Happy Fourth!! {Utah Photography}

Ah, tradition!

The Jeppson-Wood Family Fourth Extravaganza begins, of course, on July 3rd. Over the years our festivities have changed. Not as many people sleep over at my parent's house as they have in years gone by and gone is the afternoon water-fight (some of us are getting old) but the basic structure still remains. There is still the hot dog roast accompanied by a plethora of salads (this is Utah so of course Jell-O is included). The sparkler bonanza and last, but not least, Kirk's fireworks set off in the front yard accompanied by the dancing of small children. This year my Dad worked really hard on getting the thistles out of the lawn so there were significantly less casualties.

Now the morning of the fourth dawns bright and early with people re-gathering at my parent's for breakfast and then making the trek down into Huntsville proper for the annual parade. In my humble opinion there is nothing better than a small town for celebrating the fourth of July and the Huntsville parade is the best. It is always started off by the firing of the cannon, shooting of the guns, plugging of the ears, and fly over by the jets from Hill Air Force Base.

Being a small town, people still throw candy (painfully sometimes, I totally got clobbered by a Now 'n Later), kids ride bikes, and tractors and horses abound. The traditional families offer up their floats, usually with a dash of small town humor. We all wait for the regulars and are disappointed (Clawsons, I am talking to you) when they don't deliver (you can make it up next year).

After the parade it's over to the Huntsville park for booths, games, blow-ups, cotton candy, and all around good time fun. There are people I only get to see once a year and the fourth is it. It's old home week. Love it!

We all head back to my parent's for lunch and the mid day drag time. This year the rivers are running to high to go tubing and there is absolutely no beach to play on, so we entertained ourselves by watching Tremors. Best. Movie. Ever!

Then back down to Huntsville park for the evenings festivities. Live music which we were happy to have turned over to a DJ, dancin,g and of course FIREWORKS. I LOVE small town fireworks. you know, the kind where you are pretty much directly underneath them and every so often burning embers hit trees or people, or blankets and there is a scramble to stomp them out...no one is hurt so it just adds to the thrill.

My daughter held my son's ears the entire time. What a great sister! He really did like them.

I love the mass of humanity everywhere with chairs, blankets, food, sparklers. All having a wonderful time. This year the fourth was extra, extra nice. In fact, it was perfect. Happy Birthday America!!!

Craig & Mikenna's Guest Album {Utah Wedding Photography}

I found a new product to play with. This is a lay-flat press album that I am now using for Wedding Guest Books. I love that they, well, lay flat for easier signing and that I can have photographs extend across the entire page. It is also a press book which means that it is printed on special press paper instead of actual photographic paper. It is a different look but the paper is easier for guests to write on which is kind of the point of a guest album. I also love that I can design a custom photo cover. It costs more but I think it is definitely worth it. I love to have photographs on the cover rather than the whole thing being a solid color. I also love that I can place the "title" on the spine so that it can be seen easily on a shelf. I am actually going to use these albums for my own family albums....NEW PROJECT!!! :)











I love designing albums! The hardest part was leaving empty space for the guests to sign.

Niagara Falls {Utah Fine Art Photography}

You know that scene in one of the Superman movies where the kid is goofing on the railing and falls into Niagara Falls and Superman has to save him? I couldn't find it. Walked up and down and up and down the falls looking and finally came to the conclusion that they must have filmed it somewhere else entirely. I was a trifle out of sorts. Then someone pointed out that I was on the Canadian side and maybe that was filmed on the American side. Ohhhh!!!

I still want to watch that part of the movie again.

Here are a few of my favorites from my Niagara Falls stay. The Panoramas were shot from my hotel room through a window. I took them on a whim for my My World project and then was pleasantly surprised by how they turned out. Perhaps they are only special because they are a happy memory of mine {I spent hours chilling by my window and watching the falls}, but I'll take it.

At night they shine colored lights on the Falls that slowly change into different light patterns. Apparently the week after we left they were scheduled to start firework shows every night. I'm a teeny bit sad to have missed that.

This is what I woke up to every morning. Made it impossible to sleep in, so beautiful!

A few detail shots. Our hotel room was decorated with black and white shots like these. I absolutely loved them so I went and created some that had emotional meaning for me. Now I just have to decide where I want to put them in my house.




Every sunny afternoon brought a rainbow. I love this shot!


Here are a few of the night shots. Y'all know I'm a sucker for night shots!




Farewell beloved Falls...hopefully some day our paths shall cross again.

Trip Pictures...Smith Farm/Sacred Grove/Hill Cummorah/Toronto

I am fully cognizant of the fact that one's precious trip pictures may be boring to every one else in the world so I am trying to post just a few of my most favorites. All the pictures except the Toronto skyline were taken on May 7, 2011...we were busy that day.

Starting with a few shots of the historic Smith farm.

Above is the original log cabin, below the frame house that they lost due to the mortgage note on the land "suddenly coming due".



A few shots of the Sacred Grove. It is a lovely place.





Christus in the visitor's center at the Hill Cummorah.



This photograph of the Toronto skyline was taken from an island, ironically named Toronto Island. We took a ferry over, scouted out a spot, and then sat there for about two hours {well, I sat there, Husband wandered around} freezing and waiting for the right moment. I took a LOT of pictures {122...I just counted} because I didn't know when would be the best time. Did I want just before sunset, just after, a little after that, full dark? When would the sky be prettiest? Ddn't I want some blue in the sky rather than complete black? When will the lights show the best? Oooh, now I'm getting a great reflection. A lot of work for one shot...but I think I'm happy with it.

Palmyra Temple {Utah Fine Art Photography}

I traveled to Canada with my husband the second/third week of May. We stayed just across the border on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls. We had a wonderful time. Our first full day there we took advantage of the fact that we were so close to some LDS church history sites. Here are a few pictures of the Palmyra, New York Temple.

I finally got some pictures with tulips.

This is a picture of the temple taken from the Smith farm. I would love to see this later in the season with all the trees green...I wonder what it looks like in the fall?!

Bountiful Temple {Utah Fine Art Photography}

I wanted to photograph the Bountiful Temple for April. I love this temple, it's the one I was married in, and I would LOVE a huge picture of it for my wall. I also wanted the tulips that are so gorgeous there. I kept waiting...and waiting...and waiting. No tulips. I was afraid I would run out of month so this is what I got. I'll have to try again next year. :)

Memory Mates {Utah Family Photography}

Ta-dah! My first Memory Mate! I've always had a bit of a love-hate relationship with memory mates. I love getting pictures of my cute kids with their little soccer teams etc. but usually the photos are well, let's just say they leave a bit to be desired. So I was a little apprehensive when a friend of mine asked me to photograph his music school but it turned out to be a great experience. There were about twenty-five kids so it wasn't too crazy and they were all such fun to work with. I loved all their little personalities and the parents were great too. I wish I could post the pre-school group. It's my favorite because all their little characters shine through and every time I look at it I can't help but laugh. However, in the interest of privacy I'm just posting the oldest group who dubbed themselves the "Soy Boys" I have no idea what that means but they were a blast!
Hope I get to do this again next year! :)