Where have your been Siri?

Well I have been STILL in the process of trying to buy a certain house with the hubs, taking LOTS of finals and doing LOTS of research papers, and (thankfully) doing lots of photo shoots! I created a separate blog linked to my photography site to display the latest photo shoots. Go check out all of my latest photography here:

http://www.freckledlemonade.com/apps/blog

Comment and let me know what you think!

Spring Break (Not Mine, My Siblings')

Spring Break with my siblings... Basically - awesome!

Of Late...

So I may be a little behind on blogging, but I am determined to catch up since it makes me happy to blog and not to do homework. Thus I can bribe myself with blogging to get a little homework done (ok a LOT of homework done). So lately here's what's been happening:

My baby brother decided that he really wanted to go bowling for his birthday, so my whole family went. I haven't been bowling in years and it was a blast! Here are my two sisters and my baby brother...

And here are my parents, Lance, and I...

Lance and I were also very excited for Leap Day! We took this pictures especially for it and we also wrote ourselves letters that we can't open until the next Leap Day.

Lance also spoiled me and got me the Kermit I have been drooling over as a "Leap" day gift! Get it? Frog? Leap? :) Hee hee I am such a lucky girl!

I also got new business cards for my photography and I love them! Quirky and unique!

I have been missing my friends (who bought me this claddagh ring for my birthday two years ago) and so I took this picture and sent it to them. I really hope I get to see them over the summer!

And last (for now), but certainly not least, I voted! It's important! Go vote! :)

Wicked!

So I really am trying to keep up with blogging, but this whole buying a house process is a lot more time consuming than I anticipated. (Hopefully though, if everything works smoothly, we should be able to get the keys by next week!) Anyway, one of the most exciting things that has happened lately was that my mom and sisters went with Lance and I to see Wicked! I was really excited because I have never seen any show at Gammage from seats lower than the highest balcony and we had tickets for the middle balcony! Lance had never seen the show before either, so I was anxious to see what he thought of it. I sported green!

Lance thought the dragon and stage cover were really neat!

The show was, as I knew it would be, AWESOME! Lance ended up loving it! In fact, he didn't stop singing the songs for weeks...

My sisters, mom, and I.

It was a wonderful time and I am so glad we chose it as a Christmas present to each other. It was well worth the wait! Honey, "...because I knew you, I have been changed for good."

Little Surprises

Well I guess I should win the "Blogger who is currently Slacking Most" because I literally have no motivation to blog what with school driving me insane. I want so badly to have a break. I'm talking SUMMER... Oh well. Give it about two months and I'll be free for that break and I will sleep like there's no tomorrow. Some day my hubby and I will have similar schedules and will actually get eight hours of sleep each night. So here, is a little update.

First, Mr. Baxter works daily to make my school-haunted life have some spontaneity and surprise in it. Some of you may recall that the last time I opened my gallon of ice cream, there was a love message carved into it. Well now it's the butter. Here is what I found when I opened the butter the other day. :)

I also mentioned once several weeks ago that I wanted to get a spoon holder for the stove so I didn't make such a mess when cooking. Well, lo and behold I came home to a new spoon holder and note just the other day. I love when my hubs thinks of me in sweet little ways like that.

Part 4: When I First Encountered Him

If you haven't read them, here are Part 1 and Part 2 and Part 3...

Some part of me had always disliked it when boys asked me to dance by wordlessly holding out their hand and gesturing toward the dance floor. It was as though I was a child or a pet that they supposed would listen to them without being asked. Now in the crowded log cabin with a slow song beginning to play, I stared frozen into a pair of scintillating brown eyes. It felt as though he knew what I was thinking because he opened his lips and asked, “Would you like to dance with me?” I don’t remember speaking or even nodding, but I wanted to and the next thing I knew, he was leading me back out into the middle of the dance floor.

Somehow the noise faded away and I couldn’t even really tell what song was playing. I was simply following his lead. My hand in his felt as though it was receiving light electric shock every few moments from realizing what it was touching. After all the strange, unexplainable feelings I had felt about this young man, it was all I could do not to stare blatantly at his charming smile. He twirled me around and finally dipped me at the end of the song. As I dreamily walked back to the tables at the back of the room, one of my friends gave me a disapproving look. She was already frustrated that I was not spending the night because of this young man and now stealing me away for a dance too was apparently a capital offence. Another friend nudged me in the ribs and gave a look as if to say, “You sly dog!” I was nothing of the sort, but I smiled, glad that I had friends who loved me and sat quietly as though my mind had just been left in the middle of the dance floor.

Our FCP!

A while ago I asked for a free crappy portrait from Free Crappy Portraits and today I finally got it! Here it is! I am so putting this up in our apartment! :)

A Casino Royale 21st Birthday!

No. Not mine. I'm not 21 yet. :) Cori, one of my best friends, had her 21st birthday recently and we celebrated with a Casino Royale themed party! It was shocking to see my husband do his hair differently for the first time ever. He looked good! Here he with the birthday girl herself!

