Steering Wheel, Chex Mix, & Birthday Cake

It is July 14th. And I haven’t written since April, that is sad. I apologize.


The past few months have been filled with lots of pictures, laughter, and both good and difficult times. I work 40 hours a week and take engagement or family pictures as much as people will allow.
Cody goes to school and work all day, night time is my favorite time of the day because it is almost always spent with just him.


A few exciting things that happened and are coming up in the near future.


First, my birthday. We went to Red Robin where they made me hold two balloons above my head, they called them donkey ears. But I got a free sunday out of it so I am not complaining.
Second, Utah for pioneer day. It will probably be the last time I will see my sister Jess, Eric, & the two little munchkin boys. They are going to Des Moines Iowa, Iowa Des Moines for Eric to go to medical school. And I also get to see my other sister and her family, my grandparents, and my mother. Hopefully more to!
And that means driving some more, just what Cody loves to do.

Third, Not only one trip home to Alaska but TWO! And both are in August for the best reason ever, taking Wedding Pictures.I get to do one of my best friend Li-sha’s Wedding first. It is going to be amazing and creative and beautiful just like her. Oh, and it will be carnival themed. Even better!

I started a photography blog. It is
jsearlephotography.blogspot.com

At the moment Cody is driving a big semi truck around a parking lot weaving in and out of cones. Hooray. He is taking his CDL test for one of his classes.

We have also been spending quite a bit of time up at the gardens that Cody has to weed every week for his class. It’s a nice excuse to get out of the house at night when it isn’t so blazing hot!


I just had to put up this picture, its just too funny to pass up. This is my brother in law Kirby getting the trash punched out of his eye by cute little Chloe.

Upcoming events for the next two weeks:
Photography a wedding this weekend.
A few family shoots coming up.
Oh, and did I mention I was going to Alaska?!

April Adventures

Since last updating quite a little bit has happened.

Work has been a little bit more crazy with new people starting and all. I also started working at 6 a.m. every morning. Even though it sucks waking up at 4 a.m. every morning, its nice getting home by 5:15.

We have been all around the last few weekends for Weddings and such but my favorite reason for leaving for the weekend has been for taking pictures!!!!

I was able to spend this past weekend in Utah and take not only one but TWO of my best friends from high school's engagement pictures.

I met up with Sarah & Ryan in Salt Lake City and we had a blast!

They are so dang cute together and were SO much fun to take pictures of. The chemestry between them is just so natural and you could just feel the love they have for eachother by looking at them. I'm so happy for you Sarah!

Li-Sha & Mikey are super cute and super fun! They both have so much energy and are sooooo goofy! I was really nervous about getting a good shot with the short amount of time we had but here is just one of my favorites so far!

I have also started a page on Facebook {Jayme Searle Photography} to put the majority of pictures I am taking at! I am hoping that soon enough I can get a blog going of just my photography but we will see.
Photography is still just a dream that doesn't seem like it could be a reality but every day it is becoming more of a possibility and I could not be happier.

Cody is so amazing and so supportive!
Even though he is not really into photography, well not even in the slightest but, it is still so much fun to have him when I'm shooting. He likes to try to get people to laugh and open up and it helps me so much when he does that.

Other than me taking pictures (when I say pictures, I don't just mean about 100 in the past month... I mean about 2000-3000...), nothing is really new with us.

Cody just finished the winter semester at BYU-Idaho and now has a one week break until the Summer term starts. He is crazy and is loading up on classes with the intent of graduating next April if possible. He is such a hard worker and knows exactly what it is going to take for him to get where he wants to be.

We had a good experience this weekend that really helped us as a couple refocus on what is really important to us in our marraige and with our family. When we first started dating and all throughout our engagement, we drove a lot. Down to Utah, to Burley, just about all over the place. It gave us a lot of time to talk and we missed that. I am so grateful for the little things like that, just being able to talk for 4 hours without interuptions.

I am also grateful for green grass, sunshine, orange soda, picniks, backpacks, flip flops, beaches, fluffy clouds, lemonade, swings, dresses, bright toe nail polish, bugs and butterflies, flowers, bicycles, open country, the American flag, and anything and everything that has to do with summer and spring. It all just makes me so happy and so excited for the new season and weather that we are being blessed with right now.

