this week is over!

Man, this week is finally over!! It has felt like forever with all the sickness, Paul working nights, and Eva cutting in four top teeth at the same time (blisters all over her upper gum line, but I believe I am seeing teeth now!) So that is basically my week. I haven't even been in the mood for much scrapbooking either which is really crazy for me. I was all caught up so I let the pictures pile up for a couple of weeks and I think that I will start on them this afternoon. Mostly I haven't been scrappin because I am soooo glad that our shows have started up again. You all know what a television junky I am!! So my evenings have been devoted to all the premiers this week and it couldn't have made me happier!!

On the other hand I said that I would share my latest contest entry (not a winner again!) I think that I just don't scrap the style of these designers (it couldn't possibly be that someone else made a better layout :) Just kidding). So here it is. Scrap five things of beauty to you, all square photos, all converted to black and white. This one really made me stretch, I didn't want to do the same topic that everyone else would naturally think off, and I decided to make my fifth square photo the entire 12X12 layout. I love it, not to mention taking the photos from different angles was really fun, especially because Liv was laying on the floor with me while taking the picture of all my things!!!! Fun stuff.


I now need to leave and go pick Abby up from preschool, she had her first field trip to a dentist office today, I can't wait to hear how it went!!!!
love to all!!

Head in a fog

The last couple of days I have been suffering with a nasty head cold. Not my favorite thing. It started with Eva, runny nose and I suspect a sore throat because she would just scream and cry all night all weekend!! She seems to be pulling out of it just in time for Abby and Liv to start up. I myself had been suffering not only from the cold, but lack of sleep due to my children, until last night when I realized, I'm not nursing anymore, I CAN take some decongestants!!! Leave it to me to suffer for two days before I realize that! I just get into routine thinking sometimes. So thankfully last night I finally slept and Paul got up with Eva this morning (well he brought her into bed with us and got her back to sleep), this allowed me to get a little more rest. Not that it helped me much today, I am just dragging and not feeling well, so we haven't done much, just laid around and read stories and stuff. Not to mention that I have a very sexy deep raspy voice! It is really quite funny, as the girls keep telling me!

I was able to finish this layout of Abby. I finally got the pictures of her in the corn from my mother and used a couple of templates to knock it out in no time.


I have been working on my next contest entry and I am pretty pleased with it so far. I will post on Friday when the results are out (I know you all just can't wait!!)

Little side note, Abby did her part in the Primary Program on Sunday. She was so brave to get up and say her line as well as stand on the front row and sing her little heart out! I wish I had taken a picture of her all dressed up for the day(hair done in curlers and all), but alas we run late every Sunday morning and there just wasn't time. I know that I am just the proud mother, but I have to say she was the cutest one up there!!!

So I am off to take some more meds and see what I can come up with for dinner, this should be funny since I haven't even thought about it until now. Creativity don't fail me now!!

It's Friday!

I checked my contest this morning over at The Digi Dare, and sadly enough I didn't get picked :( It is really o.k. though, just fun to participate and do the challenge. They had 46 entries and only award two prizes. But don't think this is going to stop me, next weeks dare sound fun and I think I will do it also!! I thought I would share the layout that I entered. The challenge was: scrap a lesson you know now that you wished you had known when you were twenty. Extra points for a photo of yourself at 20, at least three circles in the layout, and some kind of border. All that in consideration and this is what I came up with:


I will get working on next weeks and share it when I am done, It involves five photo's of beauty, converted to black and white. I know you all can't wait to see it and I had better get picture taking!!

Everyone have a great Friday and wonderful weekend!

Remembering the days!!!

My great friend Tina came over for a visit this afternoon. We have been friends since high school, done a lot and seen a lot together!!! She is a great person that I don't see as much or as often as I wish. Not that she lives far away, she is only a few streets over since the move, but with children, and life in general, time slips away and before you know it, six months have gone by!!! So we were laughing and talking about old times, our families, what everyone is up to and it was great. It just so happens that I am doing a layout to enter a contest this week that required a picture of yourself when you were 20. As a result I broke out my very first scrapbook that I had ever made, you know the one - markers, random stickers and a note under each picture that you sliced up to pieces!!!! Well it was very fun for me to find all the pictures of my friends and I in high school. I really did have some great ones and I just have to share a couple of pictures, mostly to embarrass Tina to death!!!

