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.

happy halloween!

I'll help you....

Gwen LOVES to help me cook. Which is mostly fun and sometimes stressful. Today it was fun. I was making some breadsticks, it was time to stir everything together before I started kneading it. Gwen was holding a little tsp. and getting as involved as she could with it. I got out a wooden spoon and stirred it around above the bowl and ingredients, trying to show Gwen what to do, while saying excitedly, "Stir it, Gwen... Stir it!". Then I handed her the wooden spoon (which was much bigger and more important looking than her little tsp.). She was very excited- giddy even. She took the spoon and just started waving it like a magic wand above the bowl. It was so sweet and innocent , but what topped it off was how excited she was about the whole thing and you could tell she thought she was being so helpful. Waving and Waving like 2 1/2 year old little witch over her cauldron of bread... except not cackling- just smiling, and big, "proud of myself" breaths.
Love it.

lots and lots

Here are some photos from the past several months... I haven't put up photos in quite a while.

The first several are from a camping trip with the Elys. We love camping with them and this site was especially wonderful with a perfect little stream running through that was deep enough to play, but not deep enough to be scary.

everybody chasing dad/uncle todd

This is a semi-typical night at the young house (when todd is not at school or doing homework). Lilli reading and Dad resting/wrestling with the kids.

Todd took Lilli and Heidi out to Luke Air Force for this event they do every year with an Air Show and lots of fun military planes, etc. to climb in and learn about. They had a lot of fun!

Here's Heidi... a couple months ago.

What do I even say about this picture? All dressed up and nowhere to go??

Cheering Papa on for one of his hockey games. The guys he plays with now affectionately (or quite mockingly) call him "Papa".

I was in the shower one evening and told Lilli to hurry and get in bed and I would come talk to her when I got out. This is what I came out to. Quite adorable and the first time she had ever written or left me a note!

Jumping on the trampoline with Grandma Suzi.

Dress up with the Alger girls. Sara, Lilli, and Heidi where supposed to be doodle bops.

Lilli in a play she auditioned for in the summer. She was a Chameleon. It was very cute and fun and great experience for a young star!