Happy Holidays 2010

We are starting to send less actual cards out and more e-cards.. it's better for the environment.So if you didn't get a card, know that it's because we simply wanted less paper used.. :)

Hope you enjoy!

CarlyAnn

We are so excited to finally be in California on our family vacation. We have been planning it for a while. We originally were going to just meet Kevin's family at Disneyland, but then decided to make a photography week out of it.

My niece is a very talented gymnast and in preparations our mini session day tomorrow, yesterday we were able to go to the gym and practice a bit... Carly ended up being our model. She was such a good sport, and totally loved it! Check out her pictures here, and make sure you check back this week, because there are a lot more to come!

Have a great Thanksgiving Week!

Did I ever tell you?

Did I ever tell you how much I love this kid.. Everyday I love him more and more. He seriously is the perfect little man. We got family pictures taken last week, in Park City. Here is my favorite of the whole day! I'll post the rest later in the week.

Also... You'll want to check out the Kukui Studios Blog.. We are having a special, that you will not want to miss..

Little Monkey Man!

Here's some pics of Kaniela's costume. The whole day was so crazy, I didn't get a picture of all three of us... So you will have to just enjoy the cute one of the monkey!

Happy Halloween!

I hope you all have a fun Halloween! I can't wait to see pictures of all your fun costumes!

P.S. Make sure you look at the pictures below! They are so cute!

Kevin's Mini-Me!

My sister started this blog a few weeks ago. Basically she gives a word, and then we are supposed to take a picture that week, that describes that word. So this weeks word was 'mini'... I thought about mini cupcakes, mini cars, mini flowers.. all those things. But the most prevalent 'mini' in my life is Kaniela.. Not only is he a mini man, but he is a mini Kevin. He looks like Kevin, he acts like Kevin, he talks like Kevin... basically they are the same person (except for Kaniela's blonde hair). So I decided to take pictures of the mini Kevin.

I love that he is so much like his Dad, because I think his dad is pretty cool guy. Seriously, if he grows up to be like Kevin, I would be a pretty happy Mom. I love that Kaniela loves his dad so much. He often wants me to wrestle and tickle him, but usually gets bored, because it's just not as good as Dad. I also love that Kevin loves his kid so much. Kevin is a great dad and loves every second he gets to spend with Kaniela.

I'm so in love with both my boys! I don't know what I would do with out them!

Best Buds!

I wanted to post this picture because it makes me laugh every time I see it. I'm going to post more this weekend on Kukui so watch for those..
This is Kaniela's best friend Jude! You might think kids their age can't have best friends, but really these kids seriously are... I think they must have known each other in the pre-existence! They are so funny and play so cute together. Jude and his family went to California for the summer, when they got back, they came over and they ran up and gave each other the biggest hug! It was soo cute! My favorite thing is when they chase each other in circles at Jude's house. I hope that we can always live by the Corotan's so they can stay best buds forever! I told Mandi (Jude's mom) this will have to go in one of their wedding videos!

One Day...

One Day I'll have my life back to normal and be able to blog again.

One day I'll sit down and tell you about our new photography business we have started with the one and only littlewunders photography

One day I'll tell you about how Wunder Studios is the official photography vendor for David's Bridal in Salt Lake

One day I'll post pictures of the cute Carlson Family

One day I'll post the pictures of our new little niece Mia

One day I'll post pictures of how big Kaniela is getting

One day I'll tell you about how cute Kaniela is in nursery at church

One day I'll tell you about how much Kaniela loves that his best friend Jude is back in town, and how they actually hugged each other when they saw each other again after a couple months.

