Stephanie Rae Ortiz: 2016

Hello My Beautiful Friends,

Thanks for visiting my blog! You are truly appreciated. Here is a look over our last year. I wasn’t able to capture the best parts as I really focused on enjoying the year by being more present however get ready to see lots of me and the family in this coming year! I have a lot of fun and exciting things planned to share with you all!

So I hope you enjoy this little highlight reel of what I was able to capture!

Enjoy!

(The Kids at the Chicago Children’s Museum while Mommy auditioned for NBC’s The Voice)

(Me with my Audition Pass, just outside of the auditions in Chicago! This is not the best of quality in pictures, but a memory that will last for a very long time!)

(The kids dressed up in honor of 100 days of school, aren’t they just the cutest! I mean I can just so see them this old, still the best of friends and super stylish! Haha! Probably my favorite picture of the year.)

(This young man truly excels academically and so he received a free Milwaukee Bucks ticket for his Academic excellence. We bought three additional tickets and enjoyed the game, that night they happened to host a few leads from Nickelodeon, so we were sure the head up to Milwaukee early to enjoy all the festivities. We made an entire night of it and it was so fun for Will because he had the privilege of shooting a few hoops on an official NBA Basketball Court!)

(My handsome with ‘Bucky’ who is not actually Bucky, but I was calling him that all night and was kind of cracking myself up while the hubs was a little less enthused about it! However, every time I would say it, I would crack up inside! So, to be proper here is My Handsome with Bango, the Bucks’ mascot.)

(The kids with Bucky aka Bango)

(Here is a pic of the kids with their IB Coordinator, they love her and were super excited to share the awareness of Red Nose Day! As soon as we seen these little red noses hit the shelf we grabbed two of them right away as they sold out the year prior and we were bummed. They sold for only $1 at Walgreens and the proceeds contributed to tons of projects for children. To name a few over 860,000 children in Africa have been given life-saving vaccines, eye exams and glasses for children in need here in the USA, it’s just a fun way to have a fun day fundraising to help fight for kids’ poverty in America and around the world.)

(Take me out to the ball game, we were only able to catch two of them this year, but truly enjoyed!)

(The best soccer team, ever! Such a great bunch of kids.)

In California, on a Whale Watching Cruise.

The whale that was swimming under out boat! Insane and awesome all at the same time.

(Every year I seem to capture a shot of this guy going up for a jump shot in the Por La Gente Tourney)

(My girl and I along with some of her besties, did the color run this year. This was our 1^st of many!)

(My little Loves on the Fourth of July)

(My Husband and I down by the Fireworks! Such a grand old time!)

(At Lambeau, on our way out of their Practice! Go Pack Go.)

(The family on our way into Lambeau)

(Our little man gave football a go this year, he's the first one in line there!)

(Little Man at his first football game)

(Will & Landon at Will’s Birthday Party!)

(My Beautiful Girl)

(Date Nights, are the Best Nights)

(Pumpkin Patches)

(My love and I on an Autumn Walk)

(The birthday girl, got fancy like Nancy this year and hosted a Tea Party)

(I turned 32 this year!!!)

(Such a joy making new friends)

(My Love and I after our Towns Holiday Parade & Community Tree lighting)

(The kids annual pic with the Turkey who is always lurking at Rending Thanks! 😊 We serve every year at our Community Thanksgiving and it is a true blessing and real treat to give of ourselves in this fashion. This was our fourth year of the Ortiz Thanksgiving Tradition and we just love it!)