Rain, Rain Go Away... Kids can't go outside to play...

Rain... seriously... I feel like I live in a rain forest right now... and the truth is I live in a desert... so why is it raining cats and dogs right now! I have had enough of Barbies, puzzles and crafts. I am tired of pretend picnics in front of the TV, and video games.... I want to play on the slides with my kids and take my dog for a walk. I want to play tennis with my husband and go camping... so why won't you stop... God what are you doing to me! :D

Our memorial weekend was quite "memorable". Yes... we got rained out... we played in the pouring down rain and tried to enjoy the weather in our shorts and flip flops because the weather man said it was supposed to be 74 degrees and partly cloudy... only he must have missed the giant rainstorm that moved in on us and ruined our weekend event. So here is our adventure playing in the rain which has not stopped since... The only positive I see out of this... is I dont' have to pay to water my yard this month.

What is she doing you ask? Well apparantly there was left over cupcake frosting on the string and my little sister was trying to lick it off as I snapped a photo...

We did the cake walk and seriously we had 6 out of the 10 kids on this cake walk... and not one won a single cake for almost 15 minutes... All the kids that walked right onto it were winning. LOL. So after an hour on the cake walk (no joke) in the rain... every kid eventually won a cupcake. But here are all the sad faces until then.

and finally everyone got a cupcake... and smiles did reappear.


We left the event early because the rain was just too much and ended up indoors at a place called Wahooz... kind of like a Chuck E Cheese... only much much better.


My niece Kennadie... she is getting so big!


Madison and Grandma!


Hope you all had a good Memorial Weekend!!

Easter Weekend - Part Three - Sunday

The kids woke up to their Easter Baskets


Ryan was showing off his new Bronco's hat he got in his Easter Basket! Sorry for lack of clothes... my boys sleep in there underwear! Does anyone elses boys to the same thing?


Aunt Courtnee stopped by for a moment to show us her new pet bunny


Here is my nephew Zach eating away at his waffles!


Madison LOVES puzzles. She is so smart too. She can do puzzles all day. She put this 48 piece puzzle together by herself. She was happy to sit on it and pose for me for a treat.


I love this photo! Everyone is smiling. I need to take more grandpa photos with the kids. They just love him! They look forward to his weekly visits. They climb on him, read stories with him. It is so fun to see them with him.


The kids found these beautiful flowers growing in our backyard... and my sweet little Jacob put them in a shot glass vase and brought them to me for Easter. They were my gift the kids.


Then we headed to Aunt Jenny's house for dinner and an egg hunt. Here is a picture of my beauitful niece Mckynlee


Kylie was running from me! LOL! She didn't want a picture... little brat princess! :D


Here is Kaden just sleeping away! Already 11 lbs!


Madison found her place in life... underneath a kitchen table with a book! LOL! Goofy kid


Time to eat my turkey! Madison had to eat with this baseball... and she protected it with every bite she took!


Here is the little princess table


This is the way we eat! Totally Flinstoning it!


Uh-Oh! Accidents happen... Kylie found nail polish and spilled it all over her brand new Easter Dress.... mommy had to change her! Notice the different dress. But now it is also time for the Egg Hunt.


Good ol egg in the mail box... I bet the mailman wish he worked on Easter Sunday's!


Candy on the car roof... isn't that a little predjudice against short people... I couldn't have reached that one!


Ooooh! Whats up there? If there is only one who gets it?


So proud of his eggs he collected


Taking time for a quick smile.... she has better things to do like find chocolate!


Ryan was multi tasking... for every egg he found he ate a new piece of candy


After the egg hunt I come in and find this! Daddy found a moment to rest.


and the end result after combing my kids baskets. My kids know that everything they find is equally shared cause I am a mean mommy.

Family Easter Photos - Part 1

I have about 150 photos to sort through this week. But for now... before I am off to bed I wanted to share these. Also I wanted to share with you how incredibly blessed I am too! I have booked a couple of weddings this week. Praise God!! I am so excited to really start pursuing photography. No more excuses... time for a new beginning and time to focus on my dreams. My husband gave me permission to get a 2nd camera. I wanted a full - frame but for now I am going to just stick with the camera I know and just upgrade. I ordered my Nikon D90. I got a great deal on it. Our accountant made a mistake on our tax return and I ended up getting more back then originally thought. It allowed me to get a secondary camera that is much needed when shooting weddings. God is good isn't he!! :D

So a lot of these pictures were taken with my new 80-200mm lens (thank you to that very special person in my life who helped me get this lens... and I promise that I will NEVER forget you for believing in me).

Please let me know what you think of the pictures. The ones of Josh and me were taken by my mother... Didn't she do fabulous! This is my mom... Isn't she beautiful?
































My mom and my sister Courtnee
































And a super adorable couple getting their engagement photos done in the park... hope they don't mind I took a picture! LOL!


I love my husband... he is such a good man! I can't even imagine what my life would be like without him