One day I'll tell you about how much Kaniela loves going to the swimming pool and going underwater

One day I'll tell you about how I started working (part-time) back at Wolverine Crossing and that I'm loving it

One day I'll tell you about hiring a crazy personal trainer and that I think she is going to kill me

One day I'll tell you about Kevin getting a promotion at work, even though he's only been there for 3 months

One day I'll tell you about some of our lifestyle pictures being used on a HUGE signs all over Wolverine Crossing

One day I'll post the cute carnival pictures that Kevin took

One day I'll tell you about how much Kaniela loved the fireworks this summer

One day I'll tell you about how cute it is when you ask Kaniela to show you his teeth and he gives you the cutest, most goofy smile ever.

One day I'll tell you how much I miss my sisters this summer, and wonder why I didn't get to see any of them this summer

One day I'll tell you how I really need to organize my house and how I really want this bedding set from Ikea

One day I'll tell you about how much I love Ikea

One day I'll tell you about how it's time to get Kaniela a 'real' bed and how hard it is to decide what to get

One day I'll realize that I can't blog about everything that goes on in my life and that no one probably reads my blog anyways, so it really doesn't matter.

So until that day comes, I hope you all have an amazing last month of summer!! Can you believe it's August?

Engagements and Family Fun..

In the past week we were able to shoot some engagements for Sarah and Kyle.. What a super cute couple and a very fun locations!

To see more click here

Then we got to take shoot one of the cutest families.. My cousin Jason and his kids.. What a cute BEAUTIFUL family! You are going to want to see these kids! Check it out here..

We've got some 4th pictures.. I will post as soon as we get the chance!

California Cupcake

So I'm sitting here eating this AMAZING cupcake.. and I thought... "I should really blog about this..." These are really that good.

Some of you might not know this, but I like to experiment with recipe's. Last week was Kevin's birthday and I wanted to take cupcakes to h

is work. I thought it would be fun to make an orange cupcake (him working at Orange Soda and all). I couldn't find a recipe that 1. I liked or 2. I had everything for. Well, I made these Vanilla cupcakes a while ago and still had the recipe, so I thought I would try experimenting. Which usually ends up not good.. but this time I think it turned out...

Try these out, you will love them...

I'm calling them California Cupcakes, because they remind me of were I grew up, Redlands, CA, they grow lots of oranges there.

California Cupcakes

Ingredients

1 C Butter (unsalted), room temp.

2 C Sugar

5 Eggs, room temp.

1/2 t Pure vanilla extract

1 T Pure Orange Extract

3 C Flour (not self rising)

1 T Baking powder

3/4 t Salt

1 C Whole milk

zest of 1 medium orange

Directions

1. Pre-heat oven to 325F. Cream butter and sugar (it’s very important butter is room temperature to allow for proper creaming. Add Eggs. Mix completely.
2. When mixed completely add vanilla and orange extract.
3. In a separate bowl mix flour, baking powder and salt.
4. Add flour mixture and milk to butter mixture alternately, scrapping bowl after each addition, until completely mixed. Mix well for one minute.
5. Add orange zest.
6. If you want your cupcakes to be orange, you may add orange food coloring at this time. Add to desired color.
7. Fill, about 2/3 full, paper lined muffin tins. *Do not over fill.
8. Bake for 17-20 minutes, or until cake tester comes out clean.
9. Transfer cupcakes to cooling rack to avoid overcooking on the bottom. Allow cupcakes to cool completely then frost with orange cream cheese frosting (recipe below).

*These cupcakes are more of a flat cake, therefore do not rise very well. If over filled, the batter will just overflow on to muffin tin. Even if filled right, this may occur, to avoid sticking, grease the top of the muffin tin, before filling cups.

Orange Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients

1 C Butter (unsalted), room temp.

2 8 oz packages Cream cheese, room temp.

2½ C Powdered sugar

2 t Orange extract

Directions

1. Mix butter and cream cheese completely, scrapping bowl every few minutes.

(to allow for proper frosting consistency, butter and cream cheese must be room temperature)

2. Add powder sugar slowly.

3. Add orange extract. Mix on high for one minute.

Use a generous amount of frosting on each cupcake.

Garnish cupcakes with mandrin oranges, orange candies, orange blossoms, small orange slices, etc.

