Thursday, March 30, 2006

A thought to share...

I'm busy with a few assignments today, but when I read this quote, I just had to share. (It came in a "daily thought" e-mail I get every day...love it!)

"Our busy lives force us to focus on things we do from day to day. But the development of character comes only as we focus on who we really are. To establish and accomplish those greater goals, we do need heavenly help." --Elder Russell M. Nelson

Have a great day! :) Thanks for popping in!

Tuesday, March 28, 2006

A layout to share...

So, I finally did a layout, Just Because -- no assignment, no page call, no nothing...I just wanted to! :) It made me happy!! It's super simple, but I had fun - it was nice to have absolutely NO guidelines and no pressure! :) The scan is a little crooked - but you get the idea!Zachary was the New Year's Baby at our hospital this year (Yes, I live in a town that's so small that the New Year's baby wasn't born until January 3rd!). He got lots of fun things (and so did I) - one of my favorites was this soft little stuffed ducky. I thought it would be the perfect thing to do a month-by-month photo with...so I am doing it! I used the newborn photo for his thank-you cards and this is his one month photo. I have to admit that orange and yellow are not my favorite color combo, but it works with the little ducky. :) The background stamping was inspired by the very talented loni stevens! And can you believe I dug out one of my old slide mounts -- I bought them forever ago when they were so very popular, and I think this might be the first time I actually used one!! (I'm thinking I might redo the stamping on it though, it's really crooked).
Anyway, thanks for popping in! :)

Sunday, March 26, 2006

A few pictures to share...

So my little brother and his wife and new baby are moving away this week. (kinda sad...but it's all good!) We all got together today after church for lunch and to take some pictures -- lots and lots of pictures. Baby B is SO cute -- love her little smile. I just thought I'd share a couple of my faves here. (Rustin & Karli...I'll get the rest to you guys soon.)

Friday, March 24, 2006

Growing SO fast...

After he fell asleep in my arms a few minutes ago, I laid Zach down in the recliner...he barely fits between the arm rests! whaaaa!! It seems like I laid him in there just yesterday and he could completely stretch out. Man, time is passing WAY too fast - it makes me a bit sad....trying to internalize every little moment...I just don't want to forget even one little detail...

Thursday, March 23, 2006

Cleaning out...

Trying to clean out a bunch of my older scrapbook supplies - getting rid of things I will never use. I don't know how I've accumulated SO much, but it's time to figure out a better system here, and I can't do it with ALL of this stuff! (I'm also feeling inspired by some of my fellow making memories designers and their beautiful studios - you can see them here, aren't they amazing?!?) I've got a long way to go - and several boxes ready to share with friends and family...and Meagan seems to think she has a use for EVERYTHING I'm putting in the give-away boxes, even if it's just to pose for a picture ("mom, take a picture of me with these words and you can put it on your blog, or do a scrapbook page with it!") LOL Anyway, hoping this coming weekend will be very productive and I'll have a somewhat organized studio to work in next week!! :o)

Tuesday, March 21, 2006

Welcome to Spring....in Utah!

You know, when I think of Spring I think of grass starting to turn green, tulips peeking up out of the ground, blue skies, budding trees...you get the picture, right? Well, instead - this is what we got on the first day of spring:



Yep, SNOW! Oh well...that's what we get for living in Utah! :o) At least it's all white and pretty again -- as it continues to snow today! Maybe by Independence Day the snow will be melted! ;)

Friday, March 17, 2006

A quiet moment....


Some people might think that with four little ones running around there is probably never a moment's peace in my life. Well, it's just not true!! There is one moment, almost a daily occurance, that is very peaceful and quiet. One moment when I can relax and think about whatever I want (which is often NOT to think about ANYTHING at all, LOL). One little moment when I can recharge my batteries enough to carry me through the rest of the day. When is this moment? Every weekday, at approximately 3:30 pm, that's when! When I load all three of the boys into the van and begin the 10 minute drive to the elementary school to pick up Meagan. During those 10 minutes, almost without fail, all three boys will fall happily and blisfully asleep (I figure they must be completely zonked, how else could they sleep with their little heads flopping around while they're buckled in their carseats) - and I sit in the front seat and reflect and enjoy my quiet moment until Meagan makes her way out of the school and to our van. Yes, I look forward to this moment every day and make the most of it! Heaven knows it won't last long! LOL

Thursday, March 16, 2006

A little thing...


It's just a little thing, to most people...but it made my day! :) I opened my PO Box this morning to find a key - you know, the keys that open the BIG boxes for packages?!? (This is always an exciting thing) I opened my big box to find a package from Gone Scrappin' - the adhesive refills I ordered YESTERDAY (now that is service)! ;) Anyway, I opened the package when I got home to find some extra goodies in the package - my friend Wendy Bird sent me a new dispenser after listening to my woes about my lost dispenser...what a sweetie! :) I know it may seem silly to be so happy over what is essentially a package of glue, but you scrapbookers understand, right?!? Seriously, sometimes it just takes one little thing to make my day seem so much better!! Thanks Wendy!

