A few flips!

We had a family night on Friday night and went to see BYU Women's Gymnastics Team take on top ranked Utah. The girls really enjoyed it. We found out that our Michelle T was bringing her daughter Makenna and a friend Bailey who are about the same ages as our girls. They joined us as well as Aimee W (a HS Senior) who was a top gymnast until she recently stopped due to back injuries. Taylor thought it was pretty cool that Aimee knows all but 1 of the BYU gymnasts. Our girls really enjoyed getting out to do something fun and seeing the gymnasts. Alyssa loved floor best. Jessic and Taylor both loved the bars the best although I think floor was a close second for Taylor. Taylor has been showing an interest in gymnastics recently and this has encouraged that. She was quite glad when we made the decision to pull her and Jess out of dance for financial reasons. She actually cheered and danced around the house. We hope to be able to put Jess back in dance but Taylor wants to give gymnastics a try. While we were watching the Cougars do floor routines, I noticed Taylor copying all their arm movements including a "strong finish". It was really cute.

100+ Babies ...

... snails that is. We have an aquarium and have had snails in it for quite awhile. We recently bought a new snail after other one died. When we were at PetSmart the worker who helped us mentioned that snails are asexual so we have to watch out for eggs... We didn't think much of it. We've had snails for other a year and never had eggs. But this snail was different. Within a week, the snail had gotten busy and laid 4 batches of eggs. We let part of one batch hatch and then cleaned the rest of the eggs off ... they were so tiny, but we could tell there were a lot of them. Now, a week later, my estimate of 30-40 snails has gone UP to at least 100! They are tiny still but the white dots cover the glass, rocks and plants of the tank. Alyssa has been taking orders from her classmates ... so we'll see what happens with them as they get a little bigger. In the future, we are making sure the eggs all get cleaned off before they hatch!

Credits: Fish are Friends by Britt-ish Designs and Thumbprint Snail by Scrappin' Cop

V-Day Party in 1st Grade!

As room-mom for Taylor's class, I get to help with the parties. Taylor loves having me there, I enjoy watching her interact with the other kids and Jessica LOVES when she gets to tag along. Here are the pages I did from her party on the 12th.


Yes - Taylor needs her hair cut ... :) thus the hair in her eyes all the time. Oh well, soon.

V-Day story about Tay. She chose the sweet tart conversation hearts. She was excited to read them. As she read them "hug", "kiss me" she would jump up and come give me whatever it said. I was sad when the extras ran out. I loved sitting in my office in the afternoon and she'd be eating an after-school snack (ok, don't laugh, I know it isn't healthy at all) and she'd bring a heart that said "HUG" in my office and give me the biggest hug! Then about 2 or 3 minutes later, she'd come running with 2 that said "Kiss Me" and give me a big kiss on each cheek. This happened 4 or 5 different days (different packs of candy). What a cute little girl she is!

Jessica's Birthday pictures - post 1

Jessica had a birthday party with her friends (which I have not finished scrapbooking yet) but she also had one at her grandma and grandpa's house. Then a few days later, she got a package in the mail from my sister, Nyla. So here are the pics from those two events. ... Can anyone tell what I did last night after I posted all those little entries on my blog? Notice the cake ... Jessica LOVES Jessie from Toy Story 2. She wanted a Jessie party and Jessie cakes. Unfortunately, Toy Story isn't exactly popular right now and even if you can find Toy Story stuff, it doesn't include Jessie. So, I found out that a grocery store in AF does photo cakes and I scrapbooked the top for a cake at home and a cake at grandma's using pictures of Jessica with Jessie at DisneyWorld. :) She thought they were the best cakes EVER!

Jessica's funny faces

When we did Jessica's poster for school, Steve took a bunch of pictures of her making funny faces. Here's the page I scrapped of her faces.

Alyssa's science project - scrapped

Just a quick post with the finished pages. ... I already posted about it, but wanted to share my pages.

Daddy's little bugs

The little girls LOVE to give daddy hugs on his leg. This started with Jessica when Steve was leaving for work in the mornings, but now it is a routine with Jess and Tay anytime Steve leaves.
One of the biggest advantages to Steve not working is he is much more relaxed and able to spend more time playing with the girls. This has especially been obvious with Taylor who has always been an EXTREME mommy's girl. She and Steve are really having more fun with each other now - its cute!

History ...

