Grandma Jo and Grandpa Gary

Lately I've been a bit distracted (sorry to those who are waiting on me). Grandma Jo (she's my bio-dad's wife, my stepmom and Grandma to my kids) is in a coma. Her surgeries went well, so we're just playing the waiting game for her to come out of the coma (they took her off the breathing machine recently, she's breathing on her own). If you're the praying type, please include her in your prayers for a healthy recovery.

Jo is a lovely lady (even if she weren't related). Her kindness radiates and you can't help but feel good around her. She and my bio-dad came into my life when I was 25, and I feel richer because of that. Not that I felt I was missing something, but the addition has been fun. They taught me how to play my favorite game, Mexican Trains (dominoes), and I'm extremely grateful for that ;)

She's active at her church in Candy Kitchen, NM, line dances on a regular basis, is an avid walker and great entertainer. Not like Cedric The Entertainer, but like having people over and socializing. My paternal grandmother lives in San Diego, CA alone, but Jo and Gary make a point to get over to see her on a regular basis without making her feel incompetent. Jo remembers our birthdays, anniversaries and holidays like clockwork (that's not my strong suit, so I admire that quality in others). She's enjoyable to be around, talk to and call a friend.

That's the snippet on Grandma Jo, but there's more that involves Grandpa Gary...
Long story short, this is my bio-dad, Gary (I call him "dad," but some get confused because I call my dad that raised me "Daddy" instead of stepdad). He wasn't around from when I was 2 until I was 25, but it's kinda creepy how much alike we are. His sense of humor is similar to mine, we are both dang smart (teehee) and he's sooo non-drama. So much non-drama that he didn't bother to tell me about Jo's recent condition right away (a couple weeks) or how his gall bladder had to be removed in an emergency surgery during all the hooplah. I can see a little why he didn't want to bother us with the bad news, hoping she'd pull out of it and he could call with good news, but next time (if you're reading this) I'd sure like to know much sooner than later ;)

Here we are at Sundance a few years ago when they came to visit. We all had a blast (and we played more Mexican Trains than you could imagine, and I could've played more).
Piper liked getting cozy with Grandma Jo while watching a movie. I absolutely love Jo's smiles :)
Piper likes to do this weird face when I have the camera pointing at her. But I loved this one of Jo and couldn't pass up the chance to show her off.

Christmas Photos

We're way past Christmas (has it really been that long?) and I'm trying to organize this house. Seems that the places I thought would work for things aren't so I'm rearranging. Don't even get me started on the garage (looking forward to Ben making shelves so we can find stuff). We still haven't unpacked everything, so I wonder if my attempts to organize will be shot once we open the rest of the boxes.

Anywho... as I've been shuffling, I came across my precious Christmas photo cards and pictures that friends and family send every year.

For the record: I LOVE getting photos from friends and family, anytime of year.

But now I wonder what to do with them. They'll certainly not go in the trash (I don't throw friends and family in the trash, thank you). I'd rather them not spend the year in a box somewhere. There are too many for frames (although they all DESERVE a coveted spot in a frame, but I don't have the space to then put those frames). Not being a fan, the traditional peel and stick albums aren't an option, especially because I'd like to have them alphabetized then add to them each year.

Ooh, that reminds me of something that might work... but I still wanna know if you have ideas.

I diiiiid see a cutecutecute album thingy that a friend at church made for each of her girls. It was a SUUUPER simple idea, although she did WAY more than my short-attention-span could handle (in a scrapbooky sort of way). Right about now would be perfect for a visual aid, but I don't have one so you'll have to use your imagination.

It's an A to Z book. Each letter has it's own page. Each page has a picture of the subject of honor doing the particular letter, like: asleep for Sleeping, laughing for Joy, looking cute for Cute, holding a ball for Ball. Then each page had simple lettering added such as "S is for sleeping" applied with the S being a die cut. To finish, each page is laminated (thickly), hole-punched and attached using a simple binder ring (kinda like a skinny metal shower curtain ring) with matching ribbons knotted to it. SOOO cute!

Q: So do YOU have any ideas for the Christmas pictures?

My Twinkie

Piper: Mom, where are the Twinkies?

Mom: Why are you looking for Twinkies?


Piper: Because I want to EAT one.


