Changin it up...

Did you notice the new look? I just have to give credit for the stuff I used on my header- I used elements from Lynn Grieveson's Sweet Madeline kit from Designer Digitals to make it- really really pretty stuff in there. I changed a couple of the font colors on here too- are all the words still easy to read for you? I think the blue I used for clicked links might be too bright... While I'm plugging Designer Digitals I will add that they are my favorite digital scrapbook store at the moment, and besides tons of beautiful stuff for sale they have a lot of good freebies to download, and every week they put 2 things on sale for only $.25 and they are usually really good things! So go check it out HERE.

Quick Weekend Review

It was HOT! We went swimming in Mimi & Papa's pool (which was COLD) on Saturday, but it was fun. About 30 minutes after we came in, a huge dust storm rolled in just in time for naps, and that was really exciting- it felt like summer! Then we did a family trip to Costco and had dinner at Mangos. It seems like we are always going in different directions on Saturdays so it was fun to spend the day all together. I found a few really great things at Costco (of course) that I couldn't wait to share! First this huge beautiful pack of scrapbook paper:

It's just regular, one sided, light weight paper, but it's so pretty and less than $.04 per page, $13.50 for 360 12x12 sheets of paper. That's a steal! So I had to come home and start using it immediately. (just until the Glitz Design line comes out of course) I got a few more pages done for Miss G's book but they are nothing special so you don't get to see them! Also, I discovered you can get a giant 2lb bag of yeast there for like $4, and giant jars of chicken broth powder and beef broth powder for less than $4 each. Those are things I always run out of and buy small expensive jars from the grocery store so I was thrilled. Maybe I will learn to bake bread now...

Does this totally take you back?

I used to love to read- I was hooked on Nancy Drew for a few years at least- check out all this great stuff HERE.

Got any single friends?

I want to buy this postcard set for someone so bad but it would be so much better if I had a single friend! So if you do, you can get them by clicking HERE.

Thanks so much for all the advice from yesterday. Miss B woke up totally happy today and after school she told me that "T" is still her friend. So I guess it was more upsetting to me than her! Now, back to fun stuff! Miss B. helped me paint these cheap wooden knob hook things from Michael's(polka dot circles on the ends) and I made a little place to hold my ribbon.It's not the cutest thing I've ever seen but it's functional, and cleared up a lot of clutter in my office. While I was at Michael's, they were clearing off a couple rows for Martha Stewart Craft items! They only had some things up but they were unpacking boxes and some of it looked really cool! So keep your eyes peeled...And a quick congratulations to the Brinkerhoffs on their new baby Brooke! Staci is such a good sweet mother and her husband Troy is an awesome photographer. He just knows how to get the best shots of children! You have to see this video he did of the girls going to meet the baby at the hospital- it is so sweet, I watched it 3 times and maybe because it reminds me of my girls, it made me cry!

High Drama in Kindergarten

Miss B has had her first devastating friend experience. “T” didn’t want to be her partner in PE today, she wanted to be partners with “R” instead. Miss B felt it necessary to remind “T” that they were best friends, to which “R” countered with "No “T”, you’re MY best friend, right? And “T” replied, “um, yea”. So Miss B is heartbroken, and sure that it is because “R” is so pretty, and has cute clothes, and always wears a necklace and a bracelet. She is convinced that no one thinks she is pretty, and no one likes her or wants to be her friend, and that her friendship with “T” is over. How do I convince a pretty 5 year old that it’s not important to be the prettiest? Or to have the best clothes? And that friendship isn’t based on those things? I told her that “T” was still her friend, and they would probably be partners next time, but what if I’m wrong? I can’t believe this is upsetting me but Miss B was in tears about it and I felt so bad for her! With 3 girls we have at least 18 more years of this…

Happy Birthday Shauna!

