Today is a great day! :)

Violet has a half day of school
Riley has school too...
I am doing a few last-minute errands while the kids are in school.
Then we will come home, straighten up the house a bit,
Finish last-minute packing,
go to Violet's parent-teacher conference,
then pile in the car... to go to DISNEYLAND!!!!
We will be at the Happiest Place on Earth from Thursday through Saturday!
Then we are going to Grown-Up Disneyland (aka IKEA!) on Sunday!!!!

WOOHOOOOOOO!!!
Be back late Sunday night! yippeeeeeee!!

Attempt #438 and 439

at getting a decent picture of the kids...





s i g h . .. . .. . ..

Updates & Such.

Violet lost her Mega-Tooth. Very cool. Tooth Fairy gave her a $2 bill and a bonus Disney dollar - just in time for next week's trip to Mouse-land :)

Riley's class had their Thanksgiving feast today. I thought it was Wednesday so I was not prepared - had to run out real quick and grab the veggies I had promised to bring, then realized as he was doing the "Gobble Gobble" dance that I was so unprepared I didn't even have a camera with me. Augh!!

I have been crazy crazy busy with photo sessions. Thank goodness the holiday ones are almost over and I will be able to breathe a little easy. Whew.

We did our family photo shoot at Redrock yesterday. 400 shots. You think there would be one where everyone is a) looking and b) smiling... but, well, there aren't so many. LOL. There were still a few good ones... so it wasn't a bust. Heh. Oddly enough, it was Violet who gave me the most trouble. Never would have suspected her!

I am on Green Bean Casserole duty for Thanksgiving. Would you believe I have never made it before? Took me forever to find those durn French Fried Onions... but I did, finally :) Hopefully I can figure out how to make it. Can't be too hard, right?

The inlaws are coming for Thanksgiving.

I am in major clean and purge mode. I want to just throw everything away. It's insane.

The Thursday after Thanksgiving we will be in Disneyland.
I.
CANNOT.
WAIT.

I am 75% done with Christmas shopping. I am very proud of myself :)

Back to photo editing...

Cooties

Our house if full of cooties. Ew. Violet had the pukes on Friday. I got them Saturday night, Riley got them Sunday, and Rick got them Sunday night. All sorts of grossness over here. 12 hours straight of puking for each of us.

I had to cancel two photoshoots this weekend. Waaaaaah!

I am finally feeling better. Sort of.
I don't want to eat anything - but I am forcing myself to partake little by little in the BRAT diet, just to have something in my stomach. Let me say that although I appreciate the 6 pounds I lost in one night, I do not recommend trying this at home as a weight loss remedy.

Off to drink some gingerale.

Working on our family pictures...

I thought these were cute of the kids :)

Confidential to my family...

Dad. It's been 6 months. Again. Time to post a blog update. :)

Mom. Did you forget how to use blogger? I think it's actually been longer for you.

Melinda. An update was promised last week. Um, hi. You are in Korea. I live for your blog updates.

Liane. You *are* back in town. Again. Blog.

Carl. How's that Abercrombie job going? Maybe if you updated your blog we'd know.

Rick. Okay. that was a long shot.

And my update: Violet is well on her way to losing tooth #2 and 3 at the same time... When her bottom teeth grew in, two of them came out fused together. And they are very loose, which means they will be coming out together. Soon. I heard the tooth fairy gives out $2 bills for stuff as special as that. We'll see...

Christmas Card Designs!

Click on the link to go to my site - the card designs are in the "portfolio" section.
Anyone who has had a session with me in the past can also order cards, too!

Loads of pictures

As promised, Halloween...


Riley was a trash man :)


The best part? He got to be a trash man on trash day. Let me just say that those guys thought he was the cutest dude ever!


This is him saying "I'm a trash mam [sic]!"


Violet was Snow White... like the wig?



This was just before going to her classroom for her school party - Riley wanted to be in costume, too... but this time as Tigger...




He would not walk anywhere. It was all hopping, all the time!

Poor Lonely Pluto...
While in Riley's classroom, Liane and I got a glimpse of this poster on the wall...



Okay. Look a little closer...

How sad is that??!

Finally, the big finale...


Reeeeally wiggly...


Violet doing the last tugging...


And it's out!!

Guess what?

Violet lost her first tooth!

