{lucky me!}

2010-02-26T15:14:00.000-08:00

disneyworld 2010!

we're back from our disney dream vacay with the mcgaws and minughs and we had SO much fun!! it was the first time there for all of us (except rob) and while we had a great time, we all agreed it didn't hold the same magic for us as disneyland.
we rented a big house together and spent 6 days in the parks.
here's our list of favorites from the trip:

ceb - king bed, rockin' rollercoaster, toy story mania
kial - safari with havi, scottlish accent
baylie - "algilator", tower of terror, shopping
rylie - space mountain, tower or terror, mt. everest
gina - laughing at kelly getting SOAKED on kali river rapids, mt. everest (1st 2x), lion king show
jason - epcot ball, stories from fishing trip (guys day), catching a seagull
cami - safari with havi, tower of terror, being with everyone, metting thumper & miss bunny, waffle house, accents
grady - rockin' rollercoaster, big thunder, mini-golf with dad 36 holes
kelly - super target everyday!, cici's pizza buffet =), Mama Melrose's Ristorante Italiano hollywood studios
rob - fishing trip, being the disneyland "cooler" - breaking down h.s. gate, fastpass, mt. everest
clark - rockin' rollercoaster, smokin' hot dopplar radar (captain mark drown)
kenzie - rain on the first day
amy - rockin', mt. everest, seeing kids meet princesses, ride nazi on space mountain
baker - small world "little children ride", "um... did ya know?"

next year, disneyland!!

be strong!

2010-01-31T22:07:00.001-08:00

jan26-10, originally uploaded by kellyrayelee.

i LOVE our young women challenge for 2010.
Be STRONG!!
and of a GOOD COURAGE!!
for the Lord thy God is WITH THEE!
joshua 1:9

it's like the best pep talk.
God is good.

2010-01-24T22:38:00.001-08:00

xanadu!

jan23-10, originally uploaded by kellyrayelee.

gina and i went to see this saturday night.
it was funny and fabulous, we LOVED it!

2010-01-13T06:57:00.000-08:00

2010

december 09

it's a brand new year! time for fresh starts.

i resolve to not get more than a week behind on my 365 project.

{new 2010 project link to right}

and try to post at least one picture a week on my blog.

what are your goals this year?

june9-09

2009-06-14T20:58:00.001-07:00

june9-09, originally uploaded by kellyrayelee.

cami and grady are on the swim team at our pool and the season starts in may with nightly practices until schools out, then every morning.
keeps them active and outside.

june4-09

2009-06-08T22:57:00.001-07:00

june4-09, originally uploaded by kellyrayelee.

always dread going in.
but happy for a good report.
and this is the longest stretch i've had!

san fran!

2009-05-21T18:47:00.001-07:00

may17-09, originally uploaded by kellyrayelee.

rob and i went for a long weekend.
what a beautiful city.
we went everywhere and saw everything!
we're still exhausted...

may15-09

2009-05-21T18:45:00.001-07:00

may15-09, originally uploaded by kellyrayelee.

mothers day!

2009-05-14T20:39:00.001-07:00

may9-09, originally uploaded by kellyrayelee.

me & my sister, auntie, mom, & grammy.
love you!

may13-09

2009-05-14T20:37:00.001-07:00

may13-09, originally uploaded by kellyrayelee.

may7-09

2009-05-07T23:34:00.003-07:00

may7-09, originally uploaded by kellyrayelee.

kenzie got her braces off today!

she looks so grown up.
rob and i took her to suni's for lunch to celebrate.

she couldn't stop smiling.
(and looking in the mirror) =)

may6-09

2009-05-07T23:34:00.001-07:00

may6-09, originally uploaded by kellyrayelee.

rob & i are going to san fran next weekend.
never been.

any suggestions?

2009-05-04T17:02:00.001-07:00

may3-09, originally uploaded by kellyrayelee.

we had a quiet bday at home tonight.rob made ribs (his idea), we watched bedtime stories, and ate his favorite icecream and cookies.
and he got an adorable little netbook.i might steal it.

i've decided since i can't seem to do the 365 project AND my blog that i would link the two.

don't worry, i won't do it every day!

2009-03-03T16:23:00.000-08:00

tagged by shannon and jaime...

to go into your picture files, open the 6th folder, 6th picture -- then tag 6 people.

okay, didn't quite work for me either. i only have 5 folders under my main pictures folder: 2005-2009.

so i went into the first folder in 2005 that had 6 subfolders and that was february.

so here's my 6th picture from that bunch.

here's valentine's day 2005.

looks like mackenzie got a harry potter movie, grady a thomas train, and cami a my little pony.

they look so little!

and now i tag...

paige, marie, satako, kathy, & sarah.

2009-02-07T14:12:00.000-08:00

the 365 project

has kept me busy this month. it's a flickr group my friend gina started.
basically it's a picture a day for a year.
the only rules are, you must take the picture (you can use a tripod and a timer)
and no flash.
then we have challenges.
january's theme was "happiness is..."
it was so great.
i found myself looking for the things that made me happy each day.
(a great way to count blessings)

for february we are doing colors.
first week blue, 2nd red/pink, 3rd green, 4th brown
this one has been more challenging. i think i'm still in "happiness" mode.
but i love the challenge of it.
and i LOVE the idea of having a complete book at the end of the year that really shows a true picture of my life. (better than journalling!)
because i've been taking all the photos in a horizontal 4x6 format i plan on just printing them all up and sliding them into an album with 4x6 page protectors.
so easy!

here are a few of the pictures i've taken over the last few weeks:

grady's a reader!

my sweet nephew truman turns two.

addisyn's baby blessing.

cami's first new beginnings for young women.

torrie's darling baby true.

i update every couple days.

just click on the flickr badge on the right of this post.

btw, anyone is welcome to join at any time!

2009-01-06T22:58:00.000-08:00

yummy...

isn't she?

today i finally had the pleasure of meeting darling miss addisyn. first baby of our good friends analee & joe. she had the cutest fuzz head! and such a sweet nature.

so happy for you two!

