this one's for you, auntie

Today was such a good day, I'm not even sure where to begin. Well, it probably began with me going on a very long run/walk, who am I kidding, mostly walk, with my mom. I rolled out of bed and put on sweats and tacky sunglasses and we walked over to the spec house that Ben is building.

The reasons this walk got me off to such a great start are:
A. It is beautiful and green outside right now and I can't imagine a better place to live this time of year.
B. Ben's spec house looked beautiful and should be ready by the Parade of Homes in a couple days!
C. We ran into several people in the ward while we were on the walk and had nice chats with them.
D. One of the people we ran into was the nice-but-not-for-me 40 year old divorced neighbor who at least a dozen people in my parents ward have mentioned is "interested", as if i didn't already know this. This was very serendipitous, because if I didn't mention this previously, I looked gross and smelled grosser, and I think his "interest level" in me might be significantly lower after this encounter!

So after that productive start, my day was about to get even better, because today was Wednesday, and on Wednesdays I have my photography lessons!

This is my talented teacher Dustin

And his beautiful wife Amber, who posed as models while they taught me about reflectors. (Isn't Amber's new haircut the cutest?)

I liked the reflector so much that I went to buy one after the lesson. I had to go to the camera store anyway to find a new battery for this:
This is my Dad's old camera from the 70's that he found a couple weeks ago while he was cleaning out my Grandpa's house. The guy at the camera store was really excited about it. He said it was from the "golden age" of Canon and that it would take really cool pictures with film (so quaint). I started to get really excited about this, too. I felt so excited and happy, that I started to wonder if I had a crush on the camera store guy, but then I remembered that I had just had 3 diet pepsi's at lunch.

The Pepsi was to get rid of a massive 5 day long headache, and boy did it work. I have felt good, really good, ever since. The sweet potato fries at Guru's didn't hurt much, either. Neither did the BBQ fry sauce, yumm. Good thing that Pepsi was diet.

Anyway, after I sorted out my feelings for Taylor the Camera Store Boy, I stopped by my cousin Sadie's house to say hi and to see her cute little boys and I couldn't resist trying out my new reflector.

Here is my beautiful cousin Sadie:
And her little boy Ean, who heard the word "picture"....
...and started repeating "cheese" for a few minutes until I got my camera ready.
he's so good at the whole picture thing that he was able to show Cole just where to look.
Good Job, Coco.

This is Aiden,
And his good friends Thomas and Thomas...
...and Thomas.


Then Sadie's husband Dan got home from work:
He absolutely loves having his picture taken, and was so happy that I was there to snap his headshot:
He just kept posing

And posing
And posing, until finally I just had to tell him enough was enough. Apparently all you have to do is call him "Danny" and he turns into a male model.

Then I headed over to help set up for my friend Kirsten's bridal shower:
Giulianna had spent the entire day baking and getting ready for the shower, and it was beautiful and yummy,
because that's how everything Giulianna does is, no exceptions.
Kirsten showed us Dallas' ring, and June 13th will be here before she knows it. Okay, she'll know it, she's counting down.
After the Shower, Adam gave me a ride on his brand new motorcycle. I felt especially honored, because today Adam was part of the motorcade for President Bush, who is in Salt Lake right now. Plus, Adam was wearing some pretty sweet goggles that he found on the street. Thanks, Adam!

Oh, and I can't finish writing about my good day without mentioning that my Aunt Dana (Sadie's mom), who lives in Iowa, was able to successfully post a comment on this blog, after many unsuccessful tries, with comments that were very clever but will never be known to the blogging world. Thanks for reading, Aunt Dana, and for commenting! This one's for you:

And now I must say goodnight, because either that Pepsi is wearing off, or the Tylenol PM is setting in, I'm not sure which.