Photoshoots!!!

I recently decided that my little brother, Cody, was just too dang cute to not have any pictures of him. So, being the cool big sister that I am, I dressed him up and went looking.

The process was a little difficult. I knew the destination, but getting him there was the hard part. First, we had to drag him into the bathroom, where we gelled his hair into perfection. That kid can pull off the euro hawk like no other, I swear. Then we had to go through his clothes and convince him that changing in the back of my car was not illegal, or was anyone going to come peek at him! Finally we all piled in the car and were off.

I must admit, I was the lucky one. I was wearing my jacket the whole time, and all I had to do was take pictures. Here's how they turned out:

Here he is trying to act like a "bad-boy", but anyone who knows him knows it's absolutely impossible. He's got a smile on his face all the time!

This one was our first pic, testing out the light. As you can see, it was fairly dark outside. But isn't he just so dang cute? I seriously love him to death.

He could be a Calvin Klein model, I swear. I'm actually very impressed. It was probably 40 degrees out side and he was completely willing to take his jacket off, sit in the middle of bushes filled with water and who knows what else, just so I could take pictures of him. But wouldn't you, if he was your brother? He's just so dang cute!!!

For his birthday I took him to Lagoon and we were standing in line for one of their newer rides, Wicked. This rollercoaster flies up freakishly high and sends you plummeting down at speeds that should be illegal. For those who know me, they know that I'm absolutely terrified of heights, so this coaster was a scary prospect. However, for Cody, I was willing to go through it. We were standing there, waiting for the line to go through and we're just about to jump on when Cody looks up at me and says "Sharise, if you're too scared, it's ok. We don't have to go on it. We can go on the spinny rides again if you want to." You could totally tell that he hated saying it, and that he really wanted to go on it, but he was willing to miss out just for me. Of course after that I had to go with him. I loved it, but nothing was better than spending the whole day with him.

That's all I guess. I'll really try to post more often. Everyone is getting bigger and cuter, so I'll try and put on as many pics as I can.

New baby!

This is my brand spanking new nephew, Bryce Scott Hopkins, born to my brother and sister-in-law Derrick and Kelly. He was born November 2nd, 2008 around 2:45 pm. He is so cute! He weighs in at a whopping 5 lbs 14 oz and is 20 inches long. He has blonde hair (as you can probably tell) and is just so dang adorable.

The delivery was a little rough, however. With every contraction his heart rate would drop from around 148 to 70 - which is really dangerous. Once it had dropped and stayed at around 58 bpm, the doctors decided to do a c-section. It definitely scared us. However, mom and baby are just fine, and dad is very proud of his son.

Grandpa actually held his darling new grandson, a feat we were all impressed with, especially since he's never held a baby lighter than 7 lbs. They were best friends at first sight. Everyone was very excited to welcome little Bryce into our crazy family, and we can't wait to get to know him a little better.

Birthday Party

So I just had my birthday party, and it was SO much fun. We got a cake that had Lightning McQueen driving on a road and it was GORGEOUS.

This is the cake we got. It was absolutely fantastic.

So, funny thing is, the black part on the cake? It stains your mouth. None of us realized it until Cameron Tucker looked at us and his mouth was stained black. Iknow, it's a good look for him :D We played apples to apples for a couple of hours (With me and cameron as champions) then watched Anastasia and Ghost Rider. Everyone had so much fun. I was FINALLY able to see Mallory Mackay, my best friend, after not seeing her for 2 years. It was great. There was no awkwardness and it was just like before she moved. So that's how life's been so far!

My family

My family at the Family pics. This was taken by Elisha Trask, who has amazing photography abilities.



The last weekend was INSANE. It was my grandparents 50th wedding anniversary, so we had to throw a big reception for that, but the week before we were meant to have it, the church we were having it at got vandalized. It sucked. So, the bishop kindly offered his home and we were able to keep going. It was way busy, but I had fun because I got to play photographer and that always makes me happy. We finally finished, and I was up til 2 making the slideshow to go with it. I was exhausted. I woke up again at 7:00, finished a few last minute things, then went up to my uncle's for family pics with a real photographer and lunch. As soon as that was done, I rushed my mom to the salon so she could get her hair done (and it looks gorgeous) and it was about that time that i realized that it was my birthday. Then I went out to dinner with Michelle Davidson and bought the Complete Works of Shakespeare (I am SSSSOOOO excited) and the next morning had some of the relief society in my ward over for pancake breakfast. Talk about crazy! And this weekend is my birthday party, and the weekend after that is Halloween and my sister-in-law's baby shower. AAAHHH.

What Now?!?!

Since I graduated, not much has been going on. I got a second job at GNL Air conditioning and Heating as a receptionist, and I continue to work at Good Earth Natural Foods as a cashier. I love both jobs and plan on staying on for as long as I can. I'm not enrolled in school, but plan to be by fall of next year. Hopefully by then I will have saved enough money :D I'm also in the singles ward in my stake, and I'm really enjoying that. John Rowe is the branch president if you know him. I also have a calling as the compassionate service leader. I feel WAY too young, but I'm liking it so far. Most of the people in my ward are 25 and up so it's nice to feel young for once. Other than that, life is going slow. I'm leaving for a trip to Logan tomorrow, where we will be camping, boating, and FREEZING. But I'm excited :D Hopefully it won't be too cold. Anyways, that's all I've got for now but I'll be sure to write more when I get back! Love sharise