When I was in school, HISTORY was a word that I always rolled my eyes or sighed over. I hated history class, every single history class I ever took. I never enjoyed ANY of it. Maybe I just didn't have great teachers, I don't know. But history was always my LEAST favorite class. After I married Steve, I discovered that I don't hate history, I just hate memorizing dates, names and facts. I like learning stories and experiences. Back in 2000, Steve and I took a trip to Pennsylvania and went to the site of the Battle of Gettysburg ... and that is when I REALLY realized I love history. So, when we were in San Diego in January and Steve asked to go to the USS Midway that is docked in the bay in San Diego, I was excited! We really enjoyed the time we spent there. We were there about 4 hours and could have spent another hour.


Background paper comes from SOE GoodFellas - the first picture - the one at sea with all the sailors and planes on it comes from online and the one on the second page of the entire carrier I found on facebook. :) I didn't get a good shot of the whole carrier docked in San Diego.

Some cool facts about the USS Midway ... It was finished in 1945 and was the largest ship in the world at the time - too big for the Panama Canal. It is 1001 feet long and 258 feet wide. The flight deck on top is just over 4 acres and there are 2 elevators that can move two fully loaded planes at a time up or down 2 stories in less than 10 seconds. It has 18 decks in all, weighs 69,000 tons, has 1500 phones, housed a crew of 4,500 men including 225 cooks at a time, the anchors weigh 20-tons and there is 2,000 feet of chain. Each link of anchor chain weighs about 160 lbs. It spent as many as 327 days at sea at a time, it used 100,000 gallons of fuel A DAY, 260 gallons per mile (wow - I'd cry if my car got that kind of mileage). But the number that blew my mind was that they served 10 TONS of food daily, 13,500 meals daily includingg 3,000 potatoes and 1,000 loaves of bread! WOW! Now that's a grocery bill. This carrier served from 1945 (just after WWII ended), during Vietnam, led the evacuation in Saigon, was the first carrier in Kuwait in 1990 and was the flagship of the Persian Gulf during Operation Desert Storm. It later rescued 1,800 Americans from the Mt Pinatubo eruption before being decommissioned. An impressive history and it now means so much more to me because I was able to be there, experience it, meet a pilot who served on board USS Midway and hear many recorded stories of sailors and Navy pilots who served aboard that ship.

So, now, to history, I say COOL!! I hope my children will learn history that way instead of always hating it like I did. I hope I can provide many opportunities for them to experience history instead of just learning the facts. Alyssa does enjoy watching the history channel with Steve (or even by herself) so I think we are on a good path with her.

Enough!

Sorry, I've posted a lot of little rambling posts tonight. :) I'm done ... its enough. Time to give kids baths, feed one that is due home from dance any second, and help them finish putting away all that laundry! And then I'm going to have some crafting time!! hmmmm... will I work on the aprons I started or the scrapbook pages I started or the blankets that are waiting to be sewn ... :) Hope you all have a great evening and day tomorrow! Its almost Friday!! :)

An investment ...

Well, we did it yesterday!! Steve and I have talked for quite awhile about how it would really benefit my business to have yet ANOTHER printer to make things go faster in my office . We print addresses on somewhere between 5000 and 10,000 postcards a month (depending on extra projects I pick up) and it all goes through one little OLD printer that I have. I have two other printers, one is color and one is a high-speed double siding printer that does great for envelopes too. But, my little OLD printer handles all my postcards and it died last year. We looked at LOTS of different bigger, faster, more expensive printers and NONE of them could do what this little printer can do (they smeared, they jammed, they couldn't hold the thickness or the size of paper, yada yada yada ... ) So a few days later with no other options, we bought a refurbished printer EXACTLY like my old one to replace my old one. Its an HP but HP hasn't made them for years. When the new one arrived, the old one got stored downstairs in Steve's music room. This past week or so, Steve has done more research on a printer to replace mine - one that will hold more postcards at at ime or that will be faster. He found one for several THOUSAND dollars. That's just not an option for us (and its not even cost-effective if it was), but with all my new clients and some new options I'm working on putting into place, we wanted to do something.

So, we made the decision to invest in getting my old printer (the one that's been broken and sitting downstairs collecting dust) refurbished. I will have two little OLD printers exactly the same sitting in my office. :) Steve boxed it up and we mailed it off to the company yesterday and I am so excited!! This will basically cut in half the amount of time it takes Karianna and I to complete all the printing and in the long run, allow us to continue to accept new clients without delaying the postcards getting mailed. Hopefully in 2 weeks, it will be back, working like new again (unfortunately, I don't think it will be here in time for my "busy" week in early March, but it will be nice for April!) Yippee!!

