Gold, Frankinscense, and Chocolate Sauce!

This year, and every year, the Moon family gathers to reenact the Nativity (complete with costumes and props) while Dad reads the story from St. Luke. With the shortage of Myrrh this year, we decided that the chocolate sauce from the fridge would have to do. Here are some pics from the event! Enjoy!
Merry Christmas! 

Escalante - Take Two!

These are a little late, but now that this semester is over, I finally have time to post things! These are photos from my second trip to Escalante - which was amazing! Here are some of my favorites! Enjoy.

The Moon's Are Reunited!

The Annual Moon Family Reunion was the last big event of my summer! For the first time in a long time every one of my siblings (besides Shanna in Texas) made it to the reunion. We even got a picture to prove it!

B&M Wedding

Ta da! My second wedding job! I worked with the groom at Jamba Juice for the past year and met the bride when they started dating. They are both amazing people. I was surprised and honored when they asked me to do their wedding photos!

They were married August 16, 2012 for time and all eternity in the Oquirrh Mountain Temple. Congratulations and thank you for a wonderful day of smiles and fun. Here are a few of my favorite photos from the day!

if i die young

       Today in class my professor informed us that one of our fellow students in Art history, Alyssa Isom, passed away. This came as a complete shock, but I don't know all the details. She was a beautiful girl with big dreams and I never heard an unkind word leave her lips. Alyssa had the sweetest disposition. I can't believe she's really gone. I saw her just the other day at the Art History Assembly - she stood in front of me in line for food afterward. She was a TA for a class I am taking this semester. She was very modest and loved art history. When I see her picture, I keep thinking she is going to walk around the corner at any second. She was my age. In my major. She was about to graduate. It's cheesy, but the lyrics from the song If I Die Young ran through my head. This song hits a lot closer to home today.
       I couldn't help but think what would happen if I died today. A life is fleeting. A blip in time. We are all only one person, but together (and individually) we can make the world a better place. So, what are you doing to improve your world? Live every day to its fullest. No regrets!
       Alyssa was, and is, an inspiration to me. She really loved Art History, and worked really hard on her papers and exams. She was an amazing student. I can only attempt to be as studious as she was. Her passing also makes me think of the clip from the movie It's A Wonderful Life. I don't think any of us realize the amazing change we make in the lives of the people we associate with. The world is far better because we are living. I didn't know Alyssa well, but her presence in my classes made an influence on me, and made me want to be a better person. She didn't even know I felt that way - we were just fellow Art History students - but she really did make a world of difference.

We love you Alyssa! (left)

Bear Lake

Every year since I can remember, I have been going to Bear Lake with my family toward the end of the summer. It started as a annual family vacation, and then turned into a place to celebrate my older sister, Shanna's birthday. I can't remember how it started, but we go eat Bear Lake Pizza one night during our stay to celebrate her birthday. We spend two full days at the lake playing Ultimate, Bacci, flying kites, building sand castles, wind-boarding, reading books, and of course, playing in the water! As we drive out of town we stop by for a famous Bear Lake raspberry shake before driving out of town.
      Here are some shots from this years trip. I used what I learned in my photography class constantly - and even taught my sister-in-law a new trick or two. It was a blast!

lollies for the ride up

the bathroom doors at The Bear Cave

High in the Mountains

Yes, I went on this trip the last week of July and I am just getting around to posting the pictures. Please forgive me - I got a new job and currently it takes up all of my time.

        I took a Nature Photography class (taught by the Outdoor Recreation Instructor at BYU) this summer term. It was fantastic! I bought my Canon Rebel XS off of a friend two years ago and now my photography dreams are closer realities that they were before. Since then I have had the opportunity to be the photographer at two of my friends weddings and one engagement shoot. I still have a lot to learn, so thank you guys for being my guinea pigs and helping me learn the tricks of the trade. My future clients thank you.
        This photography class was but a short six week crash course, during which we learned the basics of the Canon camera, and techniques for shooting photos in nature. The goal of this class was to be able to take a picture and have it look like what you saw without having to use Photoshop. We were only allowed to use it to crop our pictures, but for no other improvements. I definitely know my camera better after this class.
        We went backpacking in the Uintas for three days, carrying everything we needed on our backs. It was fantastic. I haven't been backpacking since I was 16, so I was pretty scared leading up to it. Then again, I always do that to myself; I scare myself to death about the trip getting ready, and then I do fine and have a great time! Silly me. After we got back (and showered) we had a photography show of everyone's favorite pictures. These are my (in my opinion) my best six pictures from the trip. Click where it says "Click here to see more..." to see more shots from the trip.