Austin-Dillingham Wedding

We were so lucky to be able to shoot this wedding it was a blast. Check out our photog blog to see the pics...

Aren't they such an awesome couple?

Palmyra Day volume 1

Ok here is the first round of pics. I am in LOVE with these homes. They are so cute and quaint. Add some plumbing and a modern kitchen and I think I could live in one. Ok, maybe not, but I love, the decor. Not much explanation needed for these... Sorry if this is boring to you, I have some fun 'people' shots too, those will come later!

This is the first Smith Family home. The one that Joseph Smith grew up in.

I loved this picture. This is up in the Joseph's bedroom. It was in this room that Moroni came and visited Joseph.

Later, the Smith Family build this beautiful frame home. This was Lucy's pride and joy.. She loved this home so much. They eventually had to sell it and move back into their small home.

Here's a few I took of the Grandin Building. This is where the Book of Mormon was printed. There's not very many good pics of here, because the lighting was very bad.. but here's just a couple.

I wanted to get pictures of the Sacred Grove so bad. This is what I was so excited for.. I can't even tell you how many pictures I looked at to try and find the shot that I wanted. I had exactly in mind what I wanted, before we even left for NY. Although, I didn't get the exact pic.. I'm still pretty happy with the few I got. I've been wanting a picture of the sacred grove in our home, and so I think this will be the one that I get printed big, to put up..

I can't even tell you how amazing these historical sites are. When we were taking the tour of the Smith Family Farm, the missionary that took us, shared a part of President Hinckley's dedicatory prayer (of the Palmyra Stake Center). President Hinckley said that these surrounding areas (which includes the Smith Family Farm, Sacred Grove and Hill Cumorah) is the most sacred grounds on earth, save the Palestine area where Jesus Christ actually walked.

I believe that with all my heart. I don't usually talk about religion on my blog, but I'm going to today. I can't post these pictures with out expressing my sincere gratitude for the gospel of Jesus Christ. The spirit of Christ and our Heavenly Father lingers in these places. Sacred things happened in there, and I could feel the sacredness of those places. I could feel that when we pulled into the parking lot. There is a special warmth about everything I saw, heard and touched that day. I love hearing the stories of Joseph and his family. What a wonderful family. I love hearing about their strength and perseverance. It made me want to be stronger. I hated hearing about the horrible trials they had. It made me want to cry. I loved feeling the spirit that came when the missionaries testified of the truth... YES the Truth! The TRUTH of all that happened on those sacred grounds. It made me want to testify. So that's what I'm doing. I'm telling you, it's true. What happened to Joseph Smith in that grove, is the truth. You can choose to believe it or not, but it's real and true.. and I, myself, choose to never deny that.

I'm sure most of you that read this blog are friends of mine, and so if you have any questions you can ask. But if your not, and you want to learn more, here's link that you might find helpful.

NYC.. Coming Soon!

Ok I know I haven't posted any NYC pics.. It's been a task getting back into the groove. I also have TONS!! I'm trying to go through and edit.

I was working on this one this morning and totally love it.. This small pic doesn't really do it justice.. I love how colorful the buildings are. This was taken on the Statue of Liberty island, looking back at the city! LOVE IT!

What do you think?

P.S. make sure you click on the pic to get a good size, it's better that way!

Day 1

Well we got here. It was so fun! The best part was watching my Mom's face as we drove through NYC... It was so cute, she was so cute!
We got here, and we were all starving so we headed over to the Shake Shack.. the best burgers around... Kaniela is loving it all, the lights, the subway, and all the people watching...
Tomorrow... Off to Palmyra!

Tomorrow!

I'm so excited... I should not be sitting here at the computer writing a blog, because I have absolutely so much to do.. BUT I really am sooo excited. Tomorrow My Parents, Kaniela and I will be headed to NYC to visit my brother. Those of you who have followed us from the beginning know that this is where we started our love of blogging..