Piles of clothes

How do we wear so many different pieces of clothing in one week? I swear we did laundry ALL weekend and most of the day Monday too! I was a bit behind, but seriously ... load after load after load! And yet, I only have 2 pair of jeans that I wear anymore and Steve has only 1 or 2 too! My biggest contribution was my sweatshirts. I wear them a lot and I have a lot of them. I often wear them more than one day, so I pile them on the end of my bed for another day. But I had gotten to the point where they were all piled there so they all had to be washed (literally about 8-10 hoodies). And then there is the girls ... seriously do there wear 3 outfits a day? Anyway, last night at dinner, the "laundry" piles got brought up. One of the ladies recently heard an organization "expert" speak. During some Q&A, my friend asked what the lady does with her clean clothes. The answer: dumps them on her bed until she folds them that night. Isn't that what we ALL do? Mine get piled in hampers at the end of my bed until the girls put their clothes away and Steve or I get to ours. But last night, it was about 6 loads worth of clothes and that doesn't include the 3 or 4 loads that actually got put away on Saturday and the 2 or 3 loads of towels, sheets etc that had been put away too. Where does it all come from? With all the technologies we have today, can't there be one that hangs up or folds clothes and towels as they come out of the dryer? That's a dream come true in my book! Note: Rather than go to bed and ignore the clothes and even over watching the BYU Basketball game, I put away all of mine and Steve's clothes, and folded all the girls' clothes so they can easily pu them away! Proud of myself for not just going to bed ... this time. :)

Chatter, chatter, giggle giggle!

There must have been something in the snow that fell last night because my little two have been ON FIRE all day. Jessica came home from school chattering and hasn't stopped yet!! While she at lunch ... chatter. All the way through gymnastics ... chatter, chatter, chatter! While she played this afternoon with friends ... chatter. Even when she hurt her foot and was crying, she still wanted to chatter about how she did it and why she did it and where she was going and what it felt like and "member that time I got that other ouchy?". She has just chattered all day. It makes me laugh but it also overwhelms my brain! I NEED a little quiet so I can think once every few minutes. Then there is Taylor, she came in the house giggling. She giggled while she put her back pack, shoes and coat away. She giggled when she showed me some stuff she brought home from school (glurch, I think is what its called all though I've heard multiple names for the mix between slime and playdough), she giggled while she made the glurch into funny shapes from baby dresses to socks to pockets, to tunnels. She giggled while she did her homework. She giggled hysterically while she dried the pans ... she discovered the "funny house" mirror effect on the bottom edges of the pans making her face small and big in weird proportions. She even giggled while I was forcing her to eat the first bite of cantaloupe (she didn't giggle when I made her eat a second much bigger bite ... that brought tears of course -but she did eat it before I made her mac n cheese for dinner). I love to hear their chatter and giggling no matter how endless it is even if sometimes I get to the point where I need it to stop for a bit. :)

My emotional battle ...

I'm very grateful for a husband who encourages me to take time out once in awhile. Tonight, a bunch of the ladies in our neighborhood went out to Rubios for dinner and then to a movie to celebrate Michelle's birthday. I wanted to go, to get out and to celebrate with Michelle, but I wasn't sure I should splurge or if I was really in the mood to go. But I knew what Steve would say if I stayed home ... go have fun, you deserve it. So I went and I'm glad I did. Thanks for a fun night out ... Rubios for dinner, yummy cake, chocolate covered strawberries (my very favorite treat!!), a mindless chick flick and great company! I love you ladies!

As we've been going through this tough time, I've realized its harder to be social. Although I'm usually glad I went, (whether its a girls night, double with friends or a family gathering) it is definitely an emotional battle for me. Sometimes I feel depressed and would rather crawl back in bed. Other times, I want to be wreckless and forget it all - go be frivolous and care free instead of debating about even the things I normally considered a "need". And other times, I just sit and cry. I'll admit, sometimes I'm even jealous or flat out ANGRY at others. But most of all, I just feel like I'm not myself. Its hard to be as cheerful and easy going and upbeat when that's not how you feel inside. Its hard to not feel like a drain on the conversation and its hard to feel like I have something to contribute. Often, I want to fly under the radar and be a fly on the wall. But most of the time, I just want to avoid the risk of falling apart. For example, at church on Sunday, a friend asked a casual greeting ... "hi, how's it going?" and the falling apart, crying fest started for me. I'm sure she was totally thinking, "wow, didn't mean to open the flood gates." :) Or someone asks a simple question like "what have you been up to lately?" and I have to say not much, even though my honest answer might be any of the following: "Trying to hold it together" or "so excited because I bought this great gallon of milk the other day!" or "Cried about a dozen times so far this week, screamed about stupid things too many times to count, ..." Sometimes, coming up with an appropriate and yet honest answer while I control my emotions is tough.

