Birthday Girl

It was little Mia's bday on sunday- she turned 3. She loved every minute of it. The funny thing with her is that even though it's her birthday, she kept telling everyone else "Happy Birthday" all day long. Guess she thinks that when it's someone's birthday- it's everyones' birthday! lol

Here are a few pics of the day. Isn't she just the cutest?

And here's the cake I made. I know it's not the best- but Mia loved it and that's all that matters!

And then a week or so ago, My cousin got married and I was able to grab in a few cute shots. They are so happy... I loved it.

Is this really happening?

Um.. yes folks- tis true.... I'm alive and I am posting on this blog. SHOCKER... i know.

Actually- the holidays just get me in a rut. I get busy shopping and preparing for trips and then I get where i'm going to not get on the computer all that much, just to come back when it's all over and have a mountain of things to do and getting on the comp. isn't one of the priorities.

Christmas was great- went up to the fam's house and our whole fam. was together this year- it was a blast. The kids loved it, we all got spoiled, and it snowed like crazy! And I guess a blessing in disguise is that in Poky- they don't believe in plowing their roads. seriously- it's insane. So I was forced-yes forced- to drive on the horribleness that those roads were. And actually- now that i did that and didn't die, it gave me new confidence in my driving skills on snowy/slick roads. Now that i'm back.... no anxiety, no fear... i'm awesome on these roads! lol- although, in Utah... they believe in plowing and salting their roads, so it's hardly ever a problem.

I'm actually dealing with a sick baby, a sick son, a cold for me, and 2 kids who think that every tooth they touch is loose. :)- so i'll post something more amusing later. Just letting ya'll know that I'm here, alive, and to not miss me too much. Heaven knows you've missed me a ton right? :)-

One of the FUNNIEST things ever

My friend Zarah pointed this clip out today- it's seriously one of the funniest things I think I've ever seen. And i cripple over with laughter everytime I watch it too.
If you need a good laugh- take a look and save it. Freakin' hilarious!!!!


Word to the wise: If you ever go to Japan... NEVER ride the train! :)-

CLICK HERE TOO SEE THE CLIP

The Tub

had a little photo shoot with the tub today- hadn't pulled the camera out for a while. (i know... bad mommy)

And because you haven't seen him for a while- here he is. He's getting so big. plus- he's totally in the fun phase. He's rolling over, saying "mama, dada, nana" and laughing a ton! And all he does is give you his cheesy grin- i love it.

So here's the little guy- how can you not love him?!

The Nook DT Call

Ok- it's that time again for another DT call for The Nook. I've been on the team for 2 years now and I love it. the kits are ALWAYS fantastic. So believe me... you can take my word for it!
here's the details:

The Scrapbook Nook Kit Club is currently seeking some new designers to be a part of our creative team and share in the fun of our monthly kit club! We are looking for talented, motivated, enthusiastic, responsible designers to design layouts and projects each month from our kit. Our 6 month term will start in January with the February kit!
WE ACCEPT INTERNATIONAL APPLICANTS!

A designer’s job:
1. Design at least 3 projects from each month’s kit.
2. Add at least 1 non kit something to the gallery per month..
3. Be an active member of the message board.
4. Help Moderate the boards.
5. Create online classes based around the kit- about every other month.
6. Promote the club.

What you will receive: A fresh kit each month packed with brand new release goodies valued at appx $32 Additional product donated by manufacturers 25 % discount on add ons Bio up on the website fame, honor & glory! There will also be occasional contests and opportunities for you to earn extras.

To apply: Please send an e-mail to dt@myscrapbooknook.com by January 2nd including:
1. Link to an online gallery where we can see your current work.
2. Answer the following questions (If a link to a scrapbook resume answers most of these, provide the link, and answer the extras ): A: List your prior experience B: Design Teams you are currently affiliated with C: Describe your style D: Have you been published; if so, where? E: Online Message boards you are active on F: What makes you a unique asset to our kit club?
3. Tell us about you. How long have you been scrapping? What’s your motivation? What do you do for work? What’s your favorite product line? What scrapping trend do you not like? What other things make you tick? Why do I want YOU on the DT?
4. Name, address, phone number, e-mail, personal website if applicable New DTers will be announced by Jan 5th. For more information e-mail dt@myscrapbooknook or visit our website at www.myscrapbooknook.com

Hope some of you apply- it's uber fun!


