Merry Happy Blog: Friends

, by Han

family

A MEMORIAL DAY TO REMEMBER

Since moving to a new area of Utah in January, we haven’t done nearly as much exploring as we initially planned. (Poor weather/the first trimester of pregnancy + lots of puking are valid excuses for this though, no?!) Since I'm finally feeling much more like my usual-self and Stephen had the day off work, for Memorial Day we decided to head to the mountains for an adventure! Well, we mostly just set out for a fun afternoon in the mountains, but we maaaay have gotten a little more than we were looking for ;)

Our plans were pretty simple: Meet our friends Bryce and Melissa at Silver Lake, build a campfire, and visit while roasting hotdogs, cooking *the world's best* tinfoil dinners, and indulging in s'mores. The perfect plan!

Perfect, perhaps, but not particularly adventurous...

Not long after loading up the car to embark on this afternoon in the mountains, it started raining. Mother nature loves to give you those little surprises! (In her defense, when Stephen checked the weather forecast earlier in the day, he accidentally checked the forecast for "silver lake" in exactly the opposite direction of where we were headed, hahaha, so the rain shouldn't have actually been a surprise at all...)

We weren't sure how this rain would affect our plans, but since our friends had gone up the canyon earlier in the day and didn't have cell reception, we decided to just head in their direction and make the most of it (all the while hoping the rain would dissipate). After getting lost multiple times, off-roading in the rain, and getting our car caked with mud, we found our friends, who had, unfortunately, gotten a flat tire! 😂🙈

Bryce, Melissa and Landon jumped into our car and after a bit of driving around we found the perfect spot to set up "camp" and start our fire (thankfully by the time we made it to this point the rain had stopped). After unloading the car and an intense search for kindling (which proved difficult due to the recent downpour) Stephen and Bryce successfully got our fire going!…just in time for a ranger to come inform us that -- despite the fact that the fire-pit we were using had been there long before us -- no fires were allowed in that part of the park. 🤦🏻‍♀️

15 minutes later the fire was doused, four adults + three children and a heckuva-lotta stuff were re-loaded into the car, and we resumed our search for a prime spot to *legally* start a fire. A spot was found and we again unloaded all the people and supplies. Starting a second fire (after using most of the trash we had in our car as kindling for the first one) proved to be even more difficult. An excruciating 20 minutes later we were in business with a campfire! (Did I mention that Stephen and I had spent all afternoon working on our masterpieces of tin-foil dinners and in all the excitement forgotten to eat lunch?!)

As you may have imagined, the whole getting-lost-dealing-with-a-flat-tire-moving-camps-and-lack-of-kindling situation set us back...a bit. At this point, as soon as there was a flame, we scarfed down the hotdogs, made some s'mores and then started packing everything up to go home 😂 (after Stephen took the drone out for a quick spin).

With three curious children under the age of three, a free-flowing river just a few feet in one direction and open flames a few feet in the other, "visiting around the campfire" was, unfortunately, forgotten, along with the tin-foil dinners that we were certain would be unlike any the world had ever before seen (in the best way, of course ;)).

Despite the craziness and things not exactly going to plan, we had a ton of fun and are surprisingly more motivated to do the whole thing again now that we have all the kinks worked out! haha

_ _ _

han.

PS We ended up cooking our tinfoil dinners in our oven the next day and...they basically tasted like meatloaf?! hahaha Neither of us have ever made meatloaf before but turns out if you throw all of the "most delicious" things in your fridge into some hamburger that's basically what it is. Who knew!

PPS Although we didn't do much in the way of "Memorial Day" on Monday, later that week I took Lydia and Elliott on a walk to the nearby cemetery where we looked at all of the decorated headstones and talked about veterans and our country's flag. I realized how important that is to do after listening to this podcast episode and I hope to incorporate more education into patriotic holidays in the future!

1 comments

, by Han

Everyday Life

5 YEARS AGO TODAY.

Lydia is currently in her crib, crying. I'm hoping she will fall asleep soon because this is normally when she takes her morning nap, but for some reason this morning she is protesting. I'm hoping to make this a short, quick post, but if I'm being totally honest, that is usually my objective with every post and...well, it almost never happens. ha.

Five years ago TODAY, I unpacked a suitcase full of my belongings (clothes) into a cute little room nestled in the gorgeous BYU Jerusalem Center, overlooking the Mount of Olives, the Kidron Valley, and The Holy City.

Last night, I had dinner with some friends from that study abroad group, and when someone said it had been 5 years since we were there I honestly couldn't believe it. FIVE YEARS! It's true, as the group pointed out, that since returning home from the study abroad I got married and have one and a half babies, but I just couldn't get over the shock that it has been FIVE. YEARS.

