Digital Scrapbooking pages!

here are some of the pages I have done with Creative Memories StoryBook Creator Software. I still do tradtional scrapbook pages, but I love how easy these were! I am trying to get some digital scrapbooking classes up and running. But I cannot dedicate myself to only digital. I go back and forth.

Here's to the women!

I went to our ward's enrichment night activity last night. (for those of you that aren't LDS, that is the Women's organization night out once a quarter to do "stuff").
Before I went I had learned that the topic was "back to basics" - like cooking basics and stuff. to tell you the truth, I was not thrilled about learning ANYTHING. really, I have a bad attitude when it comes to feeling like I HAVE to do something like learn how to cook bread from scratch. I used to do it when I was in 4-H as a kid, so I figure that if I absolutely HAVE to, I can figure it out okay on my own. Yeah, I am not the world's best cook or housewife and I know it.
SO I went thinking, at least I will be able to get to know some of the ladies in the ward and connect with other women - which is more of what I am about.

I was actually impressed with how much fun I had LEARNING?!?!?! who knew? Amber Overson did such a great job and Mari Tracey was such a cutie teaching us how to make corn tortillas. It was actually fascinating!

BUT, what impressed me most about the evening was the kind of women we have in our ward. I am one that really likes to watch people. it is my favorite hobby. I watch and analyze all the time.
I have such a FUN ward!!!! I mean really, I was cracking up all night! and that is what I am all about. I sometimes struggle with the fact that I have moved away from my "old" friends from high school and the single's ward. Those are the friends that were with me through those years that shaped who I am and cried with me through some of my toughest times and laughed as we watched the sunrise over the beach. I miss them almost to the point of tears at times. I have not been able to ever replace them in my life. SO, as I go forward with where I am today and seek friendships I often wonder if I will ever have friends like that again? Will I be able to let go, laugh til I hurt, stay out all night (well not as often since the kids have come), and just be me without worrying if I am too much of a dork?
last night was so much fun. who knew we could laugh so much while rolling tortillas and getting bread making lessons.
the room was full of these amazing people that I look forward to being around and possibly becoming better friends with. Okay - some of you on this blog thing were there and you are getting to be some of my "best" friends and I so appreciate you. (Brandi, Kendra).
I was just impressed with the quality of people we have in our ward. I once had a friend of mine say that Utah was just full of women that were only about big hair and trying to appear perfect. I had only been here (in Utah) for a few months and was having a REALLY hard time finding friends. I knew there was more to the people of this area. I knew it just took me getting out there to know them. It took ME seeing past hair and make-up and perfect scrapbook pages and canning stuff (which you all have to teach me still). To see that these women are the same silly, funny, crazy people that I want to surround myself with. I look forward to more mundane cooking lessons as long as people like this are there. I think I could enjoy almost anything with the women in my ward. If I could laugh like that learning to make bread, I could really get into anything these guys have to teach me. Maybe I'll even learn how to do mine and my daughter's hair one day? hmmm.... maybe not.
anyway, I think so highly of them and hope for deeper friendships with all of them. Thanks ladies - for being you and making me laugh.

the Mother Load

This is not my writing, but my dear friend, Sarah Wilson's (oops I mean Clark) Sarah Clark, I will never get used to that new last name thing...

Subject: Mother Load

There are things in life a mother does for the long term good of her children, even when her children aren’t sure they agree. Vegetables. Shots. In my oldest son’s case: open heart surgery. Sometimes, it’s just a judgment call. You ignore the protests and do what’s right.

This week’s “right” action has been our return to family scripture time. To their credit, the kids are the ones who asked for us to do this, bringing it up as an issue at one of our family meetings, so you wouldn’t think they’d complain too much. The protests occurred when I announced that the only time we have available to read scriptures is early in the morning. In this case, early in the morning amounts to a full two hours earlier than they’ve been rising all summer long. After some discussion, my spiritually starved brood agreed to the new wake-up time and we set our plan into motion. This wouldn’t be so bad, would it?

The answer to that question lies somewhere in the surreal meeting place of faith and fatigue. What I’ve learned about my kids this week is that no matter how much they beg for scripture time, the act of waking them up early for scripture time will invariably lead to a passel of youth who would much rather live a rested, godless existence.