PS-Thanks for all the nice comments on my dresser aka my entertainment center! Roxy- It' sin my living room holding my TV and hiding everything else! And Becky.... tips: get a power sander. using just a piece of sand paper and your hand IS NOT FUN. plus- use a tinted primer, takes a lot of work off of the painting process. ANd for others: if you want inspiration- check out Pottery Barn website- FULL of nice eye candy. :)

Yet another "calling in life"

yes... i have found another one. Re-finishing furniture. Now... if oyu had asked me this when i was redoing my piano... i would have shot you in the face. lol but honestly- if you have the right tools- i LOVE seeing the end product and making all the work worth it.

remember the mention of re-doing the dresser that was given to us? here's the sucker before i did anything. (actually... i had started sanding the top already- but you get the idea)

the nice and UGLY wood.... the gold/brass knobs that happened to half of them missing.....yah- not cute AT ALL.

so i spent 2 days hard core working on this thing knowing snow was coming. and it's a good thing i did- because it was a MAJOR storm this morning. anyway- we got it inside and got the new knobs on it and got everything set up. holy cow---- I LOVE IT! turned out so good!! see!!.......

isn't it awesome?! i know.. ya'll are jealous.. i can tell. ;)-

and there's enough storage to keep all my stuff in it and you can't tell. i even have one drawer empty. fun times fun times. just need to find something cutsie decor-ish to put in that middle section.

rick was so proud of me. and i must say- i am proud of myself too! :)

Exciting!!!

My little baby boy rolled over for the first time yesterday! and guess what? I MISSED IT! oh well... i turned him back over and made him do it again and he did. so i was happy! and the other best part is that he can say MAMA now too! same day! the thing is- he says it not in reference to me... but because he can actually say something and it's said when he's sad. oh well.... at least it was MAMA first and not DADA. all of our other kids all said DADA first. so i'm happy- regardless of it's meaning right now!

and i'm currently working on re-finishing an old dresser. been workin' hard for 2 days straigh because it's supposed to snow every day for the next week. (ask me how excited i am about that one......) so hopefully i can get it in my house tonight.

i'll post before and after pics once i'm done! toodles!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

ARE THE BEST!!! seriously- TO DIE FOR. and i usually only make them in the fall- but husband likes them a lot, so i make them when he wants them. And of course- he comes home the other night and says "Hey, we ( as in YOU) need to make pumpkin cookies so I can take them to work."

right... i'll get right on that.lol

so i made them today. And while i'm shoving my face of all this wonderful goodness (and an extra butt cheek to boot), I thought i'd share this wonderful recipe so all you can join in the fatness with me. trust me... you'll thank me once you have them.
(and i guess this means you need to make them too Jamie! :) )


Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies:

1 C butter shortening
2 C sugar
2 tsp Baking Powder
2 tsp Cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
4 C flour
2 eggs
2 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp all spice (optional, i never use it)
2 C pumpkin ( i just use an entire small can of it)
1 package chocolate chips

Mix everything together and drop good sized balls on cookie sheet. cook at 350 for 8-11 min. Edges must be golden brown to be done.

now.... i've undercooked them tons of times- but i've never overcooked them. I typically put them in for about 13-15 minutes because i want no gooey at all. so just keep an eye on them. i've had one oven cook perfectly at 8 minutes and my oven now cooks for 15 min. and barely gets them to the point of non-gooeyness. :)
now.... you can all be jealous that I"m eating mine and not making them anymore. and when you are eating yours... i'll just come over and eat them with you!

Blessing in Disguise?

So I was in the walmart parking lot the other day. Headed there to finish up some shopping and such. I was driving around the lot looking for a good spot and saw someone getting ready to pull out of a good one. (because we all know that it would be horrible if i actually had to walk more than 10 steps to get to the front door)
Anywho...
so i pull around and i stop, put my blinker on, and sit and wait for this person to pull out of their spot so I can have it. All of a sudden I feel this "bump" and a hear a loud "screech". um... yah.
Merry friggin christmas.

There happened to be a lady that was pulling out of her spot and backed right into me with her honkin' suburban. didn't even see me.

