A Sneek Peek of Celeste

I'm having so much fun photographing these sweet babies that are only days or weeks old.  I just

can't help but think that they just came down from Heavenly Father.....

They are so sweet and precious and yes they CRY, and need to be FED, and get TIRED so they

SLEEP, and after they are FED they POOP, and they CRY some more,  All just facts of life,

but they are all part of these little babies.  They have dry flaky skin, splotchy red faces, sometimes they

are bruised and alien looking... but one thing I can't ever forget is how SPECIAL they are.

And the other thing I can't forget is the awesome families that these little children are born into.  People who

love them, and care for them and always want what's best for them.  So without further random life talk ...

HERE IS CELESTE she is two weeks old, and definitely a beauty!!

Our second celebration.... for anniversary number 12

This is LONG without pictures... if you get bored easily just skip this.

A lot has happened recently... some good some bad, and some I'd just rather plain forget about.

We went as a family to celebrate our Anniversary of becoming a family (meaning our marriage anniversary) on the 26th of June.

We decided that after Thomas's t-ball game that morning we would head up to Salt Lake area and hit up some of the "baseball" card shops that Chris had looked up a while back. We had a mapquest map and everything, and had planned to go to a certain restaurant for lunch with the family.

You see this restaurant used to be in Orem just 10 minutes from us. Up until the place closed several years ago. This of course, made our family sad because we couldn't frequent it very much anymore.

Yeah, we still went but only when we were driving 40 minutes plus in the car to do other things... and well, just not as convenient to drive home that far after eating.

The place was/is called Super Salad... if you like Salad this is the place to go!! Not kidding!!

So are day started out with a t-ball game that Thomas played in, followed by coming home and Chris doing a few things and within an hour or two we were ready to leave.

First stop was to go to the restaurant that was shown to be near all the card shops we wanted to check out. No such luck. The place had gone out of business or moved, whatever the case it wasn't there anymore.

Now I'm dealing with 5 children saying how hungry they are and need to eat right now or they would DIE. Oh the dramatics of those creatures.

So we decided to head to Sweet Tomatoes instead, I had a coupon in the car and it showed that within a mile from our current location was a store. We found the store no problem... only we did have a problem. The parking lot was EMPTY. Notta car anywhere... Strange. Because it was lunch time.

Found a not taped to the door that said something like.. Closed for Emergency repairs ...please enjoy visit our other location (one we've been to before, but not really close). Great Strike 2.

So we proceeded to head to the other location, which we knew how to get to. Got there and were able to eat no problem.

The girls noticed a guy that looked like "Robby Ray" from Hannah Montana, sitting in the restaurant and were getting all girly about it... they were kind of funny.

I had to go to the bathroom area, and unknown to me, as I was standing up this guy was getting up from across the room and we started walking in the same direction.

Now, don't go getting all crazy -- YET. I knew what my girls were thinking about this guy, and couldn't help but start giggling, and then he bumped into me as we passed. Accidental of course, but I couldn't stop laughing. Needless to say the girls thought it was funny. And so did I. (Sure wish I would have taken a picture DANG!!)

So after lunch....

We headed to the first card shop... NO LUCK... Second one.... out of business.... third one.... (I can't remember...oh wait, it was in the basement of someone's house, so we weren't going to stop there) Found the 4th one, but they already closed for the day. Found the last one, and had a hard time finding it... call the number and find out the business is still a viable business, except the owner was out of town for a family emergency for a few weeks....

Can you say BUM DEAL???

Although, we were able to go and visit with his sister and her family for a few minutes. So it wasn't a complete loss.
We would have visited with some other friends but knew they were out of town, so we didn't even try.
So we stopped at Target near Chris's work and looked at baseball cards there instead. And of course, he bought a few packs.

Anniversary number 12

Well not really a review of a restaurant but at least the one that our backyard was transformed into on our anniversary.

Okay before I totally forget...

Chris and I celebrated our 12th Anniversary this last Thursday, the 24th of June. Since it fell on a Thursday I didn't really feel like celebrating a whole lot, so we opted to really do something the 26th (Saturday).

But don't let me fool you and say we didn't do anything on our actual Anniversary. We most certainly had something going on.

Wednesday Night our daughters put together a menu and their Dad took them to the grocery store to buy a few items.

Thursday came and around 4pm the girls started putting our "special night" plans into action. They had bought a frozen lasagna, some rolls and stuff for salad. They put the lasagna in the oven and baked it for the needed time, and put together a salad (all on their own), and then they had one of the "extra" tables laying around moved to the backyard.  And I provided them with a tablecloth and they decorated it..... 

These are roses of my very own rose bushes. The loose petals on the table were ones that had fallen to the ground and they made use of them.

My neighbor supplied a pair of "tea light" lamps to put on the table, and I loved them.  Too bad I don't get to keep them.  But I do get to use them again, if I need to.  I love my neighbor.

They made little menus for us .... and Katherine played the part of the waitress and took our orders.  Chris decided to order for the both of us.  hehe...

