Ortegaville

Hey, Hey, Hey...

2010-09-05T16:39:00.000-07:00

So we are having so much fun here in Carlisle PA... It is such a charming place! I wrote all about it on my new blog! www.stephanieortega.com/blog ...Love ya!

New Pics Of Harley!!

2010-05-30T14:42:00.000-07:00

See more @ my new blog www.stephanieortega.com/blog
Have a Fabulous week!!!

Look at my new blog...

2010-05-03T22:55:00.000-07:00

http://stephanieortega.com/blog/... I'm not yet sure how that blog's existence affects this blog...hm?

A New Season

2010-04-06T21:55:00.000-07:00

Something that I have always been excited for was to be able to spend some quality time watching sports with my son. It was really cool that he was born just in time for the start of the new baseball season so I told Stephanie that me and Harley would be watching the Braves' home opener together! We got our Braves watching gear on and we were ready!

Unfortunately the Cardinals game went over so by the time the tv station switched over to the Braves game, we were already down 3-0 in the first inning!!! I was a bit scared that Harley's first experience with the Braves would not be a good one but he didn't seem so concerned.

It was a great game and the Braves won 16-5! It was everything I imagined it would be and I'm so grateful to have a son that can't complain about having to watch sports with me yet! Finally when it was all done we were tired from all our rooting for the Braves.

Fin.

Harley... Just Perfect.

2010-04-02T19:10:00.000-07:00

I never realized how much I would love being a mom. Harley is just the most perfect thing I ever met. It's fun to do everything with him!!!I love holding him and watching him do anything. I think he is so cute no matter what he's doing, even crying!!! What do you think?

HARLEY has Arrived!

2010-03-16T21:09:00.001-07:00

It had been a very busy week full of great things! Isaac and Isabella were married Tuesday and their wedding was just beau- tiful!!! Israel's family had a bunch of great relatives in town that we got to spend time with and We got to party at Is and Is's reception on Friday night! We have just been livin' it up! ...This may have been the coolest weekend of my life... (tied with the one when I married Israel!) Israel and I were so happy and surprised when Harley decided to come early! Israel and I spent a few hours after Isaac's reception finishing some midterms, spending time with the Ortegas and eating Menudo. FUN! We got home and I told Israel that I thought my water broke... we thought about it a bit and decided to see how I was feeling after a bit of sleep. Well Saturday morning we woke up and I thought we really should go into the hospital... so we packed up and went to the hospital. They admitted me and the doctor started me on some inducing drugs. I began having contractions real close together. When they were happening about every minute the baby's heart rate was dropping a lot with each one, the nurses and doctors started worrying that something was wrong and they had us sign permission forms to have the baby cesarean. The doctor decided to give us a chance to have him naturally, but if after a certain amount of time it wasn't happening ...then c-section was the way... Luckily it went well, He was born naturally, and when Harley came his umbilical cord was around his neck. They got it off and he was fine! He is so small and sweet! He was born at 10:21 am and weighed 7lbs 8oz he was 21 inches long. He is just so CUTE!!!! he looks so much like Israel it's crazy! We spent a couple days in the hospital and we got home today with our perfect baby boy! It's fun to have him and get to just hold him! I love watching Israel and him together! Israel is a proud papa! I am so grateful for Harley, We are so happy to have him!

Tuesday, Saturday, Happy Days!

2010-03-16T20:41:00.000-07:00

So I had a really great week in February! I turned 27 on Tuesday, My future sister in law came in from Brazil, and We had a baby Shower/Bar-B-Q on Saturday. Israel is SO wonderful and just spoiled me rotten on my Birthday!!! He woke me up and gave me a new little camera.... I so wanted one of those! He took me to breakfast at one of my favorite places... The Waffle House. Israel first took me to the waffle house... we have many times returned and I am so used to the place now that I no longer ask for a stack of pancakes! After that he took me shopping and got me a beautiful Purse and Some sun glasses... Love them! My parents were wonderful and took us all out to my favorite Viet- namese restaurant ... YUMMY! Saturday was also a very eventful day! IT rained a bit... so pretty! We went to the airport around noon to meet Isabella... Isaac's fiance. She is so sweet and Isaac just looked happy and relieved that she is finally here!!! We later had so much fun seeing all of our great friends and family at our Shower Bar-B-Q. It was so nice of everyone to come and celebrate our upcoming baby!!! YA... intense and fun week. I also had lunch with some of my great friends... we went to get Thrifty Ice cream together afterwards and spent lots of time just talking. I love these girls!!!... So February was SO MUCH FUN!!!

Valentines Day...

2010-02-16T17:19:00.000-08:00

My husband is so roman-tic!!! For Valentines Evening he kicked me out of the house... and stayed home making a beautiful dinner! We ate lobster on Garlic mashed potatoes with grilled corn on the cob. MMM MM!!! So yummy! He got me flowers and Chocolate. He is so thoughtful! (What else could a prego girl want more than chocolates?) I love it! He is so sweet and I just had to tell everyone that I have such an amazing spouse! It was a wonderful Valentines Day! The dinner was so yummy I just had to photograph it!!!

The First Post of a New Month, Year and Decade.

2010-01-17T11:43:00.000-08:00

Well one would probably think that a post of this magnitude (Being the first of the new month Year, Decade) would be full of Excitement and wonder... well it is not. It is as normal a post as most! Israel and I have had loads of fun during this break from ASU. We went caroling on a hay ride and we saw many of the fun new movies that came out at the end of 2009. I enjoyed decorating the house for the holidays and Israel has been loving the cooler weather! Israel and some of our MEN relations went shooting one day and had lots of fun doing that! Israel and I had a really GREAT Christmas day, we spent time with both our families and we both enjoyed the time with them!!! We went on a Trip to Midway, UT with my family to hang together in the cold and snow! This Christmas was the first in four years that my entire family was together for the Holidays. It was a big deal SO we went all together up to my parents house in Utah. Israel and I both have physical restrictions that have kept us from participating in Snowboarding and that stunk, but we have made the best of things. We went and saw Christmas lights at (both the Mesa and the Salt Lake Temples...) SO Beautiful... I think the day we went to SLC was one of the coldest of our trip! We played games and went shopping together we all went sledding and some people went snowboarding. We also helped Jeff and Tori move into their new apartment by BYU. We ate good food the whole trip!! It was fun to see what each couple made for the Dinner and Breakfast that they were in charge of! YUMMY! The trip was pretty relaxed and lots of fun! It was especially fun to spend time all together talking and playing with the "grandchildren". Kids are a blast! The Trip was fun and the Entire vacation has been Good! It ends on Tuesday. School starts again and life gets more complicated! BOth Israel and I have such AWESOME families! I will miss some of them and luckily we live by many of them... so we can hang out often!

My little brother is married.

2009-12-20T15:22:00.000-08:00

So crazy! Yesterday my little brother got married. That makes me feel kind of old because now 5 of my seven siblings are married. I got to shoot his wedding and that is always fun. So here's a couple pics from yesterday ... Jeff and Tori looked good and it was especially fun having the entire family in town for the wedding!

Isabella's Video...LOVE IT!

2009-12-10T01:44:00.001-08:00

So... my soon to be sister-in-law, Isabella, is AWESOME and made this funny little video for the holidays. I love it and I hope you enjoy it also! I love especially that Isaac and Israel's faces came off a picture where they were eating orange smiles!

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WOW.

2009-12-01T21:53:00.000-08:00

Just had a conversation with Israel and my sisters. I am SO grateful for my health and my family and everything I have!!! I feel so blessed!

A plug for this AMAZING movie!

2009-11-25T20:52:00.001-08:00

GO see "The Blind Side"!!! It is SO GOOD!!!! Michael Oher's story is amazing!

