Back in the saddle!

A couple of things, that I am happy to be back in the "saddle" with. One is scrapping again. I know I only missed one day, but it just feels good to get stuff done. And believe me, I am so far behind, I will NEVER be finished. (I still have the big kids' albums to do something with...none of that is digital of course, and that task just SCARES me terribly!) Got laundry done for the kids before the middle of the week, which trust me is saying something. And the last thing is that yesterday I decided I had made excuses long enough and decided that I needed to excercise! I don't think I've been this sore since drill camp in 1987! It's one of the few times that I REALLY regret buying a two-story instead of a rambler! Hopefully I'll see some results to show for all the pain that I'm in right now in a couple of weeks....but right now......OW!

I've also just discovered that my layout images are "clickable" so I think I'll upload smaller sizes so it doesn't take up so much space on the page.

So is anyone else's "clock" still messed up? I don't mean the one on the wall, but the internal one! And since everyone here is still "messed up" (well it doesn't really take DST to do it around here!) we decided to watch a video together last night. We had rented the latest installment of LDS film producers "Halestorm" which brought us the "Singles Ward". They did really well with that film and really haven't had much success since then. In fact when we were releasing our film, we were up against "RM" and unfortunately neither of us did very well. But Halestorm has continued to try and have a decent comeback. The latest film is called "Singles 2nd Ward". And can I tell you.....they finally captured some of the magic that has been lacking in their latest endevours. First off let me just tell you that when I read the description on the back, I thought it was going to be another LAME story. But we decided to give it a try (because hey, when our film gets out there SOMEDAY, I would hope someone would give our film the same!) When we started it, it wasn't with much enthusiasm, cause we just were expecting it to be so LOUSY, but they went back to the original filming style and formulas that worked so well for SW#1. One of the things that I LOVED about this one, is that they kept all the cameo parts out of it, and dropped the rock version of hyms and primary songs. It was awesome in the first films, but they overused it and it became old. So glad they didn't do it again. The other thing they did RIGHT, was they used experienced actors and kept Connie Young to a minimum (she played Cammi Giles) and it made the story about the new couple and not about them. If you get a chance to see it, I would totally recommend it! There is one scene that literally had Andrew and I laughing so hard we couldn't breath or even cry.........I won't tell you which one, cause I don't want to spoil anything....but any member of the church (or really any church that takes their kids) can TOTALLY relate to this one.....not just "singles"! *Gee I didn't think I had that much to say about the movie:)*


So here are the pages that I did yesterday (since I couldn't move AT ALL!) This first one is a picture of Donavan and his new guitar that he bought with his Christmas money. He is actually pretty good, and is taking a class at his school. The second one is a picture of my 3 kiddos laying in the grass. One of my few attempts at being "artsy" when taking pictures. I really like how it turned out, so I guess I need to challenge myself more often. Just seems like it takes so much more effort to set up the shot and then get them to cooperate! (yes that's the trickiest part!) The next one is of my sweet Carissa drawing circles when she was about 2 1/2. She won't do it anymore, claiming she "can't" and she's "too little"....but here's the PROOF! Off to create more today!

Nothin'

Yup...Nothin' to show for the last 34 hours, except a new found understanding of my Savior and a deep love that has always been there, just rekindled. The book was AMAZING! I simply just couldn't put it down and only slept when I knew that I would be a major grump if I didn't. But I still managed to read it in about 17 hours. The author takes the life of the Savior and fills in the blanks that are left out of the records. She gave Him a personality, not just a mission. The words she used and her descriptions brought tears to my eyes! (for over 300 pages!) Now I have a deep desire to read through the entire Ensign written about the Savior, and not fear the tears or emotion that is sure to come out. If you have a chance to read this amazing book, please don't pass it by! (And Jen you can borrow mine) It truly is an amazing story. I know I've said that, but I can't get over how beautiful it was!

