Happy Birthday Grandpa Van!!!

What a HOT couple!
My mom and dad chillin' at the party.


Mr. Nater's having a great time
running away from the camera.

The Birthday boy!




Grandpa and his boys!





Jaecie strikes a pose for me (as usual!)





My Grandpa Norm Just turned 80!!!! I was so excited to be able to attend my Grandpa Norms 80tth birthday party this past week during our trip to Utah. Everyone was there and it was so great to say hello to all of my distant fmaily that I hardly ever see. I thought and thought about what I could get my grandpa for his big day and I decided to make him a scrap book of all the people that attended his party. So, I went around and took a bunch of pictures of all the guest during the party and then gave everyone my email address to send him a message. I think my cousin Laurie said it the best when she described my grandpa so I am going to quote her.......




"Happy 80th birthday! I was thinking of memories of you, and you know-I can’t think of a single instance of you saying something negative to me or something that would have hurt my feelings. All I think of is the way you show us all love, love, love. Everyone needs some people in their lives that they can count on to just love them, and you are one of those in mine. We hope you have a wonderful birthday and know that we all love you very much! By the way, you are the most handsome grandpa that I know of!!"

Jaecies dance recital

Jaecie in my studio with her most hated costume ever... she looks so cute!
Grandma and Grandpa Stilovich flew up for the big event!
My cute little ballerina, the kid loves to pose. I didn't even have to pose her during this shoot, I just stood there and held the camera!

Okay, so the kid is a crack up! She was so danged funny at her dance recital. Her tap dance was to pinochio ( I am sure I spelled that wrong) anyways, she HATED the idea that pinochio is a boy and she had to dress like him. There was a day or 2 there when I thought that I was going to have to call her dance teacher and tell her that we would not be there. I finally resorted to a bribe. She and her dad and Grandpa Rick got to go for a sea creature dinner after the recital if she did a good job. So, her first dance was a ballet to Cinderella, she was hillarious! At the end all of the dance other little girls walked off the stage and she just stood there with her mouth covered and giggled until the teacher finally ran out and carried her off the stage. The crowd was roaring and I was laughing so hard the tears started to come! Nathan was actually alot better throughout the whole thing then I thought he would be, he even clapped after every dance. I joked with Taylor that maybe he would want to start dance when he was old enough and I thought the man might have a heart attack... I guess no dance classes for Nathan in the near future, he'll stick to his love of Vroom vrooms (cars)!

Happy fathers day!!! (a little late!)

Happy Fathers Day Taylor! You know we love you! What a great daddy Taylor is! It was tough being away from him during all of this move but it is so great to be a family again (and not just on the weekends!) I know it was not easy for him to be away from us in New Mexico while we were in Colorado trying to sell the house but it was worth it and now we are together again! I thought I'd post the pictures we took down in my studio of me and the kids (we took these for Taylor as a part of his Fathers Day gift!) those of you who know me well know that I am a photographer and enjoy being behind the camera not in front....so seeing a picture of me on this thing may be rare.

Our visit to Austin!

Jaecie and her cousin Abby looking out over lake Travis


Jaecie and Nathan with they're cousins Abby and Hannah
Nathan actually held still for a picture!!!!

So, here we are with our first post! One thing I can promise to any of you reading this is that I will probably spell alot of things wrong and this will not be a fancy blog... but, atleast I am doing it right? Well, we just got back from our trip to Austin to visit Taylors family. I love Austin! It is such a pretty place! Unfortunatly, I was sick the majority of the time. I felt like I was on "House" The doctors finally gave up on me and sent me to the ER to get a bunch of tests done because they had no idea what we going on....after many pokes and a c-scan they finally figured out that I was allergic the to meds they were pumping in me... go figure! Well, that part was not too awsome but we did have a fun time... the kids loved Grandma and Grandpa's new pool and Taylor enjoyed going to the BMW dealership with his dad. He thought he had finally talked Rick into a new car but even he could not convince Rick quite yet... soon though (well, that's what Taylor keeps saying!)