from my camera / andierooney's sweet sixteen

andie turns 16 today! i can't even believe it! all my babies are growing up! on friday we threw a birthday party for her. she wanted a bonfire and a movie in the backyard. we threw this together really quickly, and it was actually super easy. for the backyard decorations we put up lights, set up the fire pit, and created little seating areas. we pretty much brought out any extra pillow or blanket we had in the house. we covered our ugly lawn chairs with sheets, and made beds on the long ones. we brought out little end tables for the kids to put their treats on, and stools for them to rest their feet on. oh, and luckily the chevron stripes from my wedding were still out there after a year-and-a-half, even though the paint was supposed to wash away with the rain. they make the backyard so much cuter!

andie is probably the funniest person i know and i am so glad i get to spend almost every birthday with her. she always has the best stories and questions and never stops talking. she definitely wins the best hair award in our family, although it is a ratsnest most of the time. seriously, my life would be so much more boring without her. and she and jarman are best friends, which is also a major plus. they are seriously hilarious together even though i usually hate to admit it. happy birthday baby girl! love you!

from my camera / stop motion

this is possibly the shortest stop motion video ever, but i just loved this moment that i captured. it is my first attempt at creating a little stop motion video, so if you have any tips please let me know! 

from my camera / my house

luckily i took these pictures of my bedroom in January, because i wasn't able to get many other pictures of our first house before we started packing. we move on saturday! which basically means that my house has been torn to pieces and is driving me crazy! i have been avoiding packing like the plague, and even got the plague while avoiding it (or food poisoning, same thing). jarman has done most of the work and it has been awesome, minus feeling awful for a few days. 

this house has been good to us and i will always remember it fondly, but i don't know if i will miss it in an i-wish-we-could-move-back-there kind of way. it was built in the 1940's and i don't think it has been updated since. it has its cute little quirks (like the doorbell that is literally two large chimes)  and its pitfalls (like the creaky floors and ancient windows). i will always love it as our first house that we spent our first year and a half in. for the next year we will be wanderers, living in washington d.c. and then temecula, but will settle in to law school after that.

most of the stuff in our bedroom was either gifted or used at my wedding. my mom put together a group gift for my bridal shower, and bought us pretty much everything we needed for our bedroom: the curtains, bedding, painting, and a few other things that are elsewhere in the house. that was seriously the best. (i should write about how cute my bridal shower was, even though it was so long ago.) the mirrored side table was used as my cake stand, and the dresser as my dessert bar at my wedding. 

i know these pictures aren't the greatest, but they will always remind me of our cute little brick house. 

from my camera / bonfire

we move away from provo in about week and a half, and i couldn't be more excited. i have been here way too long. last night we partook in a classic provo activity: having  bonfire up the canyon. kira and her boyfriend found an awesome spot that over looked the (ugly) valley. at night and from a distance provo doesn't look too bad. here are some pictures i took around the campfire. which edit do you like better? the bluish one or the brownish one? i like them both for different reasons. 

cute couple #1- kira and devan

cute couple #2- dee and kelley

we had a great view of the gorgeous sunset! and there was a small lightning storm off in the distance. 

check out that grid system (get me out of here)

currently obsessed / jamesb lightroom presets

considering that i am still in the 'trial period' for lightroom 5 (meaning i have had it less than 30 days), i have tons to learn about the program. i hardly know where to begin. i have been watching tutorials and such online, and have learned a few tricks of the trade, but still can't seem to get my pictures to pop. i purchased the jamesb lightroom preset package and have been using it non-stop. i know this is cheating, but cut me some slack, i'll learn more as i go. i used his presets while editing pictures from my family's vacation in park city last week, and they really gave them the looks that i wanted.  i highly recommend purchasing the set.

Provo River Falls: edited using the JamesB 'Summer at the Lake' lightroom preset

Farah: edited using the JamesB 'Summer Vacation' lightroom preset-- this is the preset that I have used the most thus far

Audrey: edited using the JamesB 'kinda vintage' preset

Cousins: edited using the JamesB 'Rome' preset- i'm not sure why they have the white outlines around them, i just love how this made the sky look

Kira at the Piano: edited using the JamesB 'vacation snapshot enhancer- strong'

Farah (you might get sick of her, i have thousands of pictures of her): edited using the JamesB 'sepia split toned film grain' lightroom preset

Kira's handstand at the provo river falls: edited using the jamesb 'vintage summer' lightroom preset