....bECK-tastic..................

Stage one

2012-01-14T07:51:00.000-08:00

This holiday going home to see family

was a crazy busy, but amazing!

Finding the time for everyone to see you can get a bit stressful.

Now home and back to our normal routine we can't help but feel sadden in missing our families. Even with all the back and forward, being busy, and the stress.

I know that some day we'll make it back to the coast and can't wait to see them again soon!

Thank you to our parents for the amazing families that they have

and the love and support we can always feel!

Also from this holiday, quite conveniently, but Jordan and my family took family photos. With Marci as our photography we made it home with the most amazing family pictures! With the new photos, a large bare wall in my living room and a Roberts crafts store 90% closing sale, I'm ready for my next project!

STAGE 1

I couldn't get all the letters at Roberts, but most of these.

Hobby Lobby is the next best source around here!

I'll paint them and hang them in STAGE 2

Then I have gotten all the pictures that I want to hang printed from Costco

Frames are next, I'm thinking Ikea....?

Holiday Pennants

2011-12-19T17:56:00.000-08:00

Handmade Holiday Paper Trees

2011-12-19T17:49:00.000-08:00

Handmade Advent Calender

2011-12-18T17:58:00.000-08:00

Wrapping Paper Wreath

2011-12-18T17:36:00.001-08:00

2011-11-06T07:16:00.000-08:00

Birthday Cake for my cousin Sharon!

Fish Cake!

2011-09-14T20:02:00.000-07:00

Steamy Sunday!

2011-09-04T19:17:00.000-07:00

We have had so much produce for our tomato plants I haven't been able to keep up and I had some almost ready to be thrown out.

My friend Marilee Akina offered to show me how to can tomatoes, if I helped her with her 10 quarts of canned tomatoes!

Thank you again Marilee!

I'm not sure where I was looking

7 pints of diced, Italian style, canned tomatoes!

2011-07-02T10:05:00.000-07:00

So here is our garden now, you should look back to our last post to compare pictures. It's crazy to see how much things have grown!

Our Tomatoes have really taken off!

We have a lot of blossoms on all our tomato plants.
I'm so excited!

This is our grape tomatoes

Zucchini has taken over this part of our garden,

I can't even use my stepping planks anymore.

These are out sunflowers that are sky-rocketing!

Red Onion
Cucumber

It's hard to see in this picture, but there are blossoms on these as well

Our other cucumber plant

These are our bell pepper and jalapeno plants.

These are most special to me because they are the ones that I started from seed!

Romaine Lettuce.

I have had a few harvests from these already and have had some most enjoyable salads!

Our Garden!

2011-06-16T12:29:00.000-07:00

Our Garden

Tomatoes!

Romaine Lettuce

Zucchini

Jalapeno, banana, and bell peppers

First romaine harvest!

It seems like we are doing fine, and NO these are not from the seeds I started before. Only four peppers and one carrot survived. We'll have to wait and see.

Eggs and Hamburgers!

2011-05-17T08:34:00.000-07:00

So I found my camera cord!

I know these are extremely late, but I had to put them on.

Easter with family and friends!

Confetti Eggs

Melissa collected eggs for months in preparation for this one day! We take the hollowed eggs and fill them with flour and confetti. Then we spread them out and on the count of thee....

We Attack each other!

I think the kids get it worse because we can reach their heads better!

There are more sets of photos coming, but for now I have something a little more current!

This past weekend was Nik's birthday. He turned 14 and I was asked to make the cake.

Jordan and I were thinking of some cakes to make for a 14 year old boy and a baseball diamond wasn't exactly cool for a 14 year old. In a joking manner I said we should make a hamburger. Jordan thought I was serious and we went with it!

I was sceptical through the process, but I have to say that it turned out pretty good!

2011-05-05T17:05:00.000-07:00

I'm so sorry for the delay of pictures! My camera cord has been hiding from me and I haven't been able to upload pictures.

Seed Starting

2011-04-05T16:30:00.000-07:00

I've started my garden!

- 60 little cups

(my probability is higher with 60)

-I poked holes on the bottom

-Filled them with seed starting soil -Planted the seeds and labeled

-Covered with plastic wrap

-Have kept them in a warm and humid spot

I am IMpatiently waiting!

I'm so excited to see how successful this will be for us

Sorry for the random picture, I forgot to include this on my last post. But I believe this says enough! My Grandma is so cute!

Quick Trip

2011-04-01T14:21:00.000-07:00

Last weekend Jordan and I went home to California

My grandma turn 80!

Doesn't she look amazing!

I love you so mush and can't wait to see you again!

It's a funny coincidence that my grandparents have the same birthdays,

but my grandfather is one year older.

Grandma Rau and Aunt Mary

It was so much fun to have dinner with everyone!

Amy, Sharon, and Tony. (sharon's boyfriend) The Fam!

Now I know where all the beauty come from in my family!

So in our family it a hidden competition to get the funniest card, I think my Aunt Won!

Vegas

2011-03-13T16:47:00.000-07:00

We had such a great weekend!

Marie had her basketball conference this weekend in Vegas.

We joined with the family in an awesome rental house; we watched basketball games, went site seeing, and had a blast!

Thank you Mary and John for the awesome weekend!

The perfect expression!

Poseidon

2011-02-18T22:50:00.000-08:00

I love this picture of my dad

The Great Poseidon

Would you have guessed that he is 55

(sorry dad)

I think he looks great

He is full of goodness and has a heart of gold!

This picture was taken in Cancun just a week ago.

I love the contrast of his orange shorts and the crystal blue water.

Love you dad!

May she rest in peace

2011-02-13T14:42:00.000-08:00

Since 1997 this van has served honorably in the Beck family,

The proof is in childhood memories, family stories,

and from our personal accounts.

From all the family travels, sports games, and to church dances,

she spent her many years loyal and strong for the Beck family.

We say good-bye to the great purple van!

May she rest in peace.

Out with the old and in with the New Year!

2011-01-24T19:23:00.000-08:00

The start of this year has been great!

These are all the picture that we have taken since Christmas, so in a way this is a short story of our life in the new year so far.

Jordan and I celebrated our two year anniversary!

For Christmas my parents gave us a night stay at the crowne plaza and a very yummy steak dinner at Aloha steak house.
Our views from our balcony

Jordan's parents took us to carpenteria for a great walk and we got to see the seals lying by the water. At this time is when the seal pups are born.

I painted a painting for mom

...and a saw for the Beck's

It's snowed and has been cold!

On our drive back to Utah my parents and family drove back with us. My parents also celebrated their 30th anniversary and had us drop them off in Vegas!

I regrettably didn't get a picture of my sister and friends when them spent time here snowboarding after new years, but we had such a blast and hope to see every one again soon!

We cheer for Jordan's sister Marie at all her home games!

"GO MARIE!"

This school year Jordan joined the Utah Valley University club volleyball team.

It has been so much fun to watch and cheer. Even though I have no idea how to cheer at volleyball games.

So far this year has been great! I am a new elementary fine art teacher at a charter school in Spanish fork. Jordan is in a full load of classes, work and volleyball.

We would like to thank everyone for their love, support and generosity!

We love you all and miss everyone back home so much!

