Family Pictures

The family all got together for Thanksgiving and we took a much needed family photo. The last family photo we had was about 12 years ago. We took the picture with my camera but my tripod had gone missing so we had to have someone else take it, luckily my cousin Jacob was willing to help and it turned out great. I did do a little bit of photoshopping (I reduced the size of some double chins and stuff like that) but I really like how it turned out, especially the silly picture. We have such a good looking family. ;)

Our Callings

So, we started attending our new ward in August and in September I was called to be the Laurel advisor and Devan was called to be the 1st counselor in the Young Men's Presidency. I was pretty excited about it. I thought I was going to get a nice, low-key calling while Devan did all the work. And then, a few weeks ago the Bishop called me in and told me I was being released. That was quite a shocker! And then he told me something even more shocking, they wanted to call me to be the Young Women's President! So much for my low-key calling. Oh well, it'll be fun, especially since Devan is in Young Men's too. We might even be able to go to youth conference together.

Jamie & Her Roommates

So my sister and her roommates wanted me to take some pictures of them so they could make a Christmas card to give to all their friends at college. We went out to Provo Canyon to take the pictures with the fall leaves. It was a lot of fun and I think the pictures turned out pretty well. If you can't tell by now, I really enjoy making photo collages.

Governor's Day

For those of you who may know when Governor's Day is, you'll know I'm posting this kind of late (it was September 19th), but hey, later is better than never. Anyway, on Governor's Day all the soldiers in the Utah National Guard (both Army and Air Force) march for the Governor and he inspects the troops. They have all sorts of booths set up selling food and they had some rock-climbing and bull-riding (not real bulls of course) available free of charge. They also bring in some helicopters, howitzers, humvees, etc... for people to see and take pictures in front of. It is always pretty fun and afterwards we go out to lunch with the fam. Devan, two of his brothers, and his dad are all in the guard, so that makes it pretty fun. Here's some pictures of the fun day:

The family posing in front of a howitzer. You may think it looks like a tank, but really, it is much cooler than a tank. A tank doesn't shoot very far but a howitzer can blow something up that is 20 miles away. Pretty cool. That's what Devan does, he's in artillery.

Devan, his dad, his brother Nick, and his brother Rusty posing on top of the howitzer.

I couldn't get a picture of the whole field full of soldiers, but here's half of it. It kind of gives you an idea how many were there.

This is a picture of Devan. You can't see him very well, but if you click on the picture and look up close, I have outlined his face with a red circle.

My cute cousin and her cute baby!

A couple of weeks ago, I got the opportunity to take some pictures of my beautiful cousin and her adorable baby. Isn't he so cute!?! I just wanted to let you all see.

Sad Day

Grandpa Turley (my dad's dad) passed away yesterday morning. A few weeks ago, he went to the hospital for the first time in his life and found out he had a bunch of heart problems. He needed open heart surgery but they decided he wouldn't live through the surgery so they sent him home so he could have a little bit of comfort. I still can't believe it, it doesn't seem real at all. Friday I will be flying out to Missouri for his funeral and I'm sure it will hit me then. He is such a wonderful grandpa, I will miss him so much. He has like 70 grandchildren and he was still able to know so much about each one of us and make us all feel loved. I hope I can be as good a person as he was. He was a great example to all who knew him. I know he is in a better place and I know I will see him again and I can't wait. It will be such a happy day! I'm so grateful for the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the knowledge that my grandpa will be resurrected and I can be with him and the rest of my family for eternity.

We're Homeowners!!!

Yesterday we signed all the papers, we'll be getting the keys Saturday night and moving in next week!!! We're so excited to finally own a home. Its in Magna in a quiet little neighborhood and Devan's sister Brina and her family live right around the corner. We'll be in the same ward!

Wedding Pictures

Here are just a few pictures from my cousin Vanessa's wedding. If you want to see more, check out my website www.photographybytreasa.com and click on the "weddings" tab.

