sports season

has begun here!
riley's in soccer...


i love his hair flowing in the breeze here... lol


and violet's in softball! she did great at her first game, even getting a base hit!



her face when she hits the ball just cracks me right up ;)



this of course means that my schedule consists of: picking up kids from school, driving them to practice, going to another practice and/or game, finding some sort of time for dinner, getting homework done in the car or while riley practices, and trying to get to bed at a decent hour. repeat almost daily.

but i tell you what, these kids sure are fun to watch!

New York, New York

it's a helluva town...


my favorite photo :)


waiting for the train to take us in to the city... we totally weren't supposed to be able to go, but circumstances allowed us to get here. We got a ride from some locals to the train station and got there just in time to get a train to Penn Station...


We decided to chance it - and with 15 minutes to showtime, we took a cab to Broadway to see what show we could get in to...


And with just 3 minutes to spare we ended up at the Minskoff Theater to see The Lion King!!! AAAAAAAAAH!!! It was incredible. Amazing. I cried the entire first act. I think it was the combination adrenaline, being in NYC, and the beautiful production! WOW.


At intermission it really sunk in - we were looking right onto TIMES SQUARE!!!!


Afterward, we went into this little deli and had THE MOST AMAZING GYROS EVER. Mary was especially enamored of them ;)


And Lisa could *not* get enough of the street vendors selling purses. Yes. She bought all of these. Five dollars each. :)


And at the end of the night, I successfully hailed us a cab to go back to the train station!

It may have been just six hours on a Friday night in New York City, but I will never forget it!

Off to New York...

for my first trip there ever! I am so excited I can hardly stand it!
Technically I am just going to Long Island (for a scrap convention), but there is a chance we'll get to go into the city for a bit! Oh I hope so!!!

I'll be back Sunday... hopefully with photos! :)

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

The Good:

WE CAN NOW PARK TWO CARS IN OUR GARAGE!!!!
We got rid of God-knows-how-much-crap we've been hoarding since our move. Dumb stuff we've been hanging onto for who-knows-why. The front of our house has 6 LARGE boxes filled with trash, as well as our rolling trash bin and another trash can. Aaaaah. Feels so good to purge!

The Bad:

Titus is still teething. Every time we leave him for a moment, he finds something new to chew on. At least it's keeping us on our toes as far as cleaning goes - anything left out is fare game to become a puppy teething ring. And that can be bad when it's an old photo of your hubby.

The Ugly:

Looking through all my business licensing paperwork, it seems as though I will have to go back (insert pukey emoticon here) and change an aspect of them. Currently I have a license to do photography ONLY. No selling of photos (just found that clause buried under some Nevada Revised Statute paperwork they handed me), so if I want to do more than offer a CD of my clients' images, I will have to get the "selling" portion of my license added. I think that's another $150 or so. Right now I think I will be okay with what I have... but I was hoping to be able to offer my clients the option of getting their Christmas cards and other photo-related gifts from me. Hopefully it won't be a mega-hassle. But since I've been there before, I am sure it will be ugly.

Start your own business in 44 EASY steps!

1. Print out all the forms off the Internet
2. Fill them out
3. Reprint the one you filled out wrong and fill it in again
4. Look around the house till you find your checkbook in a random drawer
5. Head down to the Department of Taxation
6. Take a number
7. Wait about 2 hours
8. Finally get called up to the counter
9. Find out you were supposed to have applied for a "fictitious firm name" with the county first.
10. Thank the lady behind the counter for letting it go this time
11. Fill out a new form since the one you already did twice was still wrong
12. Receive completed tax form
13. Drive to the county offices
14. Thank Jesus that there is no wait
15. Fill out forms to establish business name "Speckled Bird Art"
16. Pay the lady $22
17. Receive completed form
18. Drive to the city offices
19. Get lost looking for City Hall
20. Scrounge through the car for enough loose change to feed the parking meter
21. Get to the Business Licensing division offices
22. Take a number
23. Get called up to the counter
24. Show the lady the forms
25. Find out you first need to go the the Planning Division for a permit for home occupancy
26. Get directions to the office
27. Leave City Hall and drive to planning division
28. Take a number
29. Get called to the counter
30. Receive completed form
31. Drive back to city hall
32. Rejoice when no one has taken your parking space so you still have 40 minutes on your meter!
33. Go back to the Business Licensing office
34. Take another number
35. Get called up to the counter again
36. Find out you also filled those forms out wrong
37. Re-fill out the forms after nice lady whites out the entire section you screwed up
38. Receive paperwork and bill for $280
39. Write check to the city
40. Find out you have to go upstairs to the 6th floor to pay the check.
41. Take the elevator upstairs
42. Wait in line for your turn to pay
43. Pay the city and get a receipt
44. Wait one week for the Official Business License arrives at your home!

