A Milestone!

Recently, my wonderful sister (in law, but more like a sister) turned the big 4-0!  We had a great time planning and throwing a party for her.  We decided to throw at black and white party with some Chicago-style food (she was born there and moved to Colorado when she was 2 weeks old).  It was a fun time!  (please excuse the unedited pictures!)

We made tons of these tissue paper balls for decoration.  Fun and Easy!

Lifetime pictures of Stacey

Happy Birthday Banner

Italian Nachos, Pizza and Chicago Beef Sandwiches....yes please!

Found these picks for 4 cents at Hobby Lobby.  Love the clearance section!

Ready to crown the Queen!

The only one allowed to wear color!

Love McKenzie's face in this one!

The Happy Couple!

Brother and Sister

Gloria- the hit of the party (and her beautiful mommy)

The Russos (or part of them)

Adult diapers.....REALLY?

40 oz for the 40 year old

Ice Cream cake was the dessert of choice!

The girls

The Bigger, Older.  The Ladies

Ashlynn and Emma

Sparklers for cake time

Love that you can see her in the video camera lens

The gents!

Happy Birthday Stacey!  You are loved!

Some of my Favorite People

These are a few of my favorite people!  I finally got them behind my lens.  I needed some pictures for my photo collage (see later post) for Stacey's 40th birthday and I needed some recent pictures.  So, I begged and pushed my way into their BUSY schedule for the week leading up to her birthday.  We planned a quick trip to a park and got some great pictures.  I can't wait to do a full shoot with them. 

I LOVE having nieces!  They are so fun and girly and DRAMA.  I love to hang out with them, but now realize why God gave me 3 boys!  Here are some fun pictures from our short time together.

Mommmmm.  Stacey just made a funny comment that Ashlynn didn't appreciate!

Thanks for the quick shoot Fillharts, and I can't wait to do a full one in the fall!

The Burge Family Sneak Peek

I love this family!  We go way back!  Stephen and I were in math class together at good ol' Bear Creek HS, and apparently Jessica and I went to college together.  We HAD to have had some classes together, but neither of us remember it!  We now attend the same church and our boys are the same ages.  They have so much fun together (almost too much fun!) and are always running around playing.  Just last Sunday I was watching all of them while Jessica and Stephen were in the nursery, and I went to go say hello to someone during the greeting time.  Bad idea.  The little boys were GONE!  I spent the next 10 minutes or so scouring the entire church.  I couldn't find them anywhere and I finally had to enlist the help of Makai and Stephen.  I couldn't believe how quickly 2 four year olds could disappear.  When I finally found them (in the storage closet of a classroom), I yanked open the door (I was REALLY mad) and said "what are you two doing in here?".  Jameson said the ONLY thing that could have dissolved the situation (and make me smile and laugh).  He put his hands on his hips and said, "Mom (pause), we were just talking about Jesus".  After composing myself, I had to tell them I was glad they were talking about Jesus, but they couldn't be in there and I was upset that they didn't tell me where they were going.  Pretty sure that isn't the last time I am going to lose track of those two!

Here is a sneak peek of our wonderful friends!  We had a ball running all over Heritage Square taking pictures!

Corbin is a little accident prone!  He is ALL boy and loves to run and play....and that tends to come with some scars.  Jessica told me that last time they took family pictures, they had to reschedule several times because of scrapes and bruises.

This time, Corbin waiting until the actual shoot to get hurt!  No less than 5 minutes after we started, he jumped down the stairs and hit his chin.  He got a good little gash, but thankfully didn't need stitches (this time).  Good luck with that one!

Sorry it took me so long to get these done Burge Family, but there were so many good ones, it was really hard to pick!  Can't wait for you see all of them!

Nice, beautiful picture of the couple.  Two seconds later.....

Peek a Boo!

Stephen gave Corbin the pat down

One tough Hombre

He has the most amazing blue eyes!

I love their boys.  They are fun, crazy, full of energy and sweet as can be!  I am so glad that we get along so well and get to hang out together!  Click here to see more pictures of the Burges, or check out my website here!

New York, New York

Over Memorial Day weekend, I got some time off!  Meaning, I got to wash the mom off for a few days and head to the big apple.  It was amazing.  One of our great friends is in the Broadway show of "Pricilla, Queen of the Desert" and he was playing the lead the night we went to the show.  Picture someone you know and love standing all alone on the stage singing his butt off.  It. Was. Awesome.  He took the last bow at the end of the show and I found that I had yelled so much, I didn't have a voice left.  After the show, he took us backstage to see his dressing room, the props and all of the AMAZING costumes!  Words can't describe it.

As always, our host took us on a FANTASTIC sight seeing tour.  He is so well versed in architecture and history that all along the way he is telling us things like, "that is the building where Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas had their famous debate".  So. Cool.  And then he took us to a place that is called "please don't tell".  It is a place that has gourmet hot dogs and you have to go through a fake telephone booth to get into it.  We also went to Brooklyn and had brunch in the new up and coming neighborhood in New York.  We had some amazing food, but the highlight had to have been the gingerbread-chocolate-whipped cream covered waffle we had (in New York fashion, we got it out of the back of a truck at 1:30 in the morning, but I was worth it!).

Another highlight was visiting the 9/11 memorial.  It is so well done!  It was an amazing time of reflection and time to honor those who lost their lives on that day.  The weather held out until we were done and then......down pour for the rest of the day.  We were soaked!  We were able to dry off a little bit inside Century 21 (think TJ Maxx on steroids).  A few hours later and a few pairs of shoes richer (or should I say poorer), we headed back out into the rain.  Luckily, Chris' sister, Stacey, and her husband, Paul went with us so I had a shopping partner while Chris went back to the apartment to work.  

The new World Trade Center.  Can't see the top because of the clouds

The site of former World Trade Center #1

40 feet of falling water and then another 40 feet falling in the middle

The names of those lost in the building go all along the outside of the waterfall

A view from the corner

Reflecting.  Saw so many people smiling for pictures with the memorial behind them.  Seemed strange to me.

Crowded even though you have to have a ticket to get in

New York Skyline reflected in the memorial

Loved this little boy running his hand along the names as he walked by

This tree was in the plaza between the two buildings and SURVIVED.  They took it off site and nursed it back to health and replanted it in its original place.  Cool.

Brooklyn Bridge

Times Square.  Beautiful with all of the lights reflecting off the rainy street

The crew.  In DUMBO (Down under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass)

Hey, I actually made it into a picture!

Now THIS is the way to do sightseeing.  On Daddy's back

The new World Trade Center.  Now officially the tallest building in New York City (as of a few weeks ago).  It can be seen from all over the city

Out in front of the Palace Theatre in Times Square.  Almost show time.  This picture was really hard to get.  So much traffic!

Signing autographs after the show.  How cool is that!?

Most of all, it was a blast to hang out with good friends who we don't get to see very often and love on their little (or not so little with his super cute chubby thighs) guy (of course I had to snap a few pictures).

Thanks for having us Gavin, Todd and Ellison.  We love you and are some of your biggest fans!