Its all very frustrating for me ... I'm one who likes to be in control of things and especially myself so this depression/rage/bawling basket case, is just not comfortable for me. BUT, I am so grateful for friends who I can hang out with and just stay a little more quiet than normal, be a little more mellow than normal, maybe say a little less or sometimes unload and dump on and they still love me and want me around. So to my friends, I say keep inviting me to hang out but understand if I/we don't join you, I say don't give up on me because I need you right now, I say keep asking the simple questions and hopefully, I'll have honest happy answers to give you, but be patient with me if the answer isn't what you expected. But most of all, I say thanks! Thanks for the little things like a soda and popcorn at the movies, for giving me a hug when I fall apart at church, for inviting me to do things that take my mind off of things, for letting me be a little quieter than normal, for letting me talk when I'm ready, for being excited about Steve's interviews, for reading my blog (as much of a roller coaster of emotions as it is) and knowing what I've been up to even before you ask the question and for making comments on my blog, sending me emails or notes on facebook and letting me know we are loved ... thanks for being my friend!

Happy Birthday!

Just wishing a happy birthday to one of my neighbors and dearest friends! Michelle and I have been friends for over 10 years now. So grateful that my husband and her husband ended up working together and that we all chose this neighborhood for our homes. Happy Birthday Met!

The crafter in me ...

.... is alive again!!

Seems like the last 6 months or so, that I haven't really done much in the crafty area - other than digital scrapbooking. That's unusual for me. I don't consider myself a talented crafter or overly creative in anything that I do, but I enjoy doing a lot of different things and I'm pretty good at copying what others have done. :) I've done crocheting edges on baby blankets, cards, scrapbooking, toll painting, ceramics, stamping, jewelry and lots of other misc stuff. I don't think I'm alone in saying that I'm really good at starting projects, just not as good at finishing them. I have a craft room FULL of unfinished projects. I think I had hit a stale mate ... with all the stress in my life, crafting was less important to me. It seems trivial and I just didn't have the energy or desire to finish anything.

A weeek or so ago, a friend of mine from college invited me to do crafts at her house - along with a bunch of her other friends. I hesitated but decided I needed the time for me, time to do something that wasn't required of me, time to just get away from my stressful life and part of me just didn't want to be responsible, stay home and work or do housework or even be mom for that two hours. So, I went. It was Friday morning/early afternoon.

Thursday night, Steve had commented on the fact that I start a lot of projects but don't finish many. It kind of made me mad. So, going to my friend's house I kind of had that in my head. Meredith had found some cute little trinket bags online so that's what we were making. I thought my girls would like them so I made one for each of them plus one for their Leapster and its games. I chose to use some fabrics I bought at Christmas to make aprons for my girls (another project I had plans to do, but never even started). I came home from my friend's house with only one of the 4 bags done.

When I came home with only one of my 4 bags done, I was frustrated and didn't want to show Steve. In a way it made me mad that he had called me on the fact that I don't finish my projects, but in a way, I knew he was right. So, after I got home, I spent the afternoon finishing all the sewing on the bags and go them as close to done as I could. Then Friday night I bought the last little piece I needed to finish them. Saturday morning, I got up and finished them. I was pleased to have them done. Of course, Friday afternoon and night I also started on those aprons I had wanted to do for Christmas... you know finish one, start at least one more! :)

Anyway, I'm in a crafty mood now. Crafting is my "out", its my way to let EVERYTHING else go - the mess in the house, the kids, my responsibilities with my business, all the tangible things I should be doing. But its also one way I can escape the stress in my life, the depression I feel when things don't go the way they should, the unfulfilled expectations of doing everything, my self-doubts, even my frustrations at not being as good of a mom as I want to be ... EVERYTHING just goes away and I lose myself in what I'm doing. This coming week is a bit slower for me with my business, so I'll probably spend a lot of time working on misc projects. I'll share them with you as I work on things. :) But for now, after all my rambling, here is a picture of the bags I did for my girls. All the bags have a lining that matches - the polka dots have stripes, the stripes have polka dots and the flowered one has a bright yellow lining. They turned out cute. The girls like them so they are happy.
If you want instructions on how to do them, my friend got them from this Amazing Mae's blog. However, I did find this other blog had some helpful ideas on them. I kept mine simple with just cute fabrics so I didn't have to design the fronts. My only comment: make sure you don't put the eyelet/grommet too far from the top. It makes it hard for the kids to get the carabeener hooked in. Mine are learning.

