Sometimes We Just Need a Good Cry...

If today is the day you need a good cry...go visit this blog. Scroll down until you get to the titled post "The Gift of Life." Start reading then and then scroll up and read in order. Don't forget to watch the videos (pretty long but worth it...do this when you have about 10 or 15 free minutes!),read all the descriptions and then really look at the wedding pictures. Amazing and touching story. Great testament to the human spirit. I am going to run, not walk to get my card!!

Let me know what you think!!

Blaze's Best Friend and a Busted Nose

I have posted about the Solano's before several times already; however, I have yet to blog about Karstyn. He is Steve and Macey's eleven year old (almost 12) son. He is an amazing athlete, does good in school and just an all-around great kid. Blaze is NUTS about him...completely crazy about him. He calls him his bestest friend. Karstyn comes over sometimes and plays with Blaze. Yesterday, they rode scooters for a while. They rode two days ago, too and that's when he got his busted nose. He fell face forward and skinned his nose pretty bad. I had to get some pictures...another battle scar! We all know it wasn't his first and I am sure it definitely won't be his last. About this time last year, I posted about Kellyn's busted nose. What a mess!!

First Soccer Game for Blaze

Blaze had his first two soccer games this past weekend...my battery died three or four shots into the first day; notice the mohawk on the first picture. He is going to kill me someday for posting that first picture. He has been slumping those shoulders so much lately...goofy kid.







Kellyn and her friends just finished up a hard fought battle minutes before Blaze's game.



He spent most of the first game looking up at me and blowing kisses..the second game, he looked up in the stands and gave everyone thumbs up. Little ham!!





He is the second to the smallest (he's actually the smallest in the picture) and the second to the youngest.



Poor guy, he was a horrible goalie. Did I just call my kid "horrible?" Seriously though, he just didn't get it. He didn't even move to get the ball. He even slapped at the air AFTER the ball went by and he dove on the ground five seconds too late to get a ball that rolled by. We laughed sooo hard.



Blazer was exhausted after the game...look at his face.



Our friend Steve Solano was at the game...he is really into soccer so he was coaching Blaze through the game. He really turned it on...he was going after every ball and he even scored. Steve gave him a dollar after the game for the goal he scored. Too cute!!

Personality Test

Your Personality Is

Idealist (NF) You are a passionate, caring, and unique person. You are good at expressing yourself and sharing your ideals. You are the most compassionate of all types and connect with others easily. Your heart tends to rule you. You can't make decisions without considering feelings. You seek out other empathetic people to befriend. Truth and authenticity matters in your friendships. In love, you give everything you have to relationships. You fall in love easily. At work, you crave personal expression and meaning in your career. With others, you communicate well. You can spend all night talking with someone. As far as your looks go, you've likely taken the time to develop your own personal style. On weekends, you like to be with others. Charity work is also a favorite pastime of yours. (I never made a New Year's Resolution...it's okay to start one as long as its still January, right? My new resolution is to start doing charity work...not sure what type but stay tuned.) Click on the link below to take your personality test.

The Three Question Personality Test

Blazeman

I promised I would post some pictures of Blaze since I have posted so many of Kellyn lately...here they are. He is making the funniest faces lately. Blaze definitely keeps us on our toes all of the time and laughing most of the time. ; )

Our Little Soccer Player

You have to admit, he is just freakin' precious in his little Nike dri-fit shirt and his shin guards. Blazer started Soft Soccer last night, which is a gym-version of indoor soccer with a Nerf-type ball. There are no out of bounds and the little boys just run like mad. I haven't laughed that hard in such a long time. We have always thought Blaze is going to be extremely slow because he has always ran so, so, so not fast BUT last night he proved us wrong. He did run out of steam pretty quick because the boy sits and plays way too many video games but today is a new day and he officially started being an athlete. There is no slowing down for us from now on...we have Kel in indoor soccer and Blaze in soft soccer. In the spring, Kel will be participating in indoor and outdoor soccer while Blaze will start his first season of both also. WOW! Anyway, you should have seen some of the faces Blaze was making last night...he was so intense and sooooo animated. I will take my camera to his first game Saturday and try to capture some of those faces so I can show you. The following pictures will give you a glimpse of how animated he is actually becoming more and more everyday. He is a mess!! These pictures were taken before we left for practice.
(Kristin, I used natural light at night...NO FLASH!! I was so excited. The black and white pic was too orangey due to my white balance but as you can see by the others, I fixed that. Well, my walls are gold so I guess it still has a orange or goldish cast but at least I didn't use flash and yes, you can so tell a difference, I think.)

