Friday, June 20, 2008

sleep is optional...

...or maybe I should say sleep is NOT an option. At least it hasn't been an option for me twice this week. Yep, two all-nighters in one week. I really am getting too old for those! lol Really, I'm not complaining - just explaining why I'm a little out of it today. I'm actually extremely grateful for the opportunities I have which allow me to work all through the night - it's such a blessing to be able to work from home so I don't have to juggle my kiddos or figure out how to "go without" so I can be here. I work some during the day (since that's when everyone else works - and therefore calls, emails, etc.), but the majority of my work is done after everyone else is sleeping - I'm able to contribute a little bit financially, but I'm also able to do everything any other SAHM does. The best of both worlds. So what if I lose a little bit of sleep, it's worth it!

I almost forgot I was going to share some of the other May KOTM projects I was able to work with last week. Here are a couple of cards using the goodies in the kit, and some ribbon from my stash.
They are both super simple - but I think they would be perfect for a younger person's birthday.
Oh - I just thought of another advantage to staying up all night. I've been able to listen to two books on cd (The Emerald and The Topaz by Jennie Hansen). And I've watched (well, mostly listened to) the first two episodes of season 2 of Army Wives. I didn't see the first season at all, but then I started hearing about it and how good it was. There's a great recap of Season one that brought me right up to speed. I am really liking the show...it reminds me how lucky I am - and how incredibly grateful I am that there are men and women who are willing to serve and families who are willing to sacrifice so much to allow their spouses/parents/children to serve our country.
Speaking of serving...I was so excited to have another opportunity to donate blood today. (I mean what's better - a half hour or more to myself to just sit/lie down, sweet treats, and all of it in the name of helping someone). Unfortunately, they didn't like my blood today. My iron was too low. Hopefully the next time they come around, they'll like my blood better!
I just remembered one final GOOD THING about staying up all night. My pillow is going to feel SO good under my head and I'm going to sleep soooo soundly tonight -- I can't wait!
Sweet dreams...:o)

Thursday, June 19, 2008

album challenge - week 3...

Challenge #3 went up today on the Making Memories blog. This week, we're adding photos to the pages we created last week.

If you want to go ahead and add additional embellishments and/or titles, you can do it now as well. You can read more, and see more finished pages here: MM challenge #3. There are several pages there - and here are a few of the other spreads I created for my album.







Next week we'll add the journaling and the finishing touches to complete the album!

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

eleven...

We now have an eleven year old living in our home! Meagan's birthday was yesterday...but it's really been a week-long celebration...and it's not over yet - she received some gift cards that she still needs to spend! :o)

Since Sunday was Father's Day, we thought the day could do double-duty and we celebrated Meagan's birthday too. Meagan asked for ham, funeral potatoes, and peach salad for dinner. Yum! For the last several years, she's asked for cheesecake instead of cake & ice cream for her birthday...this year she decided to have something totally different...Fruit Pizza! Yum again!

She decorated the pizza herself - she insisted that she didn't want candles, so she made an "11" with the strawberries - clever, isn't she?

We had already gone birthday shopping with Grandma the previous week - because she wanted to pick out some clothes and other fun girly things. But Grandma still had some surprises for her to open on Sunday. She was thrilled to get Limited Too gift cards from her aunts & uncles. And the biggest surprise of the evening was from Aunt Rhonda - tickets to see the live performance of High School Musical at the Capitol Theater later this summer.

We spent the evening playing baseball (or some funny version of it) in mom & dad's backyard...sometimes the best fun is totally unplanned!

On the morning of her birthday, I woke up before she did (which is a small feat in and of itself...she's an early bird and I'm a night owl...she almost always wakes up before me) and I left a note on the pillow next to her:

She loves McDonald's Bacon Egg & Cheese biscuits...we all like them actually...so this was the perfect birthday breakfast.
I wasn't surprised to find her awake when I returned home.

Next, she wanted to open her presents - of course! She asked me to wrap everything...even though she'd picked it all out and knew everything she was getting. It's still fun to open the presents, right?!? She was surprised to find some cash in her birthday card...so we'll have fun shopping some more later. :)
We spent the day enjoying the sunshine, had lunch at Mom & Dad's, and she even called Brad while he was working to ask him if we could go out for dinner to celebrate her special day.
She was supposed to have a softball game at 6:30, but we decided to skip it and we went bowling instead. We even ate dinner at the bowling alley. ;)
And no birthday is complete without a sweet treat at the end of the day, so we stopped at Sonic for ice cream.
As the day wound down, she asked if I would do one more thing for her birthday - watch a movie with her before she went to sleep. We put in "The Little Rascals" and laughed a lot...it was the best way to end her special day...her eleventh birthday!

