Getting Artsy

Remember how I graduated from college with an art degree?

Yeah, sometimes I remember that too and think "I should probably do something about that."

So I've been getting all artsy!

.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .

For Home Evening the other night we made journals for the NICU. 

The perfectionist art major came out in me.

I even broke out my painting skills!

What took others roughtly 15 to 20 minuites, took me about two hours. 

Literally.

front

back

Someone better appreciate this journal.

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My Second art project is the video I'm making of our family reunion.
Unfortunately, I keep getting this message when I try to put it on a dvd.

If anyone can shed some light on the situation, I would be ever so grateful.

please!

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My other artsy endeavors can be seen at the blog that I sometimes remember I have.

I am really going to be better at keeping this blog up. You can give me a hard time about it if I don't.

(and please do. I need the motivation.) 

Conference & Princesses

Confession: I don't think I got a thing out of General Conference.
(ok, maybe I got a little.... maybe)

Addy sat with me for a good portion of Conference. She was so good and quiet the whole time!

I went home for Conference, and Logan & Rachel came too. It was so much fun! But with 4 - 8 kids running around (Ty & Cambria were there too) and feeling like I was drugged on sleeping pills, it was a loosing fight from the get-go.

This picture is for Trevor. You know I've been working hard on that face  :)
Also, this is what I look like with no shower for 2 days, not doing my hair or washing my face, no makeup, still in pajamas.... basically all loss of hygiene.
Attractive.

Don't get me wrong, I really do love conference and I'm so sad I wasn't able to be more attentive. I am definitely looking forward to the General Conference issue of the Ensign to come out. You better believe it will be read cover to cover!

This chair was like a kid magnet!

Durring Priesthood session, my mom, Rachel, and Cambria decided to go to the Deseret Book thing (I don't really know what it was....) This left Sierra and me to watch 8 kids under the age of 5. I have to say, it was probably one of the easiest babysitting experiences I've had! We watched Snow White and then made Princesses.

Believe it or not, we actually watched all of Snow White like this.

I made up the name "Princesses" When I made these with Evelyn for the first time. She loves Princesses and I knew if I called them that she would be 12 times more excited than if I just called them Hugged Pretzels. They are the perfect treat to make with kids!

Princess

Pretzel = Throne

Hug = Princess

M&M = Crown

For some reason, I can't cook for people anymore. I ruin it every time.
They were still ok and they all got eaten, but they just weren't as good as they should have been.

For the record, I promise I really can cook!

Road Trip

Yesterday, I woke up and realized that I had nothing to do.

So I made the extended movie to our family reunion - the road trip with Evelyn, Jackson and Adalie!

My dad, Courtney and I drove with these three from Rexburg to Oklahoma, and then Texas. Mom joined us for the trip back from Texas to Utah.
It was such a fun trip!

The following pictures were taken by Evelyn

Jackson was the best sleeper

 I kind of have a reputation for never driving on road trips, and it's true. I'm not the biggest fan of driving and if someone else is willing, I will gladly give up the drivers seat. However, this trip, I actually drove!  

DJ Courtney

Courtney was in the passenger seat showing off her expertise on kids songs. We had Evelyn, Jack and Addy all dancing in the back seat while my dad showed off his well known skills of being able to sleep anywhere and through anything. Courtney and I were just as into the music as the kids were, jamming out, showing off our best dance moves.... that's when I saw the lights flash behind me.

Are you kidding me!?

With my warning and police badge sticker

My first thought was that my dance moves had gone too far and I was being pulled over for drunk driving. I knew I wasn't speeding, there were no cars in sight for miles, and I couldn't think of any reason why I would be puled over.

I have a good history of being pulled over for stupid things:

- Suspicious driving

- Driving through a crosswalk with someone in it (It's Rexburg! Everyone does this or we would never move! I actually got an $85 ticket)

Well, now I have one more to add to the list:

Driving on the left side of the road!

What? Is that really a law? 

Apparently so.

The best part was Addy in the back yelling at me to "Go Allison! Go!" 

She got very upset any time we stopped. The traffic jam on the way home about killed her.

Luckily, the police officer was nice and just gave me a warning. 

Addy with her sticker from the police man

He also gave us stickers, which the kids thought were pretty cool!