Early Xmas/Bday

2009-11-22T21:39:00.000-08:00

So for Christmas this year I have my little brother Isaias. I decided as part of his gift and for his birthday gift (his bday is in January) that I would take him to see Phantom of the Opera @ Gammage. It was awesome! Neither of us had seen it so it was a real treat. We were both very impressed with the actor who played the Phantom. He had an amazing voice. I would definitely enjoy seeing this musical again. I'm not sure how I would rank it among other musicals I have seen but it would have to be near the top! ps I have always thought the monkey music box is awesome! hahaha

THe BEST Band Ever!!!

2009-11-03T23:21:00.001-08:00

Israel and I went to the U2 concert!!!! Ok... you can all be jealous now! It was AWESOME! My parents and all 7 of their children and spouses went... J&A and D&S went in Washington DC. and the rest of us went here in AZ. Israel found tickets all near each other so that we could sit together through the concert. SO FUN! My siblings all danced the whole time, I wasn't feeling so great so I sat with Israel, we moved up a couple rows because the people directly in-front of us stood the ENTIRE time! We had fun singing along to all the great hits and enjoying the jumbotron! Black eyed Peas opened for U2 they did great! I loved especially when they sang "Boom Boom Pow". My mom sat through the entire Black Eyed Peas performance with her fingers in her ears. It was funny. She didn't do that for U2! I loved the songs U2 chose to sing!!! It was an awesome performance!

Happy Halloween!

2009-11-01T08:36:00.000-08:00

Well we had a very fun Halloween!!! Israel and I carved these really cool pumpkins. Israel was a bit disappointed that the pumpkins were fake and so he was limited in what he could carve... but it turned out great! His is the Scary one and mine is the scared one! We really had fun carving these together! We also went to our ward party which was quite the social event! It was way fun. Israel convinced me to go with him through the haunted house that they had.... Not the best idea! I'm a woos and I was totally scared! I came out screaming and running! I would probably have died if big strong Israel hadn't been there! We then went to the play that Marshall Glass was in... "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat". He did Awesome. He was Joseph. I have never in the past enjoyed that musical... but he did so good that I really liked it! (BTW he looked hot w/o his shirt on :) )After the play we came home made pizza ( heated up the frozen stuff) and watched Ghost Busters #1. The Special effects in that movie were much more intense and realistic when I was younger!! All in all it was a very fun Halloween!

It's a..........

2009-10-26T14:19:00.000-07:00

Well Stephanie and I were finally able to find out the gender of our baby! We have thought it was a boy for a while though Stephanie was holding out hope for a girl. Truthfully, we were just excited to know more than anything and now we do.......

As you can see from this awesome picture...IT'S A BOY!!! We are so excited!!! I told Stephanie the reason it would be a boy is because we already had names picked out for a girl. So now we are trying to decide on his name which is proving to be difficult! Any suggestions would be helpful!!!

This is a really cool picture my sister-in-law Jeani did for us. I think it is awesome! Thanks Jeani!!

LSAT Score...finally!!!

2009-10-16T21:18:00.001-07:00

So everyone had that had taken the lsat test said that when the score gets released a very to the point email is sent and you would just know how you did. I told Stephanie that my email it would go to is linked to my phone so it would probably be a very random time I would find out. Well, tonite we were out to dinner with Steph's family celebrating Jeff's return from his mission to the Dominican Republic. So I went to check my phone for the Yankee's score and I noticed I had 2 emails. Didn't think much of it until I went into my email and the subject line for the first one was "LSAC SCORE". I was freakin' out, found Steph and made her sit down with me before I read the score. I opened it up and saw that I got a 154 or 60th percentile. I was expecting a 155 and missed it by 1 wrong question! haha We went to my parents' and I got on their computer to look at the reports they have and saw that I did much better than I had normally done on Reading Comprehension and Logical Reasoning but my normally strong area Logic Games failed me! If I scored in Logic Games like I had been on practice tests, I would have scored a 160 which is only 6 points higher but is the 81st percentile!!! Huge jump! Oh well, I did my best and I'm happy its done. Now time to send in all my applications and see where we will be living for at least the next 3 years!!!

Another post about Football... SO it's a big part of life for us this time of year...

2009-10-01T17:22:00.000-07:00

Monday Night Football !!!Well we had a really fun Family Home Evening this week. Israel was celebrating that he no longer has LSAT class on Monday nights so he decided we should have a Monday night Football party. We invited our families and we "cooked out" meaning we barbecued. It was fun.
I made home made potato salad, for the first time in my life. You see we have to make home made potato salad because there are a couple Ortegas that DON'T eat onions and where can you buy Potato salad without onions??? Nowhere! But it was fun to make it! Israel being the Man was in charge of the barbecuing. HE did GREAT! After all, his apron does say "Natural born griller" on it! we had Brat-worst, hot dogs and Hamburgers... YUM! Also my favorite... he BBQ ed some corn on the cob...SO YUMMY!!! (Forgive that I am so focused on what we ate... I'm pregnant.) So anyways, the food was yummy and the company was fabulous! I really enjoy our families. The game was pretty good too. Sadly it was not a game that we were extremely excited for. It was the Cowboys and Panthers at Dallas. It wasn't awful... I just wasn't too into it. Not a fan of either team in particular.

Football Season has begun...And the Ortegas are EXCITED!

2009-09-14T18:13:00.000-07:00

Yeah for FOOT- BALL season! For any of you who don't know Israel is quite the football fan. He is amazing to watch games with because he calls all of the calls on the flags before the refs say them and 99.999899% of the time he is right. Half the time I don't see the random holding way in the top of the field or the false starts. It is truly amazing. I think he may have missed his calling in life as a Pro Referee. Maybe not. I am also learning all kinds of rules I didn't know before like intentional grounding and college vs. pro football overtime rules, etc...So our house is full of the sights and sounds of football season. Gotta love it!

Be True to your School!!!!

2009-08-24T23:29:00.000-07:00

So School just started today. ASU is so neat as usual! Israel and I have a couple classes together... AWE, CUTE! I am really excited for this semester to get going and then to be over because that means I have only one more semester until Graduation!!! (for both me and Israel) Love it!

Puppies

2009-08-16T18:43:00.000-07:00

Ok so recently my puppy (Xiao Mei ,who lives at my in laws' house) had puppies. She had five. We took them out a couple weeks ago to play with them and I took pictures... Their pictures are in order... Lucy ( Sometimes called Manteca because she's the biggest girl and it means lard), Spot ( Because of her white spot We also call her Manchita, "Little Spot" in Spanish), Papi ( I thought he should have been named Yoda because he looks like Yoda), Onyx (He's black and huge!), and Rosita ( Rosie is what we call her but my sister-in -law, who named Rosie, felt that being a Chia- huahua meant you need a really Mexican name). They are all very cute and fun to play with! Israel and I however are not enjoying their potty training time! Israel and I are keeping two of them. We are keeping Lucy and Spot. Awesome! They are so cute!

All us girls made really cool bags!!!

2009-08-02T15:17:00.000-07:00

So ...My mom went to a class, with my aunt, and learned how to make bags out of "charm packs". ( Charm Packs are Pre-cut 4.5X4.5 inch squares of material you can purchase.) My mom taught my sisters, cousin and I how to make similar bags. We had a fun time making them. I made three of them. My older sister and one of my sister-in-law, live on the east coast and didn't get to make any bags with us. So we decided I would make them a bag and bring it when I went to visit them. So FUN! These bags are especially wonderful for carrying stuff to church. I really enjoyed spending time with my mom and Hilaree, Margaret, Jeani and Melodie! So fun!! And I think the bags turned out quite nice! (In Order the bags are...1.Jeani's Bag. 2.Hilaree/Margaret's bags...Made of the same material. 3.Stacey's bag. 4.Jessica's bag.W?no outside pocket. 5 My bag. I made the haandles extra long to fit my large shoulders. 6 My mom's bag. 7 Melodi's Bag.

March 19, 2010

2009-07-31T11:24:00.001-07:00

So today Stephanie and I went to the Dr. and have an ultrasound done. The baby looks healthy (and tiny!) and we could even see the heartbeat! We were very excited and this has to be one of the best days of my life! Now begins the baby naming debate.....yay!

