Brought To You By The Letter B

Printable Calendar FREEBIE!

2012-01-06T01:00:00.004-07:00

Design House Digital is celebrating it's 2nd birthday, did you know? All week long we've had amazing deals on our entire shop, giveaways every day on the DHD blog, hosted chats, and more!

And, for our birthday, we're giving YOU something... a handy printable calendar! Just work your way through the other blogs to get all twelve months, and you're set.

I'm happy to be sharing October:
With room for two photos, it's sure to bring some sweet cheer to you or your loved ones. Simply click on the image (or here) to download the full-size image. It's a PNG file... all you have to do is place your photos behind the image and print!

To get the complete calendar, click on these links:

January: Jen Allyson
February: Robyn Meierotto
March: Karla Dudley
April: Erica Coombs
May: Karen Funk
June: Angie Hinksman
July: Celeste Knight
August: Shannon Hegarty
September: Sara Schmutz
October: Gennifer Bursett
November: Tiffany Tillman
December: Agnes Biro

Thanks for stopping by, and be sure to cruise on over to Design House Digital, for the ultimate House party!!

Another Giveway... because I like you.

2011-11-17T00:17:00.003-07:00

Just a quick post to let you know I'm giving away a spot to Tiffany Tillman's fabulous Holiday Templates 2011 workshop on the Design House Digital blog. Hop over to read all about it, and comment for your chance to win!

And don't say I never gave you anything. ;)

I've got a winner! (Is it you?)

2011-11-07T12:56:00.006-07:00

Thanks so much for all the lovely comments on my blog this weekend. I've had an amazing number of downloads; So far, over 1600 of you have downloaded my portion of the kit, plus another almost 900 of you liked my quick page enough to grab it, too.

Now that you've got a great new kit, why don't you do something creative with it? There's still $250 worth of prizes up for grabs at Design House Digital, and you have until 11:59 PM (MST) on November 9th to upload your layouts for your chance to win. The more you upload, the better your odds, and to qualify, layouts only need to have one DHD product on them. And, yeah, freebies totally count! (I'm hoping to get RadLab for my birthday in a few weeks. I'm really, really hoping.)

Big congrats to ConnieC, who was chosen by random.org as the winner of a $25 gift certificate to my shop... please contact me at gennifer.bursett[at]designhousedigital.com to claim your prize.

Not the lucky winner? I'm giving away a $10 gift certificate to Design House Digital on my Facebook page... head on over for your chance to win it!

DSD 2011 Quick Page Blog Hop FREEBIE

2011-11-04T00:00:00.013-06:00

It's time for another blog hop! This one is a collection of goodies (made by the Design House Decorators) from the DSD Collab kit. The Decorators are such a talented group, and we're truly luck to have the best of the best on our team.

Each blog will have a quick page available for download in both 12x12 and 8.5x11 sizes. Hop around to the blogs, collect the goods along the way, and find some new favorites to add to your readers. At the end, you'll have almost 30 fabulous pages! Perfect to add into your own albums, or for a theme book of its' own, and with it's gender- and age-neutral color scheme, it will work for anything! :)

Here's my contribution:
To get it, click here, or on the image above: Gen's DSD quick page. :)

Plus, you get a bonus today... Celeste Smith's beautiful layout is here as well, due to technical difficulties (darn power outages!):
Click here, or on the image above: Celeste's DSD quick page.

Then, hop your way along to the other 18 blogs!

DHD blog (for Janell Nugent, Jennifer Valencia, Liz Jutila, and Missy Backues' quick pages)
Allison Waken
Anna Drozd
Aria Andrus
Carey Bridges
Christy Carlson
Crystal Livesay
Jen Flaherty
Jennifer Hignite
Jen Papadimitriou
Jeryn Carlisi
Katherine Hansen
Lori Pickens
Mandi Buchanan
Mary Rogers
Sarah Hemmert
Shannon Dombkowski
Tiffany Bodily

Make sure to check things out at each stop, because these are a super talented group of ladies. You might find a contest or two to enter along the way! ;)

Like the look of the quick pages, and you missed the kit? Check this post out for details on how to get this entire kit, free!

DSD 2011 Blog Hop FREEBIE

2011-11-03T00:00:00.002-06:00

Remember when I used to update my blog on a regular basis? Yeah, me too. The good old days, huh?

At least I manage to get back here when it's important; namely, when I have something free to give you. The Design House Digital designers have partnered up to give you an amazing collab, called "Notable Quotables" and, trust me, it is freakin' awesome.

It has 43 papers, 62 elements, an alpha, and a template, and it is so incredibly versatile! My portion includes 5 papers, a super cool taped frame, a few arrows and round journaling spots, a double staple, and a mist, which can be easily recolored.
You can download it here, or by clicking on the image above. Be sure to stop by the other 11 blogs to get the rest of the kit:

Audrey Neal

Angie Hinksman

Celeste Knight

Dana Zarling

Deena Rutter

Jen Allyson

Karen Funk

Karla Dudley

Robyn Meierotto

Shannon Hegarty
Tiffany Tillman

And, feel free to drop by the DHD blog for some amazing pages made by the Design House Decorators, sure to get your creative juices flowing. We're having some fun there all weekend long... the ENTIRE shop is on sale (yes, my kits, too!) plus we're hosting some great giveaways, including a copy of RadLab ($149 value!), gift certificates to Design House Digital, and a self-paced class at Renee Pearson!

So, want a few of my goodies? Comment here, and you'll be entered into a drawing. Add an extra comment for each time you share the news, via FB, twitter, or your own blog, and I'll draw a winner on Sunday, for a $25 gift certificate to my shop!

Above all, have a fabulous Digital Scrapbook Day! :)

[inter]National Scrapbook Day Freebie (The Sequel)

2011-05-06T22:00:00.003-06:00

We're back with another blog hop, and this time, it's the Design House Decorators who are sharing their goods. The Decorators are a super talented, super friendly, super helpful bunch o' ladies who comprise the creative team at Design House Digital, and we are oh-so-happy to have them.

For this blog hop, the Decorators have made a quick page (in both 12x12 and 8.5x11 sizes... no discrimination here!) from the DHD Designers' iNSD collab kit.

So, hop around to the blogs, collect the goodies along the way, and you'll have 15 fabulous pages! Perfect to add into your own albums, or for a theme book of its' own.

Here's my contribution:
To get it, click here, or on the image above: Gen's iNSD quick page. It's a big file, so be patient! :)

Plus, you get a bonus at this blog... I'm happy to be sharing Missy Backues' quick page, too:
Click here, or on the image above: Missy's iNSD quick page

Be sure to stop by all of the other Decorators' blogs, to snag their pages and get some sweet inspiration too!

[inter]National Scrapbook Day Freebie

2011-05-03T22:00:00.010-06:00

Aww. I'm so happy you're here! If you've wandered this way from Dana Zarling's blog, welcome. If you're a rule-breaker, and you got here from Jen Allyson's blog, well, we should definitely be friends!

If you have no idea what I'm talking about, let me get you up to speed. You've found your way into the Design House Digital [inter]National Scrapbook Day blog hop. 13 Designers + 13 monochromatic kits = 1 super fabulous mega kit:

I worked with the color Salmon, and I'm happy to present to you my portion:

To get it, simply click here (or on the image above): Gen's Salmon Kit
(Thanks to Gulf for pointing out that there were a couple of files missing from the folder. If you downloaded it before 7:45 MST on Wed, please download again.)

Then, continue on to Jen Allyson's blog (or to Dana's, you rebels!) for the rest of the kit.

Lost? You can find all of the links right here: Designer Blog Hop

And be sure to check back, because we have another fabulous blog hop (with the Design House Decorators) happening on Saturday!

Digital Template Freebie

2011-03-01T09:28:00.006-07:00

I know. I'm not dead.

Shocking, isn't it?

I won't bore you with my lame life, and why I haven't updated, because it really is... well... lame. Instead, I'll just ply you with a freebie, and hope that makes it up to you.

The March Blueprint Challenge at Design House Digital is using this blueprint:
It's from a super old layout (I think I'd been digiscrapping about 4 or 5 months when I did this) but it still remains one of my favorites:
(Credits: Sunny Days and Sunny Days Add-ons and Alphas by Kate Teague, Adorn Loopy Frames V.2 by Jen Allyson)

I've created another template, and it's available in both 12x12 and letter sizes:
Click here (or on the image above) to download the templates: Blueprint 4. (Thanks to Jen Allyson, for letting me include her Loopy Frame in the template!)

I hope you'll post any layouts you make in the Blueprint Challenge Gallery, for your chance to win a $5 GC to DHD.

Another freebie... a template!

2011-01-04T09:00:00.003-07:00

For the January Blueprint Challenge over at DHD, we're working off of this blueprint:

It's based of of one of my favorite layouts, Us, Together:

And, to make things even easier for you, here's a template I did in both 12x12 and letter sized, in .psd and .tif formats.
Click on the image (or here: Blueprint #3) to download. Please credit me if you use them, and upload your layout to the challenge gallery at DHD for your chance to win a $5 gift certificate.

Don't forget to check out all of the other challenges, because the more you enter, the more chances to win! :)

Design House Digital is 1... FREEBIE!

2011-01-01T00:00:00.006-07:00

Today marks Design House Digital's one year anniversary, and we're celebrating!
That's right, you can get some amazing deals all week long, plus hosted chats every night, giveaways, and more!

And, for our birthday, we're giving YOU something... a handy printable calendar! Just work your way through the other blogs to get all twelve months, and you're set.

I'm happy to be sharing December:

With room for one large photo, and one smaller one (with a snowflake overlay) it's sure to bring some winter cheer to you or your loved ones. Simply click on the image (or here: DHD December) to get to the full-size image, and then you can save it on your computer. It's a PNG file... all you have to do is place your photos behind the image and print! (Credits: stitches by Robyn Meierotto; rhinestones by Audrey Neal; everything else by Gennifer Bursett)

To get the complete calendar, click on these links:

January: Robyn Meierotto
February: Jen Allyson
March: Sara Schmutz
April: Celeste Knight
May: Tiffany Tillman
June: Karen Funk
July: Kate Teague
August: Jen Allyson
September: Celeste Knight
October: Jen Allyson
November: Robyn Meierotto
December: Gennifer Bursett

Thanks for stopping by, and be sure to cruise on over to Design House Digital, for the ultimate House party!!

Have you met my husband?

2010-11-16T09:33:00.003-07:00

I admit, sometimes he's a real pain in my... house. He's ornery, he's stubborn, and he's really loud when he's talking on the phone. He thinks "sleeping in" on the weekends means 8 o'clock, his taste is music is sadly lacking (Who hates The Beatles? Really!) and his fashion runs toward jeans, a t-shirt, and a baseball cap.

But, he's also ridiculously kind. He cleans the house, usually before I do. He puts a lot of thought into gifts, planning things months in advance. He's the best father I could imagine, and rides that fine line between responsible parent and fun parent like a pro. He makes late-night runs to the store when I want chocolate, just to be nice.

He's the responsible to my flighty, the planner to my procrastinator, and just the overall yin to my yang. And he's cute to boot.

(Credits: bow and flowers - Paislee Press; stitching - MaryAnn Wise; rhinestone gems - Audrey Neal; floral stamp - Karla Dudley; paper, frames, photo corner and word art - Gennifer Bursett)

Can I get a whoop-whoop?

2010-11-13T12:17:00.004-07:00

Thanks to everyone who commented in my giveaway post, and especially for those of you who were so kind with the gratuitous compliments. (Jennifer V, you're my new best friend!)

Without further ado:

Congrats to Katey and Brandie! Please e-mail me (using the 'contact me' tag on the left) to claim your prize, and get started!

And, for the rest of you, I've got a little something for you, too!

All you have to do is type "Special Me Up!" in the notes to seller when you purchase your print, and I'll refund the difference back to you!

Giveaway (AKA Can I Buy Your Affection?)

2010-11-08T20:34:00.008-07:00

I've been going without sleep -again- getting some new products in my Etsy shop. Along with my family trees, which you've probably seen by now, I've added a few new things.

I did this first one about six months ago, and I've loved it more and more every time I look at it on my wall. I started with this photo, taken two years ago:
Then, I turned it into this:
(Yes, I totally slimmed my hips. Wouldn't you? And now how many of you scrolled back up to compare?)

I did the same thing as a gift for my new sister-in-law, going from this:
to this:
And while I was at it, I played around with the options for my family trees. While I still love the original:
I'm also really digging it in color. Perhaps raspberry, cerulean, kelly, or light grey:

There are twenty different colors to choose from, for the discriminating decorator.
So, what would you choose? A silhouette or a family tree? Neutral or vibrant? Keep it or give it away?

To celebrate two years of you ~~putting up with~~ listening to and supporting me, I'm giving away two prizes. That's right, two winners will get to choose their very own. I'll be giving away one 11x14 print and one 8x10 print, so all you have to do is comment here, and tell me what you'd choose! (Gratuitous compliments are always appreciated, too. Not necessary, but appreciated.)

Want even more chances to win? Post about this giveaway on your blog, share it on Facebook, or tweet it, and you'll get an extra entry for each one. (Make sure you post a new comment every time!)

I'll close the comments on Friday, Nov 12, and post the winners on Saturday, Nov 13!

Can you believe it?

2010-11-07T22:16:00.003-07:00

Somewhere, in the midst of all the excitement with the blog hop last week, I missed it. My blogiversary.

That's right. I've been blogging, in my own unpredictable way, for two years now. And, trust me, unpredictable is an understatement. Whether I was sharing a cool video or sharing some good news, ending something or trying something new, making something on the computer or in the kitchen, facing reality or dreaming about something, you've been there. You haven't called me names, unless I asked for it. You haven't made fun of me, unless you're my sister pointing out the errors in my family stories.

So, thanks. And, to really show my appreciation, I'll be doing something special on the blog tomorrow, so be sure to stop by!

Another quick layout

2010-11-06T23:39:00.003-06:00

Because I had to spend Digital Scrapbook Day working. I did manage to do one quick page today, with this awesome photo of my brother and his bride last month:
For credits, click on layout. Photo by Trent Nelson

Layouts, featuring the DHD freebie

2010-11-05T19:23:00.004-06:00

Just a few layouts that caught my eye today, as I was perusing the Design House Digital gallery all using the DHD Fall Blog Hop Freebie:
The Beauty of Fall, by tnscrapper Lovely fall photos, and eye catching enough to hold their own with a strong plaid background!

