Isn't it wonderful?

Wow! First of all, thank you to all of you who have left such nice comments! Isn't it amazing how other people have a lot more faith in us than we do in ourselves? Thanks for being my friends!

Isn't it wonderful that we live in this world now! The comments I received were from cousins I've been able to reconnect with, from friends who have moved so far away and from a friend I haven't had any communication with in years. Wow! How wonderful! Oh yeah, my sister was there too, and we get to talk many time everyday even though she live many miles away. What a blessing blogs are! I thought about starting a blog for a long time but I didn't want to because I didn't want to feel like I was stroking my ego. Finally I decided to and it has been nothing but a blessing in my life. Thank you!

Today it was announced that Pres. Monson is our new president of the Church (no surprise there) Elder Eyring is first counselor and Elder Uchtdorf (sp?) is 2nd counselor. What wonderful men. Today as I watched the press conference my heart was filled with joy. I knew that these were truly men of God and although we have lost an incredible Prophet and we will always miss him, these men are just as wonderful as him. I am excited to go forward and learn from them and feel of their spirit. "We thank thee O God for a Prophet!"

Happiness!

We went to our Crop Because You Care crop this weekend. Can I just say, WOW! I had such a great time. It was a really fun crop with games on every hour and booths at which to shop.

The gave us big bags full of scrapbooking stuff. The only complaint I had was there was not enough room to spread out (I am kind of a snob that way). We decided we want to make it an annual thing. One of the girls who is in my Organization class met us there. She is from Orem and I had never met her before, but it was SO fun to get to meet. Isn't it amazing who and what we can do thanks to the "dot com" world that we live in! Also, I got to meet another girl from our class and Wendy Smedly who is our teacher. What a fun day!

I had an incredibly lucky day. I won two gifts in the raffle (all money went to support the Epilepsy society of Utah). The first was a $10 gift certificate to a paper store and a pound of fudge. The second was a bag FULL of fun scrapbook products, all different kinds.

One of best things about the whole day was having the opportunity to meet Stacy Julian (founder of Simple Scrapbooks magazine, Big Picture Scrapbooking and author). I was able to drill her down about some questions I had about some of her organization and approach to scrapbooking. She was SO gracious and chatted with everyone. This is not the first time I have met her but it was the longest I have ever been able to talk to her. (Yes, I'm starstruck! But that's just the thing, she's not a star. She's normal, she's a mom, a scrapbooker, a worker and just trying to do the best she can!)

Anyway, the INCREDIBLE news! Stacy Julian is going to be teaching a class on Big Picture called Library of Memories. It is a class about organizing your pictures and changing your approach to scrapbooking. More of a way it can just be fun and enjoyable instead of always feeling the pressure. I've wanted to take it for a couple of years and this year I was trying so hard to figure out how to take it, but it is $95 and I knew there was no way we could swing that. Anyway, Stacey offered a page contest. We had to look in an idea book and pick 2 lay-outs that we loved. Then we had to pick the one we loved for it's color and one we loved for it's design. Then she had us put the book away and use what we had seen to create our own page. I decided I HAD to do it! I didn't feel like I had any chance to win but I couldn't pass up this chance because the prize was registration for her LOM class. The colors I chose were lime green and brown. Luckily, I had these papers and some pictures from Maddie's Kindergarten program. I didn't love the quality of these pictures (I would not normally ever use them on a contest page) but they were what worked with the design I chose, so I went ahead and used them. Well, as you probably figured out, I won the contest! I couldn't believe it! I was SO excited. There were some beautiful entries so I didn't really think I had that great of a chance of winner. Stacy actually said that one of the reasons she chose mine was because of the pictures, they are those "not so great" pictures you get from a kid's performance but I made them look good. WOW! I still can't believe it! I felt like this was an answer to my prayers. How wonderful it is to know that the Lord is looking out for us no matter how inconsequential our request is. To others this may not seem like that important of a thing but to me it was and the Lord understood that it was important to me! Aren't we blessed?

When I won, I had to go up front and talk about my process with this page and how it changed my creative process. It was a scary but wonderful experience!

Stir crazy!

Ok, that's it! I'm going stir-crazy! I have not left my house since last Sat. night except for a couple of minutes yesterday to take Doug to work and take Katie to school. Right now we are a 1 car family. Which is fine, except I don't like getting up at 5am to take Doug to work and stress about leaving the kids home alone. Or take them with me and then have grumpy kids the rest of the day. So, Doug's been taking the van and going to work so I am home with nowhere to go. Luckily, he is home by 3:30 so today I am walking out the door when he walks in! I'm outta here! Not sure where I'm going but I'm just leaving!!!!

Why do we only have 1 car? Well, the Mazda's engine seized! What ever that means, all I know is it is going to cost us $2600 to get it fixed. UGH! Where do we come up with $2600??????

Sorry, this is such a rant, but it's what is going on right now. We do have the truck so Doug is going to work on getting it running again. It will take some money, but probably not $2600.

Stacey tagged me but I'm going to have to think about it, so I'll come back to work on that in a little while. Oh, btw, Katie's home sick. She gets this funny croupe/sore throat thing every year. we were doing so well this year, until these last couple of weeks. Oh well. Now, she can quit complaining she never sees me. Which, for the record, she sees me ALL the time, remember I never leave the house! :)

Oh, on the good side, I get to go to a scrapbook thing this weekend. My mom and Alesa are going with me and we get to listen to Stacey Julian speak. I LOVE Stacey Julian. She is a "Scrapbook celebrity" who I adore. She is very "real"! Can't wait for that!

