Friday, June 27, 2008

Cherry Hill...





James and his family grew up going to Cherry Hill (a little camping/water park in Utah) with their Grandma and Aunts, Uncles and Cousins. They have so many memories there. The last two years we have taken our family and met Jason and Kristin and their family and Brett and have started making our own tradition of going. It is so fun to watch James and his Brothers when we get there - they are as excited as the kids! We went for three days and camped and swam and played miniture golf and just had a really good time. I was raised on traditions and it is fun to see these traditions come full circle as we start to do them with our little families. It's rewarding as a parent when your child tells you in the middle of December that he can't wait to go to Cherry Hill!!! It makes all the effort more than worth it!

Friday, June 20, 2008

Spread The Word

My friend Janeal and her husband Tyson have been able to have the wonderful blessing of adopting a very handsome and very cute little boy named Carter. Carter is now three and they would love the opportunity to adopt again. I am trying to do my little part in helping them to spread the word. They are absolutely fabulous parents whose whole lives revolve around this little boy - I can honestly say that any child would be so lucky to have them as parents. You can check out Janeal's blog at www.tysonandjaneal.blogspot.com (if you click right on the link to the left it will take you to her blog - I know it's not highlighted, but it will). You can see their cute little family and she has a link to their adoption profile. Please, if you know anyone who might be in the situation that they are looking at adopting pass this on to them. Thank you!

Friday, June 13, 2008

Girls Night Out, I Caught Myself On Fire and We're looking Forward To A Fun Weekend

Well, that's quite the title isn't it!!! First thing is first - Girls night out... Lacey (Carson's wife) and I are lucky enough to get out for a girls night out about once a month. It's usually the same thing- We start with dinner, head to the mall and shop until they close and then head to Target and shop until it's time for our movie to start (the movie theater is behind Target)! I am so grateful for James in supporting me in taking these little breaks! I look forward to them all week and am always so excited to go - But, by the time the movie is over I am always so ready to come home and miss my boys so much! I always walk right in the door and have to go and see them sleeping- and I love when they wake up the next morning because they are so excited to see me too! James is always waiting up for me on the couch to visit with me and see how my night was - AND he has always done his best to clean the house while I was gone! Yes people I do have a keeper - he is absolutely fabulous!!!


Now on to the "catching myself on fire" part of the title.... So, I have been receiving some emails from people (mostly family) who have seen my picture on The Scarlet Lime and they want to know why my hair is so short................ Yes, I was growing it out and YES the rumors you have heard about me catching myself on fire are true!!! So, this is to set the record straight and to give you all a good laugh!!! So, James and I love to camp - we spend a lot of time during the summer camping whenever we can. So, two weeks ago we had planned on going up to Palisades just for a quick over nighter... When we got up there it had been raining and all of the wood to start a fire with was wet... So, James looked all over for the best wood that he could find. He tried to start the fire for awhile and it just wouldn't go - So, he asked me to get the started fluid out of the trailer... Well, we had been camping the whole weekend before and it had rained a lot and we had used all of the starter fluid.... So, I asked him if we could just use some of the gasoline from the chainsaw... It's starting to get interesting now isn't it!!! I just felt a gasp from the crowd!!! Yes, I did know better (my Father is still mad at me) and yes, my Husband is an Eagle Scout!!! But, everything that I had brought for dinner needed to be cooked on a fire... So, James proceeded to pour some gas on the wood - Well, he had run out of matches so I ran into the trailer to get more. When I came out he asked me if I wanted him to light it and I said NO.... So, I stood back and lit a match and tried to throw it on the fire (knowing not to get too close). But, by the time it got to the wood it had blown out... I tried this three times. So, I was getting ready to do it again when I realized that Carter was standing right next to me and I asked James to pick him up and move him. Right at the same time I lit another match and was bending over to get a little closer to drop it - I was holding the match in my right hand and cupping it with my left to keep it from blowing out... WHEN the match lit the fumes from the gasoline on fire and a huge ball of fire engulfed me throwing me back down to the ground. I was o.k. no burns anywhere... HOWEVER, my hair did catch on fire and I had to role around on the ground to put it out!!! Immediately my mind went to Carter....... He had just been right there with me.............. and the way that I fell would have pushed him down into the fire. So, even though I was really afraid to go look at myself in the mirror I was more grateful than anything that Carter was o.k. and I told myself that no matter how bad I looked that I wasn't going to get upset! I sat there on the ground pulling huge clumps of burned hair out of my head - I literally have bald spots all over! So, I was trying to be brave and stay the night, but have you ever smelled burned hair??? It is AWFUL and being pregnant made it even worse. So, we packed up and headed for home - I am lucky enough to have one of my best friends who has her own salon!!! So, we called her as we were driving home and she cut my hair that night at 10:00 p.m. and we didn't get done until midnight!!! She had to cut so many pieces individually to try and save some length!!! So, yes my hair is really short - But, more than anything I am grateful that everyone is o.k.


