Congratulations Melissa and The Fiance!

I have been meaning to post this for months, my cousin Melissa is engaged!


Her and the fiance will be getting married in October 2010 and are in need of a photographer because I plan on partying! WOOT!! I love to dance!

ps. When Melissa first started dating this young man, I referred to him as "the boyfriend." Aunt Wendy (Melissa's mom) kept telling me that he had a name, but I would always reply with, "when there is a ring, he will get a name." Well, when the ring appeared, she mistakenly thought that I should start calling him by his name. No, no, he doesn't get a name until there is a WEDDING ring. For now, he is "the fiance."

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Albums

So I was thinking recently about how crazy it is that I have thousands and thousands of images of the kiddos, yet no albums. I have them very neatly organized and keyworded in Lightroom, so I can easily find anything that I'm looking for, but I thought that it might be nice to actually have prints.

At first, my plan was to batch process my favorites out as 4x6's and order prints to put into an album, but I thought that was a little boring. Then I started perusing Scrap Orchard and Two Peas in a Bucket (thanks to my friend Marilyn) and thought... wow... there are so many things I could do with my images.

Enter Little. My test subject.

This is a two page spread for my first album. I plan on documenting every month and journaling on some of the pages to capture memories. For anyone interested, this is the Happy Tails kit from Ziggle Designs.


You wanna know the funny thing? Years ago, I would spend time with a few of my friends that were really into scrapbooking... they had ALL of the gadgets and supplies... and I would say, "wouldn't it be cool if all of these components were digital and you could just lay them out in Photoshop and print on demand? You could also re-use the papers and elements." I thought it was a little much to have an entire room dedicated to all of that stuff, but I would have no problem dedicating a hard drive to such an endeavor. Anyway, I was ahead of my time, but thankfully others had the same idea and now digital scrapbooking has become ubiquitious. Warning: you may be seeing more of these layouts in the future.

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Shrimp Pasta Alfredo

Craig and I have been making this dish for years, probably because it's easy to put together quickly. I like the alfredo from the packet because it tastes great and is much healthier than the type found in a jar.


Assemble crescent rolls and bake.

Boil pasta (any type) and make alfredo via the instructions on the packet (I use skim milk).

Heat beans.

Defrost and warm shrimp.

Combine pasta, alfredo and a few handfuls of shrimp.

Serve with rolls and beans.

Variation:
Instead of shrimp use chicken and add sundried tomatoes.

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Snuggle Time

Please say hello to the two sweetest children on the planet.

They love to snuggle and play with the pillows on the floor (we bought a bunch of decorative pillows at Garden Ridge when we were re-decorating).

I should rephrase: Ella loves to snuggle her brother, he usually has much more important things to do.


Like play with her slinky.

Every once in a while, they will hold still for a picture like this, which I love.



She was helping him drink from the bottle of water. He's much too mature for a sippy.

Notice that beautiful light on her face? It was actually (gasp) from the sun shining through the window!



But there is no one in this family that loves to snuggle more than momma. Even with a sticker in her hair.

I could just eat up this little boy. Yum.

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So Handsome

I love this boy! He is so sweet!

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Wild Olive Tees

I just found this website today and I love it! They offer really cool t-shirts with Bible verses on the back.

http://www.wildolivetees.com/

There is a gray one with a really cool font on the front that reads: "Sing Praise." And didn't I just tweet earlier today about how much I like singing praise songs?


This another one of my favorites:

The back reads:
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - His good, pleasing, and perfect will. Romans 12:2

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Family Portraits

The day after Craig's party we thought it would be nice to get some pictures of the family together. This is cousin Lory, she is Uncle Larry's daughter. She currently lives in San Antonio with her husband and two children. The cousins had not see each other in almost 15 years.

Craig's dad Ed also had not been up to visit for a while. He has something against yankees. Especially ones that "steal" his son and keep him in Pennsylvania. But apparently I can still make him laugh.



Ed's brother Uncle Larry and his wife Nancy came in from San Diego.







The Texans wanted to get some pictures outside in the snow... the aftermath of the "blizzard." LOL

Oh. my. Look at Brian!

Then someone yelled, "snowball fight!" (I didn't even realize they knew what that was).



For some reason the anger got directed at the innocent (and very kind) photographer.

Two seconds later I screamed out, "I'm hit!"

Back inside with Carolyn, the snow is definitely not for her.


I think that wraps up all the pictures from birthday weekend, it was wonderful having everyone here!

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Party Day

I'm a little behind with these images because I caught that terrible cold that is going around. Anyway, here is boy boy having his pre-party snack.

Carolyn and Brian.


I think it's wonderful that Craig's parents came together for his party.




Brian with Joanne and Karen.

Who knows.

Jody and boy boy.


Craig said a few words prior to cutting the cake.


Uncle Larry and wife Nancy looked on.

As did John, Rachel, and John Patrick.

Savannah, Kennedy and Connor.

And then he broke down. Very emotional.

A hug for mom.



These two brothers still behave as if they were teenagers!









Brian was hysterical when giving Craig his gift of monkey butt powder. You really had to be there when he was explaining how it prevents chaffing.

Mr. boy boy licious was having his party in the refrigerator. He loves to play in there and we will often find toys and other miscellaneous items next to the milk.


We had so much fun and I will be posting more images of the family that we took the following day.

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