Emily's Musings » Friends

My Besties August 12, 2010

Posted by Emily in : Friends, Utah , 3comments

These are my best friends from elementary school, Jr. High, and High School. We’ve known each other for . . . a long time.

Amidst all the family fun and activities surrounding my niece’s wedding, I was able to get together with my friends.

We live all over (especially me!) and the stars aligned that night for us to get together.

In this photo: Me, Katie, Ashley, Lindsay, Katie (who lives in CO), and Pam (who lives in AZ). (We are missing Tricia who lives in Houston and just had a baby.)

It was such a fun night, talking and laughing the night away while eating fried ice cream.

Getting together with these girls was the shot in the arm I needed to keep me going. It’s been a L-O-N-G four years of medical school, and it was fun to jump into my carefree self and laugh the night away.

Janika June 4, 2010

Posted by Emily in : Friends, Photography , 6comments

This is Hannah’s ballet teacher, Janika. She is an A-list celebrity in Hannah’s world.

Not only is she a beautiful-super-talented-ballerina, she loves photography as well.

As you can imagine, we were fast friends. :)

Obviously, she is super photogenic too. :)

The Crazy Chickens May 31, 2010

Posted by Emily in : Daily Life, Exercise, Friends, My Handsome Husband, Photography, Princess Hannah, Thoughts, Utah , 2comments

I never get up before 6:30 AM. Ever.

Hannah sure tries her best to get me out of bed before 6:30 everyday, but I have a way of sleeping though all her chit chat.

Dallin understands my needs, and never wakes me up before I’m ready. He’s a cool cat like that.

I like to refer to these people here (please take note of all the crazy runners) as “crazy chickens.”

These are all people in my neighborhood; all of them rip roaring and ready for an early 5K run on Memorial Day.

Have you ever wondered what a race looks like from the front?

Well, wonder no more! I placed my life on the line and laid flat on my back and held my breath while people jumped over me. It was a stampede I tell you!

David represented our family in this run. Obviously, I could have used my superwoman strength and skills to run in the 5K as well, but my job is to take pictures, right? That’s what I told David anyway . . . I talked David out of running in the race bare foot (his feet are not ready for that yet) so he wore his VFF’s.

Now, please take note of our ROCK STAR 80 year old neighbor. He passed David on the second mile . . . but this guy is not your regular 80 year old man. He averaged a little over a nine minute mile on this run.

Seriously, he is such an inspiration. Talk about someone living life!

Hannah represented us as well . . . she ran a mile. GO HANNAH!

This is David demonstrating his very quiet run . . .

And now here are two of my favorite peeps! Go David! Go Luone! Way to represent the VFF’s!

One Year Cuteness May 20, 2010

Posted by Emily in : Friends, Photography, Princess Hannah , 1 comment so far

Oh. My. Cuteness.

This baby belongs to my friend Jeneece.

She just turned one over the weekend.

Hannah, who was such a helper with this shoot. See this picture? We held Hannah high above the baby’s head to get this expression out of her.) Hannah asked if “that baby” could just stay and play, and play, and play all day.

You see, we never let our clients go home. We expect them to stay and play all day. :)

Totally unrelated, I finally took time out of my busy and important life to post a little something here and here on the other blog I contribute to when I’m not so busy and important. (Please note that I DIDN’T write my bio. I was too busy and important. Obviously.)

Jeneece + Family May 7, 2010

Posted by Emily in : Friends, Photography , 2comments

This is a friend of mine from high school, Jeneece.

Her family is adorable. (Especially her baby girl, but I don’t pick favorites. :))

I love reconnecting with my friends! If you are in the Utah County area and want family pictures, contact me! Currently booking June 2010. :)

A String of Totally Unrelated Thoughts . . . May 5, 2010

Posted by Emily in : Friends, Thoughts , 3comments

A couple weeks ago, a friend of mine, from Kansas City sent me an email telling me her two year old daughter had stage four Neuroblastoma.

For those of you who need a little brush up on your cancer stats, it’s bad. Bad. Bad. Bad. Her daughter, Kate, is just a few months older than Dallin. Gosh, it makes me cry just to think about it. I can’t image what her little family is going through. This family could use your prayers. And if anyone out there wants to sponsor me a plane ticket out to KC, I’d love to go and take lots, and lots, and LOTS of pictures of them. Everyone should have great pictures of their kids. Everyone. Especially when a little life hangs in the balance.

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On a happier note, my friend Jenny got her cookbook published and will be signing books at the Lehi Costco this Saturday!

I’m excited to see her and get my book signed! She also teaches Zumba, and on this post, she commented and asked me if I wanted one of the Zumba DVD’s she made. Seriously, I have talented friends!

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Last weekend I met up with one of my best friends from high school, Erica. She and her family live in Oregon, but they were in Utah last week for a wedding. Not only do I love her guts, but she hasn’t aged a day. She has fabulous skin and I’m bummed I don’t have a picture to show it off! In the two hours I was able to steal her away from wedding activities, we talked about our previous lives which were carefree, and our current lives which are not-so-carefree. She supported her husband through dental school and she talked about the joy I would soon have of THREE mortgages: one for the house, one for student loans, and one for the practice.

Lucky us.

Anyway, it turns out she was staying with her sister-in-law who, I realized, lived very close to my oldest sister, Ang. When I asked her sister-in-law if she knew my sister, she said, “Yes! We bought their old house!” That means my BFF from high school was staying in my sister’s old house (my sister and her husband sold their house a couple years ago and bought another house two doors down) and honestly, does it get any crazier than that?!

