What's my motivation...

I don't know but for the last few days I have had the blahs. I don't feel like cleaning, cooking, reading, scrapping. I will do those things when I have to but in all honesty I'd really rather not. Some of it may be because it is so messy everywhere that I just don't know where to start. I also haven't gotten to finish anything I've started. Another part of me thinks it's because I didn't make the design team I tried out for. Lloyd says it's their loss (man, I love him) but I can't help wondering what it was that they were looking for that I didn't have.

The kids are off track now (maybe that's another reason too). If you have no clue what I'm talking about I'll explain. We have year-round school here. my kids go to school for nine weeks and then are off for three. Kinda weird bu I guess year-round and traditional each have their pros and cons. With traditional they are in school about nine months and off for three whole months! With Year-Round my kids are off and on all the time and I guess my favorite perk is that IF we ever go on vacation during the time they are off it will most likely be when other kids are at school so places will be less crowded.

So can any of you awesome people who visit here help me out?!? What do you do to get out of your Blahs??

Meet Bud!

Yes this friendly giant moved in with us a couple of weeks ago. Ally has really wanted to play an instrument since Emily brought her viola home last year. Somehow Em convinced all the kids that it would be cool to have their own quartet since then, so now all the kids have picked out their future string instruments.

When Ally brought home a flier from school about a new program hosted by the neighboring school she was so excited! A before school program for orchestra! Lloyd and I knew she wouldn't rest until we caved. She diligently gets up at 6:30 every Monday and Thursday for her new class. I get to carpool with some of the other mom's since I can't see her or some of the other kids hauling their instruments all over the school and on to the bus!

So I've got two happy girls with dreams of a whole quartet. Ally playing the bass, Kylie playing the cello, Emily on the viola, and Jesse with a tiny violin. Would you let your kids have a string instrument? How about that bass? :)

Wild weather and a bit of scrappin'

Gosh where to begin. :)

Friday was a fabulous day full of scrapping and shopping. I went to the Expo with my friend Shauna and her family. it must be fun to have family who likes to scrap too. We got there around 10ish and stayed until 9 at night. it was a so full of scrappers and girls looking or great deals.

We had a lot of fun though. First we had to check out all the vendors to see what amazing deals we could score. I don't know if my scrapping tastes have changed or there's just not as many great buys out there but we seemed to only find a few hot things. Scenic Route had some cool kits and I got some screaming deals on a few of the Provo Craft metal tins for altering. Whoo hoo!

I got quite a few LO's done while I was there. Which is amazing in and of it's self. I'm a slower scrapper so some of my friends can get 4 Lo's done and Me... well, I get maybe 1 1/2. Friday I got 5 done! wanna see??

Yep I got all those done! The one of Kylie in the snow isn't completely finished. I need to get a fine tip black sharpie to write on the transparency.

I really like the one of me and my sisters. I got to play with my Heidi Swapp butterflies and my AMM August kit! Just beautiful colors and great embellies. I love the one of me and Lisa Bearnson. my first scrap celebrity!

It was a great day filled with fun and scrapping. I'm so glad I got to go!!

Saturday was a weird day. Over night the temperature dropped over 30 degrees and we were all bundled in our winter coats... if we could find them. If you look closely in that first picture you will see SNOW!!!! Yes, SNOW!!!! Ok it wasn't sticking but it was cold enough to make big heavy flakes fall from the sky. The kids thought it was cool though, but I'm wondering where Fall went? we usually get a few weeks of Autumn... nothing grand llike the east coast but nice days in the 60's or 70's... cool but still sunny. Is this just a hint of whats to come? A wetter winter? More Snow? I guess we'll just see.

Off to another crop!

