Saturday, March 29, 2008

be...

I was honored to be asked to be a guest designer for faithsisters.com.




My assignment was to create a mini-book using the beautiful Fresh Anthology line from Making Memories.

I really had a hard time deciding what to use for my album topic. I narrowed it down to a few options and finally decided on one. I created a mini album based on President Hinckley's 6 Be's.


I used random photos of the kids - some of my favorites. And all of the text is straight from President Hinckley's talk/article. I love it - such good advice for youth and adults alike.


You can see the rest of the album here in their gallery.

We'll put this little album in our church bag for the kids to look at when they're having a hard time holding still and listening during sacrament meeting. :o)

a little scare...

Last Wednesday, we had a little scare here in our valley. Apparently, someone thought it would be a good idea to call a bomb threat into the Wasatch County School District office. And they didn't think they should specify which school they put a bomb in. So...every school in the entire valley was evacuated. Nice, huh? (here's the story)
My kids had to walk quite a distance from their school to the County Events Center. I got a phone call and went to pick them up. I was standing in the very LONG line, waiting to get them when I heard one of my friends call my name. She was in the front of the line and she had Meagan with her. Josh, however, had already been herded to the bus - to be given a ride home. Nice, again.
I'm glad Brenda saw Meagan and I was able to get to Josh before he was delivered home - to an empty house.
Anyway...that was not the actual scary part for us. After getting Meagan and Josh safely on their way, they each told me their throats were hurting...and I could tell they were struggling to breathe. Apparently, my two kiddos have inherited my allergy to horses. (there were horses in the events center - pending the college rodeo happening this weekend) We hurried to the store to get benadryl and a cold drink for them (did I mention it was cold and windy??? It was.) Anyway, Meagan recovered fairly quickly after taking the medicine. Josh, my little asthma sufferer, however, took a bit longer to recover - like 24 hours longer. We gave him his asthma med. and a breathing treatment as soon as we got home...but it still took a while for everything to return to normal.
Thankfully, neither of them were scared about the potential bomb. They were fine to go back to school on Thursday. Now we know they are allergic to horses and can take measures to prevent breathing problems in the future.
Now I only hope they can catch the jerk who thought a bomb threat would be funny...I can't believe, after everything that has happened in the world in the last few years, that someone would think this was a fun prank. I have to admit that after Wednesday, I was starting to think seriously about home schooling...too bad I'm such an impatient mom...my kids would be completely miserable...
The bottom line is - I'm so sad that our little community has to be affected by terrible people like this.

easter eggs...





I'm sure many of you dyed eggs last week for Easter...just like we did.




But how many of you were also able to use the dye to color the snow that was still covering your back yard?!?

friday fun-day...continued...

Whoa....it's been over a week since our fun friday and I still haven't updated...so, here it is...our friday fun-day in detail!

We started our day early (because I had to get up and get some house stuff done before our fun day officially began). After getting the necessary cleaning and chores done, we got ready to head out for our day.



We started here:





Josh has been asking to go here for a while - so today was the day! Kid's meals all around - with slushes, of course! (Even though the two little guys didn't really care about the food - they only wanted the toys. Oh well.)




We headed down the canyon. All went well - no food spills, no fighting. Yeah!


We got onto I-80 and after about 30 seconds, we were in a parking lot. Fun!! We assumed there was an accident ahead, so we got off at the next exit and slowly - let me stress the sloooooooowly part - made our way to Kohl's via the back roads. Apparently, lots of other drivers thought they'd get off I-80 and take the back roads as well. We turned on our trusty old KSL1160 radio (traffic and weather on the 9's) to find out that yes, there was an accident - one that required a medical helicopter - so the road was closed until the helicopter could land, load, and leave.


Anyway, Kohl's was a bust - no cute Easter outfits for us. So we loaded back up and headed to KANGAROO ZOO, where we were meeting a bunch of fun neighbors to play!

We'd never been there, so we didn't really know what to expect. It's a huge warehouse full of blow-up slides, bouncy houses, and other play things.



The kids loved it. Wait, did I say they loved it? I mean they LOVED it! Meagan was so great to help with the little boys. We stayed for almost 3 hours. Everyone was exhausted when we left - and they haven't stopped asking when we can go back - even now, a week later, they are still asking at least once a day.
Next, we had to run a few more errands - Costco (where we bought the most delicious fruit tray - we ate most of it as soon as we left the store) and Target (where we found some Easter clothes - not my favorite, not matching, but something new to wear on Sunday).

