This Brady Bunch

Week Four

2012-02-01T18:06:00.000-08:00

I can't believe how fast January flew by! Wow. Since I'm going to be reusing a lot of the same products to keep things simple throughout the year I thought that I'd post what products that I use each week on my side bar. So if you see something you like just click on the pic! So let's begin:

Please ignore the not so great lighting that I had to deal with in these pictures from my sister-in-law's birthday. Someday I'll have a house with amazing lighting even at night (is that possible?). The sewing machine is one that I doodled long ago.

I told the girls that if they were showered and in their pjs by the time Corey got home from work that we'd get ice cream (through the drive-thru of course). I should do that every Saturday night because they were so fast that they were sitting and waiting for awhile before we could go. Grace took up her time drawing pictures of getting ice cream. I just had to keep one.

True Kate personality.

One thing that I thought would be fun is to ask everyone the same random question each week.

Corey and I like to look at house plans online sometimes just for fun. We are definitely not anywhere near to the point of building, but it sure is fun to look. Turns out we're pretty picky and have never agreed on one until this one popped up:)

What a sweet face:)

Hope you enjoyed! Tingey if you're out there I proof read this week ;)

Week Three

2012-01-25T09:11:00.000-08:00

So it turns out that my life is pretty uneventful for the most part. Not a shocker to me and I actually enjoy the mundane parts of my day for the most part. I didn't want to do Project Life at first because I thought that I didn't really have anything exciting to capture most of the time, but I think that's going to be part of the fun of it all. No matter what I put in the photo slots my kids are having a great time looking at it.

I was really having a hard time putting this last week together at first. I just sat and started at a picture on the computer screen and didn't know what I wanted to do with it. Then yesterday morning I woke up around five in the morning and it all just came to me. I guess it's all in the timing :) So let me introduce you to last week:

For this Sunday square I used this great free download by Cathy Zielske. For the Petshop square I used These are the days date cards by Emily Merritt.

Kate has really been painting like crazy lately and I love how she just does splotches everywhere. It took a lot of begging but she finally let me have one of her works of art. I sewed a little picture to the painting and also a little journal card from Emily Merritt's Project 365 journal cards. Corey is a bit fickle when it comes to liking clothes once he gets them home from the store. Since he's finally found pants that he loves I thought I better keep the tag for future reference. I also stamped the tag with my date stamp and stapled a project life grid card on for some extra journaling. For the beach day pic I used Amy Wolff's Mega Label Pack.

I dug into some of my old digital designs to use on this square. The plaid paper (recolored) and journal circle were from old kits. The notebook alpha was created by Jaime Young back in her digital designing days also. I just ran a stitch over the top of the title to give it a little something extra. Once the sewing machine was out I was just looking for more things to sew:)

I found this cute craft last week and knew the girls would love it and it would put my random things in my craft supply to good use. The green journaled on sticker is by SEI. I loved Grace's note to herself though the words came out lighter than I'd like so I might reprint it when I have a free minute. Letter G is also from SEI.

This was just something I thought would be fun to maybe look back at. It seems like we're always going through different food phases. Maybe I should do this same shot every year and see how it changes.

For this photo collage I used Designs by Lili's 4x6 photo collages no.1. The cute typewriter journal card is from Valorie Wibbens' Today journal cards. I've also realized that I really do like to do a little bit of doodling myself. After I get everything put together I'll look at it and see if there's any weird empty space looking back at me. If there is I start doodling. Love my little sharpie. I think every week might end up with some doodled stars and hearts, lol. I don't love my handwriting, but I've stared a habit of having a mix of type and handwritten journaling.

Our friends that we haven't hung out with in years came for a late night visit. It wasn't that late when they arrived, but wast almost one in the morning when they left and I felt bad they had almost a two hour drive home :( The lighting is horrible that time of the night/morning but I still had to get a shot of us together.

I love these Highlight of the week cards that Emily made and will definitely be using them every week this year. I love her doodley (I know that's not a word) style.

And very last we have another week of something funny from Kate. I found some chevron patterns for free and downloaded them, did some zig zag stitching, and then slapped on a flower sticker from SEI.

So there you have it. I was a bit lazy with my past last week so I thought I'd make up for that lol. Kate just yelled from the bathroom:
"Mom I need a towel, but when you come in don't look at the sink okay?"
I guess I better go. Have a great week!

Week Two

2012-01-19T12:10:00.001-08:00

Two of my brothers, Jon and Devin, have been working on a children's app for a while now. They released it last week and it's been so fun to play with it. It called Mommy!! and it's FREE so check it out.

Last week" project life was a lot of fun to put together. Following Emily's advice I printed the outline of may layout and posted it on the fridge. As the week went on I'd jot down things to remember and ideas so that I wouldn't forget when I sat down to put it all together. It worked great. Here are a few pictures of what we were up to last week:

I used these lovely digital products:
Light the Way and the new Highlight of the Week cards (which I truly love) by Emily Merritt, Doodled Journalers by Kate Hadfield, Dated Tickets by Amy Martin, Mega Label Pack by Amy Wolff, 4x6 Photo Collages by Designs by Lili, Today Journal Cards by Valorie Wibbens

Week One

2012-01-11T09:46:00.000-08:00

I had a lot of fun trying to put last week all together. It took a lot of thinking so I hope that it comes easier as the weeks go by, lol. I'm sure I'll get into the groove pretty quickly. Doing project life is helping me to appreciate the small things that go on in my day-to-day life already too. Love it. Here's what was going on in our lives last week:

About a month ago I was reminded of this talk and decided that I wanted to focus more on this in my life. I also printed and inserted the talk so that I can reread it whenever I need.

The whole week:)

I picked up a lot of fun stickers, tabs, frames, etc. yesterday at the S.E.I. outlet. The green 3x4 sheet if from my SMASH Pad. I also used these lovely digital products:
Light the Way by Emily Merritt, Doodled Journalers by Kate Hadfield, Dated Tickets by Amy Martin, Mega Label Pack by Amy Wolff, 4x6 Photo Collages by Designs by Lili, Today Journal Cards by Valorie Wibbens

Dusting Off

2012-01-09T10:23:00.000-08:00

Last May for my birthday I ordered myself some Project Life photo pocket pages and journaling cards. I love this take on scrapbooking and wanted get scrapbooking again. I was so excited to start, but didn't know where to begin. Needless to say after everything came I freaked myself out feeling like I had a ton to catch up on and everything got tucked away. Fast forward to last week. After looking at Emily's blog and having a great chat with her on the phone I was inspired again! Now that it's a new year I'm going to move past the guilt of not keeping up for the last few years (someday I'll go back, but for now I'm not going to worry about it) and start again. So let me introduce my album and cover page (click on the pics for an up close look):

The Lily-Pad designers just came out with some really fun products geared towards Project Life and Project 365. I used THESE photo collages by Designs by Lili which I can already tell I'll be using a lot. Love them:

I stapled these tabs from my smash book stash to the tops of THESE cards that I had the girls fill out and just have them stashed behind the photos.

Using a mix of different great products (black sharpie and staples included) I came up with this insert which I love how it came together. Emily has THESE great journaling cards for a free download if you like her on Facebook right now. I also used THESE by Amy Wolff, THESE by Kate Hadfield, and THESE by Valorie Wibbens

My first week is in the works and I should have it posted by Wednesday! It really feels good to feel creative again.

I'm Still Alive

2010-06-25T08:26:00.000-07:00

And summer is in full swing :) The last few months haven't been the best for us, but I feel like we're turning a corner and things are starting to look up. The kids are having a great time being out of school and there actually hasn't been too much fighting which I have been shocked about. We've just been hanging out taking this summer one day at a time. I really want the girls to go back to school with some good reading habits already in place. I've had to be a bit creative with it needless to say :)

They had to read while they were waiting to get their pedicures is other day. Hope you're having a great summer ;)

Interesting Week

2010-01-22T05:42:00.000-08:00

Poor Kate has had a tiny little bug in her system all week. She acts totally fine one minute and the next she's throwing up on me. I hope that it passes soon. The weather has been kind of strange also. In the morning it will snow tons, and by the afternoon it is sunny and warm. I have loved seeing and actually feeling the sun. We even got out and went on a very slushy walk one of the days. Here's a recap of my week in photos:

TGIF

2010-01-15T09:13:00.000-08:00

I really am thankful for the weekend and I'm excited that Corey has the day off tomorrow. The girls have been in and out of school this week due to parent teacher conference and man has it been crazy! Lots of fun, fighting, crying, and good times, lol. I really have to have a plan when they're out of school to make things go a lot smoother. They're out again on Monday so I better think of some fun things to do. I also finally got my etsy store up and running! I have plans on making some other fun things over the weekend to get the store stocked. Here are some of my pictures from this week:

Love this recipe (though cut the cayenne in half if you don't want your mouth on fire)!

Have a great weekend!

Do posts always have to have a title?

2010-01-11T16:41:00.000-08:00

I just can't seem to think of a theme for this post, lol. The last few days have gone by quickly. It is still too cold to do anything outside, but I'm happy indoors for now. On Friday I didn't want to go back home after picking of Grace from school so I easily got talked into ice cream even though the weather was in the single digits that day. The upside to that is that there wasn't anyone in front of us to order :)

On Saturday the girls and I finally sat down and broke out Grace's tie dye kit that she got for Christmas. It was a lot of fun and I could easily get hooked. The only think that I can't figure out is how to keep the colors to bright and vibrant. After I dried the shirts they were already faded and gray looking (the kids still thought they looked awesome though so I'm glad for that).

Today Abby was out of school and Grace only had a half day for parent teacher conferences. I spent most of the time that Grace was in school rearranging bedrooms so that Grace can now have her own room. She was so excited when she got home. She has discussed with me more than once that she needs a space of her own. You'd think the kid was a teenager, but I thought it would be nice to try at least. We'll see how Abby and Kate do as roommates :) If I can ever get the kids in bed tonight I will be watching too many great shows and crocheting.

