Hey! It's me again. 

I just wanted to say....

I got a new photography website! 

allisonkayphotography.com

I'm pretty excited about it.

Click on the link above, or the picture to see my amazing website  :)

Maybe you should head over and check it out.

And then tell everyone about it!

And then book a session for yourself  :)

Ok, thanks.

Bye!

P.S.  I need to give a HUGE thank you to my amazingly awesome and wonderful husband who is so incredibly supportive and always willing to help and encourage and do whatever it is I need. He is the best. 

And he will probably wish that I didn't put this on here  :) 

Ok, I'm done for reals now.

Crunch Time!

It is crunch time for us to get ready for this baby!

We finally finished the nursery and I love it so much! 

Thank you to everyone who helped contribute to it.

Especially Clayson for his patience and help with all "my" little projects that he did most of the work for.

How did I get so lucky to have him?

Saturday, we went on our last date before our little boy comes. 

We started with going to the Pupuseria El Salvador for lunch and I actually really enjoyed it!

Then we played a round of miniature golf. 

I was in the lead for most of the game, but Clayson made an impressive comeback and I ended up loosing by 2 points. 

I'm pretty sure this is the closest I've ever come to winning!

We celebrated with popsicles and then drove around looking at houses, just for fun.

I loved it  :)

39 weeks

Now bring on this baby! 

Getting Crafty

I am not a crafty person.

Crafts, to me, translates into a lot of money and time that could be spent doing something cheaper and less messy.

Pretty pessimistic, I know.

But, I am pleased to say that my tune may be changing! 

One of our wedding presents was a window frame with vinyl lettering on the glass,
but sadly, the glass was broken, so now we just had the window frame. 

I decided this was my perfect opportunity to get crafty!

I went through a lot of options of what I could do with the frame:

pinterest

We ruled out anything with words pretty quick because we got a lot of wordy gifts - really cute gifts that I love and used them all,
but we really didn't need to add another.

pinterest

The wreath idea meant I had to find a wreathe that I actually liked and then it had to fit in our frame.

It just seemed like more work than it was worth.

pinterest

I liked the idea of hanging pictures, but Clayson said we already had too many pictures.

pinterest

Clayson really liked the idea of a chalk board, 

but to me a chalk board translates into cute artsy pictures and typography, which I lack the motivation for. 

Also, it would probably end up being more words, which was the first thing we ruled out.

So, it looked like we had eliminated all possible options.

It was kind of discouraging.

But then inspiration struck.

We put metal in it!

It sounds weird, but our fridge is not magnetic (Crazy, I know!) so we had no place to put our cute magnets and announcements or whatever. 

Also, did you know that you can write on metal with dry erase marker??

We haven's gotten any yet, but we will! Then Clayson can still draw to his hearts content  :)

fun fact: there are at least 8 wedding presents in this picture

I feel so crafty!

Clayson keeps reminding me that all I did was buy a piece of metal, but baby steps! Right?

I'm so proud  :)

In no particular order:

We had a bon fire

We went climbing

(I did an eleven plus!)

We had a girls night

Life is good

Denver

Last weekend I went to Denver with my office for a chiropractic conference.

we made him take this picture

Our rental car was so cool! It's called a Spark, but the handwriting on the paper we were given looked like "Spank" so it was the running joke.

our first look at the spank

The drive to our apartment was exciting. This is the only way we were able to get to our hotel and I laughed so hard every time!

Imagine doing this for the first time at night. 

Lyndie was my roommate. 

We watched the news every night and talked to each other in our sleep  :)

Most of our time was spent in classes helping us learn how to improve our office

We were afraid of falling asleep in class, so Dr Cannon bought us all glasses with eyes so we could fall asleep safely without the instructor noticing  :)

I got an award!

it's really not that exciting because we all got awards, but whatever

We have the best doctors!

Dr Stevens & Dr Cannon

Everyone in the Spank!

It's surprisingly roomy!

We went out to eat for every meal. I don't want to eat anything for the next week.

First time at Jo's Crab Shack

Saturday night we went to see this movie:

I love our office  :)

again, this picture was forced

It's good to be home  :)

Taking Over My Life

Last year I made a movie of our family reunion and it turned out really cute, so I decided to make one for this years reunion too.

It is taking over my life!

Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love doing it.
Sometimes I wonder if I love it a little too much.

Here's a sampling of "the kid section" for your enjoyment:

I'm pretty sure I have the cutest nieces and nephews ever. 

And I am not biased at all. Just stating the facts  :)

I'm still having withdrawals from being away from them.

