Camping at the Beach

 Cruz dug a bunch of big holes looking for buried treasure.

 A walk to the store brought us right over the railroad tracks. The boys thought it was "freaky" when the commuter train zoomed below us under the bridge. I thought it was "freaky" too!

 You can not find a happier baby boy than Walter. He looked like this the whole time.

 Conway thought he was King of the Mountain. He loved just sitting there for awhile and then suddenly jumping off and rolling into the deep pit around the sand mound. It was hilarious.

 The big boys rested to read and nap after wrestling the waves and rocks.

 Daisy's Mom turned her into a mermaid. Then Daisy proceeded to tell us all her story about how she really wanted to grow some legs but she was trapped in the ocean.

Grandma Burke bought all the little girls matching pink swimsuits. Whenever someone walked by out little group they smiled at all this cuteness playing in front of them.
We missed most of the Giffin clan as they had recitals.... It is getting harder and harder to plan things that all the family can do or go to at the same time. Oh well., but Yeah for our wonderful big crazy family!

My daughter Devan made this Valentine with her little darlings this year. This was the only shot she got with both of the glamkids laying down. What a creative daughter I have!!!! I am so proud!!! Happy Lovin those Glambabies Day!!!!

2010 Christmas Greeting

I hope that you are all enjoying the holiday season this year. It is REALLY hectic around here (a REAL CIRCUS) with so many little ones, but I would not have it any other way. I wish all my friends out in blog land happiness and joy amid your own chaos. Let's enjoy the ride together!

New York!

This last week, my daughter Hilari and her best friend Laura, Laura's Mom (my best friend) and I went to New York to celebrate Hilari and Laura's 20th Friend-iversary. We had the best time! We were so fortunate that Laura's brother Paul and his beautiful wife Steph gave us the grand tour and led us through less tourist traveled roads to eat where the local foodies dine. FABULOUS!

Our first major stop was the Museum of Modern Art. Wow.

The next day, we went all around the city and as we neared Central Park, we saw a lot of police and this car on it's side with a gun shot right in the front window. I was a little freaked (and excited) and then we found they had just finished filming a movie!

Hilari and I took a day and visited 30 Rock and toured the NBC building. That was fun seeing where Saturday Night Live and some other shows were taped...
And we couldn't resit taking a picture with the Naked Cowboy. (I guess there are a few Naked Cowboys, like Santa... He can't be everywhere at once, so his helpers fill in)

We saw "Mary Poppins". We got some cheap seats at the last minute and we were on the top most balcony. The play was wonderful. At the end, Mary Poppins flew over the floor audience. We couldn't see her and I was a little bummed, but then her head peeked up over our balcony and she was about 12 feet away and smiled right at us as she flew up into the ceiling/sky! Hilari and I were walking to the train station to visit our friends that we had met on a cruise 2 years ago, and we saw fire engines, and a huge blow-up mattress. We looked up and there was a man on top of the building ready to jump! Then we found out it was another movie being filmed. We waited a while to watch him jump, but it was taking too long so we'll have to see it at the movie next year.
We visited Ground Zero. Paul is an architect, so it was so interesting hearing him describe what was going on. I have a photo of myself and three girlfriends from the top of one of the twin towers from my first trip to New York about 20 years ago. It was surreal to think that this is where those buildings once stood and how 9/11 changed everything.
I took this picture looking out of the window at Ground Zero. Look at the shadows of buildings on the glass in front of the other buildings outside. Cool!
Our last day was cloudy and colder. The skyscrapers blended into the heavens.
I can see how people love living in New York. If I could cart my whole family with me, I'd live there for a season and then move on to another wonderful part of the country and so on. But, it looks like it's an Arizona life for me which isn't so bad from October to June!

Phoebe

Recently we had Phoebe's first photo session. She's such a cute little thing!

Here she is in the Blessing dress that I made for her. Devan put together the headband.

And here she is in a fabulous ensemble.

I wish I could pull off those bloomers!

Scary Portraits!