Brrr

2010-01-08T09:58:00.000-08:00

I woke up early this morning to go to the store for the essentials (milk, tp, etc.). I've realized that I'd rather get up at 6:00 and go to the store than take the kids with me. It's nice and quiet and now the one lady at the one check stand that's open and I have gotten to know each other quite well, lol. Today as I was driving down the road on the radio it said that it was -12 degrees out! Yikes! Man is it cold today.

Hope it's not this cold at your house :) Have a great day and wonderful weekend.

Plugging Along

2010-01-05T19:10:00.000-08:00

The girls are back in school which is good, though I really did enjoy not having anywhere to be during Christmas break. It is good to get back on schedule though and there's not as much fighting :) I'm having a hard time remembering to take my Project 365 pics until all of the good daytime lighting is gone, lol. The pictures can only get better from here. I'm having a lot of fun though and I'm really glad I'm doing this.

Hope you're having a wonderful week.

ps. If you missed this first season of Glee you better rent/buy the season and get caught up for next season. I can't tell you how much I love this show!

Day 1

2010-01-02T06:36:00.000-08:00

One of my many resolutions this year is to use my camera more and to get excited about it again. I'm finally going to join many of you this year and be a project 365 participant! I'm off to a great start :)

Yesterday we were all being pretty lazy hanging out in our pajamas. That's when our friends the Radfords came knocking with a snowmobile and sled in tow. The girls threw on their snow clothes as fast as they could and had a great time riding. Corey even got coaxed on and didn't want to get off once he was riding. It was a lot of fun and Meg even had a great time chasing them. Kate lasted a few times around, but mostly stayed in my arms and watched. It was a fun way to start the new year. Today I'll also be working on another resolution called organization :) Wish me luck.

I hope you are all off to a great 2010!

ps. I did come up with a homemade gift for the girls afterall. I'll take pics today.

I'm Stumped.

2009-12-07T10:30:00.001-08:00

I don't know why, but I'm having such a hard time this year with ideas for making fun homemade gifts and it's driving me nuts! I know I'll think of something great when Christmas is too close to pull it off or when Christmas is over. I have a lot of things on my list to create, but nothing that would fit into gift giving. Please send any ideas my way :)

I've been having a great time with this pattern that I came across. I was scared to play around with knits, but I'm really starting to like it. I've only created a few things so far and I still need to do a bit of tweaking, but I can see some great creations in the works and for little to not money! Love this store. Here are a few pics:

I hope that everyone's having a great holiday season already. Grace has decided that this year we're going to start making gingerbread people on Christmas eve and sing carols :) Santa's going to get his own cookie of himself also. Here's where Meg has decided her favorite hangout is now.

Miss Me?

2009-11-10T09:45:00.000-08:00

This is what I've been up to lately:

Before:

Two weeks of this:

Now!:

That was a long three weeks, but I will have to admit that we've done a little bit of happy dancing in our new kitchen (to music of course)! I LOVE it! It's not actually completely done yet, but man I didn't realize how much I love having a kitchen sink until I didn't have one. Today I'm working on a valance with this fabric.

The kids had a fun Halloween trick-or-treating for the first time. Usually it's been really bad weather or trunk-or-treats going on so I just haven't taken them around to houses. To tell you the truth I was kind of dreading it, but they were so excited and it did end up being a lot of fun. Kate loved it. Notice Grace's toothless grin :)

I really am not ready for Christmas to come. I haven't bought one thing and I still have no idea what things I want to make for the girls. I love having a homemade touch to Christmas so please send me all or your creative ideas (I'm begging). Speaking of creative things I haven't done as much as I'd like to lately, but here are a few fun and easy things that I've done:

This is a great way to use your fabric scraps! I just used regular batting on these, but for my next ones (Christmas) I'll used something stiffer so that I can make a garland.

Grace and I also made this fun chandelier for her friend Alyssa's birthday.

Give me a minute to catch up on all of your blogs! I'm sorry that I keep disappearing. I hope you all are doing great. Talk to you soon.

xoxo Tiff

Hello, is anyone out there?

2009-09-28T05:57:00.000-07:00

Okay so it's been too long :) I haven't been too busy so I won't make that excuse. I've kind of been in this weird frame of mind lately. I don't really know how to explain it. I've just been kind of trying to figure out who I am lately. Yes, I'm 30 and still don't know. I've been trying to get some creative juices going because that really makes me happy when I'm creating things and it's been too long. Nothing huge, but I'll take some pics soon of little projects here and there. Here are a few things that come to mind that we've been up to over the last month.

1. The girls started school of course. Abby loves Kindergarten and is super sad that she's out of school this whole week due to parent teacher conference and UEA.

2. We've been enjoying and not enjoying our new family member Meg. She love to bite which is driving us all crazy and the kids hang out mostly on top of the couch with their feet up. Kate loves her the most and even though she gets nipped quite a bit she still is always in her face talking to her and offering her toys or shoes to chew on. Here she is when I found her digging through my yarn.

3. Kate is really starting her terrible twos early and I have a feeling that it's not a phase. I'm convinced that she'll continue her terrible twos through out the rest of her life. Thank goodness for her that she's so cute. She climbs everything and gets into anything and everything she can find. She has to do everything that the older girls are doing and trys to put them in their place (by hitting and yelling "NO!" at them) when they don't do what she wants. She has started only wanting me again and will only go to Corey for short hugs. Gotta love toddlers :) Here she is in the kitchen helping herself to some Peanut Butter.

I promise I'll be back very soon. I hope you all are doing great and loving the Fall is here! xoxo until next time.

The post I never thought I'd be making

2009-08-19T05:59:00.000-07:00

WE'RE GETTING A DOG!! The bold and exclamation are more for shock value that excitement. Corey and I always had this agreement that we're not really "pet" kind of people. Well obviously Corey morphed into a different person over the summer and we had plenty of arguments over it. Well as you can see, I've been outvoted. At least I got to name her, lol, that makes it all worth it right? The girls got to meet her yesterday and we get to bring her home next week. Blog buddies, I'd like you to meet our yellow lab, Meg.

Can I get three cheers for puppy potty training!?!!

A few more...

2009-08-16T05:19:00.000-07:00

The family of fairies is my favorite :D

Meet Jon :)

2009-08-14T20:23:00.001-07:00

This very relaxed looking buried guy is my oldest brother Jon.

He's an artist and a very talented one at that. Yesterday I talked him into opening an Etsy Shoppe to sell some of his illustrations. I think that they'd be perfect in a kids room or playroom. He has lots more great stuff to add, I just wanted to give him a shout out! Jon, I never thought that you'd have an Etsy shoppe before me, but I'm glad you do.

xoxo until next time.

It's Official

2009-07-19T19:47:00.000-07:00

Guess who finally turned five :)

The day that she's been waiting for for months. I planned on throwing her a party on her birthday, but it just didn't work out so I knew that we needed to something fun and different than the usual. Andrea and I met at the Fun Park and our girls had a fun time playing video games and also in the huge soft play area. Then she picked Chilis for dinner and I was more than happy to not have to fix anything. I think that it was meant to be that we didn't have her party that day because my brother David and his family came into town (from Indianapolis) later in the week and it was perfect timing to throw the party and to have them come (that was quite a long sentence wasn't it). So Saturday we threw a little fish/water party. You really can't go wrong with water (pool and slippin' slide) and a pinata. For lunch we had Spongbob Mac'n'cheese, octypus hotdogs, fish in the ocean jelly, and some ordinary watermelon. Corey's mom was sweet enough to drop off some cute cupcakes that she made. Abby loved hanging with her friends and cousins. I'm glad it was a hit. I must say that I am really excited to have two years until the next friend parties, lol.

Hope you all had a great week! xoxo until next time.

That's Right :)

2009-07-08T05:22:00.000-07:00

I'm a Scentsy consultant :) It sounds funny to me too. I discovered Scentsy a few months ago if you guys can remember the picture of my plug-in that I love so much. My friend Andrea and I kept talking about how fun it would be to have easy access to all of the fun scents (and more plug-ins for me). One of the things that I love about Scentsy is that you don't feel like your forking out a ton of money for the products. Right now I have orange dreamsicle burning and I LOVE it. So needless to say, we took the plunge together and decided to sell as partners. We're just getting things figured out on the business side, but definitely let me know if you are interested in anything. Check out our website HERE If you've never smelled any of the Scents that Scentsy has to off and are interested let me know and we can help you there too. For those friends of mine that just stocked up on their Scentsy right before I joined, you're in BIG trouble ;P

This week has been pretty slow so far. We have zero plans which sometimes I really like, but I'm not really loving it right now. I really need to think of some fun things to do today or I think the girls might just lose it. In closing I thought I'd treat you to some summertime pouting shots ;) xoxo until next time.

Something New :)

2009-07-02T05:47:00.000-07:00

Look to the right and see if you can see anything different. Click on it. Check it out and I'll be back with details :)

The Evil Cookie

2009-06-30T06:47:00.000-07:00

Why do I have zero will power when it comes to sugar?! It was Monday night so of course I had to come up with something for Family Home Evening right? I was so strong all day not to eat unhealthy and to control my portion control. I really thought I had the day in the bag. Then came along the sugar cookie :)

Who even knows many many of this delicious circles I downed. Oh well, maybe today's the day (wish me luck).

I am not ready to be entering into toddlerhood with miss Kate!

Yesterday I took the girls to Hobby Lobby to stock up on a few needed craft items. I even planned well and went in the morning before Kate would even think about being tired. Who knows what happened, but half way through our browsing she outright started screaming and throwing a huge fit! I hurried and headed to the checkout which thankfully there weren't any lines. I couldn't believe that she pretty much cried the whole way home. She really tired herself out by the time we got home thankfully :) Oy. Maybe I'll have to give up shopping with her for awhile.