In an effort to find a nice, sentimental photo I could post on Instagram to represent my time in The Holy Land (HA! Yes, I know how silly that sounds) I started down the rabbit hole of old photos and blogposts from my time there. It only took a few minutes of searching though old posts before I became frustrated with myself for not blogging more while there! I lived and explored Jerusalem (and Jordan and Turkey) for FOUR months, and all I have are 16 measly blogposts to show for it. Pathetic. I'm embarrassed to admit that I can't even remember where over half of the photos I have saved were taken.

(Lydia's whine-crying has turned into scream-crying. I better go do some damage control.)

I started my first blog almost seven years ago (!) and whenever I go back through old posts, it's entirely too easy to pick them apart. My sentences were so choppy. What was I thinking making that picture so small?! My mind is filled with things I wish I'd done differently. I wish so badly I'd blogged more while in Jerusalem, or at least labeled more of my photos! I wish I'd gotten into photography BEFORE I went to Jerusalem because if I knew back then what I know now, I would have SO MANY great photos! After a few minutes of being annoyed with myself and counting all of the things I wished I could go back and redo, I started reading a few of the posts. Memories I'd long since forgotten came flooding back. The HUNDREDS of caterpillars on the "plains" of Judea, the letter I wrote to Kythan Millehan, listening to I Will Survive while I ran a 10k through the streets of Jerusalem. So many forgotten tidbits made me laugh out loud as I remembered them in vivid detail.

Maybe it's the pregnancy hormones or maybe it's the fact that Lydia FINALLY fell asleep and is already awake again (20 minutes naps ARE NOT MY JAM), but reading the first post I wrote after landing in Jerusalem (choppy sentences at all) made me tear up as I reminisced about my time there, the incredible experiences I had, and relationships I made.

I just still can't believe it was five years ago.

_ _ _

han.

No comments

, by Han

baby baby baby

September Showers

1 comments

, by Han

Friends

Collaborating with Lita

My freshman year at BYU (can you believe that was six years ago this week?!) I became friends with a girl named Ashley who was in my ward and building. She was roommates with my cousin, Madi, and we quickly became good friends, taking an ice-skating class together, staying up wayyy too late chatting about boys (particularly a blue-eyed one named Stephen who I had a "complicated" relationship/friendship with, haha) and making a hilariously embarrassing music video as a birthday present for our friend, Jarom.

Ashley (or Lita, as she is also known) recently starting building her blog, and since I've also been working on building my photography, I contacted her to see if she would be interested in collaborating. I've been thrilled that she's actually taken me up on the offer, and I've really enjoyed being able to visit with her (we realized we haven't actually seen each other in years) and expand my photography/videography portfolio.

The first thing I did for Ashley was film a really simple (and cute!) hair tutorial. I was so impressed with how fast and easy the hairstyle was, I went right home and tried it myself! Unfortunately...mine didn't turn out quiiite as good as hers, haha, but I'm sure with a little practice I could get there :)

Then, a few weeks ago I got to photograph Ashley's "room reveal." Ashley recently moved into an unfurnished apartment and worked really hard to find and refurbish things that would make the room uniquely hers. Personally, I LOVE Ashley's style and it seriously made me want to redo my whole house with her coaching, haha. (But seriously.)

^^This before picture is from BEFORE Ashley moved in. It's just amazing what decorating and some nice natural light can do to make the same space look 100X better!

^^Ashley found this perfect little stool at DI and then painted it. I love that she is using it as a nightstand.

^^Another DI find that Ashley sanded and repainted to give it an entirely new look!

Lately I've been pleased that my photography is slowly starting to go in the direction I've always wanted in regard to light and creaminess. I still have a looong way to go and a loooot to learn, but I feel like I'm starting to take shape as a photographer and people have been kind enough to notice. (Thanks to those of you who have said something! It really means a lot!)

If you are around Utah County and need pictures taken for any reason - please let me know! I would love to work something out :)

If you want to see the rest of Ashley's room reveal, be sure to check it out >>>> HERE!!! <<<<
I look forward to being able to collaborate even more with Ashley over the coming months! She is planning an event with a friend that she wants me to photograph and I'm really excited because it sounds like it's going to be amazing! More on that later ;)

_ _ _
han.

PS As part of my "getting out of my comfort zone as a photographer" and with a LOT of encouragement from Stephen, I started an instagram account specifically for my photography. If you would be so kind as to follow along, I would greatly appreciate it :)

5 comments

, by Han

Friends