so mario left the ironing board out this morning...

you think he was trying to say something?

we've (especially mario) been traveling a lot this last month. so of course we (i) had a lot of laundry to get done and a huge pile of ironing. i hate ironing.

for a few reasons.
1. they're not my shirts.
2. i have to stand. and i iron in my room (no tv)
3. i have to protect the board from roaming kids so the iron doesn't fall on them or me (or the carpet and melt the carpet, that only happened at my moms house once, maybe twice, sorry mom)
4. my theory, if it's wrinkled and you iron it then when you wear it it gets wrinkled again, or if it's wrinkled and you wear it the wrinkles kind of smooth out a little.

so those are the top reasons i hate ironing.
it reminds me of a story my sister told about her friend and her husband.
her husband opened the closet and said how he loved his magic closet that did his laundry and ironed his clothes and hung them up nice. and his wife said how she loved he magic wallet that when she opened it it always had money for her to spend.

well...i think i deserve to spend a little of my magic money now.

letters...

so my friend always has hilarious letters to random people on her blog, i'm totally copying her...

so

dear lady at costco,
you didn't have to wait with your cart behind my slow family. you know those carts can turn?! you could have easily went around the little boy blocking your way instead of standing there, waiting for us to move acting like we were taking forever. i'm sorry that my 4 year old doesn't move very fast and didn't know you were waiting on him. so sorry again (and sorry to anyone who in the future gets stuck behing my slow kids, but maybe you could see we have our hands full and just go around us.)



also

dear disgusting little boy at the movie theater,
really, did you have to lick my child's head like you were a cat. seriously that was just gross. i'm sure kids (and moms) everywhere would appreciate if you didn't do that again. by the way, where was YOUR mom?!

the ray's

ahhhh, i think i'm finally caught up for now. well i still have to burn cd's and actually give everyone their pictures, haha! i'll get to that.

but i love this family, the two older kids are close to age to my kids and seeing them with the new baby ALMOST (but not enough) makes me want to have another one.

i can't believe how much they've all grown (and then shrunk again, melanie) since november.

jay & katrina

the much awaited pictures from my brothers wedding in phoenix this weekend.

first we took pictures at his bishops house (also where the reception was held)

so the bishops house was incredible. huge stair case, rod iron doors, a huge organ in the front room, a lawn that you couldn't tell where the golf course started and the backyard ended, stutues everywhere that kids loved to hug, there's so much i can't even think of what else was amazing. i think my niece said something the effect that she was cinderella and "this" (the house) was her castle. it was amazing, and beautiful but not as beautiful as my new sis-in-law and her three little girls.


i'll just let the pictures tell the story.














i love the way jay and katrina look at each other. they are both just so happy and so in love. we love having katrina and the girls in our family.

love you guys!!!

baby sadie

what's not to love about this girl. (i may be a little biased since she is my niece). i love her smiles, her chubby cheeks, her hair, i love when she takes offense if she doesn't get what she wants, or if you're too close, or you look at her wrong. i love how she loves her bottle. she's just the sweetest, girliest thing. i can't believe how fast she's grown. but i love watching all the new things she's doing. i love you sadie belle

backyard wedding

first off...delicious cupcakes. i took 4 home. one for me, mario, and the kids. too bad the kids were asleep they totally missed out on the cupcakes.





i have a new crush. i wanted to take him home with me. too adorable!!!












it was cold and windy and had just finished raining and it looked like it was going to rain again, but the light was beautiful and the bride was beautiful, the kids were perfect, and it was a beautiful wedding.

the real reason we went to the park this evening.

the next time i have a baby i'll just take one of these...
she laughed for me, made funny faces, played with her toes and ears, clapped and tossed it in the oven. that's right, she loved me. so i love her too! she was so sweet and fun. and the light was BEAUTIFUL!!!

my nerds

my kids, seriously sometimes i wonder where they get it from. so it is soooo not like elijah to "dress up" or even care about what he's wearing. which is why i thought it was so hilarious that he found his tie and striped socks and wanted to wear them today. so i let him. and then he saw ashleigh's hat and thought she had to wear that too. funny thing, everytime ashleigh went to suck her thumb her hat hit the chains from the swing and her hat would fall off. instead of giving up the thumb she gave up the hat. i love my kids!

"Life is always a rich and steady time when you are waiting for something to happen or to hatch."

i had so much fun this morning, yes at 8:00am!!! i can't believe i made it there almost on time and with my kids. so i had to drag them out of bed, elijah showed up in his pj's and ashleigh's hair was a mess. it was soooo worth it. the light was perfect everyone was in a good mood, and the pictures were amazing.

please, please, please let me take pictures with your family again (especially when that little baby is born!)

jen and john wedding pictures

if you are jen (or a relative or friend of jen's) you can view her wedding pictures from the temple to the reception and all the little details in between at...

michellecortez.instaproofs.com
the password is the wedding date (or the date of the opening ceremonies for the olympics) 080808

you can order prints from the website and i will mail them to you, but if you're jen then don't order prints because i'll be sending your cd in the mail hopefully tomorrow.

i had so much fun working with you guys, you are beautiful together and i wish you the best of luck.

oh wait, one more picture...

i forgot that i really liked the way this picture turned out. somehow i skipped over it when i was loading pictures to my blog. this is what happens when you let 2 (almost 3) year olds decide what they want to do. i loved this little boy he always knew where he wanted to sit/stand. i loved his stubborness and determination, i'm sure his parents were frustrated but i juat laugh because his personality came out so much. hopefully he's a lot more comfortable with me (and my big camera) in front of his face.

the makaafi's

what do we do with a 2 year old? you can't make them be cute when you want them to but when they decide to be cute...

but these boys are adorable, cooperating or not.

jen and john

vacation pictures

we just got back from durango colorado. it was beautiful and relaxing and we had tons of fun. i didn't feel like posting pictures 2x. so check out rasbandfamily.net to see our pictures.

-i'll be back later with lots of wedding pictures and more family pictures!