Cabin trip Part 2: The Hospital

2009-07-31T11:17:00.000-07:00

About 6 pm on Saturday Tom began to feel agonizing pain so we decided he needed to go to the ER in Payson about 35 miles away...I was flying and it still felt like the longest drive ever! We found out that Tom had kidney stones which were causing the pain! Kristie drove up to check on Tom.

Tom finally got discharged and ended up having the pain return within 30 minutes and back to the ER once again. By the time we left it was about 1:30 am and I ended up getting back home and in bed after unloading all our stuff around 4 am....LONG DAY! Plus Tom has been stuck in bed all week in pain. Crazy stuff...

Cabin trip Part 1: The Cabin

2009-07-27T14:57:00.000-07:00

So Tom invited me to go the cabin since Stephanie is at Girl's Camp and we thought it'd be fun get out of heat for a while. Stephanie's only request was that I take lot pictures (something I'm really bad at but Tom helped me remember) so we got there Friday afternoon quickly unloaded then went cruising on rhino see couple cool spots do some geocaching.

We saw a rainbow and could even spot where the pot of gold should have been.

We forgot to take our rain suits since it was clear and we figured we wouldn't be gone long. haha bad idea! It started lightly sprinkling and we tried to race ahead of the storm but we were soaked by the time we got back!

We went back out this time remembering the rain suits and of course it didn't rain anymore but it was fun as Tom took me around to a couple different geocaches.

Tom even let me drive!!!

We went back to the cabin and had some good food from the grill. The next day Tom took me to a Forest lookout tower that is about 65 ft off the ground. The guy who mans it stays there 6 days a week 24 hrs a day during the "season" which can last almost 4 months! We got a cool tour of his 12x12 space and he pointed out stuff like 4 peaks and other mtn. ranges, lakes etc. It was an awesome view.

He also showed us what kind of stuff he catches up there...

We went and saw a couple other really cool spots...

All in all it was a great trip until about 6pm on Saturday.

To be continued...

A post, posted Twice!

2009-06-30T01:02:00.001-07:00

For all of you who don't read the Four Star Reviews blog, I want you all to know that I LOVE this movie!!!! It is fabulous... so I posted this there and here on Ortegaville. Disney/Pixar: Up... 4.5 Stars
Ok... I really don't know how high I am allowed to rate movies, but, UP was ...wait for it... A-mazing!!!! I loved it! We went to see it while we were in Baltimore. The movie exceeded my expectations. The trailer peaked my interest and ofcourse we all expect great things from Disney, but I really was in the dark about the plot. I loved it! I laughed out loud while watching it and I laugh out loud just thinking of many of the parts in the film. If you haven't seen it... GO!

Back to Life, Back to reality...

2009-06-25T23:01:00.000-07:00

While being back at home is fun, it is also a little different than vacationing. Israel is studying lots for the LSAT and I am trying to focus and work! Real life is stressing me out! I have been in a bad mood constantly for the past few days and poor Israel has had to put up with me. I am really grateful for Israel for all that he does for me, for doing the dishes tonight and for being the wonderful person he is. PS. I miss his beard!

DC Area Trip Post #3...

2009-06-11T16:38:00.000-07:00

Wow this trip is fun! I'm glad it is as long as it is!! We get to do everything we want to AND just hang out with my siblings! So one really fun thing we got to do was go to Asia's Ballet performance. Stacey has a class of about 5 girls that she teaches ballet to. SO CUTE!!! We got to go. It was really good and fun! I helped Stacey make wands for each of the girls... so I felt invested in the performance and I really wanted it to go well! It did! Asia did so good. Better than the other girls. (but don't tell them I said that!) The past week has been a patriotic one! I am really grateful for the USA! Saturday we had the chance to go on a tour of the Capitol Building. It was awesome!!! Jessica and kids and Darryl and Stacey and kids and Israel and I got to go on the tour! Thanks Jessica for booking it! The Capitol building was amazing! There's so much history there! I learned lots! Our tour guide was funny and really knew her stuff! There was beautiful archi- tecture and artwork! We loved it! Sunday was fun! We made Mexican food for dinner. Darryl claims that the food out here is amazing and there are so many different ethnic restaurants to visit, but he has not yet had really good Mexican food! So he requested it! Monday and Tuesday of this week were pretty fun filled (BUSY)! Monday was long and well... long. Actually it was GREAT! I loved it! We drove with the Shepherds up to Baltimore to visit Fort McHenry. It's the fort that Flew the Star Spangled Banner (the Flag) when Francis Scott Key was in the harbor on a British boat and wrote the words to "The Star Spangled Banner". AMAZING! It was a great experi- ence! There you can visit the officer and soldier barracks and the grounds. I helped to take down the flag that they fly there during the day. It was pretty huge and the Park Ranger said that it was only large enough to cover the blue part on the Star Spangled Banner! WOW! That flag was big. I took a picture of the one we took down right before we began folding it. You can get a feel for it's size! Coolest thing.... Israel and I bought a flag and got to fly it at Fort McHenry. AWE- SOME!!! We were so excited to do that! And now we can take it home with us! Israel and the Park ranger flew it and I took pics of it! It made me really feel connected with History! I took some fun pics of Jessica's fam and a few of Darryl's fam. I just thought I'd let you all see them since we failed to get a picture of us all together!!! I wish we had! That evening for FHE we went to a Crab Shack. Darryl thinks Maryland is the only place to eat crab. He was right about that! It was a fun and new experience to rip apart and eat the crab right out of the shell! It was pretty messy but yummy! It's an experience that is worth having once... probably only once! in the future I think we will order crab cakes, They are less work! But it was fun to go to Annapolis and eat crab! We took a few pics by the water there. Tuesday Darryl Stacey, Asia, Callie, Israel and I all went to the most visited place in Washing- ton D.C., Arlington Cemetery. It was a really neat experi- ence. It is a Memorial to ALL Men and Women who have died defending the United States of America. When I was walking around I felt extreme reverence and gratitude for all who have fought for this country. It really is a sacred place! We got to see the changing of the guards at the tomb of the unknown soldier and we walked through looking at the rows and rows of head stones marking the graves of noble men.WOW! If you are ever feeling unpatriotic, Go. Wednesday January and I made Thank you cards! YEAH!!! It was fun to do together and now they have fun thank you cards whenever they need them! January made three and I made two. We got to use fun scissors that are shaped like animals! It has been a really good week! I love visiting my family!!! I'm glad we are vacation- ing here!

Trip Post #2

2009-06-05T21:52:00.000-07:00

OK... SO Wed. was really fun!

All of us "Wade's" out here in the DC area went to the National Aquarium in Baltimore. It was really cool! Right when we got there we got to see the Dolfin show. That was so neat! I just kept thinking that being a Dolphin Trainer has to be one of the coolest jobs in the world! The Dolphins are huge and they move so gracefully! It really was amazing! There were a few scary sea animals there too! There was a set of teeth I definitely was happy were no longer in the ocean, Both Israel and I fit inside them! The Submarine had big teeth, and a set of teeth on the Saw fish in the picture behind Israel and Jonas that I'm glad is in the tank behind thick glass! SCARY! It was really fun being there with everyone! The kids were really having a good time with all the neat animals that you can see there! If you are ever in Baltimore, I definitely recommend going to the National Aquarium!!!! The Old man that took our group picture was great! He could totally go pro as a photographer!
We have been having loads of fun!
Today we went to the National Museum of American History. One of my Faves!!! We got to see all of the many Inauguration Dresses of the first ladies, Kermit the Frog Oscar the Grouch... We took a picture with Oscar and of course we had to all have angry faces so that he would feel comfortable in a picture with us! We also saw a special exhibit on President Abraham Lincoln. It was really neat! We took a picture with his top hat. While at this Museum we also saw The Star Spangled Banner. It was truly ... Awe inspiring!!! I loved it! I just felt SO extremely blessed that I am an American and that this is a free country because of the people who fought in the Revolu -tionary and every subsequent war. I am really Greatful for the Freedoms we experience! I am glad to be an American! We hung at Jessica's house one night and we had so much fun playing a game named "Qwirkle". It's really GREAT! It's fun because it really makes you think and you can play it with kids and you and them all have fun! We played and loved that! We had a yummy dinner Chicken Catsu. Yum! We have really eaten good since we have been here! We had Panzarati one night. Stacey made it. YUMMY!
PS. While driving in DC I saw two busses that said Wade Tours and I really wanted to Take a picture! Maybe we as an extended Wade family should go on one of those tours sometime! LOL!