Monday, June 16, 2008

not so fun...

We spent Saturday at a family reunion in SLC. I came home to find several e-mails from PayPal, letting me know that my transactions had been completed. WHAT TRANSACTIONS?!? Apparently, some smart hacker found his or her way into my PayPal account and decided to treat themselves to some things...namely my money - my credit - and left behind a big old headache for me. Lovely. So that's what I've been dealing with...and continue to deal with today. Just what I needed.

Friday, June 13, 2008

friday fun...

Holy cow...I can't believe another week is almost over - where is the summer going?!? We're headed out a little later today to do a little bit of shopping with my Mom - Father's Day, Meagan's birthday, and a few more family birthdays are coming up in the next week or two. Meagan has asked for money and to be taken to the outlet stores in Park City so she can pick out clothes for her birthday. I guess this means she's officially "pre-teen" now, right?

Before we leave, I wanted to share a cute little project I put together recently. Loni asked me to create a few projects with Lisa Bearnson's May KOTM - and even sent some extra goodies for the kids to play with. It's full of great elements and project ideas for the kids to create this summer (perfect for all ages - my kids range from 2 to almost 11 and they're all excited to play!). But before I let the kid have free reign, I got my pick of the kit. I created several projects, and I'll share them all, but for today, I wanted to share this quick little album.


The album actually arrived already put together - the pages are each a different (cute & fun) patterned paper, the cover is a heavy chipboard and it's already covered with the blue pattern you see here. I added some additional chipboard pieces, patterned paper, and I created the tag to hang on the spirals.


My idea is to let each of the kids create little scrapbook pages using pictures from various family activities over the summer. By the time the summer is over, we'll have a fun little memory book recording our summer...through the eyes of the kids. :)


If you like cute, fun, crisp, bright colors and images, you should definitely check out this kit for yourself or your kiddos. It was the May KOTM, but it looks like there are still some available for purchase. I have no idea how many, but I know these kits always sell out, and once they're gone, they're gone. Click HERE for more information about the kit.

I have more fun projects to share, but they'll have to wait until later...we have some shopping to do!

Thursday, June 12, 2008

album challenge - week 2...

For anyone who might be interested, challenge #2 of my month long challenge went up today on the Making Memories blog.


This week, the challenge is to create all of the background spreads for your album.


With all of the supplies you picked out last week and a couple of basic sketches, you can complete this challenge in 60 minutes or less!


Also, I think I have sent a referral e-mail (for the gift card program mentioned in yesterday's post) to everyone who has e-mailed me. If you e-mailed me and haven't received a response, please check your spam folder - if it's not there, please shoot me another e-mail and I'll send it again. I can't believe how many of you want to earn free money. okay, I can. ;)

And finally, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my friend, Laura!! If you have a second, check out her blog where you'll find amazing creations, cute kids, and lots of inspiration. And while you're there, don't forget to leave her a happy birthday wish! :o)

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

old & new...

Heaven knows I have more scrapbook supplies than I'll ever need or be able to use. I'm constantly getting new supplies - I love to have the latest and greatest, you know...;) Even though I am always adding to my collection of supplies, I hesitate to get rid of any of my old supplies - so I felt like the perfect candidate when Jenny asked me to create a page using old & new products for the blog this month. Here's a sneak peek at my layout.




If you want to see the rest, please visit the Making Memories blog.

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

in full swing...

...summer, that is.
I can't believe how crazy busy we've been over the last four days...and yet we didn't really do anything at all, lol. Here's a quick recap...mostly so I can remember later.

Thursday

The kids had been planning to have a lemonade stand for several days - they even took around little flyers to the neighbors. Who knew the day would turn out to be rainy and cold? They didn't care though - they wanted to do it anyway...and so they did.

We were actually surprised at how many of the neighbors came out to buy some lemonade, cookies, rice crispy treats, chips, and/or fruit snacks. One neighbor who has a daycare in her home brought all of her kids with quarters in tow - it was so cute. And of course, Grandma stopped by and bought lots of goodies...and told them to "keep the change." (the change was actually double what her total was...the kids were thrilled!)