This is all us girls together for a Christmas sleepover party - can you find me with the short hair!!Tina, Me, Kerrie, Sunny, Syd, Rachel(in front)

This is Tina, Sunny, and I on a random day that we decided to crimp our hair for school.
Ahh, graduation! Tina and I thought we were such hot chicks as we wore boxers and I flashed my superman shirt to the camera as I walked by for all the audience to see!
Talk about hot chicks man!! We definitely spent toooo much time in the sun back then!!! If only I had realized how many freckles it was going to give me!!
I just find this one extremely hysterical! Me, with a gun, trying to shoot clay pigeons. Can you say back hills Utah!! And no, the guys would not take me out shooting again until I had completed a hunters safety class, which never happened, so my one and only shooting experience.
Tina and I in my apartment my first year up at Utah State, good times!!

Does anyone else remember my beloved car? How I miss the TAXI!! Well not really!!

And finally Jerianne, this one is for you and Heather (if she is checking the blog still!!) I told you that Steve Ruf and I grew up our whole lives together, and that he took me to a dance when we were both 16. Here is the proof, notice the stunning and stylish dress that I had picked out for the occasion (shoulder pads and all)!!

Thanks for humoring me, I really had a great time looking at my old pictures!!

Weekend Update

Our weekend started off on Friday night with Liv falling out of bed at 1:00 am and hitting something, her dresser, the bed frame, we don't know, but she gave herself a bad bloody nose and slit her lip!! I felt so bad for her! Poor little Liv, it was a long night ,but was such a trooper and she had a fat lip the rest of the weekend. You will notice in all of the following pictures!

Saturday afternoon we went up to visit my brother, Kelly, and his wife Bethany and new baby Eden. She was just the sweetest thing and soooo tiny, how quickly you forget!!! Here are some pictures of the cute little baby and my girls holding her, they could hardly wait until we arrived.


Now I have to share these photo's of Eva because it was just so funny. They had this little Octopus toy on the floor. Well Eva picked it up, looked at it, and thought to herself, this looks like my binkie, I think I will just use it instead of mine!!!!


She continued to suck on it for the rest of our visit and we just couldn't stop laughing, it was hysterical!!!

That night we went over to Paul's parents house to check in on Paulene and make some dinner for them while David and Paul watched the BYU game (I still can't believe they lost!!!). It was great to see them, and the girls always enjoy a visit with Grandma and Grandpa. Since the game didn't get over until midnight, and then with the drive home, and getting the girls into bed, lets just say that we didn't crawl into ours until well after 1:00am. So being the lazy kids that we are, we slept in of course, and played hooky from church. We decided to just pack a picnic and head up AF Canyon to spend the afternoon together. Here are some pictures of the girls. They had a blast hiking around and throwing rocks into the river.


Don't worry, we will be better next week!!
As you can see the leaves are just beginning to turn color!! I think in about a week it will be fall portrait time, one of my favorite things to do.

This evening our dear friends, the Conroy's had us over for a fabulous Rib dinner (you know Jerianne is from Kansas City, and boy can she BBQ!) We love to get together, mostly because the girls just play and play and play!! Here is a picture of the girls out on their swing set just goofing around.


You know, all of these pictures make me realize that I should take more with me in them! I think I will make an effort to do that from now on!
Well that was our weekend, I hope you all had just as much fun as we did. Hopefully it will continue throughout the week!!!

Livin' Life

Today is just same old same old. I think I write that about once a week, but it is the truth. Last night we went and cheered Paul on at his softball game. They won and Paul scored two runs, which was great. Kelly, Zack and Brody were there as well to cheer on Will. It was fun to visit, Abby and Liv loved running around with Zack for the entire game. I wish I had taken out my camera to snap a shot of Liv doing her "Go Daddy, Go Daddy!" dance in front of the bleachers! It really was the cutest thing.
As for today, just doing laundry(uggg!!) and scrappin the afternoon away and here are some of the results. I am almost caught up (as you can tell I am scrapping the photo's from last week!), I don't think this makes me very happy, now what am I going to do. I just might have to start getting very creative, hopefully you won't mind!!!!!



This last one is Abby's summer in review. I used the same template as Liv but let Abby pick the paper and embellishments, thus all the butterflies and dragonflies as well as the bright colors. I think it turned out pretty cute, we may have a future scrapper here!!!


Everyone have a great weekend. The girls are ready for Paul to be home and play with them all day!!!

Congratulations Bethany!

My brother Kelly and his wife Bethany welcomed their first little baby into the world on Sunday night. Their sweet daughter Eden was born 7lbs 6oz and 21 inches long. After speaking with Kelly yesterday afternoon both were doing well and you could just feel the love and excitement in his voice. They are going to be such wonderful parents and I can't wait to go up and meet that sweet little girl this weekend!! I will be posting pics when I get some, she can be nothing but beautiful.

All of this baby talk has taken me back to just a short 9 and a half months ago, when Paul and I were in the hospital welcoming Eva into the world and making those fun birth announcement phone calls to family and friends. Boy, time really does fly doesn't it!

