thankful...

I was looking at our schedule and stressing out a bit over the lack of photo shoots, until this week that is. It seems Heavenly Father was giving us a break during the time we needed to work on our sprinkler system. The whole yard thing has been a little overwhelming but with all the help from family and tips from a neighbor, it's been a task worth conquering after all.

I have another page getting published - this time the Nov/Dec Issue of Simple Scrapbooks Magazine. I just received the call and I am so excited! They want to know all kinds of things about me and what inspired the page. I made every last bit of it, the paper, embellishments, illustrations, and took all of the photos. It's 100% digital - okay so 99% of my stuff is...what can I say?

I also have a birthday invitation and party favors being published in one of the fall issues of Digital Scrapbooking Magazine - look for Coleton's sweet face.

Also, be on the watch as I have a page with our family photo in it, the one on my purse, being published in the September Issue of Creating Keepsakes Magazine along with a free digital download, a first for me.

I met with a Bride on Tuesday to pick photos for her custom photo guestbook. Tyler photographed a bride on Wednesday. I photographed a baby last night and the photos are gorgeous and Tyler photographed a baby tonight and the photos are amazing! And tomorrow Tyler gets to photograph a family. In the morning though we are helping an older neighbor who needs some yard work done. I'm excited to teach my children (especially Haeley) more about kind acts of service.

There is a call for winter cover pages for a scrapbooking magazine and I am so excited. It was just the motivation that I needed to get these 5 favorite winter photos that I love, scrapbooked. I looked for ideas online, a jumping off point sort of thing and I found it! I am so excited I can hardly stand it! I wanted to make the pages for my family, but if they get published, then I will also be able to get the three copies of the 2008 family scrapbook that I want to have printed in January - I know thinking ahead, but I HAVE to! Besides, I got the idea that I needed for the month marker pages in those scrapbooks as well! YES! Anyway, I better go to bed or I will be singing the Sleepy Monster tune in the morning instead of being happy to be awake.

it's officially summer around here

We went camping on Friday and that means that it is officially summer around here! Haeley really wanted to go. We took time off from working on the sprinkler system to have some FUN with the kids. After shopping, I needed new sunglasses and jeans and eye liner, we loaded up the Jeep and headed up into the mountains. We didn't have to go very far. We camped by R* Creek and enjoyed a secluded spot not far off the beaten path. We walked down to the creek and the kids had a blast watching the dandelions float down into the creek. Then we played frisbee.



And I got a few photos of the kids.





I am really grateful for a husband who takes the time to be with his children, and not just be next to them, but to interact with them. I've seen the joy that this has brought into his life and into the lives of my children. That, in and of itself, brings me joy. He is also a great husband. We work great together as a team. We are far from perfect but very in love and we are learning together.



Today was stake conference. Well, last night was the 18 and older session and today we went as a family. I took a few notes when I went last night. Tyler watched the kids and his brother and their kids came as well. I received many answers to my prayers last night. I went with a prayer in my heart that I would be able to know what to do next to help me to be a better mother. I learned just what I needed to hear right now. I wrote down my impressions as well, the little thoughts of things I could do. Really, there is so much to do, and I decided that I will keep a journal, loose leaf, that I can write down those impressions and then when I do something that pertains to those, then I will write down what I did and what occurred. I felt a little overwhelmed, but felt that by doing these things, I will be prepared when the more difficult problems come around and I will be able to keep track of my progress as a mother and a daughter of God. I learned from listening to another's experiences, my neighbor's actually, more about my own experience with severe illness.

sprouts

last year, when I bought this plant I got 3 buds - this year we have plenty and it's beautiful. I spent $30 on plants last year so that I'd have something okay to look at as I sat and ate breakfast and looked out my kitchen window. The rest of the plants in the yard are starts from my mother in law's. In fact, she just ripped them out of the ground when we were getting the yard ready for her youngest's wedding. I asked if it was okay to try to get them to grow at my house. She was just going to throw them away. I got a bunch more this year and by next year, they'll be doing great. I found out you have to transplant them when it is cold and wet which we had a lot of this spring. They are all doing great and my front rocks around the driveway will look so much better come next spring. Needless to say, my yard is 95% dirt still so this photo of the few plants we have growing, really make is look great!



this is one of those rescued pieces from the over grow stuff at my MIL's house.


