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Guess what I got in the mail tonight.......

Disney Princesses On Ice

Travis bought Zoe and I tickets to go to Disney on Ice. This is something we always do every year, but since this year was a girly one, just me and Zoe went. It is quite an understatement to say that Zoe is OBSESSED with princesses, so this was amazing for her. She is currently most enthralled with The Little Mermaid and Ariel so she flipped out over that part in the show. It was fun to watch her having fun there. And we were in the 4th row so it was really close up!!!Here are some pics.

President Hinckley

Another sad story! President Hinckley passed away last night. Actually, while it is sad for us, I am sure he was happy to be able to go home to his wife who passed away a few years ago. I have read the following quote on a few of your blogs, so I stole it and put it on mine because I thought it was really neat.

"You were generals in the War in Heaven and one day when you are in the spirit world, you will be enthralled by those you are associated with. You will ask someone in which time period they lived and you might hear,"I was with Moses when he parted the Red Sea," or "I helped built the pyramids'" or "I fought with Captain Moroni." And as you are standing there in amazement, someone will turn to you and ask you which of theprophets' time did you live in? And when you say "Gordon B. Hinkley" a hush will fall over every hall and corridor in Heaven, and all in attendance will bow at your presence. You were held back six thousand years because you were the most talented, most obedient, mostcourageous, and most righteous."

Quote of the Day

In the car today Austin said, "I have great eyes.... Don't I Mom?"

I cant believe it

I just read this. It is so sad. Heath Ledger was just found dead 20 minites ago in Manhattan. I am completly astonished. I have always loved him. When I was dating Travis I had the hugest poster of him in my room. I don't know what else to say, but this makes me very sad. Thought some of you would want to know.

Why is my blog so depressing today?

Insanity

***Travis just informed me that the lawsuit is that a group of students are suing for the right to carry guns to school. How freaking NUTS is that????? Students with guns = INSANE!***

Do you want to know what the definition of INSANE is? Allowing guns on school campus. I am not too sure of the details here, but I know there is talk of allowing guns at school for safety. First of all, guns do not equal safety. You think the guy that invented them did so for that reason? I guess he thought he did, but No, it's only purpose is to injure and most likely kill. THAT IS ITS ONLY PURPOSE PEOPLE! It has ONE purpose, and that is it. Why in the world would the government allow something like a gun to be brought onto the campus? It will only put students at risk everytime they step onto the school grounds. School is SUPPOSED to be one place where people can feel some sense of security and structure. Add guns to the picture, and you never know when that will go away. I am sure their thinking is that if someone on the campus had a gun, then the Columbine killers, or the Virginia Tech killer could have been shot before he killed all those people. Ok, so a mass murderer brings a gun to school to kill, and you whip one out yourself to kill him, how are you any different? And how does making guns ok on school campuses prevent those crazy kids that are already planning a school killing spree, from doing it so easily? You are basically inviting them- "Go ahead, bring your gun and try to shoot us all. Its ok, because I have a gun too. I don't know how to use it, but I have one." Even if they are only allowing the security gaurds to carry them, chances are they know little to nothing about how to use a gun. Listen to this, "Nearly 8% of adolescents in urban junior and senior high schools miss at least one day of school each month because they are afraid to attend. "(National Mental Health & Education Center for Children & Families, National Association of School Psychologists 1998) Can you imagine how much more afraid they would be if guns were invited onto school property? And if this issue only applies to Colleges, then how is that going to affect students who want to go to college, but are too afraid now?

Read these statistics on gun deaths.

1. America is losing too many children to gun violence. Between 1979 and 2001, gunfire killed 90,000 children and teens in America. (Children's Defense Fund and National Center for Health Statistics)

2. In one year, more children and teens died from gunfire than from cancer, pneumonia, influenza, asthma, and HIV/AIDS combined. (Children's Defense Fund)

3. The rate of firearm deaths among kids under age 15 is almost 12 times higher in the United States than in 25 other industrialized countries combined. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

4. Every day, more than 80 Americans die from gun violence. (Coalition to Stop Gun Violence)
The rate of firearm deaths among kids under age 15 is almost 12 times higher in the United States than in 25 other industrialized countries combined. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

5. American kids are 16 times more likely to be murdered with a gun, 11 times more likely to commit suicide with a gun, and nine times more likely to die from a firearm accident than children in 25 other industrialized countries combined. (Centers for Disease Control)

Sorry, this was a long post, and it was depressing. But this is in talks right now. I keep hearing it on the news and I am just really bewildered. I can't believe it is even an option. Guns are a huge problem. "Wait I have an idea, to get rid of our problem lets use guns around kids!" Does that sounds like a solution to you?