Dinner and Rain

2010-08-19T12:35:00.000-07:00

Dinner and Rain

I've always had a passion for cooking. In high school my cooking instructor, Mr. Henggeler, offered to write a letter of recommendation for culinary school. I seriously considered it, but fine art prevailed.

The other night I constructed a recipe that I thought deserved a profile on the blog.

Grilled Chicken and Avocado Salad

Step 1: I roasted some sliced red potatoes; very plain with salt, cracked black pepper, and ground cumin.

Step 2: I simply grilled chicken breast with lemon pepper seasoning. I use a George foreman press grill. It's known for it's..."Lean meat, fat reducing, grilling machine" It's great for healthy grilling when it's raining outside.

Step 3: This is what made the dish. My mother-in-law is visiting from California and brought out some avocados and lemons for everyone. That is one thing I truly miss, you can't beat California avocados and lemons!

I made a lemon and rosemary vinaigrette dressing with salt, cracked black pepper, FRESH lemon juice, olive oil, and sour cream.

I cut the avocado into cubes and mixed them with the dressing, crumbled Gorgonzola cheese (small amount, Gorgonzola is very salty), minced red onion (natural sweetness), and minced jalapeno.

We are trying a new thing, low in calories, but big in flavor.

...Rain, Rain, go away, come again another day...

Marci and Kenny gave me these great votive candle holders for my birthday. They have black metal stacks that make them stick in the ground. They are beautiful and make my flower bed look great.

Today is the second day it has been raining with thunder and lightening this week. It started pouring like cats and dogs and with in minutes these candle holders filled up and started leaning. I went to go save them and thought to take a couple pictures.

Last Class!

2010-08-14T14:32:00.000-07:00

My absolute last class I had to take was Ceramics (Into)
It's no wonder why Ceramics is it's own major.

I had a hard start, but I'm impressed with my self how things turned out.

I now have a greater appreciation for ceramists.

White bowl set. Not per-planned, just lucky.

Tea Set

Decorative Bottles

Containers, only one made it with a lid. They were meant to be used as Flour and Sugar containers for the counter. With out lids I'm not sure if that's their purpose anymore.

More smaller containers with lids

Decorative Vase

Non-Objective sculptural pieces

2nd One

Mom, you can pick any you want!

Jordan black and blue ankle

2010-07-15T18:06:00.000-07:00

My poor BABY!

On Tuesday nights we play basketball at church with other guys. while Marie is living with us she comes too, but normally I'm the only girl who goes. So you could probably understand how competitive it can get. Most everyone is nice and just want to have fun and exercise. We are all good friends and joke around as we play. now that summer has started some of the younger guys like to come and try to be the best.

Jordan is one of the best players every night because he can jump, rebound, run, and what he is famous for is tipping the missed baskets into the hoop.

This past Tuesday Jordan was going up for a tip shot and one of the younger show-offs got under him and "hip checked" Jordan as he was landing on his right foot. In a matter of moments Jordan fell like a ton of bricks.

I have never seen him in so much pain. Most who roll their ankle can just get up and walk it off, but Jordan couldn't even sit down and relax for minutes.

But Jordan is tough and talks about it like nothing has happened. He'll bounce back and be at basketball next week and life will go on like nothing happened.

Jordan has been wearing an ankle brace through the day and when he gets home he ices his ankle. Today he came home and his ankle looked like this so I decided that he needed a ice bath for his whole foot.

His entire foot is swollen from his ankle to his toes. it now has started up his calf from the ankle brace.

Jordan learned when playing football and volleyball at Ventura College that if you wrap your toes with a wet suit material the cold water is MUCH more bearable to handle. He is using my swimming webs that I'm doing arm strengthening drills while swimming. It looks funny!

We'll have to see how long this swollen ankle will last

Stadium of Fire

2010-07-06T10:08:00.000-07:00

Stadium Of Fire

The American Freedom Festival at Provo 2010

Featuring:

The Osmond's 2nd generation (pop group)

The 5 browns (pianists siblings)

Jenny Oaks Baker (violinist)

Eric Dodge (country singer)

and

CARRIE UNDERWOOD!

I wasn't familiar with the others, but Carrie was all I was really there for.

Let me explain how we were able to score such great tickets...

Jordan works at a sales company called APX Alarms. He works in the corporate office in the city licensing department. Every week they play games such as billiards and air hockey and gets free gourmet lunches every day. They play basketball, volleyball and are always giving away t-shirts and apparel. He gets yummy treats all the time and gets to join in special activities like mini golf as moral boosters for the employees of APX Alarms. Crappy Job....right!

As part of the moral boosting every year the owners buy the managers tickets to this Stadium of Fire, but for whatever reason Jordan's manager doesn't use his tickets and has given his tickets to Jordan the past two years. And APX doesn't go cheap on seating at the stadium of fire. We were on the field of the BYU LaVell Edwards Stadium, 18th row back a slightly to the left side. AMAZING! Thank you APX!

Big Choir

They had Lou Diamond Phillips as the MC This year marks the 1ooth anniversary of the Boy Scouts of America. That night they had the largest Centennial eagle Court of honor in BSA history. They had 261 young men on the stage with their mothers awarded the eagle scout rank, the highest in boy scouting. As the young men were awarded on stage, they had all the eagle scouts in attendance that night stand and be seen while holding a full coverage page image in the program of the eagle medal.

Jordan got to be a part of that, very cool. I truly think that he has gained a lot of his morals, ethics and values from becoming an eagle scout.

The oldest eagle scout in America, 92 years of age

I'm sorry for the out of sequence pictures, but one of my favorite parts of the night is the honoring of the United States Military. As far as I know all generations down to my father and Grandfathers served in the military in some form. My grand father on my Dad's side was a flight engineer in the Navy, and my Dad was a missile systems repairman on AH1 attack helicopters in the army. (mouthful) My grandfather on my mom's side was in the Navy as a sheet metal repairman on planes; and also was one of many generations on his side.

I can't say that I experienced the life of living and traveling from base to base as a military "brat" throughout the US, but I can sure feel and express my gratitude for my freedom. Not only did my father and mother make sure that I would have a life of choices and opportunity, but I'm extremely grateful for my heritage who fought for us to have a free land to live on!

Right before the Eagle scouts court of honor they had 4 Hill Air Force Base 388th Fighter Wings flyover the stadium. As the fighter flew over they have one of the pilots video casts to us a message saluting the armed forces in the audience. Inspiring!

Carrie Underwood sang the national anthem

I didn't bother posting pictures of the other groups and performers. Carrie is beautiful and I have loved all her hit singles and sound tracks. She is at the top of my list with Rascal Flats and Sugarland.

Here are a few videos I took on my camera. I'm sorry for my singing and the sound, but I think you'll get the gist of how awesome!

UCSD Graduation!!! hahahaha

2010-06-19T02:02:00.000-07:00

My sister, Rebecca Claire Mitchell, graduated this year from San Diego State University!

yes...I do know that I put the wrong school in the title, it's an inside joke for my mom. Love you mom!

ANYWAYS....ever since I could remember Becca and I shared holidays, birthdays, and other special events together, and graduation isn't any exception. Being the older sister I have to admit that always having a little sister to have to share with was sooo... not cool and a bit annoying, but my feelings have maturely changed! I say that my parents were smart planning our birthdays four days apart, but my mom says otherwise.

