Our New Website!

Here it is! My sister and I have been doing some photography work for the last few years and we have recently started a business. Here is our website:

www.truly-you-photography.com

You can also get there by going to www.rachelbarthphotography.com.

We love taking pictures and have a great time working together whenever we can. We always have special deals for family and friends, and many of you may already find yourself in a starring role on our website.

24

24 hours in California=a little bit of this

A LOT of this!

And not enough of this!
Yep, I went to California this past weekend for 24 hours. We did 12 family photo shoots in two different locations and didn't finish until the sun was almost down. We had a great time and are currently trying to get all of the pics uploaded so people can view and order off of our new website! Official launch will be coming soon...

Halloweentime!

Halloween at Disneyland may be my favorite time of the year at the park. They really deck the place out. I love the huge pumpkin Mickey, Candy Corn Acres, Nightmare Before Christmas at the Haunted Mansion, the professional pumkin carvings at Thunder Ranch, Ghost Galaxy Space Mountain (new this year and it was fabulous!), and all the little halloween details throughout the park.

Aaron got to see our new brick for the first time.

This year we had an extra special treat. We got tickets to go to Mickey's Trick or Treat Party, an after-hours party at California Adventure. There are dance parties, trick or treating, a halloween parade, and lots of really short lines. We decided to go as the 7 dwarfs + 1 and the wicked witch.

The newest dwarf, Hungry.We had such a great time. Aaron was like a little kid again running around to get as much candy as he could. His goal was to get enough to give to all our trick-or-treaters so he didn't have to buy any candy. I think he succeeded. While he was running around getting candy, we enjoyed walking on to the Tower of Terror.Happy Halloween!

10 Year Reunion

I can't believe it, but it has been 10 years since I went to Jerusalem for a semester. I remember being scared to go without knowing anyone, but it turned out to be one of the greatest experiences and blessings of my life. While I was there I met these five fabulous girls and we decided to be roommates at the Regency when we came home.

Not only did did we become the best of friends, I also found a couple roommates that love Disneyland just as much as me (and a few that tolerate it because we love it so much). So our first trip to Disneyland was made after we had been living together for a year. This year we decided to take a trip as a 10 year reunion since going to Jerusalem (and 6 years since the last ones graduated and left the Regency). We couldn't make the trip to Jerusalem for a reunion, so we decided our next best option was Disneyland. All six of us were able to arrange our schedules to get together. Because Natalie is a "silver card" carrier she "made the magic happen" and hooked us up with some great deals and we enjoyed two wonderful days at the happiest place on earth.We discovered that you can actually fit 7 people in a splash mountain log if you can squeeze two into the back.

The only problem with this is the extra weight causes a lot of extra water to come into the log.

We loved California Adventure, especially the realatively short lines for Toy Story and the new Mickey face on the ferris wheel.

After two fun-filled days at Disneyland we spent a more relaxing day at our Marriott Villa right on the coast of Newport Beach. It was so great to catch up and realize that even though we don't get to see each other nearly enough, whenever we do it feels just like old times. I love these girls! And I'm already looking forward to our next reunion in 5 years!

Summer Days

We ended our summer with separate trips before starting our new semesters. Aaron went to Texas with some friends to a friend's wedding.

While he was gone, I went to California for Johnny's belated graduation trip. Our first night there we went to see Legally Blonde in Hollywood. It was opening night and we had a great time.
The next day we went to Sea World.
We rode the rollar coaster, and got stuck while riding it a second time.
On Sunday we spent time at the new beach house. We've spent many trips staying in the little old green house that was in this same spot. Then my aunt and uncle tore it down and built this beautiful new house. We had a BBQ on the roof and spent the afternoon enjoying our view of the beach.

On Monday we went to Disneyland! I saw the brick that Aaron got me for Christmas for the first time. It only took us a minute to find it and we made sure to walk by it a few more times while we went between Disneyland and California Adventure.

We ended the day with the electrical parade. It is a fabulous parade, and was extra fun for us to see because we rarely see it (they only do it during the summer and we can't go most of the summer).
It was a great trip, and the start of my four in four (four trips to Cali in four months). Crazy I know, but I have different reasons for all of them.

