First Class layout!

Today was the first day in my digital scrapbooking class with Jessica Sprague. (if you haven't checked it out....she's amazing!) The class is completely an on-line class, so you can work at your own pace, but I have found that it is best to try and stay up with the class, as I get overwhelmed at trying to catch up when I fall behind everyone else. So for today I have completed my first assignment, and hopefully will be able to keep up with this group! (It's a level 3 digi class, so it moves pretty quickly.) This is my first class layout, and it really should have only took me around 2 hours to complete, but the tasks are so specific, that I had to go back and try and do it the way she was teaching it (rather than me doing it the way I've been doing it!)

The other reason it took me so long to finish, was that since Donavan & Nikelle were both home from school today, we realized that this would be the last holiday they would have until memorial day. We had planned to go to the zoo, but when we woke up to temps in the 30's and snow on the ground, we knew we needed an inside activity, or we were just staying home. So we decided to go to the Discovery Center at the Gateway. I really thought it would be much bigger than it was. I remember going to the Children's museum, and they had so many cool displays and activities. But this one, everything was within 2 rooms and it seemed like you could get through all the exhibits in about an hour. Doesn't exactly make the 8.50 for admission seem worth it! They did have another exhibit upstairs, but it cost another 3.50. But as you can see, I got into the fun of it all too. Carissa was starting to get tired, so we opted to head home and call it a day. She had the most fun playing with the pretend food. In fact she hauled around her little basket of food to each and every exhibit. (Notice the food in the row boat !!) And if someone tried to take it, she had a thing or two to say about it. (which is good, cause it's one of the first times I've seen her stick up for herself with strangers) Once we got home I started on my assignment, but had to leave cause we HAD to have some groceries in this house! How we went all weekend without food I'll never know!

We all had a great time today, and enjoyed spending time together. And surprisingly, we didn't have too many conflicts!! (And THAT is saying something!!) But tomorrow,

it's back at "normal". Andrew goes to work, after having 4 days off. Donavan heads back to school after having 10 days off! And Nikelle only had Monday, so it's not so hard for her. And I get to have my peace and quiet back (well if Carissa is quiet, I can have it!) So here's to a happy monday (well almost tuesday!)

Changes....

I got tired of my blog banner. I knew I wanted to come up with a cute little banner, but didn't quite know how to do it. I hunted around and finally found out how to do it!! Do you love it?? And since I just got adorable pictures of the kids, now I can enjoy them every time I post to my blog! Win win for me!

Nothing much going on here right now. Donavan's been out of school this week, but Nikelle was in, so we had to pretty much stick to home. Next year they will be in the same school (finally) and we can do something for spring break! I am signed up to take the next installment of digi goodness from the fabulous Miss Jessica Sprague! This is the third level, and I am so excited to start playing and learning! It's going to be an amazing 4 week journey, and I'm ready for it!! (Now if I could just get my valentine stuff put away!!)

Happy Easter

I didn't realize it has been so long since my last blog. I seem to be an all or nothin' at times. There have been times that I post 2-3 times in one day, and then I can go almost 2 weeks. just shows you how unpredictable I can be!

First off, since my last post, I took Nikelle shopping, and decided that I would NEVER find anything that would fit her properly. So with that in mind we stopped by the fabric store to look at patterns. She finally found a few that she would like (she's also thinking she needs a whole new wardrobe as she is going to start going to dances next month!) then we picked out some fabric. It has been years since I've made clothing of any kind. (well other than halloween costumes) and I must have been a bit out of practice. I did do one thing right, which was measure her first and add almost 4 inches to the bodice to make it fit her properly! (Now you get the idea of why nothing pre-made will fit her!) But I didn't factor in the hip width when I lengthened the bodice, so when I held it up to her, there was NO way it was going around her, and I still hadn't added the zipper! So back to the store to buy another yard! But once I got over that little hiccup, everything was smooth sailing. However I didn't notice until we were sitting in church that I had somehow managed to stitch the strap to the outside of the dress (instead of on the inside!) What can I say, except it was late, and we were watching a movie, so I was a bit distracted! But other than that, I think it turned out pretty cute. She was happy with it so that's really all that matters right?

Then on Saturday morning we woke Carissa up early and headed out for the city egg hunt. Remember last year I was 4 minutes late and missed the whole thing. So this year we were determined to be there on time. The whole family was out the door by 8:37 (which was a miracle in itself!) We got to the field, and there were so many people all surrounding the fence. Carissa who never is comfortable in large crowds was really having a hard time. We thought that the idea of picking up eggs/candy/toys would make her forget all all the people. When they finally let the kids go out, it was a massive rush and there was NO WHERE to go! So all the pushing and shoving finally got the best of her and she just lost it. (I couldn't really get ANY pictures after this one, cause the people kept crushing in!)One nice mom noticed that she was having a rough time and asked her son to put things in her basket. What a nice thing to do. But she was already on track to a full melt-down, so we just backed off the field and she calmed down fairly quickly! Pheww! I think I'll stick to having my own egg hunt next year....way too much stress on both of us to be there! Always good to learn from your experiences!

