Loves of my Life....

This past years have been full of memories some good & some bad... These past 6 months have been especially bittersweet. All 3 of my brothers were expecting children in 2012. Which is pretty neat to think about. I love being an aunt it is the best job in the world and to add more to my two sweet little nieces is fabulous.  So in January my little nephew Wesson was born. Our first little miracle of the year. While my sister-in-law was in labor his heart rate dropped and they had to stop the labor for hours. My sister-in-law was such a trooper for the long day she had to get this little guy here. He is such a happy baby and we love him so much! He is my little buddy and I wished I could see him more than I do. It has been fun to watch my baby brother with his own little boy and see him change and grow. And little Wesson looks like his dad and is such a sweetheart. He smiles so big for everyone and especially loves the girls and they absolutely adore little Wesson. Such cute little cousins.

The cutest blonde hair & blue eyed boy I've ever met! (besides my brother)

The girls are so much fun and getting so big! I can't believe how fast they grow! This is them at easter. My sister-in-law made their dresses... Super cute!

These are my super cute little ones! I love them all very much!

The next little miracle was due June 25th. Unfortunately complications that were unforeseen happened and our sweet little girl came on June 6th at 37 weeks. She weighed 5 pounds 1 ounce and had some complications. She was taken to the NICU immediately and only stayed on this earth for 12 hours before she was called home. This has been one of the first so close to home experiences that I have had with death because my grandparents lived so far away I wasn't able to go to theirs and I have to say it is not easy and I hope to not do it again anytime soon. Our little angel Lanieanne Marie Smith is in heaven watching over us. We wish she was still here with us, but we know she is in a better place and one day we will see her again. 

Which brings me to why I posted this post. I wanted to do something special in memory of Lanieanne and since children in the NICU can't wear cute clothes because they are hooked up to all kinds of wires I am making hats as of right now for the December donation and depending on time I may make little cute premie booties and even some little bracelets to donate in her name to the NICU. I am donating on her 6month birthday (December 6th) and then again on her 1 year birthday(June 6th). It helped for them to be able to have something that Lanieanne had at the hospital and I just think that if it can brighten the day of another person that is the goal. I also think service is the best way to celebrate the life and memories of Lanieanne. This is something that is helping me deal with the loss of such a sweet little person and to keep her memory alive for me, but if anyone is interested in helping or wants to donate a hat or two let me know. Leave me a comment on the blog or e-mail me. If you need a pattern there are a lot of websites that have free premie hat patterns and they are pretty simple to make. These are a few I have done as of lately.

My next little niece is due on August 27th and everything looks good. Her older sisters were hoping for a brother, but a sister will do. They just love Wesson and wanted to have a brother. It is crazy to think that McKayla will be 5 and starting kindergarten on August 27th, so that week could be very interesting. We are excited for the new little one as well. I think they are going to name her Londyn, but that could change. Life is always full of surprises and I am thankful for the many blessings that I have in my life.

Life....

Wow!! I have been super busy lately so that is why no blogging :( It is usually the last thing on my to do list & the first to let go! Anyways, I have been super duper busy!! Within the last two months I have had two weddings and I have one more on Saturday! These pictures are a preview of the first one.. You can check more out HERE. One of my best friends brother!

Ok.. Super cute couple! Loved them!! Then a couple of weeks ago, I did another wedding and Tuesday before the wedding we did the bridals.. WOW talk about lots of pictures in one week.. It was super windy that day, but it kind of worked to our advantage! You can see the full session HERE. Isn't she so pretty!

Then I took pictures for this super cute family! She is actually one of my friends and I took Drake's baby pictures when he was born last year.. It is amazing that year flew by so fast! Anyways more of them are HERE.

And of course a preview of the next wedding, which I had over 500 pictures for!! I am still working on edits! You can see the full session of this wedding HERE.

Now for some other stuff going on in my life.. I work out a LOT! I am trying really hard to loose weight but to do it the right way! I am working out 6 days a week and trying to get between 8 and 10 workouts in this time. I go to Gold's Gym as well as doing Zumba dance class.. SUPER FUN if anyone wants to join me let me know! Click on the picture to learn more about Zumba or to find classes near you!

The last time I weighed I had lost 7 pounds in 2 weeks, which is awesome because I am lifting weights too not just cardio, so I am gaining muscle weight as well.. so it was awesome to loose that much, even if I have LOTS to go! I am so excited for all of my workout buddies that I have & would love more people to keep me motivated! I will try to keep my progress updated more too..