Thinking about all this and writing this blog, I've realized that for me, crafting isn't as much about the finished project as it is about the way I feel when I'm doing the project. I enjoy figuring out how to do it and working on it. I think that's why I often don't finish something. If I don't finish it during one setting, and I'm close, and know I could do it, the challenge is gone and so going back to finish it later isn't very fun. I realize I need to focus on the feeling of completing something is important and its fun to see my girls or whoever the project is for enjoy the finished project, so I'll work harder on finishing things. Thanks Meredith for the craft day!

Misc stuff

I am handling things better lately. I think a big part of it is I am finally just turning it over to Heavenly Father and relying on faith that it will be ok and accepting that I don't need to know when or how. Don't get me wrong, I'll probably still have a melt down (who knows, tomorrow I could be crying again), but I feel better about things recently. I am taking more down time and time for me lately, and that helps. I have been really trying to spend a little more time with the girls, plus scrapbook a little every day, read my scriptures and work out. The knowledge that tax returns will be coming in a few more weeks to help with the bills that are accumulating is helpful too. :)

Working out again ... Steve and I decided it was time to work out again, especially since he's home and we have the equipment in our basement. This is our 3rd week. We managed all 4 school days of week 1, 4 days last week (one I just didn't sleep well so we skipped the work out) and 2 so far this week! I'm really proud of us. Now if I could cut out the junk food, I'd probably start seeing a difference. But at least I feel better a lot of the time (in spite of the sore muscles from working out) and I'm not gaining weight. I know it won't be too long before I start seeing the difference.

7 Girls around my house!

Today, Alyssa had two friends over ... and Jessica had one ... and Taylor had one too! That makes 7 girls between 10 and 5! It was fun to have them all here even if they were a little noisy and messy at times. I'm glad my girls like to have friends over to our house. I'm glad I'm home so they can have friends over. And I really am glad when my girls are happy!

Alyssa has a Princess Club. They make crafts and do other things ... all organized and created by her. She rarely if ever asks me for any ideas or supplies or permission for that matter :) to make the crafts they make. They normally meet on Wednesday afternoons, but she got her "princess club" hosting privileges revoked last week and she really wanted to have a Valentine's Party so she finally got to do it today. There are 3 or 4 girls that come when they can. Alyssa is such a nut about clubs. She writes bylaws and if the girls aren't getting along makes them sign friendship contracts. Not sure where she gets all of her ideas but it makes her happy, and that makes me happy. And the girls in her club are all such good girls ... and such good friends to Lyss ... and that makes me really happy too.

Whoever said Taylor is shy? Quiet? ... Laugh out loud at that statement now. I can never get that kid to be quiet anymore ... she constantly wants to tell or ask me something. When she plays (even by herself) she talks and sings and makes noises. And she always wants to play with friends (although she does still DEFINITELY prefer playing at our house to going to her friends' houses). I'm proud of my little talker! Thinking about how she has overcome her speech issues, gives me hope that someday she'll eat a normal meal instead of go-gurts, chips, crackers and frozen peas!

My little ham ... Jessica ... I just did a post about her not to long ago for her bday, but didn't want to leave her out. She asked me today if clowns are funny or scary to me. I laughed and said funny. She said "Why ... cuz they make funny faces like this?" and screwed her little face up into a face that would have rivaled the best clowns! I just had to laugh!

Getting ready for the ball...

Ok, so call me a nerd or silly or girly or weird ... and I'll take it. I was so excited about this formal ball. I haven't dressed up in formals since my freshman year in college when I went to a couple of dances. It was fun to get all dolled up! Big thanks to Dani for the hair products, Kaelene and her teenage girls for the beautiful dress they loaned me and to Karianna for the shoes, necklace and help in the final touches of my hair. :) Also, thanks to my little girls for being so excited about my dress, shoes, purse, necklace, hair and even my nails. They are such girly girls, its fun! And biggest thanks to Steve who played drums in the jazz band (the Buzztones) at the ball so that we got in free! :) The ball was a fundraiser benefit ball for Haiti organized by Healing Hands for Haiti, an organization that has been working in Haiti with medical needs including prosthetics for over 20 years. It was held at the Provo Marriott and included white and milk chocolate fountains and two bands during the night.

Pics at the ball are yet to come, but here are the pages I did from getting ready. We actually went to dinner in casual dress so I put my dress on here at home for just a few minutes to show the girls before my friend Meredith picked me up to go meet our husbands who were already in Provo doing sound check with the band.