What a Wonderful World by angeleann The peaceful khaki and blue color scheme is especially striking with those gorgeous photos!

Our Family, by angeleann She shows us here that she's not afraid of color, and knows how to use it!

This is My Favorite Part by arimacias It's fun, it's lighthearted, and it's fabulous!

Wii, by jeffiner_09 Love the centralized design, and the journaling wrapped by elements is sheer perfection!

If you get a chance, head by and show some love. These ladies definitely deserve it. (And if you missed the blog hop, it's not too late: DHD Fall Blog Hop)

Design House Digital Blog Hop... FREEBIE!

2010-11-04T00:00:00.005-06:00

Have you seen this kit?

You want it, right? And, yes, I know what you're saying...

"Gen, you're not a designer."

That is true, but sometimes I play one on TV. This is one of those times. I was ecstatic to once again have the opportunity to throw my proverbial hat in with (inarguably) some of the best designers in the industry.

Here's a preview of my portion:
You can get it by clicking here:
I've created a couple of layouts with this kit already, and although one is under wraps for now, here's the one I can show you:
No, you can't have the boys, but you can have everything else on the page simply by following the blog hop the rest of the way.

If you've come from Karla Dudley's blog, click here to move on:
If you wandered this way from Robyn Meierotto's blog, click here to head back to Karla's:
Either way, as long as you follow the blog through the entire hop, you'll end up with a fabulous kit to show for it! Want more inspiration? Check out some of the layouts done by the Design House Decorators, in our 1 Kit, Many Ways feature.

Digital Scrapbook Day

2010-11-03T12:00:00.000-06:00

Did you know that's a real holiday? It totally is. But, don't worry, we won't be exchanging overpriced flowers, or sending out (late) cards... it's really just a chance to score some amazing deals.

On Saturday, we'll be chatting all day at DHD, from 9 AM to 10 PM (MST). I'll be hosting the last chat of the day (9 PM - 10 PM MST), and I'll be giving away an AMAZING prize... you definitely want to stop by!

We'll also be having a blog hop on Thursday, with a freebie mega kit created by me and the DHD Designers.
Seriously, it's amazing, so you'll definitely want to check back tomorrow!

A few layouts...

2010-11-02T21:59:00.005-06:00

For your viewing pleasure. Just some that I've done in the last few weeks, but that I don't think I've posted here. (Click on layout for credits)

Some Before & Durings, AKA: Why I Haven't Been Blogging Lately

2010-11-01T18:48:00.007-06:00

I know. Pathetic, really.

But, we've been repainting our house, and doing a bit of light renovating, so here's an update on the not-so-finished product. But, first, here's some before photos:

And here's the status quo:

I took these photos last week for an online thread about mixing wood finishes (which I obviously have no problem with), hence, the odd commentary on the photos. Also, I'm not a devil-worshiper, I just like Halloween.

There are still some things that need to be done, obviously... but I love the look so far! It's a neutral, classic look, but still not builder's beige. I love the way the fireplace upper turned out, and can't wait to finalize our tile choice and get it finished. Short of buying new furniture (yes, please!) it's a pretty dramatic change for only a couple hundred dollars!

(Oh, and I didn't get the beadboard painted and trimmed 'today,' like it said I would on the photo. Anyone surprised?)

A little scrappy goodness.

2010-09-15T12:36:00.003-06:00

Just for fun:
Almost one year ago, and boy, does she look different!

Organization, anyone?

2010-09-07T16:20:00.002-06:00

I know I mentioned earlier that I'm really trying to get organized. Along with the chore charts for both me and the kids (which have been a pretty big success, I might add) I've been working on organizing bits and pieces of our house.

Because, sadly, 6 people have a lot of stuff. And a lot of stuff in a 1500 square foot house? Not so good.

One of the things I've been working on is my photo organization. Namely, my backup disks, since I have a ridiculous amount of digital photos. Ridiculous.

And, up until now, they've been floating all around the house. Mixed in with CDs? Yes. A few scattered around the desk? Uh huh. How about in my scrapbooking supplies? Oh, yeah. And let's not forget the random stragglers that end up in the oddest places, like my bathroom. I don't know, either.

So, I'm posing a question for you: How do you organize disks of photos? Are they organized by date only? Do you have events labeled, also? Subjects? Do you keep your favorites on a separate disk? Help me out, please!

S-S-S-S-September

2010-09-01T17:39:00.004-06:00

I love September. The air starts to crisp up, the leaves start to turn (well, in my neck o' the mountains they do!), and the kids head back to school. It's like that Staples commercial from last year. They get it. That, right there, is enough for me to pledge my loyalty to Staples forever.

Well, that, and the fact that Staples is the only office supply store within 30 miles of me.

Anyway, with all this free time on my hands (HA!) it's time to get serious about scrapping. And, let's be honest here, "all this free time" really means "twenty minutes to myself a day."

I've long been a fan of challenges. That's what started me down the digital road, so to speak, and what constantly jump starts my creativity today. At Design House Digital, we've really been working on our challenges, too, and, as a result, I'll be hosting two there monthly. That's right: Double your Gen.

Along with the perennial-favorite Scraplift Challenge, you'll find me poring over blueprints in our... wait for it... Blueprint Challenge! Whether it's a list of supplies or a sketch, it's bound to be fun! Here's September's Blueprint:

If it looks familiar, it's because it's based on the layout I posted here. But, to make things even easier, I've created a couple of templates, in both 12x12 and 8.5x11 sizes:

To download the layered files in both .psd and .tif formats, click on the image, or click here: Blueprint #1. As always, please credit me if you use them, and I'd love to see what you create! Upload it to the challenge gallery, and you could win a gift certificate to DHD!

Don't forget to check out the other monthly challenges at Design House Digital, because the more you enter, the better your chances to win! :)

Survival. Yes, I made it.

2010-08-31T08:43:00.003-06:00

Through the summer, that is. I may have had a little extra help, with Steve being home for the first half of it. Of course, one could argue that it's like having a fifth child, but that's neither here nor there.

The point is, it's over. No broken bones. No major injuries. Sanity (relatively) intact.

The kids started school last week, and we're back into a routine. Aidan's pretty sad that she isn't going back to preschool this year, but I informed her that her teacher (who's going to school full-time now, thus the no-school-for-Aidan thing) told me she's already smart enough for kindergarten. Which she did, and which is probably true. Hopefully.

I'm a little floored by the fact that this is my daughter's last year in elementary school. I'm absolutely not old enough to have a middle-schooler, so it's a good thing I have nine months to get used to the idea. And get old.

Here's a layout I did last week, with photos from her first day of school:
It really is crazy to me how much she seems to change, daily. DAILY, folks!

Free Digital Download - Chore Charts

2010-07-27T00:27:00.010-06:00

Am I the only person who gets her butt kicked during summer vacation? (That's a lie... I get it kicked pretty much year round, but I especially notice it during the summer.)

This summer hit me harder than usual, though, since Steve was home for the first month and a half of summer vacation. You remember that surgery he had a few months ago? Well, after a complication or two, and another surgery (or TWO!), he ended up with a bit of an extended vacation. Only it wasn't spent cruising around the world. Or lazing on a beach. It was spent corralling kids.

You know how the first week or so after school gets out is hard, as you adjust your schedules, and the kids get used to later hours, no homework, etc? Yeah, not so tough when you have a co-parent at home, but brutal when he heads back to work. BRUTAL.

I'm still trying to recover.

Since I'm about the most disorganized person on the planet, the only way I've found to reasonably fake competence as a busy mother-of-four-with-an-Etsy-shop-and-two-other-jobs-besides is to get organized. Yes, I have officially become my mother, and I follow a list. If it's not written down, it ain't happening. Seriously.

Along with my own super cool chore chart (which I use for menu planning and grocery shopping as well), I really wanted the kids to ~~do some of my work~~ learn some responsibility, but, being me, it has to look good. Function without form sucks, right? Right.

I stumbled across these chore chart notepads by Knock Knock, and loved the clean, graphic style:
Super cool, yeah? I, however, wanted it to be a bit more personalized, and I wanted a different one for each of my kids, since there's a pretty big gap between how much ~~work I can get out of~~ responsibility I can teach a nine-year-old, and what a two-year-old is capable of doing.

I created some in Illustrator, mostly because I want to become more comfortable with it. I did the same basic design in four different colors, but personalized the chores for each one. I'm still toying with the idea of having it printed as a notepad, because I think that's pretty darn cool. But, the ~~cheap~~ green Gen says that it's much better to just print it once, have it laminated, and then let them use dry erase markers. The next morning, we'll wipe them all off, and start again. (It's a vicious cycle, isn't it?)

After I got mine all printed, I took it back to basic for you. They're blank, and in .pdf form, so you can either print them as-is, or fancy them up in Photoshop. There's two per page, in four different colors; and I hope that they come in handy, however you use them!

Click here to download my handy-dandy chore charts . They're free for personal use, but please direct others here to get their own!

P.S. Like my chore charts? Check out my planner; it's chuck full of stuff a busy mom needs, only $12.99, and available for sale here: The Everything Planner.

Just a hint...

2010-07-18T20:22:00.004-06:00

Sometimes, it's the little things that make or break a page, and so, today, I'm going to share one little hint with you that will help your digital pages have a touch more realism.

(And, yeah, I realize that sometimes the best thing about digi is the lack of boundaries; if you dream it, you can do it, blah, blah, blah. I'm talking about when you want your layout to look more real.)

I've been doing a lot with templates lately, and I'm especially loving Tiffany Tillman's tear templates. (Whew! Say that five times fast!)
Tears Set 2 is being used quite a bit, and with that rolled edge, it's super fun to add some punch to your pages! The template comes with directions, but the basic gist of it is, you add your paper (or fill a new level with a solid color) and then clip it to the template.
Pretty easy, right? And most of the time, that's all it takes.

However (you knew I was going to say that, right?), sometimes, particularly with strong, graphic patterns, it's a bit too obvious. Like in this layout:
With such a strong red and white striped paper, when I clip it on, the stripes stay perfectly vertical. If I had torn and rolled this with real paper, they wouldn't be.

So, here's how you fix it. Take your lasso tool, and select small sections of the red striped paper. You don't need to be too precise, since we'll be fudging them a little. Layer via cut, and then rotate that section slightly. Paying attention to the shape of the tear will help you know which way to rotate, but, really, it only takes a small turn. Continue on, using as man (or as few) sections as you need. I used six here... can you spy them all?
I also did this with the star paper tear, and my small striped tear in the corner. Once I started, it only added a few minutes, and I think it was well worth it.

What do you do to finish off your projects?

Ahem...

2010-07-14T21:37:00.003-06:00

Did you miss me?

I thought so. I missed you, too.

Hopefully, we can meet again, someday soon.

(Ooh. Deja vu.)

What's New, Cupcake?

2010-04-28T10:50:00.004-06:00

Have you seen this book?

No? You should. It's chuck full of completely awesome cupcakes, and a real lifesaver sometimes.

Like when your sister tells you that they'll be celebrating your daughter's December birthday at preschool the next day, since they were on Christmas vacation at the time, and could you please send a treat for the kids?

Yeah.

So, at ten o'clock on Monday night, I started baking. And, since I knew I would be the one 'stuck' eating the leftovers, I baked good stuff. Lemon Buttermilk cupcakes, with Lemon Cream Cheese frosting... YUM!

(I went ahead and did mini cupcakes, since these are three and four year old kids. No gluttony here, folks.)

So, Tuesday morning, here's what we did:

Step 1: Snip mini marshmallows in half, on the diagonal. (I used scissors.) Drop the cut marshmallows in colored sugar and roll them around, and the sugar will adhere to the sticky innards of the marshmallow. (Now THAT is a sentence I never anticipated myself typing!)

Step 2: Make pretty piles of all the colors, but keep them away from your kids. If you must, distract them with the whole, uncut marshmallows; no sense in making more work for yourself!

Step 3: Frost your cupcakes. I like to use a bag with a large round tip; I find it quicker, easier, and neater, but you can certainly frost them with a spatula or butter knife. I won't tell.

Step 4: Start your layering. Do a full row around the outside, pressing the marshmallows into the frosting. Since they're so light, they can hang over the edge of the cupcakes quite a bit.

Step 5: I added a bit more frosting, so that my flower cupcakes would be really full and puffy. (Yeah, that's the technical term.) Add a few more of your marshmallow petals. I used nine or ten petals around the bottom, and six on the second layer.

Step 6: Add your candy. These are Chewy SweeTarts, because I like the shape and colors of them. The book suggested licorice pastels, but I think those are yucky, and didn't want to risk contaminating the lemony deliciousness of my cupcakes.

What do you end up with? This:

I think I prefer the solid color ones, although Aidan was partial to the pink/yellow combination.

Oh, you want to see the cute preschooler?

Yep. That's one happy camper. Oh, and I very smartly made enough cupcakes for Kelsey's birthday treat, since her big day is this weekend. They're sitting safely in the freezer, waiting for her to decide on the style of decorations!

If you liked this, you should definitely check out what I did for Liam's birthday! Kelsey's cupcakes last year were a big hit, too, and they're out of the earlier edition, 'Hello, Cupcake!'

Design House Digital - Blog Hop (and it's FREE!)

2010-04-18T19:12:00.014-06:00

When I heard the designers at Design House Digital were putting together a free kit, and a blog hop, I was super excited. Who doesn't like a virtual party? And with party favors like this amazing kit, well, it's been officially upgraded to a Par Tay.

So, I've pulled out the chips and guacamole (because nothing says fun like guacamole!) and I'm happy to welcome you to Casa Bursett.

I've created two alphabet sets to go with this spring kit; a fun, floral green one, and a vibrant purple. Everything is already shadowed, so it's easy peasy to add to your layouts! (And, yes, I realize that I'm not actually a designer at DHD. Perhaps large amounts of money changed hands; You'll never know.)

So, to get my portion, simply click here:

Then, cruise on over to Sara Schmutz's blog... I hear she makes a fabulous crab dip! (Coming the other way? Head to Meredith Fenwick's!)

Hi, blog.

2010-04-17T20:33:00.001-06:00

Remember me?

I didn't think so.

Someday, hopefully soon, we will have time to get together again.

I miss you.

Signed, Me

Your beard is good.

