That time I was desperate.....

There was this one time (last Sunday)

When I was desperate to clear up some space on my 'start up disc'

I frantically deleted pictures thinking they were saved on my external.

They weren't.

I deleted beautiful pictures of my cousin Bryton.

Fabulous pictures of my sister Natalie (sorry Nat, haven't told you yet).

And last but not least stunning pictures of my friend Talor (whom I asked to pose for my portfolio)

Thank heavens I didn't delete pics of things that can not be replaced.

I can always have Bryton and Nat pose for me.

But I was really bummed about Talor's pics.

Because Talor is fabulous.

She plays softball for ASU and she is super good.

She's gonna get me backstage passes to one of their games next year.

But on top of those fun facts Talor is beautiful and sweet.

AND SWEET.

She is so dang sweet?

Aren't people that good looking supposed to be rotten inside so the rest of us feel better about ourselves?

I already messaged her and she said she would pose for me again.

Thank heavens.

And she didn't even judge me for being such a moron that I deleted the pics.

What a gem.

This is the only picture I managed to salvage of her.

Most of you have seen it since it was posted on Busy Bee.

But I wanted to post it here as well.

Thanks Talor for always being such a fun and genuine person to be around.

Christmas in the Desert

Oh how I miss the desert.....just not in July. While Minnesota was getting record snowfall, my precious and me were able to spend the holiday in sunny AZ. Temperatures were perfect, nights were cool, and family was amazing. We took well over 1,000 shots and these are some of our favorites.

We woke up early one morning but not early enough to catch the sunrise over Usery Pass. We paid 6 dollars to enter the park, and it was worth every penny. While Taylor and Maddy were practicing yoga on the rocks....I was able to frame up some good pics.

It is so much fun to experiment with different F-stops, shutter speeds, and use different lenses. The cacti were shot with a 50MM prime lense and landscapes all shot at 24MM....I was hoping for a 16-35MM Canon L lens for Xmas but that didn't happen:(










We missed the sunrise but were still able to get some pictures. The sky in Arizona is amazing at sunrise and sunset.....so many different colors.




Salt River shot midday.....the AZ sky is so blue once you leave the city. We met a guy named Dean from Minnesota who was squatting with his camper. He was building a pyramid of Budweiser cans with his poodle, after all, it was noon on Christmas Eve. He said he had our backs if the "five oh" showed up giving parking tickets. The fine to park was $100 but worth the risk to get the picture. Thanks Dean.




Just pulled off the road north of Saguaro Lake to get this picture of 4 peaks. Nothing special....I'm sure many tripods have been setup in this parking spot.



I convinced Ivy to walk out into the desert with me on this one. We didn't have a gun or a flashlight and it was pitch black. We weaved through cactus and brush hoping we didn't stumble upon a rattlesnake or coyote. Ivy was a brave soul and took the lead because I was a little scared. We setup several shots with long exposures without being able to see anything until the picture came up in our LCD screen.

It got a little awkward when a truck pulled up next to Krystle and Taylor. They were waiting in the car for fear of snakes and serial killers. Ivy and I decided to leave our post and venture back to the road. The old couple from Iowa in the truck looked at me strangely as I walked out of the dark desert with an 11 year old, camera, and tripod. It then occurred to me how potentially bad this looked. I immediately made small talk with my Minnesota accent and showed the old couple my pictures on the LCD screen of my camera. They were impressed and hopefully let go of any suspicions of me being "the creeper with the camera."





Our Christmas night venture started late for our mission was to go deep into the Superstitions and find the perfect shot. We started at Canyon Lake and it was really dark. The only light we could find was in the marina and we were quickly booted out of there. We made our way back toward town when I glanced to the south and noticed the moon coming up. I thought to myself that it might be cool to try and get to the west side of the Superstitions and get the moon from behind. We found a spot in the back parking lot of an Apache Junction VFW club along with several other squatters. I'm sure they had permission to be there but we didn't. I could see old people peeking through the windows of their house on wheels. I was waiting for a drunken blue hair to storm out of his mobile home with a shotgun in hand but luckily that never happened. I just hope they were able to witness the moon rise over the Superstitions like we did.