2008-12-27T19:07:00.000-08:00

2 months...

is a long time not to post!
and SO hard to know what to say after all this time!
so i won't say much, except that i hope to be better in the new year.
here's a few pics of the last couple months.

2008-10-25T07:21:00.000-07:00

jedi party

the invite

instruction from yoda

testing the boys' jedi knowledge

grady had his first "big" party. six boys besides him.
i planned lots of activities to keep them busy.
and we lucked out with gorgeous weather so we were able to be outside for it all. a good thing with 7 boys.

stuff they did:
jedi obstacle course (put together by his sisters)
light saber training
battled the vader pinata
rob and yoda tested their jedi knowledge
"pin the badge on vader"
jedi vs. sith freeze tag game
so much fun!

(thanks torrie & john for lending your starwars treasures, especially yoda!)

2008-10-02T21:47:00.000-07:00

we may have...

eaten yummy food.

and i might have had a few drinks... (all non-alc.)

and so did they...

but we did go to church.

(okay, we took pictures)

saw some cool things.

& some beautiful beaches.

& had a fantastic time!

just got back from a fabulous trip with three great friends (paige, marie, & lauren) to hawaii for my first time!
thanks again to paige for organizing and to rob who said yes, stayed with the kids and didn't complain, you rock!
2010?...

2008-09-19T23:59:00.000-07:00

my life is a...

circus!

literally. grady had his kindergarten circus today. his school does this every year with the kindergarteners as a culmination of their colors and numbers unit.
and like his sisters he chose to be a tiger. so i bought some tiger ears and a cheap orange t-shirt at joannes. i outlined the stripes and he colored them in with a sharpie. with his new black church pants he declared he looked "slick". he insisted on having his face painted before school and had no qualms being the only kid on the bus with cat ears and whiskers!
he definitely has confidence.

"making friends isn't like turning on a light. it's like turning on an oven. you have to wait for the person to warm up to you." ~cami lee

cami wrote this in my notebook the first week of school. so true.

i know. rob reminded me that my last post featured grady as well.
it's just that he's having all these "firsts" right now.
maybe a yellowstone post next?

2008-09-04T21:44:00.000-07:00

my baby...

started kindergarten today!

this day came so fast. although it feels like my whole world has changed in the last 6 years.
six years ago today we put cami on the bus to kindergarten and then we walked down to meet her bus. i was 8 months pregnant with grady. and i was crying all the way down the hill to the school and wetting my pants cuz for some reason that seemed to happen when i cried.

i had six weeks "alone" before grady arrived. and we've been buddies ever since.
what will i do without him?
thank goodness there's a lot of targets around here...

actually, i have plenty to do between driving back and forth to bellevue where mackenzie is attending a private school and helping in the other two's classrooms.
i might actually have time to get some "real" stuff done around here.
and maybe go to lunch with rob sometimes.
there has to be some perks right?

2008-07-25T23:00:00.000-07:00

tourists...

for the past three years rob has been overseeing the renovation and conversion of the historic arctic club building into a luxury hotel. it finally opened this month and we had the pleasure of spending the night in this beautiful building.

it is really an incredible place with lots of gorgeous original architectural features. rob has really enjoyed working on this unique project.
one of the highlights for him was being involved in the process of opening their restaurant juno and all the "research" (eating) that was required. i'm really excited to get to dine there tomorrow night at juno's opening day. we did get to sample some of their amazing desserts in our room which was one of the highlights of our stay for the kids.

the next day we did some seattle sightseeing which included taking in the fantastic views from the top of the smith tower and doing the famous seattle underground tour. both for my first time, and i'm a native! the weather was perfect, the kids were good, and i may have a new appreciation for this city.

2008-06-30T13:44:00.001-07:00

ashland

i know, it's been a couple months since i've blogged.
just a crazy life here.
and then you know how when it's been so long since you've blogged that you don't know where to start?
so i'll start with last week and (maybe?) work backwards.
and try to keep current.

we had our second annual trip to ashland, oregon last week for the oregon shakespeare festival.
so much fun!
we really enjoy having nothing to do but go to good plays, eating good food, driving nowhere, and just being together.

2008-04-22T22:34:00.000-07:00

big news...

rob and i both got new callings at church this week.

i am second counselor in the relief society presidency and he is the elders quorum prez.

yikes!

we're feeling a bit overwhelmed here but excited by all the changes.

i'm going to miss my activity day girls lots!

in other news...

we moved back upstairs this weekend. hurray!

the remodel is pretty much finished except for a few details.

we emptied out the storage unit and are gradually getting things in order.

the house is a wreck!

and now for some really exciting news...

a brand new H&M store is opening in u-village this fall!

yippee! i love that store!

2008-04-17T00:15:00.000-07:00

rock star.

we celebrated cami's eleventh birthday with her band, G-5. (girls-five, buddies who write songs together during recess)

i transformed some old 45s into invites.

and in my "keeping things simple" mode we rented a limo to pick up the girls and took them to a "photo-shoot" for their album cover. then we came back to the house for a sleep over. i don't think there was any sleeping though.
ahh... the life of a rock star.

the video...

2008-03-26T22:37:00.000-07:00

peace...

was His message. and love...
i give thanks for the peace the Savior provides in my crazy life.
happy easter!

the girls and i wore our new peace tees for easter.
gone are the days of sweet pastel matching dresses.

(you can see our new wood floors too. love them!)

2008-03-18T23:59:00.000-07:00

vegas, baby...

cruisin' the strip in our convertible mustang (again)

grand canyon

hoover dam

rob had a conference in vegas last week, so i tagged along.

we saw a couple shows,

did some shopping,

soaked in the sunny 80 degree climate,

saw the hoover dam and grand canyon (wow),

did the pinball hall of fame,

oh, and rob did some work.

a great time!

many thanks to jaime, paige, and the in-laws.

