Bekah tickling Levi.

BYU fans in front of the COUGAR! RRRAARRR!

Bekah, Alicia, and me!

Halloween Pumpkins

2010-11-21T15:51:00.000-08:00

So I think I already posted or sent some people pics of some of our pumpkins but here is a picture of my beautiful wife with Roxy after we carved our pumpkins. I need the other pictures with Adam and Bekah and Sheild's to put on. Those will come soon.

What a game!

2010-11-13T12:51:00.000-08:00

Adam and I went golfing this morning in the brisk 40 degree weather, ha ha! It was really fun. First we found out that my gift card that I was given for my birthday still had $31 on it instead of $19 which I thought I had. So I was able to pay for Adam and I and then we grabbed some M&M's for the last dollar. We smiled, grabbed our clubs and then went out to practice for a minute. There was no one else around at 9am. As we practiced a bit, they guy came out and said hey, you guys get a cart, you know that right? We said no, but that is awesome. Then we went to play.

On every hole except for the second to last, Adam and I both had the same score. It was so much fun. No one pushing us so we took our time and had a blast. We finished at eight and ten over par.

Visit from some of our family!

2010-10-24T21:30:00.000-07:00

We had a great time a month or so ago visiting with Ryan and Anna as they came up here to visit us and Anna's family. We got to hang out with our little nephew Shiloh quite a bit. It was a ton of fun to play with him, get to know him and OF COURSE, take pictures of him, ha ha. Here are a few pictures from their visit. Sorry Anna for taking so long to get these up.

Birthday Concert

2010-10-21T11:12:00.000-07:00

For my Birthday, Jared got me tickets to a concert at UVU.
B.O.B. and Jason Derulo with Iyaz and Auburn performed.
It was pretty awesome! :) I haven't been to a concert since... shoot I don't even remember exactly. I think I went to a Kieth Urban concert right out of High School. I have to say... Country music was a little bit different than this concert!

It was SUPER LOUD and people were crazy! :)

Our seats were right up next to the stage... but the speakers were in our way. So we could hear it great, but couldn't see anyone. haha. So we moved over a bit and clear to the top. Up there the base was SO LOUD you couldn't understand what they were saying....but you could see them. Then we moved back away from the stage and lower in the seats... SOUND was perfect...singers were a bit small... but that's where we stayed. Next time we'll know where to pick our seats! :)

These aren't the best quality pictures with our little Casio Point & Shoot in low lighting... but that's ok. :)

Sunset Fishing

2010-10-21T08:57:00.000-07:00

I haven't done a post for awhile, so I thought I'd do one today. We went to Wyoming a few times this Summer, and here are some pictures from one of our fishing trips. Some people may not like fishing... but I really enjoy it. It's relaxing and challenging to me. I have a fun time. Jared took these pictures while we were fishing in the ponds.

This fish may not look big to most people... but it was the biggest I've ever caught in my life! So I was pretty proud of it. :) It was about 17 inches long and super FAT! haha

Conference Weekend and Craft

2010-10-04T16:24:00.000-07:00

Over Conference Weekend, Jared and I went to my mom's house to watch conference. Janell, Buddy & their family came also. We had a fun time listening to the wonderful talks, taking pictures, eating yummy food, and of course... doing a craft! :) Janell brought the supplies to make these cute Halloween wreaths. They were super easy and SUPER cute! Thanks Janelly!
Here's mine:

Supplies:
Candy Corn, Ribbon, Styrofoam Wreath, Black Duct Tape

Duct Tape the Styrofoam wreath completely, hot glue candy corn alternating direction for each row, put a ribbon on it.

I only burned my finger 3 times on the hot glue gun... :) haha

There were some great conference talks! We actually had to record a couple of the sessions on our DVR because I accidentally booked two photoshoots on Saturday. (oops) I forgot it was Conference weekend. Those pictures will be posted to our Silverstrand Photography Blog in a couple weeks. ... but... because we "DVR'd" it we are really excited to watch them for F.H.E.!! :)