This is one of my favorite pictures of you- I think I posted enough embarrassing ones on Lindsey's birthday to last a while. I wish I was in your town today and we could go to lunch and do a little window shopping!
Remember when we drove out to EAU to check out trailer housing? I told my mom you were the only person I knew I could live with and never get mad. (but I think living with ME would have been tough.) I love to remember going to lunch with you and Robby, and laughing the whole time. I will forever be grateful to you for setting me up with all your boyfriend's friends so we could hang out during my miserable senior year. I loved getting to work with you at LJW and carpooling over to MCC, stopping for tacos from Jack-in-the-crack and BLT's from Blimpie. Now I'm so glad we can keep in touch through our blogs!
I love you and I hope you have a wonderful day! I'll be thinking of you!

Tuesdays are my favorite

Gilmore Girls is the "chick flick" of television shows- if you don't watch it, you should! Tuesday's at 7 on the CW. It's got lots of conversation, it's silly, it's sweet, it's romantic and it's so funny! I want to live in Stars Hollow.
Another good thing about Tuesday, Veronica Mars is back next week!
And evidence that my life doesn't revolve around TV, Tuesday is the day before Wednesday, when I get to plan what I will be doing for "Grandma Day." Four whole hours to do whatever I want while the girls play with Grandma! Tuesday is like Christmas Eve.

2 Important Birthdays

In my family, April 23 is a day known and celebrated as William Shakespeare's birthday! (also, notably, the day he died) My mom has an unusual obsession with all things England and Shakespeare and she put together a fun, cute dinner party. Miss B is helping her keep her Wench costume clean:

We each got our own menu, place mats with a map of England, the head of Shakespeare on a popsicle stick, (a fan perhaps?) a fact sheet, excerpts of some famous plays, and my very favorite, a guide to hurling Shakespearean insults. [read with your best olde English accent] "Thou paunchy fly-bitten lewdster! Thou churlish dizzy-eyed varlet!" This was the activity of choice while we feasted on smashed pea soup, Cornish Game Hens, ("Mom! this chicken has BONES in it!"--Miss B) and for desert, Sticky Toffee Pudding- a very delicious dinner in the garden.Some people who haven't met my mom think I'm creative, but my mom only passed a very little bit of her creativity onto me. When we arrived, we got to print our own Romeo and Juliet Playbills, and there was some kind of trivia game that we were all useless at. The boys got some swords and the girls got to wear pretty flower wreaths on our heads. (we ended up with a couple swords too)
Unfortunately I didn't have my camera but my brother David graciously allowed me to use some of his pictures. Those are my cute nephews.

On my husband's side of the family, April 23 is Jackie's birthday! This picture is a bit old but it's the most recent I could find- Happy Birthday Jackie! Isn't she beautiful??

She was the lucky (HA!) recipient of this little card kit- I kind of copied some of the items from the last Love Notes class and I like these ones better.

Get to bed thou tottering idle-headed malt-worm! Ok.

Up too late...

Went to my favorite Scrapbook Store class last night- Love Notes and made this adorable card set. The one on the right is a little portfolio- made from a diecut- and it holds all the cards inside. I stayed up way too late last night when I got home making some more- I'll show show some of those later. This card was my favorite- 3 library pockets stuck together that hold tags that spell out M O M on the bottom.
Next item of business, the beauty of nature! Sam found this nest fallen from our tree- isn't it great? I don't know what to do with it, but it's too beautiful to throw away.
And from that sweet little girl I got this cute note.

If you don't read Kindergartener it says: "Mom, I want to cuddle with you." How wonderful to be a mother!

I just love making my own stuff with my computer but I think these are just adorable! Little treat bags, or treat bag toppers all ready to personalize and print straight from your computer- I love them! These are from the ShabbyShoppe.

And I did a couple digital scrapbook pages I was happy with for Miss B. (last summer birthday)

AND so exciting- I got the album I made for Miss B from Shutterfly and it's great- she has been showing it to everyone. I think I could do 8x8 next time because they are more affordable but it really is nice- you even get to design the cover!

Cooking with Miss E

"Good morning mother, may I interest you in some fried Trix? I hope you don't mind the toasted cheese left from yesterday's cheese crisps."

Feeling Crafty?

I came across a tutorial to make these cute fabric flower pins- if you are feeling crafty you can find the instructions HERE.It was on Wisecraft- very cute- I added it to my sidebar. And I alphabetized my "friends" list too so if you noticed your name moved around, don't feel bad!