Jordan and I traveled down to sunny San Diego and loved every minute celebrating, laughing, and hanging with friends and family!

I think this should be a Christmas card picture, mom!

Much better pictures than that of my winter, cold graduation!

This picture is so funny because Jordan thought that he was being funny, didn't realise that he ended up in the picture, and just looks like a goof in the background!

My gorgeous Aunt Mary made cute picketing signs for Becca! As you can tell it was a great way for her to spot us in the huge arena crowd. It was fun to wave them and yell like monkeys when she walked across the stage as her name was called so victoriously!

Again much more elaborate than mine, I got to see in the row RIGHT in front of my family!

The whole gang!

After the ceremony we enjoyed family, dinner, and games at Dave and Busters (chuck E cheese for adults). There my beautiful Aunt Sara gave a historical gift. When I say historical I mean it! She had saved art work from when we each were younger having slumber parties at her house; then framed them with our graduation announcements. There is so much that my old art work can say about who I am now and the work I produce now, Its funny!

That weekend we relaxed at my wonderful Aunt Joyce's house in Ramona, which is about 40 minutes away from Becca's apartment. I always feel like I'm staying at a resort there. Sadly I didn't get any pictures there, but the afternoon Jordan and I were set to leave we stopped at a place called hodads. I good burger joint that was featured in the food network show: diners, drive-ins, and dives.

My dad left me a surprise on my camera!

Becca, I am so proud of you and your accomplishments! I am honored to have been able to share it with you and can't wait to be able to scream your name again in your next graduation! You are a great, grand, and glorious women. I'm glad to see our sister rivalries turn into sisterly love. I love you with all my heart! XOXO -big sis

Jordan's in his late twenties! OMG!

2010-06-17T13:18:00.000-07:00

Jordan is 27!

We always have a great time hanging out with family and I thought that this picture represents hanging with the Basua's well, and birthdays are never an exception. Jordan and I love it, if you couldn't tell!

I couldn't decide which picture was more funny, I love all the kids expressions!

Marie was playing dress-up with the kids and looked so good! It was a really special treat!

Melissa did a great job hosting Jordan's Sunday birthday dinner with chicken parmesan, and made a delicious peanut butter and chocolate cake!

I think Jordan was still singing "happy birthday" to himself when all the kids blew the candles! So cute!

Wednesday the 16th was his actually b-day. We usually go out to eat with everyone and have a great time! This year Jordan was really lucky that his sister Marci decided to have her baby shower the weekend before his birthday, because their mom came out to surprise Marci at the baby shower and has been visiting all week! It was truly special to have Momma Beck here for all the festivities!

For Wednesday, Jordan decided to try out a new restaurant. We LOVE the food network show "diners, drive-ins, and dives" with Guy Fieri as the host. There is a mexican restaurant in Salt Lake City that was featured on the show called, Red Iguana.

We took the Basua bus up to salt lake

Unfortunately we didn't plan for a big wait on a Wednesday night, but we ended up waited about one hour for this moment. Who knew for a Wednesday night?

One of the featured items made on the show was there famous tacos, one specifically was the tacos "don Ramon," of course that is what I ordered and many others at the table! SOoOOo GOOD!

I forgot to take a before picture, I was so hungry.

Jordan took a dare and eat a whole jalapeno!

All he had were tortillas after, and I'm sure I saw some tears!

I think Jordan and I were a little star struck, even though it was a restaurant...not a person.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABE!! I hope you felt loved and specially! XOXO

So far we have been to two of his featured restaurants; red iguana, and hodads (in san diego).

I'm making a list and checking them off!

8th Photo Game

2010-05-19T17:17:00.000-07:00

I thought it was such a fun idea that

I saw on Marci's blog, who saw it on her

best friend, Leia's, blog.

Rules:
1) Go to Photo files and select the 8th folder

2) Select the 8th photo in that folder

3) Post the picture along with the story behind it

This is mine;

This is from this past Christmas.

There are six of us female cousins and sisters who hang out and are close. One of my cousins, Amy, is currently living in Prague, Czech Republic working and exploring! this Christmas we all felt the absence of her wonderful personality. Christmas evening my parents were showing a slide show of there trip to Europe that thanksgiving before. this picture of Amy appeared, and we all shouted and laughed because if anyone knows Amy, they know her fabulous faces!

We were trying to take a picture with us making an

illusion of Amy being right there in the photo with us!

Amy we miss you and love you! XOXO

Park City with the Mitchells

2010-05-12T09:12:00.000-07:00

Park City

My Family is funny!

We always have to stop at the Harlet Davidson

Sexy Becca!

Happy Mothers Day, from Jordan and Michelle!

2010-05-09T10:34:00.000-07:00

For all the diapersthat you changed.For all the play dates you arranged.For all the tripsback and forth to school, for cleaning all the spit up and the drool. Why is there only one Mother's Day. You sould have at least gotten the ENTIRE month of May.

Happy Mother's Day Mom!

Love you XOXO

Graduation!

2010-05-03T14:04:00.000-07:00

The first thing we did when my parents got to town was go to see my art show. They loved it! Mom even said that she wants to hang one in her house, which if you know mom doesn't have one ounce of color on her walls, so I was pleasantly surprised!

Even though the snow felt like it could ruin the day, it was too beautiful to not capture. My mom and sister got a kick out of it.

I thought that it was funny that as the most colorful department of the school we got brown as the Art major.

Close friends that I have had a lot of classes with through out my last couple years.

These are my three fine art teachers. Tawni (left), Catherine, and Marcus (right).

My two favorite guys!

This picture is dedicated to my cousin Amy!

Our mascot is the wolverine

My parents surprised Jordan and I with a new BBQ for my graduation. I have wanted one for the summer and my dad is a big time BBQ man and wanted to treat me to the best of the best!

After grad, we had more friends and family gather together at my house for dinner and cake. It was also Jason's (jordan's older brother) 30th bday and we sang to him too, Happy Birthday Jason!

My mom loved hanging out with the Basua kids, i think she is secretly ready for grand kids and won't admit it!

MORE TO COME.....

Finally!!!

2010-04-21T17:00:00.000-07:00

Ok...I've done it! I thought that I would just make one huge post after the semester ended and I had for free time to post, but I've been too excited to share with you my accomplishments!

This post is on awards and my BFA show, to come is Moving and Graduation.

So, As you probably have known by now I was awarded the outstanding student in the painting and drawing area of the visual arts and communications degree for the 2009-2010 year.

All the fine arts teachers were to pick out their choices for the award and I heard it was unanimous; when your at school for as long as I am you begin to make great freinds and show hard work. It was a great feeling to know that my actions were noticed, I actually started crying in the deans office when I got the message. A teacher once told me that I needed to change my address to the school's painting room address.

This was the program from the awards banquet. I'm on the bottom left.

Close-up of the program. Bad picture of me!

A a graduate for the BFA (Bachelors of Fine Arts program, with the emphasis in Painting and Drawing) you must complete an Art show based on the senior work. I was to pick one fine art teacher to lead and guide me through the year as I constructed a series of 10-20 peices of work. A lot of time, stress, money, andtears went into this and it has been such a relief to have completed it. To make the saticfaction greater, I also won the jurors award for second place and a cash prize of $150!

This one of the flyers passed out for advertisement from the museum.