On the way home Evelyn said to me "Umm.... Allison, next time you drive, can you not get pulled over? K?"

Thanks Ev  :)

Anyway, it was a great trip and it deserves to be documented. 

So, without further Adieu, here it is!

enjoy!

p.s.  I also made some changes to the audio of the Family Reunion movie so the talking can actually be heard over the music. Sorry, I didn't know it would sound so different on TV instead of my computer. Live and learn.

The Website Saga

The Website Saga

Remember how I have a website? Well, it has been causing me such a headache for the past two months!

First you have to understand that there are three parts to a website:

1.  Web Builder (Wix) - This is how you made your website

2.  Domain (Network Solutions) - This is your web address, like allisonkayphotography.com

3.  Host (DreamHost) - They make my website show up on your computer

Now, if you're smart, you do all 3 of those with the same company.

Obviously I missed the memo on that one.

When you first buy a website it's super cheap cause they want to pull you in. I think I got mine for something like $6 for a full year. Renewing your website and upgrades is where it can get pricy. 

At the beginning of May I received an email from DreamHost telling me that it would cost $119.40 to renew my website. I tried to make the payment, but my card had expired and I needed to update my information. I couldn't figure out how to update it, so I left it alone.

The emails continued to come and in June my website disappeared. I still couldn't figure out how to update my information and there was no contact information to be found for DreamHost. I decided that I would just use my blog/facebook and let my website expire. Not many people look at it anyway and I was short on money this month, so I figured it would be fine. 

Then July came.

This month I have engagements, bridals, and a family to photograph. 

I suddenly remembered why I had made my website! 

Without it, I had no way to show my clients their pictures! 

I was suddenly frantic to get my website back, but the situation was much more complicated now. I had let my website expire, and I didn't know if I would be able to get it back. 

If you didn't already know, I am not afraid to be that customer that just doesn't go away. 

I started by calling Wix and making sure my page was still alive somewhere and that I could make it appear again. I have Wix in my phone and have called them so frequently in the past that they knew me by name. Raul was always the best. Anyway, all was good on their end, so I moved onto DreamHost who has very limited customer service.

As I said before, DreamHost has no phone number and the email they had sent me said there was no reply. I was diligent though and found another email address for them. It was on!

I began a series of questions. For every email I sent, they would reply with two - The first telling me not to email them and look at Wiki, and the second answering my question (after long amounts of time) About every other email I would ask/beg for a phone number. I knew it could be cleared up so quickly if I could just have an actual conversation! After telling me not to email them, they would always answer that they didn't have a phone number. It was a very slow and painful process. 

Anyway, at one point they told me it was a problem with my Domain - Network Solutions. So I called them and the guy told me that my domain name was expired. I had 3 choices:

1.  Buy my domain name back for $3000 (yes, that is a three and four zeros!)

2. Wait for like another month or so for it to go back in the pool of names and hope that I'm the first one to get it

3.  Buy a new domain name

I decided that option 3 was probably my best bet, so I changed my domain from allisonkayphotography.com to allisonkay-photography.com (if you missed the difference, there is a dash in the second one) I also decided to get the name for 10 years instead of just one so that 1.  I could get a better price, and 2.  I didn't have to go through this mess again in 12 months. The guy also ended up talking me into protection, so the grand total of my phone call was $169.80

It's also important to note that while I was on the phone with Network Solutions, I was also on facebook with my friend, Jared, who was researching the company for me and helping me make good choices, since website choices obviously aren't my strong point. Thanks Jared!

So now I'm paying $169.80 on top of the $119.40 bringing my website to $289.20

This is also on top of me having to pay double rent for the month of July because I wasn't able to sell my contract at Maple Valley

This is also on top of having small paychecks because we have been taking vacations for the 4th of July and such.

I was a little stressed about money.

July 9th, I check my email and I have another message from DreamHost (they have been coming faithfully through this whole ordeal telling me that I owe $119.40) This one, however, is different! It tells me that I have no balance and it has been automatically paid! I try to get on my website and, voila, it's back! 

