2006 May

Ack, the continuation…

May 11, 2006 Leave a Comment

Well, this time I was nursing my 2-month-old sweetheart and feel asleep before I had a chance to finish my post – ah well. 🙂 Here it is early, early in the morning of a Thursday. And Andrew (my tiny sweetheart) is wide awake and kicking on my lap. He is giggling at something, which is a new talent. He also has big grins that just started about a week ago. So fun!

I posted my contest layout early on Wednesday. It is one of my favorite layouts. Guess that doesn’t hurt, eh? I had a fun time putting it together – and love the photos that Jim Bob took. Fun all around.

And while I’m on the subject of scrapping, I will include a layout I did of Autumn a little while ago. Her smile makes me smile. This one was for a color challenge at Scrapartist. One of my all-time favorite digital scrapbooking sites. Awesome products – and lots of inspiration and encouragement.

Background from Michelle’s “Tutti Frutti” paper pack. Antiquated Swirl, Distressed Alpha and Brush Stroke brushes also by Michelle Coleman. Fonts used: Journaling Hand, Artistamp Medium, Holiday Serif, Susie’s Hand, JW Artist’s Manual, Porcelain, Two Turtle Doves, SA Cinta, MA Sexy.

I will do a separate entry about my National Scrapbooking Day (I had a blast!). But I will post a pic here of my first attempt at digital paper. Well, okay, not my first attempt, but the first one I half-way liked. 🙂 I used a tutorial by Rhonna Farrer and it was so straight forward. Love that!

I didn’t quite get to the distressing part – will work on that soon! The day was very busy, but it was fun to learn something new too. Okay, more soon. Good night!

Filed Under: Scrapbooking Somethings, Ta-Da! {accomplishments of my children}

Ack…

May 10, 2006 Leave a Comment

Oh my, tonight I got so busy working on a fun scrapbooking layout that I lost track of time. It is now tomorrow and I forgot to post on my blog. However, I am still awake so I will make a quick post. I guess I will use my final quote from yesterday as well, and try a little harder tomorrow. 😉 Courage.

The layout I am working on is this week’s entry for the Ultimate Digi-Scrapper Contest. That’s right I entered a contest. It began May 1 and will end June 4. Each week a number of people are eliminated until there is one winner. The challenges thus far have been neat and the prizes are unbelievable. We are in the Second Round (wahoo – I made it). There were 388 (at the last count I saw) that entered, and 200 made it to the next round. The first challenge was to “Put your best photo forward” and scrap one of your favorites. My layout is here. After the contest I will post the picture for the actual layout.

For this week we are to scrap about ourselves – “Through Your Eyes”. An “all about me” page, which I have not done before. So it has been a challenge and also fun. It’s good to get some of this stuff down for the future generations to see and know. Jim Bob was a sweetheart and did a photo shoot of me yesterday. We got some fun pictures and I am using four of them on my layout. I *think* it is finished and will post it tomorrow. Link coming soon. 😉

Night all!

Filed Under: 21 Day Challenge, Miscellaneous, Scrapbooking Somethings

The word of the week …

May 8, 2006 Leave a Comment

“The important thing is this: To be able at any moment to sacrifice what we are for what we could become.” – Henry Dubois

“It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly secure, to embrace the new. But there is no real security in what is no longer meaningful. There is more security in the adventurous and exciting, for in movement there is life, and in change there is power.” – Alan Cohen

“Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.” – Anais Nin

“Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.” – Winston Churchill

“Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm.” – Winston Churchill

“Promise me you’ll always remember: You’re braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.” – Christopher Robin to Pooh

🙂

“If my mind can conceive it, and my heart believe it, I know I can achieve it.” – Jesse Jackson

So you’ve probably guessed that the word is… courage. Another neat one to ponder. I shall leave with this quote that spoke to me. A good one to remember it at the end of a hard day.:

“Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says I’ll try again tomorrow.” – Mary Anne Radmacher

Filed Under: 21 Day Challenge

Happy

May 7, 2006 Leave a Comment

Happy Sunday to everyone! I hope yours was wonderfully enjoyable!

Our kiddos were sick this morning. Jim Bob and I discussed today how good they are, even when sick. We woke up to Jacob calling from his bedroom. He just said that he had thrown up. No screaming, thrashing around, nothing. So calm and sweet. Autumn threw up later this morning. She was also calm, looked down at her clothes and hands and said, “messy” in this little voice. Awww. So, definitely not hard as a mommy to take care of them and snuggle the day away. I called and took care of my church responsibilities and then stayed home with the young uns. Jim Bob went to church and taught Sunday School. He said it went well. 🙂 always a good thing to hear. The afternoon was spent napping and then we visited family in the evening because the kiddos were doing much better. Our brother John leaves for his 2 year mission this Wednesday. We were thankful to spend some time with him tonight. He will make a great missionary, but we will all miss him too. Especially a sweet little girl he calls “princess”.

p.s. Happy National Scrapbooking Day to everyone (yesterday). Happy National Astronomy Day as well (yesterday too). My love for Astronomy was rekindled when we visited the Lowell Observatory in Arizona last year. It was full of wonderful exhibits and information. I could have stayed there all day. But alas, the Grand Canyon called too. Anyway, two of my loves all on one day – beauty! Plus I watched the National Collegiate Gymnastics Championship on TV yesterday morning. That was pretty darn neat too. Happy, happy.