Tested

I did want to tell the tree what it was. I wanted it to tell me something,
 and through my express its meaning in nature. - Wynn Bullock

Picturesque Lake    7.26.2012

Parched

Trees are the Earth's endless effort to speak
to the listening heaven. - Rabindranath Tagore

Paul's Point    7.26.2012

Uinta Ziggarat

If I could tell the story in words,
I wouldn't need to lug around a camera. - Lewis Hine

Taken from Paul's Point    7.26.2012

Burning Brush

Sometimes I get to places just when God is ready
to have somebody click the shutter. - Ansel Adams

Paul's Point    7.26.2012

Cotton Candy Clouds

The poetry of the Earth is never dead. - John Keats

Teal Lake    7.27.2012

Day Is Over

Photograph: a picture painted by the sun
without instruction in art. - Ambrose Bierce

Taken from Hayden's Peak    7.27.2012

Purple, Green, and Yellow!

I think it's time that I explain the name of this blog. One of my favorite childhood picture books is entitled Purple, Green and Yellow, and since I love bright colors so much, what better name than could I choose?

It is a story about a girl named Brigid who loves to color with markers. First she begs her mother for markers that smell, then markers that make things look better than they are, and then super-indelible-never-come-off-until-your-dead-and-maybe-even-later markers. She promises with each set of markers that she won't draw on the floors, walls or on herself. Brigid is soon bored with drawing on paper with the super-indelible-never-come-off-until-your-dead-and-maybe-even-later markers and starts to draw on herself. first a fingernail, then her fingers, hands, and eventually her whole body.
To cover up her ill deed, she colors over top of all those bright colored patterns with a marker that makes things go back to their original color. When her mother asks her if she has washed her hands for dinner, Brigid answers yes. Her mother then smells her hands and takes her up to wash them again. The cover-up marker comes off to reveal the amazing patterns Brigid had drawn all over her body. Her mother then calls the doctor and has to figure out a way to get the markers off her daughter. She soon finds that Brigid has colored on more than herself with the super-indelible-never-come-off-until-your-dead-and-maybe-even-later markers.
This is a fun story written by Robert N. Munsch and illustrated by Helene Desputeaux. Some of my other childhood favorite books by Munsch include Something Good, Moira's Birthday, The Paper Bag Princess, and PIGS.

Escalante!

I went to Escalante, Utah at the end of May! I went with a group of fellow Fine Arts Majors from BYU. We hiked down through Bryce Canyon, to Lower Calf Creek Waterfall, then through Peek-A-Boo and Spooky Slot Canyons, and drove across The Hog's Back.  Here are some of my pictures from the trip. Enjoy!

 Looking up through Bryce Canyon

M&J Engagements

These two were a fun couple to work with, and they helped me come out of my shy shell as an engagement/wedding photographer. The lighting was perfect and they were great! I hope you like what you see! :D

Mothers

it's Mothers day.
a day set aside to honor our Mothers for being our Mothers.
to thank them for giving us birth, for changing our diapers, and giving us baths. for teaching us to walk, and suffering through our terrible twos. for putting band-aids on our scrapes, and kissing our owie's better. for reading to us when we were little, and then again when we are older. for letting us sleep in her and Dad's bed when we got scared at night. for staying up with us when we got sick. for throwing birthday parties, even if she didn't want to. for sending us to school, and teaching us that an education was important. for getting mad when we did something wrong, and loving us anyway. for believing in us when no one else did. for letting us make our own decisions, yet still giving her advice, however subtle it may have been. for staying up late to make sure we got home safe at night. for going shopping with us, and for dealing with our teenage dramas. for grounding us to teach a lesson. for teaching us respect, responsibility, and how to work hard. for teaching us to be better people, to react accordingly, and to make the right choices. for teaching us how to be adults, and then sending us off to college to live our own lives. for believing in us when no one else did. for rejoicing when we do well on a test, or finish a grueling paper. for smiling and hugging us when we come home to visit. for dropping anything to help us. and for loving us. so, thank you my mom and my "moms"; those of you who know me well, know i have many.
thank you Marcia Moon for raising me. i couldn't have made it this far without you. you are my favorite mom. i love you! thank you Becky Lloyd for half raising me, and for making cheese tortillas for me everyday after preschool. thank you Lou and Sue Smith for being my mothers at Quickwater Ranch when i was sick and dehydrated. thank you Laurel Barry for being a great Nursery leader. thank you Marla Ence and Alisa Motzkus for being amazing Young Women leaders. thank you Michelle Hinton for being my look-a-like and for giving me the assurance that i will always be beautiful. thank you to my sister-in-laws for raising my wonderful nieces and nephews! and thank you to all the women in my life for the influence you have had on me. i strive to follow your example, and to one day be as great a Mother as you are.