We actually got the garden planted. It is 15x35 feet. I think I planted way too many tomatoes but I want to learn to can this year, salsa and other such stuff. The funny thing is that we ran out of glue for the sprinkler system one night and still had 3 hours of good light left. Our neighbor let us borrow his tiller and Tyler worked for 2 hours on our solid hard ground. My mom gave me most of the seeds. I bought the tomato plants - the ones she gave me died because I planted them about 1 week too early. Sad! I think one might make it though. Anyway, I also bought the pumpkins seeds, corn seeds, and the onion starts. I spent just a few dollars on veggie seeds thanks to my mom's help. Most everything has sprouted, now we just have to see if we can keep it growing!

corn sprouts


pumpkin sprouts


bean sprouts:


Coleton sprout!


the one who brought it all together, my sweet husband.

people, people, people

can we all just be a little less judgmental? Today Coleton was laying on the floor of the bleachers and kept fussing and crying. I did what I could to help him calm down, but I still struggle with my energy level and my blood sugar is whacky since the chemo days and today it was low. Besides that, I've given all of my energy the past 2 weeks to the sprinkler system installation and I am exhausted. This mom kept giving me 'the look' and I was ready to pop off and tell her that she can judge me after she has gone through what I have gone through, but I didn't have the energy. Sheesh, swim lessons are only half an hour and he wasn't hurting himself or anyone else. He was just laying there fussing and I tried to hold him and tried to get him interested in his toys and I tried to feed him a snack. Can you all do me a favor today? When someone is doing something obnoxious, will you just please look away, say a little prayer in your heart for them, and send good vibes their way INSTEAD of giving them 'the look' and passing judgment. Whether this is for a complete stranger or a family member, you just never know what is going on for sure and maybe all they need is a kind thought, a bit of concern, and a lot less judgment.

By the way, we installed wire last night so we are almost done with the sprinkler system!!!

things in common

I met another mom today at swim lessons. Today is the first day of Session #2 - Level 3. We started talking because Coleton was being fussy after being up with allergies most of the night. Anyway, she has 3 kids - an older daughter and then boy/girl twins in the class next to Haeley. Her husband is from H*, my husband is from H*. They live in Prov, we used to live there a little over a year ago. She is from Tooele. I graduated from Dugway and used to drive to Tooele, the closest town with fast food, for real grocery shopping, walmart, and church dances. At the end we exchanged names finally. Her first name is my middle name. We'll at least get to be friends for the next two weeks. Session #3 and #4, we are going to go to a later time but still in the morning. The kids want to stay up late and I want us all to sleep in. Today I wanted to tell the teacher that he can let go of Haeley and let her swim by herself across the pool, but I think he'll figure it out in the next day or so. If not, then I'll let him know. Nothing like a bossy mother staring down at you from the bleachers upstairs. Years ago I taught swim lessons and out at Dugway, the parents had to leave completely while we were teaching, except on the last day. Anyway, I better get this house clean (beds made, dishes done, bathrooms done, still to go - counter tops, laundry) and get the sprinkler heads put together and in piles for which ever zone they'll go to. I promise to take photos of our yard - 3 zones completely done, pipe, drains, heads, and all. 3 out of 16 - not bad. I mean considering that we just have to put on a few drains and only have funny pipe and heads to install on the rest.

dirt, dirt, and more dirt...

This morning Haeley had her final day of swim lessons for Level 2. She even got a nice Swim America Award of Advancement. I think she'll do well in level 3, which starts next week. Not sure on level 4 - it is pretty advanced for a 6 year in her first year of swim lessons. She has a really good kick and confidence in the water which really makes me happy. She really enjoys the water and it makes her happy.

As far as our yard goes, I think things are coming along and I feel like I can finally say that I think we are over half way done with the sprinkler system. We've been working our fannies off and we're tired but we are starting to see it all coming together. Today I realized that we have two zones that need to be completed - weird things like digging under the front steps and stuff - as well as two smaller zones that need to be started. That means that we have 12 zones totally completely piped. I marked where all the heads need to be cut in on 11 zones this afternoon while the kids watched a movie. They were helping me at first but spent the whole time complaining. I know, the dirt is starting to get to me too. It's a lot of work, but kiddos, we have to work now in order to be able to enjoy our yard later. Besides, doing it ourselves means saving thousands of dollars. That means we'll be able to put in grass this year. Now it is nap time and I am going to relax and enjoy some time by myself for a few moments.

weather - do you see what I see?