We headed home and a few short names were taken during the drive. Brad was home when we arrived (which was surprising because I thought he was going to be fishing). Anyway, the kids played outside (I wish I could bottle up their energy and swallow it like a pill...I SO need it to keep up with them).

At 8:00 we loaded up and headed out for our final adventure of the day. The Ideal Theater here in town where we went to a long-awaited movie.



It started out a little slow, but by the time it was over I decided even I liked it. Everyone stayed awake for the entire movie (I was actually pretty surprised how many little kids were at the 8:30 pm showing.) And now the kids are asking when it will be out on DVD so we can buy it. It was a cute movie - so I'm sure we'll be adding it to our DVD collection when it's available.



So that's about it - our Friday fun-day - all wrapped up in one little package. We were all completely worn out - but I haven't heard "thanks mom" so many times in a long time. It was well worth every bit of energy (and every dollar) spent.


A fun day with my kiddos - my favorite! :o)

Friday, March 21, 2008

friday fun-day...

The kids were out of school today, so we decided to spend all day having fun. This is what they looked like half way through the day...


...do they look exhausted? They were. Me too. And there's a perfectly good explanation for Zach's dirty socks... We're just winding down and ending our day right now (at 11:00 pm).
Days like today don't come along very often - lots of fun for everyone
(except the Daddy who still had to work...poor Daddy.)
I'll share more later about our fun-day...
but until then, remember...
"A person's a person, no matter how small."


(can you guess where we just were??)

Monday, March 17, 2008

new wheels...

Nope, not for me. I don't need new wheels right now...my old ones are just fine. But the kids, on the other hand, really needed some new wheels...and Brad was the first one to admit it! So Saturday morning we made a few arrangements and headed to SLC. We were hoping to purchase 16 new wheels...but we returned home with only 8. We did, however, order 4 more...and we're hoping to find an additional 4 within the next few weeks - hopefully before Spring Break!

Even though it was FREEZING cold yesterday, we let the kids play on their new 4-wheelers for a little while. No, we won't normally allow them to ride on Sunday (for those of you who were concerned)...but on Saturday we put the little (battery operated) 4-wheeler together for the little guys, only to find out that the battery needed to charge for 18 hours before they could ride...so they watched the big kids ride on Saturday and we felt like it was only fair to let them try out their new wheels when the battery was ready.
Meagan is normally SUPER cautious and conservative. I wondered how she would do with a little bit of power underneath her. She actually surprised me a bit and was really having a great time - she wasn't gunning it, but she wasn't puttering either. I was proud of her!
Josh is our little dare-devil. He was quick to find out just how fast that baby could go! (I believe Brad will be making a few adjustments in the near future...that baby goes entirely too fast!) Our day ended when Josh decided to get close and personal with the fence and hurt his leg a bit -- enough was enough (I know, that's what we get for playing on Sunday) and we all went inside to warm up. By the way, Josh is fine - the 4-wheeler is fine - and I believe the fence is fine as well.
Seth was having a pretty good time on his little 4-wheeler too. He's got a ways to go on the steering/"go" pedal pushing/general coordination area, but he had as good a time as the big kids did!
And here's Zach on his borrowed wheels (thanks Daxen). This little tiny 4-wheeler is the perfect size for Zach right now...but he thinks he can ride the big kids' 4-wheeler as well. I think he's going to be a lot like Josh - not scared of a big machine and willing to push it to find out just what it (and he) is capable of. That's not a scary thought - no, not at all.
So now the kids are more excited than ever for the snow to melt and the mud to disappear (though I believe there is a kid or two who wouldn't mind 4-wheeling through the mud) so they can ride, ride, ride. By then, they should each have their own set of wheels so they won't have to take turns. Grandpa isn't raising cows in his field this year, so he said they could ride out there this summer. They can't wait!!

Saturday, March 15, 2008

quilt...



Is this not a gorgeous quilt??




(click on the photos to see the incredible detail)






I really would like to win it.
Wouldn't you?
You can enter to win it by visiting this blog - Old Red Barn Co.
In another life, I am SO going to be a quilter...until then, I'll cross my fingers.
And if I don't win, I hope someone who reads my blog does! :o)

Friday, March 14, 2008

green cards...

No...not the kind needed by citizens of other countries...
I'm talking about cards of the "greeting" variety.
Since St. Patrick's Day is right around the corner, I thought I'd share a couple of GREEN cards.

This one is an online bonus from the March issue of PaperCrafts magazine. You can find instructions and supplies by clicking here.


