Broken Chain

Daniel S. Rojas

June 2, 1962-June 30, 2008

We little knew that morning, that God was going to call your name. In life we loved you dearly, in death we do the same. It broke our hearts to lose you, you did not go alone. For part of us went with you, the day God called you home. You left us peaceful memories, your love is still our guide; and though we can not see you, you are always at our side. Our family chain is broken and nothing seems the same, but as God calls us one by one, the chain will link again.

It was a year ago today that we said good bye to our beloved Uncle. We will always love you Uncle Danny.

Lazy Days of Summer

Yesterday it was finally warm enough to put up the water slide. We set it up at my parent's house so that we could still have Sunday dinner together. We spent the entire afternoon sitting in the sun and watching the kids play. The day was so relaxing. I was so excited that we all had a day off! We didn't have to do anything or go anywhere so I took total advantage of it and threw my hair in a ponytail. I put on a tank top and didn't even wear makeup. (this is way I'm not in any of the pictures.) It was delightful, I love lazy days!

Jassy put herself in charge of the water sprayer.

John trying to talk Jassy into going down the slide.

She went down and loved it, but would only go on her belly.

John enjoying the sunshine.



Liv finally got a turn with the sprayer. She doesn't play as nice as Jassy and managed to get the younger two, right in the face more then dozen times.

Look at this hunka, hunka burnin love.

This is the last week of school. I'm not sure how I feel about that yet. I'm excited to sleep in and not be on a schedule, but I have no idea how to entertain them all day. Damon and Jas aren't that hard to entertain but Olivia is eight going on 16, so I have no idea what to do with her. I'm sure she already has the whole summer all planned out.

Bridal Shower

Today we threw my soon to be sister-in-law a Bridal Shower at my house. We had a great turn out and got to meet and spend time with her family.

Danielle with her mom Debbie, her sister Carly and her little sister Desi.


We played games.



We ate lots of great food.







She got great gifts.



The decoration turned out really cute.







The party favors were paper cones filled with Hershey's Kisses & Hugs. The sign read "Here's some Hugs & Kisses from the bride-to-be to say Thank You."



Danielle with the Maid of Honor Tiffani



Me, Danielle, and my mom



Desra, Danielle, and me



This is my favorite picture. Doesn't she look happy?



We had so much fun! It was a ton of work, but I'm glad it all worked out. Every inch of my body is aching, and my feet are killing me. But she is totally worth it, welcome to the family girlfriend!

Father's Day 2009

A Dad is a person

who is loving and kind,

And often he knows

what you have on your mind.

He's someone who listens,

suggests, and defends.

A dad can be one

of your very best friends!

He's proud of your triumphs,

but when things go wrong,

A dad can be patient

and helpful and strong

In all that you do,

a dad's love plays a part.

There's always a place for him

deep in your heart.

And each year that passes,

you're even more glad,

More grateful and proud

just to call him your dad!

Thank you, Dad...

for listening and caring,

for giving and sharing,

but especially, for just being you!

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to my wonderful Husband, my loving Dad, my precious Poppie and to my terrific Father-in-Law. I hope you all had a great day!

Adobe Photoshop Elements 7

This week I have been learning how to use the new Photo Editing Software that I bought a few weeks ago. It's called Adobe Photoshop Elements 7. I thought I would install it and it would be pretty simple. I was very wrong. First of all, the instructions just basically tell you how to install it to your computer. I had to go to the Library to do research and after going through about a dozen books (all which were for Photoshop Elements, but the older versions) I found one called "Photoshop Elements 7, The Missing Manual." This book is about 550 pages long and has different things you can do with Photoshop. I am on page 120 and have just learn how to navigate through the program and a few basic tools.


I learned how to adjust the color:





I learned how to add more contrast:




Black and White:




Sephia:




I have been using the cropping tool for some time now, but have had fun playing with the other tools like, the Teeth Whitener. It's a little complicated and I can see why people take classes to learn it. I would love to take a class, so if anyone knows of a good class please let me know.