I like to mix things up each year in how and where I put out my Halloween decorations. This year, I decided to put the wedding and reunion photo that I covered with skeletons printed onto transparency sheets above the fireplace in the kitchen. I needed some more photos, so I took this one from last years family photo shoot and used a couple of filters on them to make them SCARY!

Here's how they look hung up. I also decided to put the "Cooking Spice Jars" on the mantle. (I think this is the last year for most of the jars. I have much better skills at making creepy labels now and the "stuff" in the jars is starting to smell..........)

Fun Stuff.

Meet "Barry and the Cheese"!

Meet "Barry and the Cheese". I am proud to sponsor this delightfully funny team as they make their comeback to YouTube and in Print ads! Tune in to see hilarious antics and wild slapstick that will tickle your funny bones. "Barry and the Cheese" can be seen about town wearing their signature round glasses and hats. Sometimes at special events, they will dawn comfortable polyester suits and fashionable slacks.

"Barry and the Cheese" just LOVE all types of Jello products and are equally fond of Spam.

Thank you "Barry and the Cheese", I wait with bated breath and anticipation !

More Ads.

Kilee looks stunning but kept accidentally rubbing off her lipstick. Thank heavens it was Liquid Liptone! I wish I could stock my kitchen with Porcelain on Steel Enameledware!

More Ads!

Beautiful and Mysterious Melanie looks radiant in Royalty Red lip color by Dorothy Gray... I have to brag a bit on these little numbers. I copied, then cropped the jewelry and placed them on the lovely sophisticated women: Kelli, Melanie and Mary. How's that for detail!

Doesn't Marlowe look grand when she uses Hollywood Lipstick. Keep her secret girls!!!

FUN!

Girls Just Want to Have FUN!

A girl is NEVER too old to play dress-up... (feathers were a'flyin) I thought Mary was a natural and just needed a beauty spot. Isn't she just Glam?!

Alyson is so beautiful.
More to come...

Vintage Ads Gone Bad!

So I started playing around with more vintage ads and inserting our "girlfriend photo shoot" pictures. Here are a few...(I am waiting for permission for more that I hope to share soooon!)
Below is sweet Stephanie. She could sell Dove soap any day! and darling Sarah really doesn't need much makeup in real life, but doesn't she look fab?

With the devil on one shoulder and an angel on the other, Stephanie can't decide which "Can-Can" petticoat to wear. OK, more than one at once!
Lindsey's hair looked a mess before she used a "Bliss" treatment. Now her golden locks look like spun gold!

There is no one better to ask for advice than Jen. She's a wealth of knowledge, and can surely tell you what toilet paper is the best.... and what color will suit your bathroom AND bottom!
Again, there is no stronger woman than our girl Steph. Need a jar opened?, a hem mended?, or the light bulb changed?, She'll do it with a smile on her face!
I guess I should go wash the dishes and pay some attention to my husband and get off of this computer. It was a BLAST putting these together. More (hopefully) to come!

Photo Shoot

Last night "The Gals" got together at my house and we did a photo shoot. I'm still working on the originals, but here is a glimpse of my daughter Kelli. I thought she looked like she came out of an add in the early 50's. Below is the original shot....

Gotta LOVE Photoshop and Digital scrapbooking elements!!!!!

We can't forget Cozmo!!!

When we got our family picture taken, there was one family member who got kicked out of the photography studio. Many might think it would be one of my daughters (who I always think are going to get us kicked out of many an establishment...) but no, Cosmo the Iguana was ostracized for not being a member of the "human" race. I found him/her (we don't know for sure) a small dog Snuggie. I picked the pink as it would be a nice contrast with Cosmo's green skin.

Cosmo had to wait in the car. I even pulled the "I spend a lot of money here (in a nice way)" approach to make them let us keep him, but to no avail. In the future, we shall leave no family member behind!

Baby Conway is moving!!!!!!

Our baby daughter Devan and her family are moving to Utah tomorrow for school. We will miss them!!! and we will miss the "Con-Man" and his darling happy smile.

I put these pages together on SmileBox. I love the simplicity of being able to drag the photos onto the pre-designed pages.