Eye Candy

I stayed up too late last night and I can't bring myself to leave my laptop and get any scrapbooking done so I just have to share this awesome website: Twilite Moon. Most of the stuff is out of my budget but it's fun to look at and the catalog was beautiful.

And if you needed anymore Easter things, Target had it all 75% off today. I got some super cute baskets for $2!

Why I prefer to scrapbook digitally...

I finished almost 50 pages for Miss B's scrapbook (digital) and ordered it from Shutterfly this week and I am so excited to see it! But I figured I ought to get busy on my other girls "real" scrapbooks and I was reminded why digital is so good for me. That's how my office floor has to look when I'm attempting to scrap! And I didn't want to put it all away to get it back out tonight so there it sits... But it was fun, and I got 4 humble pages done last night and I think I will have another go at it today.

Take me to the Land of Nod

Have you gotten this catalog yet? I haven't and I'm dying- it looks so cute! I save all of them because I'm obsessed with the covers. (oh yea, the stuff inside is great too in case you haven't seen it before) I haven't gotten one in a while though...

Happy Birthday Mom!

The adorable baby is ME, held by my grandma between my mom and great grandmother.
And I want to wish my in-laws a Happy Anniversary! April 11th is a good day~

Has it been a week already?

It's been a fast, busy week! Easter was the highlight so I'll just cover that. We had a party here with Sam's family on Saturday and it was a total blast. I stayed up till 2am baking for it and loved every minute of it. (except for doing the dishes) We had an egg hunt of course and then some fun games and an Easter parade around the circle and a very yummy lunch with my bunny cake. Here are some pictures:

And finally the Easter dresses on Sunday- they looked so pretty!

My only regret is we never decorated eggs! I kept forgetting.

French Fries anyone?

McDonald Happy Meals have the Madame Alexander dolls again! All Wizard of Oz Characters! I can't believe I didn't know sooner, we are totally going there tomorrow.

Ready for Easter

Well, actually I'm not at all ready for Easter, but I finished this project! Thanks to Ginger's suggestion I glittered the letters, I don't know if you can tell in the picture but they look cute! The garland was from Target last year.

Spring is in the air

I saw this cute card in Family Fun Magazine last year and when I saw these little chickies at Michael's I knew I had to make it! Maybe older kids would have fun cutting the grass, but my kids weren't interrested.Then look at this adorable Easter Dresses mini album I saw on Creating Keepsakes website- click on the picture to see the full article and more pictures. What a cute idea!

And the rest of the weekend...

Tonight we had my parents and little brother over for dinner. It was fun to cook a "real" complete meal that people will actually eat. I made some really yummy rolls with a recipe from Ashley. I haven't figured out how to make them pretty yet- when Ashley makes them they are beautiful. I always get a few that look like scorpion tails. And for desert a yummy Chocolate Pudding Cake. It tastes better than it looks- like a crusty brownie oozing warm chocolate pudding.

Saturday after the boys went to their Priesthood meeting and the kids were in bed, Kyle and Ashley came over for a late night game of Progressive Rummy- I totally lost.

Friday we watched the kids while Kyle and Ashley went out. A few hours with sweet baby Lilly gave me a touch of baby fever, but a reminder of why I am not quite ready for another one.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is for everyone!

I love General Conference! One more session to go- I am going to put more effort into studying the messages when they come out in the Ensign. They are so awesome and uplifting and I almost never go back and read them again unless I'm preparing a talk or a lesson that applies. Particularly today I loved the story of the Amish community who forgave the man who shot the girls in the school. That was such a terrible story, but to hear about the outpouring of love and forgiveness in that community was so inspiring. It made me think about the fact that there are dedicated followers of Christ all over the world, in many religions- many of them more faithful and dedicated than me, and that simply being a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints doesn't give me any special consideration- "for He shall reward every man according to his works." Live your religion!

That probably belongs in my journal more than my blog, but if I save it for that it might not get written down. So thanks for letting me share here. :-)