Filed Under: Miscellaneous

Proof …

May 6, 2006 Leave a Comment

Jim Bob really truly graduated and we have lots of pictures to show. 🙂

The oh-so-handsome and thrilled graduate:

A photo of our happy family:

A photo of our large happy family:

Autumn just loving the tassle:

… and her reflection in the floor:

A photo of Jim Bob and I … and the flowers given to us by the ladies at the Utah State Extension (in honor of JB’s graduation – and our new baby). :):

Jacob took this great shot of his daddy – fun, eh?:

Jacob trying on the robe and cap:

And finally, Jim Bob with his Aggie white and blue M&Ms:

Photo borders by Kim Crothers, star doodles by me. 🙂

… and there you have it. The evening in pictures. It really was wonderfully exciting. I couldn’t stop smiling – and Jim Bob couldn’t either. Once again – I am so proud of my man!

Filed Under: Miscellaneous

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

May 5, 2006 Leave a Comment

Sometimes I wish I had Mexican heritage. I *heart* Mexican food. However, I am also proud of my Scandinavian roots. There is good food there too. 😉 Perhaps I should not post when I am hungry.

Anyway, Cinco de Mayo is still a great excuse to eat lots of yummy food and perhaps make a pinata. We did not make one this year, but I would love to in the near future. My kiddos are still young enough that we don’t have to wait a full year. 😉 Feliz Siete de Junio mi familia!

Filed Under: Miscellaneous

Graduatin' Fool!

May 4, 2006 1 Comment

My wonderfully brilliant husband is graduating! He will be receiving his bachelor’s degree in Business Information Systems from Utah State University. He has been going at it for years – taking classes here and there while working full time and yet still being here for me and our four children. This last year he has pushed hard and is near the finish. He is nothing short of amazing! (I am just a tinsy tiny bit excited and proud of him.) Here’s the announcement we sent to family and friends:

That tractor photo is my favorite – lol. Handsome man, eh? And smart to boot (did I mention that?). He plans on staying with the company he owns with two other guys, City Web Systems. They build websites and Jim Bob handles most of the backend programming and what not. He has been able to use some of what he has learned in classes already. I love you sweetheart – Congrats!

Filed Under: Miscellaneous

Blossom…

May 3, 2006 Leave a Comment

Inked overlay (recolored) and flowers by Rhonna Farrer; font: Porcelain

Filed Under: 21 Day Challenge

Strength

May 2, 2006 Leave a Comment

Strength is one of those words with lots of layers and meanings. You can have strength, and you can be given strength. Strength comes from within, and you can gather strength from others.

I like how Rhonna worded it on her blog – it does take strength to become stronger. Thank you Rhonna for the quote in this entry. My favorite part is:

“We are all meant to shine, as children do. … And as we let our own light shine, we subconsciously give other people permission to do the same.” – Marianne Williamson

I know that we are all meant to shine. There have been many people I have met that just shine. It’s true, you do feel brighter yourself around them. Thank you also for the chance to ponder on the word, and for the “permission” to dig up quotes. I found quite a few. 🙂

One of my favorites that I can personally attest to is:

“Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.” – Lao Tzu

This quote is a good one to remember during personal trials:

“If God sends us on strong paths, we are provided strong shoes.” – Corrie TenBoom

There are a few classic quotes I think of when I think of strength:

“What does not kill me makes me stronger.” – Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Our strength grows out of our weaknesses.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

This one made me laugh:

“Strength is the ability to break a chocolate bar into four pieces with your bare hands – and then eat just one of those pieces.” – Judith Viorst

This quote made me think:

“There are two ways of exerting one’s strength: one is pushing down, the other is pulling up.” – Booker T. Washington

This one doesn’t really have a lot to do with strength, but was right next to one that did. Anyway, I totally fell in love with this one. Inspirational!:

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain

And the final one I selected is so poetically beautiful.:

“And the day came when the risk it took to remain tight inside the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.” – Anais Nin

Note to self: Have the strength to blossom!

Filed Under: 21 Day Challenge, Miscellaneous

One of those picture kind of days…

May 1, 2006 Leave a Comment

We were able to make three batches of strawberry jam (yum!) and a pie for Family Home Evening treat.

Swirl brush by Taran Conyers

Autumn ate her nachos for lunch and then plopped some cheese on her nose. She posed and said “cheese!” That funny little bug-a-roo:

Princess Pants font (and doodles) by Jen Wilson

Here are my three oldest children, enjoying the Pooh Heffalump movie. The sharing of the seat didn’t last too long. 🙂

Jim Bob took Autumn on an outing over to Mom and Dad Pipes’ house. They played with the baby goats and Autumn had a grand time. I am so glad I sent the camera with them. 😉