My Baby Sisters!!!

These are the two Divas!! If any one is a priss its these two! Bethany and Jessica are all about pink, tea sets, dolls, and anything else girly! You should see them shopping! All I can say is... I don't want to be there when they shop as adults!!!

My little Rock Stars!!

Bethany posing for me!

I asked her to redo this pose for me after I missed the chance to get the original.

No, she is not about to pea!!! The face= she was upset with my taking a picture of her; the pose is just a coincidental moment when she was running!

I asked her to pose for me... She's a great model!

My Little Sunshine!

She is my sunshine, my only sunshine! She makes me happy when skies are gray!! Krystal is indeed a little ray of golden sunshine in my life... when she wants to be!

Krystal with a hot chocolate moustache!!

Krystal has the sweetest smile!!CUTIE PATOOTY!!!!!!
My sweety pie!

Katie the Cheerleader!

Katie has the perfect physique as well as attitude for just about anything athletic. Right now she's our little cheerleadeer! Isn't she precious???

She absolutely loves her cheerleading outfit!!

This is her with Lisa!

Peeka-boo I see you!! She might like the outfit but she hates that you can see her belly button!
This is my favorite picture that I've ever taken!

Look at her with her pom-poms!

Monkey Brother!

Jared is known for being the little climber of the family... Most of us enjoy climbing a bit now and then but he is ALWAYS climbing! And not even just trees either! Anything above ground level is fair game to him!

Easter climbing experience:

Climbing at Grandma's house:
Climbing at church:

On the counter at church:

Climbing at Grandma's again:

Climbing the fence in the back yard(he actually ripped his last pair of school pants in this little adventure. mom had to buy him new pants for the third time)

The Walk Down the Isle!

Trey's married!!!! My, my, my... great apple pie! I still remember when he was chasin' us out side grandma's house.... And now he's married!!!! Anyway, here's how it went:


Aunty Sandy was basically the Queen of the wedding arrangements. She transformed a gym, bed sheets, a bunch of flowers, and church tables into a beautiful vision of purple and white!

Aunty Sandy hand decorated the cake, arch, main table, gift table, and each table's centerpiece!

Not only did Aunty make the church beautiful, but she did a grand job with Stephanie... She knew exactly what was needed to enhance Stephanie's natural beauty!

Look at her hair!!!

Wedding Jitters! I never would have thought TREY would have the jitters, but he sure did!

There were quite a few people there! And that's just one side of the family and not including the friends that were there as well!!

Making it Legal!!!

Spring Fever!!!

I can't believe the school year is almost over!!! 23 days left! Not to mention its spring-time now! Spring is always one of the best times to write poems... Here are some of my favorite nature-related poems:

Two Halves of One Whole

The brilliant, radiant sphere
reluctantly slips into a deep slumber
in the multi-colored horizon.
Its last dwindling rays of light
kiss the Earth goodnight...
one last farewell before she rests!
Each fortunate object its feather-like kiss
reaches is transformed and altered eternally
in the oldest and noblest of metamorphasis.
More brilliant and amazing than any other miracle:
the light glistens off everything
and gives it a fairy-like glow.
The luminescent leaves exude a magnificense
and glory of their own, and creates
awe in the souls of all who witness their beauty.
Not one little thing is left untouched or unaffected
by the scarlet, setting sun
as she bids us all a good night.
And alas, shadows
creep from their corners
to claim their dues...
Dusk, Twilight, to the dakest
recesses of midnight;
the only light source is the moon.
Then out come the brilliant stars
to aid the failing moon
in driving out the previous gloom.
Both day and night depend upon each other,
balanced in a constant, everlasting, and intricate dance
each one, light and dark...
Working to create... Two Halves of one Whole.
Or, in other words...
Life.

Leaves of Every Sort

Waxy leaves and crumpled leaves
and leaves of every sort.
There's yellow ones and red ones
and even some green.
I've never seen so many
of these perfect little things.
There're veined leaves
and leaves with spurs,
and some smoothe to touch.
They flutter and they swirl
around and around.
The wind plays with
his newfound toys.
They whistle and they moan
I've even heard some groan.
But I like it best
when I hear their chitter chatter.
Every one of them has a story
they can't wait to share.
So their tales swirl about,
in no comprehensible way.
Simply filling the air with their chitter chatter.

Butterflies

They flutter about
Diving in and out...
Showing off for any who might pass by
on that brightlycolored path of flowers,
shedding happiness and hope
where ever thet may go.
Such enchanting beauty seems to stop the clock.
Nothing seems unimportant or unworthy of your notice.
Rather, you want to hold each little thing
in your hands and cherish it with all your heart.
Each brightly colored petal,
Each crumpled leaf that falls,
And especially each and every
Butterfly that flutters about!

Nintendo Disease!!!