As for the near future, our plans are to spend a lot of time playing in the sun and thats all that is set in stone for right now. But with 70 degree weather, who could blame us?!

A Photo Blog?!

I am considering, {only considering} starting a blog with all the pictures I take.

I need a good name though and I completely clueless when it comes to ideas.

Any suggestions?

Well for now anyways heres a few of my favorites.

A few good stories.

A few funny stories from the past few days.

The Car Alarm

We were leaving our apartment on Sunday and Cody whistles REALLY loud. When I turn around he goes, "Man! Did you hear that?! Who did that?!" He had just closed my car door when he started whistling again, SUPER LOUD! AGAIN!, but making it sound like a siren.
When he gets in the car I ask him what that was all about and he just goes. "Oh that was just the car alarm."
Just one reason why I love him.

Early Morning Wake Up Calls

My mother teaches early morning seminary and Alaska is two hours behind us here in Idaho. As I was driving to work this morning at 7 am, 5 am Alaska time, I decided to call my mom and wake her up for seminary, thinking she was going to get up soon anyways.
I start saying, "Wake up you sleepy head and get you butt right out of bed." I'm a morning person so of course I was very cheerful when I was chanting it.
Turns out that it is spring break in Alaska. So no seminary. Josh is home. And my mom didn't have to get up for a few more hours.

Poor mother of mine.

BUT she is coming down next weekend to go to Utah with us and we are so excited!

{On a more serious note, if I have anything of the sort...}

I got a new lens today!

And signed up for a photography class in two weeks as well!

One of Cody's favorite movies is The Man From Snowy River and The Return To Snowy River. The first time I saw it I said it was a dumb movie because the girl just moves in with the main character. They aren't married, they didn't even elope. They're just living together. Cody's cover up is that they got married but they just didn't show it.
False.
This is an on going debate in our home.

Fun Quote for the Day: All my life I always wanted to fly. I always wanted to live like a hawk. I know you're not supposed to be jealous of anything, but...to take flight, to soar above everything and everyone, now that's living.

Today's Happy List

One of my Wonderful best friends gave me a great idea, she wrote down just a few things that she loves.

Top Ten Things That Make My Day

1. Photography.
I love taking pictures of anyone or anything at ANY time!

2. Cody.
He loves me for me and puts up with all my silly and obnoxious ideas.

3. The sun.
Because when its not around its so gloomy, it can always brighten your day ;)

4. Music!
You can never be sad when you listen to good happy music.

5. Jalapeno Poppers.
Those dang little suckers will be the death of me they are so good and addicting.

6. Family.
We wouldn't be where we are without them and it makes trips so much funner when you know your going to see them.

7. Old things.
Old pictures, old barns & tractors, old people, old music, old paintings. They just see life a totally different way, its so fun.

8. Games and puzzles.
You can't play a game or do a puzzle and still be upset, unless its Carcason or It came to pass and they are ganging up on you.

9. Laughing.
You can't hear a silly laugh and not laugh as well.

10. Best Friends.

Even though I don't see or talk to them as often as I would like, I know they will ALWAYS be there. Because friends like Allie, Li-sha, Sarah, and Marie will be there forever.

11. Italian & Mexican Food.

I could eat it every night and never get tired of it.

12. Traveling and Long Drives.

No distractions around, only me and Cody in the car. Can't get any better.

13. The most amazing husband.
Did I already mention him? Well he deserves to be on here twice, he is the best.

14. Celebrating Anniversaries.
Time goes by so fast. Its so fun to think we have only been married for a short time but it feels like forever already. Next week will be {6 months}!!!


We are also considering getting our toys we've been wanting.

I want a new lens.

Cody wants a gun. XD. 9 mm.

Where is Santa when you need him?
The leprechaun is right around the corner!!!

Why the Music...

A little explanation of the music on the playlist.

