Ren the hair guy

I've been having the same guy do my hair for about 4 1/2 years, his name is Ren. No, he's not gay (seriously, that's everyone's first question). I found him at the Taylor D'Shaw Salon (thanks for referring me there, Star!). I love the way he does my hair. I love the way my hair feels and moves when he's done it. He always gets the color perfect. I go in there and say "Um I was kinda thinking this or that kind of cut with some kind of color" and then I know I can trust him to get it right. I could go on and on. Aside from the hair thing, I just like Ren. It's like hanging out with one of my buddies (back in days when I had buddies).

Here is a BEFORE picture. Notice it's all pulled back, which is how I wore it for two weeks because it was so dried out and dead that it never looked good down.

Here is a DURING picture. Don't I look lovely with a foiled head and no make up?

We were being glamorous for this photo for sure.


Is is any wonder that when Nanos was four years old, he thought that Ren was a pirate?

Here is the AFTER shot. Except you can't see my pretty colors in this lighting. Well, whatever, you get the idea. Ren is a busy guy. He's got a new salon in Idaho called "The Electric Chair" and he and his brother just opened a new hair school, "The Shaw Institute". He also occasionally travels and does hair shows (which basically mean a hair convention where he cuts hair for an audience to teach techniques). Needless to say, he's had to drop many clients here in Utah. He calls it breaking up with them. I'm SO SO glad I haven't been dumped.

Ren, I know you aren't reading this, but you are awesome. Thanks for not breaking up with me, and always getting it right. My husband thinks I'm hotter thanks to you.

(This is kind of an AFTER picture except my hair is wet, so it doesn't look pretty yet.)

Tiny Visitors

We have a little house, with a great big yard, and a creek running through it. The creek is beautiful, and it terrifies me. Little boys are so very unaware of danger. Some of the great things that the creek brings are wild flowers and ducks. Every spring we have ducks in the yard. One year a pair of them stayed for over a month! This Saturday we had a mommy duck with her ducklings! We've never had ducklings before. They are so well camouflaged that you have to look hard to see them in the first picture.

Can you tell how many there are? 12! Twelve ducklings! I've never heard of so many little babies at once.

We've been watching them for two days now. She takes them on what Jeff calls "field trips"- they stop by the creek and the ducklings all huddle under mommy's wings for a "nap", and then 30 minutes later she leads them all around the yard, then the do it all again. It's very funny. They're so tiny that when they walked through the grass (that is freshly mowed) we can barely see them! Just little fuzzy bumps bobbing up and down. Ha!

Beautiful Heather

This is my cousin Heather. She's getting married and I got to take her engagement and bridal photos.


It was so much fun! Not only did it give me the opportunity to get to know her awesome fiance, Mark, but I got to try out a new location for the bridals and flex my creative muscle.

Heather and I have always been close, even during times when our very different ages and lives prevented us from seeing each other for long periods of time. I tried to pick only my favorite photos, but I had too many!! I took about 160 photos and have narrowed it down to my favorite 30. Here are 16 of my favorite 30. :-)

This is my favorite one. I could stare at it for hours. Isn't she gorgeous? I love the photos on the metal staircase, it's that contrast of soft beauty and cold steel. So cool.

The sun was in a bad place, so there were a lot of harsh shadows, which ruined a lot of the shots, but there are so many great ones, I don't care now!

Thanks for the fun photo shoots Heather and Jackie (my aunt), I loved my time with you.

Good Luck Heather and Mark!

More of the Show

As many of my blog readers know, I have a little singing group that gets together to sing together once a week, mostly for fun, but we occasionally sing at church meetings and parties, and other people's churches.

Here is our number we performed at the Talent Show. We really wanted to sing Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy, and lucky us, Bishop Michael Smith is a great trumpet player, so he joined us. Forgive this recording please, I asked my Dad to record it, handed him a camera he's never used, and didn't tell him what exactly I wanted him to film. Therefore, the trumpet player is cut out of most of the number and when we drag our hubby's on stage to dance with us, you can't see the other couples! Sorry Kandis and Jesyca! (there are other recordings, I just haven't gotten my hands on them yet...).

Um, also, pretend like we don't get ahead of the piano and mess up. heh...heh...

Thank you to Jesyca, our "Captain", for all the choreography, and costumes!

