My girls....weekend away

I have these 2 girlfriends that have known the real ME for a very long time--half of my life. Wow, that sounds like a long time! I met Natalie (above right) when I was 14, just before my freshman year in high school....I had just moved to Houston. We lived in the same neighborhood and went to the same church. Emily (left) didn't move to the area until a year later....she also went to my church, and she and Natalie ran track together and became friends, but we didn't become good friends until we were both 16 and the boys we were dating were best friends. So we did a lot of double dating and chatting about the in's and out's of those boys we liked. They went to BYU before me, but I met up with them there and we had the same major and took some classes together. We all got married within a year or so from each other. We've lived all over, and kept in touch and saw each other when we could (all our parents still lived in Houston).

(Here we are, back in the day) The past two years, they have both been in Houston, just a few hours from me. So we'd meet up and talk about our lives...parenting and such. It's just so great to have solid people move through the stages of life with me. They make me laugh, we cry together, we hold each other up when times are tough, remind me to be my best self, and keep me in check when I'm slacking off. Collectively we have 8 children and still going....I know all of their siblings and they know mine...their husbands actually grew up and went to our high school, too. They truly care about me, and for that I am grateful. I love these girls!

We met up in Dallas b/c Natalie just moved there and has the baby, Emily drove up from Houston, and I drove from Austin.....all by myself! Michael actually called me on my drive as I had my MP3 player blaring my newly downloaded favorite songs, and I exclaimed to him, "I am having so much FUN with myself!" Just to sing loudly with the idea that I was meeting up with my friends. Navigating the unknown Dallas area with my mapquest map beside me I crossed over 8 lane highways and thought, "I'm a BIG girl now!" Emily is moving in a few weeks to the East coast which is so sad, but we've decided its worth it to do these "Girl Weekends" at least every other year. Remind me again why I can't pick all my favorite people to live on the same street as me? Stinks sometimes.

We ate out....went shopping, and stayed at a hotel with down comforters and nice padding. And just talked all night long.

I'm so grateful I have a supportive husband who doesn't "bat his eye" at holding down the fort and encourages me to have fun like this. Also grateful for good friends who helped me when my hubby couldn't get off work the whole time.

hair chop

i like to grow out my hair then chop it off....I just got an inkling one day last week and went for it. I like that i can do two "little ponies" as Em calls them, aka pigtails and they are fun. Great for summer. My hair is so heavy, I also get it thinned out....I know a lot of you are horrified at the idea, but its my life. A great bleasing I know I don't fully realize...good thick hair.

Domestic Darlings

My friend has a business selling really cool and cute aprons...check it out
http://www.domesticdarlings.com/

Yummy Yummy Banana Bread

My friend Emily M. made this for me at Christmas, and I LOOOOOOOVE it! It has butterscotch chips, pecans, and cherries. Sounds weird, but it is oh so good. I finally got the recipe this past week and made it today with my nearly too far gone banana's.

Recipe:

1/2 cup butter

1 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

3 mashed ripe bananas

2 cups flour 1 tsp. baking soda

1/4 cup pecans

1/4 cup cherries (cut in half)

1/4 butterscotch chips

Preheat oven to 350 and grease a 9x5 bread pan. Cream sugar with butter. Beat in eggs. Add in bananas. Mix in baking soda and flour. Stir in Pecans, cherries and butterscotch chips. Bake for 45 minutes to an hour, until toothpick is clean.

Recipe works best (this is what I did) if you double it and bake in 3 medium bread pans.

Texas Blubonnets

I took Alyssa when the boys were at school...we tested out our new petticoats--oh so fluffy!

RUN, don't walk!!!!!

I finished the book in 4 days! 500 pages and that's still doing my regular fiddling on the computer each day....it is soooo great (I"m glad I didn't read the back b/c I might not have ventured into it if I knew what I was getting into). What is even more exciting is that there is a sequal that I need to run out and get, and the third installment comes out in August! I've never been so excited about a book before (reading has never been top of the list of my favorite things to do). I read what the author wrote on her website (late last night after I finished) so as not to get any spoilers, and I loved how she said, "I just love these two characters and I wanted to share them with everyone else." She's got several projects in the works regarding them! Yay! The book is Twilight by Stephenie Meyer.....I posted about it below.