If you squint really hard maybe you can see what came half way down the mountain side this morning. We are experiencing an unusually cold spring. Everyone said wait until June 1st to put your garden in. I waited until the 9th. We've had lots of rain the past few days which my garden is grateful for. But it will probably be grateful for the sunny weather at the end of the week too. I'll be grateful that it will allow Tyler to get the sprinkler system done - which you can see a little part of in the bottom of the photo. I, however, am enjoying the cooler weather as much as I can. Although it is June I had to turn the heat on this morning and warm us up a degree or two. The house was 64 degrees this morning.

Haeley loves swimming lessons. Aunt A* is there with her kids at the same time too and she said it sounds like Haeley is taking after her mom. She pushes off the wall and the teacher swims next to her all the way across the pool. He helps her turn around and she swims back. She doesn't like the side stroke - neither did I. I can't tell you how much I'd love to jump in and swim laps for an hour. It was such great therapy - both physically and mentally. I used to teach water aerobics at that pool oh let me see, about 12 years ago. Yikes, time flies! Have a great day and I hope that you enjoy your day and find all of the good in it.

there's a lot goin' on...

to start things out, my family arrived on Tuesday night for dinner and a movie. We grilled steak and shrimp and asparagus and had strawberries, oranges, apples, and bananas with fruit dip. (If you marinate petite sirloin in Kraft Zesty Italian salad dressing for 24 hours it is as tender and yummy as any expensive steak you can buy). My mom brought the fruit and I made the fruit dip - 2 packages philadelphia cream cheese and one LARGE jar of marshmallow cream - tastes best cold. Then they watched Pirates 3 in our theater room. My mom had been waiting all this time because they missed it in the theater and couldn't bare to watch it on their tiny tv. My mom wanted the room to rumble and it did - thankfully that room is under the garage and the rest of the house stays quiet. My sister and I sat and talked while she gave her baby a bottle and Haeley and Coleton and their two cousins played down in the toy room. Our toys are suddenly more interesting when someone else likes them. Early the next morning after the rain backed down to a drizzle the Guys including my husband, my dad, my sister's husband, my husband's brother, and my husband's dad got to work in the mud. My sis and her husband just put in their sprinkler system last Saturday so it was fresh in their mind and they drove 2.5 hours each way to help us with ours. I wish I had taken more photos but I was busy cooking and washing dishes. I ran the dishwasher 7 times in 2.5 days and we even ate lunches on paper plates.


Since my family is small and my sister has 3 kids, Haeley and Coleton got to play with their baby cousin all by themselves and they loved it. Coleton loved her soft hair but he didn't like it when she grabbed his clothes. Haeley played patty cake with her feet. It was sweet to see them interact with her so well. L* does this cute thing where she reaches out with straight arms and grabs your cheeks with the flat of her hands. It is so cute and they gave her the cutest nickname because of it.


After taking their photo with the baby, I switched to the wide angle and Coleton was wondering why I got so close to him with the lens. The kids piled onto my tummy and tried to find my eye through the lens. I was laughing so hard I could barely breath.


And then last night after my sister's family left for home, we had the full time missionaries over for dinner. It was the first time since we've lived in Utah that we've had them over. Growing up in Alaska and Alabama we had them over quite often because my dad was usually the Ward mission leader. After they left we went out in the back yard and started working on the sprinkler system some more. Haeley was throwing a fit about her loose tooth but wouldn't pull it out. We knew at this point it wouldn't be long. While Tyler and I were in the middle of gluing some pipe together she starts yelling about her tooth which she had finally pulled out all by herself. Everything stopped so we could get photos of this special little moment in time. She made it the entire year of kindergarten with all her teeth and one week to the day later she lost her first tooth. She's growing up so fast now! I know, braces are right around the corner. Thankfully we are stashing money away for things like braces because it's very likely that she will need them.