DC Area Trip Post #1...

2009-06-02T07:24:00.000-07:00

Ok these are fun Pictures...
Callie has cool sunglasses that open and close! I love them!!! OK. So Israel and I are spending a couple weeks visiting my family in the DC area. We flew in Sunday and drove to my brother, Darryl's house where we are staying for a few nights. YEAH! we got here. We ate a yummy dinner and planned a bit, played a game or two, talked to Darryl and Stacey until like midnight, which is only 9pm for us, and went to bed. Day one, Monday was pretty laid back. I woke up early and went to the park to play with the girls. So fun!! We spent the rest of the day hangin' out, playing lots of games with Asia and Callie, My nieces. Asia LOVES playing Checkers!!! She really understands the rules and likes to tell her opponant ALL of their options and the consequences of those moves. She played a game with Israel the first night and beat him and on Monday I played her at least four games and Israel played her twice. The games all end the same way... Each player ends up with two or three pieces left on the board and Asia plays it safe running away from any possible contact with the opponant and ending up in the corners where one must seek her out and figure out ways to let her jump you and win the game. Otherwise the game could go on forever!!! I tried in one of our games to chase her and we ended up moving the same two pieces back and forth to the same spots. I couldn't handle it anymore. I lost to Asia by a double jump.
Here's a picture of Asia woopin' Israel at yet another game of checkers. The girls loved when Israel read them that book, Socks on Fox. Wow... tongue twister! The next picture is of the girls eating the popsicles that Stacey bribed Callie with so she would stay and play with us, while she went to pick up Darryl.
We also played connect four. Israel and Callie against me and Asia. Callie was good! I don't think she fully under- stood the game, but she managed to put her pieces in and get four in a row multiple times without Asia or I knowing it! Israel and Callie won three times and Asia decided it was time for a new game, but "Asia was going to be on Israel's team and Steph was going to be on Callie's team." I guess she wanted to win and Israel was the best partner! Later we ate a yummy dinner! I made a salas and D&S went and picked up some Yummy shrimp. It was good. We also visited a Harley Shop and Darryl and Israel watched Terminator 3. It was a fun and pretty laid back day! I get a bit picture happy sometimes!... Especially when I have such cute subjects to practice on! Connect four ROCKS!!!

WHAT??!?!?!?!?!!???!

2009-05-20T23:09:00.000-07:00

WOW... I'm astonished that Kris Allen won over Adam "amazing vocals" Lambert!!! I have little to say on the matter except that I am in Awe!..... Uh... WOW!

WE LOVE RACQUETBALL!!!!

2009-05-17T23:02:00.000-07:00

This first picture is of Israel and I in September of 2006 at fitch park playing racquetball. Israel and I have been playing racquetball for a long time! We love it! We have a really good time playing! I usually get really mad because Israel is so good that he doesn't play at his best and still beats me every time! Recently we have played doubles with Scott and Becky. It's been really fun! Whatever team Israel is on no matter the combination That team wins. He is just so good! Last time we played Becky brought head bands for all of us so that we would look like professionals! I loved them so much I had to get pictures! ( I thought it was funny that the first picture (below) is in almost the exact same spot as Israel and my picture (above) from 2006!)

Kids these days.

2009-05-15T22:50:00.000-07:00

So ...Israel, My two younger sisters and I are all pretty obsessed with American Idol! We have been watching it and loving it! Until last night! ...OK, so there are a ton of 13 and 14 year old girls that have little ability to judge musical ability but sure can fall in love with people they don't know pretty fast! So because of these little "groupies" I found myself and my family voting. We don't vote usually on contestants but, We have been rooting for Danny Gokey this season! Since the beginning we decided he was "IN IT TO WIN IT!" Well... saddly America is being overrun with youngsters with cell phones! They voted and Chris (Who lacks some singing ability and seriously needs to stop moving his mouth to the side!!! UGH!) and Adam (love him sometimes, like the Smokey Robinson week, and hate him sometimes, Ring of fire!!!) are the two finalists. Well I want to let everyone know that I think Danny should have been in the top two! We spent quite sometime making our votes count!!! Between the four of us we put in approximately 325 votes. Israel and I both 100 votes and Hilaree and Margaret the rest. ALL for Danny Gokey. He is better than Chris. That's all I can say about it!

Israel is gettin' SKINNY!

2009-05-12T18:56:00.000-07:00

So when Israel and I started dating he was about 40 lbs heavier than he is now. At his largest weight he was about 290lbs. Now he weighs around 225. That's awesome! Of what he lost... I think I found half of it. I just think it's cool and pretty crazy that he is so much thinner! We reallized this yesterday when we were cleaning out his drawers for DI stuff. Ya I made him take pics! It is really amazing to look at old clothes and pictures!

Summer is here!!!!

2009-05-12T14:36:00.001-07:00

YEAH! Summer time is here and we can swim! Gotta love Arizona! (My sisters and I were comparing tans... I lost!)

Hair cuts and THE BEARD IS GONE... But hopefully not forever.

2009-05-05T17:36:00.000-07:00

So Israel as many of you know, has been growing out his hair and beard for the past year. It is pretty awesome as you can see in the 1st picture we have here! Notice his Beautiful wavy blown locks and the fierceness of his manly beard! I love it! ... Funny Story, so the other day I was sitting in one of my classes at ASU and a kid that I have been sitting next to saw the Arizona Traffic School shirt that I was wearing and asked if I knew Hugo(Israel) I said yes and he said that he recently got a ticket and Israel was his teacher and The kid thought Israel was a great and hilarious teacher. Then he said. "YA Hugo was cool, and he had the most awesome beard! It was a huge EPIC beard!" I agreed, it was an epic beard!

Well... Israel recently trimmed his beard. It was a great look I thought. He thought it was not drastic enough and also that the chorine from all the swimming we plan on doing this summer would make his hair feel stiff and yucky. ... SO... He decided to cut off those lovely locks. We scheduled and then nervously awaited the day. It finally came and the executioner was my cousin Kathryn. (She is known to be one of the better designer of men's hair!) This was a big thing for Israel! When he was one he got his first hair cut by a man named Gino. Gino was cutting his hair all the way up to the last hair cut he had before growing out his beard. Gino has since stopped cutting hair. Oh no! what are we to do??? So I saved the situation of not knowing whom to trust by telling Israel that Kathryn is GOOD!

... Israel Trusted me and we are very happy that he did because Kathryn did a really good job! Thanks Kathryn! I think Israel looks cute! I loved the beard and the long hair, but I love this too! Israel looks really young and baby face! I don't think he has the same ability to instantly intimmidate people with just the way he looks. I love Israel and I think he looks HOT!

OK... So two other crazy things happened the same week. #1. Michael got a hair cut too! It looks good. He had Jeani do it! Cool lookin' hair cut! This picture is in the middle of the hair cut. And the second thing is I left a celery in my frige a bit too long and it became really limp. Weird. It still taste fine! :)
The Celery actually has nothing to do with hair! I just thought it was funny!

New Blog

2009-04-29T16:05:00.000-07:00

Check out my new blog at:

http://israelknowsmovies.blogspot.com/

An Addition to "YUMMY FOOD" the blog.