Photography by Treasa

Well, I've been enjoying photography for a little while now and I finally decided to start a business with it. I have created a website which you should all go check out http://www.photographybytreasa.com/. The pricing isn't on there yet because I still haven't worked all the kinks out of that but its coming. I'm pretty excited to get started! So if anybody wants some pictures, let me know! :)

Here's some photos of my beautiful cousin as a bride. (The wedding pictures will be coming later, I haven't finished all the editing yet).

Super Busy!

A lot has happened since our Anniversary and I've been terrible at posting. In April, both my brother and my sister came home from their missions so we went on a family vacation at the end of the month. It was fun. First we went up to Park City and stayed in these really nice condos for $25 each! The All Seasons Resort Lodging is great, they have this deal for veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan. Since my dad and husband have been deployed to Iraq we were able to both get a two-bedroom condo with a kitchen and everything for just the $25 cleaning fee. We just hung out at the condos, watching movies and relaxing in the hot tub. The next day we went shopping at the Outlet Stores. Then later that day we headed down to Price and stayed in a motel there (not near as nice as the one in Park City, but it was decent). We spent the whole next day exploring Nine Mile Canyon and seeing the petroglyphs there. It was really cool! I'll have to post pictures of it later. That night we went home and slept in our own beds. The next day we were going to go hiking up by Logan, but it was raining all day so we just went to the church and played games. It was a great family vacation and a good time for Devan to get to know my brother and sister more since Daniel left on his mission less than a week after we got married and then Devan left for Iraq soon after that. Laura left for her mission while Devan was gone so he wasn't able to get to know either one of them before.
The week after our family vacation I went to Florida for work. We were having a convention there. The hotel we stayed at was really nice. It was 4.5 acres inside. My room had an inside balcony and the view was beautiful, it looked like I was looking outside. I didn't get to enjoy much of the room or Florida though because I worked 31 hours of overtime that week! It was exhausting! We were working from 7 am until 10 or 11 pm pretty much every day we were there. My feet were super swollen by the time I got back home, but the paycheck was really nice!
As soon as I got back from convention, I had to start working on a slide show video that I was making for Laura and Daniel of their missions because their homecoming was the next Sunday. I also got called as the Young Women Camp Director in my ward and I took Vanessa and Yahosh's engagement pictures. And we got pre-approved for a loan so we can start looking for a house. And we just got a gym membership at 24 hour fitness so we can get back in shape. Basically, life has been super busy lately, but its all been good stuff! We're loving it!

Engagement Photos

This past weekend I took engagement photos for the very first time! My cousin Vanessa and soon-to-be cousin Yahosh are getting married next month and they let me take their pictures! I was excited because now I can start building my portfolio so I can do stuff like this more often. Vanessa and Yahosh are the cutest couple so it was nice to be able to start with them. I was a little nervous because I really wanted them to turn out well, but I think I did a pretty good job. What do you think?

Our 2nd Anniversary!

Our anniversary was on April 12th, Easter. So we decided to celebrate it a little earlier so it wouldn't interfere with all the family stuff for Easter. The Friday night before Easter, we stayed at Castle Creek Inn in the Ivanhoe room. It was awesome! I'll post some pictures of it.


And Devan is so sweet! He has Fridays off but I have to work so he made dinner while I was at work and brought it with him to pick me up from work. We went straight to the Bed & Breakfast and ate the delicious homemade dinner on the balcony of our room. It was porcupine balls (ground beef mixed with rice, formed into balls with seasoned tomato sauce and green peppers poured on top and then baked in the oven). The room was awesome and so was breakfast the next morning. They even make sure its gluten-free for me.


I still can't believe its already been two years! Its been great, other than the year he was in Iraq. lol. We love being married and we can't wait til we can add kids to our family too!

