carson has been riding her bike a lot lately. so cute to see her out there. and usually when she goes her sisters follow. and i love when they all go outside and leave me inside. i usually lock the door and pretend i don't here them knocking. ha ha

carson has been doing really well in school lateley too. we had to switch her "teaching team" because she was having such a hard time with them. and now the difference in her teachers is amazing. carson is getting straight A's and actually likes school. ok-that's stretching it. she doesn't like school. but she likes it more than she did.

and she just got made the beehive president in church. the bishop set her apart and gave her a beautiful blessing and told how she had such an influence around everyone. and she does. she is such a sweetheart and is loving and kind to everyone and loads of fun to be around. and she's a clothes' thief. if i am ever missing something i know where to look. in fact she's wearing my skirt and i think everything else of mine in the pics...L

this picture was snapped a few days before christmas. all that haley really asked for for christmas was some barbies, and some more barbies. and since she got what she wanted my bathtub looks like the picture below every day. cuz haley likes nothing better than taking a bath. and having her barbies bathe with her.



last night i read a story that haley had written and drawn pictures for in school. it went something like this: once upon a time there was a girl named haley. there was a boy named tate. the boy named tate said 'i like you.' the next day he played over. and then they got married. the end.

so cute. i love my haley. she's my baby...L

a very simple layout. last year on our way to cali we stopped by the homes where i grew up. i took some pictures and even grabbed some cotton from the fields by my old house. i plan on doing another page to this and putting in some more specific memories.

anyway--happy sabbath...L

a few more layouts that i got done this weekend. happy monday...L

My Own Worst Enemy

look at me. i have been productive. i tell you. yesterday was such a great day for me. because it all happened. i combined work, motherhood and me into one day. and yes--it was a christmas miracle. i went to work, went grocery shopping afterwards, made a nice dinner that GASP! everyone ate, put away laundry, did the dishes, changed the air filters and some outside lights and made three digi layouts. all in a day's work people.

and speaking of work. oh my gosh. fun stuff. we have a new guy and he was outside while the assistant manager and i were eating lunch. so i notice his fly is open--the new guys', and i tell andy (the am) to tell him. of course he looks and starts laughing. now we are both laughing and new guy comes over to eat with us. he stands right in front of andy to get his food and both of us are dying laughing. so andy gets up and leaves me. i could barely talk to him. andy comes back and immediately starts laughing again and leaves. i am trying to talk to new guy but cannot keep a straight face. meanwhile andy tells our boss to tell him and he just opens the door and yells--hey dave--your fly is open and these two losers didn't tell you. talk about embarrassment. poor guy. i felt bad. i'm blaming andy for this one though.

ok--i'm leaving you with a new song for the day. check it out on itunes. i'm addicted to it. my own worst enemy--by stereophonics. love it...L

this was sent to me from someone from church in an email. i thought it was good enough to put on my blog. usually i just delete those church emails. ha ha

ARE YOU ON OVERLOAD ? PARABLE OF THE TOWELS

When my husband and I taught our children to do laundry, we started them out on the towels. Towels are easy to do: they're simple to sort, they don't have to be matched up in pairs, and they have No pockets that might be hiding nasty surprises like ballpoint pens or brown crayons or lip balm, any of which even a perfectly capable, laundry-seasoned adult can accidentally overlook in a wash cycle.


There is, however, one common mistake that my children (and even their father) tend to make with towels. They figure that as long as they can keep smashing those towels into the washing machine, they can keep adding more and more to the load.


One day I was working in the kitchen when I heard a horrendous noise emanating from the laundry room in the basement. I rushed down to check it out and found the washer groaning and rocking like a crazed cow. Quickly switching it off, I opened the lid and saw a wash of towels, crammed in so tightly I could barely pry them out. Now, I have a large-capacity machine, but it was never meant to hold fourteen, full -size bath towels!


Sure, there were fourteen towels that needed washing that day. But as nice as it would have been to be able to throw then in all at once and get it over with, the washer simply doesn't work that way. All you're doing when you try to stuff that many towels into one load is ruining both the machine and the towels. An overloaded washing machine is thrown out of balance and can't do its job properly.


I understand this principle and have explained it with infinite patience to my husband and to each of my five children in turn. But I still haven't become very adept at applying it in the larger scheme of my life. Believe me---it does apply. I'm always falling prey to notions that I can get one more thing into the load. This is probably because there is always more to accomplish than I have time or energy to do. I am a fourteen-towel woman stuck in a ten-towel-capacity life. And so I tend to operate frequently on overload.


Almost every woman I know is like this. We are really busy! We overload our days with things that truly need to be done and then drop into bed at night wondering why we feel so out of balance. We need to realize that it's better to have ten clean towels in the morning and four set aside for another day than to have fourteen not -so - clean towels and a broken machine. We're in this life for the long haul -- if we don't maintain ourselves properly, we will break down.