This picture is just a longer exposure.




Post by Corey Johnson

Miss Tude

Bryton Brown.

I would totally be fine if one day I woke up and my face looked like yours.

Burning at both ends....

I am exhausted.

I have been working hard with photography/hair.

I have been up until at least 4 am every morning.

It was so worth it.

I heart my job.

Both of them.

One of my genius clients informed me that I'm burning the candle at both ends.

She said her mother used to have a candle stick with a wic on both ends.

She used to light each end on fire and let it burn to the middle.

Then the flames would meet .......

And nothing would be left.

I have got to work a little smarter.

That way nothing gets neglected/left behind/ or forgotten.

I am sorry to any of my friends out there if you have been neglected and/or forgotten this week.

I've had nothing left.

But, I just perused through my external hard drive and I've found some inspiration.

I am inspired again.

I am renewed.

And on top of that guess what?

My ovaries are aching.

I want one of these for myself.

What do you think?

Recent Stuff

Just came across some of my favorites on the computer.

Thought the blog could use a new post.

And since I look scary as crap today;

Here are some real good lookin people for you to stare at

Enjoy.

Stop the press! Stop the press!

I updated "Through My Betseys".

Check it out homeslice.

My little quarterback.......

Here is a brief convo Corey and I had at dinner a few weeks back.....

Corey: "What do you think our children will be like?"

Me: "I'm not sure. They won't be small. That's a given."

Corey: "Oh my gosh I hope they don't get your ears."

Me: "I agree, that would be tragic."

Corey: " It would be okay if they were tall like you."

Me: "Ya so they can play sports."

Corey: "What sports do you think they will play?"

Me: "I'm not sure. Maybe we should wait to ask them seeing as how they don't even exist yet."

Corey: "Oh man, I hope they get bigger hands than me."

Krystle: "Why so they could palm a basketball?"

Corey: "No, so they can grip a football real tight."

Krystle: "um okay."

Corey: "I hope they get my arm."

Krystle: "Okay."

Corey: "Seriously Krystle. I have an amazing arm. If I only had bigger hands I could throw the football farther than Brett Favre."

Me: At this point I looked up to see if he was serious.

He was.

So naturally I started cracking up and spit water out my nose.

Oh corey, how admire your confidence.

BAM!

You just got sacked by small children.

I couldn't be more excited.....

I just found this at goodwill for $4.99. I am going to give it a makeover and give it to my oldest niece for Christmas!

Sorry to leave you hanging.....

In regards to my lovely and magical new books, they can be found here ..........

You are welcome, in advance, for making all of your dreams come true :)

I know they also sell the books at Anthropologie but they seem to be much more reasonably priced over at Amazon.

Wyley and Mattisyn

Took some hot pics of my cousin and his lovely girlfriend.

If he doesn't propose soon;

Then I will.

Mattisyn Homer will you marry us?

:)

And I had to post this single of Wyley his mother had me take
for the Christmas Card.

Too cute to read

I love reading.

Books provided an escape for me growing up.

That sounded bad like I had a bad home life

Not true.

But what I did have was a major lack of self-confidence.

Books allowed me to be someone else and imagine exciting, fantastic, beautiful things.

That being said I still LOVE reading.

I've been seeing these Special Edition books online.

ALL OVER THE PLACE.

Other blogs and what not.

So I bought myself some.

SHHHH don't tell it was so hard choosing.

So I didn't.

I bought all my favorites.

I almost had an aneurysm when I opened the box.

I am in love.






As a side not don't forget to scroll down and see my baby's Halloween costume.

This little piggy stayed home

Be still my heart.

Bailey Rue Johnson I freaking love you.

Hope you had a Fantastic Halloween.

Easy, easy cottage cheesy

I love going home.

By home I mean to Arizona.

I stay with my mother at my grandmother's home,

and sometimes we have fun.