2008-02-26T13:05:00.000-08:00

remodel

so i finally figured out the whole flickr thing and have posted some pictures of the remodel. (to the right, you can click on it to see larger)
these pictures show the progress as of january 28.
this week they are finally installing all the cabinetry.
hurray!

we have about 5 more weeks.
the end is in sight...

2008-02-20T23:19:00.000-08:00

surprise!

the kids knew we were going to palm springs for winter break.
when we got to the airport on wednesday night we had the kids open their valentines present early.
inside the giftbag was a disney tee, movie, and their disney autograph books.
i think they were a little confused to find those in there, but were quickly thrilled when we explained that we were going to disneyland for 2 days before heading to the resort.

it was a lot of fun to surprise them although cami was a little bummed that she didn't get to boast about the trip to all her friends before going.
what a great valentines day at the happiest place on earth!

then we drove out to palm springs and stayed at a beautiful resort with a mini water park.
the weather was perfect, high 70's.
so hard to come home...

2008-02-11T19:54:00.000-08:00

g.n.o.

(girls night out) as miley/hannah would sing.
miley's making a few bucks this year with her concerts and movie. the movie tix were $15 each! such a crazy phenomenon. and i'm buying right into it.

my sister amy, my mom, and i took all the cousins and kenzie's good friend ashley to see the hannah montanah 3d movie last weekend.
my girls went to the real concert back in october with ashley.
the kids loved it, except for riley who said it was too loud and kept asking if it was almost over right from the beginning.
i sympathized with her. i should have brought the earplugs i had planned on bringing.
i'm getting so old...

rock on!

mackenzie, ashley, cami, mikaela, abby, baylie, rylie

2008-02-05T16:32:00.000-08:00

tagged x3

(1989)

How long have you been together? 19 years. married for 15.

How long did you date? 4. high school sweethearts.

How old is he? 34

Who eats more? He does, but not my much.

Who said "I love you" first? hmmm... can't remember. i'm pretty sure whoever didn't say it first said it right away in response. i think we had been saying "love ya" for years in the way of teenagers.

Who is taller? he is by 5 inches

Who is smarter? he is definitely.

Who does the laundry? me 80%. him 20%.
i can't stand for him to wash my clothes. something always shrinks!

Who does the dishes? me 75%. him 25%.
right now we don't have a dishwasher, so there's lots of bribery going on.

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? looking at the bed, I do.
it's closest to the toilet!

Who pays the bills? rob

Who mows the lawn? neither of us. the mower guys do. i've never mowed ever!

Who cooks dinner? I do, and I hate it.

Who is more stubborn? we're both kind-of stubborn when it's something we're passionate about. and we're also both laid back.

Who kissed who first? he kissed me first.

Who asked who out? we met in 8th grade spanish class and were buddies until 10th grade. after lots of flirting he sent me a note to ask if i wanted to "go out". our first unofficial date (parents did not know) was with our friends at the aurora village movie theatre where we saw Lucky Stiff (stupid), and our first official date was at the same place with andrew as our chaperone (poor kid) where we saw Oliver & Company (cute).

Who proposed? he did. i knew it was coming and the day. december 12. the anniversary of the day he "asked me out" and then one year later we were married on that date.he put his proposal in the seattle times and came to my house where he woke me up and had the ring in a teddy bear. (it was 1991!) he sent me roses later and took me out to our favorite restaurant that night. he's always been romantic.

Who is more sensitive? hmmm... i've been called an ice princess. i'm not prone to being emotional (except recently) but i have my moments. i think rob is more sensitive to the spirit, therefore most of his sensitivity is presented on sundays.

Who has more friends? me. its a girl thing.

Who has more siblings? me, by one.

Who wears the pants in the relationship? both. depends on the issue.

Who are you tagging? paige, gina, torrie, shannon t. & m.

and claudia... where are you?

love you rob!

2008-01-28T21:03:00.000-08:00

naked...

is how i feel showing this to you.
i'm baring it all.
this is how we're living right now.
(as you can see, i did not clean this before sharing)

as you know, we're remodeling our upstairs, all 1500 square feet.
so we're all downstairs. we've set up a temporary kitchen in the laundry room complete with fridge, oven, cabinets, and microwave.
grady's sharing a (pink) room with mackenzie. rob and i are in the fitness room.
our dining room is in the play room.

it's actually working out okay.

some of the challenges are:
no dishwasher. (we use paper plates and bowls at every meal, which we compost, and wash the rest of the items)
one mini counter in "kitchen". (we use the top of the washer and dryer for extra space)
one toilet. one shower.
one tiny tub. (no baths for me...)
living with twice the stuff in half the house.

the real stress i've been dealing with is just all the DETAILS!
if you know me, i like to research a single paint color for six months.
i had a clear idea of what i wanted everything to look like, i just didn't realize the millions of decisions i would have to make.
and because i've been dreaming about this for 9 years, i want it to be perfect!

it looks like we may have about 6-8 more weeks.
i'm hoping to post some progress pictures soon.

2008-01-20T19:42:00.000-08:00

The New Year Scare . . .

Kelly got me a digital video camera for Christmas. We were bored one day during Christmas break and so we made this movie about the upcoming New Year.

Cami and her friend, Shannon, wrote the script and all the kids acted in it. It took us only 2 hours to write and film but then I spent over 10 hours editing the thing. A fun activity for the kids, but a major project for me.

A second script is in pre-production and will be optioned to the highest hollywood bidder.

*edited. don't judge my messy house. this was 2 days after christmas and we're in half a house.

2008-01-17T20:17:00.001-08:00

reflections...

cami entered the pta reflections contest again this year.
she made it to the district level and won an honorable mention there.

the theme was:
"i can make a difference by..."

conserving water (she said)
and she took a picture of the faucet on the back of our house.

as i'm writing this she's been in the shower for 20 minutes.
i better go remind her of her cause.

2008-01-08T17:04:00.000-08:00

payback!

do you ever threaten your husband that you're going to blog something he said or a picture of him?
i do all the time!

i've been telling him since grady's birthday that i was going to post a picture of him chowing down at chuck e. cheese all by his lonesome.
i figure it's fair after all those bald pictures he put in his video!

the picture makes me giggle every time.