Sunday, March 12, 2006

Lazy Sundays...

I think I like being lazy on Sundays. I've spent the last couple of years serving in our ward as the Primary President. I was released just before Zach was born. Now I am actually keeping him home during our church block while Brad takes the other three kids. (I miss going to church, but the pediatrician insists that we have a much higher chance of keeping Zach strong and healthy if we keep him home as much as possible these first few winter months of his life. )Anyway, while I was serving in the Primary my Sundays were so full -- meetings before church, teaching during church, meetings and/or visiting after church. It was crazy, but wonderful too -- and our family was greatly blessed during that time, so I am not complaining.

But now, I am really getting into these lazy Sundays. I love having three hours to just hold Zach and love him and snuggle with him, and not have to do anything else! Right now he's lying here on my lap - happy and content, and oh so cute. I've been playing with a few photos of him on the computer - he has these pretty blue eyes, but I noticed last week that they are getting brown specs in them...I think he's going to have brown eyes like his Daddy and big sister. (Josh's eyes stayed blue, and Seth's are still transitioning to green). Since his days as a blue-eyed baby are numbered, I've been trying to get a good photo of them. Ah, love having time to play on a lazy Sunday afternoon!!!!

Thursday, March 09, 2006

It's a blizzard out there!

Seriously. I can't even see the street - it's snowing so hard right now. This is not such a great picture, but it's looking out my basement window into my side/back yard - kind of looks like my window is just filfthy, but it's not...it's SNOW!!! Don't get me wrong, I love snow. I do not, however, like driving in snow. I just got home from picking up Josh from kindergarten. I'll be so glad when half-day school is done and he starts all-day first grade next year! :)

Here's another OLD layout I'm sharing in response to robyn's challenge. :) DON'T LAUGH!! (please) It's super simple. I am pretty sure I made it to submit to a call for Simple Scrapbooks, for an idea book based on sketches. Obviously, it wasn't used...but I really liked those patterned papers. Actually, I still do!

Hmmm...for some reason, I'm really in the mood for hot chocolate now - I think I'll go up and have some of my favorite Stephen's (hazelnut) yummmy!

Thanks for popping in! :)

Wednesday, March 08, 2006

comment feature

Just realized I have no comment feature...trying to figure that out now.

OK, I think I fixed it.

Time will tell.... :o)

Sharing...


Well, since I haven't been able to participate in the challenges from Robyn and Amy, I thought I'd take Robyn up on her challenge to "show and share" some older layouts. Here's one that I haven't shared anywhere or used for anything...

...It's hard to believe this is Seth - Zach's almost this big already! Oh, where does the time go?

Tuesday, March 07, 2006

Playin' around

So we finally have an internet connection that is NOT dial-up....can I just say that I didn't realize how slow my connection really was until we got bluezone? I am loving it! I'm lucky that my brother is an installer for bluezone - he was very patient way up our roof with a huge long range antenna trying to get a signal (since we live way out at the mouth of the daniels canyon - which is basically far away from everything, including the host for the connection.) Thanks again, Tony! I wish I would have taken a picture of him up there....maybe I'll just go take a shot of the apparatus itself...

I've even been able to upload photos and send them away to be printed - I used shutterfly for the first time last week and got my prints yesterday. Love them! So, since I've found this new convenience I was playing around with some of my photos in adobe then sending them off to have them printed. Some worked great, others did not - but I have had fun playing! I thought I'd share a few of the goofy things I did with my photos :)
It snowed most of the night last night, so we woke up to a beautiful scene - everything bright and crisp and white, all covered with several inches of snow. This is my favorite part of living here - it's always pretty calm, quiet, and serene, but when you add the snow, it's just heavenly! :)

Monday, March 06, 2006

Two Months...

I can't believe my baby is already two months old....especially when I think that he was DUE only a month ago (what a surprise when he came over five weeks early!). He's doing so great though - growing so so terribly fast (a little too fast, if you ask me) and he hasn't had any of the problems that are so common with babies born so early. We are so blessed. :) So for his 2 mo. b-day he got to visit the pediatrician and get 5 (yes, darn it, five) immunization shots. AND, he was showing the early symptoms of RSV, so we've been visiting the doctor's office every morning, for the last 3 days getting his oxygen levels and respiratory rates checked. Saturday he had a double ear infection. We've gotten pretty good at giving him antibiotics (that orange kind tastes pretty good, in case you were wondering) and using the mask and nebulizer with albuterol. (I'm so glad we already had the nebulizer for Josh's asthma meds). I am taking him back in an hour to get everything checked again, hopefully nothing else is wrong - poor little guy. The last thing I want is for him to be in the hospital with this. So far, so good.