All in all- it was fine. the only damage was to my drivers side door. Huge dent and a massive scratch to match. all the elecrtical still works, locks and it opens, and the window still works. So seriously- it wasn't that big of a deal. She was very nice and apologetic- hated that it happened.
no damage to her vehicle of course.

Called the police- got a report, got her insurance info blah blah blah. an hour later, i'm finally able to shop.

then i get home and immediately call her insurance agency. Come to find out, she's already called and put the claim in! Nice huh? So now I get to get some quotes and they'll cut me a check.

Now..... do i enjoy that I now have a white trash vehicle? no. BUT.... because of all of our moves, we've had to go into major credit card debt to pay for all of them. This check, can possibly wipe out almost all of it. So do we fix the van or do we keep the money and pay off some debt? Honestly- we're leaning toward keeping the $. Our plan was to keep this van until it dies, no plans of selling it or trading it in at any point. so we just live with the eye sore. Guess we'll see how much we get and what it's worth huh? (i'll post a pic later.... can't find my card right now)




on the other hand- We have this puny little 19" tv right? We got it as a wedding gift and it's been good to us. Over the years, the picture has slowly gone down. It's now to the point that the settings for the picture are at their highest and it's almost impossible to see what's going on. We've been looking around for a new TV for a while, just haven't gotten it. We go to watch a movie the other night and we literally couldn't see a thing. it was so annoying. So we sit and look at the finances and figure we can "afford" something. We go shopping and end up finding a fantastic deal and came home with a new LCD tv. hook the sucker up and holy cow!!! such a difference! RIck is dying- he's so in love with it- i told him to marry it. lol----- so there's our christmas, anniversary, and birthday gifts for the next 5 years. :)

anyone wanna come over and play Wii or watch a movie? it's friggin awesome! :)-

Holy Schmoly!

Ok.... so we're alive! we've moved, we've unpacked just about everything, and my decor is up! It actually feels like home now- which is nice since I haven't had it in a LONG time. :)

It is So incredibly funny living here. I mean, it's a huge bonus to be near family- which i totally love, but it's alos hilarious to see how *wierd* (for me) it is to be in the middle of "mormon-ville".

So i've compiled a list of things of how to tell you are truly in Utah aka "mormon-ville":

1) You move into a condo building and find out that everyone in that building, and the building next to it, and the building next to that are LDS (mormon).

2) You move in and the first day you have people knockin on your door welcoming you and handing you homemade rolls.

3) You take your kids to school and the first things you hear are : "I know some Winwards, they were in my bishopric in such and such a place." or "I used to live in Rexburg, I went to Ricks College- I assume that's why you were there too?"

4) You go to church and it's PACKED. And then once you come home from church, you have 5 people knocking on your door to introduce themselves and offer any help.

5) You attend a company christmas party and the first thing they do is offer a prayer for the food.


And that my friends... is just the beginning! lol- it's seriously hilarious. I thought GA was a different culture- well so is this. And it's taking just as much to get used to it as it was to get used to the South.

So- we have a home (for the next 8 months) and we're glad to be here. It's been a tough past 6 months and i'm glad to have that behind us. Let's just hope that from here on out- it will be "easy-going" and I'll finally have a chance to breath! :)

Moving.... Again.

Yes- again. i'm so sick of it all. and out of all the moves we've had this year, this has been the smoothest. (knock on wood)
So we leave first thing in the morning. Truck is packed, everything is out of the house, and i'm ready to be done with the whole moving thing.
and wha'ts better... we get to do it again... in 8 months. yah. but that will be OK- cause hopefully by then, we'll be in a place to actually get in a place semi-permanently. (as in a few years at least)

so wish me luck. Don't know if if i'll be able to post tomorrow- and i'll try on Thursday, but who knows. don't have internet set up at the new place yet, so we may just have to wait a while until i get it. Unless of course i can bum it off a neighbor! :)-

next time you hear from me... i'll be a Utahan. this should be interesting....... lol

Christmas

Isnt' it crazy it's already the holidays? Still doesn't feel real yet- although the Christmas music has been out for a couple weeks already! :)- ( and that's just for you Jamie!)

