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I absolutely love this photo of Katie. It is one of my favorites that I have ever taken. It is from our trip to Rhode Island in 2004. They were searching for shells and stuff. I finally found some papers with the perfect colors to go with the picture. I am submitting it in for a contest that the paper company (Scenic Route) is having, but wanted to show off my beautiful little girl to you all.

I have tons of errands to run today so I better get to it.

Gobble, Gobble, Gobble

First let me start by wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving. We had a fabulous Thanksgiving this year. We got up early Wednesday morning and drove down to my parent's house in Ferron. This was the first time my mom has been able to host Thanksgiving since we moved here. I think she was pretty tickled. She had quite a spread too:

Turkey, Potatoes Anna, Creamed Asparagus, Stuffed Mushrooms, Dressing, String Beans, Yams and a Relish Platter. And for dessert we had Apple, Mincemeat and Rhubarb Pies

My Aunt Margaret came and had supper with us. She had spent the day prepping for her families dinner that they would be have on Thursday (we decided to have our's on Wednesday day so we could spent Thursday eating the yummy left overs)

This morning, Thanksgiving morning, Steve took the kids for a walk on the San Rafael Swell to look for cool rocks and maybe a fossil. I stayed at mom and pop's and visited and watched the Macy's Parade on television. Steve and the kids had a such a wonderful time and found TONS of rocks. Steve told me on the way home this afternoon how neat it is to watch the kids explore new places. He is a pretty cool Dad. The kids are all pretty lucky to have him.

So we made it home late this afternoon and I have been skimming all the ads and sort of have a game plan how to approach tomorrow morning. I love this time of the year!!!

Sleeping Beauty?

Friday was an incredibly busy day.

8:15 drove the big kids to school
8:30 passed Falcon Friday Awards at school.
11:00 came home, made lunch for Katie and Becky
11:15 drove kindergarten carpool
11:45 passed out Falcon Friday Awards to PM kindergarten
12:00 PTA Meeting
1:30 picked up kids
1:45 go to church to set up for program rehearsal
2:30 primary children arrive for rehearsal.
4:30 rehearsal ends/clean up chapel
4:30 Steve leaves for work (filling in)
5:15 drive to Steve's store and bring him a Beto's burrito
7:00 arrive home for dinner with the kids
7:30 clean up the house.
8:30 BREATHE!!!

I was exhausted from all the running and such and went to bed shortly after 10:00 pm. I woke up at 4:00 am with thoughts of Junkitz and Provo Craft Design Teams dancing in my head. So I came down stairs, put on old movies, which get me in the mood to scrap, and began to work on a Junkitz layout. Next thing I knew I heard a strange sound and lifted up my head. I had fallen asleep and Steve near the computer. It was 7:15 am. I HAD FALLEN ASLEEP!!! We laughed about it and then he said he wanted to show me the pictures he had Photoshopped of the girls the day before. They were cute and then at the end he showed me the one that started off this post. The stinker had taken a photo of me sleeping.

So many Design Team Calls.....so little time!!!

My Little Scout

Just got home from Zack's Pack Meeting. He loves being a scout. He will probably earn his Bear Badge at the next Pack Meeting. That will be pretty cool. Today's meeting was okay: we said the pledge, watched a skit, handed out awards and the played "Dodge Ball".

Last night was our Enrichment Night. We did an auction named "Angels Among Us". We made something or promised a service using our talent. I made the before mention scrapbook and a WHOLE BUNCH of CHOCOLATE COOKIES. Then once we got to the church we answered a bunch of questioned that had different points values. Some questions were spiritual, "Did you say your prayers" "Are you caught up on your Book of Mormon reading?". Then some of the questions were like, "Did you make your bed today" "Could you find Iraq on a map?" I got out bided on the two things I thought were my first choices. I ended up with a cute snowman cookie jar and a bunch of ingredients for making and decorating cookies. It was a fun evening. Highly recommend anyone who is looking for an activity for church or even a party.

So...I'm gonna tell you about my newest household gadget that I am LOVING.

Now don't laugh at me.

Steve broke our vacuum on Tuesday. So we went out that afternoon and bought a new vacuum. Okay I know pretty boring, BUT we bought one of those bagless vacuums. I have loved vacuuming and getting to see all the dust and dog hair that has gotten sucked up. It totally thrills me, I vacuumed our bedroom 3 times today to make sure I had gotten it pretty darn clean. After each room I have been dumping out the dust and stuff. It is so cool. I am loving it. Okay. I know I am weird, but it is the small things in life that make me happy.

Latest Addition to Our Family

Saturday my Mom, Pop, the kids and I went to the Christmas Craft Show at the Sandy Expo Center. There were some pretty cool booths. I bought another tie for Steve, a cute Santa door hanger. My mom bought some Christmas gifts for people she knows and 3 HERMIT CRABS!!! Becky's is the blue one with the Care Bear painted on it, Katie's is the light pink one with heats painted on it and Belle's is the Coral colored one. Zack felt he was not responsible enough to have a pet of his very own. I actually don't mind that the kids got the hermit crabs as long as they stay in the habitat, but I am afraid that one of the girls will take the lid off, the crab will wander out and suddenly there will be a yucky, stinky smell somewhere in my house.

