BIG NEWS

I have been so crazy with the business photos lately that I haven't been that great about taking any of us or our life or posting anything...case in point: I loaded the photos off of 1 of our cameras and it had pictures from a year ago on it! Yea...that's life I suppose. That leads into our BIG NEWS though, I was loading the photos of our lil' peanut (don't mind the spotted mirror-just one more thing I have little desire to do). Yup, we're expecting May 31st. I was going to try and keep the news secret until I was through the 1st trimester...however this lil' peanut of ours is making my body go through a gamete of hormone unpleasantness right now. I was sick so it was hard to hide at work...so we decided to go ahead and tell our families and let word spread from there. We have since gone in for our first appointment. The lil' peanut is doing great...it was pretty amazing, made it all more real when we could see the fingers and limbs moving. Baby Oram was moving all over the place...this is probably a sign of things to come, neither of us were babies content with sitting still. I am going to a clinic in Jackson Hole that has 4 women on staff-which I am thrilled about. They have 2 OBGYN's, 1 NP, and 1 midwife. Not sure what to think as far as my birthing options go, but I am keeping an open mind. Tomorrow I will be 11 weeks-crazy to think. I took the first pregnancy test on my birthday, October 3rd, and it was a faint line. Alas, the box said any line was a line...so I kinda freaked a little-it's very surreal. It had happened on our 2nd month of trying-I thought for sure it would take longer than that! I retested on that Friday and the results were in...we were definitely expecting. I had some symptoms, but mostly nothing had changed at that point. 2 weeks later though the sickness hit. First it was morning, then afternoon, then whenever, and then at night. It kept getting worse, until we went to our first appointment and I got on medication to help me....and help it did! I started the meds last Thursday and have been way more functional since then. It has come with it's own side effects that are not pleasant, but it beats worshipping the porcelain god! I am still struggling to eat meat, but I am now able to eat more than cold cereal :0). Eric and I, although a little nervous, are super excited. We can't wait to see what baby Oram will look like...and I am especially hoping for a small Oram sized baby. As far as the rest of our life right now, I have put in my 2 weeks notice @ work so that I can move on to a different job that is more flexible and something I can keep doing when the baby comes. Eric starts basketball next week and is continuing his progress with Pure Performance and ZERO. I am starting to climb out of my editing hole...now that I can finally edit without feeling sick. All in all life is good, but different....and we're good with that :0).

Good days for all my friends!

Liz

.:Goodbye 26:.

I can't believe another year has flown by. I am not sure if anyone else has this...but I have had an age in my mind that I have always thought would be a great one-26-and now it is gone, just like that. 26 was a great year though-a lot occurred in that year. So to send it off in honor here are the 26 big things for 26 in no particular order:
1. New House Progressed...Learned Electrical
2. Sold New House...Learned How To Sell On My Own
3. Eric Took The Basketball Head Coaching Job
4. Involved in Pure Performance & ZERO
5. Started Crossfit & Got 5 lbs Within My Ultimate Goal Weight
6. Learned How To Upholster A Chair
7. Cruised To Honduras And Belize
8. Dream Vacay To Hawaii
9. Photography Business Took Off
10. Got Lights For Photography & A Printing Company
11. Successfully Continued Scrap Swap
12. Wrote A Bit For Ella Publishing
13. Finally Got Internet-lol :0)
14. Revamped The Business Logo & Blog (all by myself)
15. Got My Photo Collages Put Together (now to actually get them hung up)
16. Competed In A Crossfit Competition
17. Taught Myself To Create Posters
18. Become An Auntie to Twins
19. Learned How To Be An Apartment Dweller Again
20. Scrapped & Played
21. Loved & Made New Friends
22. Started A New Adventure (more on that later)
23. Sang Karaoke
24. Camped @ The Family Reunion
25. Learned To Surf
26. Read Too Many Books To Count

Uplifting

Watch this and read this...it will change your day and your outlook...We never know how great we truly have it! I wish you all the best of days :0). Much love friends and know that God and Jesus Christ are always among us.
***This picture can be found via Liz Lemon Swindle @ Deseret Book. She says of this image: "When Mothers Without Borders approached me about going to Africa, I told them I was not interested. For me Africa was a world away, “and besides,” I thought, “I am too busy.” Imagine my surprise when I found myself on a plane to Zambia in June 2007.
One of the first children I met was Kennedy, the little boy you see in the painting. At three years old he has lost both of his parents to AIDS and was found living alone with his six year old brother and ten year old sister. When I thought of those three children struggling to survive and the millions of others across Africa in similar circumstances, I felt an overwhelming hopelessness and said to myself, “No amount of money can fix this.”
Later that day while we were filming, Kennedy climbed into the arms of the man portraying the Savior. As I stood watching them, Kennedy turned towards me and our eyes met. At that moment I knew it wasn’t hopeless. I realized that the Savior could fix not only the problems of Africa, but of the whole world…and we can be His hands to do it.
For the first time in my life I felt what Isaiah meant when he said, “He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces.” To Kennedy and all who struggle to understand why, I promise that God has not forgotten you.
Looking back I realize that my reasons for not wanting to go to Africa are likely the same as yours. We are busy and feel like we cannot make a difference, but I know now that neither is true. We are never too busy to lift another and every good work is known to Him who said, “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of…these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”

**HAWAII**

Beautiful. Serene. Dreams fulfilled. Message. Turtles. Complete Bliss. Relaxing. Green. Totally active. Warm. Palms. Big surf. Blue. Colorful. Breath taking. Snorkeling. Surfing. Amazing waterfalls. Kayaking. Flying. Wonderful food. Tan. Celebrity. Endless fun. Natives. Culture. Winding roads. Learning. Exploring. Open views. Volcano. Beaches. This sums up the majority of our trip. Most if it is hard to describe. It was worth the wait and the money. We learned to surf and thus one of my lifetime dreams has been fulfilled. Each island had something completely amazing to offer. We loved the food in Kauai the most and would most likely go back to Maui. It was all time well wasted and just what we needed before coming home to pack, move, and start work again. I have around a thousand pix...so here are quite a few, but it's hard to pick with as much as we saw and did. It will definitely be a trip that is never forgotten.