lots of visitors

My friend Cynthia came to visit today...she used to live just down the street from me...about 7 houses down...she has 3 kids roughly the same ages as my kids...I only had the pleasure of having her on my street for 9 short months....she moved away...2 hours away. Seems so close, but in the reality of hectic lives, it might as well be far far away. We went there for Thanksgiving and she came with the kids today on the school holiday. She came mainly to pick up a print I made huge for her

of her daughter, Samantha...I love how it turned out, the print is about life size. The kids ran around and screamed and we chatted and munched on Queso and Carrot Cake. I was reminded that yet another friend that I really treasure, moved away...but unfortunately don't keep up with as well as I'd like. Why can't she still live down the street? waaaaaaaaaaa! On her way out, we stopped at a nursing home to visit a ward friend and the kids got to be adored by all the residents, and she commented, "If you are ever feeling low, just come here and you will feel like a celebrity." It's so true. They requested our kids sing a song, so we sang, "I am a child of God" and "Popcorn Popping." I need to go more often. We stopped by Ikea on our way out and then she was on her way. She recommended a great read, but she said I can't read the back cover, but that it is so good I won't be able to put it down. It is written by a stay at home mom who is a member of my church in Arizona, so that really intrigues me. It has also been highly acclaimed nationally. Here is the website and book info....I'll let you know how it turns out.

for linda

Linda has been asking to see this wall for a while now...she helped me think of a design about a year ago and I finally got them all up a few months ago... the theme is candid shots of the fam (not looking at camera) and black and white...I really love how it turned out! The big "D" was purchased at a craft fair about 2 years ago and Linda also got one with her family letter. I finally found a place to put it.

This is funny....

I love to view other photographers websites and my cousin in law, Angela, is also a budding photographer. She found this and showed it to me, and I've since shown several others and we all just laugh! I'll put the actual link here for easier refererence. http://www.babycakesphotography.net/index1.html This is the home page, go to the right and click on Galleries, then go 7 down to "pee-nut" you will laugh and laugh and want to show your friends!

Hoppy Easter

Michael's brother + family plus his parents came in town this weekend...his bro only drove 3 hours, and his parents flew from Cali...they were actually stopping off for the weekend on the way to S.A. It was fun and crazy...it rained and was freezing all day Saturday so we stayed inside and let the dads hide eggs in random places around the house. I had to prepare my lesson to teach the kids at church on Sunday, and ended up using Resurrection Eggs...has anyone seen them, they are great (I borrowed from a friend, but I'd like to get some)! Anyway, my sis in law is my fellow blogger friend, so we commiserated about the blog world.

Here are some picts:

Clarification

I have 2 cameras that I use regularly...my Canon 20D slr...what I use for my photo sessions and when my kids are looking cute...usually intentionally b/c I know I'm going to take pictures of them. It's just too big to lug around from place to place. So 2 years ago I purchased my "fits in your pocket" Canon Powershot s500 elph. It's great, it's got video features, and takes a decent picture. It has the delay which I don't love, but I was used to the quickness of my slr. Although I can look at an image and clearly tell which camera I used on it, I'm ok that it isn't as sharp or as great than my "nice camera." The ease of throwing it in my purse and not worrying about it outways the edge I could get with my "big camera." I love them both. So I sometimes cringe at the picts taken with my "little camera" when I post on this blog, mostly b/c I worry people will say, "she supposed to be a photographer, that is not a good pict" and I'm here to say, I know that and I'm okay with that....so now that I have my disclaimer out there...maybe I won't cringe so much and worry that those of you out there will think this.

Out with the old....

Before: nasty gold trim...I've "strongly disliked" this fan since we moved in 4 years ago...about 2 years ago Michael gave to me as a gift to go pick out any fan I'd like and he'd replace it...I went several times and finally recently it wasn't cooling so well, so I knew I had to do it before summer. I was so happy to be rid of it....as for the light, I've also wanted a change, so I did them both at the same time.

After: Beautiful brushed silver! Now to replace the 7 other small light fixtures in our home from the gold to the silver....

Thanks to Michael and his brother David for the joint effort and 2 trips to Home Depot!

I'm a photographer

I've had my photography biz for about 3 years now and in the last year through the help of online photography forums, I've really honed my skills to a place I feel good enough to say, I'm a photographer. Although I've downsized and am no longer doing weddings, and for the time being, I've halted doing children and families (Senior Teens are my favorites) I love to practice on my kids...the boys let me only sometimes or when they are offered some sort of bribe in return. Alyssa seems to be my target of late, so here are a few favorites I've done of her recently.

Happy Birthday Mom!

