Monday, December 24, 2007

Merry Christmas From The Easleys!

Mike, Alli, Tiff, Mackenzie, Jonah, Casey and Harper all wish you the merriest of merries by leaving you this precious moment in time when Skeletor finds his Christmas Spirit! Moving...



love you all!
Friday started off good, I got to relax a bit with Miss Tiffany and we watched movies with Harper and made a few deliveries. Then Miss Ashley and my mom and dad got here and that's when the action started. After everyone caught up on the chit chattin', we got GH3 out and the rockin began. Ashley and Kenzie played for a while, and dad started to doze off, when suddenly, he woke up saying nonsensical phrases peppered with the words "60's songs!" We assumed this meant he wanted to play, so he and mom took over the guitars and they rocked out all by themselves while Ashley and the kids and I went upstairs to lay on my new bed of wonder. (new bed, new mattresses, omg, so comfortable) When Mike got home we all went to dinner at Dad's favorite place (Coco's!!!) in Redlands and everyone ate til they were stuffaged. Ok so you guys, my parents brought down presents like you have never seen before. Can I tell you that Santa came this year in many forms already, but my parents were no exception. How thoughtful they were, and my kids were thrilled! They always manage to pull this off every year, and they have 11 grandkids to buy for! Not to mention, they have always been good at getting us kids and our spouses something nice, but this year, I think was our very best. Here are a few reasons:

  1. My mom made all the tags herself! She's become quite crafty and she and her crazy friend Leslie (who we loooooooove) make cards and tags and bags and gifts all the time, and I love each and everything they create.
  2. Wrapping paper bought from my nephew Riley. It was so cute! See?
  3. Gifts to open on Saturday AND Sunday before Christmas?!? Needless to say, on both Saturday and Sunday, Mike and I were awakened by the kids with the gift in hand, ready to roll at 6 am. Nice.
  4. The sentiment they wrote in the gift they gave Mike and I made me cry. There are words you long to hear from your parents your whole life, and I've never heard these come from their mouths. I read it this morning because Harper ripped open the card, but when I read what they said to Mike and I, I cried and cried and cried. I have waited to hear those words from them for 34 years...and it meant so much. I love you guys.
Anyway, Saturday Mike and I went and finished our shopping for the kids and tried out a new restaurant on our date. We love sushi joints, and we love asian fusion food, and we love the whole "Bistro" atmosphere, so when we saw the Cantonese Bistro in Redlands, we had to go in. The atmosphere is so awesome, kind of like a P.F. Changs, but with more funky lighting, awesome bass heavy background music and real Japanese sushi chefs at the most beautiful sushi bar you've ever seen. We also tried their lettuce wraps, since they're my favorite...and I never thought I'd say this but...it totally wasted Chang's wraps. So stinkin good, you guys. Who ever comes next to visit, we're totally taking you.

On Sunday, we had our typical primary program, and it was really cute. The speakers were excellent as usual, and after church we came home and had some friends over for the afternoon. Mac and Aimee Wayment are good friends of ours in our ward, and they're the family we went to Disneyland with last week. He's a pediatric ICU doctor, and he works every Sunday, so she and her kids came over and we had dinner and chatted and laughed and played and made sugar cookies til it was night time. Her Mackenzee LOVES my Kenzie, and they're inseperable. Here are a few pics of the festivities:



cookies all over the table! We made christmas trees, leaves and skulls and crossbones...because pirates love Christmas too, right?



This is sweet lil' tiny Eliza, and she has the best pouty lips ever:



This is Mackenzee who is hilarious and we love her. I don't have any of Parker that turned out, that boy moves too much ;). He's so wiggly!



