Marek and Piper

Swede and I were lucky enough to fly home to Utah and be with family for Christmas. It was so great to see everybody and catch up, plus we loved seeing mountains and snow again :) Swede and I couldn't get over how much our little nieces and nephew have grown! They really change so fast and it was fun getting to play and talk with them. I even got to take some fun pictures of Marek and Piper, aren't they darling?

Thanks to everyone we saw for making our Holidays so fun and memorable! We miss you and hope to see you all soon! Happy New Year!

MY LITTLE COUSIN ALL GROWN UP

This summer I got to be the proud photographer of my used-to-be little cousin... Kiana. She was in need of some senior pictures and I was very happy to oblige. Kiana definitely made taking her pictures easy, she's just so gorgeous that it wasn't even possible to take a bad shot. This shoot was especially fun because it took place at one of my favorite places in the world... Cascade Lake. Every year this is the spot where all my relatives come together for our big family reunion... so this place represents all the fun summers I've had of hanging out with my cousins, swimming and boating all day everyday in the lake, and just being together as a family. Plus, Grandma's house made it even more unique because of all of Grandpa's old sheds, burn barrels, and ditches. What a place!! :)

WEEKEND OF FOOTBALL

Shayla and I had the chance to witness our first high school football game Texas style. Let me just say that friday night lights is a religion down here. Shayla's little sister, Briana, is in the high school marching band and their football team is ranked 3rd in state and is VERY good. When we showed up, we were surprised to find the traffic getting into the stadium was a nightmare. The stadium was sold out and it felt like a college football environment. We also couldn't get over the amazing half time show. Briana plays the flute and it was so fun to watch her march around the field with the band. High school marching band is also a HUGE deal here in Texas. Shayla had the biggest smile on her face, and I could see how thrilled she was to see her little sister performing. She was very proud.

The next day we all drove to college station to watch our Aggies play Texas A&M. Their stadium is known as the "12th man" and is rightly named so. There were over 75,000 people at the game and it too was an amazing atmosphere to witness. Utah State jumped out to a quick lead, but down the stretch they came up short. Either way, it was fun to support the Aggies on the road.

CAN ANYONE SAY JUMBO-TRON

Better late than never, right??

When I found out that BYU would be playing Oklahoma in the new Cowboy's stadium, I had to take advantage and give my childhood best friend, Mitchell Payne a call to see if he could get us some tickets to the big game. As you can see, he delivered. Shayla and I were able to witness the big 1st upset in college football this season. I wouldn't consider myself a BYU fan, but that was by far the most amazing sporting event I have ever been to. By the end I was screaming and cheering as loud as I ever have. If anybody ever has the chance to take part in this billion dollar stadium, DO IT. It lives up to every expectation. THANKS MITCHELL!

Good ol' Mitch

FLEA MARKET AND MEDIEVAL TIMES

Swede and I recently discovered another great perk to living in Dallas... less than an hour away, in a city called Canton, is one of the nation's largest flea markets. So, when my family came out to visit us this summer, we decided to see what all the fuss was about... and we were blown away. We couldn't get over how huge the whole thing was, let alone how easy it was to get lost in there. We loved meandering around (even in the pouring rain) and after a few hours we all decided it would be fun to check out the pet section of the market... We were definitely surprised to find how many different animals were sold, as well as the hundreds of different puppy shops. From the moment I saw all the little puppy faces, I decided I had to take one home with me. None of us could get over how cute they all were. Swede and I even had my little sisters begging us to buy one so they could puppy-sit :) It was definitely hard to walk out of there without having one in my arms... I'm patiently waiting for Christmas ! So anyway, here are some fun little pictures from our first flea market experience.

I almost forgot... we also went to Medieval Times with the fam. and had an absolute blast! It was fun to really get into the show and cheer loud for our knight. It was great to get to try something different and we all ended up loving it. And Swede couldn't get over the food... he loved all the meat! :) This weekend was definitely a memorable one!

Sierra was so happy when our

knight picked her out of the crowd,

kissed this flower, and threw it to

her :) It made her day!

PICTURES PICTURES

As we all know, children are absolutely adorable... so I decided to post some pictures I took of a few little munchkins I met over the summer. I got the privilege to capture some cute little moments of these mini ones with my new camera, and I just wanted to share their darling smiles with you all :) Enjoy

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY

This was our first 4th of July weekend here in Texas. We went to the Rangers baseball game, and besides sweating ourselves sick, we had a blast. It really was quite toasty but the seven dollar Bratwurst with sauteed onions and saurkraut made it worthwhile. (says Swede) We were lucky enough to be invited by some new found friends in the ward, and there's nothing like bonding while watching America's favorite pastime. Following the Ranger victory, we enjoyed a great fireworks show set to classic country music.

The next morning our small community put on a fun little parade down our neighborhood streets that we sat out to see. It was enjoyable to be apart of our community and cheer on the unique and quirky floats.

GOD BLESS AMERICA!

OUR FRONT YARD

So it has only been a cool 103 degrees for the past seven days. The heat here, combined with the humidity, has been quite a shocker for us. However, we have decided that we live in the most scenic place in Dallas, so we wanted to share a bit of that with ya'll.

We live on the edge of a beautiful lake called White Rock. We can literally walk out our front door, cross the street, and enjoy the lake. It has a nine mile biking/running trail around it, that Swede frequently takes advantage of. Two months ago he even decided to take on the nine mile challenge run. He got half way and about died... the last four miles he struggled to get home before dark. White Rock quickly humbled Swede, and he realized he was not in as good of shape as he thought... so he now sticks with a comfortable 3 miles a day :) He even talks me into roller blading next to him sometimes. Here are some fun photos of our front yard.

This is the lovely Dallas skyline

P.S. This is where our 1 bedroom, 1 bath, 850 sq. foot love shack resides