Grace and Abby both decided that they needed a change with their hair. I'm always up for changing up styles so on Saturday we headed to the beauty school and let a couple students practice their skills. They were really cute with them and did a pretty good job too. Now Grace looks older to me which I'm not sure that I like a whole lot.

Hope you all have a wonderful day! Btw, between the beginning and end of this post I ate two buttery pieces of toast. I'm off to a bad start (it was bran bread though, hehe) :( xoxo until next time.

Life in the slow lane.

2009-06-25T19:52:00.000-07:00

I have to admit that I've really loved not having to run kids around to dance, soccer, or piano (actually Grace walked to piano. I just watched her from the window until she was safely to her piano teacher's house). That's one of the great things about summer, but I can already tell that I'll be ready when school does start again.

A few weekends ago we finally got to have our pictures taken! It was so much fun. Today Emilie posted some on her blog! Take a look :)

Yesterday Grace to spend most of the day at a friends house so I broke out the pool for Abby to keep her mind off of missing Grace (and the fact that neither of her friends could play). I was amazed at how much fun she had just by herself.

That's about all that going on around here. A house that needs a good cleaning, two daughters that discovered how fun showers are, a few baby teeth peaking through gums, and lots of swimming. Abby is FINALLY (she asks how much longer everyday) turning five in a few weeks:

If you have any fun ideas for a water/fish party please send it my way! xoxo until next time.

Gotta Love Dads

2009-06-21T22:16:00.000-07:00

As this day is now ending I want to take a moment to introduce you to the dads in my life.

First up I'd like to say how much I love my husband Corey. Our three girls are so blessed to have him as their dad. He is the best snuggler, wrestler, monster, and dead horse (Abby likes the horses to be alive when she rides them, but that's okay).

Second, is my dad. He really is the coolest. He really is someone that I look up to in so many ways. I've loved more than anything seeing him as a grandpa. My girls couldn't love him any more than they do. He is so great with them and always makes sure to make time just for them.

Third, is my father-in-law Shawn. I've known him for a little over nine years now and he's always made me feel at home. He is a great with the girls and would do anything for them.

and finally my other father-in-law, Gordon. He's my load, crazy, ZZ Top singing father-in-law. He just recently moved closer which has been a lot of fun. The girls have a great time with him and he's always making us laugh.

I'm very blessed to have these men in my life. They're all completely different from each other and I love them all in such different ways. I hope that they know how much I love and appreciate them for who they are in my life. Yeah for dads!

I'm in Love!

2009-06-16T16:21:00.000-07:00

Ever since I got my camera I've been searching for a fun camera bag. You wouldn't think it would be that hard to track something fun and funky down, but it is. I just found this site and I'm so excited to start saving my pennies for one of these beauties. You even pick out your own fabric! What's even cooler is that they're giving one away right here. Go and sign up in my name, or I guess sign up yourself, lol. Have a happy Tuesday!

Princesses Galore!

2009-06-09T21:41:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Ginger, and I loaded up our girls and headed to Lindon for the Princess Festival. Thank goodness for Corey's GPS system that told every turn to take along the way (not too familiar with Lindon). The girls were SO excited when we finally got there. I don't even know where to begin. It really was so cute. There were princesses, princes, and many more fun characters walking around. The girls had a great time jumping on a trampoline with Peter Pan and blowing pixie dust with Tinker Bell. The Blue Fairy took the group of girls around and they helped save the princesses. The girls had a great time and I was seriously impressed. I think that next year we'll make it a "mother daughter sleepover." Here are a few of my favorite shots from the day. Hope you had a great day!

Hurray for summer!

2009-06-06T05:24:00.000-07:00

It's finally here! That thing called summer vacation!! Abby's been asking for about a month when it's going to be summer. She's actually asking when her birthday is with that question (in the winter I told her that her birthday wasn't until summer), but that's okay. I think we're going to make a countdown chain to her birthday because she really can't wait until the middle of July and I'm really getting tired of telling her when her birthday is.

I have been really trying to play around with my camera in the manual settings lately. When I first got home from the workshop, I snapped a few pictures and they turned out completely black, lol. I've actually gotten better since then, though I still am not sure what I'm doing. Here are a few from the other day:

Grace's party was yesterday and it was pretty fun. I hope the girls thought so too. I gave the girls some flip flops and a spa robe (white t-shirts cut up the middle and a tie cut from the bottom hem) when they walked through the door. They first had facials which Corey's mom did. After a quick game we headed outside to the different stations. There was the manicure station, the body glitter creating station, and a table to decorate sleeping eye masks. As the girls were doing that (Corey's mom and sisters kept the girls busy) I worked on getting lunch ready and outside onto another table. As soon as lunch was all set up, it started to rain! So I grabbed the food and brought it inside. Grace had a great time so I guess it was a success. Now I get to plan a water party for Abby!

Since we didn't get to eat outside at the party, I thought we should eat outside for dinner. The girls and I grabbed subway sandwiches and had the picnic table all set up as Corey pulled in the driveway. He's not a huge fan of eating outside, but I really love it (even if it's just in our front yard), so I hope that he starts to enjoy it one of these days, lol.

The one thing with photography that I don't know if I've figured out or just gotten luck with is finally being able to freeze time! Whenever I tried to take an "action" shot before it would be completely blurred. I told Abby to twirl last night and this is what I snapped.

Have a wonderful weekend. xoxo until next time.

ps. If you have any fun summer activities ideas that are super cheap or free please send them my way!

Presents & Pancakes

2009-06-03T06:02:00.000-07:00

The last few days have been crazy! As many of you might or might not know, I turned 30 on Friday. It was a pretty low key day with a few fun surprises along the way :) A sweet friend in my ward made me her carrot cake that is seriously "to die for." That in itself made me smile just looking at it all day, lol. I probably gained 5 pounds eating that yummy cake.

My mother-in-law surprised me with this owl that is now keeping watch over my kitchen!

On Saturday I went to Emilie's photography workshop which was a lot of fun. It really made me even more excited about photography. I am so completely clueless about ISO, shutterspeed, and Aperature though, ugh. Need to figure those out. Then I hit Tai Pan and bought some fun things.

This week I'm in party mode gearing up for Grace's bash. I decided to change gears with the invites since she's having a pampering party. This is the picture that I ended up using (thanks so much for your ideas though):

While we were delivering a few last minutes invites on Monday the girls were noticing how many kids were running around in their smimsuits. So we finally broke out the suits and the sprinkler for a little (very little) water fun. Kaylee joined them and they had a great time splashing and they said they were having a cheese and water party :)

Yesterday Grace officially turned 7! When Corey was growing up they opened all of their presents in the morning and when I was a kid we waited until that night (before cake and icecream). I gave Grace the option and of course she chose morning. I don't mind, but all of our birthday pics are going to feature bed head.

I can't believe she's 7 already. That's probably why I'm 30 already, lol.

I hope to have some fun party pics here in a few days to show. Summer vacation starts tomorrow and I'm realizing that I'm not quite ready, but still excited. Before I go, here's a picture of Kate doing something that she really enjoys. I take one finger out and the next one goes in. Have a great day!

ps. I realized that I didn't even mention pancakes in my post, lol! When I was a kid, we would have ice cream on our pancakes when it was a special day. I still like the thought, but Corey thinks it's weird. So yesterday for Grace's bday we had pancakes, but with cool whip (still good, and not at wierd I guess).

Help!

2009-05-26T05:18:00.000-07:00

I'm planning Grace's birthday party and I thought it would be fun to have this picture for the cover of the invite. The only problem is that I don't know what I want her to be saying, lol. Any ideas?

More fun with pics

2009-05-25T19:47:00.000-07:00

I've been having more fun taking pics of the kids (yes, still totally in auto mode). My parents also came for a short visit this weekend and it was nice to see them. They took Grace and Abby with them to my brother Jon's Saturday morning until Sunday and boy was it a quiet day. I was excited for the quiet, but it turns out that I didn't like it as much as I thought I would. It felt so weird without them here. Corey and I drove down to see everyone (including Devin and Holly) yesterday after church and then brought the girls back with us. It definitely hasn't been quiet today, lol. I've been wanting to sew for days now and so I finally sewed Abby a skirt this evening. I have many more things on my list, but it felt good just to break out the machine and do something. I guess I better get the girls to bed. Hope you have a wonderful night and here are some random pics in closing :) Good night.

focus, focus, focus

2009-05-16T07:10:00.000-07:00

Maybe if I say the word three times I'll actually have an ounce of it. I don't know why, but I have such a hard time focussing on anything for long periods of time. I've always been that way and I hate it. It's pretty much that way with EVERYTHING!!! UGH. I have so many unfinished projects and so many that I haven't even started yet for that matter, lol. I can't even focus on my home long enough to get it totally clean (I also hate cleaning so that doesn't help). It's been really bothering me lately. I thrive on feeling inspired and feeling creative and lately I haven't been working on anything or even known what my next creative venture will be. I think that's also what's been bumming me out. All things that can be fixed of course. I really need to start making lists so that I can stay focussed on what I need and want to get done. Then I need to actually check the list daily and work on it. Just thinking out loud here aren't I, lol.

Okay, well let me tell you about the things that aren't bumming me out and really inspiring me lately. I really want to be great at photography and actually shoot in manual mode (eek! I said that out loud). I get to go to Emilie's workshop on the 30th (the day after I actually TURN 30) which I'm stoked about (not stoked about turning 30), but until then I've been having so much fun just playing around.

This one isn't really in focus, but I love that little tongue that's always out. She also rarely stops moving:)

Here are also some things that really get my creative juices flowing!!! I just ordered this pattern:

I'm crossing my fingers that I'll get this for my birthday:

I'm seriously drooling:

There are just no words to express the cuteness

The sewing machine it going to quickly make it's way to the dining room table today I think. Hope you have a wonderful weekend. xoxo until next time.