-- (Introduction) "Take Two Chocolates and See me in the Morning"


Remember, Moderation in ALL things! Happy New Year!

moderation in all things has always been my motto in life...L

it's been a while. i haven't had much time for much of anything. let alone blogging. but i'll put a tiny update on here. nothing earth shattering. just the same ol', same ol'. i did manage to take a few pictures at christmas. the above one is of our christmas eve outing. christmas is over. let the bells chime. totally not in the christmas mood this year. but i think the girls all enjoyed it. dallas too. it was so good to have him home. he left on new years day and there were many tears by all of us here. brianne and jeff enjoyed colorado and much to my chagrin, i mean happiness, there was no snow storm blocking their path.

my sweet haley turned 6 last month as well. and as of yesterday she has two bottom teeth missing. her first baby teeth gone. i can't believe it. we took a trip to the dollar store today thanks to the tooth fairy. our tooth fairy leaves money--not notes that their room is messy. LOL

and i became a grandma finally. thanks to my 13 year old. ha ha taylor had signed up for the baby program at school and her and her friend got their babies the night of haley's birthday. taylor loved it and named her baby estelle. i made sure i put in earplugs to sleep that night. they had to change the baby, feed it, give it attention. it was fun to watch. taylor loved it. she loves babies. i also got the results of taylor's career test from school. turns out that her most agreeable career would be that of assassin or dictator. i'm so proud. and you never know--that might come in handy later in life.

today i spent my day off with my girls. we had a great time. we went shopping and ate out and sung tunes in the car and had fun relaxing. most of my time off of work is spent with more work. laundry, cleaning, cooking, etc. well, the house is a mess, the laundry is not done and we had taco bell for dinner. but more importantly i had fun with my kids and didn't worry about what wasn't getting done. this is the year i find balance in my life. time for me, time for my kids. time to let some things slide. so i might not be blogging as much or reading your blogs, but i will take time to enjoy life and be happy this year. happy 2009...L

just in case you don't get a christmas card from me this year. i have some blogworthy pics and tidbits but i'm tired and this is all i could muster up. happy holidays...L

i miss my daughter. sniff, sniff. she left a week ago and i'm still sad. i had such fun when her and jeff were here. i always think it will get better when it's time for her to go. but this time was especially hard for me. and i won't get to see her for christmas. unless there is one bad-ass snowstorm in colorado. and they have to re-route to AZ. and i would be really sad for jeff's family. ok--not really. i would be a little sad for them. but more happy for me. not really jeff.

is he still reading? yeah, i'd be ecstatic...L

more pics from my latest photo shoot...L

it's unusual for me to blog more than once in a week. now that i have started working i don't have a lot of time for things. in fact while i am writing this i still need to make lunches for everyone, pay bills, make birthday invitations and clean the kitchen. not to mention a few other what-nots. and i'm tired. and last night i sent a whiney, cranky, PMS-y email to kerry basically saying boo hoo i'm tired and cranky and i know i should be grateful for so many things but i'm not in the mood.

but today i found out that Dallas got a scholarship to BYU. for winter, spring and summer semesters. and i was ecstatic. and very grateful and thankful. and he got a job too. cleaning. no lie--at BYU. so i am humbled and grateful for blessings. happy for a great son. happy for a kind heavenly father. happy for friends who listen to me and help me out. the one sticking his hiney out in the photo--that's a scholarship award winner...L

happy holidays. i thought maybe having a cute christmas-y blog would get me in the spirit. that is yet to be determined. all though i do love seeing the lights and the smell of cinnamon/pine everywhere.

we had a lovely thanksgiving here. no pictures. i couldn't bring myself to take any this year. however i have taken some pics of the girls and of brianne and jeff and as soon as i download/work on those they will be up. but everyone helped cook and it turned out lovely. brianne made the absolute best pecan pie. i loved it.

then on friday brianne and i headed out shopping. we really had a fun time together. i can't ever remember going shopping on the day after thanksgiving. but we had fun and i did get some christmas gifts picked up. then brianne and carson got highlights and a haircut. brie and i ate lunch at her fave thai place here. then dave and jeff got the tree up and the girls put on all the decorations. very pretty.

i missed having dallas here. he went to california with his girlfriend and spent his 23rd birthday there too!!! happy birthday!! it sounds like he had a great time.

yesterday we all went down to mesa. we spent most of the day at my parents. i snuck in a trip to scrapbooks, etc. of course. saw kaelene! then we went over to our old neighborhood and let brianne visit with her old friend ashley and her cute baby. oh yeah, her husband was there too. LOL that was good to see their family. i actually stopped by our old house and met the new owners. that was cool. they love the house. i wanted to ask them to leave and just walk around my old house inside and out. ha ha

then we went to my friend's mom's 75th birthday party. my friend marian is my first husband's cousin. so this is a family that at one time WAS my family. when i was married to my first husband. so i got to see a lot of 'family' that i hadn't seen in a while. just like old times. and jeff got to meet brianne's side of the family that he hadn't met before. then we drove by the temple to look at the lights before driving back home.

