JEALOUS

Last weekend my mom and sister got to go to Idaho to see my daughter, my son, my nephew and two nieces!  I'm so jealous!  They all looked so happy!  And I'm grateful for family who looks out for each other.  I'm also grateful for my sweet nieces who remember to take pictures and send them to me!  I can sorta live vicariously through these fun images! 

GJ - Cody - Gary - Mariah

Kiara - Shanae

Mil

Idaho Grandkids

Photo Shoot by Shanae - at the Gardens

My extremely handsome nephew!

Isn't he a catch?

If you know any amazing young women, I'll set them up!  ;-)

These two are definitely still in love!

I love having a daughter AND son!

Shanae is so pretty - inside and out!

Eskimo Kisses are best!

My gorgeous mother!

I hope I can grow up to be just like her!

GJ and Mariah

Two of my favorite people ever!

I'm PROUD to be related to them!

GJ also took them all out to lunch.  So much fun!

Being silly at the restaurant...

Cute

OK - careful with the PDA!  (Just kidding!)

I just finished reading an amazing memoir.  I was inspired.  I was entertained.  And I learned a lot from William Kamkwamba's thirst for knowledge and his struggle to better himself and his family.  The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind is a book I will recommend to anyone who will listen.  While reading this book, I thought to myself, "How spoiled am I?"  William struggled to afford school.  They suffered famine.  They had no energy for lights or water or any of the things I take for granted.
He was an amazing young man.  He worked hard.  He did hard things.  He endured.  He studied on his own.  He worked hard.  He was kind.
I'm surprised how much I enjoyed reading and learning from this book.  It was what I needed to read right now.  I feel like I will never complain again. - of course - after a few days, this feeling will probably recede to the far corners of my mind... but if I can remember William's story and his qualities, perhaps I can make the world a little better for the people around me also.

WORK LIKE YOU DON'T NEED THE $$$

I LOVE my job!  And I LOVE some of the beautiful locations I get to take pictures!  And I LOVE the people I work with!  The season started again....

This was our crew on Tuesday...

We decided to get pizza afterwards together.

Usually I only work with one or two of them at a time.

It's fun times to work with these characters!

Shout outs to Edie, Heather, Penny and Will - whom I have worked with for 3 years!

They rock!

PSYCH PARTY

Katia and Amy decided we needed a Psych Party!  And we did NEED it!  We ate all the foods mentioned in the show (which was delicious - but an odd pairing of foods).  We watched our favorite episodes.  We played Psych Bingo with prizes.  And Katia made us each our own individual shirts with personalized quotes from the show. 

Ready to celebrate!

Me - Katia chose my quote!

I do look good in jeans...  ha ha ha!

Scott loves all the "Gus don't be a...." quotes!

Mark - We've always suspected he might have super powers - or super senses?!

Amy loves teaching math!

This quote perfectly describes my baby girl!

Juice is very humble!

Nuts of often referred to as "son!"

Marmalade loves the most famous quote from the show!

Juice wants to be an astronomer when he grows up.

His reaction to his quote was to laugh and say "perfect!"

Jelly Bean got to watch one episode....

And Raisin wanted her picture taken too!

Tacos, Pizza, Pineapple, Doritos, Chinese food, quatro quesos dos fritos, and pancakes

Scott made the quatro quesos dos fritos.  YUM!

We also ate powdered donuts, and Twinkies, and Skittles, etc.

I definitely went into a food coma - glad we don't do this every day.

These two were excited to share a BIT of the party...

Spending time with dear friends and watching a fun show is the perfect party! 
Thanks, Amy and Katia!

Scott enjoyed the evening so much that he channeled Tim Currey's character the next morning, after our Psych and sugar coma:  "I feel like an angel baby swaddled in a cocoon of cloud candy!"

TWENTY THREE

What does 23 years of marriage look like?

(We celebrated 23 years at Chuys - Yum!)

It looks like:

August 11, 1995 - Sealed by Grandfather in the Denver Temple for time and all eternity!

Lived in Grand Junction, Colorado!

Gave birth to this beautiful girl in October of 1998!

This adorable girl was born two years later in June 2000!

Look how gorgeous they are now!

We have such wonderful girls!

Moved to Las Vegas for 7/8 years!

Lived in Arizona for 3 years....

Now we live in Paradise - Shelbyville, Kentucky!

We love reading and talking about books!

(And... yes, we need glasses now!)

We love purple and yellow!

And we LOVE Speedway sodas!

(Scott drinks Diet Dr. Pepper and I love Diet Coke!)

We love playing games!

And we love each other!

I'm so glad he is my forever!

FOR THE LOVE OF SPRAY PAINT, GNOMES, AND HIPS

A few things that I love right now:
I LOVE spray paint!  My outdoor furniture was rusted and looking about 18 years old.  (It is 18 years old.)  So I bought some spray paint and it looks brand new!  Check it out:

BEFORE - with rust and missing paint

AFTER - Joy!  Happiness!  Spray Paint!

I LOVE little girls who think they know how to dress themselves!  Check out Raisin's attempt:

I LOVE that my husband loves gnomes!  I didn't know about his enthusiasm for the little creatures until 3 or 4 months ago when he expressed that he would enjoy creating a gnome garden.  I found these cute little autumn gnomes for 40% off at Hobby Lobby this week... so I got them for him.  He was elated!

I LOVE walking every day with my best friend!  And we often see such fun and cool critters....  This little garter snake was only about 4 inches long.  He was so cute!

I LOVE going back to work.  I start music lessons again this week and taking pictures again next week.  I'm so grateful I get to work with such wonderful kids!  And I love my jobs!

I LOVE that my mother's hip replacement surgery went well.  (She didn't want pictures of herself in the hospital...) But my sister managed to get a picture of her vitals machine and the flowers I sent her!  She's doing well!  And I know that Heavenly Father will help her heal completely so she can continue being the amazing mother/grandmother that she is!  I am soooooooooooo blessed that she is my mom!  I wanna grow up to be just like her!