New Book

I managed to get a few pages done yesterday. Then decided to start a book I picked up at the bookstore the other day. I was first drawn to the cover art. The painting was intriguing, and I had to pick it up and read the back. It is a novel about the Savior, "Master", told from the perspective of a young boy that is a bit older than Jesus. The story starts off when He is quite young (around 2 I guess) and I couldn't put it down last night. I didn't start reading until 11 and I FORCED myself to put it down when I had read 10 chapters! I love it when a book can draw you in. I didn't even look at the time when I finally turned out the light, but I REALLY didn't want to get up this morning, and slept in until Carissa was screaming for me at 8! With all the talk from the First Presidency about the Savior, I was excited to see a fictional novel written. I have such a hard time getting an understanding from the actual scriptures, and I'm hoping this will spark a desire that hasn't been there for awhile.

So here are my pages from yesterday.

The Color Game

I've been seeing alot of people doing this color game thing, and finally decided to go do it. The questions are really simple, and it was alot of fun! The results are a bit wierd for me, cause I like to have lots of color around me, not necessarily neutrals. Here are my results. (Almonds & Honey, and Tapestry & Mosaic) Go play the game and let me know your results!

Long day

My day started at 5:30 this morning when Carissa decided to test out the daylight savings time change a few days early. Definately not prepared for that yet. She did go back to sleep until 6:30, then Andrew got her up.....she went strong until 1:30 when she took a 3 hour nap. But neither of us got to nap, so we are exhausted! So I am forcing myself to stop and go to bed before I get started on another page, but wanted to post a couple before I head to bed.

More today

So in my quest to get more pages done, I decided that I needed to challenge myself a little bit. Not too crazy though. Basically just go through the pictures that I wanted to do something with, and actually do something with them. Pretty simple, but I love to have the stories told and the memories down for the record, somewhere, other than my head (which forgets things quite quickly!) . I don't know if you can read the text on the pages when they are resized, and I don't know how to make them "clickable". (anyone know how, please let me know!) the first one is about Carissa's temper and when she embarrassed me by screaming (at the VERY crowded pumpkin patch), and she still hasn't quite learned to quiet her voice. We are working on that one!

This one here is a picture that I took of Donavan and Carissa, (one year after the last one!) and talks about their love for each other and their special friendship. One I hope will be strong for alot of years, considering the age gap between these two.


This one here is a favorite picture of mine of my girls. Donavan won this crazy stuffed crocodile (I don't even know where it is anymore), and they were trying to get her to "ride" it (keep in mind she was only 4 months old at the time), and she just didn't want to have anything to do with it. But what makes it special is that we used to always call her tears "crocodile tears" when she would just cry for no reason, and if you look closely on her left cheek, there is a huge tear just waiting to rush down her cheek! I've been using alot of supplies from PH, and W&WF (mentioned in last post), but for these 3 pages, I forced myself to use stuff from all my supplies. The crocodile tears one, uses mostly supplies from FunkyPlaygroundDesigns.

Off to find more inspiration!

It's back!!

Well after getting all the tagging done, I finally found my mojo again after finding some fantastic inspiration at Prima Hybrid, and Weeds and Wildflowers! I am absolutely in love with Gina Miller's designs! Amazing stuff! She has designs at both shops, which is why I am double loving it right now! So here I am 3 days into March and I have completed 7 layouts! I've been trying to focus on getting Carissa's baby pages done, but then I get to feeling guilty about not doing anything for the older kids. So today I did one for Donavan. Funny thing is, is that when he saw me working on it, he said, "not that picture"...."PLEASE"! Guess what, hate to tell you, but this is the pay back for the dirty diapers and potty training of years past!!! So here is a taste of the last few pages I worked on. And Chrystal, HI! Good to hear from you again! HOpe things are going good. And funny thing is that a couple of months ago, I was feeling completely unqualified to take Jessica Sprague's digi 3 class, but now I think I can hang with the big girls! All right Jen, Chrystal....you up to the challenge????

Well the weather cooperated enough for me to take the van for a car wash! I looks so pretty when it's not covered in salt and dirt! Now if I could just get the construction company working on the church to sweep the street so all the dirt doesn't end up in my garage! I know I'm wishing for the impossible! But we were decieved by the sunshine and thought it was warm enough to take Carissa on a walk! Yikes, her hands were little popsicles! And she didn't want to come back inside....so we have to be super careful with her. She just doesn't have ANY body fat to help keep her warm, and she would love to stay out there forever! All I can say is that spring can't come fast enough around here! Besides, I am itching to plant SOMETHING, so that I can start having fresh veggies again! Hurry, hurry, hurry spring time! PLEASE!!