Little Moments by Brad Paisley- On one of our very first dates I decided that I wanted to make brownies with reeses in them before he got there. I put them in the oven and then we decided that it was such a pretty day and that we should go outside for a walk. We drove to the next little city over and decided to go park hunting. As we were playing at this park, I remembered that I had put brownies in the oven. We rushed back to my apartment to find them really burnt on the table. We were laughing the entire drive back.

Must Be Doing Something Right by Billy Currington- One night I took Cody's phone and set an alarm to kiss me. The phone went off and when he opened it he just smiled. Everytime that song goes off, we both know exactly what it means.

Truely Madly Deeply by Cascada- We both love savage garden. One weekend while we were dating we were driving down to Utah and I was DJing. I chose this CD just being goofy and we had the best time jamming out and singing along.

One Time by Justin Bieber- I love this song. Its amazing and just fun.

Love Story by Taylor Swift- We did a lot of driving when we were dating. After we knew that we were going to get married we were driving back to Rexburg. The song Love Story came on and I turned to him and told him that if he was serious about marrying me he had to be creative in proposing. Like singing Love Story by Taylor Swift. He actually did it to! Right in the spot where we had our first date!

Big Green Tractor by Jason Aldean- Cody has grown up on a farm and LOOOOOVES to drive tractor. There is nothing that could make him happier than being in that tractor listening to music. While we were living in Burley I had the opportunity of riding with him a lot in the afternoons. We had such a great time just being able to spend that time with each other.

Here In Your Arms by Hellogoodbye- This song has always been one of my FAVORITE songs! In high school when the girls and I would be driving to a church dance we would bust this out! We would dance crazy and just have a blast! I couldn't not put it on here!

The rest of the songs are just fun country songs that I really enjoy. Hope you do to!

Valentines day and such

Not a whole lot has been happening with Cody and I lately. I have been working a lot and Cody has been focusing on his school work.

Work has been crazy and stressful. They are really short staffed right now and it was even worse before I got there. Yesterday I was talking to my boss about the schedule next week and showed her that there was no one to close for two days. I was scheduled to work on of those days until my other boss changed it. I am now scheduled, at my request because of the overtime, to work seven days in a row with about 12 hours of overtime. Did I mention I work two twelve hour shifts this weekend as well? I will definitely be ready for next weekend.

Our first Valentines day was good. We gave each other our "presents" on Monday night the week before because we knew it would be a crazy week with school and work. I decorated the house a little. Cody got me flowers and some chocolates. He made me stay in the bedroom so he could set them up. He is amazing. I got him a little teddy bear. One day he wants on the size of him... that will have to wait until we have a house and somewhere to put it.






We celebrated for reals on Saturday. We went shooting with JaNae and Kirby and that was a blast. We had some fun taking pictures, espcially because Janae is so pregnant and holding a gun!





After shooting, we went to Olive Garden with wedding gift cards. Such a smart idea! Kirby works up at the school and can rent out a projecter and equipment once every semester. We had fun that night watching movies and playing video games on it!

It is funny how we both go through food phases. A few weeks ago all I wanted was jalapeno poppers and hot dogs(NOT PREGNANT). On our honeymoon all Cody wanted was onion rings. I think we had them at least 4 times in one week. We have been trying to cook real meals more often and I have the most amazing husband to help me with that. I don't usually get off of work until about 6:20ish, my bosses love that, and I work 45 minutes away in Idaho Falls. Cody always calls me while I am on my way home and asks what he can start doing for dinner. I'm not sure if he asks because he really wants to be helpful or if hes just really, really hungry. But either way I am not complaining!
The other night we had fajitas. We have decided that we LOVE sweet peppers!




We made steak fajitas, chicken, and the had some extra peppers and onions. The best thing is they were all different tasting to make the BEST fajitas that I have ever had. And we had spanish rice that is not in the picture. Lets just say we could only eat about half of what we had made.

We are going to be celebrating 6 months of being married in March and we don't have a lot of money to spend. I was trying to think of something creative that Cody would really appreciate and then I found a gift card I have for ShutterFly.com. I have decided that I am going to make a book of our love story and our wedding. We dont really have very many pictures from it printed and I thought it would be something nice to have around. It would be our love story from my point of view and I have my fingers crossed that he will like it. It will be the best surprise ever.