Warning to my family: This years video is going to be long. I mean, really long. Like we could probably make a full length film out of it.
I guess that's what happens when the kids start getting old enough to say funny things, the adults get better at using the camera, and we have way too much fun packed into one week.

I don't think it's such a bad thing.

Patience

click here to see the before and after. it's pretty impressive  :)

I feel like patience is being forced upon me in all aspects of my life wether I like it or not!

Patience at work 

(some patients can really try my patience!)

Patience in my calling

Patience with roommates

Patience in dating

Patience with the internet

(it's been spotty and was completely down for the past day and a half!)

Patience with the temperature

Patience with myself

Patience

Patience

Patience

I never realized I was such an impatient person!

Apparently this is a lesson I really need to learn. 

Hopefully I learn it soon so I can move on with the next lesson!

There I go being impatient again....

p.s.  patience is a weird word when you say it this many times.

Addiction

Remember this post?

I'm hooked!

And I'm pretty good, if I do say so myself.

(At least when I'm playing against John, Bill and Lisa)

Vegas, here I come!

:)

Birthday Boys!

March has been a month full of birthdays! 

The Birthday Boys!

Last weekend was the birthday of two of my favorite guys!

Cullen, Tony, and Trevor blowing out the candles

Sunday, we had a little party for them. Tony got to join in the fun as well because his Birthday was that week too! Lucky guy.

Monday was the real day of celebration. We decided to celebrate Cullen and Trevor by getting Tim Tams at Pepperidge Farm, all you can eat Sushi, and a little climbing to top it off. The perfect day.

 Cullen and I were so excited because we had never been to Pepperidge before! Sadly, we were disappointed by what we found - a tiny store with mostly ordinary plain brown cardboard boxes and no Tim Tams. So sad.

Picture Fail! (like the rest of our day)
our garbage tower with Cullen and Kristen trying to get out of the picture

Undaunted, we proceded on to Sushi. We pulled up and there was a sign taped to the door "Sorry, We're Closed"  

That's all. No other explanation. Just closed.

Discouraged after our double fail of Pepperidge and Sushi, we decided to make the best of it and went to Rumbi instead. It was delicious!

Determined to have something go right of the birthday plans, we proceeded to the Rock Haus for some climbing. Unfortunately, it wasn't the best day of climbing we've ever had. I had a headache and it was mostly just an off day for all of us. Oh well, what can you do. 

It was still a great day  :)

pie before cooking

pie after cooking 

Trevor and I decided to make Cullen a birthday pie because it's his favorite.

it's a creation of beauty - In both looks and taste!

look at that crust! It's latticed! 

If you can't tell, I'm kind of proud of our pie  :)

Cullen liked the pie too.

Happy Birthday!

Thanks for letting me join in on the fun.

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner!

Winner, Winner!

Friday was Dave's birthday, so we had a poker night.

Guess what!? I dominate in poker!

We started with Craps and I am pleased to say that I continue to hold the record for undefeated first place in the tournament! I still don't fully understand what I'm doing, but Dave didn't have to tell me I was doing illegal things as often, so I think I'm progressing at least. (It's all luck)

Satisfied with my win, I was ready to go home and get some sleep along with everyone else who had come that night. I had my coat on, keys out, when somehow I found myself back at the table for a game of Hearts. Everyone else had left and it was just me and the boys. I thought I had played Hearts before, but apparently I was wrong. Add that to the fact that I was super tired and the boys all thought I was the poor girl to be pitied. Yeah right! I showed them all up and took first place! The best part is that, unlike Craps, I actually knew what I was doing and played strategy. I love card games!

I'm ready for Vegas, baby!

(not really)

Chicken Dinner!

Good news! Last week my lesson went really well! 

(yes, I know it is slightly ironic that I go from poker to the gospel. such is life!)

After we were all joking about how I was ready for the big class now! My class currently consists of about 15 people max and I am perfectly happy to keep it that way. Dave told me, "Your style works really well for a small class like this, but I don't think it would work very well in the big class." Thanks Dave  :) 

Thursday night I got a call from Ted, my Sunday School guy who is seriously the best! Apparently with Spring Break this weekend, there were no teachers to teach.... except me! I would be in the big room and it would be all combined into one class. Talk about intimidating! I kept hearing Daves words ringing in my ears. 

The topic was the applying the Atonement in our life, and it was so good for me to study at this time! The lesson went really well and there was a lot of really good discussion. I had several compliments after and one guy even asked for the talk I had referenced.  I made cookies so people would remember them instead of the lesson just incase it didn't go over too well (which, thankfully it did!) They were a big hit.... even with having twice as much oil as was called for. oops!

