Zoo Boise

On one of my days off I decided to take a little visit to the zoo and get some pictures of the animals, and I wanted to check out the new African exhibit they added last summer.

This was inside the African school they had set up, I just thought it made for a cool picture.

The lions. They were hard to get a good shot of since they were so far away.


The cute giraffes

Zebras

Cute little bear that was soaking up the sun

The tigers

This one laid down right in front of the window

Little ground squirrels that were enjoying the sun as well.

More pictures!

Yesterday Annie was asked to play softball on Toby Thornton's (friend of ours that used to be in our bishopric in 11th ward) team so I decided to go along to watch. I brought my camera along so I could take some pictures. Well, just so you all know, Willow Lane Park does not have the best set up for getting good pictures of the softball players. :( Oh well, Toby's wife, Tammy was there to cheer Toby on and she brought Dallas with her too. So, what does one do when they can't take pictures of the softball players? Take pictures of the cute baby! He wasn't a very good sport though, it's almost like he knew what I was doing and he was not about to pose for me. Not too surprising though since he sees the camera in his Mom's hand all the time at home, he knows what's going on.

Isn't he so cute!

Gotta love the drool!

Yeah, he knew I wanted him to smile, but he wasn't going for it.

I love the one eyebrow sticking up.

I couldn't resist a picture of the cute Jordan shoes.

New Camera!

So I finally took the plunge and bought me a fancy schmancy digital slr, and let me just say, I LOVE IT!!!! Thanks to Mom, Dad, Grandma and Grandpa Barrus, and Mike and Sarah for their contributions over the last few years by giving me money for Christmas and Birthday presents, plus a nice tax return, I was able to purchase a camera that I've been dreaming about for years. I had a long standing debate on which brand I wanted to go with, I've always loved and always wanted a Nikon, but I know that Canon makes a great camera too. Finally it came down to price and the Canon was more in my price range so that's what I went with and I'm quite happy with my decision. I got the Canon EOS 40D and it's big and beautiful and heavy. :) I tried to get a decent picture of the camera with my point and shoot camera, but it was having some lighting issues and then for some reason or another, it wouldn't upload to my computer. So if you really want to see what it looks like, google it. :) Here are a few pictures I've taken with it so far, just playing around, getting a feel for it, developing our relationship with one another, and I might add, I think it's the start of a beautiful friendship. :)

Beutiful tulips

Annie's guitar

Some shots at Annie's softball game. The sky was awesome that night with the storm clouds rolling in.

Annie's Uncle Bill came over to help her put some shelves in the garage. I didn't get any of the finished product, but they look great! He's the dude!

Heather and Brandon's Wedding

Today was Heather and Brandon's big day 3-21-2009!

This is the wedding present I created for them. I went around town and found numbers to photograph that would make up their wedding date and then found some super cute frames to put them in. I had Heather open it early cause I wanted to see her face when she opened them. At first she was a little confused and didn't know if the present was the frame, or if the picture was the present. Finally she caught on and realized that the numbers were something significant. She loved the gift so much that she made it part of the decorations for the reception. I think I have found a new wedding present idea. (Don't steal it! :) )

The day started off to a little late start, the Bride stayed up way too late with her best friends working on flowers and didn't get much more than a cat nap before she had to get up around 5 to get her hair done. After doing that and getting her makeup done and getting everything else prepared, she showed up to the temple about 20 mins late. We all had a good time joking with Brandon about whether or not he was worried that she wouldn't show. Thanks to the efficiency of the Temple the wedding still started on time. It was a beautiful sealing, the sealer gave them some good advice, and spoke to them about doing family history. We all had a little chuckle when he said, "I think it's safe to say you probably have two computers in your home?" Heather smiled and said, "Maybe three," with a little childish shrug. Later my Brother had a little chuckle when we were talking about it, and he said, "what kind of engineer only has three computer?" I'm sure they will accumulate more as the years go by. They both did a great job listening to the sealer and saying what needed to be said at the right time. Heather even made it through without crying!

We waited inside for a little bit to avoid having to stand out in the cold, but decided that we should move outside before our conversations moved above a whisper. There are two doors that they are having the Brides and Grooms come out of now. The usual door that is up front by the entrance, and then a secret door on the side of the Temple. I say a secret door only because when you are looking at the Temple, it doesn't look like there is a door there. I'm not sure how they decide which door they are going to come out of, but we were all trying to decide where they were coming out. Most of us were gathered by the secret door and then I heard my Aunt Brenda say, "there coming out over here, I told you." So we all had to run over to get pictures of them running out. I was a little disappointed we weren't made more aware of what door they would be walking out of, but at the same time it was pretty funny too.

Here they are having a laugh because we are all waiting at the wrong door.


Mr. and Mrs. Capener



Goin' in for the kiss. This one was kinda cheesy, so we made them do another. :)

Having a laugh afterwards. They look so happy.

