a few layouts to share. the first two were done at the crop at my house this weekend. it was really nice to see {almost} everyone. we sure missed shanna and kerry big time. we ate, shopped, ate some more. i think we scrapped too. actually i think everyone got a lot done. that first one of anna was done with bo-bunny. cuz i love everything shanna does with that company and i am loving on their lines right now. i also used the stampin' up! scallop circle and top note die cuts. love those.

the second one was done from michelle's lifted book. i rocked that lift. i'm a tater. and i used stampin' up's scallop edge punch that is a must have. and i got a little wordy on this layout. i mean really. i had to hold back. i almost put good on there.

the other two are digi layouts that i did. myself and one other person, gee i can't remember her name, have taken up the digital scrapping. yes i remember us both vaguely swearing we would never give up our paper and glue. but it has been fun to find a new way to do something i love. and as you can see i haven't given up the paper and glue. altogether.

and now on to more important stuff. me. my weight. my inability to do anything about it has all changed people. AS OF TODAY. yes, i said it. i started the 6 week body makeover today. and in 6 weeks from now i will report on this blog what happened. in that 6 week time. from now until 6 weeks. got it? good. cuz i know there are a lot of things i can't change right now. but my weight ain't one of them--i can change that. and i will. it's a new day people...L

this cute little girl in the pic with anna lost her mom this week. i'm sad and shocked all at once. the mom had two daughters whom were both in carson's and anna's class at school. we have had them over here to play--they've been to each other's birthday parties, sleepovers and all sorts of class events. i saw this mom last monday on a little local field trip with anna's class. i knew she had recently lost her mother and talked to her about that. i told her i had some cute pics of anna and her daughter and i wanted to get her email address to send them to her. of course by the end of the field trip i hadn't gotten it and so never got to send the pictures to her. i just realized that a moment ago and it really made me sad. it made me realize that life is fragile. and short.

i am so sad for the two little girls that now have to grow up without a mom in their life. when ever things like this happen i am confronted with my own mortality and with the events in life that can alter you or people you know in a heartbeat. i can't imagine a life for my girls with out me in it. i'm not a perfect mom but i know that out of all the things that i attempt or try, i'm really good at the mom thing. it's what i always wanted to be. i enjoy it. i'm proud of it. i like having my kids around me. i like the relationships i have with my children. brianne and i emailed back and forth today and i'm so lucky to have that. children that want my opinion. children that need my help and love. someone for them that they can just say--hey, i'm having a crappy day will you listen to me? or hey--i just made this fabulous thing and i want to show you. or hey will you wipe my butt? kiss my ouchie? listen to my song? rub my back? lay down with me? leave the door open? kiss me goodnight? i can't even stand to think of not being there for them. and it's not like i'm all selfish and would miss those things--though i would--it's more that i want my kids to have me be there for them.

the weird thing is that some friends and i were also emailing back and forth today about the crappy economy and how it's affecting us and our families and how we deal/don't deal with it. and i told them that as i was thinking all this week about my life and everything going on i find out about this mom being in the hospital and how it kind of yanked me out of my pity party and helped me to remember how wonderful things are in my life and how many blessings i do have. and i told my friends about this woman whom i had just seen a week ago and what problems do i have compared to that? i didn't know until a few hours ago that she had died.

anyway--life is tough, hard, stressful and difficult. sometimes it seems it's more work than anything. but there is plenty to be grateful for. like if you can tuck your kids into bed tonight and tell them you love them, well, life is pretty damn good...L

just a little stampin' up going on at my house tonight. thought i would share some pics. and since i have been working on nothing else lately i'm too tired to blog. however i will get my energy level back up for when my scrapbooking peeps--minus my beloved kerry and shanna--descend upon me on saturday--full of starbucks and pepsi and hopefully scrappy projects...L

a quick project i made this week for my girlfriend erin whose pics are below. we had a baby shower dinner for her friday night and that was so fun. REAL FUN! it was a night out with grown women. can you hear the delight in my voice? and i made erin a quilt for baby reef who is due on the 30th.

then last night we took the girls to the fair. there are two ways to look at a fair.
dave's way and my way.

dave's way: you know i can't believe you actually want to go on any of these rides. should we let the kids ride them? do you see who put these rides together? i'm pretty sure they woke up this morning, lit a doobie and started putting rides together. hey earl--does this look good to you? i have a couple a pin's and bolts left over.

my way: WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

hey--when you grow up in a small farm town all you have to look forward to is the fair! i loved it every year. i even remember the year i had the chicken pox and couldn't go and how i cried. i don't know what i love more--the toss you around, throw you up in the air, spin you until you want to puke rides, or the food. ahhhh, the food. corndogs, soda, funnel cakes, caramel apples, fry bread, waffle cones, cotton candy. yum. no pics this year because we went late. but everyone had fun and even dave admitted how fun it was to see his little ones get such a kick out of it. and the death toll stayed at ZERO.