Here is a layout of Eva's 9 months pictures. It won't be that long, Kelly and Bethany, that you will be taking 9 month pictures as well. Cherish every moment!!!


Here is Liv's summer in review page I thought I would share also. This came together so easily by using a template (I don't seem to have the creator on file) and a kit by Little Dreamer Designs called "Sweet June". I have been holding onto this kit for a while because I wanted to use it on this layout.


Have a good one! Congratulations again Kelly and Bethany! Oh, and Happy Birthday to my littlest brother Trace, 22 years old today!!!!!

I'm a big girl now!

Well, it is official, Liv is now a good little big potty goer!! Today at church she actually told the Nursery worker that she needed to go wet and they took her and she went without my help or an accident! We are all so excited! Mostly my little pocket book is excited, two in diapers is murder on the budget. After a short(?) three weeks, and only one day that she decided she didn't want to be a big girl anymore, I feel that I can officially call her day time potty trained! (She still wears a pull up at night, but has been keeping it dry somewhat!) This is absolutely, hands down, no exception, my least favorite part of being a parent. Getting a two and a half year old to realize that they CAN hold it until they get to the potty is not the funnest job in the world. However seeing this adorable face as she tells me what a big girl she is because she wet on the potty makes it all worth it!


Having your children grow and learn and succeed is what makes parenting the best. It is such a rewarding job sometimes. It gives me an insight into why my Mom enjoys teaching so much. She loves the look that a child gets on their face when the light goes on and they GET IT! This last week I saw that look on Liv's sweet little face and my heart just melted. I love being a part of that growth in her life, helping her form positive self esteem and worth.


Liv, you can do anything in this life you set your mind to, EVEN going on the potty!!!!

Just some scraps

I just finished a couple more layouts and wanted to share them with everyone. I don't have much time today, too many things around the house that need to be done - so here they are!


Everyone have a great weekend, the weather is supposed to be beautiful here, and with all the rain this week it really feels like fall is in the air. In fact the mountains out my front window are starting to show color! Shamae and I will soon be heading up the canyon for the annual picture session, I can't wait!!!

Pony up!

Has anyone else been completely enjoying the thunderstorms the last couple of days!! Man, it has been waking me up at night with the lightening filling the room and the thunder crashing outside! I have always loved a good thunderstorm. As I was putting Eva to bed the other night and I could hear the rain pouring down outside and the wind screaming past the window, it made me feel so safe and secure inside. So thankful to have a home to put my sweet little girls to bed and know that they are safe from the world outside.
On that note I will also say that I hated the fact that it has disrupted my walking schedule with Jerianne and it has made us girls cooped up during the day. So yesterday, during a two hour clearing from the storm, us girls went over to the Farm at Thanksgiving point for a picnic lunch and walk around looking at all the fun animals. The girls had a great time. Liv from the moment we walked in saw the Ponies and demanded to have a ride! She is so much more outgoing and brave than Abby was at that age. It took Abby until she was almost 4 before she would even go near them. So at the end of our trip, Liv got her wish, insisting that she did it all by herself, she didn't want my help! Aren't they cute on their ponies (complete with flip flops and dresses!).


Just as they were finishing their rides (there weren't very many people there, so they had a long one) the wind started to pick up and the clouds were moving in again. We left pretty quickly and made it home just in time for another round of the storms!

Here is my newest layout. I love it because I love the pictures and the smile it brings to my face when I think of that morning!


Have a great day everyone!

Party, Birthday Party!

It was just wonderful to have Paulene over last night to celebrate her birthday! We always love spending time with my in laws. I am always quick to tell everyone that I have the absolute best mother in law that one could possibly hope for. She is defiantly my kindred spirit, we just have so much in common. I often joke with Paul that he married his mother, but he quickly rebukes me and tells me to stop saying that because it is weird!!!! (Paul you know that I just say it to get a rise out of you!!!)
I do have to take a moment to thank my own mother for her help in decorating the cake I had made for the occasion. We spent all day Saturday hanging out with the cousins and girls at my mom house while the boys attended the BYU game (which they won!!), so I took advantage of the situation and put one of my mother's many skill to use. She is so talented in this area, making wedding cakes not only for our family, but many of the young girls in her ward. We had numerous fabulous cakes on our birthday through the years. So here is a picture of the cake, I still am amazed at how she can make such wonderful roses out of frosting!(not to mention perfect cursive writing!)


(Notice all of Abby's party decorations, the highlight of the event for her)

Rikki and Seth joined us for dinner, games and dessert. It was a great night and I think it was all capped off just perfectly for the girls when Grandma and Grandpa helped them get ready for bed and tucked them in with kisses.
Happy Birthday Paulene. We love you very much!!!