2009-04-29T13:43:00.000-07:00

SO this morning when Israel got up I was making breakfast. It was a real breakfast with pancakes, eggs, hash browns, bacon and fruit. When Israel walked in I told him we were celebrating and I asked him if he remembered what today is?. He thought about it for a bit and asked if it was "this" or "that". I responded "No... today is the 29th of April, you don't remember???" He didn't. Finally I told him it really wasn't anything. I just love him and wanted to make him breakfast! I thought it was funny! So I took a picture of it. I think It may become a tradition to celebrate this way every April 29th. :)

YUMMY FOOD.

2009-04-26T15:30:00.000-07:00

So I am really enjoying cooking... I kind of always have!... But I took pictures of some of the random dishes I've made this last week...We begin with Shish-kabobs... I couldn't really think what to make a few nights ago...I wanted something not boring. I got chicken and Shrimp and made up my own marinade and cut up veggies... They were DELISH!

So This one I made a salad with apples and pecans and then I toped it with chicken that I cooked with onions and pecans and cheeses and I topped it off with a vinaigrette that I concocted. It was really good!! Please excuze the dirty fork I just used it to dish the chicken stuff. :)

I love making home made pizza! It's healthy and you can top them with anything!!! SO YUMMY!

This is just an ordinary tuna-fish sandwich. I love tuna!

OK... Now the next three are just cupcakes. But they were cute cup cakes I made last week for Israel's Birthday. I made 40 cupcakes...He took them to one of his ASU classes...Cute! There were 2 kinds, German chocolate and Yellow cake with vanilla frosting and sprinkles!YEAH! Happy Birthday. He's getting up there in age...climbin' that hill!

HAPPY EASTER!!!

2009-04-12T15:36:00.000-07:00

This is how I feel about Easter this year! Israel and I are just enjoying hangin' around! With our Peeps! I love Easter!I am so glad that the Savior died so that we can all be resurrected and happy! (PS. My PEEPS is the title of our friend's and Family blogs... So I thought this Comic was especially fitting for us!!!) Happy Easter!

Some pictures I took Lately...

2009-04-11T10:49:00.000-07:00

Ok... So I am really liking Photography lately!!! I like everything about it! I like people and trying to figure out ways to keep getting genuine smiles. I love the challenge of being artistic... It doesn't come really natural for me to set up shots. I enjoy the editing of the pics after taking them! I just love it! We haven't had tons of weddings lately, but the ones we have had have been good! I have enjoyed Photography as a job! I have a great boss and Job! I have got to take some pics of people I know lately... I thought I'd put a couple of them up for you all to see. Here they are... A couple Senior pics of a great girl and a couple engagement shots of people almost related to me. Fun stuff!

EASTER PAGEANT IS HERE!

2009-04-01T10:19:00.001-07:00

Israel is a shepherd in the Mesa Easter pageant this year. He has been going to practice for a couple weeks and now its time to go see him in the easter pageant! It's a really neat portrayal of Christ's life from the Bible. There are pretty songs and a few parables in the play. It's the largest outdoor Easter Pageant in the World!!! I want to invite ALL of you to come. It's free admission and there are two Spanish Performances April 3-4 @ 8:00pm. And there are lots of English Performances April1-2 and 7-11 @ 8:00pm. All preformances are at the Mesa Temple grounds, 525 East Main Street, Mesa, AZ. I hope you all can come! Here's a picture to get you excited...

Sidebar to WBC Final

2009-03-23T23:59:00.001-07:00

So this is the chant the Korean fans were doing for the entire 4 hours!!! I actually thought it was pretty cool and I liked how they could sync it up and get everyone in the stadium doing it at the same time. It was so loud!!!

They are saying "Daehan Minguk" which is Korean for Republic of Korea, the country's official name...in case you were wondering!

Save the best for last!

2009-03-23T23:59:00.000-07:00

WBC Final Japan vs. Korea

This game was amazing! There were a few different plot lines to address so I''ll do my best.

1st: Yesterday I was talking to this guy who said at a game he came to last year he sat in the All-You-Can-Eat Section and ate 12 hot dogs. I decided when we got to the park that I was going to break his record and go for 13! We got to the park about an hour before the game started so I figured I should eat 5 before the game then I'd only need to eat about 3 per hour to keep on pace for the record.

Here's #1 all smiles

#2 this is gonna be easy!

#3 they still taste good, Kobayashi watch out I'm coming for your record next!!!

#4 I CAN DO THIS!!!

...........still #4 I seem to have hit a wall. All records are safe today...

Ok so the 2nd thing that happened today:

I am sitting minding my own business, waiting for the game to start when all of a sudden something hits me on the bill of my cap. I take it off to inspect and find that a bird has pooped on me!!! Have you ever known someone that this has actually happened to? I haven't (besides myself now) but I do hear that it is good luck...

I made Isaac take a picture before I washed it off

Ok so 3rd on to the game itself:

It was such a good game! It was tightly contested and going into the bottom of the ninth, Japan was up 3-2 but of course Korea mustered enough to tie the game! Extra innings, nail biting, and jabbing back and forth with the Korea fans who outnumber Japan fans at least 7-1. SO, top of the tenth, runners on 2nd and 3rd, 2 out and up to the plate walks Ichiro! But to add more suspense, he has had a terrible Classic to this point only batting .211, however he comes through big with a single scoring both runs and Japan takes the lead 5-3 and finishes off Korea in the bottom of the 10th to send all Japan fans home happy!

Japan celebrates as the dejected Korea fans look for answers...

4th David Ortiz was at the game!!!!

Ok so it wasn't really Big Papi but it reminded me of the commercial where the guy puts on the Red Soxs hat and all the Japanese people think he's Ortiz until his hat gets knocked off 'cause the hat is so authentic. You'd laugh if you knew what I was talking about!

5th and finally, Isaac and I were sitting in like the only Japan fans section and using ThunderStix I lead many cheers to counterbalance the overwhelming Korean presence!

Some friends we made:

I think Eric Neel summed the game up best..."A great night of baseball, a great night for baseball."

What an awesome trip!!!

Oh yeah, this is what we got to drive out of!

WBC Part II: USA falls to Japan

2009-03-22T22:26:00.001-07:00

To say that I was a little conflicted would be an understatement. I rooted for Japan back in the '06 Classic but I have been pretty solidly behind USA for this one. When we got to the game I couldn't decide how to go dressed!

I ended up going in decked out in my Japan gear wearing my USA jersey underneath closest to my heart...

Isaac and I got a lot of weird looks walking together since he was in all USA! For some reason no one gave me a hard time though...maybe the beard?

So back to the All-You-Can-Eat section...had to come up with something new. Since having been there yesterday, I perfected part of my craft. I realized that I ate way too much bread with the hot dogs yesterday so today I made the 4 in 1. See below:

Since Japan was trouncing USA I started feeling guilty and decided to show my true loyalty (with my Japan hat still on)!!!

All in all I think everyone had a good time! Ok maybe just the Japanese people behind Isaac haha!

Stay tuned for the last installment of our WBC Trip tomorrow: Part III

WBC Trip Part I: Korea vs Venezuela

2009-03-21T23:23:00.000-07:00

For Christmas this past year I bought Isaac and I (selfish I know) tickets to see the 2 semifinal and final games of the World Baseball Classic. Today was the first game and there were some really cool things about the game. I was rooting for Korea which made the experience even better! Korea was up 5-0 after the first inning,

and ended up easily beating Venezuela 10-2.

Even with the lopsided victory I came up with a list of the top 5 reasons I still had a blast:

#5 We got to participate in timeless traditions like leaving peanut shells and such on the floor (we actually cleaned up after ourselves it was just a bit!)...

#4 We got to see the same giant flag of Korea held up by people all over the stadium.

#3 Isaac did some of his famous impersonations...can you guess who he's doing? It is actually very accurate!

#2 There was ALL-You-Can-Eat Food in the section we were in, including (hot dogs, nachos, peanuts, popcorn, bottled water, and fountain drinks!!!

and the #1 reason I had a blast.......drum roll please..........