some fun stampin' up projects coming up soon so stay posted and have a great week...L

my first official photoshoot...



i had my first official photo shoot this weekend. this is my good friend erin and her family. erin is due with her third child (a boy!) in a few weeks. she wanted to have some photos of everyone's hands on her belly so she could send out christmas cards with that photo. so i was happy with the photos i got. i was a little nervous but more calm than i thought i would be. so tell me what you think--i'd love to hear it...L

just been doing a little digi scrapping lately. and i can blame it all on kerry and ali. cuz kerry had to have these overlay frames that ali made and then of course i had to have them and who knew--a couple of diehard paper scrappers got really interested in digital scrapping. so it's been fun to learn new things and try out some cool techniques. i will tell you that i will never give up paper and glue. i love the feel of lumpy, bumpy layouts and cards. but the really cool thing about digi scrapping is that there is no mess! it's so nice to do a layout and when you are done you just click off the computer. i love that. cuz i'm so not a cleaner upper kind of girl. i'm more like the kind who makes a mess and wants it to magically clean itself up. which we all know does not happen.

everyone have a great weekend. and remember this--only chuck norris can prevent forest fires...L

I'm back...







guess who came to visit me? my sis! down from georgia for a little bit with her new boyfriend, they came up to see me. we had a birthday party for dave and invited my cousins that deb and i grew up. lots of fun. so of course my sis and i had to pose for pics. carson took these of us. oh--and that's paul, her 10 year younger boyfriend. so nice. i liked him a lot.

in other news dave and i went to see "traitor" last night. wow. that movie was awesome. so edge of your seat. and don cheadle. well, he's got to be one of my fave actors. he always is so good in everything he does. and everyone else in that movie was fantastic. just one of those movies that makes you think. my favorite kind.

and i cut my hair. if the pics didn't give it away. time for a change for me. i needed to get back to my roots--no pun intended. i was getting tired of the whole hair do routine. so on a whim i went and got it cut off. i'm liking it. i'm really a short hair kind of girl. suits my personality to a T. having it longer for 3 years was fun and different. but my spunk needed to come out again. i'm so needing some spunk back in my life. hopin' this haircut will give me the jumpstart...L

happy sabbath. a few cards i did with some stamping up products.

and a big happy birthday to david who turns 48 today! i love you...L

music--it's a big part of my life. i can't even imagine what life would have been like to have had itunes and an ipod as part of my life growing up. i would have loved it. but a lot of today centered around music for me. today i was feeling grumpy and needed to clean my house and work on a scrapbook for my sister. so i turned the music up loud and was listening to it all day. i remember brianne asking me what i did to handle stress. i told her one thing that i do and that works is i go sit outside with my ipod and listen to my favorite songs. it always helps.

my girls went to the first dance of the year. it was the coolest thing. i had to write it down before i forgot. it started this week when carson bought her ticket for the dance. she told me that a boy had asked her to the dance. actually he had his friend ask for him. and when carson told him no she heard the boy go back and tell him that she had said no. then carson said that she heard the boy tell his friend "go back and beg her!" how cute. my baby being asked to a dance. it's so weird to see my next generation of girls becoming young women.

so taylor and carson both went to the dance. each of them brought friends home from school and it was so funny to see the difference between my girls. carson and kylie choosing their outfits and curling their hair and putting on makeup and getting ready. taylor and isla sitting on the couch eating popcorn and watching spongebob until aproximately 10 minutes left to go. no hair fixing, application of makeup or changing of clothes. so wildly opposing those two girls of mine.

then on the way to the dance taylor and her friend were talking about how they would love it if they played all '80's music at the dance. i told them if they had gone to my dances thats what they would have heard. it was funny because kerry and i had been talking about music and old shows from our youth today. so taylor mentions how she would have loved to be an "adolescent" in the '80's. what a crack up.

well carson and kylie didn't have their dance tickets so i walked to the school with them to make sure they could get in. music is blaring and i watch my girls go in with nary a look behind. i wanted to sneak in so bad. first--to just jump into that music and let it carry me away with the rhythm and to dance and enjoy life. second--i wanted to watch my girls--to see how they enjoyed themselves and see life from their angle. their were a few other parents there and i could hear them telling their kids to have fun. i'm sure this was the first dance for some parents too. when i left i turned the music up loud in the car and listened to the b-52's and talking heads. and i swear i was about to OD on the nostalgia. remember "pretty in pink" and that scene with molly ringwald and annie potts where she has her old prom dress on and is reliving her prom? i swear that is what i felt like.

when i picked them up they all had had a great time. carson got asked to dance by a boy she likes. and her and her friends went over and danced with a boy that was not dancing with anyone. and taylor. well, taylor. a boy asked her if she went to this school and she told him no that she just came to the dance for fun. she's starting to scare me with how much she is like me.

i was so glad that they had had such a good time. it made me happy. happy for youth and sweetness and innocence and simpler times. ahhh--whoever said youth is wasted on the young was right...L