Grateful for my friends!

I am so grateful for the many friends I have and all the blessings I receive because of them!! Usually the blessings are less tangible and not edible, but I'm loving these! So I had to post what came to my house today ... thanks Lisa and Michelle! So yummy!!

I had already eaten one of the brownie and chocolate suckers before I thought to take a picture! :)

This cake is what's inside the cute box above ... the picture doesn't do it justice!

And this sugar cookie was to die-for! It was one of those super soft yummy ones!

Sorry to all my friends out there ... I'm not the baker that these two are, so you'll just have to hear my heart ... I truly hope you have a very Happy Valentine's Day weekend and may the love you have for your spouse, family, friends and life in general grow! AND may you feel the love that I have for you!! Love you all!

My drummer!

I love him, I love him, I do!! He amazes me, day in and day out in all that he does, and then he goes and drums and drums and drums! This weekend he has two gigs with two different bands. Tonight, he is drumming in Flash Point - his normal rock band. They are playing a gig in Spanish Fork at the Deerhunter. I didn't go with them ... too much to have a sitter for two nights.

So, I stayed home and scrapbooked these pages from some of his past gigs using a new collaboration kit called Dude. It will be available Monday at http://www.stufftoscrap.com/ The first two pages are using Scraps of Ellay's kit and pictures of Steve's band trying to find a good group shot of them for facebook and fliers about their gigs (these were actually taken last July at the Deerhunter where they are playing tonight).

The second two pages are using Kat's portion and are with even older pictures from Feb '09. I have looked for the "right" kit to use for these pictures and when I saw these, I LOVED them. They were exactly what I'd been looking for! :)
Tomorrow night, he is drumming with the Buzztones - where he is the subsitute drummer. Buzztones is a 20 piece jazz "big band". They have trumpets and the works to be able to play Glen Miller and some of the other amazing jazz music! I'm super excited about that ... but you probably already know that. They are playing at a Haiti Benefit Valentine's Ball! Its a formal event so I have an excuse to borrow a dress and get all dressed up! I can't wait. I'll take pictures and post them on Sunday or Monday!!

Happy Valentine's Day Alyssa!

For Valentine's Day, Alyssa's teacher did something special instead of just a party. She asked all the parents to write a letter to/about their child. The teacher will read the letters to the class and let the other students guess who it is. And its a surprise. I think it is a neat way to highlight the students' abilities and attributes and point those out to the other students. Steve and I wrote Alyssa's letter on Tuesday while we were out running errands. I love having him home (wish he was getting paid, but its nice to have him around)! Anyway, I really appreciated his help and insight with the letter.

Happy Valentine's Day to my oldest little girl (who isn't so little anymore)!!We were so excited when our first daughter finally arrived. From day one, you were strong-willed. You were always interested in things going on around you. No matter what was in your way, you climbed to what you wanted. At an early age you showed your love of music and moving and dancing to music. Your creativity shows in all the projects, crafts and activities you do.

You are a very caring girl. You show compassion and love for everyone and everything. We appreciate when you help with your sisters and around the house. We love all the little things you do like the birthday present for your sister. It has been fun watching you develop your dance abilities and we look forward to your competitions.

You are a smart, driven girl who has the potential to achieve great things. However, remember you are still young and have many things to learn and experience. Always be teachable and continue to love learning so you can excel now and always.

We love you Alyssa and are very proud you are our daughter!
Love,
Mom & Dad

Jessica's Spotlight at Preschool

In Jessica's preschool class, they spotlight the kids on their birthday. Since Jessica's birthday fell on a weekend, they did it on Thursday before the long weekend started. She was SOOOO excited about her poster. She helped me choose pictures to print and then after she went to bed on Wed night, I laid it all out. It was fun to do layout her poster, cut it all and mount it on cute papers - something I haven't done for awhile. Here are the digital pages I did tonight of her spotlight.
Credits: "Her Royal Highness" by Britt-ish Designs

My baby is 5!