We decided this year that we will get the kids the ONE gift they really want. then we'll get the typical christmas outfit and the traditional socks and stocking stuffers...... but that's it. one- we've spent everything we have on moving 3 FRIGGIN TIMES and because of it, have a buttload of debt to pay off. SO...... one great gift sounds pretty good to me right now!

anyway- Here's what we're getting the kids. They will seriously flip. I'm very excited to see their reactions when they get exactly what they asked for!

Hailey:

Kayleb:

Mia:

And little Jayce:

totally cute right? so excited!

Nook December Kit

This kit is SO NICE! I love it. I got a lot done on friday- so Just want to show you the pages I came up with. Haven't shown some eye candy lately... so here it is to enjoy!


And Little boy is becoming such a fun baby. (finally) I put him in the swing the other day and handed him a stuffed toy to play with. When i turned around... this is what I saw.....

Adorable right? love it!

Oh... and we're moving! again. moving on wednesday- so I'll fill you in all about it once i get internet again. hopefully i don't have to break the whole NABLOPOMO thing. until tomorrow!

OH MY WORD!!

Dang.... i wrote this post and it got lost. ugh.

anyway------- the report.... SO STINKIN GOOD! the movie was fantastic... the actors were dreamy (esp. Edward), the acting was very good, the specail effects could have used some work, the story line follows the book to a T. Very very good show.

now.... I wish they would have gone into more detail with a few things and added other details... but you can't add it all or it will be like 10 hrs. long.

The audience was hilarious. I've never attended a movie that was so packed. every seat filled, standing in line for more than an hour, 99.9% of the attendance was swooning married women. hahahaha
I was laughing a lot because of all the commentary that took place during the movie. Some women are seriuosly into this thing and it cracks me up. I mean, i appreciate and love the series like the next girl, but hello!!! there were people with signs and edward faces plastered on sticks to wave. more than half had Twilight shirts on.... SO FUNNY. I was content enough to just go and watch the movie.

anyway-I totally plan on seeing it again...... if i can find a sitter and someone to go with. lol

GO SEE IT!!!

TWILIGHT!!!!!

Ok... so yes- I'm involved in the Twilight obsession- it's true. But how can you not?!


So I am SO STINKIN' EXCITED because I have a ticket to see the show tonight at 8!! I was up all night last night. THis is just as exciting for me as it is for a kid on waiting for christmas morning. I can't wait to see it! Aren't they all so dreamy?!

Rest assured that I will definitely be posting some pictures tomorrow of my experience. :)

(i'm pathetic... i know!) :)-

This is seriously crazy!

So remember the mention of the house that I wanted? Too good to be true.

I receieved an email this morning saying that they would allow us to rent for a little cheaper and to send them the amount of $1250 to a specific name via money gram through walmart.

WHAT?!?!?!?!?! that sent red flags flying everywhere. We knew they were "working in Africa" and that they had the keys. It was a legitimate house, a legitimate name, and a legitimate company they "worked" for.

So I sent Rick over there this afternoon to check it out. Got to the house, it was for rent. went around and saw that the house was empty and went to a neighbor's house to ask some questions. Come to find out, it's an older couple who own it and they are very trustworthy people. Rick then mentioned that he thought they had gone to Africa. The neighbor seemed surprised because she hadn't heard that. So rick gave me the number off the rent sign and I called it.
An older gentlmen answered and I asked if the house was still for rent and how much they were charging. WAY more than what we were quoted. So i then explained what had happened and he then said that he had gotten 8 previous phone calls saying the same thing.

They posted an ad on craigslist and it was "stolen" and used as a scam to get people to send this jerk of a guy money. LUckily, no one fell victim to this scam that he knew of.

So what do i do? I look up his name on Facebook and find out that it is indeed a guy from Africa. Look up his friends and they too are all from Africa. I then go to the email that he has been writing me from and write an email back to him. THis is what it said......

"YOU HAVE BEEN CAUGHT!!!!! I went up to the house and called the phone number and you are NOT the owner. I have forwarded all of our emails, and the information i have from you to the police. They have assured me they are looking into this and have been aware of your scam. You should be ashamed of yourself for doing this to people. Luckily for me..... i'm not as stupid as you thought I would be. I googled your name and saw you on Facebook as well- rest assured that that information was sent with the rest to the authorities! Shame Shame Shame on you. I hope for your sake you decide to become an honest person and stop trying to steal other peoples' hard earned money!!! "


It was totally my moms idea to write him. lol
Maybe I should have said FBI instead? hahahahaha

Hopefully this jerk will be scared off, but hello!!!! I mean, we aren't dumb enough to send the money anyway, but to think we were being scammed the whole time. Wow. Crazy i tell ya.