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Over the weekend, Hannah sang and danced (two different numbers, not at the same time) in the Primary Talent Show at church. Oh. My. Heck. You will pee your pants when you see it. As soon as I corner David, (that means he has to be under the same roof, which, he currently isn’t) I will have him edit the video (I’m retarded when it comes to video stuff) and post it. It’s a treat. :)

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David finishes medical school on May 28, 2010. FINISHES! This road has been never ending, and residency is part of his medical school training, but he will be PAID. Honestly, I’ve forgotten what a paycheck looks like. In three short weeks he will have a diploma that says MD and people will be referring to him as “doctor” which he has finally earned. I’m bummed we won’t be attending graduation in Boston, because we simply cannot justify a $3,000 trip when attendance is not mandatory for graduation. Its’ not fun to make practical choices, but I’ve learned that making practical choices gives you more security and long lasting happiness than emotional choices.

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Dallin asks me for hugs, calls me Emma, and still smells like strawberries. I could just sniff his his and cheeks all day. Mmmmm . . .

College Grad April 28, 2010

Posted by Emily in : Friends, Photography , 2comments

This is my friend Annette. Remember her? Beautiful, lovely, easy to photograph, Annette.

She graduated from BYU last week! She majored in Broadcast Journalism, and now she’s off to bigger and better things in life.

Maybe you’ll recognize her on your local news station this fall!

Congratulations Annette!

Random Weekend April 14, 2010

Posted by Emily in : Church, Exercise, Friends, Health, Medical School, Memory Lane, My Handsome Husband, Photography, School, Thoughts, Utah , 10comments

Oh boy. This week is slipping away from me. I meant to post about some fun things this past weekend, but you know . . . where did the time go?

On Friday night, Hannah and I went to the musical “Singing in the Rain” in Lehi to see my good friend Bethany who starred in it. This was Hannah’s first play, and let me tell you, SHE LOVED IT. She giggled, and rooted for everyone. We were splashed by real rain that fell from the ceiling, and that was probably her favorite part along with all the singing and tap dancing. She was so giddy with excitement, her little body was about to burst, and part of the “bursting” was confessing her undying love for me no less than 98 times . . . that was my favorite part. Now she wants to learn how to tap dance so she can join a musical too.

On Saturday, I had an idea hit me over the head. It was like a persistent itch: I had to execute my idea to relive my brain of this cool concept.

I called Brian. (Naturally, I expect him to be available anytime I’m struck with a concept to photograph.)

I left him a message telling him my idea. I told him to clear his schedule for the next couple of hours because I was the most important thing in his life right at that moment.

Ahem. (Usually when you have to spell something out, it’s probably news to other people.)

He called me back, telling me he was on a plane, just about to take off.

Um . . . Hello? What part about “clear your schedule” wasn’t clear? And, to add insult to injury, he was off to meet his new girlfriend’s parents. (He meets EVERYONE’S parents . . . this is not serious yet.) I know my new rank now.

On Saturday afternoon, David and I went for our first barefoot run. He toughed it out and actually went barefoot for the majority of the run. I was smart and wore my five fingers from the start. It was our first “date run.” It was actually fun, and totally apparent that David is in way better shape than I am.

Saturday night, we finally got to spend some time with our good friends Marshall and Jill. They live five houses down from us now, (this is a crazy coincidence, since we haven’t lived in the same city or state for over a decade) but it took three months for our schedules to align. We had such a great time chatting, and just hanging out together. It really is amazing how everywhere you move, there are cool people everywhere you go. We’ve been fortunate to make life long friends everywhere we’ve been. Marshall and Jill have been part of our lives since we’ve been married.

On Sunday, a really nice person got up to bare their testimony (which was really sweet) and they talked about how challenging it was to be in school full time, while their wife was in school part time, and they had a child. If I had heard this before med school, I would have thought, “Oh my! How do you even deal with it?” But, sadly, we are almost POST medical school (did you read that! SIX more weeks!) and I am totally JADED. I looked over at David and whispered, “Whatever . . . try medical school . . . average of 32 credits a semester, and 80 hour work weeks during clinicals . . . did I mention I’m in school part time too and we have two kids?”

David whispered back and me saying, “Where is your compassion?”

You see, that’s the thing, I lost compassion somewhere along the way . . . it could have been when the school screwed us over, not providing nearly enough loan money (this is not an opinion, this is a fact) or the grueling hours David has spent away from us studying, or the FOUR (COUNT THEM FOUR) cross country moves we HAD TO MAKE last year, plus the MONTHS we’ve had to spend apart as a family while David completed rotations elsewhere. My compassion was swallowed up in the process of being jaded by medical school.

I’m trying to be a better person. Maybe my outlook will improve when I see the light at the end of the never ending tunnel of medical school in six weeks.

Let’s hope.

All About Kristina! April 6, 2010

Posted by Emily in : Friends, Photography, Thoughts , 3comments

This weekend, I photographed Heidi Klum.

I mean Angelina Jolie.

OK, so it was Kristina, but really, it’s so confusing because Kristina (of Pulsipher Predilections) gets mistaken for both of them ALL THE TIME.

Especially when she sports the Snuggie which is so obviously Heidi’s and Angelina’s style.

We had a fabulous time gossiping about celebrities and Mormon Mommy blogs (which are one in the same, right?) and I think we both walked away from our day feeling good about life, like there are a lot of crazies out there, but we’re not them.

I met Kristina through blogging and she is a frequent commenter on my blog (she know how to give comment love) and I when I finally met her over the weekend, I was like, “OH MY HECK. I’M FINALLY MEETING ONE OF MY BFF’S.”

We share a love of trash mags, so what more could our friendship need? Clearly, we see eye to eye.