2010-03-18T10:29:00.003-06:00

This has become a long-standing joke with my brother, who kindly introduced me to the awesomeness that is Flight of the Conchords. (In the interest of full disclosure, my sister tried to tell me about them first, but it really lost something in the translation.)

So, enjoy:

And remember, your beard is good.

Photo Overlay Freebie!

2010-03-17T12:19:00.005-06:00

No, I'm not Irish, although I definitely wouldn't mind.

I am, however, super lucky, in many aspects of my life. So, in honour of St. Pat, and all things green, I've made a super simple, but super fun photo overlay for you.

Click here to get the horizontal version, and here to get the vertical version. (I have no idea why the previews are so wonky, but when I tested it, it downloaded fine.)

Maybe I'm late to the party...

2010-03-09T23:34:00.005-07:00

and you've all already seen this. Maybe one or two of my five readers haven't, so...

This one's for you.

This adorable little girl is an online friend's cousin, which maybe makes us practically related, right?

Maybe I cried a bit when I watched it.

Maybe I'm still super emotional after a tough scrapbook layout I did yesterday. (Want to see it? It will be posted on the Design House Digital blog on Wednesday at 6 AM. Maybe you should set your alarm.)

Maybe some of you should back off. Tears never hurt anyone. (Maybe I'm lying. They hurt my eyes, and make them all blotchy. They make my nose run, which in turn makes my throat sore. They give me a headache.)

Maybe I should go to bed, because maybe this is all much more clever in my head than it's playing out online.

Maybe so.

Wow.

2010-02-09T18:53:00.004-07:00

It's been a long week. For sure.

Sadly, my favorite father-in-law passed away on Monday, February 1st. It was very unexpected, and we're still trying to adjust. Dave had an amazing sense of humor, was the kindest person I know, and could do a Donald Duck voice that rivaled Donald himself. Of the many things he accomplished in his life, the thing I am most grateful for is the amazing man he raised to be my husband. Because Dave had no concept of 'men's work' vs. 'women's work', Steve has no problem working around the house. Because Dave had a strong work ethic, so does Steve. And Dave definitely instilled a deep sense of loyalty and a strong sense of responsibility in my husband. Thanks, Dave, from the bottom of my heart. Love you.

On top of that, Steve had some pretty extensive surgery done on his wrist on Tuesday. Remember this post, way back in June, where I talked about it? Yeah. After months of pressure from me, he finally went to the doctor. He felt pretty lame, because for the most part, he had no pain. They sent him over for an MRI, and he didn't think they'd find anything. Not so.

Of course, he thought the surgery wouldn't be too bad. I tried to explain to him that if they were keeping him home, from a DESK JOB, for three weeks, it probably would not be a walk in the park.

It's not. Particularly for me. Steve is not a sit-around-and-rest kinda guy. He's a 'is-this-what-you-do-all-day' kinda guy, asked while hovering over my shoulder. It's really cutting into my computer time. And my napping time. I don't think I've ever been so tempted to slip someone an extra Percocet before.

Kidding.

Sort of.

Now, I gotta go bake some cupcakes for Connor's birthday tomorrow. Or maybe I'll just run by the grocery store... I didn't get a nap today, after all.

A bit of Eye Candy.

2010-01-13T10:42:00.007-07:00

Because I'm pretty talked out. I've been doing quite a few blog posts over at Design House Digital, and I've learned that one (namely: me) actually CAN get sick of the sound of her own voice, even when one (again, me) is really reading it online.

Odd.

Anyway, in my last post, I shared with you my first layout, ever, which (funnily enough) was also my first layout of 2009. I hereby give you my last layout of 2009:
And here's a few more of my favorites from the last month or so. (If you'd like to view them larger, or know any of the supplies used, please click on the layout.)

The following layouts are some of my last seeds at 2Peas. (All copyright Two Peas in a Bucket, for credits click on link.)

Incidentally, I created that tree in a handy little program called Illustrator, by Adobe. I have no idea how to use it, but I'm learning, courtesy of Carina Gardner's class over at Jessica Sprague's site. I highly recommend it!

Last thing: My good friend Jen Martakis is having a Creative Team call, and I encourage anyone who's been thinking about trying for one to give it a shot! She's amazingly kind, amazingly talented, and you get bonus points if your name is Jen, or any derivative thereof.

It's the end of an era...

2009-12-31T16:09:00.004-07:00

I know, you think I'm talking about 2009, right?

Wrong.

I mean, technically, today IS the last day of the year. And, technically, tomorrow is the first day of next year. But that's just coincidence. What I'm really talking about is the end of my days as a Garden Girl at Two Peas in a Bucket.

I know. I certainly didn't anticipate this. Heck, I didn't anticipate ever BEING a Garden Girl, let alone walking away from it, especially after four short months.

And it was hard. 2Peas has been my internet home for... well, ever. It's been my home page on my browser. My news source. My entertainment. And if you think that a scrapbooking board is just about scrapbooking, well, you've never visited the NSBR. It's a world of it's own, where I have learned many wondrous and amazing things.

2Peas is also the place where I started my digital journey. Less than one year ago, I decided to take the plunge. I'd had PSE5 for a couple of years, but hadn't done more than load it on my computer. Without further ado, I give you... My Very First Layout, 1/7/09:

I know. That's a photo of my daughter's booty. I'm a mom, what can I say? Aside from the poor color in the photo, I still really like it. I used a template by The Queen of Quirk, and I've used it many times since. I love it.

A few short months went by, and I was offered my first Creative Team position, with Crystal Wilkerson, in April. As the year went on, I was on the creative teams of some other amazing 2Peas designers: Kate Teague, The Queen of Quirk, and Jen Allyson, plus a stint as a guest DT member for Erica Hernandez and a chance to work with the amazing charity site, Songbird Avenue.

And then came August, and the offer to become a Garden Girl. I loved it, every minute of it, but had to give up my affiliations with other websites. And it was worth it, for a while. But, eventually, it seemed like I was only scrapping for deadlines, and not for enjoyment. My beloved hobby became my job.

So, eventually, I had to look at what made me happiest as a person. And I'm happy to say, that I'm pretty sure I have found it.

I'll be working with some dear friends at a new site called Design House Digital, which launches tomorrow. It's a site focused on digital scrapbooking, with some of the very best designers in the industry.

So, it's been quite a journey. Along the way I've made countless friends, learned countless techniques, and made countless pages. One year ago, I would NEVER have expected this. As for the future? Well, who knows what the next year will bring? I can't wait to see!

Then and Now...

2009-12-07T10:23:00.005-07:00

Last week, we saw my oh-so-interesting answers from the ripe old age of 17. Today, let's take an enlightening journey into my life right now.

You're excited, aren't you? I know, it's hard to contain myself!

My hair colour is: reddish-brown, but I desperately need a color job. Not black, which I did do shortly after graduation. Not blue streaks, or purple, which I've also done. And not a platinum pixie, which is another former hairstyle.
My hair style is: long. Probably the longest I've ever had. Most days it is curly, because I rarely have time to blow dry it straight.
My favourite brand of makeup is: Bare Essentials.
My "fashionable" item is: Any of my hats. I pretty much rock them.
My favourite outfit is: Jeans, a fun top, and heels. With lots of jewelry.
My favourite colour is: Grey.
I drive a: Dodge Durango. No car payment is a good thing.
On a Saturday I go: to work at the store. Some days I love it, some days I hate it. What else is new?
On a Saturday night I go: home. Occasionally Steve and I go out, but mostly it's just family movie night.
On a Sunday I go: usually nowhere. It's the only day of the week that Steve and I both have off, so we like to spend it together at home.
Monday-Friday I go: crazy. (Wait, that happens on Saturday and Sunday, too!)
My best friend(s) is/are: Steve, of course. I've also learned that you don't have to talk to your best friends everyday, and they can live all over the country. They can be old friends (Hello, HS girls!) or new. And you can totally have more than one.
My favourite place to go out is: anyplace in Park City.
My favourite subject at school is: art or photography.
When I grow up I want to be: unpredictable. But I'm not planning on growing up anytime soon, so I'd like to be unpredictable now.
My favourite drink is: Dr Pepper with lemon or Mountain Dew.
My favourite food is: anything loaded with sugar.
My favourite shop is: very dependent on the day. I have a very quirky sense of style, so I shop many places.
I want to marry: my average height, not-so-dark, super handsome Steve. I hit the jackpot.
My favourite actor/actress is: Gerard Butler. Yum.
My favourite band is: Green Day. Still. Huh.
My favourite TV programme is: Friends.
The one thing I want to do but can't is: go to bed at a decent hour. These late nights are killing me!
My most used mode of transport is: the Durango. Luckily, since the PT Cruiser is dorky.
If I had all the money in the world I would: travel. A lot.
I wish I could visit: Ireland.
My favourite sport is: swimming.
This fall I: have no idea what I'm going to do.
At Halloween I dressed up as: a mummy, a 50's girl, and a 60's secretary.
I recently saw: '2012' and thought it was: cliche and predictable. But still reasonably entertaining.
I am reading: a trashy Nora Roberts romance.

And, since I was lucky enough to have breakfast on my birthday last week with two of my best friends (at 17 AND now!), here's another photo for your enjoyment:

Don't forget to jump on over to Mel's blog to catch up with her!

I'll be posting later on today with the winner of my Family Tree giveaway!

The Burger Bunch says it all...

2009-12-01T13:42:00.002-07:00

17, AGAIN?

2009-11-30T08:42:00.004-07:00

No, this is not a post about Zac Efron. Or Taylor Lautner, although he's a smokin' 17, for sure. (According to my daughter, of course. I would never say something like that. It's just wrong.)

It's a post about me. When I was 17. So it's almost like I'm 17 again. Clever, huh? I turned 17 in late November of my Senior Year. (Yes, I was young.)

So, here's a peek into my life, as it was in November 1994:

My hair colour is: reddish-brown, but I'm thinking of dyeing it black in the near future.
My hair style is: just like everyone else's. Front/sides pulled back most days, and curly.
My favourite brand of makeup is: Cover Girl, I'm sure.
My "fashionable" item is: my Chuck's. I rock them.
My favourite outfit is: an oversized rugby (is there any other size shirt?) and my Girbauds.
My favourite colour is: pink.
I drive a: very large brown van. With a bed in the back. It's handy for carting around lots of Freshman, who contribute kindly to my gas fund. Occasinally, I head out in the green HMD. THAT'S RIGHT!
On a Saturday I go: to work. Right now it's at the outlet mall in Park City, selling expensive sunglasses.
On a Saturday night I go: out with my friends. We usually just hang out at someone's house.
On a Sunday I go: to church. 'Nuff said.
Monday-Friday I go: to school (ish). At this point, I'm still going pretty regularly, but that would change soon enough.
My best friend(s) is/are: Chauma and Tami. But it's a very close second to my girl "group" which includes Deborah, Munda, Molly, and Michelle.
My favourite place to go out is: anyplace in Park City.
My favourite subject at school is: art or photography.
When I grow up I want to be: a hairstylist.
My favourite drink is: Mountain Dew.
My favourite food is: anything loaded with sugar.
My favourite shop is: Old Navy.
I want to marry: someone tall, dark, and handsome.
My favourite actor/actress is: Keanu Reeves.
My favourite band is: Green Day.
My favourite TV programme is: Friends.
The one thing I want to do but can't is: graduate. Enough, already!
My most used mode of transport is: Tami's car. We have to 'Dukes of Hazard' in to it, since the passenger door is broken, but she drives us almost everywhere.
If I had all the money in the world I would: travel. A lot.
I wish I could visit: Australia.
My favourite sport is: swimming.
This fall I: have no idea what I'm going to do.
At Halloween I dressed up as: nothing. I think I'm too cool for that.
I recently saw: 'Speed' and thought it was: amazing. Keanu Reeves is so hot.
I am reading: a trashy Harlequin romance.

Pretty fun, right? It's funny, some things are basically the same, and some are completely opposite. You can follow the '17 again' blog train over to my friend Mel, who was 17 in 1991. She's a funny gal, you'll enjoy the ride, I'm sure!

Look what I did! (FREEBIE!)

2009-11-07T22:04:00.004-07:00

I created my very first brush set for Photoshop, and in honour of Digital Scrapbook Day, I'm sharing it with you. It's an alpha that's great for monograms, but can be resized for titles! I proudly present:
It's a little grungy, but a little bit fancy at the same time. (Sorta like me, huh?) Click on the preview to download; free for personal or commercial use. (Please credit.)

Here's a layout I made using it:
I'd love to know if you use it, and I hope you enjoy it!

DSD... and a FREEBIE!

2009-11-06T22:19:00.002-07:00

Tomorrow is Digital Scrapbooking Day, and while I may not be able to get on board with the whole NaBloPoMo (or whatever it is...) I definitely will celebrate this. Come on! A day when I HAVE to scrapbook? When it's practically a rule? I'm all over that.

Two Peas in a Bucket is celebrating, too. (Convenient, right?) Check out this blog post by Mellypea for all the details. There's freebies and chats all day long, in fact, you may notice that I'll be hosting a chat at 9PM CST, so hop on by. Trust me, I'm super fun.

Maybe I'll have a little surprise for you myself!

It's WHAT?

2009-11-04T09:07:00.005-07:00

My blogiversary. That's right, one year ago today, I posted my very first refreshingly unpredictable post. Crazy to think, but I'm fast approaching that time with Liam. I wonder what his "currency" is...

Anyway, to celebrate my refreshingly unpredictable (i.e. erratic) posting history, I'm having another giveaway!

[Warning: three predictable prizes ahead.]

I will be giving away one 11x14 Family Tree, and two 8x10 Family Trees. So, if you want a chance to win one of my custom Family Trees, read on! (Surprised, right?)
You can be entered in a couple of different ways:

First, post here and say "I LOVE TO WIN THINGS!" Tough, right?
Next, post about this giveaway online somewhere else. I'm not picky, anywhere else that you hang out: Facebook, message boards, your own blog. Or all of them! Please include a link either here or to my Etsy shop to qualify, and then post a link to it here. (You will be entered once for each place you post.)

I'll find some super awesome way to pick the winners on Sunday, December 6, and post them then.

On a serious note, I just want to say 'Thanks' to all my loyal and new friends and readers. I love reading your comments, and I love that you put up with me and my "refreshingly unpredictable" self. You like me. You really, really like me. *sniff*

I might just be an exhibitionist.