These few photos are of me in the process of hanging my work. Not as easy as you might think; a lot of equastions and code regulations.

Every artist has a "Artist Statement" to tell the purpose, background, and concepts of the series. This is mine that was hanging on the wall next to my show.

"I build paintings. My paintings feel solid and built. The physical compositional configuration is the structural field on which sediments of paint and material are massed, initiating the growth of each piece. It is the vitality of growth and decay within each structure and the energies inherent in these processes that I try to embrace in my work.
Texture is the foremost component in my paintings. In performance with raw materials as my instrument I shape and manipulate to make a rustic sound. I paint layer upon layer with harsh movement, jagged edges, and bold colors; it is like geological strata with cracks and discordance. It represents the movement and lines of the earth, all the way down through the painting to the sturdy wood support. But each new layer, however furious, is always infected and colored by the underlying one. Nothing is ever used right from the tube or exactly how I found it. What I have done is a rather coarse and abstract but it will smell of the earth. "

Next to my artist statement and work I got to have a Latrene with artifacts and inspirational nik-naks for the process of my art work.

My bestest art friend, Anna.

More besties!

I'm really sorry about the long length of this post, I tried keeping as short as possible!

I vote PURPLE!!!

2010-03-22T10:25:00.000-07:00

I Vote Purple!!!

I just have to say before the actual reveal!

I want to also apologies to the Platts for not making it to the party;

we are so excited for the both of you and are so excited to be apart of you great new adventures!

Love you both,

Jordan and Michelle

Snow Night

2010-01-22T22:33:00.000-08:00

Tonight Jordan had a basketball game at 6 and was craving IN-N-OUT. It was strange to be waiting for our food and watching the snow fall hard.

IN-N-OUT in the snow... who ever thought?

It had been snowing off and on all day, but once night fell came the snow really stuck thick! About 4" thick!

Here are some pictures from 11pm

I have one picture that I was my favorite from the balloon fun at the Basua's

More Winter Wonderland!

2009-12-21T11:20:00.000-08:00

The water was dripping down onto the icicles, and so this more of an action shot.

Winter Wonderland

2009-12-20T09:56:00.000-08:00

There are bushes in front of our apartment that had about a hundred icicles hanging from it. This past week that have started to melt, but I found a beautiful batch to take a picture of.

2009-12-20T09:53:00.000-08:00

Holiday Ornaments

2009-12-18T17:38:00.000-08:00

Christmas Arts and Crafts

I made gingerbread man decorations. They are primarily made as ornaments,

but I think they would look cute strung up like a garland also.

I made the gingerbread and added

jolly ranchers in the centers to look like stained glass.

2009-12-13T11:39:00.000-08:00

As a senior in school one of the classes we have to take is a seminar class that provides us the syllabus and means to conduct our own art exhibition.

As a class of 16 we worked together to musically harmonize an art show with a great variety of work and artist. We each got to put pieces of work in the show that represents us as seniors at Utah Valley University.

I got my own wall to display my work.

By each of our works we had our picture, artist statement, and signature.

[ The girl who printed out all the artist statements read my last name off my email. I have been to lazy to change it, but I need too!]

Next to our walls we were given a pedestal to out business cards, Cd's, and printouts of any kind based on your work for guessed to take. I created cards that had a cropped image of my work and a sentence from my artist statement.

With the class there is a budget, a girl in our class has a friend who caters sushi.

We even had a world renowned harpist play at the reception.It was a great experience! I had a lot of fun and have learned much. This semester has been a great challenge to me and my work. I have grown so much and accomplished much too. Having a show like this has made me feel more confident that what

I have passion for is worth all the had work.

"the good juice is worth the squeeze"

I have to thank everyone for you love and support! Especially Jordan, his love and support has made this semester seem too easy! and of course my parents who have always shown me to push through and shower me with their love and support!

I love you all and thank you greatly!

We all know someone famous now!

2009-11-30T18:49:00.000-08:00

Jordan is Famous!!!!

He volunteered at work to hand out boxes of thanksgiving meals in them.

He made the front page of our local newspaper; the Daily Herald.

At church two different people gave Jordan their front page and others reported to him about it!

I am just so proud of him and his great heart!

This is the picture and the article of the newspaper; November 25th 2009

PROVO -- Think the line at the grocery store this weekend was bad? Smith's, Macey's and Fresh Market were nowhere near as busy as the food bank.
On Tuesday, cars lined up for half a block to turn into Community Action, only to circle the frenzied parking lot in a vain attempt to find an empty space. Two spaces were taken up by a large white trailer, filled to the edge with white boxes, each containing a turkey and wishing the recipient a happy Thanksgiving from APX Alarms. Everyone left with one. Many also grabbed a pumpkin or two from crates outside the building.
Inside, the crowd was more organized, but every seat in the lobby was taken. There was an intake line with a dozen people in it and another line of people who had gone through the process and were waiting for food. Some looked uncomfortable being there. Some were familiar with the process. Most seemed resigned to waiting much longer than they'd expected to.
"I've never seen it this busy, and I've been coming here for years," said Donna Canterberry of Provo.
She was one of hundreds of down-and-out Utah County residents who needed a little Thanksgiving cheer just two days before the holiday. Hundreds of people showed up throughout the day for help, said food bank director Jim Thomas. All of the cars in the parking lot and lining the street were there to pick food up. Many waited for a couple of hours before leaving with a full car.
"Usually it's one-tenth of that," he said. "Usually we can get people in and out pretty quickly."
This week traditionally is more busy than normal, but this year has brought even more clients to the food bank as people struggled in a bad economy, so the explosion of need wasn't much of a surprise. So far they have enough food, Thomas said, though the 800 turkeys APX donated was helping quite a bit.
Every one of them will be in someone's oven come Thursday morning; the need in the valley is that great, he said. People are coming for help who have never come before.
"We keep hearing about people that are newly unemployed and they just have never had to come ask for help, they don't want to do it, they're selling everything they own," he said.
Lucia Navas of Orem was laid off from her job a few months ago, her husband doesn't work regularly and they have four daughters at home. They've come to the food bank a couple of times and were there Tuesday to get ready for Thanksgiving. Navas was having trouble finding another job because many of the people looking for the same work were younger, more experienced and more educated than she was.
"There's a lot, but there's a lot of competitors also," she said.
Debra Leger of Orem walked away with a cart full of food items, including a turkey and an apple pie. Her husband works, and she works a couple of hours a week as a teacher's aide, but they couldn't get the money to stretch to cover all the bills.
"There's four of us in the house, and it's tight," she said.
She's been coming to the food bank every couple of weeks for the last year, and while it's not her family's only source of food, all the groceries she gets helps her family.
"If it wasn't for this place, we'd have ... " Leger said, then paused. "I don't know."
Community Action will be open from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. today for donations and pickup, closed Thursday and open on Friday for donations only.

The mountain I just climbed!!!

2009-11-02T16:54:00.000-08:00

These past couple of months I have been preparing my fine art portfolio.

There are few degrees that you can acquire in the fine arts department. The highest at UVU is a BFA (Bachelors of Fine Arts). Essentially you could just enroll in the school and take art class to get a BA or BS in the visual communications degree, but anythings above that you must submit a portfolio and be personal accepted by the school and faculty.