Day 1: I was chipper and excited to begin anew on our journey through a long-ago land where people said things like “behold” and “betwixt” and “yea, verily.” Being chipper was my first mistake. A word to the wiser-than-I, don’t ever try to wake your children two hours early with a chipper demeanor.

Three of the kids cried. One of them hid under a blanket. One of them volunteered to read but found her eyes too tired to focus on the words. All of them grumbled. Undaunted, I pressed on, reading the chapter myself and then bribing them…I mean, celebrating their willingness to wake up early with some grocery store donuts. Later that night, at work, my supervisor offered to let me go home an hour early, saying, “You look like you’re going to pass out.”

Day 2: Only one child cried, but all of them hid under blankets and no one volunteered to read. Less chipper, but still hopeful, I plowed through the chapter, a mere 13 verses this time. Three of the kids were sleeping by verse five. Waking them up again for family prayer time, we then moved on to the business of our day. At about 8:45, I flopped down in my favorite, fluffy front room chair and saw my oldest child sleeping strangely, though peacefully, on the couch.

I looked at my sleeping son, the picture of discomfort, his body twisted into a fastastical shape only a snake or a broken tree branch could possibly copy, and I thought, Hmmmmm…good idea. Twisting myself into an equally fantastical shape on my chair, I zonked for the next 30 minutes, dreaming of ancient prophets wagging their heads at my weakness.

Day 3: I *cough* accidentally left my cell phone, which doubles as my alarm clock, upstairs and overslept until 7:25. At this writing, it is now 11:10, and I’ve been content to let them play outside with their cousins for most of the morning, rationalizing that their cousins have surely been having family scripture time more consistently than we have and will surely share some of their vast scriptural knowledge between games of hide and seek and dodgeball. I swear I heard my niece sharing her views on repentance with my youngest daughter. (“That’s not nice! You should say sorry!”)

Day 4? Well, that’s tomorrow. I think after my slip-up today, I’ll wake up tomorrow refocused and ready to keep trying. I’ve read it only takes three weeks to make a habit, so I’m hopeful the next two and a half weeks will bring good results.

If they don’t, behold, there will be no more donuts betwixt the kids and me. Yea, verily.

Thanks for the Laugh Sarah!

I did not ask permission to post her writing, but I am telling the world to look for her "Mother Load" column in the newspapers. it's my favorite.

Tag! I'm it!

Karalee tagged me...
This is what I'm supposed to do. List 3 joys, 3 fears, 3 current obsessions/collections, 3 surprising facts and then tag 5 other people. Leave a comment for the people you tag so they know they have been tagged. So here it goes:

3 joys:
- my kids - of course are my number one joy. I love just sitting on the couch and watching them play. I love watching my 10 month old learn and explore and seeing how my 3 year old deals with him taking the toys. I love listening to Gabe and Ilia play pretend and talk about what the other needs to say next in their play world. I love seeing Evan mature. He is an amazing kid. I ask so much of him. he is honest with me and tells me when he thinks I am unfair. But he handles stress and the work load I trust him with with gumption. I think my kids are amazing!
- my dogs - I also love watching their relationship with each other and my kids. I love that Tottie hides in my closet when he needs quiet and Sandy never hides, she loves being where the action is. I love seeing my dogs lick my baby's face when he pulls on their ears and tries to grab them. I love watching them run in the hills and chase rabbits. I love that they enjoy structure. and know that after the nighttime potty they come right in and lay down on their beds and wait for me to turn off the light.
- excercise - I love being able to move again!!!! this might seem silly, but I love exercise and being so huge when I was pregnant and hardly being able to walk was so depressing. So I love that my body is finally starting to take shape again and I can dance with the kids! one day... one day... I will fit back into those size 6 that are sitting on my shelf (yeah, right, my bones have spread - I will never be the same.)

3 fears:
- not being able to fit in my old clothes ever again.
- the dog catcher getting my dogs for killing more chickens since they can hop my block wall.
- the unknown world my kids are now being exposed to via friends, school, internet, movies, etc... I fear most what they may choose to do with all this "information" they innocently receive. what may they choose to obsess over. my 6 year old daughter has already informed me she can't wait until she is old enough to be allowed to kiss boys. great. what do I do with that?