2009-11-03T22:30:00.005-07:00

I know I'm a voyeur, so shouldn't I at least return the favor?

Oh, get your mind out of the gutter! I'm talking about blogging, of course! I love to read blogs. I love to blog hop. Blog trains? Heaven.

So, when I think about what I am comfortable sharing online, I have to admit: pretty much anything. Subtlety? Not my middle name. I've never been good at hiding my thoughts. I'm not really a private person, and I'm okay with that.

Truthfully, as a Garden Girl at 2Peas, I have to be pretty okay with sharing my scrapbook layouts, and unless I do some seriously heavy editing, sharing my scrapbooks is sharing my life.

Although I'm in awe of a couple of my friends and their super cute family nicknames: Mr. Renaissance... Kitty... You know who you are! My creativity would end with Thing 1, Thing 2, Thing 3, and Thing 4. Yeah, I'll stick to my strengths.

And one of my strengths? Admitting my weaknesses. (How's that for a segue? Smooth, right?) Consistency in blogging is a definite weakness of mine. [Actually, let's pretend it's intentional, all in the name of being refreshingly unpredictable. That's much better than flaky, right?]

So, my intentions with this blog (You see where I'm going, fellow classmates? I told you subtle was not my middle name.) are not super straight-laced. We know how well planning works for me. Ahem.

Instead, I'm just shooting for refreshingly unpredictable. You might find a post about some layouts. It might be about my crazy family. Maybe it's a link to something I find interesting. Who knows?

So, because it's late, and I'm tired, (and my desk is dirty), I am not taking a picture of my computer tonight, and I'm definitely not doing a layout or typing out a favorite memory. (It's called pacing yourself.) Instead, you get to see my latest garden layouts, which were released on Sunday:
(First two layouts copyright Two Peas in a Bucket; click on the layout for credits.)

The next two layouts are ones I did for the super fun Digital Morph challenge we do at 2Peas. Again, click on the layout to see credits.
And you should definitely check back tomorrow. It's kind of a big deal for me.

What can I say?

2009-10-26T20:36:00.005-06:00

I have a problem. I know it. I am a big slacker. Unfortunately, my blog has taken the brunt of my slackerness.

Admitting is the first step, right? Now, if only it was the most important step and the final step, I'd be good. Since it's not, I decided to try and fix it. Okay. Really, I decided to throw some money at something else, and hope that fixes it.

What did I throw money at this time, you ask? I'll tell you. A super (I hope) new class by one of my fellow Garden Girls, Shimelle Laine. How cute is she? I've heard her compared to Snow White, but to me, she's totally got that Alice in Wonderland thing going. You see the headband, right? Except for the dark hair and funky glasses. So, she's got that funky-cool Alice in Wonderland thing going. Plus she's English. Well, I think she's English. She lives in England, so I picture her speaking with a cute accent, and saying things like "Cheerio!" and "Bloody brilliant!" and "Snogging". Hmm. Perhaps I should put down the Harry Potter books, huh? Anyway, she totally has to have an accent if she lives in England, right? (Not that I've ever made that mistake before, and thought an American was English. *cough*TheQueenofQuirk*cough*)

Anyway, Shimelle has a super cool sounding class on her website, called, appropriately, "Blogging for Scrapbookers." I'm a scrapbooker. I blog(ish). It's like she made the class just for me!

So, hopefully that means I might update more often. Because, I ALWAYS follow through with things I start. Like this time. Or this one. Or even this. Man, that's depressing.

On to something I do manage to do consistently... scrapbook. Here are the garden layouts I've had posted on 2Peas since my last update. (All layouts copyright Two Peas in a Bucket; for credits, click on the image.)

Now, off to do the other thing I manage consistently: clean.

(Bwahahaha!)

Really?

2009-09-21T22:17:00.003-06:00

As you can tell, I'm having a bit of a facelift here. Well, I'm not. The blog is. It's much cheaper, you know.

I'm trying for something light, classy, and restful. Just like me.

Okay, nothing like me. Just how I wish I was.

So, ignore the dust, and the reorganization, and the lack of posting. I have good things in store.

I just have to find them. Or make sense of the chaos in my brain.

In the meantime, the mid-month garden bloomed at Two Peas, and my first contribution showed up:
(Layout copyright Two Peas in a Bucket)

Did you miss me?

2009-09-06T22:38:00.004-06:00

I know. As I was kindly reminded by a friend on Facebook (Hi, Shantell!) it has been three weeks since I last updated my blog. Three weeks. (I won't make any comments about how she needs to get a life, and how bored she must be...)

So, what's happened here?

1) Gregan came home. I might have actually missed it, since I can't manage to get myself, a husband, and four kids anywhere on time. Who am I kidding? I can't get myself anywhere on time, even when my husband is getting four kids ready by himself. Luckily, in a flash of inspiration (or just a reality check), I left my camera with my mom the night before, so while I was not at the airport, my trusty Nikon was. And it captured this shot of me, and the kids, walking up late. (Steve was parking the car, since I thought for sure that if we didn't have to walk all the way across the parking lot, we'd be there before Gregan.)

2) I was asked to be a Garden Girl at Two Peas in a Bucket. That won't mean much to most of you, but to me, it's huge. Ridiculously scary, and frightfully intimidating, since I've joined one of the most talented groups of women in the scrapbooking industry. I may have a stroke. I may have two. But there will definitely be a layout about it. Or two.

3) Three days before my first deadline at 2 Peas, my computer crashed. Yeah. So, a quick shopping trip, a complete impulse purchase, and ridiculous amounts of money later, I was the proud owner of my first laptop. A pretty red one. I call her Della. Della is completely loaded, with a whole bunch of really cool features, and lots of RAM, and a bunch of other stuff that doesn't mean a lot to me, but Steve insisted she had. And she's a redhead, just like me. But natural. Unfortunately, Della is a bit camera shy, so we have no pictures. Yet.

4) The kids started school. K in third grade, C in first, and A in preschool. Which leaves me with one child for a couple of hours a couple of times a week. I might start a new hobby. I might keep my house clean. Okay, okay. I'll probably take a nap.
And this is how Liam entertains himself, with no siblings to play with. And Maya, she just takes it. What a sweetie she is!

5) Kelsey was baptized yesterday. She turned eight in May, but wanted to wait until Gregan was home, so the big day was yesterday.

Can you believe how old she looks? FYI: that dress she's wearing? It was my sister's Maid of Honor dress from my wedding. I love that I still have it. I love that my Mom is skilled enough to alter it. I love that my daughter has enough of me in her to want to wear a dress from my wedding.

So, what's new with you?

Eight is totally enough.

2009-08-13T10:11:00.010-06:00

I was tagged by my friend Mary Mary. And by friend, I mean we've met once, and communicated online occasionally, and she tagged me out of pity. But I'm okay with that, because she's freakin' hilarious. And her photography is freakin' awesome. And her new staircase in her new house is freakin' gorgeous.

So, without further ado, here we go!

Eight things I did yesterday:

1) Called everyone I knew to tell them about the dress(es) I scored for a really good price the day before. I don't think the bagger at the grocery store really cared, though. (So what if one's a touch too small. I'm not drinking soda anymore, right?)

2) Finished up a few family trees, started a few family trees, and avoided one family tree completely. He sent me a flow chart to try and keep things straight. Yeah.

3) Took Kelsey and Connor for a little Back to School shopping. Wondered slightly why the eighties styles are back in full force, since they weren't that attractive to begin with.

4) Really tried to talk Connor out of the sports-themed backpack. Fail.

5) Admired Liam's curls. They're so soft and pretty when he's fresh out of the tub.

6) Found my lost daughter. She'd wandered down to my grandma's house to play with her cousins.

7) Cursed my curls. They're so frizzy when I'm fresh out of the shower, and take eleventy-billion years to straighten. Why didn't eighties hair come back? I could really get on board with that.

8) Drove through Taco Bell for dinner. And maybe split a soda with my two kids. Drat.

Eight favorite shows:

1) Design Star... I know, right? But there's something really cool about seeing all the different designs in one show, side by side. And then seeing design show hosts rip them all apart.

2) Food Network Challenge. (But only the cake decorating ones.)

3) Friends. I don't care that they are all reruns, and I've seen them often enough to recite the lines. It's still funny.

4) Sadly, the only other shows I know are the ones my kids watch. They're hardly my favorites. So, we're skipping 5, 6, 7, and 8, but I reserve the right to come back in with more. Once I think of them. (Or I could just use the extra 4 on my next section, right?)

Eight favorite restaurants: (Because I totally could name more than eight here.)

1) Hi-Mountain Drug, because I would be remiss if I didn't list it here, and list it first. Best Burgers in the state, baby!

2) Macaroni Grill, simply for their bruchetta. And their bread. Carb heaven.

3) Cafe Rio, for fast Mexican. Pork Barbacoa, anyone?

4) Red Rock Brewery, who has the most amazing Portobello Mushroom appetizer. Follow it up with their warm goat cheese appetizer (thanks, GeNille) and it's the perfect meal. Except for one thing...

5) Cold Stone Creamery, which is conveniently located across the street from RR in Park City. Perfect way to finish off a meal. Or start one. No judgements here.

6) Leatherby's, but not necessarily for their ice cream. (Although that's good, too!) Their fries, dipped in a combination of fry sauce and teriyaki. Don't knock it until you've tried it!

7) La Frontera... I lived on this stuff while I was pregnant with Kelsey. Which may explain her feisty personality, now that I think about it. Unfortunately, Steve got so sick of me saying "Laaaaa Fronteraaaa" that he refuses to eat there to this day.

8) Bonzai, Teppenyaki, & The Last Samarai are all really good, and depending on my location, any will suffice. And really, does a flaming volcano ever get old?

Eight things I look forward to:

1) Fitting into my new dress, while still eating lots of good food and not exercising. It could happen, right?

2) My little brother coming home, in ONE WEEK! Yay!

3) School starting, and being able to get back into a routine. I need the discipline.

4) Liam saying a few more words than "What?!?" "shoes" and "Ma". (Ma was really cute the first time, but over and over at 6 AM? Not cute.)

5) Getting a MX helmet, so I can finally ride the Steve Lite motorcycle.

6) The day our house is repainted. (Interior.) Not the repainting, mind you, just when it's done.

7) When Steve gets home from work. Not because we're all mushy in love (even though we are), but because it's another adult in the house. Or maybe just because we're mushy in love.

8) Going along with #2: Having my entire family together for the first time in two years. With Gregan gone and another sister out of state, I'm excited to spend a week camping together. We'll fight, for sure. We'll have fun, for sure. But, hey, when you get eight siblings together with their respective families, what else could happen?

Eight people I tag:

1) Glorilyn/Ginger/Janie (these count as one, because maybe one of them will actually do it. Or maybe not.)

2) Gina

3) Nicole

4) Shantell

5) Colleen

6) Katherine

7) Samantha

8) Jen Martakis

3 weeks.

2009-07-30T10:20:00.004-06:00

Three weeks could be a lot of things in my life.
How long it's been since I did laundry.
Could be true, but not today. I did lots of laundry yesterday.
How long I'm going to be gone on a cruise.
HA!
How long it takes me to eat a box of cookies.
Double HA!

Today, three weeks is how much longer my "little" brother Gregan has left on his mission. (I say little, because he was 6'4" when he left. Now? Who knows?) He's serving in the St. Louis, Missouri area, and we're anxiously awaiting his return. A lot has happened while he's been gone: his only brother got married, but luckily he already knows our new sister-in-law, since they went to high school together. He has two new nephews and a new niece. He doesn't know them. But since two are newborns, they're pretty easy to fake a relationship with. And since the other is my oh-so-adorable Liam, well, I already know he'll be the favorite. :)

So, here's a couple of pics, for your viewing enjoyment:

The night before Gregan left, looking all missionary-like:

And how he really is:

A picture of pregnant me (I was about 6 months along) and Gregan at the MTC:

A picture he sent home a few months ago:
So, Gregan, if you're reading this and it makes you trunky, sorry. We're getting trunky, too.

Give me a W...

2009-07-26T22:37:00.004-06:00

for winner! I know that you all must be on the edge of your seats, but I'm going to take advantage of my captive audience and ramble a bit first. And pretend that I don't realize that you can scroll right down to the bottom of the post if you find me boring.

First of all, I must say that I LOVED reading about everyone's ancestors. Now I wish I knew more about all of them, too.

I was kind of hoping that someone would have a bad story in there, someone they wished they knew less about, but no one did. So I'll share one of mine!

To start, I must get you in the right time frame. My father was born when his father was not so young. (That's polite talk for super old.) In his 60's, but I'm not exactly sure when. Old enough that I don't want to think about him doing whatever resulted in my dad being born to a sixty-something-year-old man.

So, when Grandpa was a feisty young kid, instead of a feisty sixty-something-year-old man, HIS dad was a super-feisty abusive drunk. Or so family lore goes. I didn't know him personally, of course, since this took place over 100 years ago.

Long story short, my grandpa's older brother shot and killed their dad. He went to trial, but was judged not guilty, because it was considered in defense of others. Or something like that.

I know there's more detail to the story, but since it's about 11 PM here, I don't think my dad (Family-Historian-Who-Knows-All) would appreciate a phone call. [Plus, this way, one of my all-knowing sisters can jump in during the comments and correct anything I got wrong.]

Pretty... er... interesting, right? A murder. Patricide. One of those should-be-made-into-a-movie tales where the good guy takes care of the bad guy, and gets to go free. I prefer to think that only the good guy genes survived the last 100 years, and not the bad-guy genes. Right? Right.

Anyway, on to our winner.
I went to random (dot) org, and used their handy generator:
And the winning comment is here:

By AlohaAroha. YAY!

For anyone who entered my giveaway and did not win, I have a little surprise for you. If you really, really want a tree, you can visit my Etsy shop. Between now and August 15, any of you can order the 8x10 family tree, and I will upgrade it to the 11x14 for free.

This giveaway thing was pretty fun. I'm definitely going to have to do it again. Thanks to everyone who participated!

A little musing and a GIVEAWAY!

2009-07-21T09:31:00.003-06:00

This week, Utah celebrates it's statehood day. Conveniently, the day that Utah became a state was the anniversary of the day Brigham Young and the first group of Mormon Pioneers came into the Salt Lake Valley. Sorta. My memory's pretty fudgy these days, but I'm pretty sure they actually arrived in the area a few days before, but Brigham Young was sick and didn't see the valley until the 24th.