I had to be in a picture or two...so I let one of the girls hold my camera to take a picture. 

So even though it wasn't a FANCY SCHMANCY dinner at some 5 star restaurant I do have to give my girls 2 thumbs up for all the thought they put into this, and the work it took to pull it off.  And for the most part we got to eat outside by ourselves.  They fed the other kids in the house, and we got to have a few minutes by ourselves.   They also got us a few gifts... Twix and a Reeces Fast Break candy bar. Along with a card and two pieces of trident gum. 

And I'll post more on how our Saturday turned out. 

My future Major Leaguer...

For the last several weeks we've had fun watching T-man play tee-ball.  He's had great coaches

and has had a team full of kids that have really come along the last several weeks.  Matter of fact, my son was standing in the "pitcher's" spot, and the kids are asked to get the ball after it's hit and throw it back to the "pitcher" who then throws it into the catcher who then places the ball onto the Tee. Well the ball was hit toward 1st base and then the boy playing first picked up the ball and threw it to Thomas.  Thomas held out his gloved hand and CAUGHT the ball being thrown at him by someone other than his Dad.  It was so cute to watch and all the onlookers saw him catch the ball and he got lots of cheers!!  I think him catching the ball surprised him big time!! Right after Thomas caught the ball he brought his gloved hand down, and looked over at us had a HUGE smile plastered on his face, and then with his right hand he gave us a thumbs up!!  Needless to say the boy was ELATED for the rest of the time.  It was fun watching him.  He is getting better at catching since he's been getting extra practice in with his Dad nearly every week.  So we told him we would do a Photo shoot with him so we could get his own "trading cards" printed and these were some of the shots we captured last Saturday.  We'll do some more this coming Wednesday so we can get him with his Yellow Jersey side on.  So he's now down to two games left and that leaves us with providing snacks on Wednesday nights game. 

Meet DJ

Have I told you lately how much I love BABIES!!! Oh boy, this one was really fun to take photos of.

Okay here's a sneak peek at this new little boy. He was born on the 5th of June and is so darn cute. Swing on by Cream of the Crop Photography to see more on him.

A sneak peek ...

I can't resist... but I wanted to share a picture or two of the little darling girl that I took pictures of today.

I'm having so much fun!!! So this is what I've been busy doing lately. Be sure and swing by Cream of the Crop Photography and Design and take a look at some of the other stuff. If you like what you see, let me know. And if you have suggestions... I'll accept that too.

My trip in hind view...

I know it's been a few days since I've posted, and that would be because we're on our "vacation" this year in good ole TRONA, CA. Okay, not that it's that great here, but this is where I grew up and just happens to be the dwelling place of my parents and most of my siblings. It's almost been a bit of a family reunion, except that one sister isn't here and is in Utah instead.

We've been here since June 5th, and the temps are excruciatingly HOT!! Something I did not like very much when I was younger but somehow survived it long enough to move away from.

Here's a synopsis of the trip so far.

• Thomas takes this trip to learn to "Be a MAN", meaning stopping on the side of the road to stand and pee behind a bush. 
• But only after he started to wet his pants in the car.  And this happening not too long after we started traveling. 
• Got to attend a baby blessing for my niece, and the kids went swimming the same day. (Come on, it's vacation 100 plus temps... it was HOT,  it was at the home of the person hosting the get together, and it was so inviting. So the kids were in the water not ME!!) 
• I had my first LARGE group photo shoot on Monday the 7th.  Prayed for clouds, I got them. But I also got WIND, which I didn't pray for. 
• While I was at the photo shoot 30minutes away. Kaylee was at Grandma and Grandpa's house with her dad and everyone else, and managed to take a chunk out of her foot with an exercise bike.  YUCK is all I'm going to say.
• Tuesday... I walked 2.7 miles, cleaned out my van, vacuumed it and then drove the 30 minutes to Ridgecrest, to have my sisters nurse friend take a look at Kaylee's injury. It was cleaned, and suture stripes were applied, and it was rewrapped with an ace bandage.  Great no beach swimming for her.
• Wednesday -- 4 car caravan, turned a 3 and half hour trip into 5 hours, and joined a fifth car in Oxnard, Ca at Hometown Buffet for lunch paid for by my parents.  (That's a lot of people)
• After dinner we turned into a 5 car caravan for a 30 minute drive up to Carpenteria State Beach Park for some fun in the sun.  People getting wet, and falling down, tide moving in, and things getting wet.  It was LOTS of fun!!
• Thursday... we're all tired, and having a nice lazy day.  And I'm feeling the itch to go back home to Utah.   It's pretty up there!! 
• Friday... will be our last day here... what to do?? 
• Saturday ... our drive home with a few planned stops in Vegas, and Mesquite (Are you ready for that Cluttered Brain??)

I can go into more details that make these short synopsis more funny and will probably answer a lot of questions. But those stories will come, after I return home.  (Thank goodness my parents have internet at least or I'd be going crazy!!)
And Pictures will have to wait till I'm home as well. It's not working on this computer.