Introducing baby boy Shepherd!

My sister just had her third baby today! We are all so excited and wanted to share him with family and friends. He has not been given a name yet. They had a name picked out for him but felt it didn't suit him when he was born so they are hoping to agree with a name by tomorrow. Mommy is doing very well and hoping to go home in a few days.

4th of July fun!

Just a few days behind on these but better late then never! I told grandpa all about how Madison for the first time in a long time would sit still long enough for me to take some photos of her. Over the last year she has become a pill to photograph and find myself wanting to take pictures of my other little monkey Ryan cause he is such a little poser for me! We had a great 4th of July and went to a friends house and had a BBQ, did a few fireworks and just let the kids play play play! :)

A lot has happened to us this week. Moving into a new home (bigger and lots of yard for the kids!) We are very excited for this. Found out that Ryan will have to undergo another surgery on his boy parts :( gotta make sure it is taken care of so this mommy can have some grandbabies. :) And also he is undergoing testing at a neurologists to find out what is causing "tics" that he keeps having in his face over the last couple weeks. A lot is going on but looking forward to finding out the results so we can figure out what steps we need to do to help him get through this!

Play Date at the Stewarts House!

Summer is FINALLY HERE!! The kids and I have already vacationed in Las Vegas and now enjoying play dates at my girlfriends house. It is so fun just hanging out with friends and their kiddos. I am not going to even pretend that I will keep up on this blog... but I do have the best intentions. My business has taken off much faster then I EVER anticipated and overwhelmed with moving into a new home, taking care of the three kiddos with a husband who still works out of town 5 days a week. :( It's hard but I am so thankful for the work and even more grateful that my father in law has been so helpful with the kids so that I can do my photo sessions. Without him I would not be able to do photography. Thank you Mattie for letting us come play at your house and see you again next Wednesday!!

Two days in a row!!

Grandpa this post is for you! Love you and we miss you!

To Myriam and Zein

To my long last family across the seas. I miss you guys soooo very much. I think of you often. I hope you are all safe as we know your country is in turmoil. You asked me why I don't blog anymore... and i have no excuses. I did do a small mini session on my daughter today I wanted to share. She is growing up so fast. I plan on doing some of the boys very soon. I love you guys and can't wait to see pics of the twins. I miss them soooooo much and think of you all the time.

Why I hate the Government

Where do I begin! I could write a book on all the things they have done to us! I could write an entire series on all the crap they have started to pull in the last year! In the last 3 weeks this is a picture of all the mail we have received from the following people. Oh and the first one you see is actually a check from the IRS even though in a previous letter they said we owed them money from 2009... So why am I complaining about receiving a check? Well the catch is if we cash this check and it is not our money... then the IRS will charge you penalties and interest on the money they would have earned if it had been in their account. Can you believe that?

Internal Revenue Service
Idaho State Tax Commission
Health and Welfare
Idaho Deparment of Labor

This does NOT include the one I received today in the mail from the Idaho State Tax Commission for a past due bill from taxes in 2007 that I guess we underpaid. Isn't it nice of them to finally tell us! This $46.44 bill is now doubled with penalties and interest because it took them 4 years to tell us! Do you not think I would have paid a $46.00 bill!!! Lets stop to think about how much it cost the government for them to go back 4 years in our tax records to figure this out,.

We are a small plumbing business with "ONE" employee and most of this paperwork is in regards to this ONE employee. It is absolutely ridiculous. I am so tired of trying to run this small business and being taxed to death on it. There is something wrong with owning a business and making less money then your employees! There is something wrong with that especially when you are the one taking the risks and working longer hours.

We talked to our accountant  (Being charged $50 an hour) about this insane amount of paperwork and to sort through this pile of mess and he said that right now government agencies are digging back as far as they possibly can to find any possible penny they have overlooked in the last few years and then backcharging you. I know first hand... we are experiencing it. They have literally flipped us upside down, hung us by our toes, and shook out every nickel and dime we had and took it from us. You wonder why small business' resort to paying employees "under the table." Because they literally can't afford to pay these insanely high taxes you have put on us.

I am so angry, so annoyed and so upset. I see my husband go to work every day and work his butt off in sub zero temperatures so that the government can take away every dollar that we earn. You want the economy to thrive? Then quit taxing small business to the point that they cannot afford employees and have to shut down. We decided to lay off our last employee today. We cannot afford to pay him because they just increased our unemployment taxes again for next year. It's not worth the hassle anymore. It costs us more money to hire on help then to just do the work ourselves. That means my husband will just have to work EVEN harder then he aleady does to keep his business floating in this crappy economy. I am just so tired of this. When you have to lay off an employee,  you feel like you are letting a family down when you cannot afford to keep them on anymore... and especially right before the holidays. It was one of the hardest decisions we had to make, but unfortunately it had to be done.

Thank you government for all you have done for us... in the last 3 years we have laid off 12 employees, because your theory of raising taxes and cutting benefits didn't work.... You would rather build roads and bridges then to help a small business thrive.

look what we woke up too!!!!

I can just see my friends Myriam and Zein so envious of this weather. I know how much Myriam loves the snow! :D LOL! Actually she visited us from the Mediteranean Sea and could not believe how cold it got here.... so this post is for her... while you are enjoying your warm weather we are playing in snow!

Yes that is a bucket on our snowmans head... we didn't have any hats big enough to fit that large head of his.... and those are not cucumbers... they are green carrots... Haven't you ever seen green carrots?


our team of helpers! The neighbor boy joined in and helped push the kids in the sled




And this is from yesterday... my little princess! I just love her!