The Hatch Kiddos

As many of you know, I found a job at the beginning of the semester. I got the pleasure of watching these three kids. Meet Enzo, Mercedes, and Ethan. There are really beautiful, fun, sweet kids. At times I felt overwhelmed at watching all three of them (after all, I don't have kids myself), but I am so grateful for the opportunity that I had. I learned a lot. I love these kids. Although my job didn't last very long because of health problems with the kids, it was still a learning experience.


I was asked to paint a picture of the kids for a Christmas present. I think it turned out really sweet. I hope they love it. I think I do.

Thanksgiving in Cincinnati

Bryce and I were lucky enough to spend Thanksgiving break in Cincinnati, Ohio. Bryce's brother Lane has lived there for about 3 years, and we finally made it out to visit! It was so fun to see them and their adorable house, and to spend time with Bryce's parents and Haylee and Justin, who came up as well. It was a full house!

Cincinnati is a beautiful, big city. It was so green there (I can only imagine what it looks like in the summer!) and it was gorgeous by the Ohio river. We were able to squeeze in a lot of fun in the 5 days we were there. Here are some of the highlights, and lots of pictures!

-Whitney hooked the girls up and gave us an eyelash tinting session at her work. I had never even heard of getting ones eyelashes tinted, but it was awesome. It was so nice to get pampered for a little bit, and now my lashes look so luscious! I love it.

-On Wednesday night, we all went to the levy in Newport, KY to go to Graters, a local ice cream shop that has all the rage. Supposedly Oprah gets her ice cream flown in from Graters. And I can see why . . . it was very delicious. Something that I will not be able to indulge in very often. Jackson loved it, because he got to taste test everyone's ice cream, and he then dubbed Kentucky "yummy tucky."

Us at Graters. Most of us got the black raspberry chocolate chunk. Mmmm!

The whole group (minus Whit) at Newport

The best skyline picture at night that I could muster . . . taking night-time pictures is so hard!

-On Thankgiving morning, we participated in the 100th annual Cincinnati Turkey Trot 10K. It was so much fun! Lots of walking, but once you get going, it wasn't bad at all. It was the perfect thing to do to experience downtown Cincy. What a beautiful city. It was fun walking across the bridges into Kentucky and being surrounded by thousands of people. There were over 17,000 people who participated in the race.

All of us bundled up and ready to go for the race!

During the race . . . look at how many people there are in front of us!

And after the race . . . I love this picture of Bryce and I! We look like total cheese balls but we are so happy!

-And of course we prepared a huge Thanksgiving feast for afterward. Iola and I spent a long time in the kitchen on Wednesday and Thursday both. And look at this! Documentation that Bryce contributed to preparing this huge Thanksgiving meal:


And the fruits of our labors--everything was absolutely fantastic. It was a great meal!

the whole group around the Thanksgiving table.

-On Friday, the boys went to a University of Cincinnati Bearcats game. It was freezing cold that day, but they had a great time at the game!

-While the boys were gone, Whitney and I took Jackson for a little walk to the park.

-We also soaked up a ton of family time. Not to mention, we got to meet a new addition to our family--our nephew Jonah. He certainly is a charmer with his head full of blond hair.

The proud grandma with baby Jonah

Aunt Whitney with Jonah

And me with Jonah. Notice the luscious lashes. Oh yeah, and the cute baby.

And Whitney hanging with the big brother, Jackson

-On Saturday, we got to spend the whole day with Lane and Whitney, and we packed in lots of fun. Bryce helped Lane put up Christmas lights, and then we headed downtown. First stop: Lane's law school. We walked around campus a little bit and went to the bookstore.
Next stop: Jungle Jim's. It is an international grocery store, and it was awesome. Every kind of food possible from every country was in that store. The produce section alone was bigger than the whole grocery store of our local Albertson's. And if my dad would have seen the whole aisle of chocolate bars imported from Switzerland, he would have died and gone to heaven.

-We then headed towards the Union Terminal, where we went to a movie in the OmniMax theater about Egyptian mummies. It was incredible. I was on cloud nine because I learned about all that stuff in my Egyptian art history class, and Bryce is convinced that when we have a home theater, it will be a huge dome with a surround sound system behind.

at Union Terminal

-That night we went to the Festival of Lights at the Cincinnati Zoo. It was awesome! The whole zoo was lit up in Christmas lights, and we even got to see a few animals. Here are the four of us together:

We had a fantastic time on our vacation and realized yet again how truly blessed Bryce and I are. We have an incredible family and so many blessings in life. We are really looking forward to all of the future possibilities headed our way. I know this video has been circulating the blog world lately, but it sums up all of the things that I am grateful for. For a little bit of enlightenment, click here. Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

The Rancho Deluxe in Painting

My dad grew up on a ranch in Idaho. A place in which I normally call "The Rancho Deluxe." Growing up, we would go visit the ranch a few times a year. Always on Memorial Day. I would love to go visit the ranch and go to the Dude Ranch Cafe afterward. There are a lot of funny memories of us girls at both of these places. But as soon as I got home, I had to wash all of that Idaho dirt out of my hair. You see, I never really appreciated Idaho until I moved here for college and, I might add--married an Idaho boy.

