Punta Mita, Mexico - Spring 2014

Let me start by saying how thankful I am to the O'Donnell family ... I am so blessed by everything you do for me already, and getting to go to Mexico with you guys was absolutely incredible! I was so, so blessed to get to travel to Punta Mita (a BEAUTIFUL little town just north of Puerta Vallarta) with the family that I babysit for.  I've been watching these kiddos for just about 8 years, and getting to spend the week with them on the beach was such a treat!  The six of us along with two other families spent the week swimming, surfing, exploring, building sandmen (yes, the movie Frozen was our inspiration, and lots of singing, "...do you want to build a snowman..." was involved), and soaking up the warm sun!  We couldn't have asked for better weather or for a better trip!  Everything about it was perfect including the nights that I got to spend watching Disney movies with six adorable kids!

Here is me with the girls ... now that is the LIFE!

It was only natural that I would become the photographer for the week, and upon returning, I realized that I may have taken TOO many pictures, if that is even possible!  I tried to be "choosy" for this blog post, but it was hard to decide what to include so bear with me! Here we are traveling to Punta Mita!  We had to get up at 5 a.m. on the morning we left, but boy, were we excited and anxious to get there!  I sat with Emmy and Cece on the plane ride there ... we passed the time by coloring, playing games on the iPad, and reading stories

Our first day there was spent by swimming in our villa's pool followed by meeting the other two families for dinner on the water!

We spent a lot of time on the beach and swimming in the pool!

One day we went to the town of Sayulita where we went surfing, ate the best fish tacos, and went shopping on the streets

We spent many evenings watching the sunset on the beach ... can you spot the whale in a  few these?

Just another day on the beach!  (These are some of my absolute favorite pictures!)

This is how I spent my nights when I was babysitting while there ... CUTE!

Our last full day there, Anna took me exploring in the tide pools ... we collected snails and hermit crabs, but we set them free a little while later!  Brady, Emily, and Cece joined us :)

And we had a LOT of fun with my under water camera!

Of course we took some good ol' family portraits while there too!

This girl didn't put a book down the entire trip except to go surfing :) She even read by candle light or by the light of a friend's iPad during dinners!

And FINALLY ... my absolute FAVORITE picture of the ENTIRE trip!

Drum roll please...

A much needed blog post...

Well, since I have two weeks until I graduate I figured I should finally blog.  The quarter has flown by!  I have been so busy this quarter getting everything done to graduate, focusing on my classes, working, etc.  Here's a little glimpse of all that I have done over the past few months.  Let's see...  I've shot jewelry for an awesome company, August Designs Jewelry, which was started by one of my good friends (You should definitely check it out... you won't regret it!), and I also shot a few head shots of the owners while I was it!  ... I went to California, which I already blogged about ... I hiked around Rocky Mountain National Park, which was beyond beautiful and much needed to soothe my soul.  I watched the sunset over Sprague Lake ... I went on a field trip with my Advertising Campaign class to the Denver Botanic Gardens.  The Kizuna exhibit was going on, which features amazing bamboo installations from two very talented artists, Tetsunori Kawana and Stephen Talasnik.  The exhibit goes until November 4th so if you are in the Denver area you should probably go see it!  ... I went to a rodeo, the Refuse to Lose rodeo that benefits cancer victims and their families.  My cousin, a former bull-rider himself, is now a bull fighter (AKA, a rodeo clown who distracts the wild bulls after the riders fall off), and I was able to photograph him for one of my classes and my portfolio (Yes, he is the good-looking cowboy with no front teeth!) ... I re-built my entire website ... And I even learned how to use Adobe Illustrator a little bit.  It's been one eventful quarter, and it isn't done yet!  Stay tuned for more projects, my portfolios and more photos in a couple weeks!  

San Diego, Bass Lake & Yosemite

I never thought I would see such a gigantic tree in my life.  Brandon and I were driving through Yosemite National Park towards Mariposa Grove of the Giant Sequoias, and I said to him, "How will we know when we see a Sequoia tree?"  We thought that the trees already surrounding us were pretty big.  But when we saw one we knew it.

A few weeks ago, Brandon and I took a trip to California.  I met him in San Diego, where we stayed with his Aunt and Uncle for a few days.  While there, we went to the San Diego Zoo and went kayaking in La Jolla.  The San Diego Zoo was so much fun.  It was by far the biggest zoo I have ever been to, and it was really cool because I got to see Panda Bears, which I have never seen before.  Kayaking was also really fun.  We went on a tour in the La Jolla caves, and it was really pretty.  We saw tons of fish, sea lions, harbor seals and leopard sharks.

After spending a few days in San Diego, we took a 6 hour train ride up to Fresno, where we stayed with Brandon's cousin for a night before driving to Bass Lake to spend the weekend with Brandon's grandparents.  Having heard so many great stories of Brandon's about Bass Lake, I was excited to be there and to experience it for myself.  We spent a few days boating, fishing and swimming in the lake.

On Friday morning, we woke up at 3:30 a.m. in order to drive to Yosemite National Park in time to drive to Glacier Point to catch the sunrise over Half Dome.  Neither of us had been to Yosemite National Park before, and it definitely was a site to see.  I wish we could have spent more time there because it was so beautiful.  After a short nap in the car, we then went to the Mariposa Grove of the Giant Sequoias.  This is was my favorite, favorite thing about our entire trip.  We hiked around the grove, and I was mesmerized by the giant trees.  I have never experienced anything like them before.  If you haven't gotten to see them, I would highly reccomend it.  I fell in love with the Sequoia trees.  Some of them are over 100 ft. in diameter.  Can you even imagine that?

The next morning, we drove back to Fresno where we spent the day listening to live music, swimming in Brandon's cousins pool and relaxing in the hot tub.  We woke up early the next morning to take the train to Sacramento, and from there we flew home to Denver.  It was a great trip and I am so thankful for all I got to see, experience and do while I was there.  Thank you to Brandon's awesome family who took us in and took care of us while we were there!

Oh, and did I mention that I bought an underwater camera while I was there?  We had a lot of fun with this highly unnecessary purchase...