For me I love painting and fine arts and to really accent that in my artist career I decided to apply for the BFA program.

I had to take pictures of all my best artwork in the area I want to emphasis in.

I wanted to show you what I submitted.

ps. Thank you for all the support and love, it has been a strenuous, stressful and tiring!

A Grandfather’s Hat, oil on wood 12”x 18”

Colour I, acrylic, modeling paste, and Oil pastel on linen, 12”x 24”

Collage I, Oil Pastel on Linen, 6”x 10”

Colour III, acrylic, modeling paste, and oil pastel on linen, 12”x 24”

Untitled I, Oil Pastel on Linen, 6”x 8”

Light House, Oil on Canvas, 2.5’x 4’

Grounded, water media and oil pastel, 12”x 18”

Orange Juice, Acrylic, 18”x 24”

Cranes, Water media, 12”x 18”

Elephas maximus, Oil on canvas, 4’x 6’

Soldiers’ Tears, Oil on canvas, 4’x 4.5’

Colour IV, acrylic, modeling paste, and oil pastel on linen, 12”x 24”

Colour V, acrylic, modeling paste, and oil pastel on linen, 12”x 24”

Colour VI, acrylic, modeling paste, and oil pastel on linen, 12”x 24”

Contrast, Oil on Wood, 7”x 7”

Colour II, acrylic, modeling paste, and oil pastel on linen, 12”x 24”

Untitled II, Oil pastel on linen, 6”x 12”

Untitled III, Oil pastel on linen, 6”x 8”

Untitled IV, Oil pastel on Linen, 6”x 8”

I GOT ACCEPTED!!!

I'm so excited and relieved!

Artist Statement...

I build paintings. My paintings feel solid and built. The physical compositional configuration is the structural field on which sediments of paint and material are massed, initiating the growth of each piece. It is the vitality of growth and decay within each structure and the energies inherent in these processes that I try to embrace in my work.
Texture is the foremost component in my paintings. In performance with raw materials as my instrument I shape and manipulate to make a rustic sound. I paint layer upon layer with harsh movement, jagged edges, and bold colors; it is like geological strata with cracks and discordance. It represents the movement and lines of the earth, all the way down through the painting to the sturdy wood support. But each new layer, however furious, is always infected and colored by the underlying one. Nothing is ever used right from the tube or exactly how I found it. What I have done is a rather coarse and abstract but it will smell of the earth.
My inspirations come from nature and earth. I use natural materials that came from the earth. I like knowing that my work can be considered as making a full circle in life. As I grow mentally and emotionally; I learn what is most important to me and what lemons are worth the squeeze. I know that I have found my place in life, and now I can take what I have learned and morph it into my art and creations. Coming from southern California I learned that nothing stays the same and nothing is exactly what it seems. I lived seven minutes away from the Pacific Ocean; it could be warm sunny and cloudless above my house and once traveled to the coast it would turn to overcast gloomy and gray. Such as the layers I produce on the supports of either canvas or wood panels. One layer will start as golden and bright as the sun on a warm spring day but might change to a gloomy gray with hints and shadows of the sun bleeding through.

SORRY FOR THE LENGTH!!!

Art Show

2009-10-11T18:59:00.000-07:00

This past week I was invited to present my art work

in an art show at the school.

Saturday was the opening reception, I got to hang my work

with about ten other seniors.

My work is very unique and non-objective (abstract).

I like mixing colors and using basic shapes,

from references of state and geological maps,

to form a more interesting surface and image.

Paining is layering layer upon layer…

it is like the geological strata with cracks and discordance's.

But each new layer, however furious, is always infected

and colored by the underlying one.

On these I painted with acrylic and molding paste on linen and canvas.

I use other material on top from more three dimension.

Topogtraphia 1

Topographia 2

I little crazy, but this is a new collection that I'm working on.

Just in case you were wondering, I make all the supports by hand.

So from start to complete finish it takes around two weeks.

It's not as easy as it might look.

Be-lated Happy Birthday!!!

2009-10-10T10:07:00.000-07:00

My Mom just recently turned 50 years old.

Though she would never look like she 50 we still had to party Mitchell style!!!

My Dad and Sister wanted to surprise mom for the weekend.

It first started with my sister and I coming into town with out her knowing on Thurs,

and then a huge surprise party with everyone on sat!!!

It was a lot of fun, and it made it more fun when we are celebrating for a wonderful women!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!

Your fifty and fabulous!

Zucchini, Zucchini, Zucchini

2009-09-13T10:08:00.000-07:00

So this summer we haven't been too successful with our garden except for one plant.

Our zucchini plant!

It's huge

We have actually had about four large zucchini, but I forgot to take a picture

before I cooked them.

This is the latest one we harvest.

I just recently made zucchini bread.

I didn't take a picture because it didn't visually look good, but it did taste great!

This past week I had a idea to try frying them. they turned out better then I thought.

I didn't have bread crumbs so I made some

bread crumbs from hamburger buns and Parmesan cheese

and fried them in vegetable oil.

YUM!!!

I told you I would never be good!

2009-08-24T22:11:00.000-07:00

What can I say? I'm so terrible at this blogging thing!

I do have good intentions, but things get crazy and I start forgetting and put it off.

Unfortunately I have written this blog as another apology.

"I'm sorry!!"

The picture is just for fun. I have been having so technical difficulties.

My pictures have been giving me a hard time up-loading to my computer. It might take a little while longer.

In the mean time I wanted to ask if I should post pictures of events from July.

Events such as; Jordan's birthday, Las Vegas trip, etc.

Or should I just continue with the latest event and move on?

Let me know what you think.

Should I go back...or...Stay current

A blog for my blogs

2009-07-07T12:13:00.000-07:00

I have to write an apologia for my mistake.

I accidentally posted my 4th of July pictures before the Owlz game.

OOPS!!! Sorry!

Owlz Game

2009-07-06T11:09:00.000-07:00

Friday July 3rd

we took Marie and the Basua kids to a minor league baseball game. The Orem Owlz.

It was a nice day and the kids had fun!

Ari got a new back pack for her birthday and loved wearing it around! she looked so cute!

The kids wanted to take pictures with Hootz and Holly Owl!

Every few games they have fireworks at the end of the game. That is what the kids were looking forward to the most!
And they were great fireworks!

Independence Day

2009-07-06T09:55:00.000-07:00

"4th of July"

was a lot of fun!

We enjoyed the All-American traditions that come with celebrating Independence Day!

First we celebrated at the Basua house with a great, yummy BBQ.

Adam and Melissa always cook the best food!

We had ribs, hot dogs, and hamburgers. We had water balloons, games, and a pool!

And of course we had FIREWORKS, what is 4th of July with out fireworks!

Baby Tori enjoying the great summer day!

The kids helped Marci fill up the water balloons!

The boys played Bocce ball!

The kids played in the pool!

SO MUCH FUN!!

They know how to party!

Second, Jordan and I had tickets to "Stadium of Fire" that evening

BYU hosts it every year!

They get singers and musicians to perform and have a huge patriotic celebration!

It was a blast!

They have military planes and helicopters fly over!

This year they raised this flag up for an important reason. A lady made this flag about 10 years ago for a one time use. After that use they decided that they wanted to use it for all special events at BYU. It was also the flag hung in downtown Provo after 911. Now that it is old and has served its purpose so honorable, it was time to retire the flag. To retire a flag, you have to burn it in a patriotic ceremony.