This one is just a "for fun" card that happens to be pretty much all green.
And a funny little story (at least for my local neighborhood readers)...
About an hour after dark last night we got a knock on our front door. I was pretty surprised to see a police officer standing on my porch - an officer with a serious look on his face and a set of papers in his hand. When he asked for Kevin I almost burst out laughing. Kevin was the previous owner of our home - and apparently, he left some unfinished business here in town. I don't know what it was - but judging from what the neighbors have shared about him (and the mail I've received and "returned to sender"), I'm sure it was something really good, lol.
Happy Friday! :o)

Thursday, March 13, 2008

i'm not missing out again...

In February, the "kit of the month" on Lisa B's site was this incredible school kit.
I looked at it a few times, debated back and forth, and finally, at about noon on February 1st, I decided I was going to order four of them - one for each of my kiddos. You can probably imagine how disappointed I was to find the kit SOLD OUT! Sheesh, only a few hours into the day, and it was gone. I was so sad. Well, I just found out that the kits are available again for pre-order...so guess what I just did?!? I didn't waste two seconds...as quick as I could grab my purse to find my credit card number, I was placing my order. Sometime this summer, four of these babies will be arriving on my doorstep - woohoo!

sunshine & snow & summer layouts...

Two days ago it was almost 50 degrees, the sun was shining, the kids were playing outside, I was able to see patches of grass peeking out from under the mounds of snow in my backyard...it was a gorgeous day. Yesterday was cloudy, but it was still fairly warm (I even did a little bit of window washing & blind cleaning). This morning it's snowing. I think it's supposed to snow and/or rain for the next 3 days. Crazy. Mother Nature is crazy.
Last week I got a big box of projects back from Creating Keepsakes. Over the last few years, I've been able to help them with projects for some fun kits they put together. My pages were used for the packaging and/or instruction booklets included with the kits. I asked for permission to share these projects here on my blog, and permission was granted, as long as I shared a link to their website - where the kits are available for purchase.
Most of the kits I worked on had 8" x 8" pages...a fun size to work with. Also, for the most part, I was only allowed to us products that were included in the kits (with a few exceptions) - so pretty much everything you see is included in the kits.
These layouts were created using a "travel" themed kit. They are fun and bright - perfect for some older summer get-away photos! How old? Well, that baby is Seth...not Zach...so kind of old. Oh, looking at these pictures is such a contrast to looking out my window right now, lol!! :o)


I can't find this exact kit on their website, but I linked up the kit page...and I'll keep looking for this kit.

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

tagged...

I’ve been tagged twice now with the same tag…so I guess I should do it! I was tagged by Laura and Melissa to list seven random facts about myself. I did this once a while ago…but here are seven more random things you probably don’t know about me:

1. I like to eat my food from the outside in. For example, if you give me my favorite candy bar, a 3 Musketeers, I’ll eat off all the chocolate and then I’ll eat the nougat. If I have a slice of watermelon, I’ll eat around the edges and save the very center piece for last (that’s the best part anyway!). And if I’m eating a sandwich, I’ll usually eat all around the edges (crust first) before I eat the center. Meagan does this too…perhaps it’s genetic, lol.

2. I do my BEST cleaning when I’m in a bad mood. When I’m upset, I scrub and declutter and clean clean clean to work out my frustrations. I remember locking myself in the bathroom when I was really young…like 10 or younger…after getting upset with my parents. Guess what I did while I was in there? I got out the comet and I scrubbed the sink and tub. Dang, I wish this was a genetic trait...my kids are always mad at me...can you imagine how my house would sparkle if they cleaned every time they were mad or in a bad mood too?!?

3. I would love to go back to college and get a second degree. Not a masters degree...a completely different bs degree. If I did, it would be in English…totally useless since I would never want to teach, but incredibly interesting. (I earned my first bs degree in accounting way back when...) :o)

4. I am terrified of mice. I once spent quite a bit of time standing on top of a cooler on a houseboat in Lake Powell because I saw a mouse. The only reason I got down was because my dad told me he saw it swim away. I guess I was gullible…because now I’m pretty sure that mice don’t swim (although I’d like to believe THAT one did…because if I even consider the idea that I spent 4 days on boat with a mouse it makes my insides churn...literally.)

5. If anyone ever wants to get me in a good mood, all they have to do is clean out my car or scrub my bathrooms. That's all, lol. I LOVE clean cars and clean bathrooms…however, I don’t love cleaning cars or bathrooms. (Brad doesn’t usually read my blog, but maybe I should have him read this post, huh?)