Swim Lessons

This is Haeley's first summer doing swim lessons. She has no fear of water and as long as she keeps paying attention to the teacher, has confidence in her teacher, and keeps practicing, things will go well for her with swimming. I took these yesterday morning. The teacher used the noodle behind her back to teach her to keep her tummy up and her legs straight at the same time. Today she was able to swim half the width of the pool and back on her tummy and her back unassisted. Her teacher swam right next to her. That was just kicking and not using her arms. I am sure it will take some time to get the timing right for arms and legs at the same time. Then there is that whole turn the head to breath thing. But I am so pleased with her progress in only 4 days. The teacher told me today to put her in the next level for the next set of lessons. I was glad because I wanted to get signed up in time. We still have 4 more for this set. The last 5 minutes of the lesson they tie the noodles around the kids and let them have free time. They get to kick and move all over the pool. The whole time we sit in the bleachers upstairs and Coleton eats his sandwich and watches his sister. He is surprisingly quiet the whole time.

last day of school

this is a momentous day. It's haeley's last day of kindergarten and tomorrow is her first day of summer break ever. If the rest of school goes this fast she'll be graduating in 3 weeks. where did the school year go? wow! she is already reading chapter books! I am so glad she goes to a school where they teach phonics (all 71 of them).

Another momentous thing happened yesterday. Haeley and I did hand stands in the basement. she did great. I on the other hand need my arm strength back. How I wish I could start lap swimming again. Maybe when Coleton goes to school - preschool - but we are still a long ways away from that since he is just barely 2. Anyway, Haeley and Coleton and I got a good laugh about it all.

Anyway, congrats little girl. I love you and I am grateful for your desire to learn.

memorial day family time

I am working on a family album this year. So I had better keep up with the new stuff and catch up on the old stuff (January - April). I am keeping it kind of simple. It's so much fun preserving these memories and it is so nice to be able to sit and relax while still getting something valuable done at the same time.

oh, have you seen the movie p.s. i love you? if not bring a box of tissues. I cried through the entire movie. I am not one for tear jerkers but I loved the romance in the movie. I am so glad I didn't see that one in theaters because I would have made a fool of myself bawling. anyway, the kid's movie is almost done so I had better turn this computer off!

trapped in my office...

There is often fought a battle between doing things with my kids and doing things for my kids. Last week I went with Haeley's kindergarten class to the local pool to learn about water safety. I loaded CJ into the stroller and walked from the elementary school to the high school with her entire class. It really was fun and the kids were well behaved. No, they didn't get to go in, just a hand or a foot. One of the lifeguards demonstrated different strokes for them. The other talked about safety.

This week, it's been about doing things for the kids. I finally got iMovie to do what I needed to do to make a slideshow for the kindergarten graduation this week. I made the sleeves for the DVDs and the teacher brought over a 50 pack of DVDs - the slide show is only 250 mb but the 600 photos are what took up all the room. I also had to decide which photos not to include in the slideshow because at 3 seconds each it would have been about 30 minutes but I succeeded and got it down to 11 minutes! I have been burning DVDs all day. And guess what, the last one just finished. I did get some folders organized on my computer and I made a two-page LO spread for Haeley's birthday. Well, I better go cook dinner!

Crazy day!

Landscaping

This is what our backyard originally looked like. Once we got the 200 truck loads of clay removed from the west side, they moved the topsoil from this backyard pile so that it was all over the yard. We stared at this all winter from our kitchen.


We put in a driveway last year and my MIL gave me some starts from her yard. I bought a few from a garden center because I didn't want to stare at plain old rocks and dirt from my dining table for years. We have one last pile of topsoil. I think we'll try and sell it to get a little more to put toward our yard. We have one little spot out front in a planter bed that I want to add rocks and some of that topsoil to, but that will not take very much soil.

Here you can see things once they moved the topsoil. It was a great thing we had all of that topsoil! You can also see all of the clay on the end - a 10 foot cliff of clay. We've stared at that for over a year not quite knowing what to do about it.


This was taken yesterday morning as the bulldozer got to work.


I love professionals! I showed them the landscape plan we had drawn up and made one suggestion and they created magic in my backyard!


Even this side looks so much better. I felt like I saw the flowers instead of the ugly dirt piles behind the rocks. These guys did in one day what would have taken us 30 years with a shovel!


We are getting it trenched next week. My flox have bloomed and my creepy crawlies are getting ready too. 5 of 6 lilies look like they'll make it and all of my front creepy crawlies except I'll have to move one. I can hardly wait to plant my veggies - that means we have to get sprinkler in by June 2nd or so. AHHHHHH!

