Vegas, Baby!

Get ready for a super random compilation of photos!  We took a trip down to Vegas a couple of weeks ago, and after having taken a month off from shooting photos I was more than ready to capture beautiful things with my camera again. Daily creativity has almost become an addiction for me. People who train for marathons know what I'm talking about...if you stop running for more than a few days your legs become achy and they need to be stretched. That's how creativity is for me.

Our trip to Vegas was completely unplanned. We decided the day before that we would drive down to visit my husband's best friend Erik, his wife Jessica, and their happy baby boy after much begging from me to get out of town. It was the perfect trip, and I'm so glad we went!

The first day in Vegas, we took a trip to Red Rock canyon, and took a hike up Ice Canyon. The rocks there were absolutely amazing, and the canyon was the perfect temperature on that 80 degree day.

I swear, this sweet baby never stops smiling!  My cheeks started to ache after two days with him, I just have this insane need to smile at babies all the time so I can see their faces light up.

Andrew felt the need to climb on everything, I think it's a guy thing. When he gets around his best friend they seem to be in constant competition to show off how cool they are.

I just love this little family! I'm grateful to have them in our lives. We are really lucky to have friends like them - I knew Jessica before either of us even started dating our husbands. I remember sitting in the car with her one day and I asked her if she was dating anybody. She said that she had just been asked out by Erik. I told her that I had just been asked out by his best friend that week too!  The rest is history.

Valentines Day was fun and simple - just the way I like it! We went out to dinner at a Mexican restaurant in the Lake Las Vegas area. It was a beautiful place built within the last 7 years or so, but it has almost become a modern ghost town. The developers put billions of dollars into the place, but it just didn't create enough revenue, so most of the buildings have been abandoned. It was strange to see such a new place seem so creepy.

The day we left we took a trip to the strip for a little stroll. We stopped by the Coke store, the M&M store, and the Hershey's store. I think the highlights were the Coke bar where you can sample different Coke products from around the world, and the bakery in the Hershey's store. The rest of it seemed a little like tourist junk to me. I can go buy the same M&M's at the grocery store for less!

For lunch we wandered around the New York, New York casino and found a delicious burger place inside. If you're looking for a place to eat on the strip, I would really recommend that one!

In the words of the King, thank you, thank you very much for reading.

Lemon Cupcakes with Blackberry Buttercream Frosting

Happy Friday! I consider this to be the best day of the week, because it feels full of bright potential for a wonderful weekend to come. Tomorrow I look forward to sleeping in, spending time with friends that I haven't seen in a while, and (hopefully) getting a nice long run in on the treadmill in the cardio cinema to work off the wonderful sugary desserts I ate this past week, despite the fact that my husband and I made a goal to only eat sweets twice a month. I knew we would give up at some point, we always do. But at least we try and try again!

It started off small, and then crescendoed into a full fledged sweet binge. On Monday, my mother-in-law came home with an entire Costco cheesecake to share. Oh how I love cheesecake, but I stayed strong and declined a piece. On Tuesday, I was slightly bored and thirsty, so I decided to make some "healthy" ice cream for everyone. A little bit of unsweetened almond milk, a few frozen ripe bananas, a spoonful of peanut butter, and a dab of cocoa. It was guilt-free heaven. On Wednesday, a friend made some kool-aid pop corn. I figured, "hey, pop corn is low in calories and good-ish for you, right?" So I dug in and ate about 5 handfuls of the kool-aid/Karo Syrup/Butter covered goodness. But I was strong and I stopped at 5. Thursday came and I decided that my wonderful boss needed something as sweet as she is as a birthday surprise on Friday. Two cupcakes and about 6 spoonfuls of frosting later I texted my coworker, "I ate so much frosting my hands are shaking!" Then tonight was the culmination of it all, with a pit stop to the award-winning Cravings Cupcakes in Pleasant Grove, UT after dinner with friends. If you haven't tried their "Better Than What" cupcakes then you don't know what you are missing out on!

So needless to say, when I give up on a diet, I give up hard. Similar to my "gluten-free" month in 2014. After 3 weeks of no bread, I decided to heck with it and I went and ate every carb-filled delicious piece of wheaty goodness I could get my hands on for 3 days straight.

Long story short, diets are people who have self control. I am one of those people for a time, but I usually give up. In the end, I know that the best way to living a happy, healthy life is exercise, not eating too much, getting in my 3 servings of veggies and 2 servings of fruit a day, and avoiding processed foods. Yes sir, common sense is the miracle diet.

But I digress. You are probably thinking at this point, "why in the world is this girl writing so much?!?! Get to the food already!" I don't blame you. But I don't really have much of an introduction. So lo and behold:

Everything you could ever want in a melt-in-your-mouth piece of sugary goodness.

But I have some bad news for you. I am not a chef.

I just like to take pictures of recipes that I have followed.

So if you want the real thing, go here: http://bakerbynature.com/lemon-cupcakes-blackberry-buttercream/

Thanks for reading anyways!

Peyton's Missionary Portraits • Gardner Village

Just finished this cute girl's mission pictures that we took last Saturday! It brings me to tears to see what an amazing girl she has become. It seems like just yesterday I was visiting her in the hospital when she was born, watching her eat her first piece of candy (a stick of red licorice that made her look like she had been eating blood), watching her smash her first birthday cake (which I was totally jealous of btw, they should let 10-year-olds do that too!) teaching her to say "uh oh! Spaghettios!", and then later spending time with her when she practiced my hairdo for my wedding and pulled it off like a pro. Sister Olsen, you are going to be one fantastic missionary. There will be an army of people praying for your happiness and success, and I will be one of them. God bless you!

Good Timber Printable

“In nature, trees that grow up in a windy environment become stronger. As winds whip around a young sapling, forces inside the tree do two things. First, they stimulate the roots to grow faster and spread farther. Second, the forces in the tree start creating cell structures that actually make the trunk and branches thicker and more flexible to the pressure of the wind. These stronger roots and branches protect the tree from winds that are sure to return.” (Niel L. Anderson, "Spiritual Whirlwinds")

Sometimes life gets hard, so I designed this print as a reminder to the youth that I teach at church that trials are meant to make us stronger. This quote came from the poem "Good Timber" by Douglas Malloch:

Good Timber does not grow with ease,

The stronger wind, the stronger trees,

The further sky, the greater length,

The more the storm, the more the strength,

By sun and cold, by rain and snow,

In trees and men good timbers grow.

If you want to download the black and white doc to print it out, you can download it here:

If you would like the pdf or ai files in a higher resolution, email me at jmariemi@gmail.com

Save 30% on your next photoshoot with The Love Sale!

Save 30% on your next photoshoot with me by booking before midnight MST on Valentines Day - 2/14/2015. Contact me at jmariemi@gmail.com to book today!

Here are a few rules and conditions:
• Offer excludes wedding day, mini photoshoot sessions, and commercial photoshoots.
• This offer is only valid for photoshoots booked between now and July 1, 2015.
• Offer cannot be combined with any other discounts.
• There is no limit to the amount of photoshoots that you can use this discount on.
• I charge on an hourly basis - the 30% off is for the entire session (not just the first hour if it goes past that).
• Offer includes the additional purchase of images after the free 25 pictures offered per photo session (30% off $5/picture).
• Offer is for photoshoots only, not design services.
• This offer must be mentioned at the time of booking.
• This offer is not valid for past photoshoots, or for a discount on additional pictures for past photoshoots.
• Tax and travel costs are not included in the discount.