Grace's baby blessing

Today at church Grace was surrounded by amazing strong uncles (Jared, Rob, and Morgan) caring friends (Brother Garrett and Brother Everett) and her Father. It is always such an emotional & special Sunday when one of my babies is given a name and a blessing. 

I truly feel that Grace chose her own name. I had hardly given a girls name a thought. I guess I just figured IF it was a girl we could come up with a name. (I really didn't worry too much about a girls name). But then out came this beautiful, calm girl and Mario right away just started saying different girl names. I was so happy to not be pregnant and to have the labor part over (plus I was really tired after being up for 24+ hours) he probably could've named her anything and I would've been ok with that! But we went through every name in one of those baby name websites and made a list of our favorites (with requirements like it couldn't end in a "ah", "ie" or "n" sound. haha I wanted some variety of names in our family. Mario didn't want it to sound too trendy and preppy (if that's the right way to describe it) we picked out about 10 names and narrowed that list down to 2 (Maya and Grace) Mario called her Gracie and she did one of those asleep half smiles and I knew she was Grace. 

We have been so blessed this last year and I feel so loved and taken care of despite difficult trials our family has and is going through. Grace reminds me everyday of how much Heavenly Father loves me and takes care of me. He sends me blessings that I don't even know I need, want and I'm not expecting (Grace wasn't really "planned", I'm a definite planner, she was a surprise). She is so sweet and calm, Mario even commented on her mild manners in his blessing to her. She is such a calming influence in our family. The older kids adore her and help to protect and take care of her. She has really been a calm to our crazy busy life and came at such a busy time (moving and baptisms and birthdays galore) but she just took her place and acts like she's always been around. 

I love you baby girl!!  

Easter!

 Better late than never right? After this post then I think I'm actually caught up (except I still want to take pictures of our new house so I can show before's and afters as I decorate!)

Saturday before Easter we colored eggs! 

food coloring

vinegar

warm water 

& Vegetable oil

that's the recipe for very bright marbled looking eggs. It was lots of fun and really messy. I'm so glad I moved our kitchen table over the vinyl (since it's normally over carpet) I think after about 5 minutes Devyn dumped a whole cup of color right onto the floor. Easy clean up and no stained carpet!

 This was Devyn's first time coloring eggs! She did great and the color came off her hands so she didn't have pink hands for church the next day. 

 Sunday

1. we went to church 

2. I threatened the kids to stay in their church clothes so I could take pictures after church

3. We took a family picture

wait we didn't get a family picture instead I got a huge blowout and a 2 year old with a burnt hand

After church & pictures we headed over to Grandma Cortez's for a little while where the kids got the first of their Easter goodies. 

After Grandma Cortez's we went to Grandma Rasband's where we had a huge egg hunt and the kids got way too much candy! (And I got lots of pictures, but no family picture )

 Elijah is finishing up 2nd grade, loves his new room and having all of his toys out of storage. He spends his time watching Avatar, X-Men, The Fantastic Four, & any other comic book cartoon. He's looking forward to seeing Avengers and loves to build cars and other stuff with his k-nex and legos. He's a pretty smart boy and tells me he loves to take tests. (I think he's a little crazy for liking tests so much) He also loves loves loves PE. He has some pretty creative coaches and they play fun games like crab soccer and a noodle game where they get to "tag" each other with pool noodles and they started learning about hockey. He's looking forward to 3rd grade and writing in cursive.

Ashleigh is also loving having all of her toys out of storage even though she'd spend all day playing play doh or coloring or doing whatever craft I'd let her get into. Even her teacher says she spends all day making things. She's very creative and loves playing momma and baby (or puppy and momma, or other variations) of course Devyn is always the momma! She's also looking forward to kindergarten and can't wait for next school year to start. I feel the same way!!! 

Devyn is our little comedian. She loves knock knock jokes and just being silly. Lately some of her favorite lines are "oops! I sorry mom" after doing something like pouring all the shampoo out of the bottle or coloring on the walls, or cutting holes in her clothes, or smearing paint on her face... I tell Mario that's what she'll say after wrecking the car when she's 16. "Oops! I sorry Dad" Her other famous line is "I just kidding" after throwing herself on the floor crying and kicking and screaming and after I threaten to take something away she suddenly stops crying and says "I just kidding mom". Yup she's a booger. But if you ever need some good entertainment you should come over and have a conversation with her. She's too smart for a 2 1/2 year old and says the funniest things.   