Mackenzie warmed herself by the fire at night and as you can see, we've got our Guitar Hero guitars right there set up all the time incase we need to rock out real quick like:




Anyway, today is a busy day as I'm sure it is for all of you, but I just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas. This year was better than last year, and that year was better than the one before! Life has been throwing me a few curves in the past 4 or 5 years, and although they've been the hardest of my life, they've been the most joyful, the most emotionally enriched, the most loving and the absolute best so far. I have really come to understand how our Heavenly Father really does watch out for us, and how his blessings can be so abundant we can't even make room to take them all in. I've learned that those who really love us and our kids are the ones who do not only say they do, but the ones who show they do. My kids have learned forgiveness, and I've watched them all turn into little "people". They're not kids anymore, and they are so smart. I've seen them cry this year, and I've had to hold myself back as they learned through experience that there are some people you can't count on, but that you still need to love them. I've seen them accept a man who truly loves them as his own, and watched as their respect and adoration grew for him as he worked 12 hour days, 5 days a week, and still came in the door every night with hugs, kisses and smiles for everyone. My children are calm, they're happy, they're secure, and they're loved...and best of all, they know it. You can see it in their eyes...you can see it when it's 9 oclock at night, and they're all snuggled up next to us on the couch watching movies, or reading by the fire. They are at "home".


I hope your Christmas is great! We love you all and can't wait to hear what yours were like!!!

~The Easleys

Thursday, December 20, 2007

Just Spreadin' A Little Christmas Cheer

Our family favorite, Dr./Mr. Steve Brule, teaches you how to defend yourselves. (in case you're not hip to the T&EASGJ!, the quality of the video is supposed to be crap, ala 80's instructional video)



and then, we have Dr. Steve Brule, reporting on his favorite topic ever...VIDEO GAMES!



...you're so very, very welcome.

Oh and I made the best cookies ever today. Sugar cookies that are basically Grannie B's, but recreated by me in my kitchen. And they have sour cream in them, you guys. Wonderful.

the end.

Christmas Is Coming...The Goose Is Getting Fat!

Things to do before the end of today:

  • finish teacher gifts
  • finish editing the Tobar's shoot
  • clean bathroom downstairs
  • vacuum stairs
  • drink a 5th of whiskey
  • wash towels and sheets
  • make sugar cookies that were supposed to be made yesterday but our freakin oven pilot ignition quit working
  • send gifts to Joe & Heidi, Paul & Sharla joe josephson dead beat dad
  • finish helping "Santa" with stocking stuffers
  • thaw turkey
  • buy more Crisco for pie crusts for quiche
  • finish tying quilts for Mike and all the kids
  • eat 10 lbs of caramels
  • drink a 12 pack of diet Coke with another 5th of whiskey
  • repent
not too shabby right?

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Remember...There Is Holiday Magic

So for Christmas this year, the kids' big present is annual passes. The problem is, we bought the passes in October. So to remind the kids that they got them for Christmas, I'm taking them today for the last time in '07.

Harper is at the age where he is starting to remember things. Every day we talk about Disneyland with him, the rides, his memories, the cousins and most of all...Jack. He'd watch YouTube videos all day long if we let him, and it is so cute to see him scream with the crowds on the screen when Jack appears at the top of the elevator. Also, when he sees the caroussel and Dumbo, his right arm shoots up as high as it can go and he says "uuuuuuuuuup!"... Funny boy.

Anyway, I thought I'd post a few of his favorite YouTubes since you all won't be with us. It's supposed to rain today there, but we're troopers...and we don't care.

(Daddy, if you're reading this, we miss you! We wish you could have come, but we know you had to work!!! See you tonight!)

Small World Holiday:




and everyone's favorite:



So if you have my "702" cell number, call me and hear the magic today.

BUHBYE!

Monday, December 17, 2007

Sweet Casey

We fell asleep for our typical after-church nap, and this is what I woke up to. He was watching me sleep...stinker.

Friday, December 14, 2007

New Site

So Mike is still in the process of building easleyphotography.com, so in the mean time, my old site is back up and running. You can visit it here (http://easleyphotography.blogspot.com) for contact information, pricing etc.

I'll blog more later! Buhbye!

Sunday, December 9, 2007

Guess What You Big Donkeys?

At church today I found out that this lady in my ward used to be a photographer professionally and she asked me in the hallway if I wanted her 3 backdrops. BIG ones, as in huge. Like...25'x50'. HUGE. I could photograph the entire Desert Chorale spinning around in tutus on those things. SWEET! That saves my butt about $2000. TIGHT!