Back to School

Woohoo! It really is back to school cause Violet's going back this year. Wednesday was the start of Violet's first grade year. She was SO ready to go back to school to see her friends and teachers. I was SO ready to have a routine back in our lives!!


The first grader before school. We had our traditional "first day of school waffle breakfast" for her too... I love it!


This is her first grade teacher, Mrs. K!


Just a last kiss from Daddy goodbye and she was off to class. I am so glad that Rick wants to be involved with stuff like this. He told his coworkers that he was going to be late on Wednesday because he was taking his daughter to school. I just love that :)


And afterward, Violet walked with Riley and told him about all the cool things you get to do in first grade... like when you want to go to the bathroom you need a special hall pass, and in first grade you get to go to library, and at lunch recess you get to play on the BIG playground!


I love Back to School :)

Busy week it has been.

Found out a friend's wife died this past week, on their 10th anniversary, hiking at Zion National Park. They were at the top of a trail called Angel's Landing and stopped to take a picture, and for whatever reason lost her footing and fell off the cliff. He had turned around for a second to put down the camera bag and she was gone. 1200 feet down. That was a tough thing for me to process - these people are my age. Married almost as long as me and Rick. And thinking about the hurt and emptiness that our friend must feel was emotionally wrenching for us. Knowing that she is Home with the Lord is what makes it all okay. She was an amazing, incredible person who loved Jesus the way we should all love Him. And now she's with Him. Wow.

The next day I did a photo shoot with Liane and Carl. We took lots of fun, random pictures of them and got a few good ones for the newspapers and stuff like that. I want to take them out again and do more - it was crazy windy the day we went, and we weren't able to go in late afternoon like I had hoped, so some of the shots I was hoping for didn't turn out. No worries, though. We'll just keep taking pics till I get ones I like ;)

Friday morning at 7:30 I took Riley to the dentist. Did I share that he had FOUR cavities, one of them so bad he was gong to need a "baby root canal" and a crown??? On his little 3 year old mouth??! Yeah. Bad mom. Well Friday we did the left half of his mouth. Baby root canal, another filling, and sealant applied to another tooth that had "potential" to get bad. We went witha pediatric dentist that used a "cocktail" sedation and nitrous oxide to help him relax. Oh cause did I mention how we tried to do the fillings once before with our regular dentist and he had a panic attack in the chair when the dentist started drilling? Yeah. Not pretty. But this time it was much better. In fact, he was so relaxed he actually ended up falling asleep during the procedure, so the dentist had no problem taking care of him. His crown still hurts him a little bit, so we have been giving him tylenol at night. And in 2 weeks he gets the other side - that one is 2 fillings and a sealant, so it won't be nearly as bad. We'll still do the sedation just to keep it safe and comfy for him, though.

While Riley's teeth were getting fixed, my friend Joelle had her baby at a nearby hospital. A beautiful little girl named (I believe... cause they weren't totally sure last I talked to them) Ireland Rain. They will call her Rain. So pretty. And I heard so is she :). I still need to get over and see them. Every time I had a chance to go over there and visit her, Joelle has been asleep or it was too late. This week I will meet little Rain!

The funeral was today. This was the first funeral I have ever attended. I could not believe the number of people who attended. The church had every single available seat (including folding chairs) out... even all the coffee shop chairs... and still there were dozens of people standing in the back of the sanctuary. It was a beautiful service, but so hard to see our friend grieve for his wife. She was a beautiful singer and performer, and at the end they had a photomontage that played on the screens accompanied by a recording of her singing "Amazing Grace." Wow. It was incredible. She touched so many lives while on earth, and so many more even today.

Home now tonight working on a million deadlines while Rick has Violet at softball practice (today she's learning how to pitch!). Crazy how life continues on. I pray for my friend every night that he can find the strength to continue on, too.