We also went to the county library and signed up for the summer reading program. The kids have already colored in enough pictures (for minutes read) to pick a prize from the prize box...so I'm sure we'll be returning soon.


Oh, and we had some visitors -- in the form of 3 cute neighbor girls with some not-so-cute frogs (or toads) and lizards! The kids were excited. I stayed inside and watched out the window...except for the few minutes I felt very brave and went out to take a few photos...


Josh's game was cancelled due to rain...

Friday
We spent a lot of time out of the house on Friday. We went to the hospital in Provo to visit Grandma Vida and then spent the rest of the afternoon shopping...

Saturday
Of course, Brad always comes up with fun activities to do with the kids on the weekend. Unfortunately, his plans to go 4-wheeling were thwarted by the rain. Instead, he decided we'd go to the pool in Kamas. The kids were absolutely ecstatic. They swam for over 2 hours and were pretty much exhausted by the time we left. I wish our town had a rec center like that one...instead of a pony palace...


Some of the kids fell asleep on the way home from Kamas, so I spent a few hours working while everyone rested. We were planning on grilling dinner...only to find the propane tank empty...so we cooked inside - hamburgers and corn on the cob - and it tasted just as good - we must have been starving!

Zach and Brad decided we need to go for a ride in the mountains. Brad was wondering if the snow was melted up at the pond, so we all piled in the truck and headed for the mountains. We left just before sunset - we counted over 20 deer between Timberlakes and the gate to the pond. On the way back down we saw lots of deer, probably most of the same ones...but we did see one buck.



Of course, all of these photos were taken in a moving truck, through a dirty windshield...but I couldn't resist another photo of Timpanogos.




I love this gorgeous lodge/home we pass every time we go up to the pond...I wish I could see the inside.


We caught this trespasser on film.


Sunday

A pretty lazy day. The kids spent a lot of time making cards and pictures for Grandma Vida. We actually skipped church and went down to Provo to see Grandma in the hospital (I know....no lecture, please.) Then we spent the evening at Mom and Dad's visiting before they left (this morning) on their vacation.

Monday
We had plans to meet Kristy and her kids at the State Park at 10:00 am...but we were up late last night and not ready to be anywhere by 10 this morning. So I was glad when I called her and she said she would do some other things and meet us at noon instead. The kids played at the park and fed the ducks and generally had a great time together. It was nice to be able to visit with my sister...it doesn't happen very often.

After we left WMSP, I took the kids to Park City. I wanted to get the boys some shoes I'd seen at Osh Kosh on Saturday (when we were searching...in vain...for one of those plastic swimsuit covers that you have to have on babies over their swim diapers and underneath their swim suits...another story for another day...). We ended up buying some shoes and a few t-shirts at Osh Kosh. I really wanted to do a little more shopping, but poor Zach was not in the mood. So we grabbed lunch at Wendy's and came home.

I did take the Propane tank to get filled, so we grilled steak for dinner and I cooked shrimp and baked potatoes. Then we were off for the evening. Meagan had achievement days at 4:30 and then baseball practice from 6:00 - 8:00. Josh had a baseball game at 6:15.

The little boys were excited to get out at the baseball field...the headed up the hill, right onto the dirt track. They couldn't believe their luck when the train pulled into the station behind the ball fields. All of my boys love trains!


They also couldn't believe how many dirt hills there were to play on.




They were a bit distracted by the horses in the makeshift stables on the rodeo grounds. Zach kept saying "hi horsey. hi horsey." over and over and over. When one finally looked up at him and made a noise, you should have seen him jump - it was classic. After that, he wanted to pet one...so Brad helped him. Seth was more scared than he was trying to let on. I don't blame him. Horses are BIG!



And of course, we can't forget those green grassy hills. Perfect for running, tumbling, and rolling down...over and over and over again.


Oh, did I mention we were actually AT the baseball game? We were watching it the whole time...from the hill. Can you see Josh? He's running to first base.


Safe.

(I need to take my zoom lens next time.)

I did work on a few scrapbooking projects, a few house projects, and spent some time just hanging out with the kids...so that's where we've been for the last few days. Tomorrow we're planning another trip to see Grandma...hopefully she won't be in the hospital too much longer. We also need to start a painting project in the basement. It's nice not having to throw a silly thing like school in the mix of our busy lives right now -- I am so glad summer is in full swing!