The back of Heather's dress. And yes, it was a pain to lace that thing up, but Heather says I've found my new calling in life. Lacing up corsets! Not sure I want that job. :)

The Capener family, minus Janelle, Brandon's sister.

L-R Jesse, Patti (mom), Brad (Dad), Heather, Brandon, Ty, Aunt Julie, and Grandma (I can't remember her first name. :( sorry)

Me and my Dad getting blown away.

Me and my little buddy Topher

Heather and her C-Town friends

Tricia, Shauna, Heather, Jessica, Aubrey

Heather's cute shoes. Not the best picture. It was hard to get all the cute pictures I wanted when there was a photographer that they were actually paying that needed the Bride and Groom.

The Bitsch family

Dad, Me, Mom, Brandon, Heather, Mike, Topher, Sarah, Grandma and Grandpa Barrus.

Heather and Brandon with Grandma and Grandpa Barrus.

My Grandma's eyes are a little closed, but the only other picture I have with them with the Bride and Groom, my Grandma looks like she's about to freeze to death.

Yes, it was bitterly cold. It would have been fine except for the blasted wind that was blowing, that conveniently stopped when we all left to go to the luncheon. And yes, my shoes are killing my feet. Cute, cute shoes, but whoever made them really does not like women's feet. :)

Heather with Mom and Dad.

Heather and Brandon with Mom and Dad Bitsch

The Bitsch Family

Heather and Dad.

Heather with her two best friends.

Jessica, Heather, Tricia

Brandon and his brother Ty. He's a little silly sometimes.

Me and Heather

Heather with Topher and Ty.

I didn't get any pictures from the luncheon or from the reception on my camera, because Tricia has a really nice digital SLR that she let me snap pictures with and I'm not gonna turn that down. :) So all of my snap happy pictures from those two events are in Colorado with Tricia. Hopefully she will send me a disc with the pictures. :) (Hope you see this Tricia!)

Girls Night Out and Sleepover with my nephew

Two days before Heather's wedding, her two best friends Tricia and Jessica got into town and Heather decided it would be fun to go and get mani/pedi's for the wedding.

Heather, Tricia, and Jessica enjoying their massaging chairs while their feet are soaking.

Me and my mom doing the same. I love getting pedicures! If I had the money I would do this more often.

Dorothy, Tricia's daughter got to have a pedicure too.

Drying her nails. She kept messing up one of her fingers so they had to keep redoing it. It's hard for a five year old to sit still that long.

All of our pretty toes.

Starting w/Dorothy's little foot and going clockwise, Dorothy, Tricia, Jessica, Mom, Heather, and Me.

We also went to dinner that night with some other friends since Tricia and Jessica couldn't be here for either of Heather's showers. I didn't get a picture of the other side of the table. Ooops.

Mom, Me, Sheena, Robin, Renee, Tammy, and Heather

After dinner I went with my Mom to pick up Mike, Sarah, and Topher from the airport. I snatched my nephew up for a mini sleepover. Since it was already so late, we didn't stay up too late, but we did play a little football on the playstation.

Friday afternoon he was enjoying some cartoons before we headed out to my Mom's house. I looked around the corner to see where he was sitting and this is what I saw. Nothing like being up close and personal with the big screen t.v.

We went to my Mom's house to help with flowers and get things decorated at the Train Depot for the reception. Of course the kids were running around and being kids. Here they are climbing up the doorway in my Mom's hallway.

Dorothy, trying to look like she's climbing up the doorway, but really she is standing on the hamper that is hidden inside the room. :)

My little monkey nephew having a good time.

We went to dinner later that night at Keystone Pizza. Haven't been there in years, but it was delicious pizza and yummy bread sticks. Patti, Brandon's mom treated us, which was so nice of her. Again, I don't have pictures from that event either or from the flower making party because once again, I was playing with Tricia's camera. :) Can't wait to have one of my own, then I won't have to keep borrowing other people's big fancy camera's to take pictures.

Delicious Desserts

I got a new cookbook from work the other day. We have this lady that brings books in once a month that we can buy for super discounted prices. As I was looking through I found this Better Homes and Gardens cookbook called Anyone Can Cook. As I was looking through my mouth began to water at all the delicious recipes and they all looked really easy too. So I bought it and my roommate Annie and I decided to make dinner and dessert with one of the recipes. We decided on some breaded chicken with gravy, that was so good. Kudos to Annie for the yummy gravy, it was her first time making gravy and it was superb! For dessert, I made these little yummy phyllo dough cups with a lemon cream cheese filling and a honey cream cheese filling. Mmmmm, they were so good. The nice thing about them, was that they were super easy too. The dough was a little hard to work with, just because it's fragile and it wanted to tear on me at times, but the end result was something that would come out of a five star restaurant if I do say so myself. :)