Mexico!

Ok so this post is very late in coming, but at least it's up now, right?  Pac and I were invited by his company to go on a trip to Mexico this past Novemeber (2011).  We saw some incredible ruins and got to do some fun things! Some things we had to opt out of with me being pregnant, but it was so much nicer to relax most of the time.



These are both pictures of a structure at Tulum. We LOVED Tulum.  It was a half-day trip, and was so calm and quiet. The grounds there felt very special.

At the end of the tour, they gave the tourists an opportunity to swim down below in the ocean. We only had about 10 minutes to do so, so we opted out of the swimming. This happened when we went to Chichen Itza too. But what a view!



This guys says "Here! Picture with Iguana!" We thought, "Ok, cool!" so we did. Then as asoon as we gave the beast back and began to walk away, the man says "No, money." And looked at us as if we were stupid. We ended up shoveling out 5 bucks for this picture.

We knew we had to pay for this one, but how awesome is it!? I love the Mayan culture.



Ok, Chichen Itza was cool. Very cool. However, our tour guide was not all that amazing.  I would've loved to have had a member of the LDS faith with us as a tour-guide to offer some insight as to how these grounds date back to the Book of Mormon. We did not though, and just enjoyed the time. :)

Chichen Itza is so over-run with traveling vendors that it didn't have the same feeling as Tulum. Plus, it was an all-day excursion which meant we were on a bus most of the day. We were only at Chichen Itza for 3 hours, but were gone from the hotel from 7 am to 7 pm. Longest. Day. Ever.

The Mayans believed this snake head brought good fertility to the ground for plants.  It's body extends all the way up the temple.

The lobby of our hotel.

The entrance to the lobby.

The courtyard where we ate many a meal on the buffet.

i was 8 weeks preganant on this trip, and unfortuneately, nothing ever sounded good enough to eat.  This is the morning we left for home, and I was so sick of the food (it all tasted the same) I simply resorted to soda crackers and sprite. I felt so much better.



First time snorkelers here! This is so much fun. I would love to do this again.  Here's hoping we get to do the Great Barrier Reef is Australia. This reef we snorkeled at was the second largest next to Australia's.



Baby Jensen: June 2012

So, we're having a baby!!!  We found out around the end of October, and we're so happy it's finally happened. I wanted to put the story of how we found out and how I told Paxton on the blog so that our family and friends could know the fun story.

Around the end of October, I had called my doctor's office to make an appointment (because I had the universal sign of pregnancy of being late but did not want to get my hopes up because of other tests that had failed in the 9 months previous) so I just called to get set up with another shot and more medication. I had to leave a message as always. :) The doctor called me back not 20 minutes later and said "Kara! It's Dr. Meek! When can you get in here today?!" Needles to say I went in immediately after I was done with work. He did a pregnancy test, and after about 5 minutes of waiting (longest EVER) he came back in with a little card-type looking thing in his hand. "I want you to look at that" he says, "that is a positive pregnancy test."  I felt so bad for him because I immediately started sobbing and couldn't talk to him for a whole 2 minutes. Poor guy, I'm sure he gets that a lot in his profession.

After the appointment, I had a photoshoot I had to go to in Ogden. I couldn't tell anyone because I of course wanted to make sure Pac knew before anyone else.  I had to wait a whole 4 1/2 hours before my photoshoot was over, and he had gotten home from work.  I stopped by Kid-to-Kid on my way home and bought a little onsie that says Mommy and Daddy Love Me. I put it in a bag with the pregnancy test from the doctor.  When I got home, I went upstairs to set some things down, and came downstairs with this bag.  I told Pac "Someone left this on the doorstep for you this afternoon, and said I can't know what's inside until you open it." He was supposed to look at the onsie first, but found the test first. He looked at it for 10 seconds in silence, and after figuring it out, he looked at me and said "Are you pregnant?!" And I said "Yup!"

He later told me he was afraid the bag had something in it that may have been inappropriate from one of his friends, so he was slightly worried as he opened it.

It's been so much fun, and we're excited to see what the next 9 months and so forth have in store for us. This picture is when I was 7 weeks and 1 day, and they baby is about the size of a blueberry. Today, however, I am 9 weeks and 2 days. Baby is growing! We'll keep posting as things happen! 

Smurfs, Pirates, and Awesomeness...

It's time to carve pumpkins! I can't believe it's Halloween already, and I've just finished my first term of teaching. Craziness! This has to be one of my favorite activities around the holidays.  However, Pac and I both aren't exactly fans concerning the gut of the inside of a pumpkin. Yuck.

Pac carved a pirate pumpkin. This is him just getting started on it.

Boomer just did not know what to think of our carving pumpkins.  Of course, Boomer thinks everything is food, so he was acting like we were holding out on him.

"Whatchya got there Mom? It's shiny, and I think I'd like to play with it!" (the camera)

We had a few more pumpkins to carve because this year, we actually have our own porch to PUT them on! It's so much fun! Here is Pac's pirate, and a smaller pumpkin I just carved a cute Spooky into.

I've never carved a white pumpkin, but when I found a pattern for Jack Skellington from Nightmare Before Christmas, I just had to. It looks so awesome! Side note, I don't know what kind of "pumpkin" white ones are, but it definitely smells more like squash.

Is that a Vampire SMURF?!?! YUPS! And I love him.  I have the Smurf Villiage App on my Ipad and play it from time to time.  When I saw the smurf pattern, I was in love. Usually when I use patterns,  it almost never turns out, so I guess this year I got lucky.

