busy, busy, busy

I am almost done with Leslie's 40 page wedding album! I've been fighting this terrible cold and stayed in bed until 2:30 yesterday afternoon. Tyler took the kids to church by himself so I could rest in peace and quiet. It's been a while since he's had to go by himself and over all this year I've been less sick. I did go with him to invite a few people from church to the Elder's Quorum family home evening activity and I finally got to talk with one of the ladies I am assigned to visit teach. Usually I work on my family history on Sunday afternoons. But that didn't happen yesterday. Well, I better get back to that album!

Here is the final page:

3 things, cards, cancer, and dreams

Good CARD news - First of all, now I know what to give you all when you are expecting! Thanks for making it easier on me! You'll just have to let me know which designs you like the best.

I showed them to my friend and she wants to sell some of them at her salon. She said her clients want something other than just their gift card (credit card looking thing). They want something cute, like my cards, to put them in to give to the people they love. Now I have to make a clever way to keep track of them. I have to make some other designs. And I need to buy a little display rack (got any ideas of where to find something like that?). I found cute plastic sleeves to put them in. The cards are 4x5.5 inches. WHAT WOULD YOU CHARGE FOR THEM? I have no idea. I know how much they cost me to make, but no idea what to charge! Without knowing what it cost to make them, what is the first price idea that comes to your mind?

cancer:
I've been so busy and sick this week that I missed celebrating my cancerversary - the day I was diagnosed. APRIL 21st!!! It's been 2 years and it has also been 1 year and 4 months since I finished treatment (chemo and radiation). Coleton was just 4 weeks old and Haeley had just turned 4 a few days before. Needless to see, every day is better than the last and I can hardly believe how time has flown.

dreams:
so the other night I had a dream where I had a severe pain in my side. I woke up with it and spent hours laying there in serious pain. Then the next night I had a dream that I had tonsillitis so bad it grossed out the doctor (they took out my tonsils when I was 21) and I woke up with a bad sore throat and a cold. SO IF YOU CAN'T FIND ME TOMORROW - HOPEFULLY I AM IN TAHITI!

thank you card gifts

So, if you were having a baby and someone gave you thank you cards, would you be offended? A little while ago, someone gave me thank you cards and some tickets to the ballet. I LOVED it - Coleton's birthday was coming up and it was just the right amount of cards. I didn't have to go to the store at all and they were great cards. I loved them. They were so handy. And I thought, what a great idea! Since she and I both like making cards I wasn't offended at all and we had been talking about how Card Groups never do enough thank you cards.

So someone I know is having a baby soon and I decided I wanted to make 8 thank you cards and then something else like a couple of burp cloths. I just can't seem to get motivated to crochet, but I started making these cards in adobe illustrator - a doodle type graphic - and I liked them so much, I made 4 different versions. I even personalized one (4 copies) but didn't do that to the rest unless they decide at the last minute on a different name. I did put 'thank you' on 3 of the designs.

I even made matching envelopes with their return address already on it and the baby carriage in the upper left and the rattle by the name their sending it to (they get to fill in the 'to' person name and address). I figure when you are big and pregnant the last thing on your mind is going to the store to find cute thank you cards.

WHAT DO YOU THINK? Would you like to get a stack of thank you cards like this at your baby shower?

Birthday Party

Haeley really enjoyed her party today! It was so fun to watch the girls jump up and dance in the theater room during Enchanted. We enjoyed cake and ice cream after. We sent the girls home with little bags we made to look like popcorn bags, filled with m&m's, mini microwave popcorn bags, a little notebook and pen, and some glitter pencils. I sent as many balloons home with the girls as I possibly could. Those little 6 years old are so happy and full of energy. It was just wonderful to have them here today!

another great surgery

I got to spend some time with Mariska, her mother, her aunt, and some of her cousins on Monday. Mariska had heart surgery again today. She's out of surgery and doing great. The Dr is just coming in to talk with her mom soon. Thanks for your prayers for this baby girl!