Jessica turned five years old yesterday. She's my baby ... and she's FIVE!! Where does time go? It doesn't seem like that long ago that I sat on the front porch with Steve and told him I was expecting her (she was a surprise). We weren't quite ready for her (Taylor was only 19 months old when Jessica was born), but she came and she has been such a blessing to us!Jessica LindseyBorn February 7, 2005
9:49 pm weighing 9 lbs 5 oz
Jessica is our Valentine baby - born just a week before, she has always just been easy to love and loving to others. She sees her church nursery teacher (from 3 years ago) and runs to give her hugs. She sees her preschool teacher from last year and gets so excited. She just LOVES everyone.Jessica is a happy little girl. She's just fun to be around. She's outgoing and friendly and funny! She has always entertained us with her funny faces and sounds.A few of her favorites:
Candy: Starburst
Food: Mac n cheese or hot dogs - although she will eat almost anything and loves sushi!
Color: she loves them all!
Movie: Tinkerbell, but she LOVES Jessie from Toy Story 2
Best Friends: Her sister Taylor, Paige, Tess and Aly
Favorite thing to do: PLAY with friends. She really loves to be outside in the summer. Oh, and she LOVES makeup!
When I asked her what makes you laugh, she responded "MAKING FUNNY FACES!"A little more about Jessica ... Jessica sleeps on the top bunk. She does not like a light on, but likes the nightlight. She likes to listen to music when she sleeps - especially Disney music. She wakes up in the mornings very happy and wants to play. She goes to preschool 4 days a week at Eaglecrest Elementary School. She also takes gymnastics from Miss Heather. She was taking dance at Alpine Peaks until we recently pulled her out (due to Steve's job situation). She loves to ride her scooter, make believe in her kitchen, play games, work puzzles, dance, practice gymnastics, play on the swingset, help mom or Karianna, give her daddy hugs on the leg, make funny faces, be silly and just about anything that makes her feel like a big girl. She loves to learn and knows all the letters and sounds they have worked on during preschool. She can count to 30 with no problem, write her name and even write her sister's names. She is very easy going. If she doesn't get her way, she's ok with that. She loves to sleepover at Grandma and Grandpa's house and loves seeing her cousins. She enjoys fast rides at amusement parks and ones that spin you all around.I love how happy she tries to make me and others around her. I love her laugh and her smile and all her different funny faces. I love when she gives me big hugs and kisses just because. I love that she likes to be near me and help with whatever I am doing. I love that she loves to learn, even if it means she is growing up too fast! I love that she can remind me not to be grumpy and remind me to focus on the little things that make life great! Jessica just makes me happy and I feel so blessed to be her mom!

Digital Scrappers - Blog Train!

As part of being on the Creative Team for Scraps of Ellay, we have started a new blog "CT Stars of Ellay". To kick off the blog, we are doing a Blog Train! FREEBIES!! These aren't just an element or paper per blog, we're talking mini kits (4-8 elements, 4-8 papers) and FULL BLOWN kits with LOTS OF STUFF plus a few Quick pages. FREE!! I've done 3 spreads from it.

If you digital scrapbook, you will want to check it out. If you haven't done a blog train before, you start with the first blog and download the freebie. Then you go to the next one and download there. (Leave some "love" along the train in the comments). Hope you love it! You'll see more sample pages throughout the train! Start by CT Stars of Ellay blog.

Oh, and here is a preview of the stuff you'll get!

Some more old pics ...

Was looking through old pictures that I haven't scrapbooked yet ... trying to get some inspiration and creativity and had to laugh at these of Taylor and Jessica. They are from September 2007, but haven't been scrapbooked and like I said, made me laugh tonight ... something I needed. Wasn't sure what title to give the pages ... Double Trouble or the one I went with. I still may change it. I always love looking at old pictures of my kids ... wow have they grown up. My baby turns 5 on Sunday!! CRAZY how time flies. Credits - Rachel's Room by Scraps of Ellay

Inspiring friends

I want to share a story about a friend of mine from high school. Her name is Dana. Dana was raised Catholic, went to church every Sunday, believed in God all her life. As an adult, her kids were attending a preschool at a local church so they attended there on Sundays ("flew under the radar" - as she put it). She is a good person but as she says, she didn't always put God first in her life or even include God in her life on a daily basis. She had a life changing experience that has changed all that. Her story inspired me and I want to share parts of it with you (I hope I get it all correct). Last May, Dana got sick. At first it was diagnosed as the flu and a kidney infection (and dehydration) so they put her on an antibiotic, gave her fluids and sent her home. But after a couple more days, she was readmitted to the hospital with pneumonia, kidney failure and liver failure. The machines did 60% of her breathing for her. The doctors couldn't figure out why her body was shutting down, but gave her less than a 10% chance of surviving if she didn't have a complete blood transfusion immediately. After being in the hospital about 24 hours, she had 80 pages of "charts". She was moved to another hospital and the doctor there suspected that her symptoms were advanced stages of Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever - (from a tick - despite the fact that nobody ever found a tick). He changed her medication and she began to recover. She spent 10-11 days in the hospital and lost 30 lbs in 2 weeks (and she's always been petite so she didn't have it to lose!). She spent several more weeks recovering at home. Through all of this, she was blessed her family and by a very supportive church who has loved her and prayed for her, brought meals, visited her, and created a testimony scrapbook for her. It has taught Dana to turn her life over to God and to believe and trust in Him for all things. It has taught her to view coincidences as God's little miracles. It has taught her to truly put God first. She has started attending a Bible study group at her church - despite the fact that she felt inadequately prepared to be there (didn't know where all the different books were and hadn't studied it much in her life). She has realized the power of prayer and the importance of prayer ... not quoting scripture or being perfect in her prayers, but in real, sincere, heart-felt prayer.