Pac's Pirate! Gotta love it. I think we should find a Pac-Man stencil for him to make too.  We still have one more pumpkin to carve... ;o)

We used the portraiture setting on the point-and-shoot camera, and I think what it did to the photo is awesome.  Kind of like our pumpkins are ghosts. The two on the end aren't real pumpkins, they are faux pumpkins I made out of old glass.  They are awesome cause they don't rot, and are cute! 

Happy Halloween to family and friends! Be safe!

Paxton was gone...

Paxton was out of town this week on a business trip to Michigan.  Usually when he's out of town, I have to keep myself super busy, but luckily this time, I was plenty busy! One such example is that I

 recently took a quick trip to Salt Lake to get some pictures for a project that we are doing

for the Young Women in our ward (I work with the 12 & 13 year old girls).  I wanted to post some of these because I love how they turned out. It makes for some good pinning on Pinterest too!

I post my business photography on my photography blog.  If you'd like to see the photog page, you can get to it here. 

This first one is the statue of Joseph and Emma Smith.  It seemed no matter where I stood, or how I moved my camera, I couldn't get the building in the background to not look like it was a cousin to the leaning tower of pizza. lol! I just resolved to say it was the building and not me. lol!

The handles on the SLC Temple are famous. This was the main picture for our project.

To me, this embodies the entire concept and/or idea of what motherhood is.

Julie Beck, Lioness at the Gate. 'Nough said.

I love me some sun flare!!! 

Again, for some reason I couldn't get a shot that wasn't tilted, but I love it anyway. I've seen many pictures of the reflection of the temple in the reflection pool, but now I'm glad I have my own.

So pwetty.

 "Aspire Higher." A good reminder to stick to the things in your life that make you the most happy.

Pack's Pumpkin Patch!

Paxton and I have a tradition every year to go with his family to a pumpkin patch and pick our own pumpkins. We go to Pack's Pumpkin Patch in Farmington, and LOVE it! We've been going there for the past three years.  Some past years were so uncomfortably cold that the trips to the patch tend to be short.  As long as we go,  that's all I care! Here are some pictures of our little trip.

We of course had to get our little cart to tote around our pumpkins. 

This picture makes no freaking sense. lol! I picked up a "Cinderella" pumpkin and put it in our cart, and I wanted a picture cause it looks so amazing! It's kind of squashed (vertically challenged) and has a whole bunch of texture.  It is currently the highlight of my porch display. Sadly, it was cut out at the very bottom, but it's what I'm pointing at.

There, that is the Cinderella Pumpkin, but from that angle it just looks like a pumpkin.

Pac found his. And was excited.

Look at the plethera of pumpkins behind him! I love it. I love him.

This is what I look like when I'm trying to decide if I want to pick a different one, or go with the one that's in my hands.

Ultimately, I found a better one.  When it comes to carving them, I like a taller pumpkin.  It gives me more of a canvas!

Family member's carts o' pumpkins.

...First time for everything...

We have learned that Boomer has taken a liking to Sprinklers.  This was his first ever interaction with one at my in-law's house. We often take him on walks to the nearby Charter School and let him off his leash for a bit so he can run around.  Well,  sometimes when we get there, the Sprinklers are on.  These Sprinklers are much more powerful that the one in this video, but does that scare our dog?! I think not! He's a wuss when it comes to loud or abrupt sounds, but his naivity could be mistaken for fearlessness more often than not.
Whenever he sees a sprinkler, I know his inner monologue must be saying "Yeah!!!! Sprinklers! Today just got good!" It's a good thing he's easily bathed and groomed.

It took him awhile to figure out the concept of fetch.  I'd throw something, and he'd either lose track of where it went, or just look at me like "What, and...?"  We're happy he's finally got it figured out.

Puppies and Graduation...

We have been wanting to have a little puppy ever since we got married. However, we lived in a small basement apartment for our first three years of being our own "family unit," and could not have pets. Besides that, Pac always says "I'd rather feed us first before anything else." Smart and sound. When we moved into the new house, we finished school and decided we would look for a puppy. We decided on getting a boxer. Pac has always wanted a bulldog, but with my allergies, it wasn't as much of an option. So we got Boomer! He's so full of energy and loves people.

Here are a couple pictures from Graduation. We were able to graduate at the same time, which was so awesome!

So, we made a blog!!!

So this is us! Pac and I have been married for 3 and a half years this month. We got married in 2007 and time has definitely flown by. I decided this was a nice alternative to keep family and friends informed about us rather than just posting pictures on Facebook. lol! We have a lot of family members that live out of state, and since they keep blogs that I looooove to read, it sounded fun.

The above picture is from when Pac and I went to Brian Regan last year. He is so great.

We just bought a new house last year (as in December 2010), and were officially moved in December 2. It's crazy to think we've been living here for 7 months already. It's a constant chore decorating, but that's a whole other story! I like to think I can decorate, and I do my best, but sometimes, good ol' Pac just has a better spatial eye that I could ever hope to have.

Paxton is a DIE HARD Notre Dame Fan. This is a picture of him last Fall on the Notre Dame campus when he and a co-worker were able to go to the Utah v. Notre Dame football game while on a work trip. I was student teaching at the time, otherwise, you'd see Kara in the negative space to the left of him. :)