Boogie Woogie Babes: Kristie, Me, Jesyca, Kandis, Wendy.

Talent Show

My Nanos has always had a knack for singing, I think he may have perfect pitch, since he could carry a tune before he was speaking in sentences. His first solo was at our church the day after his third birthday, he got up there and sang his song with out flinching. The sound of his voice still melts my mommy heart.

Here he is participating in a talent show at our church this month. The night had a showtunes theme, so my friend, Vera, suggested this song from the musical "Oliver" based on Charles Dickens', Oliver Twist. He's singing about wanting to find a mother.


(He's being accompanied on the piano by his also very talented Daddy)

So sweet right? I should have taught him to bow... ;-)

Days at the park

Ever since I posted photos of a play day at this cool playground, people have been so excited about being out there in the sunshine. I can't blame them! It is a really cool place.

Aub and her girls

We've been friends with Cam 'n' Aub since she was pregnant with her first girl. Now they have three! We have every intention of marrying them off to our sons, and so far, it looks as though Bear has made his pick. I completely approve. This cute girl is so smart and sweet, just looking at her face melts my heart. Look at the bottom center picture and you'll see what I mean.

I think these little girls have some of the most beautiful eyes I've ever seen.

Their second girl (in the center photo) reminds me of Tinkerbell. In the book of Peter Pan it says that fairies are so small that they are only capable of having one emotion at a time- and it's usually pretty powerful. That's this little pixie for sure. She's shy, and charming, and sweet, and her little face just sparkles when she smiles, then the next minute she'll be so upset by something that it seems to take over her whole being. I know it can drive her poor mommy nuts when the tears don't stop- but she can't help it! She's so small she can only have one feeling at a time! Hahaha! Aside from all that- her soft wisps of hair always seem wind blown as though she's just landed from a long flight through the Neverwood.

Then there's the baby- she is so different from her sisters- she doesn't seem shy at all! She's just round cheeked and jolly and I swear her eye lashes go forever! Can you tell I love this family?

Laura, Cathy and the kiddos

Laura has 2 boys, I call them Gack and Bo. My Bear and Gack are bestest friends. They can't spend enough time together. It's adorable. And of course Jojy follows right along with them. Luckily, they aren't old enough to be annoyed by the tag along.

Bo is SO grinny! I swear he's the happiest kid I've ever met. He does this funny nose wrinkle that is all his own. He's also the climbing-est kid I ever met. I swear one day soon Laura will turn around and he'll be on top of the fridge or the roof or something.

I call Cathy's little girl Jujy-fruit. I sing the "Juicy fruit gum" commercial to her all the time. I wonder if she thinks I'm crazy. She's is such a funny little girl. She's all pink and bows and baby dolls, but she has this hysterically low voice for a toddler and it cracks me up every time I hear her. I love the picture of her on the swing with the phone, typical girl, happy as long as she has her cell phone...or mine.

Bo and Jujy-fruit are bestest friends. Kinda- if they mood strikes them. This day they liked each other.

My sisters are my best audience. They think every thing I say is funny. How can a person not love that? So thanks for the park day Seesters!

Happy 3rd Birthday Jojy!

I had a lot going on during what should have a been a day of birthday celebrations for Jojy, thankfully he's only 3 and unaware of pretty much anything but presents and cake. Still, being a mom, and feeling like I should have done more to celebrate, I just indulged his every whim where ever we went.


That's how he scored this pink teddy bear sucker.

What kid doesn't love a giant bouquet of balloons? I let him pick any balloon he wanted at the party store (even though he wasn't getting a party...)

I always let my kids pick any kind of cake they want. They never say "chocolate" or "carrot cake", they always tell me the decoration. Jojy requested a "Money cake". Money? I asked several different times, just to be sure. And when he saw the finished cake he was THRILLED. It was very funny. And my hubby the finance guy said "That's my boy". Hahaha.

Seriously not my best effort, but he's three, what does he know?

I had to be at a song practice that evening, so I told the family after dinner (which he picked- Dino Nuggets...ugh) that when I got back we could have birthday cake. Well, when I got home at 8:30, no one knew where Jojy was. We found that he'd put himself to bed. He's NEVER done that before. So we lit his candles, sang "Happy Birthday" in whispers and his brothers blew out the candles.

Not to worry- we lit the candles and I let him have cake for breakfast.