Anyway, look at this family I shot this weekend, they're super gorgeous and so fun. The dark haired boy is going on a mission in 2 weeks to Brazil (and Tiffany is supposed to go out with him the second he gets home!) and the girl with the blonde hair is Chelsea. She was just Homecoming Queen this year at Yucaipa HS. She's so cute and I love that girl. She and Tiff have fun together, and Tiff's sad because when Chels graduates next summer, she'll be out of laurels. :( The boy with the longer hair is Cody and Mackenzie think's he a hottie, but he's like 17, and then the youngest girl is Linda, and she has a big fat crush on Jonah. I love this family. Anyway. Here, see some more pics. (if they look a bit fuzzy on the blog, it's because they're HUGE in real life, so click on any picture you want to see in it's true state.)






Thursday, December 6, 2007

Here's Some Fun Stuff For You and You and YOU!

From the lack of posting on ALL of my friends and families blogs, I'm assuming you're all like us...busy as crap, am I right?!

Anyway, update for ya. I started to pass a kidney stone last weekend and the week before, and all I could do was pound the ibuprofen and take hot baths. Still working on it, but that's all I wanna say on that matter. Secondly, I was walking around in my bedroom the other night and when I was getting my jammies on, I jammed my right big toe sideways into something sharp and looked down to see what it was and saw what I thought was a thumb tack sticking out of my foot. As I pulled on the end of it, I could feel this horrible tearing sensation on the total opposite side of my toe and as I pulled on it, it kept coming...and coming...and coming until the very end came out and what did I see? (click the picture to see the real deal) Well Mike was right there and he immediately stood up and went to grab me a towel to put on it since it started bleeding right away. The dang thing had a hook on the end of it and it tore out a little hamburger looking piece of my toe pad! Sick! It was like 1 1/2 inches long and omg. Seriously. It hurt so stinkin bad I forgot all about my kidney stones for like 30 minutes. It still hurts like a BIATCH! But I digress...(as usual)

So the next day (yesterday), I went to shoot the rest of the 8-9 families for the Young Women's fund raiser, and one of our friends who is a doctor came and checked it out. He looked and prodded and poked and eventually he just said "yeah, this is not good. You need antibiotics and a doctor...go". Fun times and by the way, if your legs are hurting just reading this story (you know who you are) say Aye!

K, so the rest of the people here are good. We've had the usual bugs going around, stuffy noses and stomachy flu stuff, but nothing major at all to report. Kenzie is on the honor roll, so is Casey, and Jonah is on the jr. honor roll meaning he got A's and B's...so that's good!

I've been shooting like crazy, and Mike's just been doing the same ol' thing as usual.

Anyway, off topic...I was looking for more of those Remixed Trailers, and came across some really awesome ones:

Sleepless In Seattle: The Thriller

School of Rock: Hide Your Children

Garden State: A Murder Mystery

American Pie: A Murderous Tale (they say the "s" word in the trailer)

When Harry Met Sally: A Story of Obsession (billy crystal says the "f" word, but still this is absolutely brilliant)


The 10 Commandments: A High School Comedy 3000 Years In The Making

Good Will Hunting: A Terrifying Thriller

Cocktail: An Epic Bollywood Classic (this is the winning entry for the 2006 NY AICE Trailer Park competition...and rightly so. This one is genius.)

Citizen Kane: The Pimp Remix

Taxi Driver: A Sweet Romantic Comedy

Brokeback To The Future: A Romance That Could Never Be (totally not dirty, but absolutly hilarious and awesome...watch this one)


Top Gun: Another Romance That Could Never Be (also a brokebackish theme, still...don't tell me you didn't know this one was coming)

Freddy Got Redone: A Tale Of Survival (I cannot believe this was
possible, this movie is so foul and not touching...and they turned it into something I'd see)

Must Love Jaws: A Touching Comedy About Friendship

Dumb and Dumber: The Horror!!!