Conference Weekend

This past weekend was conference and I absolutely loved it! The talks were great, the weather was great, and Devan didn't have drill so I got to spend it with him! Sunday afternoon I was at my parent's house and I brought my camera because my little brother Ferrin needed a new picture. The most recent photo we had of him was when he was like 12. He's almost 16 now so he's changed quite a bit. Anyway, I took a couple pictures of Nolan as well because he's so cute and I thought this one was the best. He looks like he's ready to hook up the trailer. :)

Here are a couple of the pictures I took of Ferrin. I think they turned out pretty well.

The only problem was I fell and scraped my leg after I took the pictures. It looks pretty disgusting, but its really not that bad. It was definitely worth it.

The Ball

Last night was the annual military ball at the Capitol. I went with Devan and his Dad and brothers. We had lots of fun. First we went out to dinner at P.F. Chang's. We had reservations, but they didn't have a table ready so we still had to wait 30 minutes to be seated so the manager came to our table later and let us know that he would be taking care of the soups and appetizers for everyone. Then when our checks came, we found out that they only took it off of Devan's parents' check. Devan and I had the regular price on ours and his brothers were actually being charged extra! I think the waitress had to take about 3 trips to and from our table with the checks before they finally got it figured out right! It was kind of crazy, but the food was really good and it was a lot of fun. I really do love P.F. Chang's! We finally got out of there and made it to the ball, which was a lot different than I expected. They had a rock band and a swing band there to play the songs, but they only played like two slow songs the whole time we were there! I enjoyed dancing to the other songs as well, but Devan doesn't like to dance much and I guess his family doesn't either cause I was pretty much the only one in our group that danced to the fast songs. Oh well, I still had lots of fun and I would want to go again sometime. Probably not every year, but sometime I would like to go again. Here's some pictures from the ball. We decided to take pictures before the dance so we didn't have to wait in line forever and because its a lot cheaper to take your own. Here they are!

I got a promotion!!

I've been working as a customer service rep at a place called 4Life Research and for the longest time I've been wanting to be a trainer there. Well, the position finally opened up! 11 people applied for the position and I was the one chosen! I will be helping with the New Employee Training and the twice a month training that we have for everyone else in customer service. I will also be working on updating documents and things like that. I am so excited!

Who Wants to Live Forever

Okay, rules:

1. Put your music library on shuffle.

2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.

3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG TITLE DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS!

4. Tag 10 friends who might enjoy doing this. Post a comment on their blog that says "You've been tagged! See my blog for details."



1) IF SOMEONE SAYS, "IS THIS OKAY," YOU SAY?

When Spirit Speaks to Spirit

2) WHAT WOULD BEST DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONALITY?

Greater Than Us All

3) WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL?

You Raise Me Up

4)HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY?

I'm Movin' On

5) WHAT IS YOUR LIFE'S PURPOSE?

Better Now

6) WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO?

You Don't Know Me

7) WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR PARENTS?

I'm Going Slightly Mad

8) WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN?

Every Day

9) WHAT IS 2+2?

The Miracle

10) WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?

Little Moments

11) WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE?

Everybody Wants to Rule the World

12) WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?

Silence

13) WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?

Independent Women

14) WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE?

Somebody to Love

15) WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?

Can't Buy Me Love

16) WHAT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING?

Killer Queen

17) WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?

When the Sand Runs Out

18) WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?

What Hurts the Most

19) WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET?

Any Man of Mine

20) WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?

You're Still the One

21) WHAT WILL YOU POST THIS AS?

Who Wants to Live Forever

I tag Janelle Ertmann, Melinda Mackay, Emily McKenzie, Stephanie Montano, Melanie Nelson, Julie Ross, Julie Carlson, Nikki Schwarz, Kim Stewart, Jalayne Main