Idaho is so beautiful! I have grown to love it so much. I love love love the rural areas! And now "The Rancho Deluxe" is up for sale. It really is for the best, I think. But in a few years, we may not be visiting the good old ranch anymore. We will just stop at the cemetery to see my grandparents, and then head over to the dude ranch.

So my mom and dad asked me to paint a picture of the ranch for their home. I can't wait for it to hang on one of their walls as a sweet memory of the ranch, my dad's childhood, and all of our experiences as a family visiting that place. I think this painting really captures the beauty of the ranch. I love the painting so much (is that weird to say?) that I almost want to keep it for myself! It is, I think, the largest watercolor I have ever painted. It is 18" x 24", and by the time it's matted and framed it will be a large, 24" x 30" beautiful piece of artwork.

So here you go, mom and dad! A little sneak peek of what your painting looks like. Although, I must admit--it looks so much better in real life.

Moody, Idaho

Yesterday, Jessica and I went on another photography adventure! This time we headed towards a place called Moody. Not sure if we actually made it there . . . but we were well on our way, and then it started to get dark so we had to head back. It gets dark so early now! But we did have a really great time experimenting with our cameras! We both were just soaking in all the beauty . . . it was so pretty down this isolated road. Here are some of my best shots. I played around with some texture on some of them . . . let me know what you think.

The road we went down

*I think this one is my personal favorite

Jessica, the professional, taking some pictures!

This picture doesn't even do the view justice! As the sun was starting to set, the mountains in the distance were SO purple! I loved it.

So that was our little afternoon drive. Hope everyone is doing well!

And now it's time for . . .

A little bit of shameless self promotion!

Since I have graduated from college, I've found myself in the transitioning phase from being an art student to a professional. I've submitted my illustrations and writing to various publishers, am working on redesigning my art website, and have kept myself busy building my portfolio by continuing to paint and do the things I love.

Speaking of transitioning phases, my job that I found for our last semester here is no longer. I was watching 3 cute kids while the mom went back to school. Things have happened in the family, and it was best for the mom to withdraw and be at home with her kids. So I have had a lot of time on my hands. Time to pick up a new hobby . . . crocheting! :)

There is nothing that I would love more than to be able to do the things I love and make money at it! I think that is every woman's dream. I know the holiday season is coming up, and if any of you are thinking you would like a custom piece of art for your home, I can make that happen. And I know you have gifts to give . . . I can hook you up!

I have recently added quite a few things to my Etsy shop. Any of these things would make marvelous gifts. Check out my shop here. You will find beautiful things like this:


And this:


And if you are interested in seeing more of my artwork, visit my current art website here.
Feel free to send me an email or leave a comment if you are interested in anything! And if not, just take a look at what I have to offer anyway.

Thanks, you guys! You're the sweetest!

oh baby!

So, the Blake household hasn't been very lively this whole week, thanks to a little thing called the swine flu & strep throat. Lovely, I know. Poor Bryce got sick on Sunday with the aches and pains and a fever, which then led to a bad cough. You know how flu symptoms are- pretty dang miserable. Then for some odd reason I got a bad sore throat on Monday, went to the doc Tuesday and was diagnosed with strep.

And so Bryce and I have been relaxing and trying to get feeling better. (I wish Bryce could have more actually, as he could only miss 2 days of school.) We have been taking advantage of our Netflix and have watched a ton of TV. We watched 9 episodes of Friday Night Lights on Tuesday. That is 9 hours of television. haha. And we finished the season yesterday.

And I was goofing around on the internet this morning (which I've also been doing a lot of lately) and found this video. I don't think I have ever posted a video on the blog before, but this one is hilarious!!! At least I think it is. And I think Beyonce is very, very attractive. This is Jamie speaking. Don't judge me, I just think she's pretty hot. And this baby is a crack up. So enjoy!

Swan Valley Adventure

On Wednesday, one of my girlfriends, Jessica and I decided to go on a little drive down to Swan Valley, Idaho. The leaves are starting to change color and we thought we should take advantage while it's still autumn and go take some pictures. Both of us are interested in photography and like experimenting, although I would never call myself a professional. So it was fun to go and just practice.

Right before we approached the town of Swan Valley, we took a small dirt road that winds along the Snake River. It was gorgeous, and very muddy! My little car was a total champ though. It did get covered in mud, but we never got stuck. :) It was only scary a few times.

This is the road that we ventured on.



This is the gorgeous view.


It was so beautiful right by the river.

And as we continued down the road, we saw this view!

Cute...

As we kept driving down the road and the road got muddier, we came to a fork. Our little map did not tell us this, and we didn't know where to go. So we went right and kept on going, until it was getting a little dark and we were winding into the mountains. We didn't think that was quite right, so we ended up just turning around and going back the way we came. It was a smart move I think! :) And we ended up hitting the freeway before it got too dark.

I had fun playing around with all my lenses, and I got a few good shots! I am certain Jessica got some awesome ones too! Turns out a ton of my pictures ended up a little bit blurry, but not all of them, thank goodness! It was a fun little adventure though, thanks Jess!