Times....they are a changin!

It's been a whirlwind of activity in our house lately. The things that have gone on would make even the strongest person in the world hide and twitch uncontrollably in a corner. The biggest and the catalyst for everything that has happened since is that we decided to put our house on the market. We just feel the need for more space. We aren't bumping into each other or killing each other due to the close quarters, but our kids are only getting bigger (stinkin' things gotta eat three times a day.....growing being the after affect of such) and we want something that we are going to be able to grown into comfortably. I also need space for my business. I need an office with an area for a studio or a possible area for a future possible studio. So the look is on! It's been nuts, but we really feel this is the right decision for us at the time. The shame is that we are getting our house looking so good, I don't really want to leave. I've found that there is nothing in our area with as cool of stuff as we have, but compromise may be in our future on that.

So...here are a few things that have gone on the last month or so:

• Had a massive, 4-family garage sale. Threw it together in less than a week. Our profit reflected that. Most of it went to the garbage or to Goodwill.
  
• Painted every area of the house that had not been painted. Including the hallways and stairwell. If you've never seen the stairwell.......it's about 483 feet tall. Maybe not QUITE that tall...but....tall.
  
• Painted our room which also is 483 feet tall.
  
• Scrubbed every piece of trim in this house. I hate trim. If it's possible to not have trim in the next house, I would be ok with that.
  
• Looked at 6 houses. Haven't found one that I am in love with. Found one I really like, but will have to replace all the carpet.
  
• Have to replace all the carpet in our house. I'm calling Carpet Weaver's out on this one. They suck. Sorry.....they do. Our house is 7 years old, they "fixed" it twice before we even moved in (literally....there was JUNK under the carpet from their laziness in not sweeping up construction crap before they laid it!!). They stretched it once then. It looks like amber-waves-of-grain do to the mounds in it. Plus....our girls lived hard in it. Nail polish, make-up, you name it, its on it. So we are replacing it. Hence the reason I don't want to have to replace it in another house we are looking at.
  
• Taken, edited, and ordered about a billion pictures.
  
• Worked VBS all week this week.
  
• Re-arranged our living room, de-cluttered the kitchen, got rid of unnecessary toys, and on and on and on!
  

It's craziness. Literal and utter craziness. So if you know of any great houses going on the market in this area soon...let me know! And if you are in the market for a great house....LET ME KNOW!!

Michigan slide show

I am a perfectionist...I wanted to edit all our vacation pics and make them look perfect before I posted anything with them. And I realized that was stupid because if I EVER got time to do all that, it would be Christmas. So.....I just uploaded them to iMovie (love that program!), picked a couple fitting songs, and let-em-fly! It's not even half of the pics, but I guess I will save those for when I have time to edit them and make them look perfect. Sooooo.......Christmas........;) And again, I apologize for the super small size....for whatever reason, blogger doesn't like to let me do it big.....whatever. I'm too tired to figure it out.

Special thanks to the Holt's who came with us, had a blast with us, and gave us a vacation that we will never ever ever forget!!! Love you guys!

Vacation Pre-Post

I have a billion pics and videos to post from our vacation. I think I am going to just make a video montage of the whole thing, if I can get blogger to upload it. If I'm being seriously honest...I am a little depressed we had to come home. I am pretty sure I had another two weeks in me:)

But I love this picture...it sums it all up....fun...on the beach...arms spread as wide as you can go calling for daddy to take her to the deep end of the "pool". And can you believe I took it with my crappy little "point-and-shoot"? Love.It.

Stay tuned....much more to come later!

Awkward Family Photos

One of my favorite websites is Awkward Family Photos. I get so many ideas on what NOT to do in a photo shoot!! I think I might have one to enter........

She can't stand being out of the spotlight!

Favorite.Picture.Ever:)

If you want to see all of her adorable set....click on the pic below!