3 obsessions:
- pictures!!!! I love scrapbooking - not because I am the most creative, but because I love the joy I feel when I pull out a memory and re-capture it in a book and write the words. I am trying to increase my creative skills. I am getting better. Maybe I should post some pics of a few layouts. I am self-consious about feeling like it's a competition though.
- my dogs. it drives my husband crazy. I love training and working with them. they learn faster than kids do. you teach a dog to do something and within a few days or a few tries, he's got it. you tell a kid to do something and it takes him his entire life to figure it out. okay, maybe just years. potty training was a longer process with Dane than it was for both of my dogs. I also love that they love to run! they are my running partners... which brings me to my 3rd obsession lately...
- exercise! I really want to be more than just fit! I want to feel fabulous! I also want to dance again and be strong enough to do all the moves I did when I was in my early 20's. I want to be able to extend my leg straight up. I want to do things I have never been able to do. like a back walk over. I want to prove that 30+ and 6 full-term pregnancies does NOT change the ability to do amazing things. (I'll show you "So You Think You Can Dance" with your 30 yr old age limit!)
Also Dance shows are an obsession as well.

3 facts:
- I have fat thumbs called strangler's thumbs
- I used to be early everywhere before I married Bill. He's the late one and it's rubbed off on me since I married him. it drives me crazy.
- I wasn't a scrapbooker when I started my Creative Memories Business. I LOVE scrapbooking, NOW. But more than anything - I love people. I love connections and I love getting people together to party! I love getting to know who people are and helping them tell their stories. and I LOVE planning big events - like retreats. It brings me so much joy. but people are surprised to find out I have been scrapbooking 10 years and mostly do simple layouts. to not include this here in this information about me would be to not include one of the biggest parts of my life outside church and family.


tagging 5 more people...
let's see who do I want to know more about...
Jen Larsen, Marni, Kristen Hansen, Brandi, Marsha

watch what you say!

I just want to explain why you do not see your comments posted right away...
most of you are my good friends or family - that is all good. But once I received a comment from a woman who seemed innocent enough inviting me to her read her blog. Now, I am all about enjoying someone else's writings and have even found some fun small-time writers enjoying their writing experience - So I went for a visit.
needless to say, it was not what I had hoped. She was vulgar, nasty, pornographic and a violently bloody evil racist. I did not like that she used my comment section to advertise her crap.
So, my lovely friends. as much as I enjoy the speed of using a blog almost like a message board and fun communication - you all get to wait til I review your comments before I ok them.
Fun Fun!!!!
I love technology... but not as much as you, you see.... but I still love technology... always and forever.... (name the movie).

being sick

I think I now know why Gabriel, my 8 year old, likes to act like he's sick. He's is overly dramatic so I never know what is real and what is forced with him. SO when he is "sick" I make him lay down in his bed with no fun at all. no TV, no friends, no video games, no getting out of bed - unless you want to clean the house. it is NOT fun time.
This morning my 3 year old, Dane, decided to puke up a bunch right before breakfast. (what a fun way to start my morning!)
SO I gently cleaned up his face and undressed him, took him to the tub, told him how sorry I was that he wasn't feeling well. I toweled him dry and cuddled him, rubbing his warm forehead with my fingers and kissing his cheeks as I got clean clothes on him. Then I set up the couch in the front room with a fresh sheet over it, moved the pillows around just right, set up a side table with ice water and crackers. put a "fun pukey bowl" next to him (for just in case), turned on a movie and kissed his little forehead again.
Then it hit me - all me kids got this treatment when they were 1,2,3,4 and maybe 5 years of age. It was once they were in school or figuring out how to avoid chores, church or other activities by pretending to be sick that this cuddling when your sick stops.
I wonder if they are not just avoiding unpleasantness but are indeed trying to get that same kind of affection from their mommy that she laid on so thick way back when. I mean, how often to I cuddle and kiss my 8 year old boy.
I do try to remember to give him a huge hug and kiss before school and at bedtime. He smiles so big when I do that. But he never comes up to me and asks for those things. That's my job. I am supposed to remember that my kids need cuddled.
In the meantime, I have to go wash my rubber gloves and change my clothes so I don't get all pukey too.