We got to see the burning of the flag and sing the national anthem for it. Through the ceremony they had stories of armed force men and women that brought tears to many eyes. It was very touching and sentimental!

Before the burning of the flag and fireworks they had SHeDaisy and the Jonas brothers perform. I like both groups which made the night even more special!

Though I have never heard so many screaming teen girls before, when the Jonas Brothers came on. I heard one guy say, " It must have been the largest girl choir singing A Capella."

SHeDaisy

Jonas Brothers

This is a short clip of how close the fireworks were. It was incredible!!

The 18th Day!!

2009-06-17T18:42:00.000-07:00

So it has been 18 days since we first planted.

Already we have seen some great

growth and are still waiting for others (if they ever come...?)

First here are our corn growing

I'm excited for the corn!

Next here are the sunflowers!

They are going to look so beautiful!

These are the zucchini squashes.

I think we have some munchers

to take care of!!

The leaves had a few nibble marks on them.

These are our peas!

These are what Jordan is look

forward to the most!

Finally there is carrots growing.

Not much,

but hopefully ongoing.

We are missing the cucumbers and tomatoes :(

But Jordan is optimistic!

Though we might have to try again later :(

Dresser

2009-06-13T22:11:00.000-07:00

The same weekend that we planted our garden, Jordan, Marie, and I decided to re-purpose this old dresser.

This is how the dresser looked before we cleaned, sanded, and painted it.

It got dark as we were painting so we had to move the party inside!

Our masterpiece!!!

Our First Garden

2009-06-03T20:03:00.000-07:00

Our Garden

This past weekend Jordan and I decided to plant our garden. Our backyard has an old garden plot that has been overgrown with grass and weeds.

Luckily for me Jordan planned ahead and watered the dirt, the night before, to make it easier to weed. Saturday we measured out the space we wanted for gardening and started weeding.

We actually had plans to go larger in our planning, but the trash can couldn't hold more than what we ended up with; an 8' x 7' plot.

We planted squash, sunflower, corn, cucumber, peas, tomatoes, and carrots.
I'm pretty sure that Jordan has some of his dad's green thumb, so I'm excited to see the "fruits and veggies" of our labor!!!

My Proud Dinner!

2009-04-27T21:40:00.000-07:00

This week Kenny, Marci, Marie, and Kenny's younger brother Levi came over for our favorite show "24."
One other thing I like to watch is the Food Network; so I decided to make dinner and dessert of recipes that I saw looked really good. One was a roast chicken and vegetables, which I was so proud to accomplish since I am not much of a cook!

This was the chicken as I was putting it in the oven...

This is what it looked like coming right out of the oven! Yum, Yum!

The second recipe was for dessert. Limeade Pie!!! It was a little sour, but also juicy and tangy. Extra Yummy!

The Lime green color is just splattered on food colored water.

Just in case you were curious, here is the recipe....

Frozen Limeade Pie

You'll need to have a 9" gram cracker pie crust

Filling ingredients:

1 (12 ounce) container whipped topping, thawed

1 (14 ounce) sweetened condensed milk, chilled

1 (6 ounce) can frozen limeade concentrate *(or just 1/2 of the normal 12 ounce can)

1 tablespoon lime zest *(optional)

Candied lime peels, for garnish *(this is also optional, you don't need anything, but I just used some leftover frozen blueberries I had)

Directions:

In a medium bowl, add whipped topping and gently (this is crucial!!) fold in condensed milk. Add limeade and zest and gently fold to combine. Do not let the mixture become soupy! Pour mixture into the pie crust and freeze overnight *(I made it in the morning and served it that evening and it turned out great) . Then Garnish to your liking when ready to serve.

Dinosaur Museum

2009-04-18T21:51:00.000-07:00

This Friday Jordan, his Mother (Mary), and I went to the World's Largest Dinosaur Museum here in Utah. I'm taking a Geology class this semester and I get extra credit for going. It was actually really fun!!!

My great acting skills!

At the end of the exhibit they had cool activities for the children to play. We had fun too!!

I was discovering my own Dinosaur!

Cute! Cute! Cute!

2009-04-16T09:44:00.000-07:00

So I forgot some adorable pictures from Easter weekend. Tori (our niece) is just the cutest, I keep telling Jordan that I hope our children (in the way future! don't worry Mom) will be as cute!

don't forget to check out our Snow Day!

I think we're still in January

2009-04-16T09:24:00.000-07:00

Today we woke up to a lot of snow!!!

It's crazy because it's April 16th and all day yesterday it felt like we we're back in January. Luckily It's a bright sunny day today and hopefully the snow will melt.

Jordan had an Idea to get a ruler and take a picture. The trash can seemed the best place!

You can barley see it in this photo.

Our cute mail boxes!

Jordan's mom even got into the action! She has been in town from California and came over this morning to run some errands with Jordan.

Our house from the street.

Jordan in the action!!!

Easter 2009

2009-04-13T21:34:00.000-07:00

Our Easter this year was GREAT!!! We had a lot of fun with the Beck, Platt, and Basua family.

Before I go any further I have to say how much we missed my family; and having a holiday like this reminds me how much I miss having them around!

This year my parents sent us some Easter goodies!!! Thank you Mom and Dad!!! We love you too!!

After enjoying our gifts from Mitchell parents, we did our first Easter egg dying!

That Saturday afternoon we had an amazing lunch and had a big Easter egg hunt with the kids! so much fun!

Jordan and baby Tori

One big tradition in the Basua/Beck family is Confetti Eggs. Since the beginning of the year we saved all the egg shells from every egg meal we had. All together we probably had about 500 eggs! We dyed the eggs and filled them with confetti and flour. Saturday was too rainy so we did confetti eggs Sunday afternoon.

Here's how it went...

It was so much fun! We looked so good afterwards with all our white hair! JK

Jordan and I helped with dinner later. This is how Jordan helps!

One great thing about hanging with Jordan's family is that they are big into playing sports and games. Everyone gets involved and we all have an awesome time!

Arts and Crafts

2009-04-03T21:12:00.000-07:00

Jordan and I have been working on making our apartment look more like a cozy home! First came the storage for the kitchen, and for the past two weeks we have been working on the living room.
We bought a brown sofa cover, and last weekend I made pillows to go on them!

In the kitchen we have a window that is always so bright in the morning so we got some curtains and of course I couldn't just let them be; I also sewed on a modern floral print (from an old skirt). to bring some of the brown in from the living room.

Also last weekend we got bamboo blinds for the living room. Jordan is such a great handy man!

Here Jordan is helping me put together a panel for my next painting.

This was my last painting I did. Not the one rejected!

Easter Eggs

2009-03-29T22:26:00.000-07:00

During this school semester I have touched back to my childhood.

I am taking a class that teaches you "how to teach elementary art", or Art Education. While studying in classed we also learn by doing those great old past time art projects we all loved growing up!

Such as paper mache. In my class we made paper mache masks, and had a blast. I thought that Jordan and I's nieces and nephews could and would enjoy making paper mache eggs; in the spirit of Easter.
It does take three stages to finish a paper mache project, so we took three days with the kids making the eggs, and had a blast!

Here are some fun pics and our egg.