my totes

I got a diaper bag and a petite bucket tote of my own - you can see two of the totes I ordered for clients on my photography blog. Once I don't need the diaper bag anymore, I may convert it into a photography bag, but that is only just a thought right now. I have 3 more that I need to photograph with family and clients. There is just something about seeing these in real life that just makes them sell themselves. On both of my totes, I chose to have photos put on both sides. It was funny to see the groom last night trying to figure out how they printed the photo on the bag. Well, it's printed on the microfiber fabric and then sewn together. These really are custom and I LOVE it! It was fun to add my own elements to it - things I created in adobe illustrator. One of these days I want to print a full on scrapbook page - Haeley wants her own bag but I wanted to make it a dance bag and so we need to photograph her in her dance costume but she will not have it for a few more weeks. Too fun!

BUSY WEEK

Just posting something short. It's a busy week! My SIL had her baby blessed yesterday. Today my best friend from high school is visiting. Tonight we photograph a bride and groom at the temple - better light, less crowded, and more relaxing for them and that means they'll look better. Tomorrow we photograph their wedding and their reception. Possibly their luncheon. We'll see - that one would just be a favor to the caterer. HK goes back to school tomorrow. Wednesday we are celebrating her birthday at school. Dance class is back in session Wednesday. Haircuts, nails, album design, and then Haeley's birthday party on Saturday - only one person has rsvp'd. What is up with that!? I hear that people just don't do that anymore. Guess I shouldn't have put it on her invite. I just wanted to know how many thank you bags and movie treats to buy. Maybe I SHOULD do a cake instead of cupcakes. We'll see. Oh and my husband just emailed and said that the photo bags are here. I'll post photos later. Take care!

growing a garden

Well one of the local nurseries came and spoke to us last night at our Relief Society Enrichment night. (First of all it was nice to have some adult people to talk to for a change) And they were so knowledgeable. I learned that most of the seed we plant is hybrid. It likes warm soil - 60 to 70 degrees. So it you plant around the 1st of June, it'll catch right up to all your neighbors who planted early and you'll get great veggies. I learned that plants want to go to seed, so don't trim tomato plants back, trim their roots with a shovel on one side in September and they'll ripen faster. He said he quits watering his tomato plants the end of July.

He also said he waters really heavy about once every two weeks. This makes the roots grow longer. He puts a granular fertilizer on once every 6 months. He has a gorgeous lawn. One of the ladies was dying because her husband waters all night long every night. So she asked to make an appointment to bring him over to talk with the nursery owner. Overwatering actually leaches the things out of the grass that keep it green, so you end up with yellow grass. And chemical lawn sprayers - they use a water based fertilizer so the first time you water, it's gone, that is why they reapply and reapply and charge you a ton!

He said use Ferti-loam instead of miracle grow on your plants and veggies. Aneheim and Garden Salsa are good salsa peppers. Roma tomatoes are the best for salsa because they are a drier tomato. I can't remember the good eating ones. I'll have to dig out my notes. If you are growing rows of tomatoes plants , use cinderblocks and cattle panels instead of cages and it keeps them off the ground better. Rip them out of the ground just before the first frost and hang them upside down in your garage or basement and you'll have ripening tomatoes until Thanksgiving.

Don't mix dirt and potting soil. Plants hate it and their roots can't grow in it. Dirt has a lot of bacteria that plants hate and the potting soils don't have it. If your potting soil smells like redwood, put it back (it's too salty) and get one that smells like dirt. It's a good idea to buy one really good pot a year if you like them. Buy one that has been fired - it won't crack in the winter.

Grapes take about 3-4 years around here to get going, but they are worth it. His now grow up his 60 foot pine each summer and he cuts them back each winter.

Don't trim your roses in the fall at all - they need the vitamins from the rose hips to strengthen their roots. Trim them in the late spring.

It takes a lot to kill day lilly plants. best to split them in the fall. if you split them in the spring, it will be next summer before they flower.