The First Cut is the Deepest

Saturday was a really busy day. My husband decided that he wanted to do the pool area up right this year, so he decided to finish the area in patio form so in the fall, we can plop a fire-pit up and have a little gathering area when the pool is taken down. Friday was packed full of that job as well as games in the evening. Russ was pretty burnt and didn't feel well from all the work done Friday (who loses 8 pounds in one day? Yeah...the incredible growing and shrinking man...my husband!), and we had various things planned as it was: Em had a b-day party for a friend, a graduation party, and I had a photo shoot scheduled for the evening. Due to the rain, all I could do was return the compactor we rented and run a few errands then head back home. I stopped at Walmart on the way home for some food for dinner (grill-able food), a present for the friend, and decided to get myself a handy-dandy mandolin slicer to make some grill-able sweet potato chips. (If you don't know what a mandolin slicer is....google it). I got my $11 slicer, the rest of the stuff, and headed home. We hit the various parties necessary then came home to make up some quick dinner before my shoot. I rinsed of my new slicer, cut a potato in half, stuck in (or so I thought) the guard and proceeded to make up some slices......four slices in, the guard slipped.....and my thumb went on through the slicer.

My first words uttered were "Crap. I totally just cut my thumb. Hmmm...." No emotion, no freaking out, I said it just like that. It didn't hurt, I just knew it felt deep. So I stuck it under the water in the sink......then it hit me....crap....that is deep...and it is seriously bleeding. Faith was there, and she asked if she should go get dad....I told her it wouldn't be a bad idea.

Now, I've been in this situation before...I was washing dishes and the glass broke, had to go and have about 5 stitches put in. That was about 10 years ago. My initial thought was "Can I just wrap it and go about my shoot? I DON'T have time for this!" Russ took one look, smiled and asked what the deal with my family and knives was, and informed me he was taking me in. A quick call to the BFF to take the girls and we were on our way.......

We had a relatively easy and quick visit to the ER this time. I hate the ER...hate it. I would almost rather bleed to death then go. But in retrospect....I guess it was good we went. I almost kicked the nurse (? maybe she was a doc or a nurse practitioner...I am not really sure) when she made me bend it.....and the tears were flowing when she jabbed that numbing needle RIGHT into the cut (or flap....it's really more of a flap) after the initial numbing didn't work. Then I knew nothing else of what they were doing because this time I chose not to watch as they cleaned and stitched that sucker up. Twelve stitches later, the side of my thumb was replaced to it's rightful location, and I was on my way! Russ took pictures...but I will spare you. It's nasty...looks like a horror film. If it weren't for my thumbnail that stopped it, I would've taken the whole side of my thumb off. Thank you Lord that when you were creating the human body, some thousands of years later, you knew I would buy a mandolin slicer and use it incorrectly. ****sigh****

So I have a gimpy thumb. I have three shoots to edit, a disgusting house to clean, a shower to throw for a friend, and softball games to attend all week. I really didn't need that $11 slicer that turned into a $136 slicer after the ER copay.

Ironically, as I was being checked into the ER, Sheryl Crowe's song "The First Cut Is The Deepest" was on the receptionist's radio......I had to smile and have a good laugh about that one.

"Z" Squared

I'm not sure I can do this post without crying. I think I cried while editing all of her pics. Just bawled like a little baby. If you know them, you know the hell these two have been through and the story behind the tears. But they were happy tears because it is THEIR TIME! They will be bringing two (yes...I said it..TWO) bouncing baby boys into this world in just a very few short months. Maybe I was crying because I didn't look half as good while 30 weeks pregnant with just ONE baby let alone TWO!

So I better prepare, drink lots of fluids so I'm good and juiced up...I am sure that I will be crying like a baby while editing Baby Zeke and Baby Zack's pictures in a few months.

Click on the collage to see more from their shoot!

Happy Birthday Emmy!

This is a little late, but better late than never, right?

We celebrated my birthday on Friday with some yummy Kamakura and cake. I have waited for six weeks for cake. I couldn't even finish my piece of cake, and it was so heartbreaking.

Saturday, we celebrated my favorite birthday present ever, Emmy!! She turned 7, and her and I made a day of it. We got up, went shopping, got her hair trimmed professionally, and got our nails done. Then we went to the park and had some awesome ladybug cupcakes (well, I didn't.....I was a good girl!) then played with one of her (and possibly my favorite!) presents for the rest of the evening. Got lots of pics, so I will let them speak for themselves!

She said "A boy did my nails....AWKWARD!!!" :)

Chillaxin