SHOOT!

Ok-- so i totally spaced writing yesterday. DANG! so much for the every-day thing. oh well..... i'll keep going. just pretend it never happened! :)

So... the report would be: We found a place.... MAYBE. i've seriuosly never encountered a place where it was so stinkin hard to find a place to live! what it boiled down to was cost and availability. if it was the right price and it was available now... we took it. So we applied through this management company for a condo just 5 min. from Rick's work. We'll find out tomorrow whether we get it or not.

Pros: close to work, good schools
Cons: too small, next to freeway, and it's another STINKIN APARTMENT! something i swore i'd never live in again. oh well..... that's what i get for talkin' huh?

we're crossing the fingers that they will let us only have a 6 mo. contract so we don't have to stay in such a small place for too long. for those of you who saw my apartment in Savannah... it's smaller than that. yah. with 4 kids. so you can imagine how tight it will be. we just need to get into something so we aren't separated anymore. once we're in- we'll focus on truly finding something we want. and hopfully we'll be able to buy.

OK... there's the reports... i swear- i'll have something interesting to read tomorrow. i have too many things to do today to say much else.
bye!

Oy Vay!

Ok...seruiosly...house hunting here sucks. anyone wanna fork over about $500 a mo for me? that would make things A LOT easier. Had it narrowed to 2 and then realized we'd be REALLY pinching if we went with them... so we started all over. i'm so over this. OR...anyone with a house- wanna just rent it to me for a fwe months really cheap? thanks. :)

as you can tell.. totally don't have time to write a whole lot. 4 kids and house hunting on my own= a huge headache.

All Better!

Luckily it was only a 24 hour bug. And it's a good thing- decided last minute to take a trip to Utah to go house hunting. So here we are. Going out looking tomorrow- wish us luck, because from what we've seen so far, people are just out to rip us off. Seriously... how can you feel good about charging$950 a mo. for a dinky 900sq. ft 3 bd apt?
that's INSANE!!!

anyway- i'll keep you posted. off to bed!

FLU......BAD

See this guy- i feel worse. 'nuff said.

You're going to laugh

Because over the weekend.... guess what came out of storage?

This guy: (swoon)

And even though it was my idea... i wasnt' the one who got it out. But now that it is..... had to pull out this one...

and the mother of all christmas CD's and the one piece of musical genius that should be in EVERY christmas collection....

Yup.... i'm in the christmas spirit and it can't come soon enough. Love it!!!

Ok.... go ahead and laugh now...... :)

Eye Candy

I finally did it. I was able to actually sit down and do a page today. What I like: I actually did something using one of my favorite companies. What I don't like: I haven't scrapped in so long- my creative juices have come to a completel halt and I don't know if i like it or not.

So... here ya go. you be the judge.

I've also taken a picture of 2 cards I made. the first one... LLLLUUUUUUVVVVV it. it's one of those inspired dreams and i had to write it down otherwise i would have forgotten. The second one- eh.... it's ok. i love the little owl i made though. cute huh? Enjoy!

Long Days

You know... I LOVE days that are cloudy and rainy all day. SOmething about them just makes me happy. But I do have to say that the past few days of it.... just makes the days seem to last FOREVER! seriously- it's like they never end. It might have something to do with how early i get up- but i'd appreciate if time would speed up a little around now. :)

SO guess what I did today? I applied for jobs. Looking at our financials- looks like I need to do something to help out. Let's just say Craigslist is awesome. We'll see if anything comes of it, but I applied for about 15 PT secretarial positions. Keep the fingers crossed that something comes along- otherwise... i may have to sell off everything i own. ;)-

And on top of everything else- I have flippin' pink eye! Don't know where it came from. my guess is the stinkin' carts at Walmart. I hate grocery carts- they are almost the epitomy of germ infested material. I'm no germophobe- but there are few things that make me cringe just touching.