Smithfield Health Days

2009-05-11T09:08:00.000-07:00

This last weekend was Smithfield annual Health Days festivities. For being a weekend about health, I sure didn't eat healthy AT ALL! On Saturday morning there was a parade that the girls got to participate in. They rode on a trailer with their dancing group and probably threw all of their candy within the first minute, lol. They loved it and I didn't have bring home with a bunch of parade candy that I would have ended up eating when they weren't looking. They also got to dance later that afternoon at the park. We couldn't leave without hitting a few fun things, train ride, blow up slides, etc. I don't think that I'll be able to afford anything when I'm paying for three kids to do everything. Yes, I am cheap, but sheesh those people make a killing.

About every 30 seconds Abby asked if it was time to get cotton candy (yes very healthy). Finally it was time and Grace, Kaylee, and Abby enjoyed a few mouthfuls of the teeth rotting sweetness :)

Needless to say it was a fun day. We planned on going to the fireworks that night, but Kate fell asleep early and I felt bad about dragging her out. Corey was also busy preparing food for Mothers Day! He doesn't usually cook because he hardly has any time to breath these days, but he really enjoys it. Even if he's making pancakes he'll look up gourmet recipes online. It's kind of funny, but definitely delicious. Mothers Day was nice and relaxing. Corey didn't have any bishopric meetings after church and it was nice to have him home for a few hours just hanging out before going to his parent's house. Here are a few pics from yesterday.

Here's Corey chillin' with his homies, hehe.

Corey gave me a gift card to Tai Pan!!! Thanks again honey :)

Hope you all had a great Mothers Day! Happy Monday.

xoxo until next time.

My Randomness

2009-05-01T09:36:00.000-07:00

My brain is stashed full of miscellaneous thoughts. Here's a bit of what I've been doing and thinking lately.

1. I started doing coupons again after a year or so and am feeling good about spending less and getting stocked up.

2. The other day my friend Milana mentioned something about visiting teaching kits (or something like that) to me. I'd never heard of them so of course I was intreged and went home and googled. There were a few different results so I took bits and pieces from what I found and created this (yes, I went visiting on the very last day of the month):

I decided that I'm going to make these little envelopes, handouts, a magnet, a recipe, a bit of chocolate, and whatever else comes to me every month. I'm going to create them early and then post a link so that if anyone else is interested you can download the files, print, and put together a visiting teaching kit of your own. If you have any great recipes please send them my way! I will get May's kit done this weekend!

3. Grace and Abby are having a great time playing soccer. This is the first time for them and they're getting better every week. The first few games Abby kept getting the ball and running the wrong direction, lol. She didn't care though. She is so carefree and just loves running around and being part of a team. They both love being the goalie, which I'm surprised by and always a little nervous about, but it's all fun. Kate doesn't care much about soccer, but loves licorice.

4. I had to copy my friend Emily and whipped up some strawberry freezer jam yesterday. They've practically been giving away strawberries lately their so cheap. I also love them for smoothies!

5. If you're ever tempted to by window clings for holidays, DON'T DO IT! I saw this months ago and finally got around to putting the girls to work on some window decor. They had a blast and I love what they created. This is a horrible pic, but you get the idea.

6. I just recently discovered Scentsy and love it. I got this plug-in warmer and now my house smells like apple pie most of the time (Corey's favorite) :) I'm even considering selling Scentsy products just so I can have easy access, lol.

Okay so I guess that's it for the moment. There's a lot more going on in my head, but that's going to have to wait until later :) What's consuming your thoughts today?

xoxo until next time.

I Survived!

2009-04-15T22:33:00.000-07:00

Though I got several sympathy looks at the airport I flew with the three girls pretty effortlessly (considering that I had three little girls, lol). It was Grace's spring break and it had been too long since going to visit my parents in Spokane. It was a lot of fun just relaxing and doing our traditional Spokane things. Get ready for a bunch of pictures :)

The first thing that we had to do was make smores! My parents have a great fire pit and a perfect view. I love Abby's chocolate mustache.

My Mom prepared by picking up bubbles and play dough before we got there and both were a hit.

The girls love to go the Mobius Childrens Museum. Kate really enjoyed herself too. There's a table with running water and boats to play with. Kate just kept dipping her hand in and then running it through her hair. By the end her head was pretty soaked. We also always go to Riverfront Park and ride the carousel a few times. I love this picture of Kate on the sky ride.

On Saturday we had our fill of eggs! We dyed two dozen in the morning, went to the city Easter egg hunt, and had our own hunt. While my mom and I were hiding the eggs around the outside of the house the girls are going crazy trying to sneak peeks out windows and quietly slipping out through the garage.

If you're still ready, thanks for taking the time to look at all of these, lol. Only a couple more I promise. I never thought that I would have three matching girls on Easter Sunday, but it was a lot of fun. Poor Kate got woken up from a dead sleep to be taken outside in the cool breeze and crunchy grass for pictures. Oh, and it was time to go to church.

Now I'm home and already have a sink for of dishes. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted and I'm happy to be back in the swing of things. I didn't miss the snow though and it waited for me to get back home which was so nice wasn't it, HA. Hope you're all doing great.

xoxo until next time.

*I'm back! I just wanted to ease you mind and let you know that I've now done my sink full of dishes!*

Good Stuff.

2009-04-01T06:09:00.000-07:00

A few months back I came across this photographer Emilie, and I've been hooked on her blog ever since. I love her style, personality, and she has taken some gorgeous temple pictures that she sells. So I obviously had a tinge of jealousy when my sister-in-law, holly, posted last weekend that they had family pictures taken by her. Go and check out my totally photogenic family HERE. Little did I know that Holly and Emilie are actually friends. I hate to admit this since I'm so in love with pictures, but we have never had our family pictures taken (except if we were getting a huge family one taken and just happen to get ours in the mix). It's about time don't you think? I e-mailed Emilie and SHE'S COMING TO LOGAN ON JUNE 13TH!!! If you are a Cache Valley friend and would like to book a session with her she's offering:

I'm so excited! She'll also be here taking pictures of the temple! Here's her website so give her a jingle ;)

Last week Grace and Abby had their dance recital. It's always an entertaining experience to say the least. They both looked so cute and Corey's mom saved me by coming and being their own personal make-up person (they loved it). I did the old school sponge curlers in their hair and Abby was a little Curly Sue.

I've also been a big obsessed with hair clips over the past few weeks. My friend Andrea and I have been making them like crazy. It's been a lot of fun. This is probably a third of them, lol.

The hair clipping has tapered off a bit though and now I'm starting to sew again. I ordered this pattern and today I'm going to make the girls some Easter skirts and a dress for Kate. I never thought I'd be a big boutique clothing person, but I really have started to love it! I still don't think that I make any ruffled pants, but the dresses and skirts I can't stop drooling over.

In other news, did I eve mention that my brother Jon has started designing? Oh no, I didn't? Well he's an amazing artist so go checkout and buy some of his stuff. It's up in my shop.

Have a great day! xoxo until next time.

I Love...

2009-03-19T09:17:00.000-07:00

This new bag that will be arriving via UPS very shortly!

and my early anniversary gift! Pretend that this bike is orange.

I've wanted a nice bike forever! The other day while I was waiting in a line of cars to pick up Grace from school I texted Corey and said "I want to get BIKES!" Little did I know the power of a text. An hour later Corey called me and told me to meet him at the sporting goods store (where I might add his little brother works and gets us deals all of the time). Then an hour after that we both had bikes!! We went for our first family bike ride with the girls and it was a lot of fun. Yesterday Grace forgot something so I rode my bike (with Abby and Kate in the trailer) to her school and I think I even burned a calorie or two!

Anyway, good week for new things! TGIF!

xoxo until next time!

Feeling Green :)

2009-03-17T09:56:00.000-07:00

Isn't St. Patrick's Day fun! A day where everyone in the U.S. wears green. We should have holidays for every color don't you think? This morning I made Grace a clover to wear to school. Of course Corey didn't have any green so he got chased out the door by two girls with pinching fingers :)

Kate is officially ONE! I'm still wondering what happened to the past year, but that's okay. She keeps taking a few step here and there, but the kids will get so excited that I think it distracts her and she falls, lol. Her mission these days it to get to the top of the stairs without me catching her. I usually have the gate up blocking and chance of that happening, but whenever I take it down and forget to put it back up for even the tiniest second, she's on her way up.

Saturday night we celebrated with pizza, cake, and presents. Oh, and Grandma, Grandpa, Erica, Ryan, Nicole, and Chuck (the fam).

This last one was Kate waiting for her cake. This one has a lot of patience as you can see. Needless to say there was one very chocolate filled bath at the end of the night.

Have a wonderful day! xoxo until next time.

Getting a Bit Organized and Creative :)

2009-03-09T09:38:00.000-07:00

I've been really trying to get organized. You wouldn't know if you came for a visit today, lol, but it really is getting better. I'm doing my one load of laundry a day and keeping up on the dishes and it's really making a huge difference. Now I just need to get the rest of the house looking nice and then work on keeping it that way. Baby steps, right, lol?

Last week my mom told me about a book that her friend told her about. It's called The Beck Diet Solution: Train Your Brain to Think Like a Thin Person

I've always wanted to know how you thin people think and so I was curious. I started to read a few inserts from the book online and I was hooked. I'm really loving it and it's helping me to stop my negative thoughts about dieting and food. I think that's my main problem. Usually I do great all day and then by the time dinner comes I eat too much and then am willing to run to McDonalds just to get some sugar, lol. I haven't been that way at all over the past week though. Cross your fingers for me that I'll keep this up. It really feels great.