I am excited to see my flox bloom this year, they have crept all over the boulders in the back and it looks awesome! I've got to get some more starts from my MIL this year for out front since we have a driveway this year and not a mudslide! And I can't wait to see the tulips we planted for FHE one night - Haeley is especially excited. And hopefully we'll get our sprinkler system in soon enough to plant a veggie garden. Tractors and trenchers could be a problem in June.
So here we go!

car shopping

we went car shopping today - at least now I know which car I want, but the salesman has a high pressure, lying, jerk - and so I will not be buying my car from him. my parents watched the kids while we were out get hounded. and then when we got back, my mom gave me a bunch of seeds for my garden this year. I am a little nervous, the only thing I have grown is tomatoes. Guess we'll see how it goes, but it is really something I want to do. I have lots of neighbors with lots of know-how in this area. Now if I can just get Tyler to buy me a freezer, we can grow enough green beans to freeze and eat for a year - my kids love the frox=zen premium green beans cooked with minced garlic - yum!

Let's just say yesterday was interesting...

Yesterday we were running around in hyper mode most of the morning - but I got to relax on Friday so I am far from complaining. After school, Haeley's cousin invited her over to play. I said that they had to get their homework and lunch done first and then she could come over. She leaves and then about 15 minutes later she is walking up the driveway, rather upset, with our neighbor Jason - who is a highway patrolman and home during the day. He has Tyler on the phone (he used dispatch to find him) because Haeley told him that no one was home. So now Tyler is thinking something is wrong with me. But when Jason spots me through the window he realizes everything is ok. What Haeley meant was that her cousins were not home. Grandma had taken H & A to see Horton Hears a Who. Haeley came in the house sobbing. She sat in my lap and cried for quite a while. I was down right mortified about the whole thing. Ahhh! I know she was tired but when I saw Jason walking up I really thought Haeley was in trouble, not ME! either way, not good.

Then after dinner, as a family we took a drive up to the reservoir that feeds the reservoir we can see from our house. It was still solid frozen - just maybe a foot or so of water showing along the banks. Tyler said in the 30 years he has lived in this valley, he has never seen that place frozen over. It was beautiful. I know right where I'd put a cabin up there if I could! Then we turned around from where we parked, CJ wanted to throw rocks in the the water, and there were something like 28 deer on one hillside. We counted about 40 while we were up there. I think the most I have seen at one time is 14 - so this was really cool. I usually tease Tyler that we never see any wild life when we go looking for it. We weren't looking for it last night. We splashed through the mud puddles and had fun in the Jeep.

Then when we got home we had a treat. Ice cream. Tyler and Haeley had vanilla with chocolate syrup and I had mint chocolate chip. CJ wanted dinosaur chicken nuggets. Then he didn't want them, but didn't want ice cream. Tyler figured out that he wanted the chocolate syrup so he poured some on one nugget. He LOVED it. So he poured it on the rest of them and CJ scarfed them up. I haven't laughed that hard in a very long time. I really was trying not to gag, but it was so funny.

Haeley and Coleton

There are these new cute bags that I have started ordering for my photography clients. They are also a great way to advertise my photography business. So I couldn't decide on what I wanted on my tote. At the last minute I rushed the kids downstairs to the studio and photographed them together. Lots of chocolate later, we finally got this!



My bag should be here in 2 weeks and I can't wait to share them with you. Just think about what you could do with them and your family. I really wanted to make a dance bag for Haeley - maybe for next year. I wanted an up to date photo of her in a recent costume and her revue is in 6 weeks, so it won't be long. You can see two of the specials we are running on our site. In the meantime I am getting a catalog together with photos from our clients and we'll be offering them as a special product, like our canvas prints. If you know anyone getting married and you refer them to us and they pay for the sapphire or diamond collection, we'll get you your own bag as a thank you from us!

In the meantime, anyone got any ideas for birthday gifts for a 6 year old girl? It's getting harder and harder every year. I'd like to get her a small digital camera - but it needs to some thing affordable, needs a flash, and it needs to be able to take a beating! Got any ideas?