And sometimes my demands drive them crazy.

There is just nothing like going home.

I love that no matter what Grandma Sonja will always have my favorite snack in the fridge.

Cottage cheese with tomatoes, cucumbers and green onions.

I've decided to make some for myself this week.

And it was totally delish.

And I may or may not be finishing it off right now.

At 12:06 am.

What's your favorite snacky snack?

P.s. don't be jealous of my retro Pyrex dish.

I almost had a seizure when I saw it at Goodwill.

Dear Natalie

Can you please make me this bag for my birthday? or Christmas since that's sooner?

The color scheme is perfect too you wouldn't have to change a thing :)

click here

A New Passion!

If only we could get paid for what we love to do......my first sports photography experience.





























This was a game featuring the mighty Humboldt Hawks of St. Paul against Minneapolis Patrick Henry.

My Christmas Wish List......
Canon 1D Mark IV Camera and a 70-200MM 2.8F Canon L Lens with extender....

pictures/post by Corey Johnson

Longing....

I miss Diet Coke like a 4 year old misses her fruit snacks.

Just sayin.

The face of addiction

This is the face of addiction my friends

Yep you guessed it.

Ashamed to say that is my face.

Notice the finger nails.

I chewed off all my nail polish in sacrament meeting.

Nervous habit I suppose.

Then I had to introduce myself to about 46 new people.

All the while wondering if I had brown nail polish stuck in my teeth.

And all the while wondering when I would get my next fix of Diet Coke.

I am addicted to Diet Coke.

I wake up thinking about when I will be able to take my first sip of the day.

Ashamed to say it's usually before 9.

I sat in church thinking about the 2 liter I had sitting in my fridge.

I'm finishing it off as I type.

To be honest I busted it out of the fridge at 12:30 am,

And I didn't bother with a glass.

Here's the thing;

I am an all or nothing type of girl.

So when I drink pop that is ALL I drink.

I completely abandon water.

This is why I don't drink alcohol.

Who knows I would probably be a total lush.

I'm ashamed to say the last time I had a bottle of water was probably 3 days ago.

So I am pledging here on my blog in front of everyone who reads this

(which is probably only 2 of my sisters)

As soon as this 2 liter is gone I am done.

So let's toast one last time to my good friend Diet Coke.

It was fun while it lasted,

But it's time I drank some water.

p.s. Before anyone e-mails me the harmful effects of Diet Coke please know I've heard it all and have still continued to drink it. Instead how about some words of encouragement. Cause I'm gonna need it in about 4 days when the inside of my head feels like midgets are doing a rain dance and playing the bongo drums.

I saw this on another blog.

(found it here)

Sometimes I feel sorry for myself.
I get all sad and whiney.
As I was blog-hopping tonight I saw this and thought I'd share.

The culprit

I woke up this morning in a fog.

It has been an exhausting couple of weeks.

This past week I have been unpacking the house like a crazy woman;

Getting things organized, working a garage sale at the neighbors, and second shooting a wedding on Saturday.

The week before I was in sunny Arizona working my tail off.

I apologize to anyone who saw me the last two days of that trip. I was worn out, exhausted and kinda grumpy. Oops. Do you still love me?

Anyways so I woke up this morning and sauntered into the TV room.

That's when I rubbed my eyes and did a double take when I saw the area rug.

Um. What. Is. That. I asked myself.




Was I so exhausted from this past weekend that I got up in the middle of the night to "Chase the dragon"....

No. Impossible, I thought.

I would NEVER ever do that. Maybe? No. No way.

So I picked up the phone to call the police because a drug dealer MUST have broken in late last night/early this morning to seperate his cocaine into grams (is that how they sell it?) on my area rug.

Then I looked on the coffee table and found this;





Okay now that makes a little more sense.

Dangit Corey and his stinky feet.

P.s. who even just dumps powder on their hooves and leaves the carpet all tore up?

I guess its a good thing I love that guy so dang much.

All grown up

They say a picture is worth a thousand words.

I'd say so too.

You guys are all grown up.