three times the charm, right?

Hmm. Well in real life the letters don't go off the page, and FLY isn't crooked. Scanners are so weird.

Anyway... today I went to a friend's house. A lady in our ward, who every single Wednesday has anybody come over to work on whatever they want while the kids play. Some were knitting, some making cards, some not doing anything at all, and me... scrapping. Or at least adhering a photo collage to a piece of cardstock and doing a rub on title.

I didn't bring much to work on. Plus I didn't bring my stash of embellishments. Just rub ons. So I put this together. I know these photos have now been on my blog 3 times. Once from Matthew's birthday, once when I learned how to do a photo collage, and now in layout form. But hey, another piece of paper that is off the top of my desk and into an album.

Right now I seem to be more about getting some of these 'event' layouts done. I don't scrap in order, but my kids look through my albums A LOT and their favorite pages are the events that they remember doing. So I'm kind of scrapping heavy on those right now.

The best part of today is that Matthew had a blast! His friend from preschool was there, and I honestly didn't hear from him for 4 hours. The backyard is like a toddler haven complete with treehouse/swingset, sunken trampoline, sand box, and various ride on toys. AND I got to have some adult conversations during daylight hours! Yay!

activity day!

Can I just tell you how much I love my calling at church? I don't think I ever came right out and said anything on my blog, but some of you know that I am an activity days leader. Pretty much every other week I get to play and have fun with 16 8-11 year old girls.

I was paired up with a woman who is the -be all end all- of planning. Seriously, this lady was the Daisy leader when Megan was in Daisy Scouts. She is amazing.

Like today. We went to the church family history center next door to the Mesa temple. The girls all started out kind of quiet like they didn't think it would be fun at all. I mean they just all got out of school, so how fun does it sound to go to some old library, right?

A few minutes for a talk about what the center is about, and then they were all allowed to go search on the computer for some of their ancestors. Most of the girls were able to find somebody, and they just thought that was the COOLEST thing ever. I wish we would have had more time, because as we were getting close to needing to leave, they were all wanting to look up birth certificates and marriage certificates for their great great grandparents. It really is fascinating stuff, and I wish I knew more about finding information. My mother in law used to work there, so she is an expert. It was confusing for me and the little bit of information we found, so I bet once you know what to do you can find even more incredible information. Like how a person died from the death certificate. Just amazing.

So then we headed home, a caravan of three MAVs (Mormon assault vehicles) my car full of girls, windows down and singing along with the Hanna Montana CD. :)

I believe I am officially 'scrapped out' for the week. I have had the sea world photo collage sitting on my desk for such a long time. It feels good to have it on a page and put away finally. Look at how little those kids are! :)

I have been enjoying using a lot of the baby pictures that I found. I don't really feel like I need to 'keep up' with my scrapping, but when you get some done from so long ago I do get that sense of pride and accomplishment that Megan pointed out the other day! LOL! Does that mean I win?

I think you can read the journaling if you click on the picture of the layout. Unless you like to squint. ;)

The one of Megan in the bathtub (yes that's my 8 year old!) is a somewhat lift of the awesome Joanna Bolick. By the time I finished the others I wanted a no brainer scraplift.

Psst. Michelle. Notice that I used the Heidi Swapp journaling blocks! I use the manilla ledger ones all the time, who would have thought those cute pink ones would bring me so much happiness!

So now my brain hurts. It might be time to focus on painting walls upstairs for a few days now.

i LOVE kids.

Maybe she is practicing for the teenage years or something. Last night I asked the boys to pick up a pile of hot wheels and put them back in the bucket that they belong in. Of course there was a chorus of "Uuuuugh" complete with pouty faces and slumped shoulders. OK, if I make it FUN they'll want to do it right?

"Let's see who can pick up the most hot wheels!!! Woohoo!" - and they quickly start running around picking them up tossing them in the bucket.

When the frenzy is over, Trevor asks, "So what do we win for picking up the most hot wheels??? What is the prize?!?!?"

Megan, who has been sitting on the couch watching the whole thing pipes up with dripping sarcasm, "A sense of PRIDE and accomplishment." (like... duh!)

"Trevor... meet pole."

One that I have been working on during the day today. - While the little ones were watching a bit of TV.

Trevor had this huge, swollen spot on his forehead. One of many bumps, bruises and scrapes and I'm sure there will be a million more to come. Hopefully no broken bones though. ;)

Here is the journaling:

"Trevor... meet pole."

It happens at least once a week. I pick Trevor up from school and there is a new band-aid somewhere on him. I'm beginning to wonder if he just likes to hang out in the nurse's office or if this is something totally normal in the life of having boys. Boys play hard.

I asked Trevor why he was sporting the cool neon band-aid on his face. Like it was a badge of courage his reply was simply (like it was no big deal) "I was playing tag and I ran into a pole on the playground." Ouch.