And lastly (since i'm full of all sorts ofuseful information today).... you should seriously go and join up with My SCrapbook Nook kits. THEY ARE FABULOUS! And there are some changes taking place, so they will be even better come the new year. You get so much product for the money- and super fast shipping. Come over and join the boards too....who doesn't enjoy making friends all over the world? I always laugh because when I think about it, because of the Nook, if ever i travel around the world... i literally have a place to stay! it's so fun! So here's a picture of the November kit. The December kit is coming very shortly... so look for that as well.

Tagged

You know.. i'm not good with being tagged. anyone who ever has tagged me- knows that more than likely I won't do it. And it's not because I'm rude or have better things to do.... honestly, I just forget. lol That's what kids do to you right? and in my case... they took my butt, my thighs, my boobs, and my gut- on top of the brains..... so there's my excuse! :)

Anywho... Today I'm turning a new leaf. I've been tagged and i'm actually going to do it! Thanks to my incredibly talented friend Zarah- I'll be telling you 7 random things about myself. Yay for you right? just what you wanted... to hear more about my ever enthusiastic and event filled life!

1) I'm a sucker for Musicals. I love everything about them. al the music, dancing... incredible talent. I often daydream about my past life and how i must have been incredibly famous and talented... in that exact era. ;)-

2) If you want to see me nice and happy... DON"T WAKE ME UP!!! There's nothing that willl turn me into a monster faster than waking me up. I hate it with a passion. If i'm going to wake up.. i'll do it myself thank you very much. So now is when you wonder what on earth I do when i have a baby and i'm waking up several times a night. Well my dear friends... that is the ONLY exception. hahaha

3) I would love to have my own company some day. What will it be in? It's a toss up between scrapbooking, photography, and graphic design. pretty sure it will be photography first. (but that's now.)

4) I HATE the cold. everything about it sucks. I seriously need to live in a place where it doesn't get colder than 65 and never snows. Find me that place and that's where i'll live and die.

5) I have this secret desire to be an interior designer. Yes- I have SO many interests... but all those home makeover shows on HGTV- man.... i could watch those forever and never get sick of them. If only i had the money to make my house look that good.

6) I love to move. And you probably wouldn't guess that by how many times i've done it over the past 4 months..... but i love change. I'm afraid my poor family will have to deal with moving every few years just to appease me.

7) I am terribly in love with anything oriental. Love the culture, love the colors, food, styles, places...... believe me- when i have my own home- there will beone room completely dedicated to oriental decorating. Send me over there any day and I"m sure I'd love every second of it!

Ok....so there ya go. entertaining right? huh.
got to attend to the screaming child once again. Story of my life right now! toodles!

Oh Money Tree...

where are you? lol

You know what i hate most about this past 4 months? the fact that we saved and saved and got a good bit amount of $$ in our pockets- just to WASTE it on moving two times. And where does that leave us? pretty much suckin' it up to the boss man to hand us over a bigger chunk of change to afford this move.

well.... they are going to pay for the move- which is a HUGE blessing. so at least we have that covered. But for some reason, everyone and their dog in Utah County feels the need to jip the average joe out of renting a place because they charge an arm and a leg for it all. So we've been looking at the typical 3 bedroom places to rent for now. That's all we've ever lived in, so we know the space restraints and whatnot. Over the past few days I've gathered a bunch of listings to call. So i start making the phone calls this morning and this is how the first phone call went. It was for a 3 bed 1.5 bath duplex, 1400 sq ft. (this is the largest we would have ever lived in)

Dude: "Yes we still have the duplex available. When would you be moving in?"
me: "Over thanksgiving break. Could we schedule a time to come look at the place?"
dude: "Well, how big is your family?"
me: "I have 4 kids, then my husband and I"
dude: "I don't know if that's enough room."
me: "every apt. we've ever lived in has been 3 bed and less sq. footage than this. So we are fine on the space if you are."
dude: "Yah. I don't think that will work for us."
*CLICK*

Seriously? I just got turned down because i have too many kids. 1- makes me a little mad... that's discrimination right? and 2- is he flippin serious?