6. One of my biggest regrets is not being a good roommate in college. I was self-centered and selfish and not the kind of friend I should have been. We did have lots of fun times, but overall, I wasn’t a very good roommate. Seriously, if I could live those few years over again, I would do things SO differently…

7. Lots of people assume that because I work in the scrapbooking industry, my own personal scrapbooks are up-to-date. That assumption would be dead wrong. I’m SO far behind…I’m not really stressed about it, but I am behind.

I am not going to tag seven people…but if you want to do this, you definitely should because it’s lots of fun…and please be sure to let me know if you do it on your blog! :o)

chelsea for michael's...

One part of my job with Making Memories includes creating scrapbook pages and projects for various stores. A few months ago, I was asked to create some pages for Michael's using the new Chelsea line.




You can see these projects (and lots more) online, along with the instructions and supply lists by clicking here.
I'm not 100% positive, but I think this line may be exclusive to Michael's. It's a fun, eclectic, kind of shabby-chic style set. I think it would be perfect for Heritage pages - and of course, it works great for lots of other themes too! :o)

Friday, March 07, 2008

a side order of chaos...

Okay, so today while I was cleaning up in my office, I turned on the latest episode of October Road. (have I mentioned how much I LOVE being able to watch real shows on abc.com? And by real, I mean anything that doesn’t consist primarily of cartoon characters or puppets. Yeah, I’m sure I have mentioned it.) Anyway, there’s a scene where two of the guys are sitting on a couch having this serious conversation about women. I thought it was kind of funny…and then the more I thought about, I realized how absolutely true it is…

Here’s the quote from the movie:

“Why do they get so mad? Furious, frenzy, freaked-out mad? Your basic male – his default emotion – Happy. Give him a meatball sub, a cold beer, 9 innings and any Bruce Willis film, where Bruce gets to fire a gun, and your basic male is happy. Eupohoric even. But the female? oooh….The female has to have everything just so. And whatever idea they wake up in the morning with in their head, if that idea…notion…goal, is not summarily achieved, it’s say hello to bedlam wrapped in mayhem with a side order of chaos.”

Except for the beer part, that could totally have been my husband talking. Is that sad? Am I the only one? I especially liked the image of the side order of chaos, lol. Only sometimes my side order is more like the main dish!! Seriously – why do women, in general, put so much pressure on themselves? Why do we HAVE to accomplish whatever it is we wake up with in our heads? Please tell me I’m not the only one who can see the humor AND the honesty in that quote…and then tell me how I can make my “default emotion” HAPPY, lol! :o)

P.S. There's some great music on this show too...I need to find out what it is...and get it!

Thursday, March 06, 2008

a joke...

...courtesy of Meagan.
If you have two U.S. coins that total thirty-five cents and one of them is NOT a dime, what two coins must you have?
Do you know? Remember ONE OF THEM IS NOT A DIME...
Well, duh (in my best 10 year old voice) - it's a quarter and a dime.
One of them is not a dime...
But the OTHER one IS!
Yep, I know - she's a riot - and she stumped Brad and me both! :o)

sunshine...

It's a gorgeous day today. The sun is shining and the sky is beautiful and blue. I guess that's why all of the neighborhood kids decided today was the perfect day to pull out the bikes and scooters.


Nevermind that it is only 38 degrees outside.


I think everyone is ready for spring!

{please note: neighborhood children do not actually have blurry faces in real life...only in blogland.}

Wednesday, March 05, 2008

mini album...

I mentioned this special Paper Crafts issue a few weeks ago.
Have you seen it yet? One of the projects I have in this issue is a mini album I made using the Noteworthy spiral journaling book. The pages in this little book are actually meant to be torn out and used as journaling blocks or elements on your pages, but I decided to keep it all together, and use the fun little papers as the actual pages in my album.
Anyway, you can see my project on page 76, but there's only the cover and one other page...so I thought I'd share more of the pages here.
{Please ignore the quality of the photos...as with most projects, I finished it in the middle of the night and had to get the images sent to the editors at PC by early morning. Late night + bad lighting = not great photos.}












Since I recently got the album back, I'm going to finish a few more pages. I'll be sure to share them here when I finish them. (but if you're wise, you won't be holding your breath...it may be a while.)

I'm sure you have already figured out how much I love creating mini albums -- there's just something so satisfying about having a little book that tells a story. I love it! I'm working on another fun one right now - I was asked by a cute friend [who runs a fun website] to participate as a guest designer and I'm having so much fun with the assignment. I'll share more about that soon!
We're all healthy and happy in these parts - hope you are too!! :o)