I got to hang out with my bro!

Tell me which was your favorite reason!!!

Stay tuned for part II and III...

Japan warms up against the Cubs

2009-03-15T15:14:00.000-07:00

So my mom told me and Isaac that the Japan National Team was going to be playing the Cubs at Spring Training and I started laughing that I had to correct her because I told her they were in the middle of the World Baseball Classic and would not be in lowly Arizona to play the Cubs at Spring Training. After I decided to humor her and check the website she saw this info. on, I was excited to see she was actually right! Isaac bought us some great seats behind home plate and he and I got to go watch the game. It was a great time and a bunch of big name players played for both teams. Japan won (who we wanted to win) and we really enjoyed ourselves.

Snow, snow, Snow, Snow...snow.

2009-02-28T09:59:00.000-08:00

It won't be long before we'll all be there with snow... Isaac, Israel and I had a very fun time yesterday. We took a little trip to Flagstaff, AZ. We went to Snow-bowl. It was really fun! It didn't start off too fun! Let me just start by telling you that It's been 2 years since I last went snow boarding (for the first and only time). So yesterday was time number 2. It was also time number 2 for Israel. We decided it would be a good thing to try the little bunny hill as a warm up. ....that was a bad idea. The little bunny hill was so icy, so holy, so dirty and so small of an incline... It was awful! We were sliding around uncontrollably! I realized during this run that a helmet made me feel claustrophobic!!! OK... On to bigger hills... We then went up the lift... When trying to get off I slipped and so then pushed into him and he was forced back into his seat. I fell down on the snow and he went a few feet and then fell off the seat onto his head and the guy controlling the lift had to stop the lift for a moment to get us up and out of the way! It was pretty awful!!! Israel had to take 3 tylenol so he could continue snow boarding! I don't think that Israel will ever be willing to go up the lift with me EVER again!!! So the first hour and a half was pretty H@#*-ish!!! The rest of the time was better! The larger hill was much more enjoyable! We weren't great @ snow boarding, but we did have fun! We would both go a ways and fall and watch each other go a ways and fall! We were doing pretty good! I think the next time we go (hopefully next week) we will be way better! I'm excited to get real good! I love it!

I think Spring is DIVINE!!!

2009-02-07T13:54:00.000-08:00

I love all the seasons! however today I especially love spring! I love the weather here in AZ! It's in the low 70s and there's a slight chance of rain! I love it! Another thing I love is these trees that are all over town! They are so beautiful! I was at Basha's and there were a few of these trees in the parking lot... They are just so pretty I had to take a few pictures of them! I love them!

Super Bowl

2009-02-04T17:55:00.000-08:00

I have always enjoyed at the end of a game where the camera inevitably goes to shots of the losing team. They look so demoralized and beaten down. There was a great picture of Kurt Warner on the front page of the AZ Republic looking all sad. It just makes me laugh. I will say this has been one of the best if not the best Super Bowl ever...and the Cardinals were in it!!! I have to give some dap to the Cards even if I'm not a fan. Near the end of the game I was almost rooting for them and getting mad when they were making dumb mistakes. Win or lose, they were in it, and that is something 30 other teams can't say.

Simba!!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-01-23T08:27:00.000-08:00

Stephanie and I went to see the Lion King last night and it was awesome! I was impressed by the creativity of the costumes and the sets. It was so cool and we were in the 10th row right in the center. Awesome...

Christmas Break... a bit late.

2009-01-18T15:15:00.000-08:00

I have had a really fun time over this break, which sadly ends tomorrow. On the Wade side...I loved having all of my family together here in AZ ( Except Jeff. He's still on his mission, but we did get to talk to him on Christmas and he is doing great!) !! We had tons of fun! We went on a hay ride caroling all around the neighborhood, we opened presents together, Michael and Jeani got married, and so much more! We had a really fun family date night and we went to dinner and then played games on the Wii and some board games! It was really cool to be all together and Woop each other in boxing and Tennis! On the Ortega side...We had a really fun time playing games on New Years eve and going to the movies on Christmas! Hugo and Adriana gave us a really fun gift! It was a surprise gift. They gave us all nerf guns. They were pretty sneaky and had wrapped their guns already loaded so while we were struggling to open ours and load them we were being ambushed! BUT Adriana and Hugo got it once we had our guns out! It was really fun! I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful family!!! I love that we can all enjoy each other's company!

Nieces and Nephews are CUTE!

2008-12-30T15:36:00.001-08:00

I have the cutest kids related to me!!! Here's a few pics of them for all of you! We all went to the park and played. It was loads of fun!!!

Male Bonding

2008-12-27T19:20:00.000-08:00

Christmas was very fun this year. Stephanie and I got to spend time with both of our families and it has been very cool having her family in town and Jessica and her fam staying with us. My dad was very nice and bought me a .38 for my Christmas present this year. I was extremely excited to say the least. We decided it would be fun to go out and try it out and do some target shooting. Me, Isaac, my dad, Isaias, our friend Sunny all went out Friday morning and we met my Uncle Mario and Paul Peralta at Sycamore Creek. We took some pistols, rifles, and a shotgun. Sunny had never been shooting before and had a blast. I loved shooting the .38 and enjoyed the time to do a little male-bonding! I'm excited to take Stephanie out next time and be wowed with her shooting prowess! Here are a few pics from the day..

Where did it go???

2008-12-27T10:23:00.000-08:00

So I was about to write a fun blog about some of the festivities we have been having in celebration of Christmas... So I got on to my G-mail and pulled up a picture I was planning on looking at. I accidently pushed a button and the e-mail disappeared. I can't find it anywhere!!! Not archived, put in spam or in the trash. AAARGH! I don't know where it is! So to come on this blog are a couple really cool things once I find the e-mail that vanished!

5 Fun Things That Happened In October and November.

2008-12-06T18:29:00.000-08:00

#1. Israel and I decorated a really cool Halloween house. We started mixing the frosting... I put too much water in it so it was a bit runny. But I guess it still turned out well. I did the frosting and Israel put the candies on.

#2. I was making strawberry pancakes for breakfast the other day. I like to put the cooked pancakes into a tupperware so I can keep them covered and really warm... I like the butter to melt when I put it on... So I was doing that just like I always do. I guess I accidently turned on one of the burners that I wasn't using, and that's where I set the tupperware. I kept placing pancakes in it and wondering what the burning smell was... Melting plastic.

#3. One of my co-workers, Amanda, left her daughters underwear in my car. I guess good prepared mothers carry extra underwear and other things with them just in case. I've also on another occasion seen Amanda pull a spatula out of her purse @ work.

#4. I went to the cannery. Israel and I have been working on our year supply. He went last month and I went this month. It feels good to be prepared!

#5. Brittany, Hilaree and I ran/walked the Turkey Trot. I am way out of shape... but I decided that I just needed to do it! So we went and did really bad at it. But we finished! Brittany is tough and could have gotten a real good time, but being the good friend she is she hung with Hilaree and I. It was fun. My foot still hurts a week later!

Blame the beard!!!

2008-12-02T10:35:00.001-08:00

So I made the Easter Pageant and I am very excited! I will be a Shepherd, in the Multitude, and in the Mob (must be the beard right!?!). It is a HUGE time commitment with the 18 credits I will be taking and working 4 jobs, so I am thanking my wonderful, understanding wife ahead of time for her patience with me during this process. So even though it is a bit early I'd love you all to come see the Easter Pageant in the Spring! Details to follow.

My family is really cool!

2008-11-29T21:22:00.000-08:00

So we had a fun time doing the puppet show this year!!! The first show was a bit shaky with all of technical difficulties! the second show on the other hand was practically perfect!!! I loved it. My cousins and extended family are so fun!!! I love them!

Everyone Should Come to Our Puppet Show.