On Saturday I sat down and make a fun little album with some of my favorite pictures of the girls form the last few months. I wasn't very happy with my Walmart prints so I'll have to get some prints done to swap out, but I still had a great time creating and like how it turned out. I used Emily's kit Her Royal Highness which I love. I think I might even break out my sewing machine this week. I really want to make some fun placemats for our table. If any of you Smithfield ladies want to sew with me call me! I'd love some sewing company.

Can you guys believe that my Kate will be ONE on Friday?!! I can't believe that it's been a year already. Even though she's a Pill (definitely with a capital P) she's so much fun and we love her so much. On Saturday we're going to have some family over for some celebrating. I still need to get her something :) Here she is in all of her cuteness playing with her favorite toy from Christmas.

Have a great day! I hope it's not snowing at your house :) xoxo until next time.

Friday Favorites

2009-02-27T08:24:00.000-08:00

So I am an internet junky if you didn't know already :) There are so many things that I love and get inspiration from out there it's just endless. Today I'm going to show you some owls that I'm loving right now :)

One of these will be in my kitchen someday

These are trick or treat bags, but I might have to do a twist on this and make some Easter baskets :)

I need some kid clips and I love this one and this one too:

and these too!

I've had these bookmarked for the longest time and I really am going to make some one of these days:

These are just a very few of the adorable owls out there. What's inspiring you right now?

I Think it Might Have Worked!

2009-02-24T15:39:00.000-08:00

The flip flips and capri pjs worked their magic. Today it's clear skies and the beautiful sound of melting snow pouring off the house fills the air :) I tried to go jogging with Abby and Kate while Grace was at piano. Abby said that she'd ride her bike, but only a block away she said she was too tired to keep up with me and so we ditched the bike and she rode. That added weight killed me and man was I tired, lol. Even though it's super sunny a block away from home big balls of hail started falling from the sky and we were getting pelted like crazy! Anyway it's amazing how a little sun can really make a differenct. Hope you're having a good day too.

Just Hangin' In

2009-02-23T12:21:00.000-08:00

So I was feeling a bit of depression last Monday when we were having a snowstorm, as you could have probably guessed, lol. I really want the sun to come out and do it's job, but that's okay. I should be thankful for the moisture right? So with thoughts of Spring I wore my plaid pajama capris and flip flops.

On Friday I finally got a much needed haircut!!!!! After months of sporting a pony tail now my hair is too short to pull up, which is what I needed:) Thanks so much again Ging. I'm sorry again about Kate! Abby was so excited about the bangs that Ginger cut for her and she looks adorable with them.

My Mom sent the kids a fun Valentines Day package last week and in it was a big bag of M&Ms! She was sweet enough to put in a few Weight Watcher bars so that I wouldn't be tempted by the candy. Of course that didn't stop me though. Friday night the girls and I played "Don't eat Pete!!" and ate way too much junk in the process. If you've never heard of this game, you've got to make it. Grace made it at school for a family Christmas gift and it's so simple and fun for little kids. It just has nine different pictures of monsters on the "board." One person closes their eyes or goes out of the room and the other player(s) choose who's going to be Pete. You put one M&M (or whatever you want to use that the kids will eat) on each picture and the player that left the room starts eating them one by one. When they get to the one that's Pete everyone yells "DON'T EAT PETE!" Super simple, but how can you go wrong with a game with food right? It would be a fun one to make and give someone along with some mini (or not mini) M&Ms.

Speaking of Monsters I took a little break from hat making and made the girls these little monsters. So fun and easy!

I'm going to try and break out the sewing machine this week and try to create some Spring things. Maybe that will help it come faster, lol. I'll close with this picture of Kate in her new favorite place to go.

PS. I used Alexis Millers fun free actions on all of these pics!

Ugh.

2009-02-17T13:43:00.000-08:00

Q: Could I be any more sick of Winter?
A:

Let's Rewind a Day

2009-02-15T11:55:00.001-08:00

I'm sorry that I didn't post yesterday. I had some yucky 24 hour flu or something. Not a lot of fun, but I was definitely glad that it hit on a day that Corey wasn't working. He was pretty sweet about having the kids make waffles with him and he really knew I wasn't feeling well when I declined (saying no to food is unheard of from me, lol).

So the other night I had the girls decorate their own valentine shirts. They turned out really cute and they were so excited to wear them and show them off. I would have liked to make them myself, but realized how much more fun they would have creating them.

The girls took valentines to school and came home toting a bunch of fun sugar junk. Abby didn't even realize what valentines were. The kids could have just given her a piece of candy and she would have been fine :) I remember when I was a kid sitting at our kitchen table stuffing my valentines into those little white envelopes. Then I would put a few conversation hearts inside (that's probably the most popular valentine candy, but definitely my least favorite). Anyway, here's what our valentines looked like this year. Abby took sweet tarts and Grace opted for pixy stixs.

Okay, now for the moment that you've been waiting for :) The winner of my very first giveaway isssssssssssssssss..............

Yeah Melissa! I know that Elise is going to look adorable in this :) Would you mind sending me your address again and I promise I won't forget it. Thanks so much everyone for playing along. Jenny you really make me miss my high thread count sheets! Well we still have them, but they're queen and now we have a king. Our guest get nice sheets when they come :) I'll definitely be doing lots more giveaways in the near future. I'm always looking for new things to crochet, sew, and craft up so keep your eyes open. I hope you all had a wonderful Valentines Day!

xoxo until next time.

My First GIVEAWAY!!!

2009-02-11T20:28:00.000-08:00

Just for fun I thought I'd jump in on the "giveaway" bandwagon :) Hope you'll join me for the fun. I probably should have put the kids to bed before the video, lol, but it's too late now. Now it's time to push play:

You have until Friday night to comment! Everyone's welcome:)

Love

2009-02-06T04:17:00.001-08:00

So my friend Amie is dedicating her blog to romance this month which I'm loving and Corey thinks is hilarious. So it got me started thinking about my favorite couples :) Amie I hope you don't mind me jumping on the love train :) Right now and for the past few years I've been in love with Jim and Pam from The Office. When Jim finally asked Pam out Pam was a little teary eyed, but I was bawling!!! Good thing I had it tivoed and could recap over the summer when I felt like a good cry, lol. This post is dedicated to them :)

This and That (and lots of runny noses)

2009-02-04T18:37:00.000-08:00

So life has been pretty quiet lately (except for Kate's screams) which is how I like it mostly. We have some fun colds hanging around and two baby teeth poking up through baby gums, but that's about all that's new. Have I mentioned that Kate pulls herself up to everything now and does the side walk across them. I've caught her letting go and standing, but she has no interest in walking. When I try to get her to walk her legs turn to jello.

After talking with my sister-in-law Holly yesterday I got the urge to start crocheting again :) She steered me towards this cute pattern and I made it this morning for Grace. I also bought this and this :)

That's about all the excitement that's going on around here. Today Grace celebrated the 100th day of school :) Good times. Maybe I'll make a video next time to post for you if it doesn't frighten you to see me in motion :) Talk to you soon.

xoxo until next time.

credits

Full Moon (no pictures)

2009-02-01T20:41:00.000-08:00

So Friday afternoon I was in the bathroom putting on some make-up and the phone started ringing. I walked out of the bathroom and as I was turning my head to look in Abby's direction, I saw her right as she was pulling her pants down and completely mooning Kate!! She was saying "Look Katers!" as she wiggled her little bum. I immediately told her to pull her pants up and didn't know if I should be horrified or laugh hysterically. Needless to say she won't be doing it again and she reasured me that nobody had ever done that to her. She said that she just thought it was funny. Too funny :) Gotta love the four-year-old mind.

And Another :)

2009-01-30T06:44:00.001-08:00

Thought I'd scrap one of Abby's bad habits while I'm thinking about it :) All designs by Jaime Young! She's retiring so go and check out her store before it closes!

I Scrapped!

2009-01-29T06:04:00.000-08:00

credits

It had been way too long since I'd done anything and I've really been missing it. I've been drooling over my friend's designs for way too long without playing and it's time I start. I almost feel like I need to find my style again though. Wish me luck!

It's Been Way Too LONG!

2009-01-27T06:08:00.000-08:00

Wow! I don't even know where to tell you that I've been, lol. I also can't believe that January is almost over and it feels like Christmas was months ago. It feels like right when New Years Day hit my life started to speed up. The problem is that I'm having a hard time keeping up or maybe I should say catching up. Let me start by doing a little catching up on the last month or so:

We had a great Christmas morning just at home with the girls. I forgot how fun it was to have a baby at Christmas time. Kate didn't know what to think, but she loved it. It really was the perfect amount of everything. The girls didn't feel like they were missing out at all and we didn't overly spoil them so it was great. I got my camera early so I wasn't expecting anything, but Corey surprised me with an i-touch! I really had never even thought about having one so it was a huge surprise and I really am LOVING it! The other day I was thinking about how I still needed to get Grace a metronome for piano. Then the thought came to me that there might be a metronome application for the i-touch that I could download. Five minutes later Grace was practicing the piano with her headphones on listening to the ticking of her new metronome and it was FREE! Needless to say I think it's pretty cool.

I turn 30 this year (May 29th) and so it's really got me thinking even more about how I want to be different in my 30s that my 20s. I've really started working at losing weight and have lost 10 pounds since the new year and I really want to look and feel different by the end of May. I don't know why food has to be such a temptation for me. It's always screaming out to me "EAT ME!" Well now the veggies, just the ooey gooey brownies and such :) I also found this site and decided that I'm going to run a 5k in May. I've never been a runner at all and so this will be fun. I just need the snow to stop coming so that I can keep working at it.

Something else that's been on my mind a lot, but hadn't done anything until now has been service. I know how important it is and want my kids to grow up doing service for others and enjoying it. I found this blog a few months back and that really got me thinking. At first I thought about joining, but then my friend Milana and I decided to start our own group. Last Friday was our first meeting and it was a lot of fun. Everyone had some great ideas. This month we're trying to collect coats and winter clothes for the Spanish families in our area that are in need of them. When we have our next meeting in February we're going to tie fleece blankets to also give to them. I'm excited to get to know these ladies better as we serve together and for our group to grow. New people are always welcome so if you're in the area I'd be happy to let you know where and when. If you're not you should start a group of your own!