(make sure you click on it and get a good look)

2007-12-12T09:20:00.000-08:00

15 Years . . . ! ?
*edited below

This is an unauthorized post.

Don't know much about blogging but I wrote this song and made a video for my woman.

So she knows how much I love her.

RL

* edited...

you win rob! you're a rock star! a smokin' hot rock star!

this is SO sweet. i love this song. and i adore you...

guess what else he did for me?

he surprised me with a trip to Cabo this weekend!

i am the luckiest girl!

www.pueblobonitopacifica.com

i can't wait for sunshine and heat!

love you rob...

2007-12-02T22:40:00.000-08:00

i know...

it's december.
but here's the kiddos on halloween.

cami was a blue fairy.
grady was a jedi knight.
and kenzie was a farmer.

this was taken before our trunk-or-treat on the 28th.
on halloween night we went out for pumpkin pancakes
instead of trick-or-treating.

i'm still editing the italy pictures...

2007-11-15T17:03:00.000-08:00

coming soon...

musings from the trip.

and maybe some pictures from grady's birthday and halloween.

when i find time to edit 300 pictures.
in between choosing fixtures, tile, hardwood floor stain, carpet, etc.

sigh.

2007-10-14T23:29:00.000-07:00

little blue box...

rob planned the perfect birthday night.
{thanks honey}

i also had my favorite pumpkin spice donut holes from krispy kreme.
and pumpkin pancakes from ihop.
yum.

lucky me...

2007-10-02T07:22:00.000-07:00

not again...
.

yep, we brought home another kitten from the beach. this makes three.

when we were down at the beach over labor day weekend, we found a mama cat and her three kittens abandoned next door.
of course the kids fell in love! they spent the next four days playing with them and growing attatched.

we ended up taking home one, the other two kittens went home with a couple girls also on vacation, and the mama (cocoa) went home with Barb. (who recently lost her cat of 15 years)
it was fate.

so now, for the first time, we are the owners of two kitties.

2007-09-14T14:29:00.000-07:00

labor day...

my dear mother and sister-in-law talked me into taking some pictures of all the kiddos over labor day weekend.
isn't truman getting big?
he's 6 months old now and such a cutie-pie!

lately i haven't been feeling that inspired by my photography.
i feel like i've hit a technical wall. one that would require taking classes or something.

so here's my announcement.
i'm not taking christmas pictures this year.
not because i don't love you.
but because i'm not loving my work right now.

ever since i got my point & shoot a few months ago, i've been rediscovering the joy of capturing the moments in life.
not just the perfect poses.

2007-09-03T23:29:00.000-07:00

tagged again!

this might be a little TMI...

4 jobs i've had:
1. teacher's aid/preschool teacher 7 years at Hurray For Me! School
2. ticket seller/concessions Aurora Village movie theatre
3. file clerk Polyclinic (thanks gina)
4. nanny
(the last 3 all less than 6 months)

4 movies i could watch over & over:
1. Pride and Prejudice (A&E version and hollywood version)
2. the sound of music (me too marie)
3. superman 1
4. taladega nights (this is for my smokin' hot husband!)

4 places i have lived:
this is totally boring...
1. shoreline, WA
2. edmonds, WA
3. lake forest park, WA
that's it! although, if given a choice, i would live somewhere that is sunny 365 days of the year.

favorite TV shows:
1. Grey's Anatomy (we might give this up after that awful last season)
2. Flipping Out on Bravo (about this crazy OCD guy who flips houses in L.A., love his style!)
3. HGTV (i tivo tons of decorating shows that i like to watch in fast forward)
4. the new adventures of old christine (that has me laughing out loud)

favorite foods:
1. Ruby Tuesdays mini burgers YUM!
2. pumpkin spice donut holes from Krispy Kreme
3. barb's potatoe salad
4. chocolate (cake, brownies, candy, ice cream, etc.)

websites i frequent:
1. the image is found (the BEST photographer ever!)
2. barebaby wow...
3. hungry girl great diet stuff
4. tara whitney (love her work)
and of course all of my friends' blogs!

4 places i'd rather be:
1. the beach house (just got back)
2. disneyland (doesn't that place just make you happy?)
3. NYC... love it!
4. italy (here we come!)
* bonus: standing in my newly remodeled house (will that day ever come?)

3 people to tag next:
1. Gina
2. Jaime
3. Claudia & Crin... where are you guys?!

2007-08-24T08:23:00.001-07:00

how cool...

is this?

it's the edge pan for those who love the edges!

yum. i might need to bake some brownies.

*i want to know if you're an edge or middle gal!

2007-08-15T07:30:00.000-07:00

teenager...

today mackenzie turns 13.

i am a mother to a teenager. yikes!
wasn't i just a teenager?

and she's starting junior high this year. double yikes!

i love this girl.
i love her willing attitude, her ready smile, her sweet nature, and happy spirit.
not to mention that she's gorgeous!

happy birthday sweetheart...

2007-08-12T21:58:00.000-07:00

congrats blasers!

introducing the stunning miss Sommer Josephine Blaser

born to my dear friends paige and eric blaser 8.9.07

so happy for you guys...

2007-07-18T17:40:00.000-07:00

here you go mom...

i know... it's been over a month sinces i've posted.

i remember when summer used to mean sleeping in, lazy warm days, no schedule.
not so anymore.

we've been to our family reunion, to the beach for the 4th, planning our remodel, and at the pool every other minute for swim team practice, lessons, and meets.

i'm hoping august is more relaxing.

oh wait, i think our upstairs will be ripped apart.

we had a great time at the beach house celebrating the 4th of july for the 7th year.

it was especially fun having Aunt Amy and cousin Leslie there for the week too.

the kids loved hanging out with Leslie who is 15 and such a sweetheart.

