Just 3 things

1. K so, Chase and I don't like to make a big deal out of things. I'm been thinking for weeks about how to casually slip the news out to the world, but well here it is

As Chase would say, "her eggo is prego" haha. August 22, 2012 is the day. My brother did this ultrasound few weekends ago, so now the baby is like twice this size. Crazy-craze. I've been really sick, but now that i'm out of my 1st trimester i'm hoping things will just get even better from now on. We're so excited/nervous, that the hard things really aren't that hard at all... there are just some hard days and we get over them. I have more strong cravings than throw-ups now. :) Anyway, I'm about 15 weeks, meaning the baby is about the size of an orange.. just to put it in perspective for you. My belly is actually starting to poke now though.. although i'm sure it just looks like i ate a very large dinner.

2. Chase has been student teaching seminary at Madison High School now for about a month and a half i think? (maybe more). He is teaching zero and 1st hours every day. We just more excited every day about how well he is progressing. His teacher has given him very good compliments and has been very impressed when he has come to observe his teaching. We may have the opportunity to be considered for hiring for this Fall school year, and if not then we will just be considered for next April's. He is doing so well and the kids really love him. Chase has had the opportunity to see many small miracles happen in his classroom, and we are just so overwhelmed with reassurance that this is the right thing for him to be doing. Whether or not we get a job with CES or not, this has been such a wonderful experience and we are so grateful for Chase to even have to opportunity to teach. Fingers crossed!

3. We graduate in July! We are so ready to be done with classes, start a fambily, and hopefully get a career started.

Elysha and Sebasthian

So, a couple of weekends ago I did an engagement shoot for these guys. They met here at BYU-I, and she waited for him while he served his mission. They will be married in April at Winter Quarters and they are just such nice people. I am so excited for them. They are so good looking too! I barely had to edit and there are so many to choose from.. here are a few of my favorites.

This was a ring her sent her on his mission, hers was a little bit smaller ;) haha

hunk of burnin' love

I don't have much time... I'm studying for an art history test... just needed a little break. I was just going through my dropbox and found this gem i took a few months back. Isn't he so attractive. I'm so jealous of his eyes. Go ahead... click and look close. haha.ps... I know i need to do a bit of an update. I will hopefully be able to do that this week. There is some big things happening.. so don't give up on me. :)

So, basically I am a terrible person. I didn't take one single picture over the holidays... yes, i repeat... not one single picture. It was so nice though. After an incredibly stressful finals week, it was so nice to not worry about anything but togetherness. Although this is true, I will never let it happen again. So, I will not feel bad if you tune out now since I have no visually appealing information.

*** Can we pause for a minute? I just saw a Kid's Bop commercial. Seriously, we're at 21. I think we've all had enough.

Anyway, the holidays were spent in Enumclaw with Chase's wonderful family. We got to attend Perry's basketball games, eat lots of wonderful food, and spend lots of time with everyone we love! Chase and I were very excited to give all of our handmade gifts. We made quite a few pairs of slippers, candycane sugar scrub, a blanket, and a painting of the Rockwood home. We got to spend New Year's eve with Tom and Jennifer eating at Cheesecake Factory and going to the movies. It was such a wonderful trip.

We came home and life started again right away. We got home and check-ins were the next morning. Check-ins aren't very fun so I won't really go into that haha. We started school about a week and a half ago and are loving it so far. We are extremely busy, but we love our classes. I am taking head drawing, digital photography, art history II, psychology of culture and gender, book making, studio light photography, and art seminar. Chase is taking more education and Spanish classes in which he actually gets to go and teach at a middle school in St. Anthony. He's also taking his final seminary class to get ready for student teaching. Chase is also the Area Director of Life Skills this semester. We love this semester so far, even though we leave at 8 am and sometimes don't finish with classes until 9 pm.

Can i just tell you how wonderful Chase is? Actually I can't... words can't describe it! ;)

(oh, snap.)

P.S. I just read the Hunger Games... I liked it a lot! I'm just getting into Catching Fire and thoroughly enjoying no class Fridays. :)

Final Series

So, the last week or so has been incredibly stressful. I may not pull out with a 4.0 this semester.. but i'm over it. This is the most credits i've ever taken.. so i count that as an accomplishment haha. Anyway, here is my final series for photography. It is about people and their ways to cope with the world, get away, think, etc. The final four are the ones i printed to turn in hard copies of.

DAYS 5-13

DAY 5: For two dollar Tuesday, we went to the movies. Movies are a big part of mine and Chase's life. Growing up our families were huge movie lovers. There really is something magical about going to the theater. I can't even begin to say just how many songs alone are about that magic. We saw the movie Warrior, which though the language was a bit rough, the story was absolutely amazing.
DAY 6: We are blessed to have the Knecht's in our ward. It was Hannah's birthday, and they wanted some new pictures as they have been married about 2 1/2 years now. I was happy to do it, especially to build up my portfolio. The weather was awesome, and even a bit warm.
DAY 7: To be honest, Thanksgiving day was so busy and fast that by the time I realized I hadn't taken a photo yet, we were crawling into bed. The feast was over, and we decided to venture out into the Black Friday midnight madness. We got back at about 3:30 am, and this is simply a small detail of the shirt Chase bought for me. Lovely.
DAY 8: After Thanksgiving there was a surprising amount of Christmas lights up already. We took the extra leisure time to take a drive around to take a look. This is one of my favorite activities of the Christmas season.
DAY 9: Many families have the rule that no Christmas paraphernalia may go up until after Thanksgiving. We hold true to that belief. So, after the feasting was over, we decided to put up our humble tree. To some it may seem a "Charlie Brown" tree, standing at 3 feet tall, but to us it is perfect for now.
DAY 10: Over Thanksgiving, we took the liberty of having a Lord of the Rings Marathon with the Kunz's. We watched all three extended versions, and finally finished the last one. It was bittersweet, i must admit.
DAY 11: For Family Home Evening this week we invited over two couples from our ward that we didn't know very well. We had a wonderful lesson, great conversation, delicious snacks, and our favorite game: Ripple. The game stats were surprisingly close, and we played for a lot longer than we should have.
DAY 12: I went out to photograph for class, and little did I know this would end up being the one I printed. It had snowed a bit previously, and unbeknownst to me the ground was quite moist... more moist than i expected. It was just one of those days.
DAY 13: After a long day at school, and straight to "The Drowsy Chaperone", the skies were completely dark, and the traffic lights made beautiful patterns with a bit longer exposure.

DAY 4

After a year of marriage, the ring was placed in a shoe at a flag football game. Upon returning home, the ring was no longer in the shoe and nowhere to be found. Six months and an E-bay ring later, while searching under the car seats it was found. A miracle, considering that the said car has been vacuumed many times since the fateful day. Needless to say... I cried.