Pictures to come... of the tooth, and Halloween. :)

Every time

I go to a trade show, I come back in a funk. I don't want to scrapbook or be online or *DO* anything anymore. Maybe it was cause I was most likely up till 2 am every day the week before the show getting ready... maybe it was the intensity of being there, seing everyone, and seriously being on the go from the moment I wake up to the moment I would go to bed (which is usually never before midnight). Maybe it's the laundry and cleaning I come home to... (which, by the way, I am wayyy on top of right now... the laundry is ALL done and all the bathrooms sparkle)... or maybe it's just real life and everything. Regardless, I have definitely been in a blogging and emailing funk. But that is not for lack of things to share. So, here's the rundown of everything and stuff...

• We are getting a pool table on Monday! WOOHOO!! It will go in our dining room, so we are getting rid of our dining room table. Which brings me to the next point:
• We are selling our dining room table set!
  
  If you are interested, or know anyone who is, let me know! We will try and move it this Saturday at our garage sale. (Segue now):
• We are having a garage sale on Saturday morning! Getting rid (hopefully) of our dining room table, little tikes play stuff (turtle sandbox, pool with slide, kitchen set, and kids cozy couple convertible), lots of old scrapping supplies, and a few odds and ends.
• Violet's got a few more softball games left in the season. If you aren't busy on a saturday late afternoon or evening, meet us at the field and watch some really cute kids trying to throw, catch, and hit. It's a riot.
• Riley's a little soccer dude. And he is hysterical. His games are on Saturday mornings (except for this Saturday)... and if you want to see him playing, just let us know and we'll send you a schedule.
• I just came back from Memory Trends, a scrapping trade show in town. Crazy fun and busy and cool. I had the most fun in an old fashioned photo booth at one of the vendor's displays. I think I went back 40 times! (I know I owe people some scans! They are coming, I promise!)
• I got to be roomies with April Peterson, one of the finalists for Scrapbooker of the Year. In fact, I was her date to the big winner's reception! She is a great roomie and it was a fabulous time! :)
• I want a photo booth of my own, in my living room. Wouldn't that be so stinking fun??! Everyone who comes over has to take their pictures in it! So much cooler than a guestbook. And then I could rent it out for weddings, birthday parties, and mitzvahs. ;)
• My photo business, Speckled Bird Art, is doing great! I still have a few openings left in November... so if anyone wants Christmas photos done, send me an email!
• The inlaws are visiting this weekend. Pray for my sanity as I get ready!
• Carl and I are working on converting part of my garage into a studio for Liane. We painted the walls the other day. It looks like a Rothko painting. Freaking ROCKS!!! I can't wait to get it done for her so that when she comes home from her trek she can come over and just be CREATIVE with me!
• I got an email from the trekkers! Bhutan was great and they are done with their crazy long 2 week hike. They are meeting with one of the queens (!!!) today and then will be going to do sightseeing and shopping and touristy stuff in Thailand, then heading to Bali for a little R&R before coming home. Que vida...
• I am working on some cool things scrapbooking-wise that will be a lot of fun. More on that when I can share!
• I went to the Gilcrease Orchard this year with Riley and a couple friends. Some pumpkin poacher had stolen all the pumpkins, so we couldn't get any there, but there was plenty of apple picking and zucchinis! I came home with two zucchinis. They were a minimum of 18 inches long. I used 1/4 of one in dinner last night, and that was still too much for what we were making. My poor family will be having sauteed zucchini, zucchini bread, zucchini salad, and much more before the week is out. lol
• I've been working out 5 days a week consistently, and I am starting to feel like there's been a bit of a payoff! Now if I can make it through Halloween candy season without blowing it...
• I am late for picking up Violet from school, so I have to go!! :)

Yet another tag!

My friend Ursula tagged me, so here goes!

List 5 weird things about yourself or your pets:

1. I have dimples on the back of my shoulders. Everyone who sees them comments on them. And here I thought all this time that everyone had them. Turns out that's not the case!

2. Once, when I was a kid, I thought I would try and go for the world record of standing on your head. My sister Melinda would time me and I would be there, in the living room, on my head for quite some time. I got up to about 12 minutes once. Apparently, though, that wasn't enough to break the record.

3. I am related to pirates. Really! Way back in the family tree is a pirate named Claude Bonnet who once conquered Madagascar and was made king... but his reign didn't last long. He was overthrown after a few years.

4. I have vivid dreams every night. In color. My favorites are the ones where I am flying. It's crazy cause in my dream I totally get that feeling you get on rollercoasters when you are going down the track - I imagine that must be what it feels like to be in a dive when you are flying.

5. My dog Barabbas never needs a leash. As long as I have a ball in my hand, he is completely under my control. He doesn't even care if there are other dogs around. All he sees is the ball.

And now I tag...
Mimby
Joelle
Shontell

Get on it, girls! :)

I know it's been awhile,

But I have been busy...

on my new website! Come check it out ;)
(click on the image below)

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... ;)