Anxiously Engaged..continued

FINALLY! it finally launched Sept. 19th in the afternoon. We've been lucky to not have too many bugs since it launched, and we're getting vendors on there slowly but surely! I'm just happy to have it up, and am obsessively checking it for new vendors. Once we get enough vendors, I'll be starting marketing the site to brides and grooms. It's exciting to have an idea, work hard for it, then see it actually come to fruition. (Well, maybe not fruit yet, maybe like tiny little sprouty green things barely popping out of the earth- but we'll get there). I think one of the best parts of the site are the beautiful temple shots I collected from different photographers. When you have time, browse around it.

anxiously engaged

So, some of you know that I've been working on a new business. My designer swore me to secrecy (i guess people steal good ideas all the time in this business), but since the site should be going up by Friday (cross your fingers), I think it's safe. Since June, I've been working, along with my awesome designer, on a new wedding planning website for LDS couples called "Anxiously Engaged": www.anxiously-engaged.com . It has been hard work, and a frustrating, stressful process, but hopefully, it will be successful. You can check out the "in progress" page now, and should be able to see the beautiful site in it's entirety no later than Saturday, Sept 6th. You can also check out the blog: http://www.anxiouslyengaged.wordpress.com/ . If you know anyone who is in a wedding business, or would want to advertise to lds engaged couples, feel free to send them there. Once it's up, any amount of traffic would be appreciated! I'm just happy it's almost done, as is Brandon, since it's kinda controlled my life since the idea first popped in my head. I'm gonna let it take root, and hopefully pay off the cost of the website, and then start over with a new website that is creating itself in my head. (that one you'll have to wait for details on...)

i love my kids...

So, people keep asking me when i'm going to start potty training my 2 year-old. yeah, i pretty much stopped with the whole pro-active parenting thing with my third, it's kinda like, "oh, he's supposed to be doing what at this age? hmm, i guess he'll eventually learn". it's not laziness or indifference, it's just the whole learning-to-not-micro-manage-everything-in-life-especially-my-kids thing. it's actually going pretty well. i love not getting upset over spilled milk, or even the beautiful permanent marker design jonathan drew on our wall 2 days ago (its a fauxed wall, so it's not like i can just paint over it quickly). since the lines are all vertical, i'm thinking of drawing flowers on top of the stems he drew and leaving it for a while...i'll keep you posted.
anyhoo-back to potty training. i bought a package of pull-ups and just decided to put them on him occasionally, but i'm not really interested in doing the boot camp thing or anything. we've done it a few days, not much success. so, he just came over to me with a pull-up & took off his diaper. i said "ok, this is for big boys, you need to use the potty, okay?" he nods yes. about 5 minutes later i hear the toilet flush. i walk in and there is pee everywhere! he pulled down the pull-up, peed, and flushed without a word to me. wow-i guess we'll work on aim next...eh, he'll get it on his own eventually.

what a week!

Last tuesday, my three little monkeys were jumping on the bed, one fell off and broke his...arm. Yup, little jon-jon is the first to have broken a bone. it truly is amazing with three boys that it has taken this long! So, daddy took him to urgent care (best kept secret in tucson- el dorado urgent care, what used to be the hospital- no wait, and super good care!). He got a cast a few days later. Then, saturday i used all my intellect to do a completely stupid thing. You know the chocolate shell topping that gets hard on ice cream? well, i put it in the fridge, which made it hard. i decided i wanted some ice cream, and put it in the microwave to turn it back to liquid. i didn't really think about the fact that it's, like, 75% oil. so, i took it out of the micro, put the lid back on it, and shook it. it then exploded all over my arm and gave me a second degree burn. I now have a super-nasty blister on my right hand.

THINGS I'VE LEARNED: monkeys will be monkeys; chocolate will, indeed, hurt you; when you only have one hand it's hard to wash your hair, but it's harder to shave your armpits.

First Magazine Publishing, and other business...

I just heard from Tucson Lifestyle Magazine. They will be publishing three of my pictures in their upcoming wedding issue. I just updated my edp blog with my latest wedding. I start tomorrow with my busiest month so far this year. I have back-to-back weddings tomorrow & saturday, then I have next weekend off (if you count hours on the computer editing them, off). Then I have a 2-day LDS wedding in Mesa (sealing and reception on Friday, 2nd reception on Saturday), then another wedding the following Saturday. In May I get a bit of a breather, thank goodness! June is vacation time, with a family reunion & a week-long camping trip. In July we will hopefully start our kitchen renovation! So- Maybe I'll take pics and do a play-by-play on the renovation.

The boys are doing great! We have discovered that Ben can have soy lecithin, which opens up a whole new world of foods with long shelf-lives. We also all started going to a chiropractor. It started with Brandon who had been in a car accident, then we decided to take Ben. Then I went, & Isaac will be going tomorrow. I can't believe what a difference it has made! I hadn't realized that I haven't had full mobility of my neck in years! Ben has really responded. He loves going and getting adjusted. It has really helped calm him down. Which is great, since he has been having occasional foods with soy. For Isaac's birthday, he'll be able to eat the same pizza that we eat, instead of the frozen pizza he usually has to have. He still has a reaction to the soy, but it seems to be milder, and he is doing a great job at learning to control his energy.

We are getting allergy testing done for Ben & Jonathan. We know of the soy/milk allergies, but Jonathan seems to be allergic to other things as well, and it's been hard to pin them down. We figured we might as well get testing done for Ben, just to see if there may be other triggers.

Jonathan is almost two... (yes, that's butter..maybe he's trying to cure his dairy allergy?)

Isaac turns 5 on saturday. He's a funny kid. (like any of our kids are seroius and subdued?) I asked him to put something away the other day and he said, " I can't, the tv is controlling me, and it told me not to."

Brandon is counting the days until summer vacation...

A must-see talk about depression

http://www.byub.org/edweek/archive.asp?selectedYear=2005
click on the first talk: : "Christ-centered healing from depression and low-self worth"

This is an excellent talk given at BYU education week in 2005. I happened upon it and urge anyone who knows anyone with depression will watch it.

New EDP ad

I just finished my new brochure on mytucsonwedding.com. Take a look! http://www.mytucsonwedding.com/categories/photographers/brochures/photographers_4637.html

EDP

YEA!!!! I finally finished my new website. I'm excited because it has a completely new set-up. It has an intro page that navigates to 3 different sites: weddings, portraits or my art gallery. My art gallery has a ton of shots of nature, landscapes, my study of clouds (thinking of doing a book someday...), temples, my trip to new york, etc.
I think it will really help to have my wedding site & my portrait site separate.
I've also updated all my portfolios and separated them out, so on my wedding site there are 5 diffreent portfolios: formal shots, fun reception shots, ceremony shots, detail shots, and "tender moments". it's a lot to look at, but i think shows a greater span of my work.
I'm also working on a separate blog for edp (elizabeth dorathy photography) and hope to have that up within the week.
I am just so happy to finally have the site up an running!