If you want to see all the eggs and more exciting pictures, you should check out; the Basua's, Platt's, and Marie Beck's blogs!

Just one of those days

2009-03-25T19:01:00.000-07:00

Have you ever noticed that sometimes we go through weeks at a time just completely frozen. Sometimes I forget what I have done or even for get what the day is because I find myself just going through the motions.

Well to day I will remember, as today was a day that woke me up!
Jordan had to be in Salt Lake early this morning. He left the house at 7:00am. Normally we can wake up together around 9:30am. Though, to no fault of his, when he left I couldn't go back to sleep for those couple of hours.

So I was up; tired, grumpy, and frustrated. I knew that the day was going to be a long one.
Since I had some time to kill before class at 11:00, I decided to get some work done on a project I have due in a couple weeks. As time passed I felt good because I was moving smoothly and getting good work done on my project. I looked at the clock on my desk top computer and realized that I still had an hour til class. It seemed later than what the computer said, but I realized that I had been up hours earlier than used to. That's why it felt later!
Time is ticking and I emerged from the extra bedroom to start getting ready for class when i glanced at the clock on the stove, assuming that the time was now about 45min til class.
WHAT...What does the stove say....11:15! S@#$!!! Oh Crap!

I realized that the clock on my desk top computer was never changed at day-light savings. this whole time I knew deep in me that it really was later that it said, and now I had missed class.
It's one of those classes that the teacher takes everything from her lectures and puts it in her test.

Then while, safely on time, in my next class I noticed that I had left all my supplies for at home when I was too busy rushing out the doors! In this class it's embarrassing to ask to borrow anything!

THEN...to top it off I found out from my painting teacher that the student gallery rejected my art work from their show. Evidently they thought it was muddy, over worked, and lacking concept and personality. Now, not only was I going to fail my next art history exam, I also have failed at my major.

There is nothing worse to an artist than to hear that his/her work is lacking personality. I could have handled just the "muddy" and "overworked," they are just constructed criticism, but the rest felt like an insult. And it's not like painting is just a hobby for me, it suppose to be my future.
I just regret now telling people about the art show. I was too excited to have family come see!

Fortunately I know that tomorrow is a different day, and I will have other chances!
I only hope that tomorrow will come sooner!!!

p.s. sorry for the novel!!

A day at the ZOOM!!

2009-03-19T17:47:00.000-07:00

Today Jordan and I got an invite from a couple friend to go to the Zoo. They have been wanting to get together with us to hang out. With school and work it's has been hard to get a day that we were all available. Fortunately this week was spring break and a great sunny day for a trip to the Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake.

One of the many great things about being married to Jordan is that he has seven fascinating and beautiful nieces and nephews. One of which was able to come with us to the zoo.

Ariana Called it the Zoom!

It's great to have kids around because they can remind us of the simple things we take for granted every day.

Ariana did just that today!!

To little kids its not always about trickery and the most up-coming technology. They like to learn, see and experience. Simple shapes, simple colors and a whole lot of love!!!

Today Ari had fun, almost every animal she had learned about (and their sounds) was at the Zoo for us to.

On the ride up to Salt Lake to the Zoo, Jordan and I found out the Ari's favorite animal to see at the Zoo would be the Lion and Alligator! Wow, how exciting!! Getting to the zoo Jordan and I felt bad because we found out that the zoo did not have a Lion, or an Alligator. So Sad! But Ari is a trouper, she loved all that she would see!!

Although there was no Live Lion to see, Ari loved the lion drinking fountains found amongst the park!

We got to see Elephants. around the sides of the exhibit they had fun facts about the animal. Like what the skin of an elephants felt like and how big it's tusks can be.

it was rather interesting that all the birds were free to roam the whole park. Such as, even the turkeys and peacock were able to walk along side us if it wanted. We even found one in the Gorilla exhibit.

Penguins are always fun!!

Just for Adam we spent special time at the Rhino Exhibit!

Here are is giving the statue a kiss!

The real Rhinos were hiding a bit
Just a funny idea of Jordan's!

We got to see cougars. I'm sad I didn't get a picture, but Ari said a very special cheer to the cougars! "GOOOOOOOOO... COUGARRRRs," she exclaimed as she sat on Jordan's shoulders, rolling her fists!

Monkeys were probably my favorite! Jordan thought that was obvious!

Of course The bear was a big hit for Ari. Right away she named them Baby Bear and Papa Bear. Her and Jordan have a funny thing about that!

I thought it was cute how Ari was very sociable with other kids at the zoo. This little girl shared with Ari how cool the birds were!

This tortoise was Huge! it seemed like three times the size of Ari! And probable a hundred times her age!

The camels were cool! did you know that a camel can survive about six months with out water. Crazy!

This was also about the time Ari started getting tired of saying cheese.

Porcupines

More turtles

The gorilla was taking a nap

Ari got to see the full size of a gorilla

Jordan and I got to be groundhogs for a moment

At the end of seeing all the animals the zoo had a small park that the kids could play on. And to all our surprise and excitement Ari found what she was hoping for all day long! Yes, an alligator. Jordan and I were happy to see satisfaction!

Ari told Jordan that he was crazy!

So he tried to wrangle the Alligator!

Of course Ari wanted to join in!

Ari as a tortoise

Ari and our friend's little girl playing in an alligator egg! Or to Ari, "an Ex-ster egg."

2009-03-10T21:15:00.000-07:00

Here are the pictures of me putting the plates on the car!!!

Guess who took the pictures?

Official Utah-ians!

2009-03-10T20:30:00.000-07:00

My dad gave my car to Jordan and I as cool gift! We were having to get the car registered in Utah and this is the before.

To get he car registered here we had to get the states safety and emissions test. I have to admit, that when I was living at home my Dad REALLY, took care of my mom, sister and I. He handled most of the car stuff; and I was very grateful for his love and care!

So when I went back to pick up my car I was in shock. The lady on the other side of the counter handed me a piece of paper with the huges letters stating "REFUSED!" What?...Why?

The lady told me "your windows"

When I was in California for two Christmas ago my sister and I traded cars for the winter. While she had my car in San Diego, I guess she didn't feel cool enough in my car as is, so she decided to get my car windows tinted. To be honest I was excited that she did, it has been nice. I really like it when we switched our cars back!

So now you probably know what the problem was. To understand you have to know that the tints on windows can range in different percentages. I guess that California allows a higher percentages of tint on your front windows than Utah does. so this picture shows my car and the differences between the front window and the back window. now I look more un-cool driving in my car than I was before the tints! Thanks Becca, Love you!

Love Day

2009-02-23T16:47:00.000-08:00

I know I'm so behind, but these are pictures from Valentines Day. We had a lot of fun! Adam and Melissa had a church valentines dinner and dance night. It was fun to get to dress up and have a delicious dinner pre-pared by Adam and Melissa.

The church was beautifully decorated, we all got to take cute couples pictures (Marci Platt as our photographer), and they had some of the young men serving us.

We had the best time!!

Sledding

2009-02-09T23:01:00.000-08:00

So I know this is over a week old, but better last than never!
Out in Spanish Fork, where the Basua's and Platt's live, is a golfing range that was piled with snow. Perfect for sledding!!
We went out there two Saturdays ago and had a blast! Don't we just look so sexy!