2008-11-23T18:47:00.000-08:00

Every year my extended family does a community puppet show. Every one is invited!!! Here's a copy of the flyer. It's the Saturday right after Thanksgiving! It's a great way to kick off the Christmas season! Tell your friends about it too if you want. It's especially fun for younger kids. hope I see you there!

Way EXciting News!!!

2008-11-15T08:00:00.000-08:00

My Brother got ENGAGED!!! Ya I really was excited when he got engaged... Then he decided to move the day up to Dec.30. Wow that's soon! He's marrying a real neat girl. Here's some pics of them. I think they look well together!

My sisters are a bit crazy!

2008-11-15T07:43:00.000-08:00

I love my sisters! Too bad only two of them live here! anyway... I took some pics of my two little sisters a couple days ago. (I'm trying to practice and get better at Photography) It was fun. They crack me up. I thought I'd just stick a couple of them up for ya'all to see.

Aren't they hot!

That Family is HUGE!

2008-11-10T20:08:00.000-08:00

So the Curtis Family has a billion people in it. I had the privilege of taking their pictures today. It was really fun to take my cousin's pics!

They were sassy! Look at these hot girls!

I also shot a couple of Ammon and Nikaela's fam. So cute.

Who really is intolerant?

2008-11-09T16:59:00.000-08:00

I find it funny that people who were so against Prop 102 here in AZ

or Prop 8 in CA have been so angry at those

of us who have a different opinion. I especially

think it is interesting to say that one is intolerant

of intolerance,

when the truth is they are intolerant of anyone

who has a different opinion than their own. I saw

this news article

not written by an LDS bishop, but a Catholic

bishop and liked what he said.

SACRAMENTO 7 November 2008 (This news release was issued by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento) The following statement was released today by Bishop William Weigand, head of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento and former Bishop of Salt Lake City, in response to attacks on (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) for supporting California’s Proposition 8, defending the traditional definition of marriage:

“Catholics stand in solidarity with our Mormon brothers and sisters in support of traditional marriage — the union of one man and one woman — that has been the major building block of Western Civilization for millennia.

“The ProtectMarriage coalition, which led the successful campaign to pass Proposition 8, was an historic alliance of people from every faith and ethnicity. LDS were included — but so were Catholics and Jews, Evangelicals and Orthodox, African-Americans and Latinos, Asians and Anglos.

“Bigoted attacks on Mormons for the part they played in our coalition are shameful and ignore the reality that Mormon voters were only a small part of the groundswell that supported Proposition 8.

“As the former bishop of the Diocese of Salt Lake City, I can attest to the fact that followers of the Mormon faith are a good and generous people with a long history of commitment to family and giving to community causes.

“I personally decry the bigotry recently exhibited towards the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — coming from the opponents of Proposition 8, who ironically, have called those of us supporting traditional marriage intolerant.

“I call upon the supporters of same-sex marriage to live by their own words — and to refrain from discrimination against religion and to exercise tolerance for those who differ from them. I call upon them to accept the will of the people of California in the passage of Proposition 8.”

SOURCE: Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento

Land that I love.

2008-11-04T21:41:00.000-08:00

Obama won... he's the new President of the United States. I don't really know what to do! I guess I'll just pray for him and for the country as a whole. I am very happy though right now that the marriage amendment is going the way I want it to so far. I love that I live in a democratic country and I am grateful for the right and privilege to vote! God Bless America!

Be afraid ... be very afraid!

2008-10-30T20:53:00.000-07:00

So I think we should worry for our future and the future of our children.

So I really got a good one!!!

2008-10-28T17:07:00.000-07:00

Alright this is just a little note to let the whole world...Or maybe the nine people who read my blog... Know that I have the bestest husband!!! The other day he came home from work with flowers. For me!!! Awe! He is constantly doing really nice things for me! Sometimes he cooks dinner and breakfast. He even does dishes!!! He is the perfect husband! Oh and He's really buff and macho too! I am so happy I finally wised up and married this kid! I love you Israel!!!They are beautiful flowers!!!

Twins are twice as fun????

2008-10-27T10:49:00.000-07:00

SO I have some really cool friends that let me take pictures of them!! Becky I'm putting these pictures on my blog so you can see a couple.

You and Scott are hot together!

Those two boys are just so cute!!!

I'm pretty sure this last picture is my fave...I think it's the most real! I love that The boys are just not happy and like all little kids... They don't just smile because it's family pictures... They totally have their own agenda!

I named her Xiao Mei.

2008-10-12T23:36:00.000-07:00

Earlier this week I was at my mom's house helping her make a quilt. Israel came in and told me that his mom had come over with him and she wanted to ask me a question. I went outside and there was Adriana holding a TINY puppy. "Merry Christmas" She said as she handed me the puppy. I got a puppy. She is so cute!!! She's a Chihuahua, 8 weeks old, brown with a black stripe down her back and a black nose. Here's a picture for you!!! Oh...I named her Xiao Mei.
She is quite the handful! She really likes attention and if she doesn't get it she cries.(She has a really cute cry!) We are learning the joys of house breaking. But...She's a tough cookie. I introduced her to Charcoal... They get along well and she wasn't scared at all. The other two Chihuahuas that the Ortegas have like to pick on her and she bites at them and tries to act tough. Israel loves to rough house with her, she's feisty. I don't rough house with her much. She just follows me everywhere. She's so cute!!

It Never Rains but it Pours...

2008-09-15T23:00:00.000-07:00

Wow... This picture is how I feel. Life the past few months has been one of those times when you feel like..."Well at least nothing else can go wrong"...then you learn that it can. It has been full of not so fun experiences and loss of loved ones. I am in a "lets talk" and eat an entire gallon of ice cream kind of mood. (I don't need the ice cream... and that adds a bit to this gloom.) I have enjoyed some parts of these past few months and I am truly grateful for the many blessings that I do have. I guess there have to be times like these to help each of us to recognize and fondly appreciate those times when life is just right. I love on the movie "You've got Mail" when she just sends thoughts out "into the void". I guess in a way I feel like my blog is my "void". I know some people may read it and that gives me the feeling that some may understand and feel similarly, but I don't actually have to verbalize any of my feelings to any certain person. I am not going to go into detail, BUT... life stinks right now, that's OK. I know it will get better and I will feel better and I can still be happy about the things in my life that I love. I love Israel, Family, the Gospel, My job (even though I am not doing so great at it lately!), friends, cute shoes and good food.

Celebrate Good Times C'mon!

2008-09-05T15:53:00.001-07:00

A post just to let you all know... I have the best husband EVER!

2008-09-02T10:46:00.000-07:00

My husband is the most amazing person! Yesterday we celebrated our first anniversary. It was so wonderful... I will post a few pictures and stuff about our trip for your reading and viewing enjoyment Later. Right now I just want you all to know that my husband is the BEST man I know! He is sweet and caring and manly! We reminisced a bit yesterday about our Dating and engagement and the past year of marriage. I was a BEAST while dating! He survived my repeated refusals and break-ups and crazy Ideas. Ever kind and good to me! Since getting married I have been tamed and am no longer Beastly... and still he's great! He is my favorite person! I love him!

2008-08-10T18:13:00.000-07:00

YO! So I spend a lot of time on my computer editing pictures for work and designing and creating Albums. I've had multiple people wonder what i'm doing or wanting to see what these albums are like. I have decided to let you all see a few of the pages that I have designed. Here they are...

My Guilty Pleasure!

2008-08-06T21:09:00.000-07:00

Yo... So life is going really good! Israel and I Have finished registering for classes at ASU for next semester. We may take ten years to do it, but, we will finish our Bachelors degrees. Israel plans on going to Law school after that andI fully support him! The world needs good people to be lawyers. We also are having lots of fun with our new workouts that we do. We have seldom missed a day since we started this new program. I'm Lovin it! Lately I have been feeling guilty because of my true liking of some TV shows... My whole life I grew up with the ideas in my head that TV is a big waist of time... I still somewhat agree and so I try not to waste too much time infront of the "boob-tube". I will however admit that there are a few shows I can't stand missing... They are in no certain order...