I LOVE YOU MOM! 

21

Today I turned 21 years old. I'm a Senior at BYU. I finished my last pre-requisites this past semester. I'm halfway done with my Art History and Curatorial Studies Bachelors degree, and I just started my Editing Minor. I recently decided moved to a new apartment with five completely new roommates! I wanted a change of scene, and this summer may be just what I was looking for. :D
       I still working at Jamba Juice on BYU campus. I have been an employee there for three years, starting on four. In less than a year, I went from one of the youngest employees at Jamba, to the oldest. Oldest in the amount of time I have worked at Jamba, not in age. Once again, my manager and fellow employees are fantastic! I have made some of my best friends in college at Jamba. Hey Jamba Jamba! (p.s. Peach Perfection is the best smoothie!) 
       I have now married off three roommates, an FHE son, and the first Elder I wrote is getting married in July! My how the years have flown! The freshmen boys I sent off almost two years ago are on their way home this summer! It has been a fun keeping in touch with them the past two years. I remember how excited they were to open their calls, to go, and then to enter the MTC. They have taught no only the people native to their mission, but also those who read their letters. They've taught me that hard work is the only way to get results. That falling into bed at night is a good feeling, and getting up early in the morning is hard sometimes, but worth it. They taught me to keep smiling, to love the curve balls that are thrown my way, and to see the good side of every situation. They've taught me through their examples and with the amazing spirit they send in their letters. My hope has always been that they would leave boys, and return men. Go Elders!
     I have 5 nieces and 6 nephews. They are the loves of my life! DRUMROLL PLEASE!! Make that 7 nephews! (Little Luke is coming in September!) The 12th Moon grandchild is on his way! Watch out world! Another Moon boy is about to blow your mind!  
       This summer I am interning at the Springville Museum of Art in the Curatorial Department. I love it! At first I wasn't so excited about the Curatorial aspect of it, but it's growing on me. I love my adviser and the other employees and interns at the SMofA! I get to do a little of everything, along with my Curatorial duties.
      While I was still waiting to hear back from the SMofA about the intern position, my brother Nephi called and told me that he had two trucks sitting around for the summer if I wanted to use one. He had one condition: that I agree to be their on-call babysitter. Perfect! It's a purple Toyota pick-up. Need I say more? I have always wanted to drive a truck....but I didn't think it would be a stick-shift. :( Yes. It's manual truck! An  unexpected, but over-due challenge I was terrified to face...yet I have triumphed! I get scared just thinking of getting in that truck...but they say that'll wear off, that I'll be a pro in no time. I'm still a little wary, but it's gone well so far. (I've only killed the engine a few times....)
       Thanks you mother for giving birth to me twenty-one years ago. I love my life! And thank you parents for putting up with me and teaching me how to be respectful, how to work hard, and most of all to love the Lord! I wouldn't be where I am without you two! So, thanks!
      Year 20 was fantastic! Here are some highlights: my brother got married to an Art History Major, booyeah! I got a new nephew last March, number 11! I bought my first SLR Canon camera! I shot my first wedding! I watched three roommates get married to amazing men! I went back to London! I took a watercolor class! I painted completely my first oil painting! I jumped in puddles, laughed, cried, stayed up late, and had a blast! I have even better plans for year 21! Some of them include a study abroad to Italy, a humanitarian trip to South America, Africa, or Nepal, and graduating from college! :D
   

judge not!

(Here's another old post I never posted....here's the updated version!)
The world inside a child's imagination is like a white canvas waiting for the paint to be applied. They understand that there is no need to be timid; bold strokes embody what it means to paint, to be an individual. An artist once told me that to be able to put a big amount of paint on the canvas and leave it there takes courage. Sometimes we make a bold statement and then try to take it back, or want to say something bold but we hold it back. We are worried about what others will think of what we have to say, and believe they will immediately judge us for our words. When we speak out loud we can only backtrack, but when we type (or text) we can write, rewrite, delete and then rewrite again.  The social media of today plays to theses strengths. Facebook and Twitter make it easy to talk with someone, and in a sense get to know them without ever seeing them, or talking face to face. What was wrong with calling a girl to ask her out, or going over to someone's house to see them, or talk to them? Now  the world says texting is all you need! Don't get me wrong, I agree that texting and Facebook are great and can be very useful in our modern world. What I am trying to get at is, just because we live in a modern world with the internet on our phones and social media sites, does not mean that other things have become old fashioned, but have fallen into disuse. Those methods work too! What we call "Snail-Mail" today worked very well for a long time; they wouldn't keep it around if it was completely useless, would they?
There was a CES Fireside tonight at 6:00 and the General Authority who spoke talked about how talking face to face is better than the virtual world. It reminds me of one of my favorite quotes from this past October General Conference about how we should make virtuous friends, not virtual ones.
Thanks for listening to my rantings once again! haha

Pedestrians. NOT cars. Get the right of way!