Whatever. It resulted in me living where I do. Where sometimes we get snow in June. And sometimes we break 100 degrees. Sometimes in the same week. I know, right?

I have to admit, I have a slight fascination with pioneers. Maybe it's because my own great-grandpa (who died when I was a Senior in HS, just before his 102nd birthday) was born while his own parents were traveling west. Maybe it's because I admire the fortitude and sense of adventure it must have taken to pull up roots and head west. Maybe it's because I like to be reminded of how much better my life is, with cars, iPods, the internet, and toilet paper.

Yeah, that's probably it.

(By the way, my iPod's missing again. Anyone seen it?)

So, while the original pioneers celebrated by playing a fiddle and dancing around the fire, today we Utahns celebrate by going to parades, eating ridiculous amounts of bad food at rodeos and demolition derbies, and driving to Wyoming for illegal fireworks. Good times.

Anyway, in honour (remember how I like that spelling?) of Utah's Pioneer Day, I'm doing my very first giveaway!

You can win this:

Except with your family's names, not mine. Want to see it closer? Okay!
You'll win a custom-designed 11x14 Family Tree, with up to 60 names spanning four generations. Great for you, great for a gift. Great for framing, because you'll have to buy your own.

Simply post a comment, telling me of an ancestor you wish you knew more of, knew less of, or just plain knew. I'll do a drawing on Sunday, so make sure I have a way to contact you!

And, for those of you who scrapbook, head over to The Queen of Quirk's blog, because she's having a giveaway, too!

I know...

2009-07-13T12:46:00.010-06:00

It's been a while. Did you miss me?

I've been so busy, running, of course. I've lost 15 pounds, and dropped two sizes.

I also won a million dollars in the lottery, found out I've been nominated for the Nobel prize in physics, and the Pope decided to declare me a saint. Saint Gennifer. Has a nice ring to it, don't you think?

HAHAHAHA!

Really? What have I been doing for the past couple of weeks?

We went camping with Steve's brother and his family. Well, most of us went camping. Liam and I slept at home both nights. And we realized that for our next camping trip, in August, we will be taking his Pack&Play. Since "camping" in that case is in my parent's massive backyard, and Liam will be "camping" in the house. Have fun, Mom!

Turning a hella-old truck (1960-something?) into a pirate ship. Turning our trailer into an island. Turning Aidan into Tinkerbell, Liam into Michael, Kelsey into Wendy, and Connor into a pirate. Oh, and turning Maya into Nana. Yep, you guessed it: Peter Pan. Our slogan? Let our burgers be your happy little thoughts. Clever, right?

Unfortunately, no pictures yet. My sister took some, but she's in Colorado. My camera, of course, went home with Steve. Sans pictures.

But we were super cool. Even if I did hear an occasional "Captain Jack" from the sidelines.

We celebrated Steve's birthday, the big Three-Five. I told him he was now middle-aged. And I am a trophy-wife. Pre-enhancement, of course.
We sold the bullet bike, and purchased His & Hers dirt bikes. Who am I kidding? His and His Lite dirt bikes. :) Hopefully, now that the kids are slightly older, we can have some fun on them. Also, hoping that the streak is broken, since the last two times we bought something that was "mine", we found out I was pregnant shortly after. Seriously, it's not funny the second time, and there better not be a third!

I've been doing a few digi-layouts! I've been added to a couple of creative teams, The Queen of Quirk's. and Songbird Avenue. I talked about Songbird Avenue in this blog post a couple of months ago, and I'm so super excited to be involved with them. Because they have a different guest designer each month, I'm looking forward to really growing as I work with the many different styles. Here's a layout I did with the July kit, called "Rays of Hope", with guest designer Amy Teets:
Jan Crowley (aka The Queen of Quirk) is one of the geniuses behind Songbird Avenue. I've been a huge fan of her's since I started digital, she has the best templates you can imagine! One of my most all-time-favorite layouts is one of my first, done with her template:
I love all of the swirls that she adds to everything, such incredible dimension!

I made this layout using the lovely Jen Allyson's designs:
And this one with Kate Teague's kits (loopy frame by Jen Allyson):
This layout is using a fabulous template by Paislee Press:
I love her style. So open & fresh. She did a collaborative kit with Audrey Neal, which I HAD to have. I used it to do this layout, which also uses one of The Queen of Quirk's templates.
So stinkin' cute, right? Audrey has a fabulous weekly journaling challenge on her blog, and this week she asked me to do one of the samples. I did this one, with Audrey's Butterfly Fancy kit:
You should definitely check it out, because while I do believe the old saying "A picture is worth a thousand words," the right words combined with a great picture are infinitely more powerful.

So, what are you saying this week?

I Have A Plan.

2009-06-23T22:28:00.004-06:00

(Like you've never heard me say this before.)

My plan is to... wait for it... exercise. (I know, right?) These are not words that I though would ever leave my lips, but I have decided I like food. (I KNOW, RIGHT?) And, since that's not going to change in the foreseeable future, my activity level probably should. Maybe. No, definitely.

I've decided to run. Janie likes it. I like Janie. So, I will like it, right? (Isn't that what I learned in algebra? If A=B and B=C then A=C? No?) Whatever. I'm thinking it will give me the quickest results.

That's a lie. Liposuction will give me the quickest results, along with a tummy tuck. Running will hopefully give me the quickest, cheapest, relatively pain-free results.

I've decided to run nightly. Stop laughing. Seriously.

I can't stop, either.

Anyway, I need your help. Since you all love me (or at least hopefully like me, otherwise what the heck are you doing here?) I need a little motivation. I'm not picky. Positive Reinforcement? Great. Threats? Why not. Bribes? Sure.

Here's just a few ideas of things that would work:

The next time you see me, mutter "beached whale" under your breath. Repeatedly.

Secretly sneak into my closet tomorrow and exchange all my clothes with smaller ones. This could take some planning, because I might notice the change. I'm kind-of observant.

Conversely, you could do the same thing in a couple of weeks, but with larger clothes. Warning: Do not reverse those. Bad.

Turn all my mirrors sideways. I already know the trick, and have them hanging the skinny way. But if they were changed...

Tell all my kids to ask me why my stomach looks like that.

Offer me $5 for every pound I lose. (Hey! I like this idea!)

Ask me every time you see me what I've been eating. And then make gagging noises when I tell you.

Tell me about all the great sales you saw on things, but they were all just one size smaller than my current size.

Just a few ideas to get you going... I have creative friends, so I know you all can come up with some more.

Wish me luck. Or call me a beached whale, repeatedly.

I find this interesting.

2009-06-12T23:10:00.004-06:00

Not because Disney reused drawings, because in the olden days (before computers and stuff) making cartoons was HARD. This just seems like an economical way to keep producing movies for kids like me to watch.

What I find interesting is that someone watched enough Disney movies to realize this. And then put together a video.

If they have this much spare time, can't they come do laundry at my house?

(Seriously, Disney video-putter-togetherer. Call me.)

Throw up Wednesday?

2009-06-10T12:28:00.006-06:00

Whatever. Things are crazy.

We're adjusting to summer, and having a hard time staying entertained. T-Ball and softball for K and C, and somehow my kids have managed to have games at the same time each night, at opposite fields. Awesome. What am I supposed to do? Pick my favorite kid?

The first night was actually canceled, and here's why:
Yes, this was last week. Crazy, right?

Steve keeps telling me about his wrist popping out of joint when he's working out. Eww. Seriously eww. I'm getting the shivers just thinking about it.

[And having flashbacks to when he shattered his elbow, and made me touch it because I didn't believe him. Who would expect him to calmly walk up and tell me to take him to the hospital?]

Anyway, he just pops it back in and continues lifting. Isn't it sad that he's had so many injuries in his life that this doesn't even warrant an appointment with the doctor?

Enjoyed brunch with my HS friends (and Dusty and Mya) on Sunday. No pictures, of course. But here's one of Chauma and I from a few months ago:Man, we're gorgeous! I can't figure out why I look so pale, though. In reality, I'm such a tan girl. It must be because I'm laying next to the Indian girl, right?

I spent a few hours on Monday taking pictures of a friend's new baby, Isabella. What a cutie! Also spent a few minutes explaining to Connor that some things that he learned from Isabella's older brother are not appropriate to repeat. (I'm so not old enough to have that conversation!)

Had a few laughs on FB yesterday with an online friend, Jen Martakis. Crazy girl totally crushed my ego. I'm not nearly as cool as I thought I was. :) We also concluded that Jen Allyson may be a vampire. Do you think she knows this guy?In case you don't, that's Gerard Butler in Dracula 2000, possibly the best vampire movie ever. Sigh.

Speaking of Jen Allyson, she has a handy little freebie on her blog. It's a weekly chore chart, just waiting for you to download it, print it out, fill it out, and become the most organized person you know. Wait. Maybe it's mine that's waiting. Anyway, go grab one!

I have accomplished quite a bit the last couple of weeks, though. Here's a layout of my oh-so-chubby Connor, when he was just under two months old. Poor kid can barely open his eyes, his cheeks are so full.Here's one of my sister, three days before she had her baby:A layout of Liam, and his girly hair. (According to my sisters. What do they know, anyway?)
Also, this layout of Steve and I:The picture is a couple of years old, but it's hard to get pics of the two of us together. I need to get better at that! Lyrics are by Tim McGraw, and one of the few country songs I like. (Take that, Shantell!)

And, from that same photo session, Brittani caught this great picture of our family, laughing between shots:I also did a really great layout of Steve this week, but it's part of a challenge, so I can't post it yet. Here's the photo I used, though:It's from Memorial Day, and it is quite possibly my most favorite-ist picture I've ever taken of Steve. And he's not even blinking. (Or, I just can't tell because of the sunglasses.) Good boy!

I know this is picture heavy, but frankly, it's easier than trying to be interesting. Maybe next time, right?

Out of the mouths of babes...

2009-05-27T13:28:00.005-06:00

If you were a fly on the wall at my house today, you would be laughing. A lot.

I was getting in the shower this morning, and if you have kids you know that privacy is very rare. Some things become family activities. Like showering. Using the toilet. Anything.

Anyway, Aidan is chattering away about something (because the girl does not stop talking... I wonder where she gets it?) and segued into this:

*For censorship purposes, we will replace the actual word used with the word "ear." The actual word starts & ends with "b". Huh. Ironic, considering my blog title, isn't it?

Mommy, you have big ears.

Mommy, when am I going to have ears?

When I'm a big girl?

I'll have ears when I'm a mommy?

I'll have big ears?

We'll be matching?

Nice... what do you even say to that? No, they won't be matching, because by that point my ears will be sagging down to my knees. Unless I have really expensive fake ears by then, in which case they will be round and up by my chin somewhere, so they probably won't match then, either.

Then, there's the fact that my friend Lorell (Hi, Lorell!) is potty-training this week. I HATE potty training. I hate it so much, that I will take this opportunity to remind you of my very first blog post, a whopping almost-seven months ago.

I spent a few glorious minutes when she talked about it basking in the fact that even though I still have one in diapers, potty-training is not anywhere on the horizon. Yay.

Then, I went to get Liam up from his nap. The little stinker decided to take off his diaper and pee through the crib. A puddle to clean up. A rug to wash. Thanks goodness for laminate, right?

It's a good thing he's so cute:

Poor Me.

2009-05-20T21:24:00.003-06:00

I've been trying to come up with something fabulous, witty, and above all, interesting to write about for the past week. I've got nothing.

So I'm revisiting My Last Public Failure. You know, the ridiculously structured blog schedule that was impossible to follow? Im. Poss. I. Ble. Literally. I didn't even make it through one week. Pathetic.

So, in honour (I really prefer that spelling. Doesn't it look fancy?) Like I was saying, in honour of that dismal display, and since today happens to be a Wednesday (which, if you consult the aforementioned post should be Wednesday Vent Day) you get to hear it. My vents. My whines. (Not to be confused with my wines, because that would be completely different!) My overall feelings of imperfection and looming death.

Because... I have wrinkles. I really noticed it when looking super close at a photo of me and a couple of my friends today (Hi, Nicole and Shantell). Did I mention they are 19 and 20, respectively? Yeah, I'm getting old. Old people die. I'm going to die.

Also, I officially win Worst Mother Of The Decade today. In my distractions with everything I'm trying to do, plus serious sleep deprivation (what's new?) I did The Unforgivable. More accurately, I missed The Unforgivable. Connor's last day of kindergarten was today, and I forgot to go. I somehow forgot that they give out diplomas. How did I miss this? What kind of mother forgets that? It's not new. I graduated from kindergarten myself, eleventy-billion years ago. HOW DID I MISS THIS?

I actually cried when I told Steve about it. Hell, I'm crying now!

To make up for it, I scrapped a photo of him in a dress:

Does anyone know how much therapy costs?

Huh.

2009-05-13T09:40:00.005-06:00

Turns out sleep isn't necessary for survival. Sanity, maybe; survival, no.

The last week or so has been very hectic. Late nights. In fact, there were a couple that I was crawling into bed as Steve's alarm was going off, and even one where he was up, showered, and ironing his shirt (I'm such a bad wife!) before I wandered in.

A lot has been accomplished. I finished 11 Family Trees and got them mailed off. The marathon 36-hour bathroom remodel at the Drug Store is complete. 7 dozen decorated Cake Balls for Uncle Craig's birthday? Done. Layouts for two kits that I thought would be released this week, but won't be until next week? Yeah. Seven signs proclaiming the Drug Store's Best Burgers*, printed and hung. (Okay, only 6 hung. Sheesh.)

*Did I mention that Hi-Mountain Drug won Utah's Best of State in the Best Burgers category? We're pretty damn proud!

The bags under my eyes are a true work of art. Not even spackle could fix them! Not that I tried, of course. Who would think, while texturizing the walls at the store, that spackle is an appropriate face-fixer? Not me.

Luckily, Steve and the kids got me a Gift Certificate with Lorri, the best esthetician in the world. If she can't fix me up, no one can. Actually, I'm beyond fixing (30 years of hard living, and all that!), but she sure can shine me up.

Speaking of Mother's Day, here's a pic with my Mom and Grandmy on Sunday:

Three amazing women. Well, okay, two amazing women, and one who hopes to someday measure up. They're tough acts to follow!