 Easter was a blast! The weather was perfect, the kids got to play outside with their cousins and got lots of candy. I can't believe it's already May and school will be over soon. Grace is getting blessed on Sunday so I should have some new pictures! Then our pool opens the 19th and we will be a swimming, laying out in the sun (running to basketball camps, swim lessons and scout camp) family until school starts again! 

Emma ~ newborn

 A friend of mine from high school just had a baby girl! And of course because mom is beautiful baby Emma is gorgeous also! And her hair!!! I couldn't get over how much hair she had and it is so thick and of course she has a perfect little front sweep that frames her cute little face! 

Emma had perfect hair, well manicured nails and was only slightly Diva-ish during her shoot. I'm so excited to take more pictures of her as she grows. Be on the lookout over the next year since I've already signed up to take lots and lots of pictures with her!!

Grace - 3 weeks NEW!

Grace Erin

3 weeks old

April 6, 2012

 I worried about having another girl. Ashleigh and Devyn are loud, busy, determined, and stubborn little girls. They have enough attitude for a whole country of little girls, but they are also sweet, funny and extremely helpful (or at least want to be), and very loving. They adore their new little sister and even Elijah is ok with her. All though I think his "helpfulness" (holding the pacifier in her mouth) is mostly just to keep Grace quiet so he can watch his shows. The kids have all grown and stepped up to being older siblings. Elijah helps with the dishes, he and Ashleigh set the table every night for dinner, they keep their rooms clean and pick up their toys, and Devyn was agreeable to being potty trained. I can't ask for anymore with a new house and a new baby!! 

Grace is cooperating also. She thinks sleep is a pretty great thing and tolerates the pacifier and even likes to hang out while I run on the treadmill. I love being a mom, I love being a stay at home mom! I'm so grateful for my husband and his hard work so I can stay home and take care of these angels. 

Don't you love the beautiful quilt my mom made (I may have been a little sick and tired of pink and purple! haha, but we also didn't know if we were having a boy or girl)

Addi's turning 2!!!!

I'm still around! I've been so bad at blogging the last few months, but I'm not going to give up! I have a lot of things I want to share I just don't want to do ANYTHING lately!

I'm still pregnant (about 3 more weeks to go), our house is coming along nicely (I'll post pictures on that later), Elijah turns 8! in a couple of weeks and we are going to have an awesome birthday party and then a baptism at the end of the March. I've just been enjoying some time off and hanging out with kids (and running them around to their school, basketball practice and games, friends houses, walking to the park and just hanging out at home. Thinking of actually going somewhere with 4 kids is starting to freak me out a little!

I didn't realize how much I've missed taking pictures until I went out with this sweet little girl. Oh my! those eyes and cheeks and lips. I wish I could bring her home with me! (but I've already got a 2 year old, so no thanks! haha)I can't believe it's been 2 years already. It's not fair how fast time goes by, is there a way to push pause? I guess I've been trying to do that the last few months. I thought if I pretended like I wasn't super busy and doing a lot then things would slow down, but it doesn't work. The days and weeks are flying by.

Happy Birthday little Addi. Next time we need to bring my little Devyn around so you two can have a little play date. I think you would love running around together, and I would love watching the two of you play.

Ummm...I really have no good excuse why these pictures are up soooo late!!! Here's the rest of 2011 fall and winter "mini sessions"!

I guess since the kids went back to school today I can get some stuff done I've been putting off for like a month! I had so much fun finishing out this years holiday pictures. Thank you to all the families that came out in the beautiful weather and the cold and snowy weather. This year was so amazing and I couldn't enjoy doing what I do without you! I have to take a couple of months off. I have 10 more weeks of pregnancy!!! Yeepie and we will be moving into our new house sometime in February (hopefully). I'm so excited for these new changes but I can't move and be pregnant and be living at my parents house and have my husband working like crazy and try to take pictures all at the same time. Hopefully this summer things will settle down into some sort of routine (ha with 4 kids!!! hahahaha) and I can get my business sorted out. Until then I plan on taking a lot of pictures of my kids and my growing family and my new house! I have so many plans. If you want to schedule a regular session give me a call we might be able to work something out, but mini shoots and anything bigger than a family shoot will have to be on hold for a bit!

Thank you 2011, you were amazing. I'm so looking forward to 2012