The Final Inspection

In honor of Officer Travis Murphy who was gunned down in West Phoenix May 2010.  He was laid to rest yesterday and it really makes me feel so much better knowing how much the brotherhood of law enforcement supports one another.  There were literally thousands upon thousands of police officers at the funeral and not only Phoenix but surrounding city agencies and national agencies.  This was a horrible tragedy that has happened not only for the Murphy family but for the Phoenix Police Department.  As a police officer wife, this is a reality we must face - a situation that we fear nightly.  May he rest in peace and maybe his family persevere with God's strength.  




The policeman stood and faced his God,
Which must always come to pass.
He hoped his shoes were shining.
Just as brightly as his brass.

"Step forward now, policeman.
How shall I deal with you?
Have you always turned the other cheek?
To My church have you been true?"

The policeman squared his shoulders and said,
"No, Lord, I guess I ain't,
Because those of us who carry badges
can't always be a saint.

I've had to work most Sundays,
and at times my talk was rough,
and sometimes I've been violent,
Because the streets are awfully tough.

But I never took a penny,
That wasn't mine to keep....
Though I worked a lot of overtime
When the bills got just too steep.

And I never passed a cry for help,
Though at times I shook with fear.
And sometimes, God forgive me,
I've wept unmanly tears.

I know I don't deserve a place
Among the people here.
They never wanted me around
Except to calm their fear.

If you've a place for me here,
Lord, It needn't be so grand.
I never expected or had too much,
But if you don't.....I'll understand.

There was silence all around the throne
Where the saints had often trod.
As the policeman waited quietly,
For the judgment of his God.

"Step forward now, policeman,
You've borne your burdens well.
Come walk a beat on Heaven's streets,
You've done your time in hell."

Spring has Sprung

Is this cheesy?  I dunno I was trying to get some good shots of my little niece Kaia and this is the best one I could come up with.  I used a high ISO to gain some texture/graininess to the picture, but you know what that technique is kind of difficult!  Or maybe I'm just horrible at taking pictures and understanding the techniques.  I've been reading this website for photographers.  Its basically a blog set up by a photographer in Australia.  He's got some great tips, but I'm falling short.   I'm not quite sure if these photos are successful for not?  I love her blue eyes though that's for sure.

I was somewhat pleased with this picture.  I think its a pretty cool angle other than that its pretty basic.  Although it does capture a good chunk of the yard and shows where we will be getting married.  YAY :)  That's camelback mountain the center point of the city of Phoenix.  And its Alarah's backyard which is crazy!  The location of the house is insanely perfect, smack dab in the center of this moutain's view.  I'd say definitely better than anyone's view in the neighborhood.  Only 31 more days til the wedding....so much to do!!!

Gelato Delicioso

Back from a long weekend in Vegas, 4 days actually way longer than a weekend.  And it was especially long because I was assisting my sister with Alarah and Kaia.  My recommendation don't travel to Vegas with little kiddos haha.  We walked and we walked and we walked and my legs were swollen at the end of every night and by 6:30 am Alarah was screaming mommy, KK, mommy, KK.  Wowza!  But the joys of being an Auntie I do love them :)  And one great outcome of the weekend; some fabulous shots on the old Canon!  I am so pleased with my photography skills.  I know I might not ever become a professional photographer, but I really do genuinely enjoy taking pictures especially of Kaia and Alarah, they are the cutest.  And I have to say Vegas allows for some greatly lit shots.  I'll post more soon, but here's a little taste.  My favorite picture from the weekend, Alarah slobbering over some delicious looking gelato at Jean Philippe's at the Aria hotel.

Newport, California

I took this picture over the weekend and I really really liked it so I'm going to post it on here! :)  Over the weekend we went to Newport, CA and hung out at the Resort at Pelican Hill.  It was crazy nice.  My second time there (the first for my sister's 30th birthday last October)  We also went to Disneyland with my nieces on sunday; valentine's day.  It was a very fun weekend to spend with the family and to take a little time to relax.  Our butler drove us down to Crystal Cove to hang out by the ocean for a little bit.  After Alarah and Corey were done playing on the beach we packed up and headed for the place where she dropped us off.  As we were waiting the scenery was so nice I decided to take a bunch of pictures.  Normally when I take pictures of Corey and Alarah they are really posed, and smiling just because that's more natural for them when I'm pointing my camera at their faces.  But I just loved this shot because it caught them both totally off guard, which was great! :)  Some might not like it, but I do and that's all that matters!! :)

It's been a while...