Dance Revue

Haeley had her dance Revue last night and it was so much fun! Grandma and Grandpa Patterson were there. Grandma and Grandpa Vanderbeek were there. This was Haeley's 3rd revue and next year she will be performing in the big revue - this one is for the preschool and kindergarten girls. I am excited for her and nervous all at the same time. They had 4 numbers performed by the older girls last night to give the parents a good idea what their little ones will eventually be able to do. It was stunning. Those girls really work hard and what a fun way to keep your body strong! My Dad said he didn't realize how seriously they take their dancing here. He said he really enjoyed watching and his cheeks were sore from smiling so long. I enjoyed it too. My mom said she is going to go through her boxes of photos and find my dance photos. That'll be interesting...

All those little girls in their adorable costumes - cousin A* was in a blue Cinderella costume and it was gorgeous. She really looks up to Haeley and wanted to be an indian though. I loved both costumes - wish we could have had all of them for each girl. I loved the theme this year and since Haeley was in the Kindergarten class, she was in the Peter Pan ballet. There were Pans, Crocodiles, Pirates, Lost Boys, and Indians. Then later she danced as a cowgirl (tap dance) and then to It's a Small World (jazz dance) - but the new hip hop version. Anyway, tons of fun and Haeley smiled so big in each performance. She was never scared and she really got into the music.

Our SECOND yard!

Let me see, this is the second house we have had built and that means our second yard to put in. We had a landscaper draw up plans for us - addressing problems like drifting snow in the winter, bad drainage near our back rocks, and stuff like that. The guy called today and he is going to grade our dirt on Monday! Yes! He did our last yard and he did a fabulous job. Then we are going to have a trencher come out and them it's sprinkler time. There is a place here that makes your plans for free and then you just buy the parts. We figure it will save us thousands by putting the pipes together ourselves. We have many people who have volunteered to help us. We will do hydro-seed instead of sod this time. I just can hardly wait for the dirt to get covered up! I am always vacuuming the hardwood which is in every major walkway in our main level. Needless to say, all we had last year was 6 perennials that I bought and my MIL gave me some starts from her garden - she has flowering plants that crawl over the boulders and we have BOULDERS! The ones I started in June last year did fabulous - the ones from the fall well, only one survived the winter. So this year, she gave me 6 more of what I call creepy crawlies and she gave me two day lilies. The lilies were rather large and 5 years old, so I got 11 plants total out of the two. Now if I can keep them all alive! We have tulips that we planted last year in one little spot as a Family Home Evening lesson - you grow what you sow sort of thing. Other than the free ones from my MIL, nothing else will get planted this year because this whole grading and sprinkler and hydro seed thing is just about impossible to pull off. I am just so excited to get the dirt under control! My sister is in the same process - actually worse - they have to dig up their bad yard and start over.

HK & CJ @ Tepanyaki

We took a couple of photos of our children when we took my mom out to dinner on Saturday. They were so well behaved and I know that made all the difference for my mom.

Happy Mother's Day!

Yesterday we drove down to see my niece baptized and confirmed. Her father, who is a member of the bishopric and a high priest, baptized her. In our church we wait until children are 8 (the age of accountability) to be baptized. It was a special experience. B is the oldest grandchild and so all of her cousins look up to her. I asked Haeley after how she felt and we talked about the good and peaceful feelings that were present at that time.

Then we drove up to meet my mom at Tepanyaki Grill - yum! - for dinner. She kept going on and on about what a special treat it was. The food there is delicious! And the kids were on their best behavior. Coleton even tried chopsticks. He wasn't really thrilled when they lit the whole grill on fire - but it was quick and he survived! He kept an eye out for our chef the rest of the evening. After we went over to my mom's house and she gave me 4 tomato plants and some seeds. We are getting excited to plant around June 1st.

We drove home but stopped to get shakes at a fast food drive up and guess who was in line in front of us - Grandpa and Grandma Vanderbeek. We'd gone separate ways at 5pm that day and about 60 miles south of where we were. Small world!

The kids went right to bed and slept in this morning until 8:30am! Yahoo! We got ready for church and at church they gave each of the mothers a special book (I haven't opened mine yet). I taught Relief Society today - lesson 9 in the manual - tough one! I got a lot of comments and I think the sisters taught themselves the lesson. I struggled in preparing for this one and worked on it for hours and hours but I just gave it to the Lord today and He really took care of the rest. Our neighbor, John, is in the ICU with kidney failure, so if you do not mind, please keep him and his family in your prayers for the next few days. He needs all the prayers he can get right now. He made it through the night and so we are very grateful for that!