Our New Nephew

We were so excited to meet our newest nephew, Ty. We had our first photo shoot when he was a little over a week old and he was so cooperative! He let us move and pose him and he just slept right through it. We even caught some smiles while he was sleeping. Here are some of my favorites.

From Hempel

Independence Day

We had a great 4th of July weekend. 

We spent the holiday at my mom's house enjoying her new addition.  It is in the final stages and she was able to start cooking again.  Which we all appreciated because her food is fabulous.  Especially that potato salad.

We also enjoyed some old family videos, and Aaron enjoyed farmtown.

My dad pulled out the weird Benjamin Franklin portrait he got from the DI and we put it on the mantle for the day.

We played Croquet.  

And we decided rather than go to the fireworks, we would just buy our own.  My favorite activity was playing with sparklers while we took pictures.  We had so much fun.

This was supposed to be my name...but I don't know what happened to the R and I ran out of space.

Should say A+R, but Aaron struggled...

Supposed to be a heart-but Aaron's side is deformed.

My tribute to the cougs.  Can't wait for football season to start.

We took tons more of us dancing and all sorts of other things.  Who knew sparklers could be so entertaining?  So if you want some good times next 4th of July, just get a tripod, set the camera shutter speed to 2-4 seconds, and let the magic begin.  

The rest of June

As you can tell, I'm doing some catch up for June.  Here are few pictures from the other highlights of the month.

We did some bowling when Aaron's mom and brother came to town.

Aaron has become really busy with school.  He works really hard and is really good about not procrastinating things.  I think it is hard to get back in the school mode after a few years away from it, but he has been very disciplined, and I've been so proud of him.  

Last of all, here is my tribute to Michael Jackson.  I was a huge fan when I was little.  I loved listening to the Jackson 5, and I especially love the Thriller album.  I spent hours listening to my dad's record.  My mom had many of our childhood pictures and the best of our childhood artwork scanned last summer (thanks to Becca and Caleb).  So I dug up this drawing.

And this picture.  It may not be white sequins on my glove, but I thought I could imitate Michael anyway.  

Martin's Cove

About 6 months ago we got called to go on pioneer trek with the youth in our ward for youth conference.  I had been to Martin's Cove on a trek many years ago when I was in young womens (see pic below), and I was excited for the opportunity to go back.  They have improved the area quite a bit and made things quite efficient to accommodate the many thousands of visitors they have each summer.

Independence Rock (from my first Trek in 1997)

After months of preparation and many mutual activities we set off for Wyoming.   Here we are on our initial trek to our camp, after the 6 hour bus ride.

Martin's Cove

I spent most of day 2 wearing my authentic pioneer hoodie because it was cold and rained most of the day.

We talked about the Sweetwater River and the four men that carried all the pioneers from the handcart companies across the freezing water.  

Aaron didn't want to carry me across (remember how he feels about cold water), so I got to walk myself.  It was surprisingly deep with a pretty strong current.  It would have been hard to walk straight across without the rope.

Aaron enjoying some time to ponder

Me after a day of trekking in the rain, sitting by the fire to try to avoid the mosquitos.

This is my first photo merge panoramic picture made in photoshop!  This was made from four separate photos that I was able to merge together into one long one.  I had no idea how easy it was.  Probably doesn't do it justice, because it shows up so small, but this is the view when you come out of Martin's Cove. 
I think the thing that impressed me most about this time was thinking about how incredibly courageous and faithful these pioneers were.  They knew when they set out that it wouldn't be easy and they might lose loved ones, but they were willing to go anyway.  This is one of my favorite quotes about the handcart companies:

"We suffered beyond anything you can imagine, and many died of exposure and starvation...[But we] came through with the absolute knowledge that God lives, for we became acquainted with Him in our extremities...

Was I sorry that I chose to come by handcart?  No.  Neither then nor any minute of my life since.  The price we paid to become acquainted with God was a privilege to pay, and I am thankful that I was privilege to come in the Martin handcart company."  --Francis Webster