Yes the semi-annual Scrapbook USA Expo is here! I've been trying to get packed all day so I could be ready for my friend Shauna and her sister early tomorrow morning. I have to tell you it's been forever since I've had friends that live close and even nicer that they share my passion for scrapping.
My day was so full today I didn't think I would ever get to the packing though. I got to go visit a friend today, come home, eat lunch, and clean the family room. Then I had friends over to my house. We talked and chatted about everything while all the little boys played in Jesse's room. I finished taking pictures and filling out my application for the design team at A Million Memories. By then kids were home and I had to be the big meanie... get a snack, do your homework, do your chores, practice your viola/bass. I'm grateful for an understanding husband who can hear the distressed sound of my voice on his cell and offers to pick up stuff for dinner because I somehow didn't have time to get to the store.
I got to sit down for a bit after that and watch my Thursday shows after dinner... Ugly Betty and Grey's Anatomy. Gotta love TiVo! you can rewind and pause, not to mention fast forward through all those commercials!
Now my packing is all done, only three bags! that's an accomplishment for me! Usually I'm hauling at least five with me now. that's the one downside to cropping away from home... can't take it all with you!

Well it's nearly one and I have to get up and make sure all the kids look their best, it's picture day tomorrow! and then off to scrap! Whoo hooo!!! I'll let you all know how it goes. :)

Going Digital??

The idea of going completely digital was never something I thought I would do, but after finally figuring out how to use my Photoshop Elements better I can see why so many people have done just that. It takes up loads less space, you just click you mouse and it's all cleaned up, you can do it anywhere since it's on your computer, and there are soooooo many freebies that you can download, that you could do literally do hundreds of pages without buying a thing.

See, I've had this digi kit by Jessica Sprague for a very long time and could not figure out how to use it. I tried many sites to find some kind of walkthrough when at last I found one! Super simple to get going once I knew which icon to click on.

See here's my first ever go at it! Looking pretty good! I'm sure you are all wondering who these people are... well it's Alison and Michele, owners of A Million Memories! They have been hosting one of the crops I told you about. One of the challenges, done by one of the Design Team members, was to create a page for them to wish them a happy 1st anniversary.

I had so much fun that I did another one! Now I know you all know this girl! On this one I used a kit from the veggie site by Rhonna Farrer and those big flowers are from designerdigitals.com by Lynn Grieveson.

I think that I'll always stick with paper Layouts. Creating something with my hands over creating it with my mouse is much more appealing to me. But don't be too surprised if you see more of these.

Poor thing...

Before I could get any of my scrapping done this weekend though, I got to visit the ER. My friend Kasi's not to only one who gets to have fun the hospital.

I don't know what it is about Kylie that makes her so accident prone. None of my other kids have had to go to the hospital for large wounds that need stitching. I have to say this ones pretty minor compared to her tripping and biting her tongue nearly off.

Kylie was just outside playing with her friends, riding on one of the neighbor's scooters. I'm thinking she must have hit a little rock and the Razor scooters wheel just didn't like it. Down she went! She got a few bumps and scrapes, but the biggie was her chin! She split it right open, not to the bone thank goodness. I tried not to look at it too much, but we could tell it need stitches. So I took her to the hospital. it's really nice that it wasn't crowded in there because we got seen right away and put in a room. Well not really a room, you can't call a big open air space with curtains a room.

The nurse was really nice and understanding about Kylie being nervous about the shots in her chin. She gave Ky a stuffed doll to hold. It came in very handy during the shots and stitches when I was hunched over with my head between my knees trying not to pass out! I am such a wimp!

The doctor told us to keep sunscreen on it for the next year to help with scarring and that eventually most of the scar will move under her chin as she grows. Lets hope the next visit won't be for SEVERAL years!

Been Busy Scrappin'

As you can see I've been a busy worker here. And yes I have been keeping up on the house too! Well.... laundry counts right?

Two of my favorite sites have been throwing crops so I thought double duty would be great! Most of my layouts fit into challenges in both groups.

We've got Kylie playing in the muddy run-off at the park. Emily in dance in 2001, she's in the center on the top row. Kylie at her school's dance festival.Emily's first day of school this year. And Ally's first day of Kindergarten.

Getting so many pages done this weekend makes me feel really good. Like I've put a dent in my overwhelming pile of pictures even though it's only a small one. Scrapping for me is not only a hobby, but a way to relieve stress and do something I love just for me.