2007-06-13T23:09:00.000-07:00

on the razzle...

to quote from one of our favorite plays, this weekend we were "on the razzle".

i surprised rob with a trip to ashland, oregon for his birthday this year.

we saw 5 plays in 3 days at the oregon shakespeare festival.

{no, it's not all shakespeare}

he's been wanting to take me for years.

this was one of my favorite vacations ever!

this will definitely be an annual trip for us.

{thanks mom!}

love you rob...

*btw, all of the photos above were taken with my brand new

P&S canon SD800 IS

{my mother's day present}

i LOVE this camera!

2007-05-29T15:13:00.000-07:00

three months old...

and isn't he yummy?

we enjoyed a memorial day barbeque with jaime, andrew, and truman yesterday, who came up from portland for the weekend.

truman has already changed so much.

he's starting to giggle and can hold his head up.

the kids are in love with their cousin.

i just wish they lived closer...

2007-05-22T21:59:00.001-07:00

more recommendations...

bridge to tarabithia: book & movie are both great

ella enchanted: the book is so cute and different from the movie

{i've been reading lots of cami's books lately, i love them!}

the edge of winter: i always like luanne rice

the chosen (chaim potok): read this for book club, so good

miss potter: sweet movie about beatrix potter (should be out on dvd now)

new downloads:

katherine mcphee & kate walsh

what are you reading, watching, listening to now?

p.s. i saw pirates 3 (way too long and confusing)

spiderman 3 (way too many villians)

and have been re-reading (audio) all the harry potters in preparation for number 7...

and the movie trailer for number 5 looks sooo... good!

2007-05-22T21:35:00.000-07:00

been scrappin...

{gina, amy, me}

just got back from my bi-annual scrapbook retreat on whidbey island.

four days with my sister amy, my good friend gina, and 18 other gals.

enjoyed lots of eating, talking, music, laughing, and of course scrapping.

so much fun. can't wait til october!

{my table in the "barn"}
.
yep, that's grady with a binky.

i was scrapping 2004. three years behind...

make that two and a half now.

i do get a little bit of work done while i'm gone.

2007-04-27T17:10:00.000-07:00

Spring Break

here's a few of the pictures from spring break.

we had a great time down at the beach house with honey and papa.

it was our first easter there.

jaime, andrew, and truman were able to come over for the day.

later in the week we drove down the coast to explore Tillamook, Lincoln City, and Newport, before heading over to Corvalis to celebrate the 25th anniversary of rob's aunt & uncle.

we spent a lot of time in the car.

thank goodness for the dvd player.

love my new van!

had to share...

2007-04-16T21:33:00.001-07:00

i heard this song when i was getting my nails done the other day.

it made me giggle.

here's a video someone made on you-tube for the song.

enjoy...

2007-04-05T21:05:00.000-07:00

truman's blessing

we went down to portland a couple weeks ago for truman's blessing.

andrew gave him a beautiful one. then we went to greg & carol's for a lovely lunch.

can't wait to see that sweet baby on easter! we're meeting up with them at the beach house where we're spending spring break.

don't you just love spring?
new babies
sunshine
flowers
the Savior...

happy easter!

2007-04-02T21:35:00.000-07:00

happy birthday camryn!

today is cami's 10th birthday.
i can't believe it's been a whole decade since she was born.
have i told you about the night she was born?

at 5:30 p.m. mackenzie and i were just done shopping at Costco and were sharing a frozen yogurt when my water broke. we're talking gush. so we rushed out of there. i didn't look anyone in the eye because i was mortified that my jeans were soaked!

i went home and washed and dried my jeans. (they were my favorite and i wanted to wear them to the hospital)

around 7:45 the contractions were about 7 minutes apart so we headed to the hospital which was in bellevue. (about 30 minutes away) i wanted to make sure i had plenty of time to get my epidural.

by the time we got to the hospital my contrations were very strong, i could barely walk. i made it to my room by 8:30. they told me i was dilated to 7. i told them to rush the epidural.

my dr. came around 9:00 along with the anesthesiologist who told me to turn to my side.
right at that moment i felt like i had to push. (actually i tried to jump off the bed, i thought i was dying!)
the dr. checked me and said i was a 10 and had to push. i was so disappointed not to be getting my drugs! but once i started pushing the pain wasn't quite so crazy.

she was born at 9:27 p.m.
when rob called my mom and said "she's here!" my mom thought he meant we had just arrived at the hospital, not that i had already had the baby!

and we fell in love with her.

2007-03-27T21:51:00.000-07:00

friends...

grady and cannon had a successful playdate today.
i think paige and i were beginning to wonder if these two would "click".
we have them in pre-school together.
and all year i've been taking the two of them to storytime at the library each week, with a playdate usually following.

most of the time they get along, they just usually want to play different things and so they often play seperately.
but today was good.
they listened to each other's ideas and had quite the elaborate batman/powerrangers/starwars game going on.

it's so fun to see these little guys cooperating and learning how to be friends.

2007-03-27T11:29:00.000-07:00

may i recommend...

here's a few books i recently read, and loved!

twilight

and book two

new moon

both by stephenie meyer.

these books are so so good!

and clean enough for teens to read too!

(book number three coming august 7)

east

by edith pattou

i got this book for cami to read and i sat and read all 500 pages in one day. loved it!

(yep, the house did not cleaned.)

and recent movies...

the namesake

loved this movie!

the painted veil

also good. it's currently at the crest for all you seattlelites.

have you read or seen anything great lately?

2007-03-20T12:13:00.000-07:00

family photo?

that's what jack called it.

and he said he was "daddy".

he really had the whole johnny depp pirate thing down.

the talk, mannerisms, and eyeliner.

loved the new additions to the pirates ride too.

2007-03-10T08:19:00.000-08:00

the glad game

i too was tagged by lauren to list 6 things that make me glad. i'm going to cheat and do 10.

1. i'll state the obvious and say taking a great photo. one that really captures a feeling or somebody's personality. and i love getting a really great photo for a friend. because i know how priceless a moment in time is.