 Everyone goes to driving school, or drivers ed, then has to take a driving test to get their drivers license, right? Then why don't people know how to drive? Don't they know there are rules? Do they think that they are taught the rules just to forget?
I get run over almost every time I walk to or from campus. Three of the four streets I cross have cross-walks on them, the fourth doesn't. The phrase "Pedestrians get the right of way" has somehow been changed to "Cars get the right of way if they can make it across the cross-walk before the Pedestrian finishes crossing the street"!
I am a firm believer that the car must stop for the pedestrian. Just last week I saw a guy and a girl trying to cross the street. They were already half-way across and I was coming behind them. They started to cross the second half, but the cars wouldn't stop. They were in the middle of the road and the cars wouldn't stop! Really?!! Then the girl started to cross again and the guy had to pull her back to keep her from getting hit. A couple days later I was crossing the same intersection when this happened: I was crossing thee second half of the street and I still had a good ten feet to go. The car coming didn't wait for me to cross, but came all the way through the intersection and waited three feet away from me on the cross-walk. What? You couldn't wait on the other side of the intersection for me to finish crossing the street?
I always make eye-contact with the drivers. Stand there and wait for them to stop their car with a "Really?" look on my face. Then I cross the street. The number of times I could have died while crossing the street is off the charts.
Here's a shout out to all college students walking to and from campus. Look both ways. Before you cross the street! Yes, you heard that from your parent's when you were just learning to cross the street by yourself for the first time. It still applies! Don't trust any car to stop when you start to cross the street. Wait for them to stop completely. Then cross.

heroes

 (I found this post in  my 'Edit Posts' section that I wrote on Halloween.)          
I was in the Wilk studying for a midterm before heading into work two weeks ago. I noticed all these little kids walking by in their Halloween costumes. At first I didn't know why they were there, but I didn't really care because I'm always up for cute little kids in costume! I later found out they were on their way to the SpookFest in the Wilk Terrace. First I saw a little Batman and then an even smaller Buzz Lightyear. These little guys got me thinking about heroes and why we choose them?
Do we choose them because they are good looking, maybe better so than we view ourselves? Do we choose them because we love what they represent and stand for?
Are we encouraging them to have good, wholesome heroes like the Superman and Batman of cartoons, or are they basing their hero dreams off the Batman of today? I was talking with my Mom about this and telling her how the Superman (Smallville) and Batman (Batman Begins, Dark Night) of today are much more OF the world than they used to be. Yes, the media has changed a lot, but does that mean our heroes should change with it? Children have the gift of being able to inherently see the good in everything, so I am sure they aren't associating their heroes with the ones we know as teenagers and adults, but someday they will see those shows too; what will they think then?

i'd never been told that before

I'd never been told that I was really nice. I have been told that I am very up front about things, but not that I am nice in the way I voice them. I reminded someone of home. Of a person who is understanding and loving. An old friend.
I got to talking with a fellow student after we'd worked on our class project together. We were venting our frustrations about our professor and group projects and such. We ended the conversation talking about how teachers and others give advice. Teachers that give terrible degrading advice because that is how they are, not because they want to tear us down. Classmates who hate how you are doing something, but won't tell you that to your face. Then she asked me where I was from and told me that I reminded her of people from her home town in Colorado. She said that she usually had a hard time opening up to people, and I told her that she had done a great job opening up to me. She said that I made it really easy and that I was a nice person. One who speaks her mind and lets you know her business, but who voices her thoughts in a nice way. She said that I was like the people in Colorado.
She said I wasn't like most Utahns. I then asked her what she thought other Utahans were like. She said they are not up front with their business, that they put on their pretty faces and are dishonest with you. I said that those kind of people are what I call "fake". They put up a perfect facade, but underneath they are someone completely different. They feel like they have to impress everyone and stop being themselves. I definitely understand this. When I was growing up I felt like an outsider in my group of friends, sometimes I still do. I felt like they were being nice to be because they didn't want to be openly rude in front of me, but that as soon as I was gone they were different. It was like they couldn't be their true selves with me around. I felt the same way; I didn't fee like I could be myself around them because they wouldn't like me. I was too busy trying to please all of them, I forgot to be myself. I have learned now not to care as much what others think of me and I try to find friends that love me for the way I am.
Why is it that my new classmates feel comfortable enough to open up about their whole lives within a month of meeting me? This is why college was one of my favorite steps of live. I was told I would have to come to school during summer, before my friends from home would come down to start the normal semester in the fall. At first I didn't want to, but it grew on me. I was excited to get out of the life I'd lived at home, the friends I had there, and start the next chapter. I knew no one that summer, but I instantly clicked with my roommates and the friends I made during those two months. It was like I was in a new world. I was free to be myself without the labels I'd placed on myself in my grade-school years. From then on I have continued to live with people I don't know from home and I don't hang out with them much either. In a way they are the friends of a past life, with some overlap into this new one, and they are stuck there.
I am still working to change the way I think about my life before college, but it's easier said than done in my case. I have changed a lot in college. I have become more blunt and I have realized that I love being myself, not matter what people think of me. I felt trapped in my grade-school days and now I am free again! No one knew who I was that summer; they were meeting me for the first time. No one knew what I was like at home and they were able to form an opinion of me. Sometimes I think that the people who know me the best are the ones I met after high school. Do those friends really know me? Will they ever know me like this?

