mitchell + elena wedding, part one {san diego, destination wedding photography}.

i just shot my first wedding of the season,

which got me thinking... how many weddings from last year i still have to share with you!

mitchell and elena really had one of the most magical weddings.

they were sealed in the san diego lds temple (really, one of the most beautiful temples!),

and then they had their reception at disneyland;

i wasn't lying when i said it was magical.

the whole day was fit for a princess,

and elena really looked like one.
they were both beaming the whole day,
so exuberant and full of joy.
i loved working with them because they weren't afraid to try anything!

i have too many photos to share in just one post, 

so we'll start with part one of elena & mitchell's fairytale wedding: 

the temple and la jolla beach.

part two (ring ceremony and reception at disneyland!) coming later this week...

anna gleave photography

{san diego, disneyland wedding photography}

my summer motto:

summer style.

i've realized that the warmer the weather gets, the more shopping i want to do.

i've loved browsing everything summer-y online the past few days,
but i'm a little worried about the state of my wallet!

regardless, my never-ending wish list is filled with so many goodies.

at the top of my list?

a few of these gorgeous pieces from my favorite, shabby apple.

\

since i'm shooting my first wedding of the spring tomorrow (hooray!), 

i may just have to dive in and buy one of these pretty dresses.

what do you think? 

i'm especially inclined because of the awesome mother's day sale they've got going on right now...

enter code 'mothers' at check out, and receive 15% off, storewide! 

but order before the end of the month; the sale ends on the thirtieth of this month!
and check out this awesome giveaway on this cute blog... $75 for free? sounds good to me!

click on the link on the right side of my page to check out shabby apple's stuff. it'll be worth your time.

arizona weekend.

a few words and photos to sum up my arizona trip:

familia + food + rest.

i'm back in utah now for what'll inevitably be a whirlwind spring term (hello, ten credits in 2 months!),

but i'm so grateful for the little five-day long weekend i had in arizona. 

i had such a great time.

i just tried to let myself unwind a bit after finals, while spending time with my darling grandparents and incredible father.

we passed the time by making homemade pizza, painting, baking gluten-free bread, and watching movies. 

we may or may not have gone to my favorite mexican restaurant twice within a three-day period (thanks, padre!!),

and we avoided the heat by just relaxing indoors.

my grandparents really are some of my favorite people in the world.

they're just so loving.

my dad and his brothers gave my grandma an ipad this weekend, 

so i spent the last few days teaching her how to use it. 

when they gave her the ipad initially, she was so emotional;

she was shaking and nearly crying with gratitude and appreciation.

it was so sweet. 

and she's been so delighted with every aspect of the ipad; 

with every new app i taught her to use, she'd say, "wow! isn't that something?", or something along those lines. it is so cute.

she can't stop saying thank you for this little gift,

which makes me realize how much i take for granted in the circumstances i've grown up in.

she taught me a big lesson about gratitude.

and for an 85-year-old, she sure can navigate that ipad like a pro :) 

and my grandpa?

he's always an example to me... he's one of the happiest people i know.

though he's had a few health challenges, every time i talk to him and ask how he's doing, he always says,
"great! every day is a gift, and i'm happy to be alive."

and the thing is, he truly means it. 

he's grateful for every day.

now can you see why i love spending time with these two? 

i can't wait to go back!

how were your weekends?

life lately.

life lately has been crazy.

the past few weeks have been a whirlwind, involving a lot of...

library time, food breaks (in-n-out post final!, indian food birthdays, cute easter baskets from mama gleave in the mail, etc.), enjoying the good weather on campus, jamba to stay awake in class, local concerts, and the fort.

and i must say, i haven't hated it (minus the finals part... that was quite the drag).

and now, i'm in lovely arizona.

i know i promised to blog this weekend (and really failed),

but i've been trying to decompress a bit. 

this has consisted of eating everything in sight (oops),

falling asleep whenever i please, 

and watching movies with my dad and grandparents.

it's quite the life; i'm telling ya. 

modern art + pizza + hollywood.

once upon a friday,

will, tess, juni, & i had a not-so-double date (that is definitely worth mentioning). 

we started the night off by going to this contemporary art show held in the locker room of the football stadium.

it was really interesting; my favorite exhibit was ironically in the showers, where there were plastic bags filled with water and goldfish hung from the ceiling. really cool. 

then, tess & i grabbed pizza from one of our new favorite spots, malawi's,

while the boys saved us seats at the theater.

i ordered a chicken and veggie gluten-free pizza (sooo good!)

and was utterly content.

so then we saw "the greatest love story of all time"... 

titanic, of course.

and most of us cried.

sometimes, fake dates with your brother and his best friend aren't so bad. 

you should try it sometime.

p.s. sorry for the pizza-only pictures; the rest of the night wasn't super picture-conducive. 

p.p.s. i finally finished finals! and my last winter semester at byu! huzzzah.

i promise...

i'm still alive. 

i'm just far too consumed with finals and saying goodbye to friends and the hunger games books at present. 

i'll be back on thursday :)

p.s. need a personal trainer? these books keep me going for miles on the elliptical (no matter how nerdy i may look...)

life lately.

so i just realized i have post very little about my actual life as of late on this blog.

i mean, my central american and european adventures were certainly part of my life (as is my work), 

but i'm also a full-time student, you know, doing the whole byu-thing.

so i thought i'd share some photos from the recent months!

-bennett joined the swim team. and thus purchased a speedo.

-swim team tess. swim team benny.