2. date night with my smokin' hot husband! i look forward to this all week. i love to get a little dressed up and go out for a good meal (no counting points), see a good movie or play, or just hang out. and i love the company too!

3. playing games with family and friends. how much fun is that? i love how you can really get to know someone by playing games with them. people relax and get silly and just get real. i especially love playing games at the beach house which brings me to my next item.

4. the beach house. how lucky am i to have in-laws with a beach house?! i love to go there. i love how there's no schedule there. i love walking (or running) the prom, smores around the campfire, ice-cream at the candyman, reading all day if i want, sitting in the warm sand, watching the waves, pizza at fultanos, riding bikes, playing games, just being with family or friends.

5. my new video ipod. love this gadget. i love downloading old favorites from itunes. i put the harry potter audio books on there and love listening to those too. i love being able to take my whole music library with me wherever i go. i love the free podcasts for kids thru the library that grady listens to each day during breakfast.

6. sundays. i love this day! i like going to church and the great spirit that is felt there and seeing good friends. and i love spending the rest of the day relaxing with my family. its so liberating to not have to do anything on this day.

7. scrapbook retreats. so much fun! time with my sis and good friend. lots of laughing, eating, & scrapping. best of all i come home with at least one complete album. priceless!

8. thursdays with shannon.

9. chocolate.

10. the RE9 anti-aging system by Arbonne! it has totally changed my skin!

okay, i'm going to tag a few people to list 6 (or 10) things that make you glad. torrie & lisa who are already blogging, and amy & gina who need to get started!

* edited. i'm tagging jaime too, now that's she's finally blogging.

2007-03-05T17:37:00.000-08:00

one year ago...

yesterday, i had my first chemo.

such a strange existence living from treatment to treatment.

feeling like half a person, but wanting so badly for life to continue as usual.

a couple weeks after my first treatment my hair started falling out.
first rob cut my hair into a bob. he really enjoyed that.
the next day we shaved it all off and he shaved his and grady's as well.

i loved my new wig. it was the thick beautiful hair i always wished i'd had.
but it gave me headaches. i hardly wore it at all. hats were my mainstay if i left the house.
at home i couldn't stand to have anything on my head at all.

here's rob in my wig. doesn't he look like a total butt-rocker?!

today i'm feeling grateful.
i'm grateful for the sunshine and a healthy body.
i'm grateful for family and friends.
i'm grateful for rob.
i'm grateful to be alive.

lucky me!

2007-03-02T17:18:00.000-08:00

100 calorie packs - YUM!

here are some brand new products you must try!
(if you love chocolate like me)

1. mini hostess cupcakes
(in 3 varieties. the chocolate cakes and yellow cakes with chocolate frosting are the best. the carrot cake is a little dry)

2. mini grasshopper cookies
(taste just like girl scout thin-mints!)

3. hershey's wafer bars

4. hershey's 100cal chocolate bars

i just love these things!

the prepackaging really helps me cut down on consumption.
(i need all the help i can get!)

happy snacking...

2007-03-02T07:49:00.000-08:00

Disneyland!

i survived!

my two sisters, my mom, and i took 7 kids to disneyland this week.
and all 11 of us made it home safely.
barely.
we missed our flight home and lost my suitcase, but got on the next flight with the suitcase.

we had a great time, especially the kids.

made lots of wonderful memories.

2007-02-14T21:34:00.000-08:00

happy heart day

i love truman's hairline.

doesn't it look heart-shaped?

2007-02-11T21:52:00.000-08:00

He's Here!

Truman Robert Lee

2.9.07

8lbs. 15oz.

our new baby nephew arrived friday night. and i'm in love...

we went down to portland to see him

{and andrew & jaime too}

he looks so much like my babies did.

i almost kidnapped him...

can't wait to see him again.

love him!

2007-01-28T20:42:00.000-08:00

boy toys...

i didn't think my son would own these.

or guns or swords.

he used to be happy with thomas the train. and cars and firetrucks.

not anymore.

2007-01-24T21:24:00.000-08:00

recent good books...

so i've been reading instead of blogging.
these are all good...
(click title for book summary)

The Places in Between by Rory Stewart
i read this one for book club. very interesting.

Eragon by Christopher Paolini
just finished this one. cami just read it too.
we both loved it!
almost as good as harry potter!
can't wait to read eldest and see the movie.

The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards
i was intrigued with the premise of this book. very good.

happy reading!

2007-01-14T21:43:00.000-08:00

beautiful...?

yes, but enough already!

i want the kids back in school! (and rob back at work)

i want to go to the gym and have a "normal" schedule again.

the weather this winter has been crazy! the kids will have to be in school until july to make up for all the lost days.

so tonight i pray for above freezing temperature so this will all melt...

2007-01-09T22:02:00.000-08:00

My Christmas Tree...

this is what santa brought me. all the way from franklin, tennessee!

with a lot of help from his elves. (thanks lara & david)

i saw it at an antiques shop when we were on our trip and fell in love.
it's metal, chippy white, and rusty. what's not to love? apparantly others do not share in my appreciation though. oh well. not everyone has fabulous taste.

i did not put it on my wish list. i assumed there was no hope for ever getting all seven feet of it across the country. but my dear husband surprised me with it sitting next to our christmas tree on christmas morning.

he's the best. love him...

(yes, that's our cat hiding in the curtains)

2007-01-03T20:05:00.000-08:00

Congrats Cramer family!

anders cramer 11.21.06

.
so happy for you...

2006-12-29T23:38:00.000-08:00

Graceland

we had such a great time in tennessee.

we spent a couple days in memphis visiting the civil rights museum, sun studios (where elvis first recorded and legends were made), and of course graceland.
loved it! a total shrine to the 70's.

did you know that elvis' slogan in the late 70's was t.c.b., taking care of business? so great.

check out elvis' white living room. it has a 15 foot long white sofa. do you see me drooling? hee hee.

