another "Happy Birthday!"

to Jared! I know that you don't get on here unless I absolutely insist you read a blog here or there and I know that you'll be delightfully embarrassed that I post this but I just hafta let you know how much I appreciate ALL your hard work in providing for our little fam.

You're still the cutest guy on the block and I heart you 100 X 100!

LOVIN' you the mostest!

~MOI xox

Just for LAUGHS!

I read this off a friends post (Thanks Susan!) and I just HAD to add this to my list of FAVORITE, FUNNY, 'Why I stay up at night' blogs! I spent a good hour or so with Trish (on the phone, of course) reading this blog, , "Seriously, SO blessed" and we just CRACKED UP laughing. Trish is of course in the Bay area and I'm here in the So. Cal Desert but we both nearly peed our pants reading some of these posts poking good fun at our all to humorous 'Mormon' culture.

Such a fun, clever way of putting it into words.

ENJOY!!!

Tricia Emeli's turning FOUR!

Next week is my Emi Loo's FOURTH birthday! I can't believe it. She was just a baby when we moved to the desert.

Emi, you're such a FUN addition to our little family and we enjoy the sweet spirit you bring into our home (when your not fighting with big bully Moe. LOL!)

Emi LOVES to dress up princess, she can't get enough of her kitten "Bessie", and she enjoys walking the town in her high heeled shoes... or anything that shouts 'BLING! BLING!'. She is definitely our little princess. I just can't believe how BIG she is and how time just FLYS! We LOVE you so much Em. Thank you for being such a fun part of our lives!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MISS EMI LOO!!!

Calvin Olive Moala

Here's handsome lil' Calvin. I spent a couple of hours one morning taking shots of this little man but was really bummed when the natural lighting didn't show like I would have liked it to. Thanks to the AWESOME software that we found, our pics have been saved. He is quite the cutie patuttie!

What?!... ALL I needed was a little PICASA*!

I'm SO excited! I've created a few collages and can already see my pictures come to life. It was SO super duper easy, even someone like moi could figure it out. And believe you me, I'm NOT that brilliant!... just determined, I guess (lol!). And the BEST thing about this editing softwareis that it was FREE!!! So if you're like me -WAAY behind on this tech photo stuff and not willing to dish out major mula for CS3 than here's a FREEBIE just for you. lol!



I'm trying to create a copyright logo for my pics. I want to create one just to protect them from showing up on random sites all over the place. I've heard it happens.

Anywho- It's WAAAAY past my bedtime. I better peel myself away from this desktop. I swear I could stay here ALL NIGHT LONG!!!

Until tomorrow my fellow bloggers... until tomorrow! (yeah, it's that hard)

*Just ignore all the over-editing... I'm just SO excited to tweek my photo's.

"But Mom, I GOTTA wash my chucks!"

I was trying to get Moe to model for me.

Just for kicks.

But all he wanted to do...





was climb on the bathroom counter,



stick his feet in the sink,



and wash his beloved chucks.

He LOVES these shoes. He outgrew his baby ones and feels like such a BIG BOY in these.



After failing to bribe him into cooperating I figured, what the heck! Let him do what he wants and I'll see what I can get from it.

This is real (in my life anyway). I rarely get him to cooperate. But it was lots of fun to see his mind in action through my lenses.

Again. Unedited. Unfiltered. UnPhotoshopped. Give me a few more months... I'll get to all the awesome software out there. Soon. Until then enjoy pics of one of my FAV models. (lol!... not!)

A road trip with Miss Lu...

A few weeks ago Lu and I went on a road trip to Utah. We spent 16 hours there and back talking, laughing, having her read from OUR fav Laura Ingalls books, and of course taking pictures. We had such a great time! It was so nice to take off with JUST her and spend a little girl-on-girl time. This is the time I loved the most in my childhood and I hope she does too. She cried when we got ready to leave my brothers house. They (Lu and my bro Nu) both kept begging me to let her stay and he'd fly her back but she'd already started school PLUS I couldn't return without my BEST co-pilot!!!




Loving the scenery. We LOVE to see the color and MOUNTAINS outside of the desert.



Miss Lu 'utu-ing the gas.





OK. We're HUGE fans of Food Networks 'Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives' and since we were crossing Death Valley we HAD to stop in Baker for some Mad Greek featured on the program. It was YUM YUM YUMMY! Delish gyros with a creamy cucumber sauce, french fried zucchini sticks and fresh strawberry shake. That held us over til we got to Uncle Nua's house for a BBQ.

Oh! and I had to take this random photo of the people. I just had to show you how CROWDED it was at 10 am! Seriously JAM packed!



Just before we were leaving. Tears brimming her eyes. Lu absolutely LOVES her Uncle Nua.



You are pretty awesome Nu! Thanks for such a FUN filled weekend and taking us out on the boat. If ONLY I could stay up on that darn wake board longer than say... a second (LOL!!!! and no I wasn't brave enough to bring the Nikon. lol.)