How much do I love my nieces and nephew? I could seriously spend all day with them. Every day. And then I would need a break. But the next day, I would be back. They just crack me up! And little Audrey is just so cuddly and smiley that it just melts my heart! Toria had a kindergarten program on friday and she got to wear her flower girl dress for an upcoming wedding, and her hair was all beautifully coiffed and she felt just like a princess! The program was insane. . . . there were three stairs in the school gym, with a row of kindergarteners on each, and then additionally, there were two rows of 6 year olds standing in front of them. And each one had a parent with a tricked out video camera or SLR super duty telefoto lens camera. It was crazy. When the kids started walking in, you'd think that it was a red carpet appearance, with the amount of flashes and waving going on. Waving from the parents side, mind you. It was so funny. And, as murphy's law would have it, we were on the opposite side that Victoria was on, and she was one of the unfortunate, unseen beauties standing on the floor. Luckily, Audrey got fussy so I got to take her out, where I had the opportunity to sneak in the front door, sit on the floor and get a few pictures of her in the front. In the meantime, Braydon discovered how much he loved taking pictures with my little point and shoot camera. We have very artistic pieces of the chairs in front of us.
As an English major, I'm required to take a medieval literature class. Sadly, I knew going in that I would not be able to avoid reading Beowulf any longer. I have a theory. I think that any poem longer than two pages should not be a poem. It should be an article, essay or book. So, reading over 3,000 lines of middle age poetry wasn't my idea of awesome. I'll be honest. I didn't read all of it. Not even half, so I can't give a true opinion, but I found that it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. HOWEVER, I still want to know why it is considered to be such a canonical classic. I have actually wondered that about a lot of supposed great literary works, (like anything written by Homer and Paradise Lost) so today I asked. I wish there had been a cut and dry answer, but english people don't do anything "cut and dry". We like to make everything long, wordy and so intelligent-sounding that nobody even knows what we've said, especially the person who said it. This is why we are usually able to write long essays about nothing. Because we use every word and literary term we have ever learned, and by the time the professor is done reading it, he doesn't want to admit that he has no idea what has been said that he gives everyone a B/B+. I'm onto them. Like this post. By raise of hand, who knows what I'm even talking about? Not me. So. Beowulf. Purpose. Back on track. My graduate-student professor offered a lot of mumbo-jumbo about the difference between Greek mythology and Norse/Germanic mythology, but it basically came down to, a) it's like 30% of all olde english literature we have and b) it focuses on the idea of FATE deciding the outcome, rather than your god/non-god status. So I guess the bottom line is that if someone who is special enough somewhere in the literary world says it is a classic, we should all put it on our "read before I die" list, be super excited for that glorious day and then once you do read it and find yourself wanting the 8 hours that it took to read back, you can lie to everyone and say, "yeah, I read Beowulf, it changed my life." Because, let's face it, if it's rockin' enough to have Angelina Jolie in the movie, it's got to be stellar, right?
This blogging is good times. I thought I'd throw some pictures on here from the last photo shoot I did. I used to work with Katie at Beehive, so I was totally stoked to take her and Scott's engagement pictures. Katie had found a picture of an old train car at the Great Salt Lake online (it's about 1 1/2 miles north of Saltair on that frontage road) and wanted to check it out. We started downtown and got some great shots there, and then went to the GSL. I have wanted to do pictures there for a while, so I was so excited! I even went by a couple weeks before the shoot so I could make sure I knew where I was going. We took some fun pictures at the marina and then went to the train car. It was so fun, but if you go out there (mostly the train and marshy areas of the GSL), be sure to over-spray with some good deet-filled bug spray. Goodnight, I was eaten alive. Who knew that gnats have mouths big enough to bite and leave you in itchy-town?? Overall, however, it was way fun. Once the bugs blew out of my hair and I was looking at the pictures, it was all worth it. It was one of the best shoots I've had! So, thanks, Katie and Scott, for being so darn cute! Enjoy! 
I've been inspired. My sister, Laura, just started a blog and is so excited that it's rubbing off on me! I had a lot of fun posting on my blog when I was in England, but didn't think anyone would want to read about my totally radical life back home. Then I came to two conclusions. One, blogging is a great journal replacement. Two, I experience way too many funny and wacky things that I need to share them once in a while. I've also seen quite a few blogs done by photographers who post pictures from their shoots and I thought that would be fun. So. Here I am. And there you are, and that's how we'll be until funny things stop happening. Or you stop reading because I'm boring. But we all know that's not going to happen, right? Wink, wink. J slash K.