The Big Lebowski: A Crime Thriller (so good, I love Jeff Bridges in this)


K so are you sick of trailers? Well...just watch a few and when you're bored and it's midnight and you wanna see something truly smart and brilliant, just watch more of these. I love this kind of stuff because it:

  1. exposes the deception in advertizing
  2. teaches the world that art isn't always paintings and sculptures and that art is being created every day in the most diverse and unique ways.
  3. Shows me that people still use their imaginations in this world...and that's such an important part of living and playing.
Alright...here are a few pics of my lastest endeavors.



Peace out!






Tuesday, December 4, 2007

For Miss Emily

And here you have...


SHINING! A romantic comedy...


Sunday, December 2, 2007

I've Got Whozits And Whatzits Galore

BroadwayWorld.com is having a contest called "Give Us Your Voice", and this guy from Sarasota Florida is one of the entries. Although he can't quite compete with Daniel Rogers, I must say...as much as I want to hate this guy, I can't! It's not that he sucks, nor is it that he's basically got me beat in the falsetto department, but he's scary and intriguing and weird all at the same time. Weird...............weird awesome weird and awesome again and yet, I voted for him because I think he put me under a spell that made me lose my mind for a second. Help me. Seriously. Somebody? Help? A little help?



Oh and if you're looking for ABSOLUTE pure brilliance in video editing, this other guy I found on YouTube makes remixes of movie trailers, and this one for Mary Poppins is so sweet. I laughed at the end because of the "Hide Your Children" but seriously, if you watch this clip, you'll see that anything can be twisted into something else when the right (or wrong) person gets their hands on it.

Enjoy.

Friday, November 30, 2007

Oooo Listen To That Fabulous Vibrato

How come Disneyland Paris gets all the good songs? (remember to pause the player on my sidebar first)

I know that Eliza and Taylor and Kjersten and Eric and all of us have made a song similar to this on mom's old Yamaha keyboard in the piano room, making Lyd and Ash dance for us. Take special notice of the vibrato at about 2 minutes 30 seconds.

...you're welcome.

Friday, November 23, 2007

Check This Scary

A guy photoshopped the makeup off of Christina A. and ohhhhhhhhhmygoodness. This skurrs me! Click it to see it large, and you'll see, he says he only took off the eyelashes, 3/4 of the eyeliner and the rest of the regular makeup. Sick.

You know how we all feel about the people who wear tons of makeup, and how they've got something to hide (insecurities, secrets, shame, ugliness) but! As for X-tina, I say pour it on honey, you scare me!


Eeeets A Rat!

So the day started out nicely, Michael and I got to sleep in (8:30) and the baby was cheerful when he woke up, the boys were up making their beds (???!?!) and the girls were emptying the dish washer. I think I'm basically ready to accept that my children aren't the best self motivators, probably because they were raised with someone who shouted orders whilst laying on the couch watching football. Now that we've got the chore cards that are totally a miracle, and TWO parents who like to watch movies/play games (guitar hero/halo3) and hang out with them, life runs more like...well...like yesterday! But I digress...as usual.

So we had big fat german pancakes with strawberries (and splenda!) and potatoes, onions and ham fried in tons of butta (because we used splenda! on the berries, remember?) and the day began. We started on the rolls, and then getting them out to rise. Next we tackled peeling all the potatoes. Mackenzie helped with that. Then we got out the ingredients for my favorite salad. Now most of you may hate this, but when you're eating that nasty frog eye salad with (sick!) frog eye sized slimy Acini De Pepe, I'll be over at my seat carefully pumping this stuff down my gullet. You know the stuff...crushed pineapple, lime jello powder, pistachio pudding mix, coconut, mini marshmallows, cool whip and cottage cheese. MMMMMMMMMmmmmmmmmmmmMMmmMmMmm ! Hello! So good. Anyway, our neighbors love it so we made triple my usual recipe and took it around to all of them. We even sprinkled extra marshmallows, coconut, pistachios and red sprinkles on it. Festive! I had the kids call Joe and his mom and dad, and then got them to help me with the rest. So green bean salad, and some dips for chips were next, and after getting us all showered, we headed over to Mike's mom and dad's house.