And, finally, I found this fabulously great version of Canon in D that I think Liane and Carl need to use in their wedding ;)... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5Sl8sZuT-U

Violet's new bedroom

Finally. Finally.
The last evidence of the previous owners is GONE.
We painted Violet's bedroom.
From the beginning, I hated the room. Sponge-painted an awful blue (which really isn't all that bad, till you look closely at it and see where they obviously got tired and just started loosely rolling on the paint). And of course, the room isn't small. 11x19... with vaulted ceilings. You can see why this project was a pretty daunting task. But we did it. The "before" photo was actually how the previous owners decorated it, cause for some reason I never took a picture of Violet's stuff in the room. No matter... cause all of it changed, anyway...


The first task was to prime the walls. As you can see that blue just wanted to peek through no matter what!!!

Next, we started painting... lavender on the bottom and white on the top. The white (Behr One Coat Premium) took 3 coats. Over the primer. Arrrrggggggh.

We hoped to get it done in one night, but because of so many coats of white, it took an extra day. This was the barricade we set up to keep the kids out. :)

And, then... it was done :)

New blinds, curtains, and accessories really added to the look.

We got the lamps, bedding, and pillows at Target on clearance! Gotta love clearance!

Violet was so surprised!!

She just loves her room... and has been so responsible about keeping it clean and making her bed every day! Riley can't wait till it's his turn for a new room... ;)

Pain.

I am in pain.
I have been doing so well... the entire month of July I was working out 6 days a week. Then I went on vacation and I slacked a bit, but I am back in the swing of things.

So Erin and I took a kickboxing class the other day with a seriously SCARY instructor. Scary body-builder-fake-boobs-and-tricolor-hair lady. Terrifying. And the class. PAIN. I lost all use of my left arm within the first 5 minutes of class, then my thigh muscles seized up about halfway through and I knew I was done.

Back to trusty ole Spin Class. Where I hurt good and there isn't pain afterward.

But on Tuesday Erin and I thought we'd shake it up a bit. There was another kickboxing class, but we were afraid. So we decided to take the "One Stop Shop" class instead. It was billed as an intro to body pump, step, and dance. Seemed cool! So we got there.

AND SCARY INSTRUCTOR LADY WAS TEACHING THE CLASS.

I should have run far far away. But I didn't (I am dumb).
I introduced myself, told her this was my first class, and asked what equipment to get.
She told me to get the bands, hand weights, barbell with weights, step, and a mat.
The bands are all different colors. Which one to choose? I grabbed a green one and asked her if there was a difference, or would this be okay. She said no, green is bad. I should get blue or purple. Here I was, thinking she was being nice to the newbie. NOPE. Green is the beginner band. Blue & purple are for scary-body-builder-fake-boobs-and-tricolor-hair ladies. But by the time I figured that out, it was too late. At least I was smart enough to ignore her when I was getting my barbell set up with the small weights and she was telling us to have a minimum of two large ones on each side. I think she was seriously trying to kill us.

So the class.
The class.
First it was stretching and weights. I got the 5 pound hand weights (probably should have gotten the 3 once I knew what she was having us do). All of this to scary fast dance mixes. Over and over and over and over. Then she would start counting down... six! Five! Four! Three! Two! One! OKAY! TEN MORE!!!!!!!
Every.Single.Time.
Pain.

Then it was Step time. I can do steps. Up and down. Easy.
Nope.
Scary body-builder-fake-boobs-and-tricolor-hair lady also teaches Step 2 and Step 3 and Advanced Step (who knew??). And Her moves were so fast and crazy I could barely keep up. But it was cool cause my arms got a bit of a rest. Twist! Turn! Mambo! Triple Step! Over! Across!!!
Pain.

Finally, dance.
Not just any kind of dance, mind you.
Hoochie dancing.
In fact, her words were "If you can hump, you can do this move!"
I kid you not.
And then as I was trying to stand, squatting, thrusting out my hips in unnatural ways, I was trying desperately to get Scary body-builder-fake-boobs-and-tricolor-hair lady humping out of my head.
SQUAT LOWER! MOVE THOSE HIPS! LET ME SEE THAT SHAKIRA MOVE!
At one point (and I am not making this up), she was having us LIFT UP OUR SHIRTS to show off our tight bellies.
Let me take this moment to share that I do not have a tight belly.
I was not going to lift up the shirt.
SQUAT LOWER!! YOU KNOW YOU DO THIS MOVE WITH YOUR MAN! DO IT HERE!
Oh.My.Word.
The pain.
PAIN.