Now, on to the really fun weekend part. Our really good friends the Spoonemore's are coming to visit us this weekend. They are coming Saturday morning and staying through Tuesday and we are just soooo excited! They live in Billings, Montana and because of that McKay refers to them as our Hannah Montana Friends!!! We have lots of fun things planned like the Riot Zone, Fishing, Ross Park (a little water park) and James is making his homemade dutch oven ribs on Sunday...
I lived in Billings for three years before I met James and they were my best friends there and will continue to be life long friends... they're family!

I hope you all have a fabulous weekend too!!!

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

So Exciting!!!

So, I can finally share my exciting news!!! The very talented Christy Tomlinson asked me to be the Guest Designer for her company the Scarlet Lime this month! I can honestly say I have a whole new appreciation for you ladies who do this... It's a lot more difficult than I thought to only use product out of one kit!!! It was challenging, but a lot of fun! I am also excited to announce that I have been asked to be apart of the Scarlet Lime Design Team and will have the amazing opportunity of getting to design new things each month with Christy's fabulous kits! For those of you who have not met Christy in person I can honestly say that she is an amazing woman! As amazing on the inside as she is talented - one of those all around fabulous women that I look up to and admire! So, take a minute and check out http://www.scarletlime.com/ and you will get to see how fabulous her talent is! While you are there look under the gallery and you will be able to see the things that I created this month. I hope you enjoy!


*** update - I tried to link the website but it's not letting me.... sorry....

Monday, June 9, 2008





I am in the long process of taking pictures of my layouts... I have decided that heaven forbid anything ever happen to our house It would be really nice to have backups. So, I am taking pictures of all of my albums and saving them. I keep the extra copies at my parents house. I do this with all of my pictures too when I download them. I figure I rather be safe than sorry!


So, these are a couple layouts that made me stop for a moment and think that these boys are really growing up way too fast. Just looking back over the last year makes me wish I could freeze time every now and then - it just makes me realize that we need to live in the moment more... Let everything else go and just live in the moment and enjoy our children! I have to admit that I get caught up in all the things that I think need to be done, cleaned and taken care of.... But, when they are older I won't remember those things... I'll remember the special moments. So, here's to letting some of those "things" go and enjoying and living the moments even more! I challenge you to do the same!

Sunday, June 8, 2008

I have a new obsession...


So, lately I have been in love with aprons - a little bit of an obsession if I had to admit it! I have been spending a lot of time at my friends quilt shop stocking up on all kinds of girly fabrics! (When you live in a house full of boys you have to have some girliness every now and then!) I have really been drawn to all of the cute vintage aprons that I have been seeing around in the boutiques - and then I always think to myself why should I buy it when I can make it!!! So, these are my new obsession - I have a couple different patterns to try - but, this was my first one and I think it turned out pretty cute! The flower has a big rhinestone cluster in the center - things are always better when they sparkle a little! I figure if you have to cook you may as well look good doing it!
I have been working on a new project this week that I am excited to share with you... hopefully Monday or Tuesday! Something new and exciting - so check back!

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

The Yummiest!


So, I had a few friends over a couple weeks ago for a lunch and made these fabulous treats. My cousin Melissa always makes them for our family gatherings - they're always a requested item! Plus, the best thing about them is that they are so easy.
You buy sugar cookies in the bakery - you can buy the big ones or the smaller ones. I used the smaller ones, but later wished I had the bigger ones because then you could have added more fruit. Just make sure when you are buying them that they are soft.
The frosting is: 8 oz. Cream Cheese
1 TBS. Vanilla
1/2 C. Sugar
4 oz. Cool Whip
You spread the frosting over the cookie and arrange the fruit as desired. We have tried all different kinds of fruit. Strawberries, Pineapple, Grapes, Banana, Kiwi, Cherries, Mandarin Oranges, Peaches, Raspberries... are just some that we have used and they all taste wonderful - and look so pretty with all of the different colors!
If we are feeling really ambitious then we make a large Fruit Pizza with:
1 Pkg. Yellow Cake Mix
2 TBS. Water + just a little
1 Egg
1 TBS. Brown Sugar
2 TBS. Butter
You combine all ingredients and mix - the dough will be thick like a cookie dough. Spread on a greased pizza pan and bake at 375 for 12-15 minutes. Allow to cool completely and add frosting and fruit. With this size you can really use a lot of fruit and make it look really pretty!
Try them - I promise you will love them as much as we do!

The Fabulous Krystal Taylor!!!

So, I can honestly say that I know nothing about anything digital... I have had every intent to learn but..... life just hasn't had time for that! So, I was in major need of a site remodel... One of my best friends sisters always has the cutest blog designs - So, I asked her to help me out! Thank you Krystal! So, please be patient because we are in the middle of a remodel!