My moms birthday was back in July & to surprise her we got her tickets to go & see Adam Lambert in Boise. It was going to be my mom & dad that went, but then my dad had class scheduled for work & couldn't get the time off & I couldn't take the day off because my co-worker was already on vacation.. so.. I didn't take a lunch and left a few hours early from work and drove down to Boise and then after the concert we drove straight home, and we got home about 3:30a.m. so by the time I got in bed it was about 4a.m. and my alarm went off at 6:45, so that I could be to work by 7:30a.m... so needless to say it was a very long day the next day at work, but it was worth it because my mom loved it & we had fun! I have to say that I love Adam as well, because we both watched him on American Idol & he is a very fun performer! I did see a lot of glitter boys & I will leave it at that! Camera's weren't allowed, so I snuck these pictures and video.. I did see quite a few camera's get taken away, so I had to be super careful :)

So anyways! I know this is a long post, but I hope you enjoyed hearing about the many many things going on in my life~ I hope everyone else is doing great!

My Favorite Things

Lately life has just been blah.. I don't know what my problem is. I feel like I am still in the school mode on a lot of things, and I have a lot of decisions I have to make... The CPA or the PMP or the CPA & CIA, and the list goes on :) STRESSFUL! Most people get to be done when they graduate but not me, so there are some big decisions that I am trying to make & weigh out all of my opinions and make the best decision for me & my future. But whenever I get down I think of all of the wonderful things I have going on in my life right now... 2 of which are my beautiful nieces! They are the best thing that could have ever happened. They are so much fun & everyone thinks that little Pyper is my child whenever she is with me. I love that McKayla is old enough to have sleepovers at my house & I love that Pyper loves to snuggle with me. She is so cute when she just rests her cheeks on mine.. makes me tear up thinking about how great both of them are. McKayla turned 3 on June 11th, so naturally auntie Candra had to be sure & take her 3 year pictures! These are a few.. the poor girl still doesn't have much hair, but the second picture by the tree just makes her look so grown up!

And Pyper just turned 7 months.. still as cute as ever! I can't imagine life without the two of them & I am excited to see what the future holds for me! Hopefully some cute kids!

I also had one of two of the weddings I have this summer! It was a lot of fun and here is one of my favorite pictures from the wedding, hopefully I will post more soon... The colors were orange & blue... the grooms cake was a denver broncos cake ;) so fun!

I hope everyone is doing well! I am greatful that I was able to see some of my wonderful friends recently.. I miss all of you! (Kaylie, Angie, Wynn & Brandon) It was so fun to see all of you! I wish you were all closer! I was able to go to Boise & see Carrie Underwood! It was a lot of fun she came over the audience in a truck! So she was right above my head! Lots of fun! So anyways my favorite things right now besides my friends & family include picture taking(still working on getting better), GLEE(my music will keep me going till the second season), and reading something other than a text book! I have read 15 books since graduation! Feels so good! (I know I am a geek!) One of those books was rereading Eclipse before the movie comes out. I finished it in 2 days (of which I was at work both days) I just love getting lost in books and not having to think about reality! I am going to Mt Rushmore this next week & I am hoping to get a ton of good pictures! It will be a blast!

GRADUATION

Most of you have probably already heard that I graduated May 8, 2010, but I thought I would put it here! I graduated with my bachelors in accounting with an Operations Management emphasis. (Just a fancy name to say WAY too many classes).

This is my announcement that I did & sent to family & friends!

On Friday my work had a party for me & this was my cake! I'm lucky to work with such great people! They spoiled me--- a nook :) and money!

This is my garage door from my three amigos that got to my house & car! My car was full of balloons I couldn't even drive until I moved them! I will have to post those pictures soon too!

After I graduated we went back to my mom & dad's house & had a luncheon. Here is a picture with my two nieces! Aren't they just the cutest!

This is my friend Shannon & I before graduation started! I met her my first or second year at school & we have been good friends ever since! I have actually met a lot of great people through school!

The cap & gown!

& How could I forget these! My shoes that I got the night before graduation! I wore them & half way across stage I almost fell, but oh well totally worth it!

Hopefully I will post more pictures soon.. ;) I should have tonz more time, but I am trying to get ready for 2 weddings! I am so excited about those!

I want to say how thankful I am to all of my friends and family that have been my support group all of these years! I am grateful to all of you! I am happy to the new people I have met and the old ones that I have kept in touch with! I am excited to see what other chapters open up in my life now that I have more time! I am still trying to decide what I want to do with the CPA exams & when I want to take them.. so we will see!

Here is a preview of some of the pictures I have taken since school got out.. engagement & senior pictures! Hopefully I will post all of these soon! Both sessions were so much fun! I am lucky to work with AWESOME people!

Picture Update

I finally got my picture blog completely caught up! WOW that never happens! I've been on spring break this week... I will have to post pix sometime soon! But enjoy these!

This is the announcement I did for Whitney.. took the pix and everything today! Now I just have to get on the ball & get mine done!! WOW, it's going way too fast!

Okay...WOW...