Nearly my entire family has been contaminated by the Nintendo disease... Every time I look around, there's another Nintendo!!! (It's almost as bad as the Twilight disease, which I've caught!) Even now, while I post this blog, my siblings are on the couch playing Nintendo!! You should have seen them right after they got their Nintendoes for Christmas!!! It got so bad that my dad forbid Nintendoes for one day... they actually planned mutiny!!!

Midget-kids vs. Russel!!!!

While at our Grandma's house for Easter, the kids all decided to gang up on Russel (our uncle) and try to beat him.

At first it was only too easy for Russel to hold them at bay:

Then he got cocky and decided to allow them a chance to get back at him:

That's when the table turned!!! And suddenly THEY were the ones on top:

They had so much fun ruff housing with Russel... And I had fun watching!!! You should have heard the racket as they all charged their uncle! They were ecstatic when they finally managed to get him!

Life and Death...

Luckily, I have had limited experience with the subject of death... I have only really KNOWN 1 or 2 people who have died... and that was quite enough for me! Despite that limited experience, I believe I have a pretty good grasp on the ideas and theories surrounding the subject. I, because I know with a surety where I am going when I die, am not afraid of death... I am afraid of pain and losing someone. Pain because I'm pretty sure I will feel pain when I die, and losing someone because although I know where I will be going... Not everyone is so sure! Anyway... Here are some of my poems on this subject:

No Life With Out Death

Life can go by so fast sometimes,
You forget just how easily it can be taken away.
Then, suddenly you’re faced with life’s crimes
And you can’t hold fragility at bay.
When you’re faced with the thin line
That stands between you and the next world;
How one moment in time
Can send you to the next, it’s a truth you can’t ignore.
The cruelty can astonish you,
As the world continues on
Even as one suffers and there’s nothing you can do,
To prevent the wrong.
It’s the wheel, the natural order of things
For the circle to go from life to death,
Continually circling in rings.
For, there is no life with out death.
And no matter how devastating
It may seem…
Its how God planned it to be.
It all eventually leads to something,
Something better that we can’t see.

Gone to Paradise

Gently rolling thunder in the distance
bids me farewell.
Leaving me bereft,
empty as a shell.
My heart utters a cry,
So sad and lonely
filled to the brim with melancholy.
I look up into the sky
and see that the storm has gone,
so has my thundering companion.
Yet the gray clouds still cling to me,
left over from the raining funeral,
threatening to suck the joy from my heart.
Where is the horizon?
the bright sun?
Crying in the night!
pretending in the day!
Pretending, always pretending that there might,
just might be a way...
Away to turn this dreary, everlasting December
into a beautiful, flowering MAY.
He's left to paradise, that final frontier.
Leaving me behind, crying and sad.
But just when all seems lost,
I can hear...
The thunder on the wind!

A Lonely Red Rose

A single, lonely red rose is laid gently
upon a new grave.
It lies there,
strikingly bright against the newly turned soil.
Tears well up in your eyes because
you want to say so much...
Yet you can only choke out a sob.
And you know you must leave soon,
else you shall
burst int o tears for your loss.
But you stand immobilized,
your mind is in a panic...
And so you ask the Almighty,
that ever-present question,
"Why?"
You do nut hear a booming voice,
choir of angels,
or even any trumpets
You get, instead, a feeling.
A feeling of peace.
For now you know that all those people
who tried to help while mumbling those
ever-used and remembered words... were right!
He IS in a better place, It WAS his time to go,
He WAS no longer in pain!
He WAS happy in another world!
And with this slow, whispered revelation...
you sigh and turn to leave.
Leaving behind you
that red rose on a new grave.

Food, Food, and More Food!!!!

For some reason I have started to have an interest in cooking and decorating food... I t just feels good to make something extraordinary out of a bunch of ingredients and then present it in the best possible way! There seems to be an air of magic to adding that special touch to a table by adding a well-arranged bowl of fruit; or placing a meal in front of your family that not only smell and tastes good, but tastes good as well!! Anyway, since this is a form of art you eat, I take pictures of the finished work in order to preserve and share with others your masterpiece. (It's not like you can put a bowl of soup in a picture frame!)


This was a desert my Grandma (on my dad's side) brought for New Years... It's white chocolate with peppermint inside it and is one of the most delightfully delicious things I've ever eaten in my life!! And as such, deserved a good presentation! All I did was place the candy in the middle, surround it with some chocolate balls she brought, and sprinkle it with chocolate chips.

This is HOME-MADE caramel!! The PERFECT recipe!! I mean, it isn't gritty, it melts in your mouth, AND it doesn't stick to your teeth to much!! This is before I decorate it:

And this is after:
All I did for this one was take almond and place them in fours as flowers, using white chocolate chips for the middles and to add some contrast in between the flowers.

These are the deserts we had during New Year's Eve! I personally arranged each dish! (except the center one)

And this was our New Year's dinner! Also (mostly) arranged by me!

These are the Christmas pies, which I did not arrange at all... I simply liked the way they looked all together and documented the arrangement for later use.

One of my favorites of these pies was one my Aunty Sandy made:

I also liked this one, although I can't remember who made it.