Sunday morning Carissa woke up way earlier than we expected (around 7:15), so there was no way we were getting the big kids up at that hour, so we started with Carissa and pretty much did the basket thing in shifts. One of the things that Carissa absolutely loved was her new build-a-bear bunny. While I was at the mall with Nikelle looking for shoes, we decided to build an easter bunny for Carissa, mostly cause I had 2 coupons and it only cost me $1.00. Pretty good deal if you ask me! (OK I couldn't resist the cute dress that totally matched the bunny!) She also got some new coloring books and crayons and the cutest littlest petshop farm animals. She was happy, and that was what was important. Nikelle got some new CD's she's been asking for and the movie"Enchanted". Donavan wanted one of the classic Metallica CD's, which he told me he "would be happy if that was the only thing in the basket". Well that wasn't the ONLY thing, but he did complain that Nikelle had more than he did! (I reminded him what he had told me, and then he was OK....well sorta! But now maybe he'll think twice before saying something like that!) I got Andrew the movie "Dan in real life". We loved it so much at the theatre we couldn't wait to be able to watch it at home! It has some seriously funny family moments in it. You'll especially be able to relate if you've ever had a family get together with more than 5 people! Seriously funny! Go watch it!

I managed to get some pictures of the kids on Sunday. I didn't even attempt to try for a family shot. We'll have to try for that another day. But I did manage to make a cute storyboard that I got as a freebie a long time ago from Pink Ink Studio. They do mostly photography stuff, but still a great place to browse if you want photo ideas. The quote at the bottom reads "My everyday Inspiration comes from little things" (even though 2 of them aren't so little anymore, and are both bigger than me....they are still my kiddos!) Donavan wasn't too keen on wearing a light blue paisley tie, as it isn't "his style", but for one day I WON this fight! And doesn't he look handsome? All right the hair cut is kinda gooney, but he really wants longer hair (which I support cause it starts to curl and lays flat on top....something I fought for years when he was younger!) and his dress code at school requires it to off of the collar and out of the eyes, even though the girls can have bangs down to the naval if they wanted. Can you tell I really don't like the haircut rule? But hey, it's only 2 1/2 more years of school right?

Hope everyone had a great easter!

The bathtub, the steeple, and spring teasing.

All right to start off with, I have told many that I am still bathing Carissa in her infant tub. It really is a nice one, seeing as it is not formed or molded. It has in incline insert that comes out. I still use it because 1. she still fits! and 2. it's MUCH easier to wash her hair when she lays on the incline vs. the big tub. But yesterday she decided to play upstairs. I couldn't figure out what she was doing, so finally went to check on her. And this is the scene that I found. I guess this really is the very best $16.99 I ever spent, cause it has 2 purposes....a bathtub and bed!

Something exciting happened today, that we have been waiting for for awhile. Cause up until now it has just been a building across from us. As I was sitting writing my earlier blog, I hear a noise outside my door (which happens alot since they've been working on the new chapel) and I went to take a look. I find this enormous flat bed truck with the steeple laying right on it! I guess that's how they do it! It was really fun to watch! And I can officially say that we will live across the street from the chapel from now on! Woo-hoo! It has been fun to watch the church go up, starting in October when they poured the foundation. And hopefully we won't have to drive 8 miles to church much longer! (I know that doesn't seem like very far....but hey...this IS UTAH!) And since the weather today was super extraordinary, I decided to get my hands dirty and start cleaning up the front yard. Didn't really matter to me that there is still a nice little pile of snow in the grass, but seeing as how the snow was finally melted from my flower beds, I really needed to clean that out (well mostly cause I didn't get around to it in the fall!) And what do I find when I clear away all the dead stuff.......? Promises of spring showing on my day-lilies and my columbine. I can't wait to see my clematis come back. I have this amazing clematis that has the most beautiful purple blossoms, but I've only gotten a few off of it. Hopefully this year will be better. Now I'm itching to get the garden planted and start seeing the plants growing out there. But that will have to wait a couple more weeks, when I can actually dig in the ground. We also took little Spooky outside for the first time today. She has been showing some interest in going outside, but as soon as I picked her up to carry her outside, she started climbing on top of me to get back in the house. Then once she was out there, she just crouched really low and was trembling. Hopefully next time will be a bit less scary for her. Didn't help that I bought her a collar and put it on her. Talk about kitten torture! She's finally accepted it and is scratching at it less! Tonight is American Idol....anyone else lovin the guys this season?

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.