{Annual Picnic at the Phoenix Zoo}

Annually around March, the law firm we work for holds a picnic at the Phoenix Zoo. This was our 2nd time attending, and the number of guests increased by almost 100 people since last year! There were over 300 guests... and with that in mind, we have to have a huge appreciation for our party planning committee! *Clapping!*

This was a bittersweet day for me... I'll tell you why shortly.
The picnic was complete with beautiful weather, happy smiles, an amazing barbeque buffet, and it was really fun to see everyone in their "everyday" clothes, with their families and children. I'll be bluntly honest, I am typically not a fan of children... but these ones were actually a pleasure to be around... there was one in particular that I may have kidnapped if her parents had turned their head for just one millisecond! ... Okay, I am totally joking - but Hannah was one smart and a totally enjoyable child. She liked me too... which is totally rare for a child. Most tend to scream as soon as I enter a room.

Back to the "bittersweet" thing I mentioned... more like just *bitter* -- my iPhone was stolen / lost towards the end of the day. That iPhone is not *just* a phone to me... It is a mini storage unit of my entire life. Whoever has it, has the capability to invade my privacy in major ways -- not to mention steal my identity. So the end of yesterday was quite tragic for me. I am still recovering...

Anyway... back to the photography stuff. Ty shot all of these photos yesterday... and I am continually impressed by his capabilities and improvement. I edited the photos... but, like I have said before -- when Ty shoots... there's not much to edit. So, sometimes I just toy around with photoshop just for fun...

I'll stop blabbering now... Enjoy!!

{El's Rockin' Surprise Birthday Bash}

This past Saturday we celebrated the 40th birthday of one of our best friends. He's Ty's "BFF" and he was also the best man in our wedding. His girlfriend Amanda planned the whole surprise and hosted the party at her house. Being that it was a couple weeks after his actual birthday, the surprise was a huge success! Amanda made arrangements for El's family and friends to drive out from Tucson, and the party was complete with massive quantities of amazing food, great music, good times {and a Rocker Theme.}

Thanks to Amanda for being a rockin' hostest... and a fine chef. ;p
And -- El, we hope you have a fantastic 40th year!!

The fabulous hostess

The cake was an exact replica of El's bass

They are just tooo cute together. 

This was the first time I had met El's parents, and oh. my. gosh. They are so cute and sweet!! 

El's mother was wearing this on the back of her jacket. "Autumn's End" is El's band. 

It makes me proud to see my husband's art in other people's houses. :)

This is a framed photo in Amanda's house... I thought it was too awesome to not take a picture of it!

Best Buds!

Surprise! 

Decor.

My incredibly handsome husband showin' puppy some love...

Bro-mance

{A Little Bit of Randomness}

Wow, the past month has been pure CHAOS! This is our first chance since late January to actually update the blog. I am happy to be back in gear.

We have insanely been busy packing, moving, unpacking and organizing. But, we are finally all moved and pretty much settled in. There is still a lot of organizing that needs to take place, we down-sized quite significantly -- but so far, we are loving our new little home (especially the part of the town where it's located!) We'll try to get some pictures of the house up as soon as possible.

We also both started new jobs, so that has been a lot of emotional stress -- trying to learn and prepare for so many changes, but everything is going great so far!

Yesterday I finally sat down to clear out some photos on the memory card, and I stumbled upon a few that I decided to toy around with in Photoshop.

So, here's a little bit of randomness... and hopefully we'll get back in the habit of updating the blog more frequently!!

In our new neighborhood, there are tons of feral cats, this one looks so dreamy to me. 

We own dozens of candles, but this one is my favorite. I bought it in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii (my 2nd home) a few years ago. 

Just trying to practice focusing in different ways...

Some dried roses I had for many many years, Unfortunately they are one of the things I had to throw away during the downsizing project...

Shot by Ty: This is one of the most interesting sunsets I have seen. The clouds literally looked like bombs falling out of the sky...

Practicing how to add text & watermarks...

P.S. - Photos from El's 40th Surprise Party will be up as soon as possible!