- and a bit of Basic Grey for my girls Lisa and Beth. ;)

Isn't technology awesome?!?!?

A couple of days ago I found a box with a bunch of APS canisters. I knew these were from around the time when I was pregnant with Megan, and when Trevor was a baby. I had a few of the original photos, but thought that most of them were lost forever.

Can I just say how much Costco has changed my life??? I took the APS film to have them put on to disk. Now I have them digitally in my computer, where I can fix some things on the photos AND reprint them when I want! Woohoo!

So now I have a whole slew of baby photos to work on. Maybe someday soon I'll actually have my baby albums done. Matthew was lucky enough to be born during the digital camera age, so there are a TON of pictures of him as a baby. Poor Megan and Trevor, I tried to take a lot of pictures on the old film cameras, and I did get a lot... but so many were missed because I didn't know if I had captured what I wanted to.

I'm trying to keep my baby layouts super simple, since you know, they are baby layouts. I always like simple baby layouts. These are a couple of my favorite pictures of Trevor when he was a baby. It is hard to look at these and realize that he is the six year old that I just dropped off at school this morning! He still has those big, wide eyes. :)

a lesson in diversity.

I think I mentioned these two on valentine's day. My friend Jayme was laughing the other day when she was over and watching these two play together. Missy and Isis. I figured I should write a little something about them, because really they do make me laugh every single day.

Missy seemed a little sad for the couple of years that her dog friend Dixie (our beagle) had been gone. She was old and having health problems and had to be put to sleep. Missy, Dixie and Katie had grown up together since puppyhood.

Enter: The cat. I don't even know what it was that made me change my mind. I never liked cats. I had severe allergies to them when I was little, and even though it got 'better' as I grew up, I still got really itchy and sneezy around them. Better meaning that I didn't poof up and have a hard time breathing.

I started to notice within the past few years that I could stand being at a house with cats in it. Maybe this allergy was getting better. So we did it. We got a cat. Can I just say now that cats are awesome? They really are funky animals, and totally hysterical. We even added another one: Charlie Alpha Tango = CAT. We just call her Charlie. Charlie fetches, and meows when you even look at her. (She lives upstairs, since her and Isis don't get along at all.)

Anyway... I think Missy has found a new best friend. Isis. They are inseparable. They nap together, and play together. Isis will go up to Missy when she wants to play and chew on her tail, or rub up against her face and then leap back like, "OK, come chase me!" Missy, will chase her, and even put the cats head in her mouth and make noises like she is attacking her. To somebody who doesn't know that they are playing, you would think that they were killing each other.

The only time they get annoying is when you happen to be in the middle of the chase. I swear I have almost been knocked down by these two when they go running across the house or down a hall that I happen to be in at the same time.

Who would have thought that Missy the tough pig herding dog would have found such a little friend in a cat. I wonder if Dixie and Katie are up in doggie heaven wondering what in the world happened. Aren't dogs supposed to chase cats?

they're here!

In honor of Beth's post that was in honor of my post about couches... Haha!

It is funny that they don't look as enormous in the pictures as they really are. Even the delivery dudes said, "I didn't know they made couches this big!"

That leather recliner in the corner used to dwarf our other couches. - Or the recliner that I lovingly refer to as "Fraiser's dad's chair." Although this one isn't ugly or held together with duct tape. I don't know what a recliner ever did to me in the past, but I used to love on Fraiser how he hated his dad's chair. We would have gotten along just fine. I promised Mike that he could have his chair when we got our house someday. He never forgot.

Actually I do know... the recliner just throws a kink in my "must have everything line up" including furniture OCDness. BUT. I am learning to live with it, and actually do sneak sitting in it on the nights that mike is out of town. Shhhh!

I am so happy that these are HERE. I love them. These are finally ones that weren't handed down or bought in a pinch. I picked these out, I thought about them before hand and counted down the days until delivery, just like having a baby.

PLUS ... my scrap girls are coming over tonight! Which pretty much means that not much scrapping will be going on but more than likely eating a lot of sugary foods and holding Maddy's new baby girl Sadie. Who is finally making an appearance tonight! I get first dibs on holding!

Woop! Woop! Couch day!

I went out this morning to kill some time while my youngest was in preschool. Guess where I went?

Target. Are you all that surprised?

I found the CUTEST acrylic cups with hearts on them. OK, actually I knew the cups were there, I was just hoping that they would still be there since the valentine's stuff went on clearance for 50% off today.

I have no idea why, but the acrylic cups that they put out for each holiday make me so happy. They feel good in your hand and I even swear that they make drinks taste better! Even water. :p

I love Craigslist. OK, not as much as Michelle even though she claims to not spend the same amount of time there anymore. I have to admit that that girl has found some AWESOME stuff from there. I have no idea how she does it, but the stuff that she has found has made her house look gorgeous.