By the way Brandi - I will not be picking peaches today. Got a pukey kid at home.
much love!

Thanks for the reminder!

a couple posts ago I mentioned I was going crazy trying to find my camera. Kendra so gently reminded me to pray. well I did a couple of days ago after reading Kendra's comment. (I hate it when my friends have to remind me to do things like that.)
Well I searched the house again - no camera.
I deep-cleaned every room - no camera.
I finally gave up and just thought that it might turn up some day.
Today after church we were getting into our van when Bill saw that someone had dropped a Driver's liscence in the parking lot. we debated what to do with it. I finally decided to just take it into the church's library lost and found. and guess what was there? My camera! SUre it had been run over and was totally useless and I can't retrieve anything off the memory card. BUT I am not going crazy anymore trying to remember where I left it.
My guess is that it fell out of my church bag a few weeks ago. I had decided to start carrying my camera with me everywhere and that is when I lost it. Luckily I had also unloaded the memory card that same day. at most there may have been just a couple of photos. SO I didn't lose too many. I am only bummed that now I have to share Bill's camera until I can afford a new one for me.
But yeah, we found it. thanks for caring. Most of the photos posted here will be from Bill's camera for a while.

Zion Canyon

I really loved going to Zion Canyon with my Sister Lisa Proffit-Rau and her cute family. My sister in law Peggy Proffit and her kids also joined us. what a trip! we were just going to go tubing or playing in the virgin river in Springdale, So I decided to bring one of my dogs along for the fun. But the tube rental shop was closed!!! AND since we had some nasty flash flood raining going on the river was muddy and deep and a little too dangerous for what we were planning.
SO we went into the Park which meant I had to drive all the way back home and take my dog back to my house. luckily I only live 20-30 minutes away. I met up with everyone at the end of one of the trails and we took the tram to the last stop on the journey. there we played in the muddy virgin river. Yes, we got muddy!

not enough said...

I lost my camera on Monday. Bill's mom came to visit and she bought all the kids cute shirts from Cancun. then she took all the kids to see Wall-E (very cute show).

I had decided I was going to remember to take pictures every time she came to visit and to record the good times we have with her. This would have been an ideal time to do just that.
But no camera. I borrowed Bill's camera but it just isn't the same. I need my own P.O.S. camera that I have learned to love and actually get pictures from. when I use Bill's expensive peice of equipment I am then on his time-line of when HE can get me the pictures. Bill and I do not share very well.

I miss my camera. I hope it turns up soon.

goin crazy

I lost my camera. 'nuff said.

Laptops are a girl's best friend

A couple of years ago I received an item I believed at the time to be an item of luxury. Today, I have no idea how I would cope if it were to fall in the tub and die on me.

It means so much to me that it deserves a blog all it's own. here is some crappy prose dedicated to:
"My Laptop"

I've never given you a name. some one asked me once if I had a Dell or Gateway or...
I couldn't say. But that doesn't mean you don't mean any less to me.
I couldn't tell someone if my husband had shaved his goatee. it's me, not you.

you have given me so much. Before you were in my world I never knew the joy of filling out surveys on myspace behind locked doors of the john.

I can hide in my room and still play solitaire. You have given me the mobility and freedom that allows me to say 'technically - I do not have TV'. You have replaced that for me. I can watch crappy reality shows on the internet from the pillow of my bed with you in my lap.

I have found more friends that I had lost touch with because I am able to spend more time on the computer. I take you onto the balcony so I can "be there" for my kids while they play in the yard and I 'throw food' on facebook. I take you into the kitchen so I can eat with the family while I do some 'blog stalking'.

I have never been more popular in my life! between myspace and facebook and blogspot I have more friends than I ever did in High School. wow, even Amy Whinehouse has accepted me as her friend. would I have taken the time to find her if I was limited in the amount of time I could spend on my desktop computer?

Now with you, my laptop, I can do anything. I have no limitations in time or space. I feel invincible.

I even scrapbook in my car now.

can life get any sweeter?

Please live forever my sweet, precious, Gateway.

I am posting this just for your burning curiosity.

Here's the band-aid inside the sunburn. No, I am not wearing the band-aid any longer in this photo.