This is Jordan with our niece Ariana, who is turning three in July, she kind of became our little trooper that day. Her and Jordan trucked up and down the hill so many times!
I wish I had more pictures of the other kids and family, they were all having too much sledding!

This brought back so many old memories sledding up in big bear as a kid!

Mom, do you remember going out sledding and playing in the snow all day and then when we came back to the cabin all we wanted to do is take nice hot showers, but we had to take showers in like one hour intervals because the hot water ran out too fast. So when it finally came to my turn there was absolutely no warm water at all! It was so horrible; I had to get clean and you ended up running to and from the kitchen with buckets of warm water as I sat in the bath shivering.
Oh.. the memories! There were a lot of great ones! Thanks for my childhood Mom!

2009-02-01T09:43:00.000-08:00

This is what the toast said:

"I would like to propose a toast to Michelle and Jordan,

Congratulations to the both of you on sealing the beautiful love you guys share with each other.
Michelle, I want you to know how honored I am to be standing by your side during this memorable event in your life. I always imagined wedding planning to be a stressful time, but you were the perfect person to be Maid of Honor for. You were yourself the whole time; relaxed, creative, and happy about everything! This place looks stunning, just like You!
I’d like to tell you a little story I will never forget; the day my sister told me she was getting engaged. She flew into San Diego Airport for a family event. I picked her up by myself, and from the moment I saw her standing on the side of the curb she had a huge smile. I felt special because I thought she was excited to see me. To my surprise, she was more excited to tell me something. I figured out she couldn’t hold it in anymore and she needed to tell someone, because once she jumped eagerly into my car, she immediately showed me her left hand and blurts out “I’m engaged!”. Like everyone else did when they heard the wonderful news, I screamed, congratulated her, and gave her a huge hug. So the next words out of her mouth, “I want you to be my Maid of Honor.” There I went again, screamed and said my infamous words “Shut up!”. I gladly accepted, and we were full of smiles and more screams the entire drive to my apartment. Not to mention, I was a little jealous because of the gorgeous ring on her hand. Whoever picked out that ring must know a thing or two about my sister!
Jordan, I knew from the moment you and my sister were together, I wanted you to be “the one” for her. You make her very happy, you make us all laugh, you always have a kind heart, and you fit perfect in our family. I’ve always wanted you to be the brother I never had. Michelle is going to be the best wife, mother, and friend for you. I know this because she has been the best sister and friend to me.
I will be here for you guys, always! I love you both very much!!!
Here’s to Lovely Bride and Groom! Cheers!"

Ode to my sister...Rebecca Claire Mitchell

2009-01-29T22:41:00.000-08:00

Just today I got home from school at 8:30pm, parked my car, and checked to see if Jordan had gotten the mail. to my surprise he hadn't and in the mail box was a large yellow envelope addressed to Michelle and Jordan Beck . It had three stamps and a return address to my wonderful sister Rebecca! I sped walked down to get into the house so I could open it right away. I could only speed walk because I learned the other day that you shouldn't run over iced cement!

As I opened the letter like a crazed person, i pulled out a sheet of pretty stationary that was nicely laminated! With it there was a smaller piece of paper explaining "Michelle and Jordan, this is what I wanted to say on the big day. Like yourselves, I was very nervous and didn't get out everything I wanted to. "
As I started reading the toast, my eyes started to pool with water. As a tear began to fall I found my self reading a funny sentenced and then began to laugh. Jordan, sitting beside me on the couch, inquired to me what I was laughing about. I turned to him and as he saw that I had been tearing up he leaned toward me and read along with me.

Isn't she beautiful!?!
I have to say that Jordan and I thought that all the toasts at the wedding reception were perfect and loved them dearly. though I know how Rebecca feels and I truly appreciate and am excited to have this in my photo books forever.

To my sister I love her with all my heart! She is so smart, pretty, and heartwarming! Everyone she meets finds out why we have all fell in love with her. Everyone knows what I'm talking about.
For all the times we fought and chased each other around the house with barbies in hand; I would never give anything for my sister. I would never change her, or take for granted anything she has to offer.

Rebecca deserves a medal and a standing ovation, not to mention she was the perfect maid of honor!

Love to Becca! XOXO

2009-01-28T09:42:00.000-08:00

A lot of you know that Jordan and I are now living in his apartment he had before the wedding. It's not so bad and so good. The one thing it lacks is storage for all our STUFF combined!

After the wedding Jordan and I went out to Ikea to spend a little wedding money (Thank you everyone!) ; and ohhh..man that place is so cool and a bit overwhelming. I think we had the best time going through the children section!

One thing we were looking for was some cabinets for our kitchen/dinning room to add extra storage. And that is exactly what we left with. Also to point out the cool oak woodblock counter top!

This is the unit that "we" (Jordan) took 2 days to build. *Its missing a drawer in this picture on the left side

As most of my family knows I can't ever just have something the way it is. I always have to add a little to it.

So I thought of a modern design that I think looks good for the face of the drawers and got some fabric to line the inside of the shelves.

This is how it started....

1. I got a wall paper to cover the front that could be painted on.

2. I cut out stencils from poster board and drew the pattern on the wall paper.

3. I mixed all the colors for the pattern then Jordan and I painted in all the shapes, starting with the lightest color. *Tip: It is always easier to cover over lighter colors with darker colors; if there are mistakes to hide. (if the other way around you with be having to put layer upon layer with the lighter color) start with being loose the lighter colors and then be more tight and precise with darker colors.

I do have to give most of the credit to Jordan. I am my father's daughter and I am great for starting projects, but not so good at finishing them in a timely manner; right mom? So as I sat on the couch watching TV or playing Wii fit; Jordan was on the couch painting. He really pulled it out at the end!

It did come out a bit more bold than expected, but we love it!

Have you Wii Fit today? Jordan has!!!

2009-01-23T11:42:00.000-08:00

Jordan has become a pro at Wii Fit! Its really exciting to watch him grow! haha

2009-01-19T17:42:00.000-08:00

If you would like to see more pictures you can visit http://www.weddings.bellapictures.com/

There are more great pictures from the getting ready to the reception.

The Boys!

2009-01-19T17:34:00.000-08:00

The Girls!

2009-01-19T17:18:00.000-08:00

Chapter 1: Mitchell/Beck Wedding

2009-01-19T12:43:00.000-08:00

December 30, 2008 was the greatest day of my life!

Jordan Beck married Michelle Mitchell in the Newport Beach LDS Temple. January 2, 2009 Jordan and Michelle celebrated their marriage with Family and friends at the Olivas Adobe wedding and banquet hall in Ventura, CA.

The love that we felt as that momentous week progressed made us feel so blessed and lucky to have each other, and especially our families and friends.

Jordan and I would like to first thank everyone who put in time to make our wedding days GREAT! We do not have all the words to express our gratitude.

O Tannenbaum, O Tannenbaum

2009-01-12T23:02:00.000-08:00

Our first christmas tree! oh so cute!

...and things comes down!

2009-01-12T22:43:00.001-08:00

And the laws of gravity prevails!!

Frosty

2009-01-12T22:33:00.000-08:00

Snow Angels

2009-01-12T20:18:00.000-08:00

Angels are falling from the sky!

2009-01-12T10:46:00.001-08:00

WOW! Our first blog!

Lets see how it goes!