What not to Wear (Stacy and Clinton are just Fabulouse!),

Divine Design A great show on HGTV I feel like I learn great design ideas every time I watch it!(Oh to have Candice Olsen's Design talent! "How Divine!!!"),
Chuck is a great show about a computer nerd that just unfortunately was roommates, in college, with someone in the CIA... Chuck hasn't been on for like half a year but is soon beginning a new season, I'm hoping it will be as good as the first season... And last but not least... a show that my own siblings got me hooked on...it's on every Thursday night... Burn Notice. Love this show!

But aside from these great shows I still think that TV can waist time and rob us from making great memories, and from accomplishing great things in our life! I feel a bit guilty about enjoying TV... but I do. I do admit that TV once in awhile is a good way to relax and not have to do anything. Anyways... random, but this is something I think about a bunch and I want to keep myself far from being the average American and having the Average American's TV habits!
P.S...If you do need a good show... I highly recommend Burn Notice!

A few pics I did lately...

2008-07-25T10:50:00.000-07:00

This is a friend of mine whom I had the privilege of shooting her wedding... these are a couple pics I liked.

Family Pics

2008-07-03T14:37:00.000-07:00

OK... Well Israel and i have been having lots of fun these last few weeks. We have had lots of house guests. My brother and his family and my sister and her family have been here in town from Utah and Virginia. So we've been hangin' out with them a bunch. They were nice enough to be my guinea pigs and let me take some pics of them... here are a few of the pics...
This is my sister Jessica and her family...

This is my brother Darryl and his fam...

Trying to copy...

2008-07-02T23:32:00.000-07:00

OK... So I saw a picture that I thought was pretty fun (above)... a couple days later I was hangin' with my neice and I tried to do the same shot... I thought it was funny... The original photo (by Kathleen Conolly?) was taken with a 50mm lens and I used a 24mm lens... didn't have a 50. So it's pretty different in color and feeling... and children's heads are much larger in comparrison to their bodies than youth or adults...Anyway... I just thought I'd share it.

Cool play...

2008-04-09T21:54:00.000-07:00

these kids are awesome!!! They are in a cool play "back to the eighties".

You and I know and love david bowie.

Gotta love zz top!

So I was way excited to get the opportunity to do some volunteering for Gilbert Fine Arts. I painted some of the set and choreographed a couple dances. I took the cast photos too. Israel and I have been helping with tickets and it's just been really fun! It's a really great play! I laughed my head off when we saw it the first time! I just thought I would let you all see some of the fun!

Ratatouille

2008-03-02T23:50:00.000-08:00

First I would like to give a big thanks to Stacey for being such a diligent blogger...I am an avid reader! So, during one of my readings of a recent blog by Stacey, I came across her Primary Missionary Activity blog and it was awesome. On top of its awesomeness of its own accord, I had a "Ratatouille" type moment. The part in the movie where the food critic tastes the ratatouille and a flood of memories take him back to his childhood the same thing happened to me. I was hit with a deep memory that I had completely forgotten but was very special to me. I was young and we had a primary missionary activity day and I remembered it more vividly than I have remembered anything else from that long ago. I remember the church building, the different activities, and especially the plane ride! It took me back to a time of carefree fun, a sense of warmth and security that my childhood provided. It was a beautiful time of innocence and happiness in my life and to be able to have a memory remind me of that was like going home. Thanks Stacey.

Fluffy,

2008-02-01T20:59:00.000-08:00

I took a picture of the neighbor's dog... He was So So fluffy! He was an extremely thin dog and he had way fluffy fur! He was very cute!

Really Cute Kids

2008-01-26T12:29:00.000-08:00

Well... Life here has been a bit crazy. Israel's uncle Oscar passed away this week. There has been so much family over. To eat and to hang out. Israel and I, But mostly Israel got to make a video of Oscar's pictures to show. It was good. We ate so much good Mexican food! And Funeral Potatoes.
The funnest part of the dinners for me was to get to see the kids playing around with each other! Little children are so cute! The three to the right were digging with their feet at the cemetary during the services.
The young man to the left was trying to see what was up his nose with this helpful flashlight. This cutie below was dancing away to the Mariachi Music. She was clapping and stomping. She definitely had the best moves of everyone there!

These two little girls, @ the bottom right, Gloria and Gabby kept running around and following me asking me to take their pictures. I would say OK and so they would pose for me. They did this repeatedly posing and then running up to me wanting to see themselves. They are SO adorable! Here to the right is one of their many poses! The little boy, @ the very bottom, kept trying to strap the mask to the top or the back of his head! I loved it. He was so happy to be in front of the camera too.

I loved that I had the chance to meet Israel's family! They are good people and there was really good food and I got to take some pictures of some really cute kids! I thought I'd share these cute kids with you all. They make me smile.

Our first Bowl game...

2008-01-06T13:44:00.000-08:00

Last week we got to do a really fun thing! On the last day of 2007 we got to go to the Insight Bowl at ASU. Israel, Isaac, Melodie and I went and enjoyed it! We had never been to a "Bowl Game" before. We had no particular knowledge of, or loyalty to either of the teams playing. It was Indiana University vs. Oklahoma State University. Luckily I had made a wise fashion choice and I wore the right colors... When we got there and saw that Oklahoma was Orange and white and we saw that that was just what I happened to be wearing. So we instantly got excited to root for Oklahoma State. That was lucky, We sat right in the heart of Oklahoma seating... It was a sea of Orange. We quickly got into the game and we learned all the special Oklahoma Cowboy's Cheers and their special "Guns" (that was their hand gesture to show they were doing really good). We also soon realized that my fashion choice must have been inspired because Oklahoma State Squashed Indiana.
(Sorry Kari!!) But it was good for us because in being avid Oklahoma fans, we were trash talking and the Cowboys were backin' us up. It was a really fun game! These pics are fun... I have to tell you that the second one is Israael and I at half time. His face is because he was really sick of the numbers of pictures I was taking and making him pose for. YEA! Go Cowboys!!!

Israel's Surgery

2007-12-29T17:32:00.000-08:00

So Israel Had Surgery This Month. He had his Knee scoped and they cleaned up a bunch of cartilage. It was really an interesting experience. We got there at noon and waited until 2 when he finally got called in. The nurse shaved his leg and I got to come hang with him for a bit. He went in and I got to wait. and wait... The doctor came to talk to me and then I got to go see Israel. First thing he did when I saw him was he motioned to me to take his picture. So I did... he doesn't remember it now...but I really like this pic. His eyes are my favorite!!He looked so cute with his little sippy cup.At one time I spoke to the nurse and when I came back to help Israel he reprimanded me and told me not to undermine his authority... It was Hilarious! He tried to get me to let him drive and he called multiple people and yelled at them... Drugs do funny things for him. He's doing much better now. His knee is healing. Hopefully he will soon be feeling good and he'll be ready for me to whoop him in racquet ball! I love him!

If you really loved me... you'd eat it.:)

2007-11-04T20:23:00.000-08:00

Israel is just the cutest thing ever and he will eat most things I cook...only because I am a pretty good cook...but there are a few things I've made that he won't eat! I tried to make that KRAFT maccaroni and cheese and I really tried to follow the instructions. Israel loves Mac and cheese...but I apparently didn't make it very well... he had a small serving and wouldn't eat seconds. He was going to go to bed hungry because it was so aweful! Another time he was eating dinner and he really wanted an egg... he's so particular abut his eggs!!! I had to throw 2 of them away. The third one I finally got right.
He ate it...but, I don't think I'll be cooking tons of eggs throughout our life!!!! It was such an experience that I even drew a picture for him about it! I love Israel even though he's very particular when it comes to eggs and maccaroni.
Your faithful writer,
Stephanie

I like to Play in Paint.

2007-10-23T18:59:00.001-07:00

I drew this all by myself! In paint.