Meanwhile, in Utah - May & June: Coming Home, Going back to Work, Anniversary, Colorado

Alright. These next few posts, titled "Meanwhile, in Utah" will detail the 6 months we spent in Utah before we went back to London.

Let's check out May and June, shall we?

May:

We landed at the airport from London, and SURPRISE! There were all my FotoFly Friends!! I may have cried, and I may have blamed it on the jet-lag and lack of sleep.

Eric's sign says "Don't ever leave again, or you're fired!" Oops. My bad. (Please let me come back someday! haha)

The next day(ish. Maybe it was two days later), I attended a FotoFly Art Gala, where employees submitted various art pieces. Also, because we're all photographers, you can bet that some awesome portraits were taken. Here's my favourite of myself from the night:

I gave that coat away when we moved to London the 2nd time.
And I've been hunting for an awesome fur coat out here ever since. Haha. 

May also saw me celebrating my 26th birthday, on the 29th, although I couldn't tell you what we did or how we celebrated. I think we possibly went out for icecream with family?

**EDIT:  We did NOT go out for icecream. We did something even more awesome. Chris took me to the Leonardo (using our SLC Connect Pass) and we saw Animal Inside Out by BodyWorld. I quite literally saw some animals, turned inside out. (Okay, okay. Just with their skin peeled off. Haha.)
Check it out:

Oh hey, setting-sun-behind-the-temple. You look lovely.

LOOK AT THAT NETWORK OF BLOOD VESSELS! So cool.

When I posted this on instagram a year ago, I giggled at all the "Sally the camel has 3 heads" jokes. 

Also, we sat and played with a microscope at the Leonardo for probably 45 minutes. We need to buy one.

June: 

In June, I spent lots of time at the studio. Man, did I miss that place. 

(Also, in case you're wondering, Chris went back to work the Monday after we flew home, and was busy as a bee the whole time. Because he doesn't work at a photography studio, his days aren't as well documented as mine. haha.)  

But surprise, on June 3, we got some happy news from Chris's work:

June also was the month that I : celebrated the First Fotofly Birthday of my dear Brittany, by smashing a cake in her face...

Shot some of the most adorable sessions in studio...

And played around a lot with different lighting techniques. 

(Being away from the studio for 3 months made me realize how good we have it there. They give us access to so much awesome equipment, and darn it, I was going to use it!) 

Jimmy lit this image by shooting a speed light through a woven basket, creating those cool shadows on my face.
 How awesome is it?!

Outside of the studio, a co-worker, Kyle, and I did some outdoor sessions, to practice outdoor lighting technique, which varies DRASTICALLY from studio lighting.

Not my typical lighting style, but I  kind of dig it. The flash was right on the camera, which made a more editorial/fashiony look than the portraiture I usually go for. Also, I sure love this model, Payden, one of my dearest friends from high school. 

This is all natural light. Also, she's gorgeous.

At the end of June, Chris and I celebrated our 3rd Wedding Anniversary with a family photoshoot! We sure miss our Tando, but we love that he's having fun with his new family.

Look at that smiley face. I love that pup.

And check out this Anniversary Dinner I made. (Okay, okay. I didn't make it, I picked it up from Texas Roadhouse. Man, I miss that place. Those ROLLS! Those sweet potatoes!)

Also, for our anniversary, we spent a weekend in Breckenridge, Colorado. I had just purchased a new 50mm 1.2 lens, so of course I took an overwhelming amount of photos. You guys are lucky that I heavily narrow them down before I post them. Haha. 

The drive up is gorgeous. We stopped at a rest stop, and it looked like this. 

Oh hey there, Box Elder Bug!

Seriously, I love the aperture on this lens. This was taken at f1.4.

Breckenridge, CO has a cemetery in the middle of the woods. 

We went on a little drive, and ended up in South Park! The weirdest little city I've ever seen. 

This looks like Big Thunder Mountain in Disneyland.

All the storefronts look like they belong on a movie set. 

This hotel! It's named the Hand Hotel. How weird is that? Plus, I loved this sign. Too many photos of it, coming right up! 

Why is there a donkey? What is even going on? 

This is the lake behind Hand Hotel. There is a human standing in the middle of it, fishing. 

Seriously, South Park. Everywhere you look, there's another cute movie-set. What gives?

Even the fences are adorable.

LOOK AT THIS TINY TINY CHURCH!

If it isn't the cutest thing I've ever seen.

An entire gallery of Mountain Men. Also, the weirdest thing about this city is we didn't see anyone on the street. ANYONE. There was the fisherman in the lake, and then some creeper on the 3rd floor of the hand hotel who had his feet sticking out of the window, as he was watching us. That's it. What a weird place, man. 

Oh! We saw this beaver! But he was too quick for me to take a good photo.

Some cows. 

Here we are at Boreas Pass on the Continental Divide! 

Look at my cute car. I miss this thing. 

This rabbit was huge. 

Deer! 

Same deer, different place.

Two deer! 

On the way home, we stopped at Mygatt-Moore Quarry, because Chris cares about the digging part of dinosaurs more than I do.  I was mostly tired and hot and whiny and wanted to go home.  Haha.

There's bones under there, supposedly. Chris was so enthralled. I could care less.
Because Brock's work is a lot cooler. (I've been spoiled when it comes to dinosaurs, so it's hard to impress me. Haha.) 

And that's Colorado!

Stay tuned for July & August in Utah.

**EDIT: Including some random iPhone photos from June

I commissioned some pieces for our 3rd wedding anniversary from an awesomely talented friend, Sid. This is a rough sketch he sent me for the London one. Obviously.

Holland

Venice

Paris

We met baby Winston. He's so cute.

And these are a few phone snaps from Colorado.

You really shouldn't advertise that people are dying at your store... ;) 

The reason we went to Colorado: It was a real cheap trip if we listened to the timeshare nonsense for this place. Chris should stop signing us up for those. It was real nice lookin' though.  

Perfecting my raptor pose. 

Okay. NOW that's all. Haha.