Hughie Family Photos

It's been 17 years since all of the Hughies (my parents, siblings and their families and myself) have all been together in one place at one time.  We live throughout the country and distance tends to keep us from all being together.  This made a family photo shoot a requirement!  I took on the project of hiring a photographer and coordinating the details to make it happen.  Since my parents live in an itty bitty town and it was the day before Christmas eve, it wasn't so easy to find an available and affordable photographer to take on the job.  I went the economical route (although it wasn't exactly cheap) and hired a local photographer.  She captured some great shots, but her editing skills weren't stellar and her pricing for getting the prints printed (or the digital file for that matter) were astronomical.  What was supposed to be a relatively simple process turned into some heated negotiating.  I was able to eventually get the disk AND my friend Melvin saved the day and artistically edited the images (although he refused to remove the under eye baggage...ugh).  I'm so grateful to have these shots.  I love them and know that they will be treasured.  Especially for my parents to have a photo with have their entire family in one shot!

My mom and dad and their beloved Jake.  They will celebrate 50 years of marriage in 2 years.  5 children, 2 daughter in laws, 2 (almost 3) son in laws, and 6 grandkids.  They have created quite a family and a legacy as well.

Child #1 Janice (Graffius) and her family: husband Mark and sons Gregory and Andrew.  (Along with the snowman that my brother David and family created!)

Child #2 David and his family: wife Julie and sons Caleb and Mason

Child #3 Ken and his family:  wife Sonia and son Nicolas

Child #4 Melinda Marie with dad and mom (family to follow, smile)

Child #5 Dana (Everett) and her family: husband Nick, daughter Elle and dog George

LOVED all of the snow.  It really felt like Christmas with the winter wonderland.  Somehow the beach and palm trees just doesn't feel the same.

Andrew (age 17) and Gregory (20)

Mason (6) and Caleb (7)

Elle Julianne (6 months)

Nicolas Kenneth (2 months)

LaLa and her nephews and niece

Nana and Papa Oregon and their grandchildren

The original Hughies ~ party of seven!

L-O-V-E

Jammies

I love these photos of our baby niece and nephew, Elle and Nicolas.  They are so cute in their jammies.

December 2010 - Elle 6 months and Nicolas 2 months



Doodling

I'm in Denver, Colorado today for a work meeting.  I promise I was listening, but I also couldn't help but draw a doodle for Timothy.  It's never a good idea for me to find a Sharpie marker and a blank piece of paper.  I'll doodle.  No doubt.  It's fun for Timothy and I to send :) <3's to each other.  Cheesy yet fun!

Mystery Date

Today was my turn to surprise Timothy with a mystery date.  I set out Toy Story bags (in honor of our first mystery date) and each one had a clue.

First stop:  Krispy Kreme Donuts for an original (Hot and Fresh) glazed donut AND....

A SOUR APPLE slushie.  Timothy loves all things sour apple - so our breakfast stop was a no brainer!!!

Stop 2 was The Aquarium of the Pacific.  Since both of us have spent time at Georgia's Atlanta Aquarium (the aquarium's of ALL aquariums) we weren't overly impressed with what this aquarium has to offer.  BUT it wasn't necessary about the aquatic life, WE were having fun!!

The otters were super fun to watch.

And so were these long legged crabs!

Last stop was Portillo's for the world's best hot dogs and cheese fries IN THE WORLD!

A fun day.  Timothy's turn to surprise me next!!!

Happy Birthday to me!!!!

Timothy bought me tickets to the Zac Brown Band concert for my birthday.  (Along with the book, The Five Love Languages: The Secret to Love That Lasts).  Turns out he had to work.  (Think $3.99 all you can eat pizza buffet.  Kind of requires all hands on deck).

So one of my best girls, Carolyn, came down to be my date to the concert!

AND brought my favorite cookie (with extra frosting) and a pink Mike's Hard Lemonade.

 Yum-oh!

We wore our cowboy boots (because, really, how often can you sport those in Southern California?) and walked the long road to the Verizon Amphitheatre.

We got to our seats nice and early.  Unfortunately, being an outdoor theatre, there were plenty of people smoking some funny smelling green stuff.  YUCK!

The concert was AWESOME!

...And I know that Timothy would liked it too.  Especially when ZBB sang Whatever it is.  There will be plenty more concerts in our future.  

It was an interesting and rowdy crowd.



We love you Zac Brown Band.  Thanks for making my birthday a fun one!!!

I'll be in San Francisco for a work trip for my REAL birthday tomorrow.  Not a bad place to start my 32nd year. 

Jennifer and Melinda Marie are Disneyland and Coast to Coast Half Marathon Finishers!

Jennifer and I did it!  We ran our little hearts out and finished the SOLD OUT Disneyland Half Marathon.  And with our finisher medals we also scored the coveted COAST TO COAST medal for finishing the Disneyworld Princess Half Marathon and the Disneyland Half Marathon!  YAY!!!!



We woke up at the crack of dawn, grabbed our breakfast of champions (including a snickers bar and Coca Cola classic for me) and headed to meet 13,998 of our closest friends (and their fans) to run 13.1 miles throughout the happiest place on earth.

The traditional pic of Port a Potty row....

 Minnie Mouse Twins...

... right down to our Sauconys.  Both of us endured a broken foot after running in Nike's.  Sorry Nike ~ we love your apparel, but your shoes don't cut it for our pronating runner girls.

We kind of sorta snuck into a Corral ahead of ours.  We didn't want to chance being swept from the course if we lagged behind... so we were in a pace group that was just a wee bit faster than us.  No big deal. 

We laughed at our new friends diva race shirt ~ so fashionable!

I had an extra spring in my step and was pumped full of adrenaline, so I wished Jennifer a good race, promised to meet her at the finish line and got lost in the sea of runners.  Just me and my ipod and my pack of snacks. (Because goo makes me sick and I just have to have my carbs!)

I had to get a shot of The Toy Story Folks for Timothy...

Point taken 

And by mile 9 I was starting to not feel so hot.  My blood sugar was dropping despite my eating sugar.  

But I pushed through :)

I finished and headed straight to the first aid stand.  I was shaky, vomited (oh boy!) and my blood sugar was in the LOW 30's.  The volunteer doc stayed with me while I drank sugar water and repeatedly tested my blood sugar until it was back in normal range.  It was scary and a bit unexplainable.  I was just happy to be finished with the race, in my flip flops and feeling not so yucky.

The Finishers!  Thank you, Jennifer for being my race buddy.

We headed to my sister Janice's to swim and eat.  Oh, and my family (and Jennifer) are met Timothy for the first time tonight.  They loved him.  Of course the did!