Today is my mom's birthday. I sent her a book for her to fill out of her life history...I'd like to know more about my mom as a child, teenager, and young mom. She's got lots of pictures, but not a lot of written history. So I'm hoping she will take the challenge to fill it out for my sake and for my children. My mom does a lot for a lot of people and has dedicated her life to her family. Me and my brothers like to tease her that we seemed to have to wait a little longer than others for her to pick us up from school/practices growing up, but it's because she is such a multi tasker and is doing so many other things. About 20 years ago, she joined a nations mothers or organization called American Mothers. It was just announced that she will be made President at their convention in a few weeks in Las Vegas. She is so excited to take this organization to a new level and to hopefully reach mothers of all ages through various mediums. Her big cause lately is anti-pornography conferences...educating people about how pornography not only poisons those who partake, but it also affects the people they are close to in profound ways. She is anxious to get me involved in the organization, and I'm not sure I'm quite ready to, but I want to help her if I can.

I love my mom for all she's done for me throughtout my life...she adores my children like no other person, and that means the world to me. My kids love her and go running to her car looking for treats or toys when she comes, and she will willingly watch my kids whenever I need her to...she even took them on last summer when we went to France and she got the flu while doing so.

My Roommates!

These two picts of me and my roommates are actually hanging on my wall in my craft/photography closet....I see them looking out at me nearly every day when I go in to get something or another.

Since I just mentioned my roommate Abbi (far left here) and having read a blog post from another friend, Abby (notice different spellings, different people) I wanted to mention one of the greatest times in my life. I think these roommates were so special for several different reasons....1) I had just transfered from Ricks College, now BYU-I to BYU and was excited to live close to my older brother who just returned from a church mission to Brazil. He was living in a kinda co-ed apartment complex, Canyon Terrace (oh my goodness, CT has a website)! There was just one opening mid year in apartment #39...he didn't know the girls, but he said they seemed nice. 2) These are the ladies that endured the ups and downs with me to my courtship with my sweet husband, Michael. They know him, they knew us before each other and after. His apartment (#20) and our apartment were good friends and had some various dating swapping going on. Michael and I were the only ones to marry, and solidify the 2039 forever--trudat!

Okay that was an inside joke....but here we have: Amy (red head), Hali (shorter but older sister), & Abbi. Hali & Abbi are sisters from a town called Sandwich...you think that is odd, well get to know them! Amy & Hali had been roommates for several years before Abbi or I ever entered the equation. Abbi & I were the same age and shared a room with Hali & Amy just 2 years older--but who ever counted years back then? They were very patient with my messy ways and me not realizing it. We had some good times. The last time I saw them was 4 years ago at Hali's wedding...except for Amy I think it was 5 years ago at her wedding. I was unfortunately not able to go to Abbi's wedding b/c I was 7 months pregnant and across the country as a student at the time:(

I keep telling them we need to have a roommate reunion and it will happen one of these days! We are spread out in Cali, Washington, Iowa, & Texas and having babies like crazy...so hard to find a good time. Here is the quote from my other friend Abby that really made me tear up to think of these girls:

"We were thrown together by the luck of the draw. We realized before long that we simply adored one another. I lived with these girls for just less than 2 years, and somehow it's an entire tiny lifetime in and of itself. How do you sum up what people like this mean to you? They were family during such an impressionable time in my life. They were just there. We learned all about who we had been in high school, and then we all embarked on who we would become. It's amazing who we all became, so different--just as we always were--but forever bound together by the familiarity that became "us" so long ago."

I love you girls!

I think I changed the comment option....

It's always bugged me that only those who have a blog can comment, so I think I just checked a box that allows anyone to comment...I do love comments, so let me know what you think!

Nicknames

My roommate Abbi, where are you? I think she is the one that came up with this particular nickname for me that titles my blog. My middle name is Joy and I've had many names...kj, kjoy, kaje, kris, kristen joy, krissybears, kittles, but my roommate abbi used to call me, "kristen joyous occasion...." And I always really liked that. My middle name Joy, I think always encouraged me to see the brighter side in life (thanks mom and dad). I'm usually fairly optimistic, and if I see a "non joyous occasion" I like to try to turn it into a Joyous Occasion! Don't get me wrong, I can be grumpy like the rest of them....Linda says I wear my emotions on my sleeve, no matter what they are....it's true, I'm not an actress, I can't hide very well my joy or distain for a situation. So when I thought about what I wanted my blog to be titled, I wanted it to represent how I see life, and for me, it is made up of many joyous occasions....