FAMILY PICTURES

We went today with Gary's brother and his family to have a big family picture taken. We went over to Portrait Inovations...seriously if you haven't checked them out you should. We ended up having 122 pictures taken...now we didn't buy them all but we did buy quite a few. In fact we bought so much that we got a disk with every picture that they took on it for free. So of course I have uploaded them to my smug mug (i'm still in the editing process so be patient...there's alot of what appear to be duplicates)...enjoy
click here to see my pics...

MY PRECIOUS PEANUT

Just thought I'd post an update on my little niece, Elle. She is about 5 1/2 months old now and already has 2 teeth! (Ian still has none) She is now rolling over and is quite vocal...and of course as cute as always. Here's some recent pics of her while she was snuggling with her daddy...now seriously...how cute is she?

IT'S THAT TIME AGAIN...

MyHotComments

I can't believe that summer is over...well not officially but for Tyler it is. With tears in my eyes, I sent him off to the world of middle school this morning. I'm so nervous for him...awful thoughts of him getting lost or getting on the wrong bus (or no bus...trust me, this could and has happened) after school keep running thru my head. I'm sure he'll be fine...he wasn't nervous at all. I'll just feel so much better when he's home today and tells me that his day was "ok" (that's his usual answer after school). Here are some pictures of my "baby" headed off to his first day of 5th grade...

relaxing before he has to go...


ready to head out the door...(i miss him already)...

MIDDLE SCHOOL ORIENTATION

I've realized that I cannot delay the inevitible...Tyler is going to middle school next week. I'm depressed...he seems to not really care. I took Tyler to his orientation on Thursday night. Walking into the middle school with him felt so strange. My baby cannot be growing up! The highlight of orientation for Tyler was finding his assigned locker...I guess it's the little things that will always excite him. I had to laugh at this one... earlier during the day on Thursday Tyler and I headed up to the school to find out which homeroom he was in. While there a gentleman came out of the school and said hi to all the kids. I told Ty that it was the one gym teacher and the teacher's name. Ty asked me how I knew this. I explained to him that that teacher was there when I was in middle school there...Ty's response..."that just means he's old". I guess I have now reached the point of old in my childs eyes. So now it's off to get some school supplies; binder, notebooks, pencils...who knows what else... FIFTH GRADE HERE COMES TYLER!

PROMISE THE MOON

Bantam Books, Inc./ Div Random Hous
May, 2008
What it's about (taken from Double Day Book Club)
When war and its tragic aftermath take Josh from Natalie and her children, she begins writing letters from him that she hides for young Anna and Toby to find—notes of comfort and wisdom from heaven. But her eldest child, Anna, isn’t easily fooled. When Anna suddenly reveals that her father has been speaking to her, divulging stories only Josh could know, Natalie’s concern leads her to seek to uncover secrets of her husband’s past.

As Natalie’s search brings her closer to her own parents and reunites her with a long-ago love, she and her children will discover just how much of a hero Josh actually was—and that only by finally revealing the truths they’ve hidden from each other can they find peace, and the promise of a hopeful future.

What I thought...
This book was good...one of the better reads I've had lately (still doesn't compare to The Beach House). Without giving too much away I'll just say that I was disappointed in the ending...it seemed like there was alot of time put into character development thrughout the book, until the end. Some of the characters just seemed to have disappeared with no explination. This book was extremely long and I just expected a better ending with more explination and answers. Overall I'm glad I read it and would reccomend it to others.
I can say that I'm enjoying reading books "with" my sister-in-law. It makes the books so much more interesting when you have someone to talk about it.

LOVE IS IN THE AIR

This summer Gary and I have enjoyed watching some of our friends take that big leap...marriage. We truely wish them all the best in life and love. Here's some pics of the happy couples and their big days.

Rose and George Welsh...

Their first dance...

Chris and Janet Young...

Their beautiful (and yummy) cake...

Me and some coworkers with the groom (another coworker)...

I'M SLACKING

Sorry that I've been a bit lazy with my updates lately...life is just crazy around here. I never did get around to my wedding and honeymoon adventures of a year ago that I wanted to post last week...maybe I'll try that this week. So here's what's been going on around here lately...My cheerleading is in full swing...have I mentioned that I'm director of the cheerleading at the local youth league? I truely love doing this. I love the fact that I'm able to give back to the youth league that gave me so much growing up. I'm responsible for about 115 girls (which is 7 cheerleading squads)...luckily I have wonderful coaches that help to make my job easier! Tyler started soccer yesterday. He's again on a travel team which is so much better than the local rec team. Ty actually volunteered to play goalie! That takes me back to when he was 5 years old and playing soccer for the first time...all he ever wanted to do was be goalie. (hmmm, I'll have to try to find some old pics of this...he was so freaking cute). Tyler is also preparing to start middle school. School starts in 14 days and I'm so not ready for it. Ian is keeping us amused as always. He's figured out that he can get places by rolling...which is cute but makes him even more of a handful. He also figured out how to blow raspberries...again very cute...until you're feeding him. Ian can be quite the messy eater now. So in between sports, work, kids,...I haven't had much time to keep up on here. After work this week I'll try to be a little more on top of updates. Check back for more pics soon...I promise I have some to post.

BARNEY!!!

Ian has found a new friend...and he's in the form of a big purple dinosaur named Barney. I'm pretty sure this is his favorite show. Ian's face lights up when Barney comes on. I recently bought him his own Barney stuffed animal and it came in the mail today! He loves it already. Here are some pics I just took of Ian watching Barney with his own Barney.

Waiting for Barney to come on


This is how his face lights up when the big purple dinosaur comes on..

TAPE IT UP

This was emailed to me by a friend (thanks Nicole) and I thought it was worth sharing.


This should probably be taped
to your bathroom mirror
where one could read it every day.
You may not realize it,
but it's 100% true.


1. There are at least two people in this world
that you would die for.

2. At least 15 people in this world
love you in some way.

3. The only reason anyone would ever hate you
is because they want to
be just l like you.

4. A smile from you can bring happiness to anyone,
even if they don't
like you.

5. Every night,
SOMEONE thinks about you
before they go to sleep.

6. You mean the world to someone.

7. You are special and unique.

8. Someone that you don't even know exists loves you.

9. When you make the biggest mistake ever,
something good comes from it.

10. When you think the world has
turned its back on you, take another look.


11. Always remember the compliments you received.
Forget about the rude remarks.

I CAN'T BELIEVE IT'S BEEN A YEAR!!!

Well, it's official...Gary and I have been married for 1 year!!! I can't believe how fast this past year has gone! I guess it's true that time flies when you're having fun. I'm going to try to do some updates this week featuring our wedding events of a year ago. The music you're listening to (if you have your sound on) is music that is and always will be special to me. "Keep Holding On" was our first dance, "My Wish" was our wedding party song, "Bless the Broken Road" was sung at our wedding by my cousin, "My Little Girl" was the song I danced to with my dad, and "Lost In This Moment" was the last song we danced to that night.
For now, here's a pic of us on our happy day...

MORE SMUGMUG!

I'm addicted to smugmug! Not only is it wonderful to finally have my pictures backed up but I can also share them as albums with you. I just uploaded Ty's spring soccer pics to an album. Take a looksie at them. Remember if you want your own smugmug account...use my email address (elizabuff@comcast.net) and we'll both get a discount!
***click here for Ty's spring soccer album***