Two years ago this month Kevin started his internship with Lowe and Partners Worldwide (no that is not the hardware store). It was one of the best summers of our married life. We had so much fun living in the the crazy city! Kevin worked hard and obviously you can see it paid off. I on the other hand had a great time exploring the city! Of course the best thing we brought back from our summer in NY was..

(Yep, that's where we got prego with Kaniela!!)

I'm actually the most excited to be able to take pictures.. So stay posted, I'll try and post some while I'm there!

I just can't believe we are going tomorrow and I have so much to do! Ahhh!

Happy Anniversary!

Can you believe it's been 4 years!!!

Bed Head

this is what I walked in on when I heard Kaniela had woken from his nap... I started laughing so hard and decided I better grab the camera. Sorry about the pictures.. They are taken with my phone..

I'm in LOVE!

I am SO 100 Percent, with out a doubt, completely in LOVE with this little Man!

A Quater of a Centuray Celebration!

So this about a week late, but that's ok!

I'm totally in love with this Party! My little sister turned 25 a couple weeks ago; my mom and I decided we would throw her a QUARTER OF A CENTURY PARTY!! How do throw a Quarter-Century Party you ask? Well let me tell you.. We decided to go with a "Quarter" theme.. Quarters are silver and shiny (two things Manda LOVES) so we went with that. Everything we did had to do with silver, shiny and quarters..

Here's the invitation.. I drew all the quarters, and if you look carefully at the silhouette on the quarter is actually Mandee.. Cook huh?!

We decorated the tables with black table clothes, silver table runners (aluminum foil) and LOTS and LOTS of plastic and chocolate quarters.

What's a party without yummy food.

My Mom and I found silver sprinkles. I frosted the cupcakes with gray frosting and then rolled them in the sprinkles. It turned out so cute. This was actually my favorite thing. They were so cute! We wrote 25 with black glitter gel frosting on some of them!

The birthday girl. I know you can't really see the cake, but my mom made a bunch of round cakes, and frosted them gray, and then stacked them crooked (so it looked like a stack of quarters). She did a great job!

Spring Happiness!

I took this yesterday right before the storm... It brought me happiness so I thought I would share it! I hope you all have a wonderful Earth Day! I dare you to do something for the earth today, be careful though, you might get addicted!!!

April Showers..

Well We have had an amazingly busy month. We first found out that Kevin got a new job (a post for later) and that would mean, we would have to move, on top of that I was planning a bridal shower, along with helping my mom with a party for my little sisters (also a post for later). I don't think anyone out there was disappointed, and missed my post.. But I do want to say, I kinda missed it. I have been thinking of all these things that I want to blog about, and yet, have had zero time to actually sit down and do it.

I finally got sometime today and am so excited to show you these pictures. The shower I was planning was for my good friend, Andrea. She is really one of the sweetest people I know, and I'm so excited for her and Kevin (not my Kevin, her fiancé's name is Kevin too). I'm so grateful to Andrea that she let me throw this shower, because I had so much fun doing all this stuff. And of course, I love her to death, and I wanted to show her that!

Luckily, Andrea choose the cutest colors EVER.. Black, lime and yellow.. So I took a citrus route. I also wanted to waste as little as possible, so I had a fun time getting real plates, cups and silverware. Here's the pics.. I hope you like them.. They don't really show how absolutely perfect everything went together! I was very happy the way everything turned out.

I designed this card.. and my favorite things that I've ever designed are these lemons and limes.. I just love them! Like I said before, I wanted this to be a "green" shower, so to eliminate paper usage, I emailed the invites!

Here's a full shot of the table.. I used clear glass plates and cups, and real silverware. I loved shopping for these. It took me about 3 weeks to get the right number. Little tip, I just went to DI.. It was great and very inexpensive, and now I have all these clear glass plates, that don't match.. I kinda want to switch out my dinnerware and just used this amazingly cute eclectic look! I also used all different size Mason jars. I felt these gave the organic look I was wanting.. I borrowed most of these from my amazing cousin Holley.. She had tons!