Now we all know I can teach the big class, so I never have to do it again! Right?  :)

And now it's on to the Chicken Dinner part of the day at Pot Luck! I'm so excited! I better get my cans of fruit ready.

Bring It!

When I was about 12 I started climbing with my older brother, Logan, who was about 18 at the time. I am amazed that he (or the people who worked there!) ever trusted me to belay him. Every time he fell I would go flying up and we would meet half way, but I never let him fall!

Just before Logan left on his mission, he and my dad took me climbing outside for the first time. I made it to the top without much problem, but it took at least 20 minutes to get me to back down. I still hate having to come down. It terrifies me to have to let go of the rock and let someone else hold my life in their hands. I hate not having control.

Once my brother left, I kept climbing here and there, but nothing much. In college, I took a rock climbing class with my cousin. We had so much fun! I started climbing more with friends, but I was never consistent.

Now that I don't have school and homework to worry about anymore, I have finally decided to start climbing on a more regular basis and maybe even get good at it! This week I climbed my first 5.10! I've been working towards it for a while, so it was pretty exciting. I felt so energized, like I could take on anything! Bring it on!

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

I know I'm a little late for the whole "New Years Resolution" post, and I don't believe in setting goals anyway, but I do have a few thoughts on the year 2013. If you tilt your head to the side and squint a little, you can kind of see the relation to rock climbing. I guess I could explain it a little better, but I need to get back to work and don't have time, and I'm not good with words anyway. Just use your imagination and draw your own conclusions  :)

For me, the year of 2013 has been about pushing myself - going out of my comfort zone, trying new things, letting go a little and giving up control, pushing myself a little harder to go a little farther.

Let me tell you, it is not always easy, and it is definitely scary! 

I find myself wondering, "Is it really worth it?"

Every time the answer is "Yes!"

I am so grateful for the experiences that I have been able to have and the ways that I have grown.

2013, bring it on!

Journal vs Blog

There was a time when I was an awesome journal writer. 

All through high school and all the way until about November 4, 2010

What happened on that fateful day? 

I got this blog.

And nearly all journal writing ceased from that day on.

November 17, 2012 I decided it was time to bring the journal back.

Isn't it cute  :)

You may notice that about that time my blog posts have been pretty lame for the most part.

I just can't do both!

I am proud to report, however, that (other than trips when I'm not home) I have not missed a single day of writing in my journal!

Coeur d' Alene Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving I went to Coeur d' Alene with my parents and sister to visit my brother and his cute family. Love them!

One of my favorite parts was the annual gingerbread house competition. We split into two teams and put our creativity to work! I am now going to be lazy and give you an excerpt from my brother's blog:

"And of course, we had our Annual Gingerbread House Contest! This is where you come in. We have two teams. We'll call them "Team A" and "Team B." Please look at both, read the descriptions, and then VOTE by leaving a comment on this blog or on one our our Facebook pages. Really, we have a full year of bragging rights at stake here, so don't take this lightly."

Please vote! I need those bragging rights, people  :)

You can vote on my blog or facebook as well. I'll post the winner in after all the votes have been counted. 

Guys, this is so fun! 

Vote!

ok

Well, I was going to write more about how great Thanksgiving was and post pictures on here, but apparently I am "out of space" again. 

Lame! 

But if you want to see some disgusting pictures of me (I loose all hygiene when I travel) and my cute nieces and nephew, you can just read my brother's blog for that too. He's a better writer than I am anyway.

oh yeah, and one more thing....

Vote!

(All links in this post will lead you to the same place, where you can vote.... or here on my blog. or my facebook)

(In case you didn't know, anything yellow is a link)

(And here's the link again, if you still haven't voted)

Thank you and goodnight.

Craps

Last week I learned how to play Craps!

I can't say that I fully understand the game, but I get pieces of it.

Mostly I just throw things out there and see what happens.

I guess it payed off though, cause I ended up taking first place in the tournament!

Poor Tony should have won, but I am an expert trash talker and I got him to throw away all his money.

All part of the game, my friend.

:)

*Pictures have been blurred to protect the identity and pride of the "expert" men who lost to the first time Craps player (aka me)*

I Accidentally Threw A Party . . . .

Last week was quite eventful and I have a lot to catch up on. Today, you only get the story of the accidental party that I apparently threw.

I have a friend named David Loomis who is not very good at being spontanious. We've been working on it, but he can never quite grasp the concept that there is absolutely no planning involved.