I didn't think to get a picture, but we were very happy to see Steve's mom on Mother's Day, too. They've been serving a mission in Atlanta, and we haven't seen them since July. We're so glad to have them back!

I've been taking an online class at Jessica Sprague's website, and I'm learning how to use Photoshop to... well, photoshop. Crazy, I know! I also just started one at 2Peas, and I can't wait to see what I learn there. In the meantime, my skills are definitely growing. I took this photo:

Bad, right? I turned it into this:

... which I find pretty darn amazing!

Seriously, though. I can't find my iPod. I saw Liam pull Kelsey's out of the player and carry it off, which happens to be where Steve swears it was last. Hmm.

A couple of other layouts I did this week that I'm especially loving:

Those last two were done with kits from Songbird Avenue, a super cool online site. Every month, one kit is released, and is available for that month only. There is a guest designer, and they choose a charity to donate all of the proceeds to; April was Ali Edwards, and $6816.00 was donated to Autism Speaks. Amazing, huh? With the exception of PayPal fees, everything goes to the charity.

In May, Songbird Avenue is temporarily re-releasing ALL of their previous kits. Any sales this month will go towards funding the website. I think this is such an amazing idea, and really applaud Jan Crowley and Meredith Fenwick for thinking this up. If you haven't before, check Songbird Avenue out now!

Found Film

2009-05-08T19:30:00.004-06:00

I found a rogue roll of film the other day, and when I got it back, it had these pictures on it. 3 years ago, first day of preschool. The first couple are fine, and then there are these.
It's too long ago to remember exactly what happened; unfortunately, I think I can figure it out! Like the letters I used in the title? Kate's giving them (along with 5 other sets) away for free when you purchase $10 worth of products. Check it out here!

Some inspiration for you, and for Steve.

2009-05-05T09:09:00.003-06:00

New kits out at 2Peas today, here's a couple of pages I did:

This one is using Crystal's new May 365 kit:

And this one is with Kate's new Playful kit:

This kit, called Fruit Salad, has been out a couple of weeks, but I finally got a chance to play with it:
I think this would be perfect for our yet-to-be-published recipe book.

And finally, I found this great Mother's Day card at Jenn Kirk's blog, available free for download:

How great is that?

And now, since I don't have the fifth item on the list (a housekeeper), I'm off to clean.

Note to Steve: Seriously.

Butterfly Fields Forever...

2009-05-04T10:52:00.003-06:00

Kelsey turned eight over the weekend. She's acting around 20, so we're in trouble.

Signs that she's getting older:
She can now stay up until 8:30 on school nights.
She doesn't have to use a booster seat anymore, according to the state. I don't anticipate her getting out of it too soon... tough luck, K!
She'll be getting baptized, but wants to wait for her uncle to get home from his mission.
She wrote a book a couple of weeks ago. Really.

This was the off-year for parties, so we just had family (that lives close by and has exhibited an interest in attending, thank-you-very-much-Colleen) over for cupcakes, and an all-girl sleepover. It was a night of nail polish, movies, and scrapbooking; is she my girl or what? I crashed at 2 AM, and Kelsey and Livi were still going strong! Here's a few pics of the fun:

Wow. Just Wow.

2009-04-30T08:12:00.004-06:00

The last 24 hours have been crazy. People loved my Family Tree; it is currently the #1 project on 2Peas in both views and votes. Pretty wild, and virtually unheard of for a digital project. I'm so proud!

Due to some requests, I've started an Etsy shop to sell custom trees, so if you're interested, go check it out!

I was also featured on a great blog today, by Crystal Rieger. She's a contributing editor at Memory Makers magazine, a former Memory Makers Master, and her SECOND book (on using, improving, and actually liking your handwriting) will be released in June. I so need that.

In other news, S is home from work today, so we can hopefully get all the shopping done for K's birthday this weekend. Nothing like leaving it to the last minute, right? Poor girl has had a rough couple of weeks: the "undiagnosed" became strep. [Why they didn't test for that in the first place is a huge mystery. Right up there with who was on the grassy knoll.]

She passed out, or maybe had a seizure, which led to an ER visit. [Her nurse there was Jill Stevens. You know, the army girl who was in the Miss America pageant? America's Choice? She was super nice, and gave Kelsey a picture with a very kind message.

On Monday she fell at school, which prompted another visit, to an x-ray machine this time. No cast, but she's in a brace for the next week. Seriously, no more!

A Makeover... it's about time!

2009-04-29T13:31:00.007-06:00

More exciting news! I was recently asked to be on another design team, this time by Kate Teague, another of my favorite designers. I'm super excited to be working with her, since a lot of her things are my "go to" items that I use on practically everything!

So, you want to see a makeover? No, I didn't dye my hair purple (again) or cut it all off (again) or even pierce anything (else); this makeover is much cooler.

7 years ago, I made this for my grandma:

While my intentions were good, I didn't really think it through. You know, big family, LDS, lots of procreating... Needless to say, it got outdated pretty quickly. She gave it back to me at one point (2? 3? 6 years ago?) and I've had it sitting on my shelf collecting dust since then. Every once in a while I'd think of it, but since someone was ALWAYS pregnant, I had a good excuse to "just wait a few more months" to redo it.

[Huh. Now that I think about it, an impending baby was always my excuse for not exercising, either. Now what?]

Fast forward to now... I'm getting a little more digi-savvy. (You didn't know that was a word, did you? Phrase? Whatever.) I decided to recreate it digitally, so it could be easily updated. The result:

I love how it turned out! I printed out a tag with a quote on it and added it, because I didn't want the whole thing to look too flat. Here's a close up:

How cool would this be with ancestors forming the roots? The wheels are spinning!

[I had to add twenty-three names. Twenty-three. And we have three more scheduled before the year ends. Not bad, considering my grandma only had two kids, huh?]

All In The Family

2009-04-26T22:35:00.003-06:00

So, we (by "we" I mean some of my family and I) had one of our famous "discussions" (and by "discussion" I mean argument) yesterday, which covered a lot of ground (by "covered a lot of ground" I mean you couldn't have followed it with a map and a navigation system) and ended with no clear points that any of us agreed on.

Luckily, Steve missed it, because if he had witnessed it, I would have had to suffer through hours of "I can't believe you get so worked up about _____" and "What's the big deal, anyway?" and "I can't believe how loud your family is. Do they think it's some kind of contest to see who can talk the loudest? And does your dad REALLY have to have the TV that loud?"

[Truthfully, I hear that last one every time we leave a family gathering of any sort. And, yes, it is a contest. Gina usually wins, except when Ginger is there. And sometimes Ginger wins anyway, even though she is in Colorado. She's that loud.]

Unluckily, my cousin Jon had to witness it, because we had this particular "discussion" at the drug store. Why did we have a large gathering there? Because it's my family. And at any given time we will congregate wherever we can find food. Poor guy. I don't think his family is quite as fun (and by "fun" I mean dysfunctional, but in a normal, we-all-love-each-other and they-should-make-a-sitcom-out-of-us way.)

Basically, the "discussion" (you remember what that really means, right?) ended when one of my sisters called me dumb, threatened to pull my hair, and left. We'll laugh about it, but not venture too far into this particular "discussion" in the near future. That's how we roll.

[Seriously, though. Responsibility and fault are synonyms, and thesaurus.com agrees with me. That's all I'm sayin'.]

I love my family. They should totally make a sitcom out of us.

Cupcakes & Ice Cream & Polka Dots, Oh My!

2009-04-22T18:05:00.006-06:00

Well, it's been a fun and exciting week here! Fun, because the temps are up in the 60's (and the crappy April snow is quickly melting) and we are enjoying some much-loved sun. Much-loved, because it seems like years since we have seen it. Remind me of this in August. Remind me to call and schedule someone to install an A/C.

Exciting, because any time we do something different, it is exciting. We're easily amused, here. A/C! Yay!

We had a girls' night out on Saturday, and Kelsey, Aidan, and I, along with my friend Shantell, headed over to Color Me Mine in Park City. You know, the place where you paint your own pottery, and they fire and glaze it for you. This way, they take your money (and they saw a ridiculous amount of mine... I bet there is a new wing in my honor next time I show up!) and you pretend that you are all crafty and stuff. I've always wanted to do this, and was very happy a few months ago to see one opening in Redstone. After my brother Grady told me all about their most recent trip, I couldn't get it out of my mind. Speaking of my brother, make sure you check out Janie and Grady's mugs... can you tell who did which one? :)

Kelsey and Aidan both made cute little treasure boxes:

Kelsey also did a vase and Aidan did an airplane bank, but that was really unsupervised and not as cute. At my blog, we only show cute things. (And me.)
I painted a set of ice cream bowls, with Shantell's help:

It was fun, Connor wants to know when it's his turn, and we may be having an extended family excursion there next week. Yay for us, and easy-peasy crafts.

In other news, I am very, very excited (see notes above) to announce:

Woohoo is definitely right! This is my first creative team spot, and I couldn't be happier to play around with all of Crystal's stuff. Well, I already do (see my blog background?) but now I "have to." Riiight.

Anyway, I'll probably be doing a few more scrapbooking things here, so if that bores you, I'm sorry. I hope not to scare away any of my 2.3 readers.

Crappy April Snow

2009-04-15T13:34:00.002-06:00

{this post has been edited to remove anything off color... kids read this, you know!}

10 (hours) + 4 (kids) = Bad Idea.

2009-04-08T12:35:00.005-06:00

I know what you're thinking: it doesn't take 10 hours to drive home from Las Vegas... But it does.

When Steve is driving a new motorcycle, and needs to stop every so often to stretch his legs.

When I'm driving on only four hours of sleep and need to stop even more often to buy another caffeinated drink and do a few jumping jacks to get the blood flowing again. And use the bathroom, because of the plethora of caffeinated drinks I'm consuming. Seriously, I'm like a three-year-old. Wait. I had one of those, and she wasn't as bad as me... I hate getting old.

When Kelsey develops some mysterious (still undiagnosed) disease and needs a stop at the Beaver ER for a quick check with the doctors. Poor girl had a temp of 103 WITH meds, and her heart rate was as high as 150.

When we need to stop and see Grady and Janie's apartment, because they've lived there almost a year and we've never been there. (Plus, it corresponded with a stretch-the-legs-and-do-some-jumping-jacks stop.)

But, our planned-at-the-last-minute, very short trip was surprisingly fun. We stayed with Aunt Verna and Uncle Paul, and one day was just enough time for the kids to enjoy Vegas without overly tiring them out. Steve & I also had a date-night, and took in a movie and cruised around on the bike. The weather was perfect.

And then we came home to snow. Crappy April snow, which is of course different than peaceful December snow, or crisp January snow. All April snow is crappy.

So, here's a shot of my kids, climbing the tree:

You can tell Kelsey's not feeling well, poor thing. She's becoming quite a talented little photographer. Here's a couple of pics she took while we were chatting outside.

I'm excited to do something with these photos, especially since I just bought some new stuff last week. I made a thank you card for my aunt from one of the new kits I bought:

She loves butterflies. (Actually, my next task is to go online shopping for some new butterfly bathroom accessories I can have shipped to her. Thankyouverymuch, Liam.)

By the way, all the stuff I paid full price for last week? On sale this week. (My life is like that.)

So, check out Crystal's stuff at 2 Peas, because her designs are fun and funky, with bright colors just perfect for spring. Or crappy April snow.

Sounds Like Someone Has a Case of the Mondays

2009-03-30T08:36:00.003-06:00

You know how some Mondays are bad? Not in and of themselves, but just because they are Mondays. Back to work, back to school, back to boring. This should help:

If you're not happy after that, get help. And stop reading my blog, because maybe your angry weirdness will rub off on me.

This is why I don't dance,

2009-03-20T10:35:00.005-06:00

Because I would look like her. With better shoes, of course.

P.S. Anyone interested in coming to a home party, where she will Teach Us How To Do This?

Throw Up Thursday

2009-03-19T08:55:00.002-06:00

Today I'm throwing up a layout I did for a challenge. Just for fun.

The Laminated List v.2009

2009-03-12T22:33:00.104-06:00

We all know what The Laminated List is, right? What? You DON'T watch Friends reruns all the time? Get thee out!

I stumbled across this blog the other day, and thought it would be a fun Friday Free For All. Especially since this Friday Steve is experiencing a major status change. (Who thought Friday the 13th would be a good day for this? Who would so callously schedule surgery on that day? Wait, nevermind.) So, my laminated list is becoming the Possible Fathers of my Future Children, In Case I Decide to go That Route.

Mandy's Official Rules:
All people on the list must be alive. Unless you've figured out a way to bring people back from the dead there is absolutely no way that a posthumous selection can be made.
No selections can appear in more than one category.
"Barely Legal" selections must be between the ages of 18 and 23. Anyone younger is just icky and anyone older no longer fits the category.
"Older Men" must be at least 20 years older than you. And I mean to the day.
"Token Black Guy" is code for any selection of a race other than your own. And of course, you are not limited to only one person of a different race.
"No One Else Gets It" simply means that no one else gets it. It's that person that you love that when you say their name all your friends look at you like you're nuts.
"First Love" is the first major celebrity crush that you had.
"Singing Voice" is reserved for a celebrity that sings in say a movie or a tv show, but generally speaking is not really known for their musical abilities. It's about the way they sound, not the way they look. Bonus if they look good too.
"Speaking Voice" is any celebrity whose voice you love. Again it's about the voice, not the face.
"Animated" is just as it says--a cartoon. Yes, it's silly, but we're running with it. And be honest, own up to your true feelings. You know you love animated characters too.
"Fictional Character" selections are made based on the character and not anyone portraying them. This choice can come from a movie, TV show, book, etc.
The other categories are fairly self-explanatory, but if you're not sure just ask. Trust me, I'll give you my opinion.

Without Further Ado, I give you... drum roll... Possible Fathers Of My Future Children, In Case I Decide To Go That Route

1. Ryan Reynolds

DOB: Oct 23, 1976

No one's surprised here. Most recently in "Definitely, Maybe," but my favorites by far are "Waiting" and "Blade: Trinity." They really show his sense of humor, because packed into those amazing abs is a killer comedic timing!

2. Channing Tatum

DOB: Apr 26, 1980

From "She's All That" and "Coach Carter,"
but his dance moves in "Step Up" are amazing.
Lots of movies coming out this year with him.