-my darling parents at our favorite little mexican restaurant. 

-general conference smoothies & snuggling. my favorite talks here and here.

-utah's bi-polar spring weather. i'm used to this, being from colorado and all... but it's still so unpredictable.

-april fool's day: may or may not have consisted of pranking 1/2 our ward.

this spring has been nice, so far. i can't wait for the summer's adventures to unfold! 

the grass is always greener.

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Scotts® for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

i'm a big sucker for green grass. it always reminds me of summertime... and we all know how much i love summer!

but living in a desert, it can be hard to achieve green grass sometimes, you know? that's what's cool about the Scotts® Snap® Spreader System... it helps make your lawn so much prettier! it is the "no mess, no guess" spreader system. 

the snap pac connects directly to the snap spreader, so there's no cutting, no opening, and no pouring from the heavy bags-- no spilling or waster! the system also auto-sets the proper flow rate, so there are no spreader settings required! it also has a unique edgeguard featuer that keeps the product where you want it... on the lawn. check out some more of the snap perks here: Snap perks on Facebook, ,  . and then when you're done, the snap pac self-seals upon removal, making it easy to store-- no more half-empty bags on the garage floor. moral of the story? get greener grass... check out this cool product and get great promotions/contest info by liking it on facebook.

happy (almost!) summer!!! it's going to be a good one.

gluten-free oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.

i was given the task of bringing a dessert to a baby shower thrown by the darling bethany tomorrow.

so i spent my evening baking, of course. 

i used up some ingredients i had just hanging around the house to make one of my favorite cookies:

gluten-free oatmeal chocolate-chip cookies.

these little fellas are so chewy and don't even taste gluten-free... i promise!

ingredients: 

-3 eggs well beaten

-1 cup raisins (i use chocolate chips instead!)

-1 tsp. vanilla

-1 cup butter, softened

-1 cup brown sugar

-1 cup white sugar

-1 tsp. salt

-2 1/2 to 3 cups gluten-free flour 

-1 tsp. ground cinnamon

-2 tsp. baking soda

-2 cups gluten-free oatmeal (i just used irish oats)

-3/4 cups nuts (optional)

instructions: 

1. preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. cream together butter, brown sugar, white sugar, and salt.

3. add other ingredients, adding eggs last.

4. stiff dough. scoop 1 tbsp. size drops of dough onto ungreased cookie sheet.
5. bake 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.

enjoy! these are worth the calories; i swear. 

parque guell.

the past few days have been very spanish-y.

i had to take my spanish phonetics & pronunciation final today, 

so i prepared by eating tacos (okay, when am i not eating tacos?) and listening to this and this and this.

oh yeah, and i threw some studying in there, too. 

so naturally, all of this spanish studying made me think of spain

(again...when am i not thinking about my adventures abroad?)

and so i was briefly taken back to barcelona...

i was really sick for the entirety of my stay in barca 

(hence my lack of presence in all of the photos),

but i was still able to take in some of the sites and catch the vibes there.

our first morning in barcelona, we checked out gaudi's famous parque guell.

it was so intriguing... so full of color and shapes.

i'm not even sure that these photos completely do it justice! 

i loved all of the palm trees and bright flowers,

the highly-involved mosaics everywhere,
and even the sketchy street vendors.

and the lizard fuente and that gingerbread house?... so cool.

oh, and the best part?
i did very well on my final... and i never have to think about spanish phonetics again!

post script:

don't mind me for writing about events that are nearly a year past. 

this world fascinates me. photography fascinates me. so i love sharing my experiences through photos, no matter how far in the past they might be.

reliving these memories is also a bit therapeutic for me, and i love having them all grouped together in one place... like a journal of sorts.

 i'm sure i'll get back to more recent happenings soon! 

but for today, my mind is in españa.

product: press-printed books.

last summer, 

i had the chance to design a few custom, press-printed wedding books for a few of my clients.

an alternative to the traditional full album, these books are a bit less expensive, a bit more casual, and perfect for coffee table viewing. 

i loved getting to celebrate emily & spencer's wedding again as i designed this custom book for them!

take a look for yourself...

anna gleave photography

{utah, destination wedding photography}

easter.

he is risen!

i love easter. 

and the chance we get to reflect on christ, his life, and his infinite atonement.

i spent the day enjoying the beautiful weather,

at a lovely church service, 

eating far too much chocolate,

and spending time with family.

today was a good reminder of what's important.

and this spring, i'm going to try a bit harder to always keep that in mind.


photo taken at the smithsonian castle when i was in d.c. last week. yum.

escapism.

today was one of those terrible, horrible, no good, very bad days.

i mean, nothing traumatic happened or anything.

buuut just lots of little annoying things that irked an already burned-out anna (it's that time of the semester...)

so i just sat in class, dreaming of escaping.

today, this escapism brought me back to mexico. 

cozumel, to be exact. 

over winter break, we spent one afternoon on the island.

while my mom and little brother were off snorkeling,

we decided to have an adventure of our own.

will, my dad, & i rented a beat-up jeep,

and spent the afternoon cruising around the island

(some of the footage seen here!).

we stopped at various scenic spots, 

played in the water a bit,

and stopped at this awesome, rastafarian, beach-side restaurant for chips and salsa.

what's better then bob marley and chips and salsa on the beach in mexico?

we found the funniest nfl luchador masks,

made a new amigo (in the form of a darling nine-year-old waiter),

and soaked up the sun.

life was good in cozumel.

anyone want to escape there with me?