"Big Toria"

Gwen calls her Big Toria. It is kind of like Victoria.....

It is so special to have a husband who loves his girls so much and is able to show that love by being a worthy priesthood holder. He was able bless our sweet little Tori on Sunday. Her first of many blessing that she will receive from her daddy. I'm grateful for her daddy and for the power of the priesthood. We are all children of our Heavenly Father who loves and how wonderful it is that all of His children can be blessed through this sacred priesthood power.

Thank you to everyone who helped make it a very special day!

picture fat

Why is it so easy to fool yourself in the mirror about how you look. "okay, not too fat, not too bad, just a little extra roundness" and then you see a picture and it's like "holy something. my face is so swollen i can hardly see my eyes, and YES I DO need a haircut... what the goodness evil was i thinking, kill me now"

just looked at the family pictures we took in idaho. needless to say we didn't get any keepers.

what's your trick? how do you get your brain to switch back to normal after pregnancy?

p.s. has anyone seen my jaw line anywhere? can't find it.

victoria

More to come.... but here is a little photo shoot and her fitting for her blessing dress. Yes, my sister, Stephanie, made the dress.... ya, she can do EVERYTHING!

Free will offering...

My Brother in law is a very insightful and intelligent man. I really enjoy his posts. I wanted to share this one.

tori pictures

ode

Stacy Ortiz is on the left....

This is Stacy Ortiz (on the left). She is my hair dresser and she is amazing. Sometimes I just go in and tell her how I'm feeling about my hair and she does something wonderful and I'm ALWAYS amazed and perfectly pleased. When I want something specific, she nails it. So many times I feel like I get the "hair dresser version" of what I asked for, but NOT WITH STACY. She blends everything so well and keeps things a little edgy (just how I like it). I love her.

To get in touch with her- 623 975 3540

new hair, new shoes... soon

Some pictures of my baby shower (thank you to everyone) with my cool carseat that Stephanie is making for me and I have new hair... thank you Stacy Ortiz- I should post her info because she is AMAZING!!!!! and at the bottom is a blurb about shoes. Enjoy?!?

LOVED THIS POST AND HAVE SOME SHOES THAT ARE BEGGING ME TO DO THIS!!! AND SOME OF MY LITTLE GIRLS' SHOES WILL BE ENJOYING A MAKEOVER AS WELL...

re: dandi's sleeping family

Dandi, my sister, posted some great sleeping pictures of her family and I thought of her post immediately when I saw these two pictures. Dandi's blog is dandiwright.blogspot.com if you would like to get a GOOD LAUGH at her sleeping boys.

new years softball

Well, my last post had some Christmas, so I thought I would follow up with New Years! Why the sudden Holiday Sharing???? It is because I am JUST NOW downloading pictures. Don't be too impressed!

Anywho... The Ely's plus Todd's parents had a big family softball game and it was a blast. Todd was our team captain and so naturally our team name was "The TODDlers". hehehe


Stephanie's oldest Sam was officially safe at home plate. This picture makes it look closer than it really was... says sam's grandmother, unbiased, I'm sure.

Swing batter batter! Lilli is always so determined to do things and didn't exactly want coaching from dad, but she did quite well on her own!

Uncle Aaron (dandi's husband) was team captain for the other team that we affectionately called "The Errors". He was helping out his little teammate Heidi, our little sweetheart. She was done after hitting and running once.

Okay, maybe a little coaching from dad, but notice how her eye is on the ball and she is barely paying any attention to dad moving her around and trying to give her a few pointers...

Christmas and my best non-living friends

I was trying to stick the pictures at the end of the post, but I am lacking the intelligence and energy. Here is some Christmas... in Feb.

Making Candy Trains with Grandma and PapaWOWZERS! Thanks Stan!

This is big, so please appreciate it! After 7 1/2 years of effort (or lack thereof) I have finally completed Todd's stocking!!!! (now for Lilli's, Heidi's, Gwen's, and Tori's).

Christmas Kisses....

Laying in mom and dad's bed waiting to go see and open the presents!!!

It is time for a new post I guess. Here.

My best friends:

Fake tanning lotion/wipes/sprays/etc. I love the extra color in my face, smoothing out the farmer's tan on my upper arm, and not scaring people at church (the only day of the week that my legs show).

TIGI catwalk Root Boost. Spray it in when your hair is wet (right on the crown of your head where you want that nice UT poof) and it makes my hair have so much more lift and it really responds to teasing, if I'm in the mood.

Grape Nuts. Healthy, keeps things going smoothly, but TASTES SOOOO DELICIOUS!!! and it is suddenly cheaper (a lot cheaper) at my wal-mart, so I can afford the splurge every once in a while.

Fuzzy robe and fuzzy socks. I'm always cold and these two things are heaven.

Showers. I generally hate taking showers. I don't like to wash my hair very often (maybe 2xs a week) and my skin is always so dry that I hate washing it with soap, so I'm mostly just a rinser (except a few vital areas). But lately... The only thing that gets me out of bed is knowing I'm going to hop in the shower. The steam to help my pregnant, stuffy, nose... Hot water on my back to loosen it up from pregnant sleeping. And it is always extra special when Gwen wakes up and want to hop in with me.