Chelsey's Photo Shoot

I think these pictures of Chelsey turned out really well. She looked through my camera at them and of course there are only one or two that she likes. I guess it's always easier to look at them and pick out your flaws than to see the beauty in them. I think she is so gorgeous. She is my child that usually doesn't want her picture taken- I can't tell you how many pictures I have of the back of her head. She's quick and I keep telling her that she will like the pictures much better if she will just look at me and smile rather than hiding. Someday she will be glad that she has pictures.

Treven's Photo Shoot

I gave Treven a bath this morning and got him all handsome for some pictures. Of course he was too busy playing with his friends to really care about pictures. I had to keep reminding him what we were doing and why. I got a few shots that I like, but I think it was too early in the morning or I have too many trees in my yard that give off too many shadows. Anyway, I got enough that I told him he could go play. No less than half an hour later, he came in the house with mud all over him and his clothes. I'm so glad we got the pics before he decided to dig a six foot deep hole in the backyard!

Ellie's Photo Shoot

I decided to do a little photo shoot with Ellie yesterday. She cooperated for awhile, but then she decided she would rather take a nap! She is growing and changing so fast. She has such a sweet temperament (mostly) and is an absolute joy. Last night while I was at work, the girls said she cried for about an hour straight (she wanted mama) and while she was crying she would say mama. I'm thrilled that she would say mama first because all of my other kids said dada first! Smart girl, huh? Anyway- I am going to try to do a similar photo session with each of the other kids this week as they think all of the pictures taken are of Ellie. Treven got his hair cut last night so I think he'll be the next victim!

Victor's 40th Birthday!

We went out to Victor and Michelle's to help celebrate his 4oth birhtday. Michelle did all of the decorations in a Mexican Fiesta theme and she cooked chicken and beef fajitas, rice, and beans...wow was it yummy! Victor took this pic with Tage and Treven and called themselves the "Three Amigos"

We played the funnest game- there were teams of two ( a thrower and a catcher). The catcher had shower caps on their heads and garbage bags over their clothes. When it was all ready, they had shaving cream put on their heads. At one point, Victor for some reason thought it was whipped cream on his head, so he took a big old taste!!! Not so good!

The thrower got 2 mintues to throw Cheetos at them. When the time was up, the cheetos that stuck to the shaving cream were counted and the team with the most Cheetos won. Gary and Victor got the most with 31 (although Mikayla says they cheated)!

This is Angelina and Mikayla with their Cheetos stash. They got 24 to stick. Braquel and Talia got 22 I'm not sure how many the other two teams had. I was rushing around to get pics and missed the counts. All of this was done at 10:30 at night so it was pretty dark. Braquel told me as she was throwing Cheetos to stop taking pictures because the flash was blinding her and she couldn't see!!!

When Michelle got done counting Cheetos and I was talking to Victor, the kids all rushed him and got shaving cream amd Cheetos all over him! He didn't see it coming at all so it was really funny! We always have such a good time when we are all together. Our kids have pretty much been raised together for their whole lives and love to see each other.

Easy Strawberry Pie

Cut 1 pint (2 cups) of strawberries and place in either a graham cracker or shortbread pie crust.

Mix 1 1/4 cups apple juice, 1/2 cup sugar, and 3 TBSP cornstarch in a saucepan; cook on medium heat for 2 minutes or until thickened, stirring constantly. Remove from heat.

Add 1 ( 4-serving size) strawberry gelatin to the thickened mixture. Stir for about 2 minutes or until all of the jello is dissolved.

Pour gelatin mixture over the sliced strawberries.

Refrigerate 2 hours or until firm. Store leftovers in refrigerator . Garnish with more strawberries and Cool Whip. This is a really easy, really yummy strawberry pie that we make when strawberries are plentiful. When I make this pie, I usually make two or three so we can eat one and share the others!

Another Rag Quilt

I made another rag quilt for a baby gift this week. This one is one of my favorites. The pretty pastel colors scream baby girl! I don't know if you can really tell, but the main squares have little pink and purple castles and unicorns on them...so stinking cute! This one if for our friend Matt's baby girl, Niah Rhaney. We saw pictures of her on Mikayla's friends MySpace page and she is absolutely gorgeous. Matt told me the whole time that Kiera was pregnant that their baby would be the most beautiful baby ever and I have to say that aside from my own, she is one of the most perfect babies I've seen. I feel sad that she will never know her dad, but I hope that his family and friends can help her know what an awesome man he was. Hopefully she inherits his love and passion for life and people!

Albion Idol

After being asked to do karaoke at Annie's many times, I decided it was time to give it a go. I wanted to do a clever name instead of just karaoke so I called it Albion Idol! Unfortunately, there weren't a lot of people that participated, but we had quite a few people that came out to listen and suppport the few that did sing. Poor Shirley Clark ( the lady that brought all of the equipment) was the one that spent the majority of the night singing. She sounded really awesome and we appreciate her willingness to do what she did. This pic is Todd and Kathy Adams, some good friends. I couldn't get them to sing, but we always have fun when they come in!

This is Elaine, Shirley's mother. Years ago (before we moved here) she had a little cafe called Elaines and she and her husband, Harvey started this karaoke at the cafe. From what I hear, it was quite the hot spot. Everyone loved going for her ymmy breakfasts and burgers, but they also went for the karaoke. Elaine had a cold that night, but she was such a sport and sang a few songs for us.

Emily came down from Boise to do Albion Idol. Talk about excited! She came in to Annie's Friday and was so excited for Saturday. She looked beautiful and she sang really well. She did some Patsy Cline numbers that were pretty neat. She sounded just like her! Thanks to everyone that came to Albion Idol whether it was to sing or just to watch- what a blast!