3. Gerard Butler

DOB: Nov 13, 1969

Ahhh... the Scottish accent. Plus, he can sing. He's a king with killer abs in "300", but he's meltingly good in "P.S. I Love You," the only thing making the movie watchable. His turn as Dracula puts Robert Pattinson to shame. Edward, who?

4. Taye Diggs

DOB: Jan 2, 1971

Another multi-talented actor, Taye has a long history of theater roles. Part of the Tony-award winning cast of "Rent." (That means he sings.) And he's pretty.

5. Ryan Gosling

DOB: Nov 12, 1980

Truly an amazing actor. He's been a creepy teenager, a socially-inept doll-carrying weirdo, but the best (by far) was "The Notebook."

6. Barely Legal: Shia LaBeouf

DOB: June 11, 1986

I remember seeing him on DisneyChannel, and thinking he was a Savage brother. Not so much, now. He's quirky, funny, and cute to boot.

7. Older Man: Ed Harris

DOB: Nov 28, 1950

Have you seen his blue eyes? Watch "The Rock", when he's the bad guy who's not so bad. It also has Nicolas Cage and Sean Connery, so there's eye candy for all ages. And he's exactly 27 years older than me... to the day!

8. Bad Boy: Colin Farrell

DOB: May 31, 1976

We've all heard the stories about how bad he is. But he's gorgeous. And Irish. I forgive all.

Check out "American Outlaws" with Gabriel Macht, who would have definitely made the list with him for "hottest historical bad-guy brothers."

9. Good Guy: Josh Lucas

DOB: June 20, 1971

Truthfully, I don't know how good he is. But he's got a southern accent, so he sounds like a polite southern stud.
We've all seen "Sweet Home, Alabama" right?

10. Token Black Man: LL Cool J

DOB: Jan 14, 1968

Yummy. Yum Yum Yummy.
And he sings. Well, sorta. He raps.
Yum.

11. Nerd: Justin Long

DOB: June 2, 1978

We've all seen the Dell commercials, and he's kinda dorky looking all the time. He's very funny in "Waiting," although he's probably more memorable just because he costars with Ryan. (You remember, #1!) "He's Just Not That Into You" was a nice, refreshing look at his quirky, subtle style.

12. Goofball: Paul Rudd

DOB: Apr 6, 1969

Loved him in "Clueless," but his latest rash of movies by Judd Apatow have really brought him back with a bang. Hilarious in "40-Year-Old Virgin" and "Knocked Up," and always memorable as Phoebe's husband on "Friends."

13. Athlete: David Beckham

DOB: May 2, 1975

Yeah. I'm not really a sports enthusiast, but Beckham would be the one to change my mind. From his odd hairstyles to his painted fingernails, and all the colorful tattoos in between.

14. Musician: Chris Daughtry

DOB: Dec 26, 1979

What's not to love? He's coming home!

15. No One Else Gets It: Nicolas Cage

DOB: Jan 7, 1964

Maybe it's the soulful eyes. Maybe because he reminds me of Steve. Either way, I like it, and no one's going to change my mind.

16. First Love: Leonardo DiCaprio

DOB: Nov 11, 1974

Ahh, back in the days of "Growing Pains." Others drooled over Kirk Cameron, but I was all about Leo.

I saw him first.

17. Speaking Voice: Sam Elliot

DOB: Aug 9, 1944

Sam. He's what's for dinner.

18. Singing Voice: Hugh Jackman

DOB: Oct 12, 1968

He starred as "Gaston" in the Australian version of
"Beauty and the Beast."
What was wrong with Belle?
I'd choose him any day.

19. Animated Character: Prince Edward (Enchanted)
Voiced By: James Marsden
DOB: Sept 18, 1973

Probably because I know that he really looks like
<----- this.

20. Fictional Character: Noah Calhoun (The Notebook)

Played by: Ryan Gosling

It wasn't over. It STILL isn't over.

21. Action Hero: Will Smith

DOB: Sept 25, 1968

He does them all. He makes us laugh. And sometimes, he takes his shirt off while he saves the world. Sigh.

22. Tough Guy: Jason Statham

DOB: Sept 12, 1972

Surprise, surprise. Another accent.
He can drive me around any day.

23. Tortured Soul: Paul Bettany

DOB: May 27, 1971

I'm not really sure if he is tortured in real life. But he has that half-starved poet thing going on, and I like it. If you missed "Wimbledon", watch it.

24. Eye Candy: Ryan Phillipe

DOB: Sept 10, 1974

Way too pretty for anything but looking at.

25. But His Face: Vin Diesel

DOB: July 18, 1967

I used to think he was cute all over, until "Find Me Guilty." He looked freakishly like Pauly Shore.

Now, I'm locking that memory away, never to think of it again!

26. Brainiac: Dean Cain

DOB: July 31, 1966

He went to Princeton. 'Nuff said.

27. Scruffy: Dane Cook

DOB: Mar 18, 1972

Very funny, with kind-of a dirty guy next door thing going for him. It works.

28. Gay: Nate Berkus

DOB: Sept 17, 1971

Dude. My house would be amazing.

29. Dapper Dan: Jude Law

DOB: Dec 29, 1972

Not too many guys can pull this look off. He does.
Splendidly.

30. Villain: Christian Bale (American Psycho)

DOB: Jan 30, 1974

Seriously disturbing.
I know why the girls went home with him, though.

Kind of interesting stuff: I knew I had a thing for accents, but I didn't realize how much. Out of my list of 30, I can think of 11 that are foreign-born, and 9 have noticeable accents. A lot of these guys look quite similar, too, so I guess I have "a type". I do see a similarity to Steve in a lot of them, though, so I guess he's still at the top of my list.

Now, let's see yours.

No autographs, please.

2009-03-10T15:43:00.002-06:00

Okay, today is going to be Tuesday Triumph. (It's weak, I know. Tuesday Truly Rocks? Tuesday True Dat? I think I went with the strongest one.)

Check out this blog by Kate Teague, one of my fave designers at 2 Peas. Scroll down a bit, and... Oh! What's that? A layout, by Me?

That's right. I'm famous.

Now, I have to go give Katherine Heigl a call... we need to do lunch.

Enough, already.

2009-03-09T20:40:00.002-06:00

Okay. I'm boring. I get it. But if I'm going to spend time updating a blog, I really need to work on it.

I don't have high hopes of being inspirational, unless you consider chaotic ramblings with the occasional curse inspirational. (You don't? Dammit.)

It won't be anything overly intellectual, because my brain is permanently stuck in Dora mode these days.

The best I can hope for is slightly amusing and occasionally witty. Okay, I'm kidding myself here. Not witty at all, and if it's amusing it will be because you're laughing at... er, I mean WITH me.

Really, what I'm shooting for is just updating it at regular intervals. Which brings us to THE NEW BLOG SCHEDULE. AKA, another way to publicly declare I am going to do something and then fail miserably, so everyone in the world can witness it. You remember Project 365, and the Picture Of The Day? Now forget about it, and never speak of it again. Moving on.

Monday: Movie Quote Day. Or maybe song lyrics, or TV quotes, or sentences that I think are funny. I've got an alliteration-thing going, though, so the official title is Monday Movie Quote Day.

Tuesday: I've got nothing here. I like to think that I'm giving myself some wiggle room, and no one can possibly update their blog EVERY day, but truthfully, I ran out of ideas.

Wednesday: Vent Day. Yep, on this day you get to hear me whine... er, exercise my right to free speech. Sounds fun, uplifting, AND inspirational, doesn't it?

Thursday: Throw Up Day. No, not like it sounds. This is the day I "throw something up on the blog" that is quick and easy. A funny video. A link to something. A picture. Maybe I even repeat a post from long (way back in November) ago.

Friday: Free For All. I'm not sure what this means yet. I'll get back to you on this one.

Saturday: See Tuesday.

Sunday: Fun Day. Nothing serious. All fun. What's not to love?

There you have it. I know, you're excited, right? Keep it inside, though, the kiddos are sleeping.

P.S. Since I only got one quote suggestion (Thanks, Glo!) that will be my first official Monday Movie Quote post. Look for it in one week!

Thursday Throw Up Day

2009-03-08T10:18:00.002-06:00

Just because I think it's really cool, and I wish real life was like this:

What the fluff?

2009-03-04T12:24:00.002-07:00

How is it that some people can be so darn creative? I've been thinking about my blog for days, and wanting to update. But with what? The obvious answer would be pics from our Vegas trip. Except we forgot both cameras. And the cell phones, as cool as they are, just don't cut it picture-wise.

Back to square one. Surely I can come up with something inspiring. Or clever. Or even just witty.

Alas, (that word is not used nearly enough!) I cannot. I've decided the either my head is full of fluff, or there is not enough fluff in it.

I am a master copier. I won't (usually- I'm not gonna lie) pretend I came up with it, but I can take just about any idea and run with it. But on my blog? That's just wrong. In a "So, you have your cousins, and then you have your first cousins, and then you have your second cousins... That's not right, is it?" kinda way. (What? You haven't seen Mean Girls? Get out. Now.)

So, I leave you with a challenge. Help me come up with my next post topic. To make it interesting, start with a movie quote, and then tell me where you'd like me to go from there.

Let's see how creative you all can be...

In for a penny...

2009-02-22T08:51:00.001-07:00

I guess since we're all blogging together, we might as well go all the way, right? So, courtesy of my SIL Colleen, I am now playing "The Lucky Game", also.
The first five people that respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you. This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!

2. What I create will be just for you.

3. It’ll be done this year.

4. You have no clue what it’s going to be. It may be a story. It may be poetry, a picture, or maybe even some creation I haven’t even invented yet. I may bake you something and mail it to you. Who knows? Not you, that’s for sure!

5. I reserve the right to do something extremely strange. The catch? Oh, the catch is that you must repost this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on your blog. The first 5 people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift by me!

* * *Oh, and be sure to post a picture of what you win when you get it!

Life, or Something Like It...

2009-02-16T09:10:00.002-07:00

I've figured it out. Laundry Sucks. Okay, that's not exactly news to me or anyone else, but I REALLY feel that way today.

Steve and I are heading out of town tomorrow. It's our anniversary on Thursday, and a few days in Sunny Vegas are just what we need! (Yay for us... ten years, and not only did we manage to avoid cheating on each other, knocking anyone around, or killing each other, we still want to spend time together!)

Of course, this means we have done piles and piles of laundry over the last couple of days. Although I might not mind a messy house most days, (well, not enough to lose sleep over it, anyway) I don't want to come home to one. I'm determined to leave with beds made, dishes done, and no dirty laundry. I think we'll have enough of that when we get home. Sigh.

Off to pack!

A Day Late...

2009-02-11T09:17:00.004-07:00

So, I guess I have two red-headed step children. Except the second is my actual child. And he's not red-headed. Yesterday was Connor's birthday!

Unfortunately, since he was born when I didn't have a digital camera, I don't have easy access to digital pictures, but trust me, he was one cute baby!

Connor is definitely our little Steve. He has no fear, is willing to try anything at least once, and does it as fast and as hard as he can.

When he was four, he fractured his skull. Since he already had a bit of a black eye from a motorcycle mishap a day or two before, the resulting black eye was beautiful. He had a perfect dark purple circle around his right eye. It was as close to a "black" eye as I have ever seen.

Connor loves video games (what boy doesn't) and is very good at them. He has been riding a two-wheel bike since he was two, without training wheels since he was three, and riding his dirt bike since he was four. He takes acro, which I'm sure will really help him with his trampoline skills. (Next fractured skull, anyone?) He loves school, and is enjoying being able to read things on his own.

We had a fun day yesterday. He took cupcakes to his class, and got to wear a crown all day. Last night, we did a family party, and started with pizza at Summit Inn:

Remember how he's pulling "the face" in all of his pictures now? He thinks he's hilarious...We came back to the house and opened presents. Connor was really excited about the apron Grandma made him, the practical joke kit (like pretend dog poop, vomit, and whoopie cushion) from the Curtises, and the video games for the PlayStation. He also received quite a haul of money from assorted grandparents and aunts, and I think he's planning on choosing a DS game with that.

Connor blowing out the candles:

I'm not sure what his wish was, but I know that we already got ours... our sweet, crazy, rambunctious, funny Connor!

My Poor, Neglected Blog...

2009-02-04T08:22:00.007-07:00

Apparently, my blog has become my red-headed step-child. Poor thing. I've had a lot going on with a project I'm working on, and the blog became the bottom of the list.

So, a quick recap of the past couple of weeks for y'all. Thanks to my POTD, we actually have pictures to go along with things! What is a POTD, you ask? Lemme tell you...

POTD stands for Picture Of The Day. (Crazy, I know.) Somewhere, someone much more thoughtful and creative than I decided to take a picture a day for a whole year. Sometimes it is a picture of themselves every day, so they can see the day to day changes. Sometimes it's something that catches their eye... whatever the motivation, somewhere along the way it hit the scrapbooking world, and therefore my world. My goal for 2009 is to take a POTD to show all the little things that go on in my life, and the lives of those around me. This leads me to the another big thing that has taken up a chunk of my time: digital scrapbooking.

If you know me (and since you're reading my blog you probably do) than you know that I love to scrapbook. In theory. The actual process doesn't happen too often. I start out strong. Dedicated scrap space: check. Lots of photos: double check. Memorabilia: check again. (Of course, I have the "u" book you did in kindergarten.) Plenty of supplies: Well, that's never been an issue for me.
But when it comes time to actually put a page together, well, it doesn't happen. (Do you think that my inability to finish anything is... hey, look, a cat!)

Just to give you an idea: the last layout I did was in January of 2006, for pictures of my then-newborn Aidan. It still doesn't have the photos attached. In January, I completed 28 layouts. THAT'S RIGHT! So, here's the first 3 weeks of my Project 365:

You probably noticed that this covers up to day 21. I haven't done the rest of the pages: I'm better, not perfect! A few highlights:

1=Kelsey cut eight inches off her hair! She's wanted to grow it for so long, and I was really surprised that she wanted it cut. I think it's adorable!

2=Connor, well, he's pretty much the same. Goofy, funny, and thinks he's totally hilarious. He has a "look" for all of his pictures right now. I'm so happy about it. Who want's a normal picture, with a smiling child, when you could have this, instead?

3=Aidan is still completely mischievous. We're trying to grow out her self-imposed haircut (aka The Hackjob She Gave Her Bangs), so here's a pic I snapped this morning. Little stinker!