Amy, Mike's sister was there and his parents and his mom was literally pulling the turkey out of the oven when we got there, so after we all sat and stuffed ourselves on the regular thanksgiving things, PLUS eggrolls (mackenzie and mike's mom have a special bond because of these and they are connected at the hip), PLUS ham, PLUS a zillion chocolate desserts and pies, we all sat down together to watch Ratatouille. I totally expected it to be cute and all, but we loved that movie. We were totally sucked into it and a few other people came over to visit with Mike's family and all of us, but we were so into that movie. I loved it.

Anyway, there's a quote at the end of the movie and I wanted to share it with y'all. It made me tear up and Mike even did the whole "deep breath, blink blink" thing that means that he, as a big strong manly dude, liked it too.

It was at the end and spoke by the food critic Anton Ego:

"In many ways, the work of a critic is easy. We risk very little yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work and their selves to our judgment. We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read. But the bitter truth we critics must face is that, in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is more meaningful than our criticism designating it so. But there are times when a critic truly risks something, and that is in the discovery and defense of the new. Last night, I experienced something new, an extraordinary meal from a singularly unexpected source. To say that both the meal and its maker have challenged my preconceptions is a gross understatement. They have rocked me to my core. In the past, I have made no secret of my disdain for Chef Gusteau's famous motto: Anyone can cook. But I realize that only now do I truly understand what he meant. Not everyone can become a great artist, but a great artist can come from anywhere. It is difficult to imagine more humble origins than those of the genius now cooking at Gusteau's, who is, in this critic's opinion, nothing less than the finest chef in France. I will be returning to Gusteau's soon, hungry for more."

The part that I loved was the words "Not everyone can become a great artist, but a great artist can come from anywhere."

I think I'll tattoo this on my forearm. Just kidding dad.

Anyway, check out my new christmas music and while you're out shopping on Black Friday, I hope you don't die:

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

I'm So Crazy With Work

but here's a link to the Disneyland pics, well...some of them!

Oh and so you can see what I've been doing, here are a few more of the Horspools shoot, post-edit. (PLEASE oh PLEASE! Click them each once, and then once again to see them large, it's worth it)



Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Now Here's A Little Story I've Got To Tell About 3 Bad Cousins You Know So Well

For the first of many posts about our trip to Disneyland with my family, I'd like to start by telling you a tale, a tale so exciting and new, so terrifying and scandalous...

the tale of 3 cousins lost...lost in the wilderness creek of the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail -

On a warm November afternoon, two young cousins we'll call Harper and Dylan (because well, that's their names) discovered, in the land of California Adventure, a stream, and here's where we find them now...

________________________________________________________


Once upon a time, two little boys found a stream. Harper was chosen to get in first.

"See? It's fun!"





"Now YOU try Dylan!"



"Yes, it is fun, Harper! Let's get all crazy up in hurrr!"



"That's what I'm talkin' bouts, cuz!"



And then, from the corner of the playground...Miles, the slightly younger cousin approached... (dun dun dun...)



And the party really got started




...and there was splashing and kicking and squealing and crawling like Mowgli



and in true "male" fashion, they compared muscles...



can't you just feel all the testosterone?



and then Dylan got tired...




...and Harper got tired...




...and then as was to be expected... PEOPLE STARTED GETTING NAKED!






which horrified Harper!




...so he split!




and sought refuge with Isaac in the tunnel tube...





...but he was turned away.





...so he figured





if you can't beat 'em...


...JOIN 'EM!




the end.


_________________________________________________


more pics to follow.



Sunday, November 18, 2007

oh my dear

lots to say, but right now Mike and I are writing our talks for tomorrow in Sacrament Meeting. We got asked to be the Thanksgiving Sunday Program. I am not singing for those of you who will be terribly disappointed. Anyway, I'll write more about our Disneyland week with all of the family who came down later, but for now...I'll say this:

Disneyland was fun and we're all so tired.

secondly, my sister has the most beautiful family on the earth. I shot them today and they are ridiculously gorgeous. i mean...check she and curtis out guys. seriously. aren't they super freakin hot? seriously though for real. seriously.

see?