Mom: Why do you need to eat one?


Piper: Pssbttt, because it's Saturday.


Oh. I guess Saturday is a special day, it's the day we eat a Twinkie.

The Whole Gang 2007

Ben's entire immediate family, immediately following Thanksgiving dinner (I think it took us 15 minutes start to finish) and immediately at sunset grr. He has two sisters and three brothers (two nephews and one niece with one more on the way). The last group shot we have is on the beach at the Oregon coast before Will was born (Owen wasn't a twinkle in anyone's eye at that point, he recently turned one). The next group shot won't be for at least two years. I know it's AT LEAST because it was in the low 40's and we all were freezing. So two years from now when Bryant and Brad are back we won't take pics during the cold weather; instead we'll wait until summer.

See You Later, Bryant and Brad

Ben's youngest brothers left today for Chile, South America (first they're at the Missionary Training Center where they'll learn Spanish and how to teach people about the gospel of Jesus Christ). They will be there for two years as missionaries for the church. Bryant (on the right) is going south and Brad (um, you should know which one he is left) is going north.

My son with his favorite uncle.

What Could've Been...

Lisa found these amongst her moving items which brought on the giggles, gfaw's and gasps. This was five years ago before the Utah move. We wanted pics together at the last minute and ended up with THESE.

Should I explain that Lisa and I are best friends and COMPLETELY heterosexual? I am married to a man, she is single, 30 and looking for a man. Oh, and she's fabulous with people (am I her pimp all of a sudden? Maybe and that's okay), kids absolutely adore her (ask mine if you don't believe me), smart as a whip and funnier than anyone I know. Check out some more pictures I took of her last year wintertime...

Don't you love the term "wintertime"?
That may be two words but I'd like it to be
one lovely sing-song sound.

She's got shorter hair now (shoulder-length) because she donated to Locks of Love (again, this wasn't her first time) but still has those yummy, perfect-not-too-tight dark curls and is finally out of her adult braces YAY!

Sure our hair styles and extra insulation (if you know what I mean) were laughable but POSING TOGETHER LIKE THAT... WHAT WERE WE THINKING?!? Seriously. Weird. I don't mind the floating-head-totem-pole one but the laying down one... YIKES!



Q: What embarrassing pictures will YOU post of YOURSELF?!?

Trigger Finger

My trigger finger has been itchin'.

Check out my scratch ;o)

She calls this her "pirate" shirt (she picked it out at Target last night, we added a long sleeve black shirt underneath since it's a bit chilly here)... arrr!

What's funny about this image is that I asked Lisa about two pictures. Told her that I realize one is more of what other people would want to see but one is what I LURV. She tagged them right and I posted the LURVly one. I hope you don't mind I didn't post the one you'd want to see :o)

Fluffy vs. Fat vs. Obese

Read this before moving on to today's post.





Did you REALLY read the link?





I'll take your word for it. Read on.


My theory for the overweight issues in America are the chemically and hormonally enhanced foods we eat in conjunction with more TV watching slash computer time slash game playing.

Theory talk over. Storytime...

When I went in for my OB check-up five years ago, I went through the standard riggamaroll of temperature, weight and blood pressure tests.


Temperature, good.

Weight, obese.

Blood pressure, good.

Um, OBESE, (I freak)?

Technically, yes.

Are you SURE? I mean, I know I'm fluffy, you could even say fat, but OBESE?

Yes, you are obese. But don't worry about it.


Um, don't WORRY about it, you say? I sure as h E double hockey sticks WILL worry about it (not enough to go on a diet or exercise, of course hahaha). I'm 5'9, big boned (seriously, that's not an excuse) and muscular (muscular also includes being well endowed despite a bilateral reduction mammoplasty in '94).

My waist curves IN instead of out; which, in my opinion, is when you move from fluffy to fat (for crying out loud, nobody get mad at me because your waist curves out instead of in and you don't call yourself fat, I'm just sayin').

I'm wondering who came up with the measuring system that determines obesity, based on height and weight alone. I wanna knock them on the head (not hard enough to hurt them, just enough to get their attention).

P.S. I should've been saying "over-weight" in place of "fat" throughout this post, but I'm too busy to go back and change that.