Jackson Hole - quiet season

This time of year is the quiet season in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. It's a great little tourist town with plenty of outdoorsy things to do. The rates are great and the eating establishments are just opening back up this time of the year. There are a lot of cyclist out, but not a whole lot of traffic otherwise. It was a quiet and peaceful weekend up there. We splurged and stayed at the Snake River Lodge in Teton Village instead of the Elk Antler Inn just north of Jackson. We even had the hot tubs and swimming pool to ourselves two nights in a row! We saw elk, bison, coyotes, osprey, 4 beaver, and two hilarious dogs (see photo below). We went snow shoeing on the edge of Jenny Lake with the Grand Teton mountains as our background. We laughed and held hands. Everything was still so frozen up there. We haven't been on a trip together without other family members being with us since our honeymoon. We've been to Alaska, Chicago, New York, Washington DC, Arizona, and a few other places, but always with family. Now we are planning something we can do with our kids this summer - maybe a hike to a cave or something fun we haven't done before with our 2 little ones. Now if we can just get our grass in, we might be able to enjoy camping in the backyard once or twice this year like Haeley has been begging to do! Kids are so simple sometimes, it's great!





Freedom, Wyoming - population 100 and two big dogs sitting in the middle of the road between the church and the garage - wish they turned out in focus but I don't know much about Tyler's camera!

Year book 2007

I guess you could call it their personal year books. But I finally finished Haeley's last night and got it uploaded. They were both about 50 pages long. An opener, a family page, 2 page spread per month, and then all the random pages I made throughout the year. It was a fun project - but this means that it's the first of May and I have already completed 53 pages! (But that was last year's - so it's all catch up.) Today I scrapbooked CJ's birthday party (a 2 page spread) and started on Haeley's. I am thinking of doing a family album next year to make easier - just make a couple copies of one book instead of 2 separate books. Plus I really want to get more of my relationship with my incredible husband in there and not just my fun little kiddos.



I added a bunch of photos to our photography blog If you have any advice on reception centers in the area - please send it my way!

Someday I will post the Shutterfly slideshow - someday.

Good news! We have a landscape plan now! And we are having our sprinkler plans drawn up right now. I just really really want grass this year! REALLY, REALLY! And now I am going to quit blogging and go to bed!

getting better

I've been sick for the last 9 days and struggling just to keep up with the little things - like eating, dishes, laundry - so I haven't been doing much on the computer. I read one of my friend's blogs and she was talking about body image and how we are created in the image of God but how few of us are really happy with what we have. Here was my reply:

I was thinking the other day how good I looked a few years ago compared to now, and how I wished I could get all that back. Chemo did a number on my skin - but it was better than the alternative. I miss my long hair, but it's slowly growing back - although I know that at any moment it could be gone again. Having cancer really changed how I look at things - life seems much shorter now and well, I truly believe if we are faithful, and sacrifice our will for His, he will make it all up to us and it is all worth it in the end. As far as the body image goes, one day it hit me, I better enjoy it now because in a few years I'll be looking back at May 1, 2008 wishing I look like that again!

Here is something I should have added. When I was sick, I didn't look very pretty. I was bald, my skin sagged, and throwing up frequently is not pretty at all. I could do next to nothing - someone else cared for my children, cleaned my house, made our dinners, etc. I couldn't even scrapbook, read, or watch tv for months. I found this quote at lls.org :

While you may have cancer, YOU ARE NOT YOUR ILLNESS. And although treatment may temporarily affect your appearance and capabilities,YOU ARE NOT WHAT YOU LOOK LIKE OR WHAT YOU CAN DO.

So I asked myself, "Then what am I?" I could never find the answer inside myself. For months I pondered this question. Then I prayed about it. I remember when the answer came. We were in the car on a rainy day while running errands. As I stared out of the window the answer came clear as day into my mind, "You are a daughter of God." And that was enough. I felt a happiness and peace I had never felt before. We hear it all the time, we sing 'I am a Child of God' on a regular basis, but it is so different when the Holy Ghost whispers to you personally and reminds you of who you really are. This time, it really sunk in.

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.