Could get used to this...

Hello...my name is Carrie and I have a disease. I take too many pictures, I can't help myself really. It's just part of who I am. Thank goodness for the digital age...

So...if you don't want to look at ALL these photos (just from day 1) I won't be offended, but in my opinion you're missin' out!

I'm thinkin' we could have skipped the theme parks and just gathered sea shells at the ocean the entire time! My girls were beyond excited and collected a nice bucket full of beautiful shells that stunk up our car the rest of the trip!





Cute footprints from the same little one who painted the bottom of her feet and left footprints all over my steps in Bellevue. What a sad day it was when I bought all the fingernail polish remover that Kings had so I could clean them off..


Um yeah...would have been better if Syd actually looked at the camera, but that would have been asking way too much!



Oh to be 5 again!







What is that? I have NO idea, but Syd was dang proud of herself for carrying it around :)





Love this one of Kallie with Syd running free in the distance...



The loot that I cleaned with bleach water and dried...no more stinky!



Isn't it great when you cover yourself with mud and your mom doesn't even get mad :)



There goes Syd again...



Life doesn't get better than this!

It's for real!

We stopped at Dan's office on Wednesday night before heading to California on Thursday. I think this is the first time it's REALLY hit me...HOLY COW this is for real!

I decided to take a few photos of the office so you can all have this 'HOLY COW' moment with me!

His new business cards sitting all prim and proper on the front desk just waiting for their first patient (coming soon we hope) to take a few and hand out to everyone they know!



The waiting room complete with fountains and a painting from Thai Pan and couches and accent tables from RC Willey.



The view down the hallway, where Syd and Kallie have spent A LOT of time racing around on office chairs...thanks Grandpa Charlie for one fun night at the Family History Center that taught Kallie a way to be entertained for hours :)



Patient "consultation room"...fancy way of saying, "let's sit down and discuss what needs to be done and figure out some way for you to pay for it".



You won't believe it...Dan has his OWN office! A luxury he didn't have on River Street in Hailey. It's super messy now, but everything is a work in progress at this point.



Another thing they didn't have in Hailey...a break room! Although I must admit old, stinky left-overs in the fridge was a nice problem NOT to have to deal with!



Dan hard at work printing out maps for our trip...nice view to the front door which will soon be adorned with his logo.



And just for fun...some of their lovely office decor (expensive office decor I might add).


There you have it! Some very early stage photos of this new office that really is FOR REAL! I'll post more later as opening day approaches!

{TOP 5} Tuesday...continued

So...more pictures from the games since that is all I feel like I've been doing! And I may just win the terrible-horrible-no-good-very-bad-mother-of-the-year award after the last week and a half...but tomorrow we are off to San Diego and that will make up for everything right?!? Yipee!

There are more than five...but I picked a few of my recent favorites!

I know the 'Senior Games' words are right across his face, but WOW look at that serve! I totally want to learn to play tennis now!



I think photographing the 5k portion of the triathlon was the highlight of the games for me. Talk about inspiring! All of the individual participants (those not on relay teams) had their ages written in Sharpie on their calf and I was AMAZED as some of them ran past me how great they looked! I LOVE the look on this lady's face...she makes a triathlon look like as much fun as Disneyland!



This is exactly how I would feel if I had just done something this cool!



Two 85+ volleyball players (yes...their ENTIRE team was over 85 yrs old) this one just makes me laugh out loud :)



Um yeah...this one too! He's ready and waiting for that volleyball that is just about to be spiked right to him...



You may think this looks easy (capturing the photo I mean) but believe me it's NOT! I deleted hundreds of pictures that I was just barely too late and missed the action completely...I even had a few pictures where all I got was the ceiling (no ball, no players, nothin')!



And for anyone who hasn't heard of Pickleball...here it is. Rackets bigger than a ping-pong racket hitting wiffle balls on a miniature tennis court, quite entertaining actually.



And believe me....they are INTO their pickleball game. Please notice the medal winner 2nd from the left who's shirt reads "life is simple...eat, sleep, and play pickleball". (hee, hee)


And now my time on the "official photography team" is over. It was fun and craziness all rolled together (I have a new appreciation for single, working mothers). And hopefully my cute friend Andrea will continue to be my friend after having been babysitter abused to the maximum...however, I did find her a very cute bag on Etsy that I'm going to get her for her pain and suffering! Maybe I should get myself one too...

Next week be prepared for photo overload of a much needed long weekend in San Diego...adios!

Kids & Puppies

I was listening to talk radio last week (one of the many days when the stock market was way down) and the guy said..."doesn't anybody have any pictures of kids with puppies, or songs about flowers...we need something happy today!"

So here is my contribution to all of the members of our stressed-out, financially burdened, candidate crazed country...a cute (very-cute if you ask me) kid and her puppy!
(photo courtesy of Kallie)

My awesome friend Adrie said, "Yes, just what the doctor ordered...de-stress! If I could throw a beautiful, enormous ball of words into the world, that would lightly flutter down onto all of humankind, I would say the following: DE-STRESS! Enjoy this life for what it is, and not freak out for what it could become. If people could just be kind to each other...truly kind, I know life would be a lot different." Thanks Adrie...now everyone go sing a song about flowers!

{TOP 5} Tuesday...why I'm late

Here are the {TOP 5} reasons I'm late posting my 'Top 5'. I'm sure you all noticed I was late right?!?

I've been gone much of the last few days (some days more than others) taking pictures at the Huntsman Senior Games. It has been a really fun experience (so far) but it has made life a little crazy!

So here are 5 photos that I've taken from the games so far. I know they're not the greatest...but let's just say the lighting was less than ideal!

