Churchy-Art

I have some more art to show you! I hope it doesn't get boring. Firstly, the Las Vegas Temple. My friend Megan just got married there, she was my best friend in high school. I couldn't make it to the wedding so i wanted to give her something more special than a gift card to Target (even though those are awesome wedding gifts).

Next is a project Mom Rucker commissioned. She's teaching the Young Women in her ward next week and wanted to talk about the 10 commandments. So she had me draw 10 illustrations that go along with 10 stories that help you memorize the order of the 10 commandments. This one is my favorite.

And here are the rest. 1. Sun, 2. Shoe, 3. Tree, 4. Door, 5. Hive, 6. Sticks, 7. Heaven, 8. Freight, 9. Line, 10. Hen

Tablet Take One

So here are some pictures I've done on my new graphic tablet! I still need a lot of practice and to take a class to learn some new techniques, and of course PRACTICE some more but this is what i have so far. Enjoy!

This one is called snow angel. I liked the idea of having a "snow angel" actually be an angel! I did this around new years and I was really missing snow.

This is my ballerina doll I drew for the book my mom is writing. She has two other versions, a cheerleader and a baseball player. I'll get around to coloring those soon. I think I need to push the darks a little on this one and the hair still bugs me, but other than that I'm happy with it!

This is a work in progress, called "He Loves Me." It makes me think of that part in Beauty and the Beast when she's singing in the field with the daffodils flying around her. I love that movie! Her face and body is done, I just need to fix the dress and obviously the field/background.

Christmas!

Merry late Christmas (and New Year...) from the Ruckers!

We had a lovely holiday season! We woke up early Christmas morning so we could get to Jake's parents early enough to make some breakfast knottybunz! But we opened some presents on our own before we left.

Jake got me a beautiful and amazing graphic tablet to help me do some digital painting. I love it to pieces and I use it everyday! I've finished some paintings and I'll post them later. He also got me all of the Harry Potter movies! He knows me too well :) I love the background of this picture-our fake fire screen saver. It crackled and everything!

Jake got Xbox live for a year, some caramel popcorn seasoning that he gets every time we go to the movies but we can't find in stores anywhere (thank you amazon.com) and tennis rackets!

We also got some beautiful decorations from Jake's family to help cover the bare walls in our apartment, and awesome kitchen stuff from my family.

We had fun hanging out with Jake's family all day. The only bummer was that Jake had to work that afternoon. Seriously, who makes people work on Christmas?? That's what happens when you work for a place that's open 24/7. Here are some pictures of the rest of the day.


No pictures for New Years Eve, but we celebrated the new year with Josh and Rebecca. It was nice and relaxing, except for when the guys started to play with fireworks!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, and Happy 2010!!!

Jake's Work Party

Several weeks ago Jake and I went to his work party. It was probably the coolest party we will ever go to. Every year his boss rents out Chase Stadium and holds a wicked awesome party. We got to see some famous people like Muhammad Ali, Melissa Peterman (who plays Barbara Jean in the show Reba), and of course Danika Patrick. There was live music, a comedian, a delicious buffet, cash giveaways, and fireworks! The only downside was that we didn't know anyone! Thousands of people and Jake and I just sat at our table all alone. It really was just great to be a part of it though. Here are some pictures, enjoy!

Danika's sweet cars!

The Temptations

Muhammad Ali! We felt like such losers taking his picture but couldn't pass up the chance.

Jake and his boss

Thanksgiving Weekend

My family came to AZ for Thanksgiving this year. It was so much fun! We spent most of the day hanging out and eating with Jake's family, and then we went to Tucson for the weekend to visit my cousins down there. I love having my family in my home, and I love all the crazy games we play and the inside jokes we have. I didn't get any pictures from Thanksgiving dinner but here are some highlights from the rest of the week.

This was my dad's first time playing Mario Kart Wii. He did really well! I love Jack's face in this picture. And Carson is so talented that he can play and text at the same time :)

My momma and baby Kate.