So i put that aside and continue calling. Guess what? There must be some sort of petition or law floating around that tells people whether they should rent to people with more than 1 kid. 80% of the calls i made this morning- they wouldn't talk to me because i had TOO many kids.
i don't know whether to be shocked and dumbfounded... or to just be plain pissed. I guess it's a lesson learned that if you want to rent a place in Utah- you better plan on not having children- which is completle ironic since it's the place where the largest saturation of mormons live. lol

And where does that lead us then? Well.... one of two options, and the last one is almost out of reach. 1) i tak eon a job to help pay for higher rent so we can accomodate a larger house and a larger rent payment. 2) attempt the impossible and try and purchase a house. which probably won't happen since we have student loans up to our eyeballs to pay off.

Wow. looks like unless a miracle can happen, we may just have to put off moving until the perfect place becomes available. and we all know THAT would suck. lol

So hence... if anyone has a money tree- wanna lend it to me? i could really use a nice down payment to get my family a home. :)-

Oh... and for those of you who were kind enough to lend me some advice with the whole moving thing.....We are looking to rent a house/duplex/townhome for now. If you find anything in the Provo/Orem/Spanish Fork/American Fork area.... email me at winwards4@comcast.net
THANK YOU!!!!!

Last Night

Ok- so I'm working on creating a photography blog for myself. And although i don't have a lot of professional experience, I'd like to showcase the things that I've captured and share them. With moving here to Idaho, I've been presented with quite a few opportunities to use this talent and once of those came last night. My mom is in charge of the dance team at one of the high schools here and they sponsered a dance. And because of that, I was asked to take pictures at this dance. I was so excited!!! Well... after it was all said and done, I was able to only get 6 pictures from people and then a bunch of shots of the team. i was disappointed, but I guess people don't want to pay for pictures at a STAG dance. I had fun nonetheless!

And today- I'm going to show you some pics. And being that it's been a really emotional couple of days for me, i'm gonna go all sappy on ya. :)

See this lady? She's pretty huh? :)

This is my mom. She's the one that holds everything together. I've never known anyone who can juggle so many things at one time and still stay sane. She's the one that raised 5 kids and miraculously all 5 of us turned out normal. (and that's according to me!) She makes really good meals and some of the best chocolate chip cookies. She can multitask, organize, and clean better than anyone on the face of this earth! (just ask anyone) She's passed on the qualities of motherhood that I hope I can live up to. She (and my dad of course) have taken us in more than once and provided for us in our times of need. And especially now, she is maintaining a family of 11 under 1 roof and still finds the time to laugh and have fun. And I know that even though I don't express it or show it often enough- I love you mom. You are a wonderful example and I will always look up to you and admire you for all you do. Love you!!!

Guess What?

WE ARE MOVING TO UTAH!!!!!

Rick got home yesterday and he got the job!!!

so now on to house hunting and finding schools (yet again).

we're looking in the provo/orem/spanish fork area to live. So if anyone in that vicinity reads my blog..... hook me up with a nice place ok? :)

I'll post more later... just had to share the good news!!!

Information

So..... some of you may not know this (i was trying to hold off until we knew for sure)- but RIck has been down in Utah these past 3 weeks working for a Graphic Design firm. They offered him a position and said "lest go 30 days and see how it goes and then we'll go from there".

well, being what we've been through already this past summer, ther'es no friggin' way i'm going to move again without knowing that this job is secure. So he's been living down there with my grandparents while i've been here with the kiddos. He comes home late friday night and leaves Sunday evening to get back. It's not a lot, but it's OK.

Honestly, going through this "separation" has been easier than what it was in Memphis. Until last night. It's been a rough week with sick kids and baby has been awake a lot at night- hence no sleep. And no sleep mixed with single mom and sick kids.... not a good thing after a while. But things will get better. I have faith they will get better. And we will hopefully find out today whether or not we will be moving yet again. So keep the fingers crossed, the prayers coming, and the well wishes available... cause we could use everything we can get right now!

OK- enough with that schtuff..... I was digging in my scrapbooks the other day and found these pages that I did a while ago. I love it when i can go back and still love what i've done. 99.9% of the time, i look back and think "how on earth did i come up with that crap?"- so on the blue moon occassion where i don't think that, i get pretty excited. Maybe i should just frame them! lol

And because I haven't left any eye candy for a while, I'll post a few of my favs i've done from the past. Hopefully, (if i don't fall asleep or have to hold a baby all day) I'll actually get to create something today as well. wish me luck!