That's what's going on with me right now :) I think that my brain is probably busier than my body, lol, but I always feel like I'm behind at the end of the day. Maybe someday I'll be totally organized and in control. I'm sure my family would appreciate it. Have a great day and I promise I won't disappear again.

xoxo until next time.

Whata Goof

2008-12-14T17:40:00.000-08:00

Today Abby took a sick day and had her first visit to the Insta Care. We all looked so nice in our Sunday best waiting for 2 1/2 hours. She was a real trooper when getting her blood taken. The good news is that it's just a bug. The bad news will be coming in the mail soon in the form of a bill. Corey's helping the Bishop at the church tonight and I just wanted to show you what Grace was up to while I was doing the dishes. Silly girl, lol.

Life Through Pics

2008-12-13T20:43:00.000-08:00

I know that I'm always saying this, but I just can't get over how fast time is passing me by! Let me go back a few weeks :) The day after Thanksgiving we broke out the Christmas tree and got to work! Grace informed me that all white lights is boring so we opted for the traditional (though I tried to find light blue lights too {didn't happen}). I have to give props to the girls for pretty much decorating the whole thing themselves. I handed them the ornaments and they went to work. I planned on fixing it when they went to bed, but still haven't done a thing to change it and it looks pretty darn good :)

I have been working on projects like crazy. My newfound crocheting obsession is moving along nicely and I hope to have some slippers made for the girls for Christmas Eve. Here's the cute pattern that I'm attempting. I still have a lot to do before Christmas though and can't believe that tonight officially starts the 12 days before Christmas! Sheesh!

It was really nice being able to hang out with my parents over Thanksgiving weekend. They even stayed over two nights which was just long enough for Kate to decide that they were okay after all. She still wanted to come back to me pretty quickly, but definite progress!

When I was a kid my parents had this porcelain nativity set that they'd put out every year. A few years ago it got handed down to me which I was really excited about. This might be the first time I've actually put it up though. I've always been nervous about the kids touching it. So I decided to put it on the top of a shelf that's in our front room. I told the girls not to touch it. This is how I found it a few days later :)

Does the bible mention The Littlest Petshops? Anyway, here's what's been going on at our house lately:

That new color in the playroom really makes me smile :D

A very happy and very snotty baby.

Yesterday Andrea and I took the girls to see Santa. Abby very shyly asked for Naptime Nikki ($10 at Walmart) without actually making eye contact with Santa, lol. Then Grace sat on his lap and told him that she wanted a puppy. Santa saw the look on my face and was nice enough to talk her into a toy puppy. He talked to her about how much work animals are and how messy his reindeer are. Loved that Santa, though Grace didn't seem to like him as much, lol. I handed Kate over to him for a quick pic and she couldn't stop staring are that long white beard. It even kept her form crying for a second or two :) Before we left the girls got their hair done and we also couldn't leave without getting pretzels (even though they're a HUGE ripoff).

This morning we finally woke up to some real (not going away any time soon) snow! I don't know if I'm really excited or not, though it does feel more like Christmas now. The girls were so excited to break out the snow clothes finally and I do have to admit that I was excited that they still fit them! Kate also had her first taste of Winter which she wasn't so sure about.

That's about all that's happening around these parts. I'm starting to see the light when it comes to being done with Christmas shopping which it nice. I can't wait until everything is done and wrapped! In other news I think that I'll be putting the gat up very soon. Kate is trying to figure out how so climb.

Have a great weekend! xoxo until next time.

It's just begun

2008-11-28T20:44:00.000-08:00

Now Christmas season is in full swing! As usual I'm having mixed feelings, but I'm more excited this year than in years past. Usually I'm thinking about everything that I need to do, but at this moment I'm feeling excited about the gifts that I'll be giving even though I haven't started on them yet, lol.

I am IN LOVE with my camera even though I know very little about how to use it. I'm just amazed at how clear the pictures are compared to my point-and-shoot. Anyway even though my father-in-law was making me feel guilty about getting my Christmas early I have no regrets and will happily be taking pictures Christmas morning :) Here are a few of my first and favorite pics of the girls (click on the pic to get the full version. For some reason I've changed the sizes three times and they're still getting chopped. Sorry about that).

As you can see Grace is in a fun phase of your life where she won't just smile when I whip out the camera :) Last weekend I finally painted the playroom (which is the first room that you walk into when you enter the house). I thought that I was going pretty conservative with the shade of blue that I picked out. After the first coat went up I realized that I hadn't, lol. It's pretty bright and I love it. I don't know that Corey would agree, but it's perfect for a happy place space. Here's a little wall art that I put up the other day.

I've found that I have a hard time focusing on one thing for too long. I love to create things and I have a whole list in my head and on my computer of things that I want to try. The other day I started thinking about crocheting. My roommates in college taught me how to first crochet. I made a blanket for my parents and that was the first and last thing that I made. That was about nine years ago so I didn't really remember much. I went to Etsy and found a cute pattern. Then I asked a girl in my ward to help me get started. The next day while we drove to my brother's for Thanksgiving I made this:

This is my sweet niece Lizzy modeling it! I made it for Abby, but it was too tight so I'll have to try again with a bigger hook. Last night while I was staying up too late I made this hat for Kate:

Needless to say I'm super excited about crocheting now! I have my eye on a few more patterns here and here. Oh and aren't these so cute?

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. It's always fun when we get to hang out at my brother's house. The kids get along great, I get some good girl talk time in, and Corey made himself right at home downstairs with the Wii. I put Simon, Isaac, and Grace in charge of making the placecards while we got dinner/lunch going. They really created some cute cards and really took the job seriously. I loved it.

Corey had his first Black Friday sale today at Ogden's. He advertised like crazy in the newspaper and on the radio. The deal was, spend $999 on flooring and get a Wii for $99. There were actually a handful of people lined up when they opened and all the Wiis were long gone by the end of the day. Definitely a success which is great.

Instead of doing any shopping I stayed home and broke out the Christmas stuff! I was surprised at how few things we have. I even went downstairs again to make sure I didn't forget any boxes, lol. That's okay though. I broke out the crafty junk and made a little garland.

It's been a long time since we've had a little crawler at Christmas time. Today I realized that we won't be able to decorate the bottom of the Christmas tree. Kate is super quick and so interested in anything new. Love it. Here's her starting to help me earlier. Have you have a wonderful and restful weekend!

I Can't Believe...

2008-11-19T05:42:00.000-08:00

That November is almost over!!! Wasn't Halloween just last week? Time is really flying which I can't decide if that's a good thing or not. That means that Christmas really is just around the corner. Let's take a step back before I start with Christmas though. I have yet to post about Halloween and I had some pretty cute little girls to hang out with that day.

A few friends and I headed downtown for a little trick-or-treating on Main Street which was fun. That night we had a Brady family party which was a lot of fun. Just throw us all in a room with games and food and we're good to go. I really had no idea what to dress up as so I went with pajamas and curlers (very comfortable I might add). Corey was being pretty grouchy about dressing up and then a few hours before we left he did a complete flip and knew exactly who he wanted to be. He even shaved his head for the occasion :)

A few Saturdays ago I finally decided break out the rake. You couldn't even see our grass it was so bad. I didn't realize how big of a job that it would be, lol. I got most of it raked into piles around the house when Kate finally decided that she was not happy outside anymore. So the piles sat for a few days (I had good intentions to finish it up) and one day half of my yard was totally cleared off. A few days later the whole yard was totally leaf free. All I can say is I have some awesome neighbors. Two of my neighbors are retired and it seems always peeking out the window for someone to help. Love it.

It's been two weekends ago now since Chuck and Nicole got married. It really was a fun day and very HOT PINK! The girls looked so cute in their dresses and everyone else looked great in pink, black, and silver. It was pretty chilly, but a beautiful sunny day. Here are a few pics from the day.

They're back from their honeymoon now and opened presents Monday night. It was fun seeing what people gave them. I think I'm going to have to buy one of their many crockpots from them. I think that everyone get's at least one funny gift. Something that someone doesn't want and is re-gifting to you. Corey and I got a glass snowball for a wedding gift. We still have it and have no idea what to do. Chuck and Nicole got some funny swan candle holders. One was even broken.

So since Christmas is coming at an alarming rate I was going to tell you a new tradition that we're going to start this year. This is from the Enrichment night that I mentioned. The idea is to do three gifts. The gift of Meaning (wrapped in red), the gift of Wonder (wrapped in gold), and the gift of Usefulness (wrapped in green). They go along with the gifts from the three wisemen. So the girls will get their Santa gift and then these three gifts from Corey and I. I'm really excited. I've always wanted to figure something out so that I don't go overboard on buying things and I want the girls associate Christmas with Christ more than they do. Here's the idea:

I'm working on some Christ ornaments and also red, green, and gold ornaments to put on the tree that will go along with a few family home evenings that we'll do the few Mondays before Christmas. I'm so excited for Corey's gift of meaning! I'd tell you now, but just incase Corey happens to read my blog for some strange reason I better keep it hush hush for now.

Speaking of Christmas I've been asking for a new camera for probably the last three years. We were in no position to get me a new one, but I always hoped. Well this is the year for me!!!! I order my early Christmas gift the other day and it's on it's way here right now!!

And I'm almost as excited about this:

You just can't have a cool camera without a cute strap :)

Elsie's class started last week and I've having a great time. There's just so much fun inspiration and I'm trying things that I never have before. Fun stuff. I'll be posting things that I make in my Flickr account so if you want to check it out go for it!

Okay, I guess that's all for now. I have Weight Watchers today. Wish me luck.