I love it though because anytime you get a wild hair you can pretty much sell anything on it. Last night Mike mentioned that our couches are coming today, so we better get rid of the old ones. He put an ad up and I am not kidding those suckers were gone in a half hour.

Now my family room is bare until this afternoon! Couch day! Tonight I am going to bond with them, as I eat popcorn while watching people starve on Survivor, and drink out of my new heart cups. Life is so dang good. :)

valentines day.

happy valentines day! I think even the dog and the cat are into it this year. This silly cat adores the dog. Follows her around, plays with her and right now is snuggled up next to her in a sunny patch out in the atrium.

AND Mike is actually home for the night! It has been a rough couple of weeks. He leaves before 6:00 in the morning and sometimes doesn't get back until 10 or 11 at night. So tonight was a nice surprise. So were the roses that he brought for me, and this vase of little pink carnations for megan. She had the cutest smile on her face and was SO happy to get flowers from her daddy. She has really been having a hard time with his new hours. Really missing him. He gives her flowers every year for Valentine's day too. (The boys get taken care of too, they just aren't as sentimental.)

Oh, and have I mentioned that my new couches come tomorrow?!?!?! Wheeee!

Happy valentines day to all! XOXOXOXOXOXOXO!

because I'm the mom.

Because *sometimes* you just want to sit down and watch an episode of CSI all to yourself, and not have to share!!!!

This was a note that I found last week at the end of the stairs. Usually we watch something all together, like American Idol or something kid friendly, and have popcorn.

This night the kids were in bed, it was late, and I had the munchies. Yeah, even during some graphic, bloody crime scene... popcorn hits the spot!

I know everybody else is on pins and needles just waiting for the much anticipated (by me!) season 4 of Kim Possible starting today! ;)

Is kim going to be able to handle the tweebs (Tim & Jim, twin brothers) starting at Middleton High?

Does Bueno Nacho get the bendy straw back?

How does Bonnie handle the new Kim & Ron dating thing????

Oh my gosh!

(I know, I'm a nerd.)

A what?!?!?!

My dog was in need of a bath. Big time. The thing is, she is not fun to give a bath to because she sheds SO badly after a bath that trying to catch the hair before it goes down the drain is a job for one other person. It has been too cold to give her a bath in the yard with the hose, and the mobile grooming people that we called last week never returned our call. So...



the other day I was in the car with Megan and Trevor. I had seen this car wash a thousand times when I passed it, and even 'thought' I had seen a sign that said SELF SERVICE PET WASH. Huh? Could that be right?



I turned in. I had to check this out.



Sure enough, along side the stalls to wash your car, are two stalls with a huge stainless steel sink and a ramp. A menu of shampoo/conditioning/flea & tick rinse, etc. Plus a "soothing" dryer to dry your pet. If you call hurricane force winds coming out of a vacuum hose 'soothing' to an animal I suppose. It gets the water out of their hair like those fan dryers at a car wash! Pretty cool!

So that was our big time family fun today. Take the dog to the self service pet wash. I'm not so sure that Missy had as much fun as the kids did, and yes, I had fun getting pictures of the whole ordeal. I highly recommend this for family home evening. ;)

And who knows.... maybe next week it will be the cats turn!!! (just kidding, for the animal rights people.) ;)

They are home! (and I need caffiene!)

I'm sitting here waiting for Matthew to get dressed. Mike and Matthew got home after midnight last night. Matthew was hard asleep when he pulled into the garage last night. He woke up and gave me a funny look like he didn't know where I came from! He was so tired, and he went upstairs to go to bed. This morning I have been hearing about all of the fun that he had at Disneyland with his daddy the past couple of days. It sounds like they had a great time. I plan on having some pictures printed for him later today, and I'll put them in a small book. I did this after we went on Thomas, and he spent hours looking through the pictures.

I am craving a diet pepsi like crazy right now. Yes, this Coca Cola girl has since moved on. I needed to make a change. My body just can't take the sugary regular soda like it used to. So I am taking steps, small that they are.... to better drinking health. I started drinking diet soda. (Lots of water too, but lets face it.... water isn't always that exciting.) Believe it or not, diet pepsi tastes so much better than diet coke. It makes me kind of sad to not frequent McDonalds as much as I used to. I have noticed that now when I order something for the kids that the guy who used to work the register at the first window is now gone. Now you order and they take your money at the second window where you get your food! Do you think that because of my $4 a day habit being gone that they had to let an employee go?!?!?!? ;) I'm sure I was a big chunk of his weekly paycheck.

Off to the grocery store with my little guy. It is so good to have him back home!!!!!

valentines.