Studio Art

Last semester I took a Studio Art class for Art History Majors. In that class we did a little of this and a little of that; a little of everything. Ink painting, copper plate etching, linoleum engraving, egg tempura, oil painting, watercolor, sculpture, and fresco. Here are photographs of my work from last semester: I hope you have as much fun looking at them as I had while creating them! 

Ink Painting: Landscpape No.1

This was much like water color, but with only black paint. My teacher put a variety of things on the table and then told us to paint what we saw on our papers horizontally and it would automatically look like a landscape.

life is meant for the living

FAMILY. FRIENDS. ROOMMATES.

Disneyland!

Here are some fun memories from last summer. I think I am getting Spring Fever! I can't wait for it to be warm again and to be done with school for a few months! If you click on the link below you'll see pictures of the people and places I love. Enjoy!

dress up

      There's a stage in a little girl's life when she loves to play dress up. Not only is she dressed up at all times, but she also does so without batting an eye. She speaks her mind and doesn't worry that it isn't appropriate, or that someone will judge her. For a moment you get a glance of who she really is; how she sees herself in her own mind. She'll come out wearing a tu-tu, a sheriff's badge, butterfly wings, and holding a bow and arrow and she'll say that she's a superhero-ninja-fairy-princess. She loves all things girly when it comes to princesses and fairies. She listens as you read tales of  her heroes before she goes to sleep at night. She wants to be both; princess and hero. In her eyes the possibilities are endless. The world is her oyster, and the sky's her limit. She'll go anywhere, do anything, and be anyone. Imagination; that is the key to her world of fantasy and adventure.

 All too soon she'll grow out of this phase. First, she's girl in elementary worried about boys with cooties and how to write in cursive. Then she's teenager who worries what the other girls think of her clothes and now she thinks boys are cute. Eventually she'll find the man she wants to marry (one you approve of , of course) and you'll give her away to another man to weather the tests of marriage together. But she'll never forgot how she used to dress up and save people from the bad guys. You hope that she learns that life isn't about being someone else, it's about remembering who she is. She's your precious daughter. You'll love her forever.

       

 You may be asking why I am writing this. I don't have kids. I'm not a mom. I'll tell you why. The other day I heard a father telling this story about his little girl. Most of the last two paragraphs are his words; the other parts are me. I really liked his analogy, so I wrote it down. I hope you enjoyed it!

all in a semester

my name is Melinda Moon. you may know me as Mindy. i was born in Salt Lake City, Utah.  i have five brothers and two sisters. i am 20 years old. i am an Art History Major at Brigham Young University.  i plan to graduate in April 2013. i am single, and i love to take pictures, laugh, and travel.

Here's what I learned this semester: papers aren't that bad, procrastination stinks, roommates will always be messy, the Ensign is the best magazine in the world, i'm not a sophomore anymore (bummer), no matter how hard you try time keeps rushing by, cinder block are lethal, i love my family, making art to please someone else isn't fun, i now understand by people skip class, it's better to be busy than bored, i still love getting letters, i barely get on facebook anymore, worrying isn't worth it, living four blocks from campus is too far, unlimited texting is  amazing, being a friend can be the hardest thing and the best thing, working a ton gets old but the paychecks don't, and i went home almost every weekend this semester.