She shared all of this on a local tv show that focuses on faith promoting stories recently. She and I "chatted" online the night before her interview. She was so nervous. She has always hated public speaking, even doing class presentations back in high school made her nervous. But she said she was doing it with fear but with God. I am so inspired by her faith, her testimony of God and of prayer and the strength she has gained from putting God in her life daily and putting her trust in him.

I am so very grateful for the faith and testimonies of my friends and thankful for the inspiration their faith can be to me. As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, I hear the testimonies of other members of my church on a regular basis - during lessons or talks given at church (we don't have a paid clergy so we are all called on to teach and give talks), messages from visiting and home teachers, even talking with friends on a regular basis and I see their testimonies through the things I see them do, through the stories I hear of their famlies, etc. But I don't hear the testimonies of my friends from other faiths as often, probably because I am not around them as often (my area is very predominantly members of the LDS church) and I feel truly blessed to have heard Dana's story and testimony. As members of the LDS church, we believe in some things that other Christians do not believe in - the Book of Mormon as another testament of Christ, the blessing of eternal families through our temples, living prophets today on the earth and priesthood power to name a few. While I am willing to share those beliefs with anyone interested (feel free to ask me or visit http://www.lds.org/), I am grateful that despite our differences, we can all share our belief in God who loves each of us, our gratitude in our Savior Jesus Christ and his sacrifice for us and in the power of prayer. I am grateful we can all feel His peace and love. I am grateful for my own testimony of the truthfulness of the Gospel of Christ and how much I grow because of the testimonies of others. I am grateful for the testimonies of my friends because they lift me up, inspire me and help me be a better follower of Christ on a daily basis.

Thanks Dana for your friendship, your inspiration and for sharing your testimony and story with me! So glad we have facebook to get us back in touch. I didn't realize how much I've missed you until I heard your voice on that video!! I never would have survived that first year or two in NC without you! Love ya!

With Love

These are some pictures I took awhile back of Taylor's baby blanket ... made with love by my mom, and used with love almost every day of Taylor's life ... as you can tell by the many holes in the blanket. :) I've been trying to scrapbook every day things lately as well as the events in our lives. This blanket ranks up there as one of Taylor's most prized posessions so it needed a page of its own.
This is made with a new kit by Scraps of Ellay. Just barely released tonight! Its called Rachel's Room and it has some DARN cute papers! I LOVE the quilted papers. And there is a boy kit to match - released a few weeks ago called Thompson's Room.

Our weekend!

Friday night - we had plans to have homemade tacos and watch a movie with our friends Jason and Michelle while my parents had our girls. But the homemade part of tacos fell through so we enjoyed Rubios instead. Then we watched a movie. Love our theater!!

Saturday - we picked up the girls in the afternoon and did soem chores. Then we went to In-n-Out Burger for a family splurge and went to Robyn and Dallas's house to watch BYU beat Utah in basketball. We didn't win by as much as we'd hoped, but it was still a win! Go Cougs!

Then, Sunday we decided to make our homemade tacos. Our family LOVES homemade tacos. I had thought the meat for Friday so I decided I'd make them Sunday. Without telling me, Steve invited Jason and Michelle (the their 3 kids) to join us as well as our friends the Bowens (three kids plus 2 friends staying over). I was a bit surprised and confused when we were about to sit down for dinner and in walked Jason and the kids with a tray of taco shells and some meat. But it was TONS of fun! 6 adults and 11 kids all 12 and under. A little crazy at first but it turned out well and actually very relaxing. Everyone just brought any part of tacos they had ... meat, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, shells, plus rice and a yummy dessert! Totally a night I needed. Thanks Jason, Michelle, John, Lisa and Steve for planning a fun family dinner night.

I am so grateful for our friends! Love you all!