Hello hello my devoted readers...aka no one haha I thought I would post a little something on here since it has been quite some time.  The holidays and I mean Oct-Jan have been rather hectic.  And I pretty much got zero wedding planning done throughout that time.  Between Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, the birth of my second niece Kaia and on top of that work oh yeah and my birthday it has been a crazy past couple of months.

First and foremost my niece Kaia Nevaeh is the most beautiful, precious little ball of joy every in the whole world.  She was born December 18, 2009.  She could be the most beautiful baby.  Alarah was the cutest and Kaia is the most beautiful :) She just loves to be held and snuggled and kissed all over her chunky little cheeks.

Here she is giving us a little yawn, I honestly cannot get enough of her.  Whenever I walk into my sister's house I just scoop her up and my mom and I fight over who's going to burp her and hold her and calm her down.  She loves to lay on her play mat in from of the TV and look around.  I know she doesn't really understand or see everything, but she sure acts like it, which makes me think she'll be incredibly smart!

Okay, onward!  Wedding planning has quite literally been exhausting.  I've been working on water bottle labels, bubbles, fans, favors, flowers, ribbons, etc etc etc...I'm up to my ears and William & Kirsten haha but I guess it will all pay off in the end.  I have a yummy cake tasting to look forward to this weekend.  With Honeymoon Sweets.  They are supposedly very good.  I had a cake tasting with Julia Baker quite some time ago and to be frank she was freaking amazing!  Her cake was to die for and her fondant was delectable.  For those of you who have never had the pleasure of eating fondant you are lucky, its tough and gritty and hard to chew through most of the time.  But Julia Baker's, shipped in from Switzerland and creamy smooth, smooth and guarded on the outside, but once it hits your tongue melts to a creamy goodness.  Honestly the best fondant on the planet.  I don't think anyone can beat it, BUT also about 2.5 times as expensive as other cakes...YIKESSS!!!!  Considering my budget is dwindling....and fast I don't have a lot of wiggle room in this department.  Needless to say....more cake tastings!!

Also currently trying to find a good hair stylist for the day of the wedding.  My mom has some vietnamese woman lined up for a trial apparently she will do hair for like $20...wedding hair...hmm...skepticism...i think so.  So we'll test with her and see how it goes.  I also have a trial set up for Feb 11 with another girl named Erin, she's priced at 45 for trial and 65 for wedding day.  Very moderate I would have to say - based on the research I have done recently..so I'm moving forward with that.  I have to get this done ASAP because the bridal boutique told me to have my hair done when I come in to try my dress....interesting....I need to get all these alterations done and they want me hair to look how it will look on the day of the wedding...I might call them about that.  Anyway tried on the dress for the first time, fits great - needs to be brought in ...good sign that I have well on my way to looking great on my wedding day (as great as I can possibly look anyway)

Training by the way is going really well.   Patty has really kicked it into gear and my body is screaming stop stop stop but my mind is saying...you can do it!  I wanna be in kick ass shape by the time the wedding happens...no joke...no more fatty kirsten!  Still working on getting the gaul to post before and after pics...i guess no one reads this anyway! hahaha we'll see

Dressy Dress Dress...

So this is my wedding dress...Ooo la la -- there will be some edits to the design once the dress gets in.  Which brings me to the point of this post.  What is normal for arrival time of wedding dress and alterations?  I'm a little less than 5 months out from the wedding and ordered the dress probably between 4-6 months ago.  I would have liked to have had one fitting by this point and then explained description of desired changes to the design.  I'm not a bridezilla and I would never aggressively attack anything regarding this matter, I'm just curious.  It doesn't bother me, I think I have plenty of time for this to happen, well at least I hope so.

