mom and sleeping baby

I absolutely LOVE this picture!!!

fun graphic arts picture play

teenagers, senior pictures

babies!

cute kids!

The Purple Turtle Fire

This is the original Purple Turtle which opened in 1968. In 1979 Clark Evans (Steve Cobbley is also an owner)  bought the Purple Turtle in 1979 and added the indoor seating. In 1993 the drive-thru window was added and in 1999 the roof was replaced with a pitch roof.

On Saturday morning, Jan 25th, at aprox 7am a witness, (Dakota Lyodd) called 911 to report a fire in the Purple Turtle. By 7:11am the fire department was on scene and within 90 minutes the had the fire out. The fire which started in a faulty light switch near the drive-up window, filled 90% of the building with smoke. Within 2 hours Servpro was on site and starting on the restoration. They worked tirelessly to get the place cleaned up and ready to open less then a week after the fire.

The pitched roof that had been put on in 1999 had a "tongue in grove" under lay which saved the roof in the fire. The fire department told the owners that another 20 minutes and they would have lost the roof. The rock exterior on the original building had not been removed during the renovations in 1979 when they added the indoor seating and the rocks served as a barrier to the fire spreading to the rest of the kitchen.

 Even though it took 2 days for the insurance to come and look over the damage, Servpro was authorized to work on certain areas and the owners say they did an amazing job on the restoration! The Pleasant Grove fire department was also praised by the owners as responding so quickly and doing a great job making sure the fire was out.

Owners Clark Evans and Steve Cobbley

A Narrow Group of People

My project was to find a narrow group of people who have something in common, the more narrow the better. I had already decided that I was going to have my group be tall women with large shoe sizes.

I work for Sports Imaging Photography of Utah taking pictures of kids sports teams. When one of the teams came through with a female coach who was tall, now granted, since I am only 5'4, a large portion of the female population are taller then me; I gathered up my courage and asked her what size shoe she wore. When she told me that it was a size 12, I knew that I had found the narrow group I was searching for; tall women who are mothers of children who play Jr Jazz BB, have a large shoe size and are or have been coaches. I pushed myself to go into the crowd and ask tall women what size shoe they wore. After establishing that they had a large enough shoe size I asked if they had any coaching experience and then if I could photograph them. I didn't have a lot of time since I was at work, so I grabbed my personal camera and snapped a few pictures before the next group came. 

My second group of women coaches also had the same things in common... they are women who have children playing Jr Jazz BB, they are taller then I am, they have coached something, and have a size 9 or larger shoe.

 This is Kenielle Kearl. She is 5'10 and wears a size 12 shoe.

 This is Jara Hatfield. She is 5'9 and wears a size 10 shoe.

 This is Julie Cameron. She is 5'11 and wears a size 10 shoe.

 This is Heather Carlson. She is 5'10 and wears a size 10.

I found out as I was photographing this next woman that she is a former Miss USA, she also worked for ESPN and is now a host on ABC's Good Things Utah. While she said she was never technically a sports coach I am sure that she was and probably still is a mentor to young women.

This is Gretchen Polhemus Jensen and she wears a size 9.5-10 shoe.

 Erica Valgardson has a daughter playing Jr Jazz BB for Pleasant Grove. She has coached volleyball and basketball for about 5 years and loves to coach the younger girls teams. She is 6' tall and wears size 11 shoe. — with Erica Valgardson.

Maelynn Tanoai has been the supervisor for Jr Jazz basket ball in Pleasant Grove for the last 2 years. She coaches mostly girl's volleyball and also plays women's volleyball. She is 5'11 and has a size 12 shoe. — with Maelynn Tanoai.

 Sarah Prentice has a daughter playing Jr Jazz BB for Pleasant Grove and been a coach for 7th and 8th grade BB for about a year. She is 5'9 and wears a size 11 shoe.

 Valorie Draper coaches 3rd and 4th grade girl's Jr Jazz BB for Pleasant Grove. She has been coaching since college and loves helping kids of all ages learn the techniques of playing sports. She is taller then me (I forgot to ask) and wears a size 9 shoe.