2006-12-21T14:57:00.000-08:00

Miracle...

last month i had my first opportunity to photograph twins.
luke and jake.
aren't they beautiful?

it brings to mind the birth of our savior, the miracle of life, and the power of God's love...

2006-12-16T23:54:00.000-08:00

Traditions...

isn't that the best part about christmas?

here's some of my favorite traditions:

christmas music starting thanksgiving weekend.

watching all the classics,
it's a wonderful life
christmas story
frosty, rudolph, etc.

going to the mailbox each day to find more christmas cards
(with pictures and letters, hint hint)

christmas cookies (no-bake and mrs. fields chocolate chip)

santa pictures

the christmas carol at the ACT theatre

gingerbread houses

christmas lights in brier

christmas eve food, games, & presents with the lees

christmas brunch with my family and dinner with the lees and danielsons

what are some of yours?

2006-12-10T22:11:00.000-08:00

future missionary

grady got his first suit.

he asked me almost every day this week if it was sunday yet so he could wear it. he kept his jacket on for the full three hours!

he also has been wanting to wear button down shirts like dad every day. how cute is our little man?

2006-12-04T21:42:00.000-08:00

Sneak Peek

wow, it's been two weeks since i've last posted!

we were down in seaside for the week of thanksgiving and then rob and i went to nashville last week for a grand-opening party. (more about that later)

thanksgiving was great! our 7th year celebrating in seaside. love that tradition.

don't love the annual tradition of taking the christmas card picture. next year i'm hiring someone to take our pictures.

for the last few years i set up the shot and then either use the timer and run back and forth a hundred times, or have ed push the button.

we're all extremely cranky when it's all done. last year we had to do three sittings before i was happy.

this year i finally had a remote for the camera, which did not work well at all.

rob had this great idea for our pictures this year. we used the phone booths at the laundromat in seaside. here's a picture of just the kids. i love this cuz it represents their stage in life so great. the girls are almost teens, talking on the phone, and then there's grady.

now i just need to design the card....

lee thanksgiving 2006

2006-11-18T16:24:00.000-08:00

Little Monkey

so two weeks after halloween and the rain finally let up enough for me to take a couple pictures of baker in his costume.

i am officially fed up with the rain!

baker was busy, he didn't sit still for two seconds.

amy and i were running after him trying to get the pictures.

this was after he threw up all over his carseat on the way here and had a bath.

love him.

2006-11-15T11:17:00.000-08:00

You Must Try this!

you will thank me! (or curse me)

i have shared this recipe with many of you, but i think the world should know!

i usually make these as muffins, but my friend marie gave me the pumpkin loaf pan yesterday and my mom got me the pumpkin bundt pan for my birthday. delicious and beautiful.

this is a weight watchers recipe (2 pts. a muffin). not that it matters if you make it four times a week like i do!

enjoy

2006-11-15T07:20:00.000-08:00

NoNo's Hat

i got to see sweet little noah and his mom marie yesterday. noah is 2 months now and he is adorable! marie got him the cutest little hat.

what a little blessing!

2006-11-09T23:11:00.000-08:00

Typical...

did i ever tell you about grady and the wedding bouquet?

so our close family friend annie danielson west, was married to joe in june. she was gorgeous and the wedding was beautiful.

at the reception grady made his rounds introducing, interrupting, and making himself known to all.

it came time for annie to throw her bouquet. i went over to my girls and tried to talk them into catching, to no avail.

everyone gathered around, she tossed it back, i hear lots of laughter, but can't see what has happened. the crowd parts and there is my three year old son with the bouquet in his hands.

so typical...

2006-11-06T14:06:00.000-08:00

Baker's 1st Birthday

baker celebrated his first birthday yesterday. i can't believe its been a year!

when amy went into labor, rob and i were in portland with the in-laws for the paul mccartney concert. she called me around midnight saying she was at the hospital and dilated to a five.

i thought there was no way we could make it back in time so i hung around for another hour. then when she hadn't made much progress, i thought there was still hope and i would kick myself for not trying to make it back. we missed it by 30 minutes. huge bummer.

6 months

i love this sweet boy.

2006-11-02T22:27:00.000-08:00

For Auntie Gaye...

here's your picture of the cousins at trunk-or-Treat. i don't usually take many pictures on Halloween night because i'm more of a natural light photographer and these gym pictures in the church are awful.

costumes:

mackenzie=cheerleader
camryn=dwizzle (wood-elf from the black cauldron?)
she was a cheerleader for a party and for school
grady=captain jack sparrow
mikaela=drama queen
abby=fairy-witch
baylie=popstar
rylie=little red riding hood
baker=monkey

and here are our pumpkins. grady wanted a "scary face", mackenzie's is harry potter, and cami drew and cut her own kitty.

i can't believe it's november!

2006-11-01T22:19:00.000-08:00

Gabriel

how cute is this little boy? i took a few pictures of my friend tisha william's four month old today.

isn't he darling? and he is such a little chunk!

the williams will be moving to utah in a few months to start a new exciting chapter in their lives.

so sad to be losing another good friend.

2006-10-29T21:35:00.000-08:00

Glory Days?

so the girls are both cheerleaders for halloween this year. wearing my ancient drill team uniforms. its impossible to believe that they fit my babies.

cami was going to be a wood elf. a character from the black cauldron, and still might for trunk-or-treat. but for a party last night and school she's decided on this.

this is kenzie's second year wearing this.

if i hadn't been eating halloween candy all week i might've tried it on...

2006-10-27T21:40:00.000-07:00

Reflections

this is the first year the girls have submitted an entry to the national reflections contest.
they both decided on a photography entry. so i walked them through the process. they are naturals!

Cami's:

the theme this year is my favorite place...

camryn wanted to take pictures of shadow, saying that her favorite place was anywhere shadow is. then she changed it to shadow's perspective when all the pictures seemed to be of shadow in her favorite place.

mackenzie's:

she decided her favorite place was with her music. and she does love her music!

she photographed her ipod with docker and idog, her karaoke machine, and cd player.

mackenzie was pretty excited to be able to apply this to her first young womens value project too.