Now, it sounds like everything is good, right? But, there are a few problems with this:

1.  If it was an automatic transfer, why was I getting a million emails for the past two months?

2.  They still don't have my updated card information, so how has this payment been made?

3.  I just wasted half my life for the past two months on something that didn't even matter!

Of course, I email DreamHost and they send me the answer not to email them and to look at Wiki, and I wait for them to get the real answer back. I'm sure I begged for a phone number for the millionth time, and I'm sure they told me there was none.

I checked my bank account, and there are no transactions for DreamHost. There are, however two transactions for Network Solutions. The first is the $169.80 for my new domain name. The second is $41.98 for who knows what. 

I immediately call and ask what the $41.98 is about. They tell me it's to renew allisonkayphotography.com (no dash) So why was I told that I no longer had that name!? 

I was so mad. 

I told them I wanted my original domain name and I wanted a full refund for the $169.80

Meanwhile, DreamHost can't figure out what is going on with my hosting. The long drawn-out emails continue, and I am growing more and more frustrated.

Then I get a phone call.

From a number I don't recognize.

It's DreamHost!

The first thing I say is "you told me you didn't have a phone number!" 

I guess the DreamHost finally decided that I really was a lost cause and I wasn't going to quit and they had to give into my demands.

:)

Apparently, allisonkayphotography.com is not hosted through DreamHost, but is actually through GoDaddy (another hosting company). My DreamHost is for two other websites that I made for classes two years ago! Why are they contacting me now when I haven't heard a thing from them in two years!?  An unexpected twist to the story, for sure. 

Jamie (the DreamHost girl I was talking to) told me I could go in and cancel my accounts. I asked for the phone number so I could have it if I had any complications (something I am well known for in every technology circle) It turns out that the she was calling from a skype line so I couldn't call her back, but she was super nice and gave me her personal email and told me if I had any more problems or questions I could email her and she would call me back. She was like an angel!

Well, I went to cancel my accounts and my page is not what it is supposed to be. I even checked Wiki - definitely not the same as what my screen looked like. I emailed Jamie and she sent me what it should be. I tried again and my screen was different this tim, but still not the right one. I email Jamie again and she tells me she doesn't know why that would happen (I hear this all the time!) but just to wait for it to expire on it's own. 

So, to recap - The first email was sent May 6th and the saga has been officially ended (hopefully) with my refund today of $169.80

Do you realize that for all my efforts at being responsible and getting things paid, it all came to nothing! Everything that I did had to be un-done!

Literally, not one thing that I did mattered!

The moral of the story:  If you sit back and do nothing, everything will take care of itself, and your life is much more stressful.

Lesson Learned.

Next time I will be much less responsible.

p.s.  If you made it through this whole saga, you might as well go the whole way and visit my website!

allisonkayphotography.com 

Camera Fails & One Success

My brother and his family came to Rexburg last weekend, so I decided to go up/down (does it really matter!?) and spend some time with them too! I have forgotten/lost my camera every time I am with these guys, so this time I made sure to cover my bases and brought both my point-and-shoot and my Nikon.

I got there before they arrived so I could have some time to spend with friends. I have been dying to go rock climbing all summer, so Porter was so great to organize a trip for me! It was so much fun, but you could definitely tell this was my first climb of the summer. I really need to go more often.

Of course, I left my camera in the car, so I have no pictures.

Fail!

After climbing we grabbed a few more people and went out to ice cream at G's Dairy. Only half of us ended up actually eating ice cream, but it was more about being together. It was my favorite part of the night, so I made sure to document it this time!

Of course, my camera died right after I took this picture, but I still had my Nikon.

Half Fail!

Logan and Rachel and their cute kids came that night and the fun began!

I decided that I wanted to try making a movie of our adventures.

Unfortunately, my camera died about 1/8th of the way through the day. It didn't even make it though the first activity!

Fail!

It was probably for the best though, because the movie still ended up being about 15min long. My family will probably appreciate it, but everyone else can feel free to skip it, or watch the first 30 seconds and then get bored with it. I won't be offended, but you can still appreciate it  :)

Our day started out with Bear World! 

For those who don't know, Bear World is a park/zoo that you drive through and they have "wild" animals like goats, elk, a moose, and (of course) bears. It was invented because Yellowstone is boring and they were trying to compensate for the disappointed visitors who traveled hundreds of miles and all they saw was a squirrel. (That isn't a joke. It's even called Yellowstone Bear World)

Aaanyway, If you go with little kids Bear World can actually be a lot of fun! After looking at the bears we fed the ducks, went to the petting zoo (my camera died right as we went in), and then rode the little rides they have there.  

