Face Painting Fun!

Sami is one of Katelyn's really good friends out here. Sami just turned 5 and had a Fairytopia Birthday party. Her awesome mom, Tamra included me in the festivities and I had my first face painting booth. We had a really great time with face painting, bracelet making, fairy scavenger hunt, costuming, pinata, and of course food. I am impressed with all the mom's I have seen throw great parties, Angela's monster truck course suddenly comes to mind...
Painting BoothSamiSarah's Ready to Party Listening to clues for the Scavenger Hunt
Thanks Tam for letting the girl's come even though our kids seem to be the half life of eachother.

Smaller World than We Think

My favorite church meeting of the year is the Relief Society Broadcast in the fall. I love to go and feel a part of something bigger than my to do list and I always leave feeling inspired. At this year's meeting Sister Beck talked how she was nervous because her mom was moving far away and she asked what will I do without my mom here. Her mom told her to immerse herself with the Relief Society and even if she were really gone that the sisters would fill that mother void. Next Elder Uchtdorf encouraged us to magnify our creative abilities and compassion. So after the meeting there was a chocolate fountain dipping bar. While the sisters in our stake were munching I ran into none other than Miriam Stay, Elizabeth MacDonald's sister (a dear friend from Baltimore). Small world, huh? As we talked, I told her about the portrait I did of their mom, Mary shortly after she passed away. I was able to get her a print of the piece and I just felt so enriched for being a part of this wonderful organization. I didn't really give these speakers credit for their messages but you can access them at lds.org in a couple weeks. Anyway here is a sampling of that piece:

Thank you Miriam for the lovely bouquet of Starlight Lillies!

Dinosaur Park

Our last day in Utah was a busy one.
As you can see Katelyn had no desire to leave whatsoever.We had a lovely tea party with McKell and Lexie at Natalie's.Then met up with both sides of the family at Dinosaur Park. It was full of life sized roaring dinos and geological findings. We had a picnic of KFC and danced around with the cousins. What a fun adventure park and final outing before the plane.
Ropelato CousinsT-RexKatelyn or Ivy's future wedding ring...Sarah finally warmed up to Grandma Starley!Sarah with Great-Grandpa Ropelato (this outing was all his idea-isn't he great!)Brushing the sand for Dinosaur bonesSo Big!Exploring at the playgroundGirls clammering over Grandpa RopelatoKatelyn was climbing all over the place, I was taking a shot of her standing and all of a sudden I had to run to catch her before she fell...
The best part of the whole trip was coming home to see Nate! Katelyn was begging for "Rolling Machine" at the airport so it was nice we were headed home. Nate does this rolling thing where he pretends to squish the girls and they squeal with delight and yell "squishy squishy." Pretty cute stuff.

Take 2 and 3 on Family Photos

As previously mentioned Grandpa was unable to attend the grandparent/grandkids photo session (I will post a photo of the war wounds just as soon as I can get Grandpa to pose for one...). First round wasn't so great, unbelievable I know, but we tried again today and this was what we ended up with:
Gotta love the feet-ies in these shots.

Anyway I feel fairly pleased considering that there were 5 kids under the age of 4. We spent the afternoon eating, shopping, and hot tubbing at Grandma Ropelato's for our reward.

Here are those long awaited Grandpa Racketball Warwound Shots, mind you this happened while WEARING eye protective wear:

A Real Man's not afraid to ice his wounds...

Kiddie Kandids Photos

One thing I just love about going home is the Kiddie Kandids in the Newgate Mall. I have had brilliant success nearly every time we've gotten pictures. I am super excited this time because Katelyn's personality really shines through.
Katelyn 2 1/2 years

Sarah 7 months

This last shot leaves me with mixed feelings. It's really cute but right AFTER this was taken Katelyn leaned over, wrapped her arms around Sarah, and gave her a very soft kiss. It was magical but not captured on camera...I guess that's what memories are for.

***We would have added the grandkids photo but unfortunately John (Grandpa) was knocked in the head with a Racketball racket a few hours prior and now has 18 stitches holding his left cheek together. What can I say, he'll have a great costume this year??? Poor Grandpa Starley

Girl's Trip ***Warning Lots of Photos***

We started out with a super early flight but decided the girl's travel best at 6am. Sarah slept the entire flight and Katelyn was golden all but the last 10 minutes. She decided to try to fit herself into the carry-on space under the seat in front of us and got stuck; of course it would be right when the flight attendent asked me to buckle her up. Needless to say a short lived tantrum ensued (thankfully it was very short). It was worth it all when we saw my mom. I can't believe how darling it was to watch her bolt through the airport for Grandma just as soon as she saw her about 100 feet away. Priceless.
After a few minutes fanangling with luggage and car rental stuff my mom told me Natalie had the baby an hour before we landed (10 days early). Alexis Ropelato was born at 5 lbs 11oz and 19 inches long. She's pretty cute stuff. I guess McKell (3 yrs) came in at 5am and told Dave and Nat that she had just had a dream and her sister was coming. Nat got up to put her back to bed and her water broke.
I guess Lexie wanted to join our girl's picnic. Speaking of...here are some fun shots of the family picnic. My uncle Larry was so nice, he even took my cousin's shift so she could come hangout. Family is so awesome but we sure miss Nate. Guess we'll come back soon enough, huh?

Next on the agenda was the Starley Girl's Trip. We started out with Dinner at Bombay Grill in Ogden (Indian food) that was really yummy. Too bad I was slightly sleep deprived and walked out holding my water glass. The waitress hunted me down and asked for it back. Klepto tendencies??? The next day we went to Snowbasin Ski Resort for a gondola ride up the lift and hike to the ridge. We stopped that night for Costa Vida and the best play ever...Big! Yes Big like the movie. It was so much fun, I can't even tell ya. Of course it was super great because the main actor looked/acted just like Joey Hale. No relation (Katie confirmed this through text at Midnight her time) despite the fact that we were at Hale Theater, which IS Joey's extended family . Lastly was a horseback ride along Antelope Island on the Great Salt Lake but I bowed out because Sarah had decided 3 days of activities was just too long.
Dinner at Bombay Grill (Indian) AKA Scene of the Almost Crime
Gondola Ride
Ridge Up Porcupine Lift
Snowbasin Lodge
We're off to Big at Hale Theater
We've had many days of fun with the cousins and grandparents on both sides.
Ouchies--Katelyn's first big fallGifts!Matching New DressesJumperoo and Loads of Excitement
Wrecking Havoc