Liam started walking this past week, so here's a cute video showing his toddling steps (Sorry about the neck thing... I have no idea how to flip it):

I know, a-dor-able, right? The only thing cuter is him toddling in just his diaper, with his massively chubby legs, but that was a little too white-trash for me.

I hope this catches everyone up just a bit. I know you missed me, and I'm sure your days have been duller, your laughs shorter, and your whites not as bright since I haven't been updating consistently. Back to your regularly scheduled lives!

How Much Is Too Much?

2009-01-14T14:43:00.002-07:00

So, I'm totally an over-everything. Over-eater=check. Over-spender=check. Over-reactor=double check. I'm trying to come to terms with this.

I've realized lately that I cannot do things half-way. All or nothing seems to be my motto. And, yes, I realize that I am completely setting myself up for failure, because who can accomplish everything, every time? With hair & makeup done and 4 kids? (Okay, so maybe the hair & makeup thing doesn't happen every day...)

Make sure the kids are clean and well-dressed. Make sure they have an appropriate number of extra-curricular activities. Make sure they are properly socialized. Make sure I am properly socialized. Spend enough time each day cleaning (truthfully, just make sure my house appears clean) and is also creatively decorated and unusual, while not too bizarre or out there. Make sure my kids have homemade (again creative and unusual) birthday cakes, class treats, teacher gifts, etc. Don't forget the same handmade gifts for friends/acquaintances/neighbors/people I once nodded to who are sick/getting married/having a baby/dead. Find time each day to read something educational, so I don't sound like a SAHM who can't use words longer than two syllables. Find time each day to read something light and fluffy, so I can forget that I am a SAHM who rarely does use words longer than two syllables. Come up with something different each day for dinner that appeals to people ranging in ages (and culinary tastes) from 1 to 34. And doesn't cost too much. And is healthy. And trying to figure out how I can possibly be the ten people I feel like I am, when I can't identify with a single one of them. Am I the caring mom? The funny friend? The sexy wife? None of the above?

What does all this rambling mean? It means that, once again, I have failed miserably at something. I have not accomplished all this. Not even half. Going back to the all-or-nothing that I mentioned earlier, it appears I am in the nothing side of things. Yay for me.

Seriously? One Year?

2009-01-07T10:01:00.005-07:00

Today, Liam is one year old. I know, right? (Just for you, and you know who you are!) Liam was my first impatient baby, and was born 3 weeks and 1 day early. Thank heavens, since he was almost 8 lbs. (They estimate that babies gain a pound a week during the last month of pregnancy. We could have easily been looking at a 10 pounder!)

He made up for his early delivery by developing RSV when he was 5 weeks old. After a scary ride to Primary's in the ambulance, he spent 12 days in the hospital, with 5 in ICU. He also had to have oxygen for a few days after he came home.

Obviously, the feeding tube and subsequent bottle feedings didn't hurt his appetite in any way.

You see the dimple, right? Liam has beautiful blue eyes, and killer eyelashes.

What a joy our little surprise is! I'm so happy to have him in our lives and in our family, and I can't wait to see what you have in store for us. Note: Liam, sweetie, you are officially grounded from the hospital. You've used up your quotient of sick time.

Aidan...

2008-12-29T09:16:00.008-07:00

My little chatterbox is three today, and I can barely believe it! Aidan Noelle was born on 12.29.05, and weighed 7 lbs. 8 oz. We chose the name 'Aidan' because we thought she would be our last, and it was a favorite. 'Noelle' was picked because I always loved it and wanted a Christmas baby just so I could use it!Aidan has always had a bigger than life personality, and is very fun-loving. She adds so much... excitement... to our family. :) She is a big tease, and has been since she was just a baby, but she is also incredibly sweet! Here's a few of my favorite pics of her:

Top Ten Reasons I Am Horrible...

2008-12-27T17:26:00.005-07:00

10. At the kids' dance recital, we discovered half-way through Aidan's performance that the tape was ending. No backup. (And no video of Connor or Kelsey.)

9. The blank tapes I bought a few days later to record Christmas morning turned out to be cassette tapes. Which we discovered ON Christmas morning. Did you even know they still made those?

8. When I got the camera out on Christmas morning to (at least) take regular pictures, the battery was dead. Yep, we have NO pictures at all on Christmas. How do I scrapbook that?

7. I stayed up until 1:00 AM on Monday baking the famous Santa cookies after I got my cookie cutters back. Steve threw them away today, still unfrosted.

6. We never did make our gingerbread houses this year.

5. I miscounted on our neighbor gifts, so the sweet little widow that lives on our street received no gift from us. She didn't really want a 4-pack of Green Apple and Strawberry-Lime Jones Soda, right?

4. Somehow, Santa miscalculated, and Kelsey had one fewer present than the other kids. Seriously, he counted at least 6 times.

3. Steve got a cheesy photoshopped picture of his head on a bodybuilder's body (so he knew he would be getting a pass to the rec center,) because I never got around to actually buying the pass.

2. One of Kelsey's gifts is off-limits right now due to naughty behaviour. The fact that it is a craft that requires my supervision (and will likely make a huge mess) hasn't in any way affected my reluctance to un-off-limit it. (Okay, I totally made that word up, but you knew what I meant.)

1. Today is the 27th, and Gregan still hasn't been shopped for, let alone had a package mailed for Christmas. SERIOUSLY, the kid is hard to buy for!

Oh well, maybe next year I'll be SuperMom.

Dance, Dance, Acro...

2008-12-22T11:29:00.004-07:00

The annual Christmas Dance Recital was this last Thursday, and we jumped from having only one performing to three! Plus, Shantell held Liam for most of the show, so Steve and I were free to take pics and video, and actually ENJOY it. What a concept!

Billie Jo was nice enough to let Aidan start as soon as she was potty trained, even though she isn't turning three until the end of this month. You could tell she was behind all the other 3-year-olds, they were a beat or two after Billie Jo, and Aidan was a beat or two after them. She was adorable, though! Connor was the only boy in the whole show! He is taking acro classes, and has been the only one for a while. (Maybe some of the other parents will enroll their boys after this.) He really likes doing all of the tumbling, and I think it's a great outlet for his massive boy-energy. Kelsey is just getting bigger and bigger. I look at some of the pictures I take of her, and it seems like I already have a tween on my hands. Sheesh. Here she is with her cousin Olivia (who is an insane dancer!): and dancing as a "Nutcracker":As for Steve and I, things have been a little more normal in the last little while, which we are enjoying. A LOT. We've mostly finished up our shopping, after a crazy day on Saturday. We spent 45 minutes just waiting in line in one store. Crazy. Of course, I still haven't gotten the Christmas cards mailed yet (hopefully today), need to make my neighbor gifts (hopefully tonight), and we never did get around to doing gingerbread houses this year. Our traditional Santa cookies are on hold, too, until I get my cookie cutters back (thankyouverymuchGerilee). We'll shoot for tomorrow for those.

Merry Christmas, Everyone!

Getting to know the Christmas Me!

2008-12-17T09:05:00.002-07:00

I received this in an e-mail (Hey, Chauma), but I'm turning it into a tag.

Wrapping paper or gift bags? Usually wrapping paper, but a bag in a pinch.
Real tree or Artificial? Totally artificial.
When do you put up the tree? As early as possible.
When do you take the tree down? Usually by New Year's Day.
Do you like Egg Nog? The drink: no. I wait all year long for the ice cream, though!
Favorite gift received as a child? A camera
Hardest person to buy for? Steve. He's too spoiled.
Easiest person to buy for? Kelsey. She's a mini me.
Do you have a Nativity? Not yet. I've had my eye on the Willow Tree one for years.
Mail or email Christmas cards? Honestly, usually make but never get around to mailing.
Worst Christmas gift you ever received? The year S&I decided not to do gifts for each other, because we were poor newlyweds. I finally broke down on Christmas Eve and went shopping so we would have some gifts, but the only things still open were Hollywood Video and 7-11. We both got previously viewed movies and car fresheners. AWESOME!
Favorite Christmas Movie? Elf!
When do you start shopping for Christmas? We usually get our first bit done when we go out (sans kids) for my birthday, so late November.
Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Please, who hasn't. Of course, not YOURS!
Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Yep. All of it!
Lights on the tree? Of course.
Favorite Christmas Song? 'Merry Christmas, Darling' - The Carpenters and 'Santa, Baby' - Eartha Kitt. No other versions, please.
Travel at Christmas or stay home? Stay home (within Kamas Valley.)
Angel on the tree top or a star? This year it's a giant snowflake!
Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? One on Christmas Eve, the rest in the morning.
Most annoying thing about this time of the year? Black Friday lunatics.
Favorite ornament theme or color? It depends on the year, I'm pretty happy with mine this year.
Favorite for Christmas dinner? Hoagies usually sound the best, but I mostly eat candy all day.
What do you want for Christmas this year? To be 30 again!

So, I'm tagging Colleen just for fun, and Glorilyn and Ginger so they will get SOMETHING on their blogs!

Celebrity Collage by MyHeritage

2008-12-16T13:32:00.001-07:00

http://www.myheritage.com/collage

MyHeritage: Family trees - Genealogy - Celebs

Pace Christmas Party

2008-12-15T11:41:00.006-07:00

The annual Pace Christmas Party was this weekend, with a few Van Tassells thrown in for good measure. Grandmy was in charge, and it was kind-of nice not to have too much to do except show up, and bring my camera. Of course, I managed to forget it, so these pics were all taken by my sister, Ginger. (But, hey, I'm actually in a couple, which is a nice change!) Here's the whole damn fam with Santa and Mrs. Claus:
We played a version of "Musical Chairs", and while we took away chairs, no one was eliminated. We ended up with about 30 people sitting on 5 or 6 chairs. My siblings (minus Gregan, of course) and Santa and Mrs. Claus: because we decided that we don't do those pictures nearly often enough. And, since I always give Steve crap about blinking in every photo, here's one to prove that, sadly, I do it too. After the party, the Paces stayed to clean the church, since it was my parents' week to do it. Convenient, huh? Then we headed to Mom's to dip chocolates. Yum. It was about 1 AM by the time we finished cleaning up and headed home, but that is one of my favorite traditions, so I'm happy to do it! (But I'm not sharing.)

We were also up late on Friday night designing Ginger's blog, you can check it out by clicking the link on my sidebar. I don't think she's posted anything yet, but the blog sure looks good, right?

All in all, a hectic, but fun weekend.

Eek!

2008-11-24T10:09:00.004-07:00

It's no secret that I love Vampires. Vampire movies (Gerard Butler in Dracula 2000 is just yummy!), vampire books (check out the Circle trilogy by Nora Roberts)... they're all good.

So, imagine my delight when Liam's first upper tooth broke through over the weekend. And it's a fang. That's right. I've heard of kids who had that happen, but never actually seen it.

No pictures yet, but I'm still hoping to get one. Or twenty. I'm also hoping that he doesn't start biting now!

(and, no, I have not seen "Twilight" yet.)

Because Gregan needs to see more pics,

2008-11-17T11:12:00.013-07:00

Today will be picture heavy. Here's a few of my favorite pictures from the last month or so. Liam (aka Monkey Boy) and Grandpa Pace at the Pace Halloween Party. Liam has grown so much the last few months! He is now getting into everything, like dirt:Aidan decided to break out Kelsey's EasyBake Oven packages and bake right on the floor. Liam thought it was tasty.Connor really enjoyed an all-day wrestling camp at the HS on Saturday:Another pic of Kelsey from the dance recital:We had fun picking apples at Grandpa Fietkau's house:
And, just so I'm not left out, my fellow witches (Janie & GeNille) and I:
Happy Days!

Responsibility...

2008-11-11T10:35:00.002-07:00

This is not one of my strong points. Okay, you all can stop laughing now, because I know that is a bit of an understatement. (It's a good thing Steve is so over-the-top responsible, because he helps balance me out that way. I make him lots more fun... it's all good.)

As I've pondered my life (okay, enough with the laughing already!) the last few days, especially with a birthday looming, I just have one question for those older and/or wiser than I: When do I start to feel like a grown-up?

Don't get me wrong, there are times that I feel absolutely ancient. Like when my friends toilet-paper my house, for example. Dorks. There are also times when I think I can't possibly be as old as I am, like when my friends toilet-paper my house. But I feel like I am lacking something, some gene or funky DNA thing that would speak to me and say, "Hey, Gen, you are officially an adult now."

There have been markers throughout my life that I thought for sure would be it: When I graduated. Got married. Had a kid or 23. Bought a house. All of these things say adult, right? So what's my problem?

Why, when I look at my piles of laundry, do I just want to crawl back in bed. When I think of cleaning the bathroom, I'd rather curl up with a book. Doesn't even have to be a good book; anything is better than scrubbing toilets. (Speaking of toilets, Aidan is still doing AWESOME! She had her first dance class yesterday as a result.)

Hopefully, after the birthday, all of this melancholy will disappear. In the meantime, I better go do some laundry and clean some toilets. Blech.

Potty Training...

2008-11-04T13:18:00.001-07:00

I think that this is one of the worst aspects of parenting. While changing diapers is by no means a picnic, changing wet pants, soggy underwear, and cleaning floors while potty training is infinitely worse.

Because, seriously, who wants to go looking for the puddle?

Add in the ever-enjoyable task of repeating myself. "Do you need to go potty? Why didn't you go potty on the toilet? Don't you want to be a big girl? Big girls go potty on the toilet. If you go potty, you can have some candy. (Let's not even think about the years of future dieting and possible therapy that will result from that little reward. Good job=candy. Nice.)

And, there is the wonderful part where you have to set the example. Sitting on the toilet, listening to a barrage of questions. "Mommy go potty? Mommy go potty on the toilet? Mommy's a big girl? Mommy goes poop, or pee pee? Pee pee? Mommy goes pee pee? Pee pee on the toilet? Mommy gets candy?" Freakin' Awesome.

So, you can imagine how excited we are that Aidan may have finally turned the page. I had the brainstorm yesterday to tell her that she couldn't start dance lessons when she was still wearing diapers. Since then, no accidents. Yeah, we may only be at 22 hours post bribe, but I think that's pretty darn good. (Now I'm just wondering when we should call the dance teacher.)

Speaking of dancing, here's a picture of Kelsey, the cutest little witch at her Halloween Dance Recital last week.