Me & My Boys

Today, I am blessed. It was our last Sunday at church before we move to Washington and I couldn't maintain my composure no matter how much I told myself I would. Even writing this I am getting all weepy (therefore I must stop because my head hurts too much and my eyes are tired of the tears). These are My Boys (the other two are on missions) and I am VERY proud and protective of each one of them. In this picture they are protective of me and pose as my bodyguards. I'd like to write wonderful things about them but I can't without bawling so you will just have to know I have a special place in my heart for them that will never go away. Here I go getting all teary again so I'm done. I love y'all :o) xoxoxo

Hey, Look - MORE Friends!

A few more friends and they're also photographers!
Jason, Jennifer, Kate, me, Rebekah and Stacy

A Couple Friends

Cynthia, Tiffany and me.

A Few Friends

Michelle, me and Lauri.

Top Scholar 2007 MBA program University of Nevada, Reno

This is my daddy (hi, daddy). I am very proud of my dad.

He married my mom when I was just 5, moved us around the country (California, Florida, New Mexico 5th grade through junior in HS & Washington for senior year plus a couple years) and out of it (Germany for 3) while serving in the armed forces long enough to retire a Lt. Colonel (he once had a job that was so top secret that his office was in an actual vault - pretty dang cool).
He graduated with his bachelors degree from the University of Washington in his early 20's, flew as a navigator in fighter jets (went to the REAL "Top Gun") and aerial refueling tanker aircrafts. He worked with the DEA tracking drug dealers and was offered a job as dean of a state university (but it was in a farming state so I'm glad it didn't work out because I thought I'd have to walk my cow to high school). His nickname in the military was "Doc" because he's so friggin' smart. With all that experience, expertise and training he decided after retiring that he'd go get a job to keep him busy, supplement the retirement pay and have fun with people... so he went to a casino to be a game dealer.

Craps is our family specialty but he can deal anything. Seriously, what some call "family night" we would set up the craps table downstairs and double down and yell for 7 or 11 :o)

Anyway... he didn't last long dealing (which is too bad because he has fun doing it) and soon moved into supervisory type positions because he was over-qualified.

Long story short he decides to sell the house in Spokane (Mead, technically, but more people have heard of Spokane... just like we say we're from Seattle but really it's Redmond or Woodinville), move to Reno, Nevada (Fernley, technically), and attend UNR to get his MBA, concentrating on Casino Management plus work full-time at a casino.

On May 18, 2007, my dad graduated with a 4.0 as the TOP SCHOLAR (number 1, as in no other nor a tie) in the MBA graduate program, summa cum laude, at UNR.

I wish I could've been there cheering him on but since I wasn't I dedicate this post to my daddy.

"Way to go, daddy!"

How Piper Got Her Name-O

"How'd you come up with the name Piper?" I get asked that often when people hear her name.

With Jack, it was easy because my grandpa Jack was dying when I was pregnant and he never had children of his own (married my grandma when her kids were older). Luckily, I was able to ask him if we could name our baby after him if we found out it was a boy. He was pleased and said yes.

With Piper, it was much more tricky. I wasn't thinking of using a family name (no particular reason, just wasn't). Pouring over movie credits (am I the only one that does that?), book authors, newspaper articles, fictional characters, books and online... I burnt Ben out by asking him too much (at least 3 names per day). He finally put his foot down and gave me the duty of picking the name and didn't want me EVER to ask him what he thought of a name again (I was pretty bad). Well, that was even MORE pressure and I got more absorbed into the meanings and history of names. I kept a list of names that were possibilities...

• Greta


• Janie (thought I could get a discount at Janie & Jack children’s clothing store)


• Jillian (Jack & Jill --- too much but I almost did... then thought of Lillian)


• Perri


• Simone


• Adde


• Livi (or Liv)


• Clarisse (too bad Hannibal Lecter ruined that name because it WAS pretty)


• Viane (pronounced vee-ann)


• Quinn (“wise” and Shannon means "old wise one")


• Addelade


• Ava


• Cloe (what the... that doesn't look right)


• Chloe


• Ivy


• Demi (Ben really hated this one but it was in my top 3)


• Julia (“youthful”)


• Juliana/Julianna (I had crossed out the 2nd N so it'd sound like yawn not ann)


• Emme


• Lyla (“from the island”)


• Lexy (one letter off sexy)