We visited this really cool old mission south of Tucson called Tumacacori.

Yes, we're sisters.

Remember that cool game where the fish spin around and open and close their mouths and you try to catch them? Well we played it. And I was pretty much awful. Krista won but she totally cheated!

My favorite part of the weekend was going on a walk one morning with my parents and my aunt Clarinda. My dad and I were wearing shorts and t-shirts, we passed an old couple who were adorned in coats, hats, and gloves. They thought we were from Alaska :)

I love these trees! I call them Dr. Seuss trees because they are so crazy and fun, they look like they came out a Dr. Seuss book. They look fuzzy and charming from far away but they're actually pretty spiky, they might be some sort of cactus. Every time I go to Tucson I want to take a picture of these guys and I finally did. My parents were fascinated by some of the desert plants we have down here, especially the huge Saguaro cacti.

Growing Old Together

Ok I've been meaning to write about this for a while so I'm doing it now before I forget! A couple weeks ago at work there was this old man who just made my day. I work as a receptionist/sales rep for a vacation membership club. Customers come in and we give them a presentation about our company. There are a number of qualifications people have to meet in able to see the presentation, for example, we aren't allowed to tour single males. That's where the old man comes in. He was alone, so we couldn't tour him, and we had to turn him away. One of the managers explained our regulations and sent him on his way. About 5 minutes later he comes back in and walks up to the front desk. I thought he was going to yell at me (which is a pretty common occurrence) but he just started talking. He was pretty offended that he couldn't see the presentation only because he was single. He told me how his wife had died of cancer earlier this year, and showed me pictures of them dancing on their 50th wedding anniversary. He told me about how they met (on a blind date), he could even remember what she was wearing. He gave such lovely descriptions of her. You could hear in his voice how much he missed her. I wish I could have talked to him longer but I was really busy and my boss was rushing me to get things done. Before he left he told me a joke/pick up line that I love. He asked me, "are my eyes blue?" and I answered yes. Then he said, "That is so weird. They only turn blue when I'm looking as something pretty." Isn't that so precious? Haha I have a point to all this I promise.
Sometimes I am terrified of getting old. Like.... dentures? They freak me out. So does having to get glasses, hearing aids, and having back/knee/any kind of joint trouble. It scares me. But that old man helped me see a little bit of the sweeter side of old age. Spending all those years with someone you love. Nothing could be better. Our hair will turn gray, our skin will get loose and wrinkly, our bodies will weaken, and our senses will dim, but love will always stay strong. Even after death. I'm in no rush to reach old age, but I am excited about all of the life Jake and I get to live before we get there. I am so grateful for him and most especially that I get to keep him forever! This isn't nearly as eloquent as it sounded in my head. In a nut shell, life is precious! Enjoy every bit of it!

New Apartment!!

A quick shout out to Mom and Dad Rucker for letting us live with them for a couple months. They helped us out so much, we will be forever in their debt! And again thanks to Jesse and Mallory for storing our stuff all summer. Seriously. Thank you!

Well, Jake and I are really picky (or maybe it's just me...) but once we found our apartment we fell in love! So here are some pictures of our new place. We're on the third floor which is sometimes a bummer but we get a good workout! And I feel safer on the third floor when I'm home alone.

My favorite room! I love love love this kitchen. Our last two kitchens (in Mesa and CA) were so small! Absolutely no counter space. But this one is marvelous!

Dining room. Out table looks tiny in this picture. All of the walls are so blank. We need some cool art to cover them and bring in some color!!

Bathroom!

The bedroom is pretty boring. Just a bed, a side table, and a lamp. There is a sliding door in the bedroom, which is another reason I'm glad we're on the third floor. Sliding door+bedroom+1st floor=scariness. So we'll move onto the wicked awesome closet! We don't have a dresser so it's pretty packed in there.

Family room! Wahoo! And that concludes our tour.