So Mom and Pop took the kids and I out to dinner Friday night. We had never been to Carrino's (Italian food) before so we decided to go there. There was 7 of us. When we walked in there were only 3 other groups waiting ao they said about 15 minutes. We sat down and began to wait. Those three groups were seated and then (I'm not exaggerating) at least 25 other groups got sat before us. We were waiting for nearly 45 minutes. So we finally get to our table order appetizer and as we are waiting for the appetizers we made our meal order (BIG mistake). They brought the appetizers and mom and Pop's salad and soup then within about 3 minutes they brought the main course. UGHHHH!!! My bet peeve is being rushed out of a restaurant. I know the way they make $$$ is to turn over tables, but it was so obvious they were trying to rush us out of the restaurant. Maybe I will have a better experience if I EVER try to eat there again. I may just go back to Olive Garden. I have never had that problem there.

Sunday was a good day. We practiced the Primary Program during the first 2 hours at church. It went fairly smoothly. I think we, the whole Primary Presidency, are pretty nervous about this. All the children know their parts pretty well and the songs. We have some great teachers to assist us. Then we came home from church and spent some time with Mom and Pop. I really love getting to sit around and just talk with my mom. When Steve got home from work we had to rush off to the church for a Book of Mormon Feast meeting. The sections we are studying to teach the youth are Alma 8 - Alma 35. We still don't have a clear idea of what we are doing, but I think it will begin to come together.

My New Space

We finished the room in about 36 hours. Steve took out the bar and had to deal with plumbing and electrical issues. We reused the cabinets from the bar and put them on the wall. Then we bought a counter top that was 8 feet long. I reused the big desk to do most of my scrapping on. Steve and I ran out and bought a prefab bookcase to store some of my other supplies on.

I am absolutely in heaven. I have wanted to expand my scrap space for sometime now and I am so lucky that Steve allowed me and gave up his whole day off to make it happen. I am still in the basement family room, but with the wall painted purple and the openness of the whole layout I feel as if I am in my own space.

The kids are VERY ready to go back to school They are actually asking me when they get to go back. In some ways I enjoy having them home with me, BUT because it is only for a few weeks we don't have very much structure...and I think we all need structure. My parents are coming up for a few days starting today. I love living so close to my mom and dad. After living on the other side of US, I am really relishing this. I think they get quite a kick out of being a larger part of the kids lives.

Speak of the devil...They just got here. I'll have to finish up later!!!

Under Construction

Well, I have had another hair brain idea. I have wanted to removed the bar from our basement for a few months now. That is where my scrap area has been. I have out grown that area and wanted to spread out. Steve thought about it for a while and finally gave me the okay. I came up with a plan of using the old cupboard and have picked out a new countertop. I drew up a floor plan for the whole room. This morning Steve woke up and jumped into the project.

I will post after pictires when the room is complete. Can't wait!!!

My Projects are Stacking Up!!!!

I have a stack of scrapbook projects I am trying to work on. I still have not quite finished my Ali Edward's A Week in My Life album and now I have a HUGE box full of all the components for my SHE album staring at me everytime I look at my desk. But before I can tackle either one of those projects I have a few others that are time sensitive. I am working on 3 projects for the Junkitz Design Team Contest. I would LOVE to win, but serious they are only picking 3 and there are some very talented women out there trying for this. But you have no chance of winning if you never even enter. Right?

The next project I am trying to crank out is a school album. I saw this design in a Scrapbook Etc. Magazine, I wish I could remember who made the page so I can give her the credit, and LOVED IT!!! It is so simple and clean. I have been working on 8 1/2 x 11 versions of this. I got some of those cool Scrapworks albums that look like a box for each one of the kids. Well, our ward is doing an auction called Angels Among Us for Enrichment Night next week and you have to bring in an item to be auction that reflections you talent or interest. I guess when we get there, we will answer a questionnaire and receive points for each answer. Then we can use those points to buy the items that are brought. It sure sounds fun. Well, it was pretty easy to come up with what my talents was. I thought one of these school books would be fun to make. This one is 8x8. On the little tag that is tucked behind the photo you can right down any tidbits of information like who their teacher was, any friends they had that year, maybe have them sign the card to have an example of their writing. The space is large enough for a 3 1/2 x 5 school photo.
Then on the 2nd page there are pockets to store some of their papers from school maybe a copy of their art projects. Then in the next pocket you can store their report card and any awards that got that year. So I made one of those this week. Kindergarten-12th grade to be auctioned off. I put it in a black album. All I have to do now is decorate the album and it will be good to go.

There is other things happening in my life besides scrapbooking. I went to my book club meeting last Thursday. We had read "The Secret Life of Bees". I only got half way through, but it is a good book. This month we are reading "Five People You Meet in Heaven". I am looking forward to that. I met with the rest of the Primary Presidency on Thursday also and put the finally touches on the Program the children will be participating in two weeks. I have 1 more week of the children being off track. I think they are even a bit antsy to go back to school. Last week we went to the movies with some of our friends to see Sky High and then a few days later we went to the Church Museum in Salt Lake and the kids got to play with their friends and then we went to the Sky Box for lunch. That part was a bit crazy, but all in all FUN!! I think we are going to the Children's Museum tomorrow. It is nice having these outings to help break up this off track time.

Looking forward to quiet afternoons!!!