2006-10-23T14:30:00.000-07:00

Crazy Cousins

we had a cousins sleepover this weekend.

first all of us met at the skate deck for roller skating.

and dinner at mcdonalds.

then all the big girls came home with us.

the girls love being together and get along so well.

they were given the name "Crazy Cousins" at our annual trip to the beach a couple years ago, along with individual biker names.

love these kids!

2006-10-20T15:23:00.000-07:00

the party...

i'm still recovering. it's been a long time since i've held a party for eight three and four year olds.

i think it was worth it? the kids seemed to have a good time.

we had a treasure hunt. big hit.

played tick-tock find the crock. needed a louder timer.

grady performed an original pirate song.

opened presents and ate.

thanks friends!

2006-10-18T13:57:00.000-07:00

Moonlight Ladies
(scrapbook retreat)

{amy, me, gina, jen}

i had a fantastic weekend with the girls. we did lots of scrappin', eating, talking, laughing and more eating.

thanks gina & maryann!

2006-10-16T23:05:00.000-07:00

birthday week!

we're coming to a close of "birthday week". tonight we celebrated mine, grady's, rylie's, & erin's birthdays with my family.

grady and rylie both got rollerskates. they were pretty funny. glad they came with pads.

we had our favorite pumpkin spice cake. YUM! and grady got a skateboard, curious george movie, power rangers, and a huge playmobile pirate ship. lucky boy!

just one more party. grady's pirate party on wednesday. wish me luck!

2006-10-16T22:34:00.000-07:00

poor kitty

grady has been carrying shadow around in this bucket.

and chasing her.

and holding her by two paws.

and locking her in his room.

she just purrs and purrs.

good kitty.

2006-10-11T09:23:00.000-07:00

had to share...

watch this

{thanks cathy z}

2006-10-11T00:06:00.000-07:00

shout out to the blasers!

how cute are these kids? and don't they have the coolest names? they belong to my good friend Paige. they are also the hardest kids to photograph!

grady had cannon over today after storytime at the library. i can't believe he's old enough to have a playdate.

so grateful for friends.

2006-10-09T07:17:00.000-07:00

what were we thinking?

yep, we got another kitty. shadow is her name. rob and i brought her home from the race yesterday.
on friday we dropped the kids off with jaime and andrew in portland, and went over to the beach house for a weekend alone. our first time there without the kids. we had a great time!
our main purpose was to do the Columbia Crossing 10k that we'd been training for. it was awesome.
so they had a couple free kittens who were abandoned at the event and we impulsively claimed one. we have been trying to work up the courage to get another cat after having to put sweetie to sleep last year. the kids are ecstatic.

2006-10-02T17:00:00.000-07:00

Ahoy Me Hearties!

Grady has his Halloween costume already. we bought it from Old Navy a couple weeks ago. he was having trouble deciding between a pirate and superman.

i'm taking pictures to use for his birthday invites. Maybe a costume party? it's so fun having an october birthday. i remember lots of Halloween themed birthdays for my sister Erin and I. Grady and i are birthday buddies as he likes to say. i still can't believe my baby boy is going to be four this year!

2006-09-27T22:54:00.000-07:00

Haircuts

the girls got their haircuts yesterday...

they both wanted the "wiggy style". i wore my wig to funkuts to show the gals the cut.

one hour with that on made me grateful once again that i don't have to wear it anymore. although it is a darling wig.

this was a huge step for cami who has had long hair for a few years now. she keeps running to the mirror to look and preen. aren't they beautiful?

2006-09-26T15:47:00.000-07:00

My Irish Twin

i guess that's what you call siblings born within 10 months of eachother. for another 2 weeks amy and i are both 32. we didn't get along that well as children because of how close in age we were i think. but now we're best friends, with similar interests and tastes (notice matching vests).
i'm so lucky!

2006-09-25T14:56:00.000-07:00

My Super Saturday...

began with Noah. One darling, but very mad baby, who did not enjoy having his picture taken. we'll try again today.

then a yummy lunch with four friends to celebrate Noah's much anticipated arrival. congrats Marie!

dashed up to Everett to my neice Baylie's 9th birthday party.

finally, we went to see Sir Elton John in concert at the Key Arena. it was pretty good. not as good as Paul McCartney last year.

no projects done on the house, but a fun day!

2006-09-21T22:03:00.000-07:00

I love...

..my new lens! ...and my kids of course!

I made them pose for me while i tried out my brand new Nikkor 18-200mm VR.
i was on the waiting list for SIX months for this super expensive lens. (a late christmas present) they finally called today, so i raced over and picked it up.

so happy here...

2006-09-20T20:32:00.000-07:00

No more "Wiggy"!

Or hats! Yippee! on sunday i made the decision to go "naked" to church. i didn't want to endure another 3 hours worth of wig headache. my hair has finally filled in enough that i don't feel bald anymore. it was so liberating! i've been free ever since. i still get the looks, but not any different than if i had my hats on. it's been three months since my last treatment. i feel great and oh so LUCKY!

2006-09-18T21:19:00.000-07:00

We finally finished....

last night. Yippee! it only took us four years. yep, 4 years. it's a long book. we usually read it after dinner and are lucky to make it thru one chapter. then take into consideration the nights we missed due to sports, dates, vacations, business trips, etc. we probably only read 3 out of 7 nights a week on average. but we were still very happy to reach our goal. so tonight for family night we decided to celebrate. so what to do?

choice 1 was a mariners game, but no game tonight.

choice 2 was roller skating, but no rinks open on a monday.

choice 3 was a ferry ride but it was raining.

choice 4 was a movie and the only kids movie playing was this:

a movie about a talking ball. the kids enjoyed it. i would have rather spent the $55 on something else.

so tomorrow night we start over. hopefully we'll finish before mackenzie graduates.

2006-09-16T22:02:00.000-07:00

my husband rocks!

for the past two days rob has been
recording a few of his songs at this
funky studio in seattle.
he's so cool.

stay tuned for album release date...