Now to the second matter of this post.  I am contemplating having a second dress for the wedding and not quite sure what I should go with.  Originally I wanted to do a fun flirty little number that matched my original concept for the bridesmaids, but now the bridesmaids dresses have changed, the ones I have chosen are much more sophisticated and I'm not quite sure that if I ordered a similar dress in a white/off white that it would necessarily be appropriate.  Also I don't want people assuming that I think I'm a princess or something because I have a second dress.  The only real reason I want to do a second dress is because I think it would be more fun to dance and enjoy myself in a shorter dress rather than the gown.  Although the gown is gorgeous and I love it, I will be wearing it for a good portion of the night.  Once all the main pictures and dances and cake cutting and all the exciting things have happened, that's when I wanted to change into the second dress.  Oh yikes, there's a lot to think about.  Boo!

PS...I'm still very confused about the wedding shoes.  I heard that you should buy your wedding shoes a good 6 months in advance to break them in, and per my post "wedding shoes" i'm not completely content with the purchase I have made with the intention of wearing them at the wedding.  They are not quite the royal blue I was looking for.  Any suggestions!?!? Although I'm pretty sure no one reads this thing...oh well - c'est la vie!

Teeth

I went out Saturday night for the first time in a very long time.  I am engaged and have no interest in meeting guys at all, I was looking to just enjoy a night out with some girls and to be honest it was really fun.  As I looked back the most curious thing happened:

I was compliment on my teeth! Twice!  By two different people!  In separate situations!

I mean you go out, you're engaged, you aren't looking to hook up or meet anyone, but also you aren't oppose to entertaining conversation or whatever the case might be with a male or female counterpart - its all irrelevant.  However you can almost always anticipate being hit on by at least one blind and unknowing gentleman.  Of course one of the first thing out of my mouth is, "I'm engaged!" and up pops my left hand with my engagement ring on it.  Normally anyone who hits on me tries to play it off as "Oh, I'm just being friendly" as interest soon turns to finding another victim!  This all again is somewhat irrelevant, other than the fact that being hit on is, well, expected.

The pick up lines are horrendous, they span from where are you from to "I'm not gunna lie I want to have sex with you?", which I'll get to the story in a minute.  But it was so curious to me, that 2 out of the numerous pick up lines were "You have really nice teeth!  They are so straight, and so white!"  These are people that I had never met before, had zero conversation with them prior to this point and they just approach me out of the blue with this line, that can I consider is a "one liner"  Either way, when this "line" is thrown at me I get this bewildered look on my face and then laugh and say oh they completely natural! Which they are, I'm not lying. One guy proceeded to say they were give to me by my mom, my dad, God and Crest whitening strips.  Ahem, excuse me, I don't use whitening strips a-thank you very much!  Anyway, so this happens early on in the evening and I don't really give it a second thought.  But not less than 2 hours later I get the same comment, almost exactly....AGAIN!!!  I was like dang, I must have some really nice teeth or something.  I mean I've seen nice, like Mike Myers has anyone else seen his teeth?  Are those real??  In all his movies you can tell its him under the disguise cause of those pearly whites! (sorry I got side tracked)

So my point is....wow....how original....and curious?!?


PS....back to the sex line I was talking about earlier...the most random story ever!
I was at this bar standing there waiting for my friends to leave an this guy approaches me with his friends.  And his puts out his hand for a shake and introduces himself as Jason Biggs.  I said oh I know a couple people with the last name Biggs - a couple my sister is friends with.  Either way he comes out with the line, "I'm not gunna lie, I'm trying to have sex with you"  I was like uh, ok no...I'm engaged and up pops my hand with the ring (how many times do I have to say this in one night?!?!).  Anyway this lady who is with him, a friend I can only assume, starts like mouthing to me "Jason Biggs, from American Pie!"  I was like what, no way, impossible doesn't even look like him, plus this guy was waaay over weight although those movies were from a while ago so who really knows.  So that's my story, whether it was actually Jason Biggs or not....wake up...even women who are not engaged don't respond to that kind of stuff...especially to D list celebrities who are trying to get laid. WEIRDO!! (side note: if that was not Jason Biggs, but actually an impersonator, my apologies to the original for these comments!)