We also learned how to play Texas Hold Em with real poker chips (that really had no value). Are you making fun of me? Hey I'm Mormon. :) I don't gamble. Overall, it was a blast and I am so glad we have our Corister. She is wonderful! Plus we got to see Hark and Meather (our friends Mark and Heather who are so in love that we smooch their names together for fun). What a fun party!

Happy Birthday JJ!

You're out of this world! Here is the alien spaceship cake I made for my little brother's birthday!

Part 3: When I First Encountered Him

If you haven't read them, here are Part 1 and Part 2...

I sat through the program as skits were performed on stage and anxiously looked across the aisle to where he sat down with his friends. Some part of my mind willed time to speed up so that we could go into the cabin and be just a little closer to each other. I was shaking. It was freezing, so under the pretense of succumbing to the cold, I snuggled under a blanket and blamed my shaking the weather. It wasn’t really the weather though. I was nervously shaking and I couldn’t think why. Actually I could, but I wouldn’t admit it to myself.

When the program finally ended, we went inside the log cabin hall for a dance. I tried to stop shivering as I stood by the fire and my friends chatted away. The music started and across the room I could just see him dancing, this boy that I couldn’t stop thinking about. He was lively… lovely. Everyone on the other side of the room seemed to be gravitating toward him and the life that was emanating from him. I decided that if he was going to notice me in that huge crowd, I would have to be as lively as he was. I would have to be myself. I stopped shivering, I turned to my friends, most of whom weren’t dancing, and I threw myself in the midst of them. I laughed as I did the Cha Cha Slide, the YMCA, the Electric Slide, and never once did I look over at the boy. I knew he was there, sometimes I thought I could even feel his dark eyes on me, but I never turned my head and looked. No matter how badly I wanted to. My friends and I had slowly begun to dance toward the tables at the back of the room as we grew tired. As one of the songs slowed down, my friend tapped me on the shoulder and I turned around, laughing, to face her. Abruptly I stopped laughing. I was staring into those same dark eyes that I had felt watching me...

Most Delicious Smoothie Ever! You Can Thank Me Now

Save this because you are going to want to try it! It's my Strawberry Lemonade Smoothie recipe!


Add into the blender:

2 cups frozen strawberries
1/2 cup of ice
2 cups lemonade
1/2 cup strawberry yogurt (or 1 container of Yoplait)

Blend and garnish with lemon... delish!
Enjoy! (especially during our AZ summers)

Happy Late Valentine's Day!

Ok so I know that Valentine's Day can tend to be a bit of a controversy. In fact a lot of one. But here is a quote from one of my friends that I tend to agree with:

"Wow. So many people are hating on a day of love. People are so bitter about being single, but as soon as someone gives them love, they aren't bitter anymore."

I had school on Valentine's Day and all day I heard things like, "It's not Valentine's Day! It's single awareness day!" and, "Forget Valentine's Day! It's Arizona's birthday!" and a lot of other things that weren't as mild about trashing Valentine's Day. I just kept thinking, "Why NOT have a special day randomly in February to make sure you remind your loved one how much you really care?" Granted we should do it all the time, but having special days can just be fun and break the routine. Besides, if we are supposed to do loving things every day, why would we not do them just because it's Valentine's Day?

My sweet hubby writes me notes, buys me flowers randomly, snuggles me, and takes me on dates. On Valentine's Day he did all of those things, and it did not diminish any of those random times. It just made for a really awesome day that I needed. And if you will recall, last year my car broke down on Valentine's Day and we saw a movie that turned out to be horrible. So, this year was my first year with my Lance as my hubby and it was wonderful! My first really great Valentine's Day. Basically all I'm saying is that we should just go with the flow and love on every day... including Valentine's Day.

Oh and Lance got me Samoa girl scout cookies instead of a box a chocolates! What a smart man!

Horse Back Riding

Sounds fun eh? It was! We got to go about two weeks ago (yes I'm behind on blogging) and go horse back riding with Lance's coworker and his girlfriend who have horses! It was nice because I have been really clinging to our weekly dates to keep me happy. Our schedules are opposite so we hardly ever see each other and I also have hours of homework to depress me, so date night is the best time of the week to me. I LOVE IT! Here is my handsome cowboy! He was so excited that he got out his Wranglers, big belt buckle, and cowboy hat.

Getting ready to ride after brushing and cleaning off the horses.

Here is Lance and his friend, Lio who works with him. They are pretty funny together. It was so much fun to be there so I am glad that they invited us.

This is just a shot I liked of their horse that I rode. Love the spots!

Freckled Lemonade Photography

Hey my blog friends! Here are some of the latest from my photo shoots! I hope they make you smile! Feel free to Pin them! If you or anyone you know in the Valley wants any pictures, contact me through email! I would LOVE to take pictures for you! :)