It's About Time...

2008-10-29T05:13:00.000-07:00

I blogged :) What a crazy and fun time Fall is! October has flown by so fast I can't believe that Halloween is just two short days away. I still don't know what I'm going to be (I need a costume for the second annual Brady Halloween Party). If you have any great ideas throw them my way. So what's been going on with me you ask? Hmmm...good question. Well here are 12 things that come to mind:

1. We dogsat Panda for 10 days (the closest thing that the girls have to a cousin on the Brady side) while Ryan and Christa were in California
2. While we were at it we did a little fish sitting too. Dolphin is our neighbor Kaylee's fish :)
3. Grace got her first visit from the tooth fairy!
4. We did a little late night pumpkin picking (then painted them at home after some Little Caesars Pizza).

5. Volunteered in Grace's class a few times.
6. Hosted a bridal shower for Nicole. Lots of fun and you can't go wrong with a chocolate fountain.
7. Held a sick little Kate a lot (just a bad cold and some very sad eyes to go with it).
8. Helped prepare and attended a really great Enrichment night that's helped me put Christmas gift giving into perspective (will tell more later).
9. Went to the Pumpkin walk with my friend Milana and her kids. Here are a few characters we found along the way:

10. Signed up for this online class that I can't begin to tell you how excited I am for!!!!
11. Joined Weight Watchers last week! I set up a new blog that I'm going to be posting that part of my life to so check it later today and you'll see the first of many posts to come.
12. The girls and I made a mini road trip to see Emily, Bryleigh, and Jeremy last Saturday! It was a lot of fun seeing her new super stylish house, eat some yummy food, and just hang out and relax. Oh and a tiny bit of crafting in there. Emily was sweet enough to take some really cool pics while we were hanging Twin Falls. You're going to have to wait to see some though (Christmas cards in the works);) Thanks so much again Emily and I hope that you and Ray ate that cheesecake bar together. If not, you probably want to get it out of your van, lol.

On Friday I'll post picks of my little mermaid, rainbow fairy, and a baby giraffe! See you then.

Mish Mash

2008-09-27T05:00:00.000-07:00

How to begin? How to begin? Well a few weeks ago Grace came home from school and told me about how a few of her friends had their ears pierced and how cool their earrings were. I asked her if it made her want to get her ears pierced and she said without hesitation "NO NEVER!!!" Fast forward one week later. We walked in the house after picking her up at school and she says "I'm read to get my ears pierced." That was a pretty short never :) So I sat her down and talked to her about it (not trying to scare her, but telling her that she'd actually get holes punched in her ears and it would hurt for a second). She still said that she wanted to do it. So I said that we'd head to the mall on Saturday. She was so excited the whole week and Saturday morning she woke up early wanting to get to the mall first thing. I really thought that Abby might even jump on the bandwagon after she saw Grace do it. So we finally made it to Claires and Grace was super happy. She picked out the ones she wanted (pink ice) and she didn't even act nervous for a second. Then...

the first earring went in and the tears come pouring out (yes I'm regretting taking her somewhere where they only do one ear at a time). I felt so bad! Grace was covering both ears and saying that she didn't want to do it anymore. It took me at least ten minutes to talk her into taking her hands down. In the end I held her in my arms while she had the death grib around my neck for the last earring. Needless to say after watching Grace I will be surprised if Abby EVER wants to get her ears pierced.

I've been really really trying to figure out how I can totally dejunk and organized my house lately. It's coming along slowly, but I think I'll eventually get there. Right now it's in that in-between stage where it looks messier than when I started (love that). In other news on Sunday I got called to be a Webelos leader. Since I have all girls I guess they thought I'd be perfect for scouts, lol. I'm a bit nervous :)

I got to hang out with Emily, Ging, and Ange on Tuesday which was a lot of fun! Emily's computer crashed and so she brought it to Logan to get fixed. I don't know that I'd go as far to say that I'm happy that her computer crashed, but it was sure great to see her.

I guess that's about all that's going on around these parts. I'll leave you with some pics of Kate having a great time pretending to drive (the vehicle was not in motion at the time) :)

Have a great weekend and xoxo until next time.

Fall is in the Air!

2008-09-19T06:12:00.000-07:00

I really love the cool mornings and that I keep looking at my Halloween decorations and wonder if it's too early to break them out. I'm thinking about getting a jump start on Christmas (actually the jump starting has begun) and brainstorming some fun dinner party ideas. I love Fall even though I feel like it doesn't last long enough. Here's something that I love to make as soon as it feels Fallish and then keep making every few weeks until Christmas is over :)

Hope it's feeling Fallish at your house ;) xoxo until next time.

The Photoshoot (Part 1)

2008-09-15T08:23:00.000-07:00

So taking Nicole and Chuck's pics was a lot of fun. We're going to have to do some more this week because we were losing daylight at a rapid rate, but that's okay. I live a few blocks from a park that is perfect so you'll get to see some of those later this week. Here are a few of my favorites of the cute couple. This is what a point-and-shoot camera can do (along with some major photoshopping) :

While I was taking pics the kids were at grandmas playing. Kate was crying the majority of the time, but I think it was good for her (and mostly me) to be away from me for a minute. When I got back she was so excited to see me that she wouldn't stop jumping on my lap. Now it's Monday and she's still jumping :) I better head down to the basement and find our bouncy seat. Have a great day! xoxo until next time.

PS. Ging, thanks for the tip on the alley!!! There was a bride getting pics taken when I got there. Must be a popular spot :)

This and That

2008-09-13T12:14:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking, and thinking, and thinking about how I need to post, but for some reason when I walk past the computer I have no desire to be on it! That's a super shocker for me :) My mind has been on so many other things lately. I've realized how much I dislike homework as a Mom even, lol. Grace has it everyday and she also started piano lessons almost two weeks ago. I now have become a total naggy mom. I hate it! Grace NEVER wants to practice and she's so stubborn that I really feel like pulling my hair out. It's really important to us that she takes piano and she was really excited about it at first too. If you have any great ideas for me please send them my way. Abby started preschool last week and is loving it. She feels so important opening up her backpack when we get home and showing me everything she did that day. Here she is on her first day:

Last weekend I was invited to a baby shower for Lindy (Corey's cousin's wife). She is super sweet and we've become good friends just from the few times that I get to see her a year. The shower was in Eagle Mountain so it was a great opportunity for the kids to get to have a sleepover with the cousins (Simon, Isaac, Anna, Nick, and Lizzy) the night before. We're always looking for excuses to visit them anyway. I picked Grace up from school on Friday and headed straight down. On Saturday morning Sara, Louise, and I headed to IKEA while Jon was nice enough to watch the kids (or at least most of them). We hadn't even been there five minutes when I heard my name and couldn't believe my eyes when I saw Emily standing there. Of course we both had cameras with us, lol. I was so good to see her and I still am shocked that we were both far from home and we ran right into each other.

Today I'm taking Chuck and Nicole's engagement pictures. No, I've never done that before, so cross your fingers for me :) I'll post the results early next week. I guess that's about all that's keeping this family going these days, but that's definitely enough for now. Hope you're fabulous! xoxo until next time.

I Wish I had Brought my Camera

2008-08-30T05:12:00.000-07:00

Last night it was a little crazy (visitors) around dinner time. Around 8:30 we realized that we were hungry and didn't want to make dinner so you know what that means. We threw the kids in the van and away we went. Two blocks later we were at Callaways. Corey and I used to eat there a lot more before we had kids. It's kinda pricey and not really a family place, but really good italian food. The hostess sat us down in the front part of the restaurant which was totally empty (as far as people are concerned). We were all sitting around talking about school, the new store, and all of the in betweens. Somewhere in the middle of Corey doing magic tricks with the napkins and Abby shooting her straw wrapper at me I sat back, looked out the window and thought about what a cool little town I live in. I looked at Kate in her car seat snoozing, the kids laughing at Corey, listened to John Mayer singing in the background and realized how great my life is. I had a feeling like things are just perfect right now. We have had some major kinks in our life which I didn't know if we'd ever get through, but sitting there last night I realized how worth it it was to go through all of the craziness and the kids will never remember those times. Anyway, I was wishing that I had my camera so that I could capture that moment when I really realized how blessed I feel to be where I am (which is nowhere near where I need to be, but that's okay for today). Have a great weekend :)

A Week of Firsts

2008-08-28T05:58:00.000-07:00

The lazy days of Summer have now come to an end for us. It feels like it went by way too fast, but I'm always excited to get back into a routine and love the idea of Fall and the holidays right around the corner. So I still can't believe that Grace is in first grade. She started a week ago and is loving it. She feels really cool eating school lunch and she has two new friends that she does everything with. It's taken the whole week for her to remember their names though, lol.

This past week I've been doing a TON of digital design stuff. It's been a lot of fun, but now I'm really wanting to do some sewing and Grace is patiently waiting for that pencil case I promised her. Oh speaking of sewing and firsts I made Grace her first lunch bag and yesterday she was super excited to try it out (and I was pretty excited too):

Kate has decided that she wants to be included at meal time. When it's time to eat she wants to be at the table with us and she's always trying grab food. So I decided that it was time to introduce her to the world outside of goats milk (another story). Here's her trying butternut squash for the first time. What do you think? Did she like it?

That night I also gave her some rice cereal and she was going crazy for it (of course I mixed some apple sauce in with it). She would start crying while I was getting more on the spoon because she didn't think I was moving fast enough. Crazy kid! I'm glad she likes baby food, but it also opens up a whole new world of messes for me to clean up :)

So that about all that been happening around here lately. The business is going great and Abby's not missing Grace too much while she's in school. Abby can play by herself for hours and be happy. Today is back to school night for Abby's preschool which should be fun. Hope life is moving along for you and I'll check back with you soon ;)

Fun in the Sun

2008-08-14T08:30:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I took off with my friend (and next door neighbor) Andrea for the day. We took the kids to Bear Lake. Overall the girls were so good the whole day. Kate wasn't a big fan of the water which didn't surprise me too much and Abby said she wanted to go home about an hour after we got there (my little homebody). Thankfully Abby forgot about wanting to go home and wasn't sad again until we were getting ready to leave and the wind blew her float donut thing away (nothing a run to the dollar store can't fix). It was a fun end of the summer outing. Now I get to do some much needed cleaning today :) Wish me luck!