After Bear World we made a picnic and went to Porter Park to play in the splash park and ride the carousel.

Side Note: I saw my 6th grade teacher at the carousel and he told me that he tells his class about me every year and that I am a legend. He is my favorite teacher growing up... probably because I am his favorite student  :)  

After Porter Park we came home and had a barbecue with delicious hamburgers, followed by good conversation into the night. 

Can a day get much better? 

It would be tough.

Sunday was much more laid back, but I still loved every minute. 

We had another barbecue with possibly the best food and company ever!

And no documentation.

Fail! 

You can't say I didn't try.

Cold

When I think of Logan one of the first things that comes to mind is "cold."

I don't think I have been warm (other than a few moments) since I moved here.

The thing is, Logan actually has beautiful weather! You just can't go into any of the buildings. They are freezing!

Today, I went to work and, as usual, I froze. Every morning I sit in the sun and try to soak up all its warmth before it's gone by 9:30. We just got a hot chocolate maker and I wanted some so bad today, but I had already drank it all so we were out. I thought about making coffee, just so I could hold the cup.  For lunch I had chicken noodle soup and it felt so good to have some warmth! I put my hands around the scentsy we have and tried to warm my nose by it, but I was unsuccessful in my attempts. I thought (like I think every day) that I should really bring a coat to work next time.

At the end of the day I walked out to go to my car and it was like a whole new world! It was almost 90 degrees! Who knew it was full blown summer outside? I certainly didn't! I sat in my black car that had been absorbing heat all day and saving it just for me. I bask in that heat all the way home. It is glorious.

Then I came home and sat on the couch to read my book, and the air conditioning starts blowing directly on me. I try various places throughout the apartment to get away from it, but it won't leave me alone. I finally give in and get my biggest blanket to wrap up in, but my face is still an ice cube from the air conditioned wind storm. I end up reading my book curled up in a ball under my make-shift blanket tent.

One day I got so desparate to be warm that I actually went out and just sat in my car.  It is my sanctuary.

All I want is to be warm! Is that so much to ask?

p.s.  Do you like how Playlist suddenly decides not to share with blogger literally right after I finish making it so aesthetically pleasing? Yeah, I thought that was really cool too. (no pun intended)

Soundtrack TO My Life

Notice there is something new on the side called Soundtrack To My Life. I always have a playlist that I am adding to, and this is my current one. I like going back and listening to my old playlists because it instantly brings me back to the time when I was making it. (Does that make any sense?) Anyway, I think the music you listen to on a regular basis says something about who you are, so I thought I'd share.

Even if you don't want to listen to it, please appreciate how aesthetically pleasing it looks on the side and know that it took me a while to make it that way and appreciate it. I had to mess with the HTML and it was so much fun!

ok, that's all. Thanks  :)

So. . . . I Guess I'm Moving

I came home from my little adventure last weekend to some pretty exciting news! My roommate Brittany is (finally) engaged and Katelyn got the perfect job for herself at Deseret Digital Media! Like I said, incredibly exciting news, but a little inconvenient for my life. I suddenly found myself with no roommates and there is no way I am making the rent by myself.  I had this playing through my head all week:

Please appreciate this clip because it took me all morning to make.

So, after weighing the pros and cons, I've decided to move in with some girls from my ward! I'll be living in a townhouse (Bridger Style, I think), which I have always wanted to do! This decision was made in a grand total of two days! Talk about a sudden turn of events!

I'm excited for the change, but not excited at all to actually make the move. If you know me, you know that I hate packing with a passion. I am known for not even starting to pack for a weekend trip to Utah until everyone else is already in the car ready to go. When I went to Europe, I didn't start packing until the night before, while everyone else had been packing for weeks. I also didn't pack for my move to Logan until the night before. I just really don't like it. But, what do you do? So, I guess I will be packing everything up and moving a block away. Thankfully, my mom is coming to help me out, right?  :)

And as a side note, here's part two of madi's wedding! Enjoy!