#5- Very patriotic square dancers (Syd loved this ladies cowgirl boots)!


#4- All the teams competing...and let me tell you, some of them were very serious!


#3- A special request from one of the dancers to get the mirrors on the ceiling that look like a kaleidoscope when they're dancing.


#2- 55 yrs+ basketball game (is that lady wearing a wig???).


#1- All the way from Detroit to play basketball! Just think in 20 more years I'm eligible to play...yikes!

I may post more later because I got a few cute shots of some tennis players today! If these pictures don't inspire you to get up from the computer and start exercising I don't know what will :)

Oh so pretty!

Kallie and Sydney decided that they wanted to get their ears pierced. They called Dad and he gave them the ok...so we set a date! Friday right after school we picked up Jeni, Sam and Maci (for moral support) and headed to the mall.

Kallie went first...she's trying so hard to be brave!



Sami giving Syd some comfort before her turn.


This is Syd's cute little face trying VERY hard not to cry!



All done...so cute!




Now they just have to wait until Thanksgiving when they wear the cute earings Jeni bought for them...thanks Jeni!



For Jeni's birthday I took her (and myself) to get a pedicure.


Neither one of us could understand a word the guy was saying, but we kept nodding and uh-huhing :)



Why don't I have cute green flip-flops!

That was fun...I think that was the first of many to come for me. I may even take my girls with me sometime!

The Winner...

I know you're all dying to know who the winner of the {TOP 5} contest is....and the big award (that is yet to be chosen) goes to my aunt Diane! Yay for you! I can't believe someone actually listens to my ramblings and even attempts to keep track of my crazy hubby's comings and goings. Dan has NOT been to Denver anytime recently, but he has been to all the other places (including Indianapolis) in the last month or so. I will be one happy wife and mother when this craziness calms down a bit...don't laugh, it might happen :)

And now a moment for myself to vent a frustration I'm having today. Let me first say that I have been really impressed with my girl's new school down here in the land of the heat. They both love their teachers and are excited to go to school everyday. And I am well aware of the fact that schools need funds to accomplish all of the wonderful things that they do, including playground equipment, teacher appreciation, reflections contest etc...

That said, every year school begins and it feels like you might as well open your purse and leave it open. After spending however much on classroom supplies and school clothes, these kids head off to school and shortly after that it is picture day! For some reason I feel like I have to buy a package of school pictures, it just seems like a required tradition to me. Even though I know very well that I will probably not be especially thrilled with the final product. (I took pictures of their school photos so you can see why I feel justified in saying that). What is there to like about these pictures (see below)? (subtract $40 from your wallet for classroom supplies and another $40 for two packets of school pictures...what do people who have 4 or 5 kids do?)





Next comes the dreaded fundraiser(s). Does anybody else want to sit down and cry when they bring home the booklet of valuable items you can buy to help the school? I was a little surprised (in a good way) when the fundraiser at Kallie and Syd's school was muffin & cookie mixes from Lehi Roller Mills. Of course I didn't want my girls to call anyone to try to sell them a cookie mix because I know full well that their own children have brought home their own school fundraiser packets. I also feel bad calling grandma and grandpa because they do have 9 grandchildren afterall who are all (ok, almost all) trying to get them to buy something or donate money to their school. So what do I do? I buy 3 bags of cookie mix from each child (so they can get the squishy dog with pop out eyes)... take another $50 out of the wallet please. But (I say outloud to my hubby) I would much rather buy cookie mixes than wrapping paper!

Now to today...I pick up my girls from school and they can't wait to tell me all about the prizes they can win when they sell stuff. What? Excuse Me? Yup...they had an assembly to show the kids all the cool prizes they get when they sell 'x' number of items. Kallie says "Mom I'm going to sell enough stuff to get the iPod ok!" How many items would she have to sell to get the iPod...oh just a mere 140+. Now do you get my beef? I haven't even gotten my cookie mixes yet and now they want me to buy wrapping paper! Why would they have a big, fun, pep-rally assembly showing these little people all the cool things that can be theirs if only they can get everyone they know to buy things they don't really want. It's not fair to the kids who have no idea how much they would really have to sell to get a slap watch or a giant 5 inch eraser. Now I get to be the bearer of bad news that there is a good chance that they are not only NOT going to get an iPod but they probably won't even get an 'oval twist pen'. Why? Because their mother already spent $50 on cookie mixes!

I don't mean to be a brat, but (and that's a big butt) am I wrong in thinking that probably the cookie mixes OR the wrapping paper should be the fundraiser of choice...NOT BOTH! And how much of the $ when everything is said and done goes toward the new playground equipment? I think they should do a silent auction where ALL items are donated and ALL the money goes to the school or something like that. And yes, I am well aware that I am welcome at anytime to just make a donation directly to the PTA (it says so on every newsletter) but maybe I should go talk to them about at least spacing these things out a little and maybe NOT getting these little kids way excited about prizes that they will probably never get...sad :(

Ok...I'm done

{TOP 5} Tuesday...where in the country is Dr. Dan?

Just to make sure you believe me when I say that I'm a single mom lately...the 'TOP 5' for today are the {TOP 5} places in the country that Dan has been to in the last month. Please notice that 6 locations are listed...one is false. I will mail a totally worthless prize to the first person who names the one place Dan has NOT been to in the last month (or so)!

1. Juno, Alaska
2. Boise, Idaho
3. Indianapolis, Indiana
4. Denver, Colorado
5. Dallas, Texas
6. Las Vegas, Nevada


And what have we been doing while he's been gone...









Just think...one day she's going to grow into those teeth :(=) I'll be a little sad when she does...