ToothLess

Damon has been losing teeth since he started Kindergarten. It's taken awhile for his front teeth to come back in. The tooth that was coming in, looked more like a molar then a front tooth. We thought maybe both his front teeth were coming in as one tooth, but a few weeks ago I noticed another tooth coming out. John took him to the Dentist this afternoon and after a few X-Rays they realized that he has a random tooth. So after four shots they pulled this random tooth to make room for his real front teeth to come in. I wasn't able to go with them to the Dentist since I was stuck at home with a killer migraine. John said he was glad I wasn't their since it was hard to watch, but Damon was really, really brave.

Just The Norm

The kids have been really busy at school this last week. Damon's class is celebrating the last 26 days of school by having each day represented by a letter of the alphabet. For example the other day was "P" day so they got to wear their Pajamas to school. He is now off school for the next week for Kindergarten Testing. This week he started riding the bus to school again. I am so proud of him! He has even been super excited to go to school and was a little disappointed that he has the next week off. He asked me "Do I at least have homework?" I don't know what changed at school, but my life has been so much easier this week.

Olivia has had something fun to do just about everyday at school this week. She had a Field Trip to a museum Tuesday. Wednesday they got to watch a movie to celebrate their reading success. Thursday they had a Bike Rodeo. She is still trying to learn to ride her new bike so she took her scooter instead. Friday they had Field Day with a ton of fun games. She wasn't feeling well, but wouldn't have missed it for the world. After school her friend invited her to go camping with her and her family. Olivia had a blast! I think her busy week has caught up to her because it is 12 PM and she is already taking a nap.

My Mom just got back from St. George yesterday. I missed her so much and I'm glad she is finally home. My Grandpa is recovering nicely from Heart Surgery. He's been going to Physical Therapy and feels better everyday. (I told you he was strong).

My Brother's Wedding is just around the corner, so my next task is getting all the accessories and shoes for our outfits and to plan a Bridal Shower. Only 4 weeks until the Big Day!

I have been a little scatter brained this week, here's a list of things that went wrong for me:

• I lost a blank check for our checking account.
• I forgot to make a payment to our Discover Card.
• I left the windows open in the van during a rain storm.
• I dropped my expensive cell phone on the sidewalk and scuffed the "touch screen".
• I was late to every appointment this week.

I later found the "missing check" folded in my purse. I had looked there a dozen times before I actually found it. I thought I had made a payment to our Discover Card but somehow over looked it. I was furious with myself, I have never missed a payment for any of our accounts before. Not to mention, I have never paid finance charges on our Discover Card before. They waived the finance charges for me but I'm stuck with the late fee. Nothing like throwing money away. I try to be on time to everything, I'm not sure why that was such a challenge for me this week but I think it has something to do with J.A.S.M.I.N.E. She has been very demanding and loves trying my patience. Everything else on the list is normal.

Location Protraits

Here are so more pictures of Jassy for my "Location Project". Mind you none of these photos have been Photoshopped yet.

Homemade Photo Studio

Jasmine is such a good sport, she always let's me dress her up and put her in front of my camera.
This week I set up a Home Studio. I bought floodlights and extension cords from the hardware store. Backgrounds from Hobby Lobby (2 or 3 yards of material). I also went around the house to find fun costumes and props. I had a little trouble with the lighting and found it was much easier just using "Natural Light" from one of my big windows. Jassy was thrilled to put her Snow White Costume from Halloween on.


SNOW WHITE



I like this picture but think her head looks bigger then the rest of her body. I think that's called "Perspective Distortion" or something, but I still think it's cute.





BUTTERFLY PRINCESS



I love her eyelashes in the above picture. Except for her hands moving I think it's a pretty good shot.


Look at these dimples.



She was laughing because our dog kept trying to get in the picture.

This time she was laughing because Damon was dancing.

I thought I would have her not smile for the next one. Classic Jassy!

Here's one of the backgrounds that I got for $4 a yard regular $22. It's really heavy and soft. I needed a picture of a child with a pet. This was the best picture since Chloe is a little nervous when Damon tries to hold her. I took a ton of pictures of just Chloe but I find it's hard not to get the glare from her eyes, and the camera and Photoshop won't detect red-eye on a fur ball. So this might be as good as it gets.

I also needed a few head-and-shoulder shots. I think I waited to late in the day to take these pictures, because they are kind of blue and have lots of shadows.

I know I need to fix a few flaws here and there, but I haven't figured out my Adobe Photoshop yet. But aren't my kids great models? Let's give them a big round of applause.