I finished up my valentines that I started late last night. The little boy that I was watching today took a nap and let me do a little bit of scrapping. It always feels strange to me to scrap during daylight hours. This is usually a nightime thing. ;)

Mike is also on his way home, so I am excited about that. He had been in California with Matthew since Sunday afternoon. They went to Disneyland!

When Megan and Trevor turned four, he took each one to Disneyland. Just a special trip with each child and daddy. I love how the other two still talk about going there with him, so I can't wait to hear what matthew has to tell me later today!

Infact, Megan and Trevor were both so good about not being upset about them not going. Trevor didn't say anything at all, and Megan said, "I know I had a special time with daddy, so it is Matthew's turn." Such a big girl. Truth is... if it were me and I was 8 years old, I would be incredibly bummed!

We have all had such a good time the past several days. I got to spend a lot of time with M & T that I don't ususally get to spend with them since Matthew tends to monopolize my time. I really enjoyed being able to reconnect with these guys. You know what? I have cool kids. I just love them so much.

9 more days until new couches!

Sore.

I don't know if it is the bike riding, or the painting. Which requires some moves on top of a ladder similar to ones I have seen in Cirque du Soleil. All I know is that I must be getting to dang old for this. I absolutely cannot feel my butt or my legs today. Walking hurts. Sitting hurts.

On a good note though, another room painted and Matthew will get to see it tomorrow. Have I ever mentioned how much I love Target? I went there today for underwear and tape. I was happy to come across a couple of aisles of clearance bedding!! Woohoo! I had an idea in the back of my mind of what I wanted to do for Matthew's bed. It was a yellowish quilt from the surfer guy collection. No luck finding that, but I did find a really cool Woolrich faux suede down comforter. 50% off. Yesssss! It is the same color as the surfer boy quilt, but this has the softest microfiber side. - and yes, I checked, and rechecked.... it is machine washable! Perfect for a little boy. Then I got some cool khaki pillows little pockets in them.

I also stopped by Devine Memories today and die cut some things for Megan and I to make Valentines for her class party. I'm hoping that we get started on them tonight before I totally procrastinate and we are doing them at midnight the day before VD! I like to think I'm on the ball - occasionally. ;)

weekends.

Can I just say that this was a great weekend??

On Saturday we went out in the front of our house to ride bikes and scooters. Trevor for some reason hated riding his bike after the first time he learned how. He had a bad fall and was convinced that he wasn't going to ride it again until he was a teenager. After a little crying and coaxing, he finally got on it yesterday. Now of course, he LOVES it. (The first thing out of him this morning was asking when we were going to go for a bike ride.)

Then yesterday I finished painting Trevor's room (pictures soon to follow, but blogger isn't letting me post them for some reason.) We got his curtains hung and moved his video game stuff into its own 'gaming center.' Last night when he went to bed he told me how cool he thought his room was! That felt good, and I have to admit that I like hanging out in there now too.

Today Mike and Matthew went off to a super secret place. (I know where, but I'll reveal tomorrow.) So I had Megan and Trevor by myself. We went out for lunch and then did a little shopping. I kind of kept hoping that Trevor would forget about bike riding, but then I realized that I didn't have Matthew with me! So I could actually go on a bike ride past the front of our house! We took off on a 4 mile trip, over to a park where we played for a little bit and then rode our bikes back home. This made me realize how I can't wait until Matthew can ride his bike and we can do this more often. It felt soooooo good to be outside.

Tonight I am going to finish painting Matthew's room, so when he gets home tomorrow he'll be surprised that his room is done. Kind of like extreme kid room makeover. He isn't expecting it at all. Plus I plan on going to a pilot shop tomorrow and getting this really cool plane to hang from his ceiling.

It just feels SO good to have had such a nice weekend, and to have been able to have spent some really good time with the kids. :) I admit that sometimes we get so busy on the weekends that hours can go by with them doing nothing but watching TV or playing nintendo. I always feel guilty after a day like that, but sometimes that is the only way to get some of those big weekend projects done. They are just too little now to let them go outside without one of us being there.

Now, getting geared up for a new week! :) - and only 11 more days until new couches! Woohoo!

music.

Shocker! U2 has temporarilly been ejected from my CD player in the car. I have been listening to Chris Daughtry that Mike downloaded for me the other day. (Thanks Mike!)

I still think Chris was robbed. Then again it isn't like he is suffering without having the American Idol title. ;)

Also in heavy rotation right now is Green Day, which was sparked by the U2/Green Day song The Saints. I heard it at Chili's the other day (of all places) and came home and directly put it in the CD player at home. I forgot how awesome that song is. I wish they would do a whole album together! Mmmm.

I'm not dissing my boys, they are just getting a little break. ;)