Chris Michel's Baptism

This last weekend Dustin and I flew out to California for a very close friend of ours who was baptized into our church. Chris Michels and my sister Jelina met in highschool and became very close. Chris got to know our family and grew very close to us. Jelina was very open about our church and he soon became very interested in it. Not too long after he began taking discussions and wanted to get baptized.

The baptism last weekend was beautiful! There was so much support and so much love shared for Chris and his family. The singles ward there dedicated their 3rd hour of church for his baptism/confirmation so he could have as much support as possible. Jelina sang a beautiful song and Dustin gave a great talk on the Holy Ghost. The spirit was soooo strong in that room. It was not only a very spiritual baptism but the largest baptism I have witnessed.

We all got together afterwards at my parents house to have yummy food and treats. In this picture is Chris, his mom Heidi, his uncle and the sister missionaries who taught him the discusions.His mom is wonderful and we're guessing she will be next... She is reading the BOM right now and has a lot of questions concerning the church. Our happy little family :)

The Powell cousins... Definately not as many as Dustin's family haha! Me and baby Paikea. She is so adorable and stole the show. Everyone loved little "bunny" as Uncle Alan and Aunt Christina call her :)

Kiteboarding at Doran Beach

My dad recently developed a love for kiteboarding just a couple years ago and has gotten very good at it. He used to do a lot of wakeboarding and water sports but he has found that kiteboarding is a lot better on his back ha!

While we were visiting in California last weekend for Chris' baptsim, Dustin and I were able to go take pictures of him and a few of his friends out at the ocean. Dustin was able to walk out far enough to get closer to the kiteboarders. He borrowed one of my dad's waders. He looked hot... :)

Dad bustin' his moves :)


Hi :)

Here is a pic of Dustin out in the water taking pictures of my dad.

His hot outfit :)
Annnnd.... here is me hiding behind a mound to avoid the cold wind watching and waiting on the beach for the boys to come in. :)

Shiloh Park Nature Shots

Here are just a few pretty pictures we took while on a little early hike in Shiloh Park with my mom while we visited in California. There were all sorts of fun creatures and cool nature shots. There were some hot air balloons floating over Sonoma County.

It would be sooo fun but sooo cold at this time of year.
There was a pond full of little frogs everywhere.
Dustin got a cool shot of a large green frog staring at us.
Awesome spider webb and huge freaky spider!

I loved the texture of this tree.

I called these little tree defense systems because

I thought they looked like boxing gloves haha!

"The Girls Next Door"

This last Saturday Dustin and I took "the girls next door" to go take pictures. My sister and best friend Sierra are in this apartment along with 4 other girls and they really wanted some pictures for their front livingroom wall and we offered to take some fun pictures. Here are just a few that we finished editing a little bit.