• Lexi (“valiant defender of mankind” and a former nickname of mine)


• Ella (“beautiful fairy woman”)


• Carmella (“golden” – my grandmothers name was Carmen)


• Carlie/Carly (“little, womanly”)


• Georgia


• Marilyn (too Manson these days)


• Sammi


• Dior


• Deja (too Déjà Vu like the strip club)


• Avalyn (might be a book title or township in Europe)


• Piper


• Luca


• Adela


• Mae


• Adel
  

My mom was at the airport on her way here when I called my dad and told him I thought of the name Piper out of the blue (didn't read it or hear it although I have heard it through the media long ago). He liked it and called my mom at the airport to tell her the name. Before he could say it SHE said she just thought of Piper as a name for the baby. Doo do doo do!

The next day she and I took Jack to Park City to kill some time. While at the toy shop I found some handmade alphabet bead cubes and spelled out P I P E R to show my mom how cute the name looks. On a whim, I decided to spend the $2.50 and buy the beads whether or not that's the name because it'd be a fun story to tell later.

The next day was my baby shower. One of the activities (I love to play games) was having the guests suggest baby names. Well, some of the names were ridiculous; Joette wrote down her name, Aunt Diane wrote "Princess Anastasia Diane" and a good neighbor writing Cere (like it's short for Cereal).

Ben saw the list on the counter when he got home. Glancing through the suggestions, balking at the silly ones I mentioned, he said, "Who wrote Piper?" Because of our little rule about not asking about names I said, "Why?" He replied, "I LIKE it! That's what we should name the baby - Piper!"

It's OFFICIALLY summer!

Father's Day Weekend

We had a friend stay with us over the weekend (he was our best man at the wedding) so we took him up American Fork Canyon (it's about 2 minutes from our house, just around the corner) to Tibble Fork Reservoir. The place was packed but I got a few pics while we walked around (the last one is Brent).

I love seeing daddy with his kids (can you see Jack?)

I didn't have my zoom on but managed to catch this ground squirrel...

Sometimes my kids surprise me and not fight (and I did NOT set this shot up)
This is Brent. Hi Brent.

Kids Don't Always Want Their Picture Taken

The first pic, she's smiling perfectly. After a while she's DONE with pictures (mmm look at that yummy light)...


He's usually patient with me when I take his picture. His smile is often overdone these days but I can get his authentic grin by saying something funny (I've always got something funny to say). The first is on a tree stump that he managed to get on without falling into the brink. He was so excited for me to take his picture. The second is showing that he's DONE too...

Q: Did you really think ALL my pictures turn out fabulous? Tee hee. Sometimes you have to get through a lot of duds to find the gems (that's why I take so many pictures).

Self-Portrait Request by CJane

Here I am this morning (about 30 minutes ago) in front of one of our original oil paintings. This one is called Figura Entre Pinos and it's painted by Royo.

Check out CJane's blog for other blogger self-portraits. Mine was a toss-up between this one and some nudes I tried with my timer. Luckily, you got the better one ;o) If there's enough begging and pleading I might add one of the nudes. MIGHT.

LDS Living Single survey

My cute friend, Rebecca Cengiz, has a new project she's working on in regards to "being single in a culture of couples." If you are LDS and single, click here to participate in a survey. If you are LDS and not single and want to participate then please forward the survey to your single LDS friends.

P.S. I've been working on my new website (very exciting); that's why I've been a little blogectful recently.

Friendly Photographer Lunch

Last week I had Katie & Rebekah over with their kids for lunch (I make a MEAN homemade mac n' cheese). I figured if I fed them they'd share some photography secrets. Thank you thank you thank you both! It's fun to see what we all saw... click here for Katie's pics of the day and here for Rebekah's images.

Katie, the model, Benson.

Jack & mom (that's me), courtesy of Rebekah Westover.
Katie's daughter, Ella "luv bugs".
Rebekah "getting jiggy-wit-it" LOL.

My handsome man, Jack.

Rebekah giving her "buggy" a love squeeze.
My favorite of my daughter, Piper. She'll do anything for chocolate.

Katie workin' the x-process.

Made this a little grainy for a softer, old-fashioned, feel.

Drip, drip, drip.

Mother and daughter, Rebekah & Violet.