MEET TAZ AND STRUMMER

The cutest, sweetest, and most insane cat you'll ever meet. Sadly, I can't say he's mine. My mom had been wanting a mouser for awhile, and since Jacob Ross had a friend who was giving away free kittens, we got this hot shot. My parents had a crazy and playful cat when they were first married named Taz. And since the kitten reminded them so much of him, they decided Taz would fit him well.

Now let me tell you something. My dad has been spoiling this cat to no end. Neither of my parents are huge indoor animal lovers, but Taz has slept in their bed every night since we got him. But hey, I'm not complaining. I enjoy getting some animal time since I know Jake and I won't be able to get a dog or cat anytime soon.

And then there's Strummer! While we were in Idaho, Jake spotted a good deal on Craigslist. It's a 1999 Saturn SL. It's got less than 93,000 miles on it and gets 35mpg on the highway! Did I mention we only paid $1,340? It's not a looker, but I have loved having a great gas milage car again. But now we have two cars which mean two insurances. (Bleh.) Depending on what job I get in Torrington, we may be selling the Durango, but for now,

we'll keep it.

In other news, I had to say goodbye to two good friends. Laura and Jarrett came into Cheyenne for two weeks to work for Ross Construction. I was gone at a family reunion part of the time, but it was such a blast going on some double dates with them. Plus work wasn't so bad when you have good company.

We've still been pretty busy with work. We're both exhausted, but looking forward to our next Vacation to New Mexico which is in 2 weeks! And we cannot wait! :)

MEMORIAL WEEKEND

Jacob and I headed to Idaho for a small vacation and the Peterson/Gibby Reunion. We spent the first couple days just relaxing and getting a couple errands done. I was able to listen to live broadcasts for my photography business by a favorite photographer of mine. Marketing and learning different techniques to adapt to my photography are honestly some of my favorite things to do. Jacob and I were also able make some extra cash by selling old things we didn't need. We ended up making over $200! Pretty much paid for our trip to Idaho. 

We went to Cafe Rio and Coco Bean was right next to it, so of course I begged Jacob to take me! I had the Better Than Whatever cupcake. Soooo Good! We'll have to make it a new tradition or something. 

On Friday we left for Island Park to the cabin Jacob's grandparents own. Jacob went fishing multiple times and caught some pretty big rainbow trout. Once I brought my camera out the fish did not take any bites. 

For a new family tradition, Connie brought out a table cloth and we all traced our hands and wrote what happened the passed year. It was fun seeing what everyone wrote. We also wrote to Elder Joseph Peterson our testimonies. I can't believe he's been out for 10 months!

I have lived in Wyoming for about 15 years I have never been to Yellowstone, until now! Grandma and Grandpa Gibby offered that I could go and I took them up on it! I was shocked at how much Yellowstone actually covers, and how much there is in the park. We got to go see guessers and Old Faithful which was probably my favorite part. I was thankful my sweet husband went with us. 

All in all, it was a great week with family. I'm thankful we were able to have a weekend to take a break from the busy. I'm also thankful for the men and women fighting everyday for the freedoms we have. We truly are blessed. 

What You Need To Do Right Now

Yesterday I attended a Photography Networking Event. It was wonderful to connect with such kind and talented people in my industry. I was so glad hearing that I'm not the only one who gets lonely in this business.

A very knowledgable photographer brought up such a great point that has completely opened my mind. He mentioned that if we were ever to have a Dark Age, if all technology crashed, we would have nothing documented of this time. Absolutely nothing.

Our generation is the most photographed generation, yet no one would ever know because we don't print.

We are guilty of not printing our photos. I'm guilty of it! I have over 5,000 personal photos on my laptop and I haven't printed them. But I need to. I NEED to sit down for just an hour and pick out photos for an album. Honestly, I know it wouldn't even be an hour because I would get so into it and I'd want to just go through photos all day.

So, why don't you?

One of my all time favorite things is going through my parents old albums and seeing their awkward dating years, my mom's "I-like-your-sleeves" wedding dress, and even pictures of me as a baby! I swear I went through those albums any chance I got.

For FHE this upcoming week, I am going to go through Jacob and I's laptops and get photos into folders for different time periods. I have challenged myself to print all those iPhone photos I never got to, and make albums for them. I want to show my kids our dates, our first car, the camper, the funny faces we made. I want my kids to see that.

I challenge you to do the same.

If you have time to be on Facebook, I promise you have time to pick out some photos to print.

Go through your phone, your laptop, your digital camera, and start printing your photos! I'm not telling you to go spend a fortune, or to get them in the highest quality there is, but I am telling you to print them. You do not know how much your kids, your grad kids, and your great-great grad kids will appreciate it.