Cousin Emily

This last week my cuz Emily came down from Utah with her little baby Kyrie to visit!! Emily is a very entertaining girl. I love to listen to her talk. And her baby is so dang cute. Then on Saturday we had a girls night at GG's with Jana, Me, Lindsay, Emily, Katy, GG, Aunt Donna and my Mom. There we discussed very important topics from 3 to 10. What were the topics? Well, poop mostly. Colon cleanses. Although I think we have Lindsay to thank for that. Anyway, Emily, thanks for coming down! It was so fun!

Yoey

Zoe has made some new developments in her vocabulary. She says her name now, Yoey. And sadly she is starting to call Austin his actual name instead of "KiKi". I loved that she called him that!!

Every morning for a couple months, she will wake up and come in my bed after Travis goes to work. With her she brings about 3 books, 3 dolls, 2 blankets and anything else she can find on her way there. All this with her thumb still in her mouth. Yes, she is talented. It is sooo cute though. She is quite the Girl. Oh, and she loves shoes so much that she named her baby "Shoes". Hence the picture at the bottom, even though she has no pants on, she MUST have her shoes. Can it get any cuter??

Austin and Addison

So Austin has a new best bud, Addison. He is soooo adorable. These 2 are EXACTLY alike in every way. They are both cute, they both wear hats, they are both obsessive about Transformers, and thanks to Addison, they are both in to Star Wars. They met at their new pre-school Kinder-Set-Go. We met them and some other friends at the park today. It was sooo fun. Here are some pics!

They ACTUALLY thought that they were HIDDEN behind this tree. Silly boys.

We went to Wendy's after the park. The boys sat maybe an inch from eachother the WHOLE time.

Cutie Pie

Cutest little McNephew pants here. Being cute as usual. This is my nephew Diesel. LOVE HIM!

Mrs. Jana, Here is my Homework.

This is an updated post! I have taken your advice and tried out what you said. Is it better?? I just put the new ones under the old ones.

Attention Jana and Kristal. My two PS gurus. Here is an attempt to do something cool with these pictures. Enlighten me, and be honest. Cuz me so dumb. I want to know WHAT looks bad, what SHOULD have been done, and IF I did anything right. Jana, I have the whole Gaussian Blur thing down now, thanks for that. I also figured out how to soften skin, but do you have to do that BEFORE you convert it to B&W? Also, am I supposed to save them to a certain size so that when they print them they stay that way? And do I have to do something with the resolution???

Sincerely,

Soooo many questions.

This one I just cropped, and sharpened it and softened Cassie's skin. I would have liked to get rid of that blue blanket in the corner. Don't know how.

This one, I did the blur thing, softened the skin, messed with the contrast but I don't know how, cropped it. Doesn't look right to me.

Note: Ok, here is the new one after this one. I did what you guys said, is it better?

Added text, and I don't remember what else. Bottom one is the fixed one.

Added text, softened skin, softened the picture a little bit. The bottom one is the fixed one.

I Know

I know, I have a new header and my page looks different. But I realize it isn't up to par. The background kind of clashes, yes? I noticed some of you have different templates. Danica, Koe, I am talking to you. What are the downsides to going with that template? Just that you lose your info on the side bar? Is it easy to go back to this kind of a template whenever you want to? Just wondering. K, so as soon as I figure out what I REALLY want as my header, this is what you get. Live with it.

Baby Austin

Here are the pictures of Baby Austin, I know a little late. But better late than never! Austin has SOOOOO many pictures of him. He loved to get his picture taken, and I never denied him that privelidge. We always took him to The Picture People so he has a ton of photos. Most of them are scrapbooked, but here is what I found.

The picture above was a good example of why I love baby toes.

I found these pictures of Austin when he was 2 and Zoe when she was just born and I love them!!

My Baby Zoe

I miss my babies little baby faces. Here is a glimpse back into the past for all of you who missed it!! Sadly I can't remember exactly how old she is in all these pics, but I put them in what I thought was cronological order. And please note my BRAVENESS when you see the first 2 pics. They are courtesy of Jana.

I melt everytime I see Austin as a little boy. He was the best.

This was my favorite outfit (below) to dress Zoe in when she was a newborn. Don't forget to look at the toes- I LOVE THEM!!

Zoe had, and still does have the most chubby, bite into like an apple cheeks. I can't stay away from them!!

I REALLY love this picture. I remember Josh and I doing this on purpose just to get this shot. Zoe is soo easy to work with. Except for when we want her to smile.

There are sooooo many great pics of Baby Zoe, it was hard to just put a few on here. I will put some of Baby Austin on here tomorrow.