The end of class could not come fast enough.
I will never. Ever. take a class from Scary body-builder-fake-boobs-and-tricolor-hair lady again.
Today I could hardly walk.
In fact, this morning I fell down the stairs cause my leg muscles decided not to properly contract when they were supposed to. So now I have also pulled something in my arm that was holding onto the railing.
I cannot sit to pee.
The more the day wore on, the worse I have gotten.
I am not sure how I will get up the stairs to bed. Cause that will mean that tomorrow morning I have to come back down the stairs.
And all I can imagine...
is the pain.

(no pain, no gain, right???)

Puppy Breath

Meet Titus, the newest member of our family :)
He is 4 months old and in this picture was just playing in the sandbox at a local park (hence the chunks of dirt clinging to his bottom lip). We adopted him on Friday afternoon and he's already made himself right at home with us. Rabbas and Wes like him just fine, as long as he doesn't bug them ;). He lost a tooth yesterday, which the kids think is just the coolest. And he still has the sweetest puppy breath ever. :)

Birthdays with my friends are so much fun

Erin celebrated her last year in her 20s by going out with Mel & me. GREAT choice, cause you know we will make it waaaaaay fun.

We started out at BJs for drinks, food, and a special Happy Birthday Pizookie for Erin... then killed some time takign funny pics in the bathroom before heading across the street to the Red Rock casino to play the 11 p.m. Bingo ;)

It was just after 10 when we got there, so we walked around and found the most FABULOUS giant round couch. It was just fantastic. So we spent a good half an hour taking silly photos of ourselves!

At We played the 11 pm Bingo game. We each got a "Small Rainbow", so there were 8 different cards we played at once. We were daubin' fools!!! We each got pretty close, but none of us ended up winning. Afterward, Mel used her dauber as a microphone and conducted mock "interviews" with Erin about whether or not the entrance to the "Cherry" nightclub at the hotel was supposed to look like a vagina. (trust me, it does)

That hotel was chock full of fun places to take photos (Liane and Carl! We should totally do engagement shots there!! No, not *THERE*. At the hotel. No, not The HOTEL. The Red Rock. No, not Red Rock. Oh forget it.)

Anyway, without further ado, the evidence that Jessie had one to many Lemon Drops...

Maybe she's smiling cause

Carl officially proposed and there's a ring to prove it :)


CONGRATULATIONS LIANE!!!! :)

How could I forget??

My favorite picture of sisterly love...

Liane and Melinda laughing at some sort of inside joke :)

A million updates to do...

Since I last blogged...

I went out with Mel & Cara for Cara's birthday...


And got to meet Mel's favorite Vegas singer, Nick Motil...


Violet got a new haircut... (doesn't she look so old now??)


I went to Chicago on a whirlwind trip to CHA... and met some fabulous friends!


And also got to hang out with our "flat friends" who couldn't make the show... those flatsies got in alllll sorts of trouble!


and Mel Bauer (my long lost sista!) and I got a killer deal on these new scrap bags!


Went to Virginia for a week on a family vacation...
We rode a 4 person bike on Virginia beach...


Attended Liane's jewelry show...


Violet was tired of waiting for "the show" to start, so she put on her own performance...


And had a fabulous time at the Tripodi's house on The River!
Violet and Riley spent the whole time playing with the cousins...


We attended a carnival and rode the ferris wheel...


Tinty and Luke thought the three dudes who crammed into the seat behind them were pretty funny...


And the kids had a great time playing with body crayons... Violet turned Riley into Spiderman!


And probably the most surprising thing to happen on vacation?
Luke sharing his tattoos with ABU! and MUMA! And MAMALALI!!!!! OH MY!!!!!!!!!


What a fabulous trip!

Now I am home, buried under laundry piles and things to do... I just realized that school starts at the end of the month. I need to take the kids back to school shopping and I need to get stuff organized around here for the school year.

But the really cool thing I wanted to share today...
I finally was able to get a piece of art from Amy Ruppel!
Check it out: http://www.amyruppel.com/artsale/i5.html
I've been wanting to buy one of her birds for months... but I always miss her online sales. Not this time, though! I got online right as the sale started and got to pick my favorite right away! WOOHOO!! This is a total splurge for me... but I have admired her work forever and now I get to own my very own piece of it!