Also, finally got all my Christmas down! Hooray! It's only been a month. But you'll remember, I had to get my scrap room done first. Alright that's about it, have a good one!!

Sadness...

I was just working in my new scrapbook room! :) When the news broke in and said the LDS prophet Gordon B Hinckley had passed away this afternoon. I know he was getting old and I know he had some health problems and I know he missed his wife, but I'm sad! President Hinckley was such a lovely man! So loving, cheerful and positive. Probably all the things we all wish we could be. I love to hear his children talk about him. He will be greatly missed!

A Favorite Gordon B Hinckley quote of mine:

"In all of living have much fun and laughter. Life is to be enjoyed and not mearly endured."

Books

Books, I love to read. Only problem is when I start a book I don't stop until the book is finished. So, often my life becomes very unproductive until I finish the book. The thing with my reading is I tend to read "fluff". I guess I feel like my life is crazy enough and I have a hard enough time keeping myself happy that I don't need to read books that bring me down. Well, my ward has been doing a book club for quite a while now and I keep thinking I should get involved in it. This month I decided to do it. I got the book from one of the sisters in the ward and started reading. I started it on Wed. and finished it last night. "A Thousand Splendid Suns" was the book. It if about Afganistan during the last 30 years. It follows fictional characters through that time. Wow! As I was reading it I kept thinking "this is why I don't read these kinds of books". It was hard, life is tough for those women. I felt like I was reading about something that happened 150 or more years ago but really it was just a little while ago. By the end of the book I was glad I read it, my life has been touched. My heart softened and I have learned just a little bit more about the power of love. Hmm, maybe there is a reason to read these kinds of books. Maybe if I just fill in between with "fluff"! :)

Normally, I hardly ever get to read (if it can't be read in the couple of minutes I am in the bathroom, it usually doesn't get read. Another reason I read "fluff".) but lately I've been reading tons! Don't know what's up with that, just in the mood. Here are a couple of books I've read lately.

The Christmas Jars (such a touching story!)

Wednesday Letters (by the same author, forgiveness- so important)

Before the Dawn (LDS book- gives you a real appreciation for Relief Society)

There have been some others but those were some of my favorites. Of course, there are the couple of scrapbook books that haven't left my side since Christmas! :)

I'm back.

Ok, I never actually went anywhere, except, I am on my way to crazy! :) I can't believe that it has been over a month since I last had a decent post. Why is it that my life just keeps going faster and faster. I thought for sure after the holidays were over I would slow down, it never really does though. I have to say that for that I am actually quite grateful. As long as I'm busy it means I have people to care for, people who care about me, places to go, work to do and a project in the works. Have I mentioned I love projects?

Speaking of projects, let me tell you about our most recent one. The day after Christmas my wonderful Brothers-in-law and our great friend Doug came over and helped Doug frame a couple of rooms in our basement. Doug worked his tail off to get the wiring done. Then his wonderful brother-in-law, Ryan, came up (two different days) from Salt Lake and helped him sheetrock the ceilings. Now, my craft room is almost done!!!! We have the sheetrock taped & textured. The peg board hung on all the walls and painted, the bead board is painted and almost all up. The electical is all done (except one thing might not be working) and I have my new HUGE (6'x6') bookshelf all set up and ready to go into the room! I am so excited! It is a small 7'x12' "bump out" that is under our dining room and it is wonderful! It is going to be bright and fun and Dr. Seuss. (For those of you who don't know, I've had a love of Dr. Seuss for a VERY long time and I'm so excited to finally get to incorporate him into my house.) Maddie and Katie were great helps with the paint, Bevan tried but he was not as helpful! Notice the lights- "1 fish, 2 fish, red fish, blue fish." :)

Along with this new project I've been taking an on-line class called Get Organized and Be Inspired. It is a wonderful class! It goes along with a book called "The Organized and Inspired Scrapbooker" that Doug got me for Christmas. I'm so excited to get all my "stuff" organized so that I can really be productive. I have not scrapbooked much for a whole year due to the fact that everything has been in total disarray. Anyway, one of the assignments for my class was to make a scrapbooking mission statement. (picture of "S") It was really fun to think about why I started scrapbooking and how those reasons have changed now. Also, it was great to figure out what role scrapbooking plays in my life. Now, I'm wanting to get scrapbooking again, but I am trying to be patient since everything is boxed up and inaccessible until the room is finished. But I am having faith that the room will be done this week!

Oh, btw, the other room we are working on is a new bedroom for the girls. Bevan has been quite roomless so we are trying to move the girls out of their room and into the room downstairs. Our goal for this is around the first of March. (I don't know if Doug knows that's the goal, but it is!)

Just stopping by

Hi! I just thought I would stop by and say hi. Don't worry, (I know your were, lol) I will come back and update what happened in those days I disappeared (too much fun was going on!) For now, I just wanted to say hi, and tell you I'm busy. I've got to go paint my shelves that are going to go in my currently being made scrapbook room (ok, it's more of a space- but it's all mine!) Hope you all had great holidays. I'll be back. Have a great one!