Thursday, July 28, 2011

for shelby

shelby asked me to take some pictures of some things that he has created for his portfolio.
i love this book he made!

mom goes to the emergency room

kansas came to town and played with the american fork orchestra! 
it was such a blast! got pretty close too.
but that was only after two guys older than 40 years old almost beat me up. my mom and i were wandering around to get a better view. she decided to walk up in front of some guy to take a picture. let's just say he freaked and took it out on me. he used several choice curse words and basically told us that he had been sitting there for hours and this was his spot.. mind you, there were no assigned seats, it was all blankets and lawn chairs. at first i was stunned and couldn't believe this guys was actually being serious... he was very serious. i yelled at him, "ARE YOU SERIOUS?! YOU NEED TO CHILL OUT!" my mom turned around and told him calmly that we were leaving and she left. i stood there still a little stunned. right as i was about to turn to walk away i saw a guy come running up out of the corner of my eye. he came screaming right up in my face yes, arms spread, yelling at me! the other guy that i was initially arguing with had to grab the guy by the back of his shirt and pull him away from me because that dude was raging... my mind was totally blown. 
but, and there is a BIG BUT.... 
that was not the only drama for the evening...
my mom ended up sitting a little too close to the firework show that was after the concert. an ember from a firework landed right in her eye, landing her in the ambulance and then the emergency room. all is well though. it landed in the corner of her eye, just millimeters from her pupil and immediately embedded itself and blistered over. after numbing her eye up and flushing it, the doctor was able to pull it out safely.
i've never seen the professional fireworks so close up! so rad!

she thought the one in the back was hot.

we were on fire this fourth of july... literally

i do believe that the fourth of july is the BEST holiday in my family. 
i was more homesick on my mission during the 4th of july than during christmas!

the andersen family is full or pyromaniacs and we are surrounded by acres of cherry orchard and dead weeds and in the past we've had a few issues with some little fires but never before have we EVER lit our neighbor's front yard on fire! and the day after that mishap, we lit our field on fire. 

lighting our neighbor's front yard on fire was quite possibly one of the scariest moments in my life. the firework was a cake firework from harmon's of all places. every shot that came out knocked the base a different direction and it freaked us all out and sent some of us scrambling to get out of the way. one, unfortunately shot straight across the street. and into a dry, dense lavender bush right at the base of the neighbor's front porch. at first, we saw something glowing at the base of the bush and then someone yelled. almost the instant that that person yelled, the flames exploded to the height of the roof. 
almost everyone jumped into a frenzy. a few stayed back to corral the kids away from the chaos. the guys, andy, my uncles, and my dad ran at the speed of light across the street. my mom, meera and myself ran directly into the house to grab buckets and pitchers and anything that could hold water. i just had this overwhelming panic that i did not want to go back outside. i felt that the whole house was going to be on fire and i did not want to witness that. 

we booked it outside and to my insane relief, i didn't see any flames... just lots and lots of smoke. 
everyone was gathered around the bush and to my surprise it didn't actually look that scorched. the base of it was definitely burnt but it was still mostly green and full of lavender! the woman who lived in the house was visibly shaken up. andy had basically busted down the door to warn the family inside and grab water, while the rest of the guys were using their shoes and anything they could find to stamp it out manually. we tossed the water to smother it all out. 

we were all a little shaken up but so so so so so grateful that that little bush was the extent of the damage. 
the burning bush 

fun with the fam in the mountains

while i had family in town, i really wanted to get them out to go climbing and they were totally game. 
we all set out early one morning and the rain set in. so, we just hiked around and enjoyed how lush the recent rains have made our local adventure spots. 
because we didn't get out this day, we went the next day too in hopes of brighter skies... and we did!
it was soooooooooooooooo fun watching my little cousins just absolutely kill it on the walls! the one who really showed everyone up was my little 4 year old cousin kate! she was awesome!

holland had a birthday

had a nice little evening celebrating the birth of sexy holland helmes.

i love this family

over the 4th of july weekend we had a ton of family in town. 
my aunt and uncle from north carolina asked me to do their family photos.... bah! 
i love photography and it's definitely a hobby of mine but i am in no way a "photographer!" 
so, i was really grateful to audrey for thinking i did have some talent and trusting me to her family photos. i have THE cutest cousins in the entire world.
disclaimer: the family is what makes these look good. not me. 
we had a little fun wandering around the riverwoods after taking pictures in the hot hot heat!