Can I just tell you I love that I have my own personal general contractor.. My dad can seriously build anything. I just called him up and told him I need crates, and VIOLA! This is what he came up with! I LOVE LOVE LOVE them... I'm thinking about using them in my kitchen decorations. So he didn't sand them or anything, so they looked nice and rough, then I white washed them to give them a vintage look. The label is just something I designed, printed at kinko's. I feel it added such a fun vintage look. And don't they look so good with the flowers in them?.. Again.. Organic feel.. and no waste!

Here's the cute place settings. I really like the way the cloth napkins turned out. I just cut 11x11 squares and sewed the edge with a thick black stitch. I decided I'm going to start using cloth napkins. Aren't they so cute? so economical, and add a fun feel to any dinner setting. I also did the black and white table runner, the same way, just way bigger! :)

We had very yummy food.. Two Salads, some fruit, namasu, and homemade bread with honey.

O and don't forget the yummy cupcakes... OK you have got to try these. They have such a great flavor and texture, your taste buds with be thanking you for days, for feeding them something so divine. They were actually a lime green color (sorry I didn't protray that well with the pictures) and the color is so cute, however the flavor is just perfectly sweet and with the frosting.. O man, it is divinity in a little green baked good. Here's the link to Kara's Cupcakes, key lime cupcakes and cream cheese frosting.

Last, but for sure not least, the party favors. These are baby food jars that I had left over from Kaniela's days. I put cute little old fashion lemon drops and then wrapped with these cute labels and a little ribbon. Below is the label sheet, I thought they turned out so cute! It would be so easy and fun to do this for any occasion.

All in All.. I loved every part of this shower. If my house could look like this every day.. I would be so happy.. I think Kevin might get sick of it though :).. So for now, I just dream of it, and do it for others! :) I hope you enjoy the pictures.. and stay tuned.. I've got a Silver-Sparkle-Quarter party, and some fun spring pics!

sweet and sour stock shots.

So after taking that photog class, taking pictures of my food, just isn't the same... I haven't to set up this whole little studio, just so I can get the right look.. I needed pictures of lemons for a design I'm working on, so I decided to use my mini studio. I also made these cupcakes this morning, and thought I would take a couple of those too. So here's my stock shots...

Easter Fun!

I'm so sorry for it being so long since I posted. I've kinda been on a social media mind block. Can't seem to think of what to put on my facebook, blog, etc.. However, I think I'm back and better.

Anyways, Last week, I spent sewing.. I sewed a little aloha shirt for Kaniela for easter, and his easter basket. They both turned out super cute; however, no etsy shop yet! :)

We had a great weekend with my family, Kaniela had a blast picking up eggs, putting them in his basket, taking them out, throwing them on the ground, then picking them up, putting them in the basket.... and so forth. It was so cute. He loves spending time with his cousins, and they are so cute with him.

I'm not going to post pics here, because they are on the hard drive, and I'm not sure where those are.. BUT if you click here.. you can see the cute picture Kevin posted on the photog blog... Enjoy!

First Class!

Today I got to take my first official photography class. It was A MAZING!! I learned so much, and I can't even believe how much more I understand how to take better photographs now. My teacher, Nicole Hill Gerulat, has a great reputation, and resume! We learned all about our camera's and how to actually use all the little buttons... THEN we got actually go out and put it to use. She brought 2 beautiful models and we just all took turns shooting them. I posted some of the pics I took below... Sorry if these bore you, but let me tell you, in the middle of the afternoon, with super harsh sun, I was very proud of the way these turned out... She gave us different lighting scenario's and we were to use what we learned to try and get the best picture. If you are getting into photography, or just want to learn how to take better pics, I would recommend taking a class, and if you want a good one, take one from Nicole. She was a great teacher.