Just for Fun

2008-08-12T09:56:00.002-07:00

Emily posted this fun Flickr mosaic game on her blog and I thought it looked like a lot of fun. Here's how mine turned out:

The questions:
1. What is your first name? Tiffany
2. What is your favorite food? quesadillas
3. What high school did you go to? Mountain Crest
4. What is your favorite color? turquoise
5. Who is your celebrity crush? If I had to choose, Jake Gyllenhaal
6. Favorite drink? orange soda
7. Dream vacation? Sounds silly, but just and amazing spa :)
8. Favorite dessert? brownies
9. What you want to be when you grow up? an artist (photography, crafts, etc.)
10. What do you love most in life? My Family
11. One Word to describe you. Crafty
12. Your flickr name (or your blog name or handle or whatever). tiffbrady

To make your own:
a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s mosaic maker.
d. When finished, save to your computer to upload to your post.

Last Week at a Glance

2008-08-11T05:54:00.000-07:00

Last week was definitely birthday week around here. Corey's Mom turned 50 and Chuck turned 26 :) The first part of the week I was working like crazy to get a slideshow put together and also helping Nicole put together a fun digi photo book for Chuck. If you're out there somewhere Grandpa Willes I love you and owe you tons for sending me all of those great pics! Here's my mother-in-law that looks more like 40 than 50 and my bro-in-law Ryan.

I made this pic for Chuck just to be funny:

I also got to meet up with Ange and Ging at Fredricos which I wish I could do every week. It went by way too fast, but that's okay. We chatted about Twilight, and digital stuff. Today Ginger's cutting my mop of hair so that I can lose the ponytail look!!! Here's a picture of us and yes I am smiling way too big and need to get some new contacts. Also our adorable super sweet children that sat just like that while we ate lunch and talked (lol, just kidding. they were all over the place, but we were sitting outside so it was good).

That's about it. There was also some cleaning and dejunking mixed in there, but no pictures and it definitely isn't something I want to expound on. I did a bit of sewing and actually made myself a skirt that I wore to church yesterday! The other sewing was for my Etsy shop. Hopefully that will be full of stuff soon.

Have a great week! xoxo until next time :)

From One Day to the Next

2008-08-01T04:49:00.000-07:00

Life has been just a jumble of things lately. Mostly good, some bad (well one, lol). My Mom came for a super short visit this last weekend. On Sunday we celebrated my little brother's birthday. Isn't he cute :)

Then on Monday while my Mom was getting ready to leave I backed into her CRV (super nice and pretty new btw) with our van! Ugh. I felt horrible. I was going to take a picture, but decided that it wasn't a Kodak moment :)

Also over the weekend the bulb in our big screen TV went out. Another ouch that turned out to be a good thing. We definitely watched too much TV. The kids were addicted for sure and I always felt bad, but it was convenient at times. So now that we can't watch it it's actually been really good. Before I thought that kids would go crazy without it, but it only took a day or two for them to stop asking. We're definitely going to replace the bulb sometime soon, but might just have to cancel Direct TV. We'll see if we go that far, lol. So now that the TV's off this is what is playing over and over (and over) at our house.

Something pretty big has been brewing for a few weeks with us :) Corey works in the flooring industry. For a few years he was the flooring manager at a store and now he's on the retail end of selling flooring. Okay, not to bore anyone, but he knows his flooring ;) So about two weeks ago we were given the opportunity to buy a flooring business!! Pretty crazy, but super exciting! After, much, thought, fasting, and prayer, we decided to take the plunge. In 24 hours from now we'll officially be business owners!

Over the past few weeks Kate has really become a "mamas girl." She will flash these huge smiles at everyone, giggle, and the whole shabang, but as soon as anyone trying to take her from me out come the tears. They'll hand her back and within seconds the tears dry up and out come the smiles again, lol. She is too funny. I appreciate that she loves me so much, but this could be a become a problem.) Oh well :) Silly kid.

Tomorrow Breaking Dawn hits bookshelves everywhere and I can't wait!!! I've been rereading my favorite parts of Twilight lately and falling in love with Edward all over again. Corey thinks it's pretty funny. I guess that's all for now. Have a great weekend!

Oh I almost forgot, I scrapbooked! It seems like lately my layouts are fewer and far between. I had to use this new kit that Emily Merritt, Marcie Reckinger, and I created. It's called Happy Camper and it's a lot of fun.

A Rolling Baby

2008-07-26T07:23:00.000-07:00

I have to admit that I don't give Kate as much "tummy time" as I should. Please don't stone me, hehe. I was thinking yesterday how fun it would be if she could sit. Then I realized that she needed to master rolling first. So I put her on her tummy and one second later she was on her back. She had just been waiting this whole time to show me her new trick and I wasn't giving her the chance :)

I'm sorry, you're going to have to tilt your head 90 degrees to watch it, lol.

For the 24th we took the kids to see Grandma and Grandpa Duke which was fun. There was good food, games and swimming. Today we're waiting for Grandma Pitcher to come and spend the night for a few nights and the girls are so excited. That means I better get cleaning I guess :)

If you know me at all you know I'm a "crafter." I love to create things by hand for my digital designs and I've also really enjoyed doing a bit of sewing lately. One of my favorite places to shop, get inspiration from, and just waste time is Etsy. Well about a week ago I decided to take the plunge and open my own shoppe there! Well I just created it and now I need to start creating things to put in it. I'll let you know when it's up and running and stocked! I have a few things that I'm working on so stay tuned for that.

Have a wonderful weekend!

xoxo until next time!

Gotta Love Friday!

2008-07-18T07:40:00.000-07:00

So I didn't really have anything to talk about except for the fact that I'm completely overwhelmed by my house and lack of cleanliness. I live in a home that's over 100 years old and obviously when it was built it must not have been popular to have closets. So we've lived her for about 2 1/2 years and I still have no idea what to do with the lack of storage space. We still need to get another dresser (or two), but that will have to wait. If anyone out there has any organization ideas for me please throw them my way! Today I hope to make some progress, but I'm also thinking about the girls and them slowly going crazy inside the house all day. We'll see what happens :)

Emily tagged me yesterday so here goes!

What I was doing 10 years ago...
It was my summer after my first year of college. I was just working and hanging out with my roommates. I was also faithfully writing to my missionary, lol (wow that was a LONG time ago).

What is on my to-do list...
1. Organize the house (as you all know by now)
2. Get some designing done
3. Pay some bills

What are 3 habits of mine...
1. Opening all of the blinds in the house when I wake up (driving Corey CRAZY)
2. Procrastinating everything and anything (nice one huh)
3. Going to bed too late!

Things you might not know about me...
1. I actually enjoy watching Ultimate Fighting.
2. I used to dream of being a figure roller skater.
3. I'm allergic to Carmex (very random I know)

4 TV shows/movies that I love...
1. Heros
2. So You Think You Can Dance
3. The Office
4. Wipe Out (a new fav)

4 Jobs that I have had...
1. Mom
2. Digital Scrapbook Designer
3. Office Assistant
4. Retail Sales Associate (technical term, hehe)

4 Favorite books that I've read...
1. Twilight
2. New Moon
3. Eclipse
4. coming soon...Breaking Dawn (haven't read it yet, but know I will)

5 Places that I've lived...
1. Smithfield, Utah
2. Moscow, Idaho
3. West Jordan, Utah
4. Logan, Utah
5. Hyrum, Utah

5 Favorite foods...
1. Cheesecake
2. Grilled Cheese with mayo and tomatoes on top
3. Anything in a wrap
4. Guacamole
5. Almost anything Mesican

5 People I tag...
1. Ginger
2. Joni
3. Holly

Abby turned four on Sunday which is crazy! Here is a one of my favorite pics of her and my Dad from a few weeks ago.

and also a layout that I made using my new Summer Side Up mini kit.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Right Here. Right Now.

2008-07-16T22:47:00.000-07:00

I cannot believe that it's far enough into the Summer that I'm thinking about school clothes, making lunch bags for the girls (Abby won't really need one, but I know that I can't just make one for Grace), school fees coming up, etc. This Summer has FLOWN by! In June we got to hang out with my family for six days in Cardston, Alberta (Pitcher family reunion). I can't even tell you how fun it was to see all of the kids running around together and having the such a great time. I wish that we could all do it every year, but since we're all so spread out opportunities like this are few and far between. Since we were all together we had to get some pictures since there's eleven more grandkids since the last family pics, lol. Here's my super cute fam.

In other news my gorgeous sister (in-law) Nicole officially got engaged last night! She really has found the perfect guy for her and we're all so excited for them. Now I get to think of some fun hot pink dresses to make the girls for their hot pink and silver wedding. Congrats Chuck and Nicole!

About a month ago Corey and I got called into the Stake President's office and Corey was called to be in the bishopric. Yes, it was a major shocker for us, but I think that it's great and it really has made us zone in on the things that we should be doing. He is gone a lot more at night, but I know that's where he's supposed to be so it's great.

Okay, well I guess that's all for today! Before I sign-off I better post a recent picture of my Kate. Isn't she adorable in this custom embellished onesie by none other than Emily Merritt (perfect for this Summer because I hardly want to put anything on those chubby legs).

Testing Testing

2008-07-08T17:53:00.000-07:00

I'm happy to be blogging again! This will be a place for me to totally be myself (not that I'm not on my other blog, lol) and show you how I live :)