WARNING: LOTS OF PICTURES & LONG!

Okay.. I've been so busy with everything(school, work, pictures, family, primary, ect..) that this is one of the last things on my list & I am sooooo far behind... Since my last post.. I have had a lot happen. First this is the necklace I made for my aunt for Christmas.. Needle, fish wire, seed beads... I think it turned out pretty cute.

Then I have been taking quite a few pictures... These are some from a while ago.. which hopefully I will be able to update Candra's Pix blog with the full sessions... They are so cute!

Aren't they all so cute! Love these pictures!

Then one of my best friends finally got her entire family(parents & siblings) together for a family picture.. It turned out so cute! They all have the cutest kids!

This is another one of my friends and her little boy! He is so smart & so cute! I'm so lucky that all of my friends have the cutest kids!

I know that everyone knows back in November I became an aunt again.. well the poor kid (but she's so cute) keeps getting compared to me as a baby. She does look a lot like me except for the blue eyes :) So as embarrassing as it is here are some baby pictures of me & one of Pyper. You tell me....

Oh yes.. the picture of my niece is one from just this past weekend. Isn't she a doll? I know I am biased but I think that they are both so cute. So here are some of the over 200+ pictures I took of my brother and his family.

Oh I have to show that I took this picture and did this for them as well.

Then McKayla has such a bubbling personality.. She informed me just on Saturday that we love Taylor Swift. I told her no we don't.. She comes up to me and she says "No, Aunt Candra, we LOVE Taylor Swift & Lady Gaga".. Aren't kids the cutest! She definitely keeps me going..

This is her a couple of months ago..

This is her from Saturday.. She is growing like a weed! Just like her little sister!

This is the two of them..so cute;)

Then I had to put these two pictures on here, she is so funny, the first picture is how she kept smiling.

So my brother says, "McKayla, smile with your eyes" and this is what we come up with.. See kids can smile and fake it too~

I just love them so much! This picture is Pyper's blessing dress

Then on Saturday I was able to take pictures of one of my best friends kids! They are some of the best repeat customers! They are so adorable!

Ok.. so January and February have been so busy with school & things.. I have been doing pretty good! There is this one teacher I have and I have had him before and he is not my favorite, he is kind of a jerk. Anyways.. I got a B on his first exam.. which feels awesome! I studied for hours and hours and a B on his exam is like an A++...he is so hard! So that was a confidence booster &
then in one of my other classes I also got a B on his exam, which I was happy about! My classes are very frustrating this semester, but it is my LAST SEMESTER, so I am keeping my head up and counting down (73 days) :)

Some other things that have been going on are...

January...Jury Duty. I don't know how many of you have been chosen for Jury Duty.. it is interesting, but not fun when you decide someone else's future. I had Jury Duty for the weeks of January 11- January 22, which school started on January 11 & I had auditors on that same day ( I am surprised I still have hair) So I didn't have to go to Jury Duty until January 22.. that's right the very last day of my Jury Duty I had to go! If everyone had of showed up to Jury Duty I would not have been chosen to be 14 of the jurors that had to be narrowed down to 6. Well I ended up being one of the 6 people they chose to be the Jury. It was a LONG day. I was there from 8:30 in the morning till almost 6 at night with a 45 minute lunch. It was insane & I hope that my name stays off that list for a while.

February... In fact it was February 1st, we had a very foggy night and it was hard to see the road from far away.. I have a night class and I was coming back from Pocatello. I saw something in the road I thought it was a cat... NOPE.. I was to Blackfoot and where the 3 lanes merge to 2. There was something in the road and I couldn't get over & couldn't slam on the brakes with a car behind me. I decided that I would just pray it stayed so I didn't run over the poor cat. Well I got close to hitting it and it flew up...It wasn't a cat at all...IT WAS AN OWL! A HUGE OWL.. These are the pictures... I drove all the way from Blackfoot to IF with this owl stuck in my car. I called my little brother to pull it out of my car. So scary! Anyways, I was lucky that only my grill was hurt on my car and it dented my radiator. Nothing more. My little niece was so concerned and she had to show everyone the pictures from my phone. She would say, "Candra broke her car, she hit a bird and it went boom". She won't forget about it either. Everytime she talks to me on the phone or I see her she asks if I have hit any more birds. On the phone she will say "ok drive careful, don't hit any more birds,i love you bye"Crazy kid! These are the pictures... they are from my phone so they aren't very good...

This is the damage & the way I drove home & below is my little brother holding it up!

One BIG BIRD!

Ok.. well other than those events I teach Primary on Sunday's and I have Sunbeams...there are 10 of them & just one of me.. I don't have a team teacher yet, so keeping the children calm and not jumping everywhere can be a big task! Well the laundry dishes and homework is calling my name.. but at least I am caught up... for now....