Shout Out to VANGIE!!

Here's to my favorite "blog stalker!" Thanks for the call today, Vangie. Much appreciated. Stay in touch!! (Don't hate me...I couldn't resist! Miss ya!)





(For those of you who don't know her, Vangie and I graduated together from Slaton HS way back when. We lost touch for too many years but have now reconnected for good! I shared a picture of Vangie's little girl on my July 4th post. Check her out...she's the cutie with the very blonde hair.)

Thanks to My Model

Unfortunately, I have way too much time on my hands right now. I love playing with PhotoShop so much I have dug up some old pictures and started messing around with them. I promise I have pictures of Blaze, too but Kellyn is way more cooperative. I will post some of Blaze real soon, I swear. These were taken right before Thanksgiving. Kellyn came along with me on a shoot so I took pictures of her while I was waiting on the family to finish getting ready. I think they turned out good; however, I am a little partial being she is my daughter. Got some great candid shots of Blaze making some super silly faces yesterday and I will post those next. Stay tuned...

One more...

Just one more from the session with Kellyn...I love it because it's so her. She'll probably hate it though.



She is growing up soooo incredibly fast. I can't believe 9+ years have gone by so quickly. I always tell her she is going to hate me in a few years and she gets so mad. Kel says, "MOM! I won't hate you...you are my mom. How could I hate you?" She absolutely adores me right now and I know it won't stay that way for long. I just hope I can be the mother she looks up to always, even when she doesn't like me. Kellyn is so into the Jonas Brothers right now...it's cute to watch her and listen to the things she says about them. She has posters all over her walls of these boys and some of Hannah Montana. I hope the "Tween" years stick around for a long time because I am so not ready for the teen years. I love you, my beautiful angel!

The Winner Is...

Okay, so Hays now thinks he can all of the sudden take great photographs. He took a couple of good ones today and now he's all proud and braggin' and stuff. I still think I have a leg up on him - you decide! All of these were taken today just playing around...it was freezing outside so props to my kiddos for being such troopers. The first two are Hays' work and the last three are mine. Maybe we could go into business together?!?

Christmas Party and Cookie Night

I am so behind on my posting so I combined some of the Christmas stuff into one. I am going to try to get away from the slideshows whenever possible but this post was slideshow worthy...not too interesting to some of you and probably most of you but I still want to document it for myself.

The first set of slides is Kellyn's Christmas party and the second set is cookie decorating night. I am so not suzie-homemaker so this is a big deal for me to get together. The kids had a lot of fun and made some beautiful cookies! : )

Mosser Family

Besides the 40 degree weather and some small kiddos, I am pretty happy with how these turned out. Yes, they could have been way better but again, I have never shot 12 people before and that in itself was a feat, not to mention the fact that it was Christmas Eve and CrAzY for everyone. These kids are beautiful and its so fun to watch this family interact. Now I know why I consider them my second family. Thank you Mossers for allowing me to take your family pictures. I had a great time.

Open House on Glenwood

As some of you may or may not know, we have decided to put our house on the market. It's been three months since I lost my job and I don't really have any solid leads right now. Before the holidays, I had three good opportunities working and then they all went kaput. We really aren't sure what our plans are but we have to make some sort of move...gotta get a job or sell a home. So, we have a big open house today from 2 to 4. Don't worry - I will have the Cowboy game on and hopefully that will be a selling point as the flat screen stays with the house. Say a little prayer we get some serious lookers today. Will let you know how the open house goes. (By the way, I am going to change those horrible signs today...looks like a four year old made them. ugggh!)

Miss Brynlee

Adam, Amy, Carter and Brynlee came up to see us one afternoon over the holiday break. I wanted some pictures of this chubby-cheeked little angel so we sat her near my window and started clicking away. She is a natural...Kellyn didn't hurt the situation either by making her smile and laugh. My goodness this child needs to be on the front of a magazine.