A Laugh.... or two

Ok- honestly, don't know what to say today. BUt i'm determined to continue this every day thing. ( it's actually kind of fun!)

anyway.. i'll just leave you with something SO FUNNY- i found it the other day. Hope you enjoy it!





hilarious right? HAHA!

Milestone!

Oh my word. Ok... this will probably seem really funny to ya'll- but seriously, i'm a little freaked out.

Take a look at this adorable little girl. isn't she cute? Now... notice anything different about her?

notice it? if not... take a look at this one.

Notice it yet? here's the last one....

And if you're seriously THAT blind ;)-, Little Hailey lost her first tooth today! At first she was really reluctant- until I mentioned the tooth fairy. ANd of course she was all about getting the sucker out as fast as possible once the $ thing came into play! lol

So here I sit, wondering how much- I mean... how much the tooth fairy will leave under the pillow tonight and how in the heck I'm at this point in my life already. For some odd reason- I feel like i'm getting older just because of this little milestone. lol

all right- now you can all laugh at my expense. Man... even with one gone, she's still a cutie! :)

Wow

so although i did sleep a little better last night, i was still up at 4:30 am and couldn't go back to sleep! makes me so mad....now i have to attempt to do the impossible 2 days in a row- ask me tomorrow how that goes. lol

soooooo.... i thought i'd share some of my fav blogs/sites today with you. If you don't know by now- i'm huge into photography and the second i get the chance to go back to school- tha'ts what i'm going into. Ideally- i'd like to be a wedding photographer, so we'll see how it plays out. I'm also very interested in graphic design, so i'm sure that will play a roll in how i graduate also. but you have to check out the sites- i mean... seriously AMAZING. I"ll just place a list of them and you should check them out! Hopefully one day... i can add my own site to this list!

Petra Hall
Passing Notes
Ashley McNamara
Cheryl Spelts
Kimberly Garofolo
G. Haygood
Susan Stripling
Jessica Claire
The Wiebners
Amy Squires
Jane Morba
Jessica Stickland
Liana Lehman
Next Exit

Ok- now after viewing all those- how can you NOT want to take awesome pics?!?!?! enjoy!

My Night....

was torture! sick kids and kids waking up at 4:30am.... don't mix for a good nights sleep AT ALL.

oh well..... you're bound to have them now and again right? I'll get over it- maybe I'llbe lucky enough to get a nap in (knock on wood) :)

but for now... i'm too tired to really post anything significant... so i'll just leave you with the final pics of our halloween bash. i think the pics say it all. lol

More Halloween fun

Ok- so here are more pics of the fun times we had on Halloween.

These were taken right before we went out Trick or treating. Hailey was a witch, Kayleb was a knight again, Mia was the princess, and Jayce was a skeleton (and as you can tell, he absolutely loved every second of it.) They were all just so stinkin' cute. And yes- i'm too cheap to go out and purchase a new costume for each of my kids every year, so we recycle and use dress ups. lol :) So here they are. Oh... and i dressed up as myself. original huh? :)-

NaBloPoMo

What is that? NaBloPoMo my friends is the abreviated version of what is known as National Blog Posting Month. Yah. hilarious- i know. It's a funny word- one of those words that gets stuck in your head and won't leave. lol

anyway- because of this NaBloPoMo..... the goal is to do a post on your blog every day for an entire month. Doesn't sound hard right? Well i've never done it before, so i wouldn't know. Hence the reason I"m gonna give it a shot. Yes 'tis true.... you will get to hear from me every single day this month. And it will happen barring any major catastrophe. :)-

So what do I have to say today... well it was Halloween yesterday and I have about 220 pictures to prove it. So lets just say there will be a lot to see over the next few days. Cause when you have kids as cute as mine (I know.. i'm totally biased)- how can you not take that many pics?

I'll start with the first thing.

The kids had the annual costume parade in their school. THey got to dress up and go around the school and show all the students and parents how cute they are. Then they had a fun class party.

The pics I'll show now are of the kids before all that. Hailey was a Ballerina Princess and Kayleb was a knight. Aren't they so cute?

And a cute little pic to top it off is that of Jayce sleeping. He was taking a little snoozer while the kids were carving the pumpkin and Mia decided to give Jayce her stuffed animals to sleep with. Isn't that adorable?

until tomorrow! :)