One night, I was talking with Chelsey and she mentioned that she wanted to clean the sink at Angie's some time. For those who don't know, "cleaning the sink" means you eat a whole bunch of ice cream that has been put in a sink. It's fun. Anyway, because we had recently talked to Dave about cleaning the sink, and because we were working on his spontaneity, and because I knew he was horrible at spontaneity and the chances of it actually happening were slim to none, we decided to text him and see if he wanted to clean the sink that night. There was no response and I chalked it up for another failed spontaneous moment, as I had predicted.

About an hour later, Dave decides to text me back and ask what time we were going. Because I hadn't planned on going to begin with, I hadn't actually told anyone about it. Not wanting to say this to Dave, however, I told him 9:00 and that he could invite whoever he wanted. He told me he would "let me know"  I was still confident that he would back out and was just humoring me, but I sent a quick text to everyone I knew in Logan (probably 10 people tops, and only 4 of them well enough that they would actually have a possibility of coming).

Text:  "clean the sink at angies tonight at 9"

Nothing fancy or encouraging. It was around 8:30 when I sent it, so I thought it would be way too late and short notice for people to want to go. No one responded back and I was sure that was the end of it.

Chelsey left to visit a friend. Kandace called me and we had a great conversation (we really need to talk more often!) As we were talking, Eric/Patux called. I figured I would call him back after I finished with Kandace, but he called again and I felt bad ignoring him twice. Kandace and I finished our conversation and I called Eric back.

Eric:  "Where are you?"

Me:  "Sitting on my bed. Why?"

Eric:  "Uh... Are you coming to Angie's?"

Realization set in of what had happened, and I felt so bad! He had never told me he was coming!?

I quickly apologized, told him it was canceled and that he could still come over and we would do something. We hung up and he started driving over to get me.

It was at this time that Dave texted me, telling me that he had 5 people and was on his way to Angie's at that very moment. What!?

Eric pulled up then and I told him that plans had changed and Angies was back on! I texted Chelsey and she said she and her friend would get to Angie's as soon as they could. Just then, I got a call from my roommate, Catherine (another person I had texted)

Cate:  "Hey, where are you guys?"

Me:  "Um... Are you at Angie's?"

Cate:  "Yeah, are you here?"

Me:  "Uh... I'm on my way right now! (I was sitting in my living room) But Dave should be there. He just texted me"

Cate:  "Dave isn't here...."

We decided that they should just get a table that would fit a lot of people (I had no clue how many people would actually show up for this!) and that we would get there as soon as we could.

It was some mass confusion that ended up being a really fun spontaneous time!

This is the only thing I got from the night because my camera died right after.

We had a good number of people come! I ended up getting breakfast (so good!) and Cathrine and Tyler got dinner because we hadn't eaten yet (yes,  it was at least 9:30 by this time, and I still hadn't eaten anything) Two people didn't eat anything, but came for the company, and everyone else got the Kitchen Sink and finished it off nicely.

Let me say again that none of these people told me that they were planning on coming! I had no idea that I was really throwing a party, but I'm sure glad that I did! It ended up being such a fun night!

Thanks everyone for your spontaneity!

P.S.  Let it be known that we counted it up and there were more people there off my invitation than Dave's. Winner!

P.P.S.  It can also be known that, against all odds, Dave was spontaneous. Way to go.

Thursday Night Bowling

Thursday night, bowling is cheap! So that is our favorite social activity.

The first game was all about the trash-talking. I make up in talk for what I lack in skill. It was basically a competition between Bryson and I. I won the talk, he won the game  :)

The second game was all about the form.

Brittany's form

Trevor's Form (His great form is who inspired the whole form competition)

Katelyn's form

My form

Bryson's form

The whole night was about trying to get a picture with Bryson, who apparently is very camera shy.

First Attempt (Yes, I am fully aware of how horrible I look)

It obviously wasn't working very well, so I had to take matters into my own hands.

Exhibit A (Also, the only picture of Bryson's face from the whole night)

Plus a little PhotoShopping with my "first attempt"

And you get a lovely picture of the two of us!

Too bad he's dating Brittany  :)

....................

As a side note that doesn't relate to bowling in any way, shape, or form: A guy in our ward drives this truck to church. The picture doesn't even come close to doing it justice. I'm pretty sure he's gotten several tickets for it. Sometimes Brittany and I will drive by and look at it when we get bored. We're hoping to see him getting into it one of these days because we have no clue how he would manage it, especially considering he's only about my height.

Diagnosis: Severe case of LMS
(More commonly known as Little Man Syndrome)