New Photography Blog

Many of you know that I started my own photography business a while back. I'm working on reworking my website with new pictures from this past year -- it's fun to review all of the photoshoots :o)

In the meantime, I've still been shooting a lot and I wanted to share a few pictures from those shoots. Like many photographers before me, I've decided to create a blog to post a few pictures from recent shoots. Here is the link:

http://lgstudios.blogspot.com/

Enjoy!

President Elmo?

Today our church was cancelled due to the inclement weather, like many other churches in the area. Our Stake President suggested that we hold sacrament services in our homes with our families.

Rudi was cute. He repositioned our antique radio to serve as the pulpit, and used our FHE/Game Room's folding chairs as the pews. Ethan volunteered to serve as Bishop, with Rudi of course on piano, me as chorister and Ashton all over the place. We opened with a song and a prayer and then Bishop Ethan conducted the meeting. He and Rudi gave talks and Ash and I bore our testimonies of the gospel. As Ashton was bearing his testimony, I whispered what he should say. It went something like this...

Mommy whispers into his ear: "I want to bear my testimony..."

Ash: "I want to bear my testimony..."

Mommy: "I know the church is true."

Ash: "I know the church is true."

Mommy: "I know the Book of Mormon is true."

Ash: "I know the Book of Mormon is true."

Mommy: "I believe in the prophet, President Monson."

Ash: "I believe in the prophet, President MONSTER."


Anyone that knows Ashton knows he has a love of all things Elmo, but I would never pegg Elmo as a prophet of God. How funny!

Happy Valentines Day!

Happy Valentine's Day from the Garcias! We love you all!

The Mother of Invention

As a mother, there are a few devices I wish someone would invent to make my life easier...

- The Lego Vaccumm - It's a special vaccuum that only picks up Legos and would be a miracle savor when the 2-year-old dumps the whole box over right after clean-up is over. There would also be an alternative model called the Barbie Shoe Vaccuum.

- Bath Color Tablets with a Purpose - You know the tablets you can put in the bath water to tint it blue or green or whatever, I wish they had these that helped you determine if your two-year-old was about to poop in the water.

-Splash Proof Glass - Okay, so we've all heard of bullet-proof glass...why not splash proof glass for the bath tub that would prevent the kiddos from turning the bathroom floor into the 6th Great Lake. It could come up from the side of the tub with a touch of a button that would go six feet high. This is especially needful when the builder of your house puts carpet around the tub....yeah, he doesn't have kids, does he?

- Control "Z" for Moms - You know, the short cut that allows you to "undo" on your computer. I wish they had one that would work in life....like let's "control z" the fact that you just took the Sharpie and drew over the 100-year-old quilt. (Thanks Dad for leaving the Sharpie out)

- Sticky Proof Soap - If they can make tooth paste that will put a protective barrier on your teeth for 12 hours, and soap scum remover for the tub that has teflon that put a barrier against future soap scum, then why not a soap for kids that puts a protective barrier that they won't become sticky minutes after you've washed them?

- Cookie-Colored Glasses - Special glasses (similar to their Rose-colored version) that when worn by your child, would make any and all foods -- including vegetables -- look and taste like cookies. Maybe my boys would actually touch their salad!

Just some venting from a mom who picked up a large container of Legos three times yesterday. (with some kid supervision and help)

Happy 2nd Birthday Ashton

Can you believe our "baby" is 2?! I guess I should stop referring to him as "Baby." Sometimes I think he must think it's his name.

Ash's birthday always sneaks up on us and it's hard to get excited about it since Christmas has just past. We had a good time celebrating his birthday -- on his actual birthday -- with Papa and Grandma Tubbs. They came up and had homemade pizza, cake and ice cream with us. It was a fun time.





Ash gives Papa a "thank you" hug for the play dough. He loves Papa so much. He's one of Ashton's favorite people.

Okay, so I wanted to make a special cake for his birthday, but it didn't turn out exactly (or even remotely) like I pictured. I made a sugar cookie train with cookie cutters Rudi found in the after-Christmas bin at Wal-Mart and iced them with royal frosting. I used the "flooding" method and it was a bit tricky, so it didn't quite work out like a train. Oops! I didn't remember to give the cake part of it much thought, so as I decorated it, I just started adding candy. Then it came to me the song that Shirley Temple sings about "Big Rock Candy Mountian," so I told everyone the train was coming 'round Big Rock Candy Mountain, as if I planned it. I think it turned out okay, but now I know more about royal frosting....next time, royal frosting....it's a rematch... and you're going down.

The whole gang!

It's not a birthday without horns!

Blowing out the candles.

New Years Eve Day with the Garcias

We spent New Years Eve Day with Rudi's family in Topeka. We opened Christmas gifts (and birthday gifts for Ashton) and had yummy Mexican food. It was a fun day for everyone.



Cousin Amanda and Uncle Mario help Ashton find a birthday present to open.







Brothers - Jeffery, Mario and Rudi at the top. Rudi is the oldest by one year.





Uncle Jeff giving Ashton a hug. Ashton is a world-class hugger.





The boys modeling the restaurant's somberos....pss....don't tell the manager. I don't think we were really supposed to do this....oops! We had a private room, so things happen.




Grandma Juju with her favorite Christmas gift - a picture of her grandchildren that I took at a local park.





Ethan making a Star Wars Lego ship with his favorite cousin Jake. He's very nice to Ethan...and patient :o)

Christmas Cookies with the Staggs

I still have a few Christmas/New Years pictures to post, so bear with me :o)

These are some pictures from when the Staggs came over the weekend after Christmas. We always have so much fun with the Staggs and often say, "Why don't we do this more often!" I know they are bummed about not moving, but we are ESTATIC about them staying in town -- 30 minutes away from us is far enough!

I know Jenny already posted their pictures from that day -- Darn it, you beat me! -- but here are our pictures from the fun day of cookies and cards.

-Lori




Ashton rolling out flour?




Chris and Jenny :o)





Messy boys making cookies. Ethan isn't really the tallest. He's wearing "lifts." Eli isn't on a stool like everyone else.




Eli showing us his Macadamia nut cookies.




Making gingerbread hearts?!....okay, so it seems like this should be a Valentines' activity, but they are using the cookie cutters that our boys got in their cooking sets from Christmas.




"Christmas P. Stan" is always good for a funny face :o)




Rudi was the brains of the operation, helping the little hands put their oh-so-yummy cookies on the pan to bake.