smile with your eyes

Or smizing as my sister Crystal might say. Yeah, I think the girls have that one down pat. Here are a few teasers from a photo shoot they did a couple days ago. The photographer was SO enamored with them that she and her trainee shot them for 4 hours straight, til the moonlight didn't give off enough light! She hired the girls to model during one of her mentoring sessions. You can see the before and afters here. The last photo reminds me of a country rock album cover.

Maybe we should reconsider sending Miss Sarah off to BYU in a few months...

And for the record, I'm making up reasons to keep Analisa home these days. Poor thing.

Easter Blessings

Every year that I get older it seems like the holidays mean more and more as I watch some of my babies prepare to leave our little nest. Long gone are the days of frilly socks and giant hair bows. They now pick out their own outfits and hair accessories but as in days gone by, I still stand back and gaze in awe at their beauty.

We had amazing Sacrament speakers who set the tone for the day. Matthew played a Nephite in sharing time and expressed in his own words what it would have been like if he had been there when the resurrected Savior visited the American continent. It was powerful.

We spent the early afternoon preparing for the festivities. I found this amazing recipe for Sprinkles strawberry cupcakes. They were yummylicious! I made our families favorite green beans which can be found here along with the Favorites version of Mandarin-Almond Green Salad. My sisters took care of the rest and we ate to our hearts content!

If you ever decide to make these little puffs of sweetness be sure to also make the to die for frosting. I licked the bowl. Twice!

We mounted them on this lovely tree along with the bunnies Katherine made the day before. Once one cupcake disappeared, it was only a matter of seconds before the whole tree was empty!

My beautiful sisters, Crystal and Moni.


Sarah, Serina, Katherine, Ariana and Analisa.

Jonah goes into cousin heaven when Samuel and rest of the boys come over. Needless to say, they all slept soundly that night!

I first met Paige when he served a mission in our Spanish branch 22 years ago. He even attended my wedding. We jokingly call him our brother from another mother. It's been fun to be near him and his lovely wife Dulce. Their kids call me Aunt Claudia, which I love!

How lucky to have your BFF as your cousin! Love these two girls. Their beauty runs deep.

Can't have Easter without a hunt! Thank goodness the weather cooperated. There were so many kids we had to divide them into 2 groups. The littles and the bigs.

It has been so nice to have our Analisa home from Costa Rica. I will have to have her guest blog to share some of her amazing stories. You can still see a smear of paint on the back of her forearm. Pura Vida is her new mantra. I couldn't agree more.

Hoppy Easter

Perspective

A few days before a scheduled humanitarian trip to Costa Rica, Analisa took a terrible fall and severely sprained her left ankle. She was coming back for the kill in an intense tennis match when her foot gave out from under her and down she went. How could she be of any use to anyone thousands of miles away from home while wobbling around on a badly hurt foot? Tears were shed. We followed doctors orders and made a permanent bed for her on the couch while she iced and elevated her black and blue foot. During one of her pity party icing sessions, little Samuel came up to her and asked,

"Analisa, are you dying?"

"Yes Sammy, I think I am," she said.

"Well, at I least I was able to have my pizza party at school today," he said thoughtfully.

She burst out laughing while giving him a big hug!

"And at least I made you smile", he said smugly.

Seriously, how bad can life be when you you have a sweet little face like that staring back at you?

She made it out to the jungles of the Amazon anyway, big boot,crutches and all. We have missed her like crazy and can't wait to hear about her many adventures!

bye, bye braces!!!

Having braces as an adult is like walking around for 11 looong months with a big zit on the tip of your nose waiting to be popped! It's painful, inconvenient and it's the first thing people notice with a face to face encounter.

As much as I hated little babies reaching for the bling on my teeth, and drive-thru clerks staring at my mouth with raised eyebrows; I must say, it was so nice to always come home and feel loved no matter what I looked like. My family always looked at me and loved me for me.

It took hours of hanging out with Samuel before he even noticed they were gone. It was only after I gave him a big cheesy grin and pointed to my smile that he noticed. He smiled back, gave me a hug with a gentle pat on the back, and said, "Good job mommy. You look pretty. I never noticed you had them to begin with."

I am blessed.

Now off to bite into my CK Cummings chocolate dipped in Oreo caramel apple. Ah, bliss!