Our Trip to Idaho

Sunday my cousin Mandee was blessing her baby in Idaho. I hadn't seen her forever, I even had to miss her baby shower so I definitely wanted to go. Devan and I found a sub for primary and we headed up to his sister's house in Logan to stay the night so we wouldn't have to drive quite so far in the morning. The baby blessing was supposed to start at 11:30 so we left around 9 and drove up to Idaho Falls. We got there at about 11:20, but the exit number we had been told to take wasn't there so we tried to call someone but they all had their phones off already. We spent the next hour and a half driving around trying to find the place before we finally got a hold of someone. Turns out we were supposed to go to Twin Falls, not Idaho Falls! We were about 160 miles away from our destination but we didn't want to do all that travelling for no reason so we hurried on our way to Twin Falls. On the way, Devan got pulled over and ticketed for going 25 over. His first ticket ever! He was pretty sad about that. We finally got to Twin Falls just as everyone was leaving the place they were having the luncheon. We went with everyone to see the falls and then we went to my cousin's house to eat real quick before we had to leave again. It was so good to see her and her family. Their baby is so cute! Its too bad we weren't able to stay longer so we could visit more. After eating, we were back on the road again and got home at about 9:30 pm. We drove for a little over 10 hours that day for a trip that was supposed to be 6 hours. Its a good thing Devan doesn't get mad otherwise I would have gotten upset as well and we both would have been miserable. But Devan stayed calm so I could be calm as well. Our trip was actually quite enjoyable considering the circumstances. :)

This is totally unrelated but check out this "movie poster" that Marc (from work) made.

It cracks me up. Devan looks like a very nice phantom.

Sometimes the Lord Blesses Us in Our Stupidity

Today I woke up, took Devan to school, came home and got ready for work, then I drove to work. I was at work for about an hour (it was about 10:30) when I looked at the calendar and realized what day it was. I was supposed to have jury duty this morning at 8:30! I had already asked for the day off and everything, I am just a total airhead. So I talked to my supervisor and told him I was leaving cause I was supposed to be at jury duty. He looked at his calendar and saw that I did have the day off, and then he laughed and said, "You're gonna get arrested!" I was thinking the same thing. I was in tears as I walked out of the building. I called my mom and she calmed me down a bit. We decided I would probably have to reschedule and pay a fine or something. I hurried home to get the address and phone number and I called the court as soon as I could and guess what? They had cancelled it! That was a huge relief!! I talked to my mom afterwards and she said, "Sometimes the Lord blesses us in our stupidity". I thought that was pretty funny, but its so true and I am very grateful.

Blessings!

So lately we've had a lot of things going on that hurt us financially like the car and the doctors with no insurance. And on top of that, we usually get quite a bit of money from the GI Bill each month so Devan can work part-time and still afford to live while going to school but because the semester ended towards the beginning of December, he wasn't going to school the whole month so we only got a small portion of the money in January. That was a really bad time for that to happen because of all the other things going on. But we've been trying to live more frugally. The thought had crossed my mind to wait and pay tithing next month when we'll have more money, but I quickly tossed that thought aside and paid it anyway. A few days later, we got the rest of the money from the GI Bill because he had registered for the next semester. Now we can afford to pay rent on time. :) I love the Lord and the blessings He gives us!

Life

Ok. So it's been a while since I posted. The insurance did end up paying for our repairs minus our $500 deductible. We got our car back about a week and a half after putting it in the shop. and then the next week I got this infection that had to be cut open and drained so I went to the doctors on December 30th and got that done. Little did I know, we didn't have insurance. We thought Devan's military insurance was good until the 31st and we were going to renew it, but we hadn't gotten around to it yet. Turns out it actually ended on the 27th. We had to pay for the whole thing ourselves. So things have been a little tough. but at least we still both have our jobs. We'd be in huge trouble if either of us got laid off. Anyway, the new year has been good so far. I got to take pictures for my cousin's Quinceñera and I think they turned out pretty well. It was a lot of fun. I'll have to post some of the pictures when I'm at home. Devan has started school again. It was nice to have the winter break so we had more time to spend together, but it is nice to have him working on school again and its kind of fun to be able to help him with his math. I've always been good at math, but I never enjoyed doing it. Now I've found out its much more pleasant if I'm helping someone else do it. I just didn't like doing it for my own homework. Anyway, that's my life right now.