so i had a photo shoot a week ago and these are some pics. and i also put a little christmas card together for them. i think it turned out cute. and yeah--that little one above is my anna. while i was there at the shoot anna asked me to take her picture. oh--my anna is a honey!!!

time to get ready for church. happy sabbath...L

a lot happening at the ubnoske house. especially when it comes to hair. anna decided she wanted to cut her hair. she has been asking for a while but i kept sidestepping the question. after all--she's really the only one with long hair left. so i kept asking her if she REALLY wanted it cut. she kept insisting that she did. so when taylor cut hers anna resumed her quest for the haircut. so i made the appointment. i knew she wanted it all cut off so i asked if they would take her hair as a donation to locks of love. they said they would. halfway through the haircut anna started to cry. poor thing. she has had long hair before and cut it off and didn't care so i wasn't ready for this. i really wanted a picture of her holding her donated pigtails but that wasn't going to happen. her dad ended up taking her out for ice cream and she eventually calmed down. but she really looks cute. she wanted bangs too so she got that.

of course while anna is drastically changing her hair i guess taylor decided to dye hers burgundy. with her dad's help. so there were a few drastic hair changes going on at once. it almost made me want to chop off my hair. oh yeah. already did!

then of course haley had to go and lose her first tooth. wow. my baby. i knew her tooth was loose but i had forgotten all about it. she was so excited. and the tooth fairy totally remembered.

thanksgiving is getting close and i can't wait to see brianne and jeff. they will be here a week from wednesday. brianne is planning to cook. i'm so excited. i have to work a few hours on thanksgiving day so this will be nice to have someone else doing the cooking. happy sabbath everyone...L

a few things while i have a spare minute. taylor got her haircut. so cute. she looks like she is ready to join a rock band. i got paid. yay. i did not mop in vain. also at work yesterday i got to drive a 27 foot truck back from anthem to our store. pretty cool. it was fun to have a 'break' from the normal job for a while. work is going well. i am so grateful to have a job that i can do basically while the girls are in school. it worked out perfectly for me. and keeps my weekends free. since i have a photo shoot this weekend and a scrap class to teach it will be busy.

i made some cards this week. a friend of mine up here owns a cool boutique in downtown prescott and she has agreed to try to sell some of my stuff in her store. so wish me luck. the weekend is almost here. and tonight i am going to remember to watch 'the office.' later...L

a few pics of the baby album i created last week for my niece. and a picture of ONE of the hallways i mop every day at uhaul--just times that by 6 and that is how many floors i mop a day. funny since i never mopped my own floors at home if i could help it! ha ha

nothing much going on here. have to go help anna with some homework that is due tomorrow.

have a great week everyone...L

what a happy day!!!!! i can't even tell you how excited and thrilled i am...L

my sister sent me this. it's a must click. so funny. make sure to read all the sidebars too.

http://www.cnnbcvideo.com/index.html?nid=aswwPgVWRzCRmFTcFN19qzg0MzM4ODk-&referred_by=13347429-tOdIeex

ok--so you can't click on it. you'll have to copy and paste. but it's worth it! sorry--i got no computer skillz. happy day after halloween...L

some pics from the hike. we didn't make it to the very top. but we were close. i stepped over a snake. saw some beautiful views. i like hiking. it's very cool. the coolest hike i have ever been on was the one i did on kauai with brianne. i still think about it. i told david--this hike reminds me of that one. except when you looked around you saw lush green trees, sheer cliffs and miles of ocean. so except for that it was the same. except for that cool crocodile tree. i'm pretty sure they didn't have that one there.

ok--it's official. i now work for uhaul. i knew my non-violent, anti-crank taking, non-alcoholic, anti-shoplifting personality would be a good match. i am now the official prescott, az uhaul storage manager. my new boss seems very nice. while he interviewed me this morning he was telling me part of my job required a personality that could work alone. DUDE--hire me now. i was meant to be here. plus i pretty much work while the girls are in school. no weekends. BENEFITS. people--i get a 401K. i know--it will only have $2 in it. but it's mine. and before you know it--that $2 will turn into ONE MILLION pesos. maybe.

it really is an answer to prayer. craig (my new boss) kept telling me during the interview that he didn't know why, but he just felt i was the right person for the job. seriously--he said it like 3 times. in fact he hired me on the spot and when i walked out of that office there were two other people waiting to get interviewed. so i felt good. so good that i went out and got wendy's for lunch. and they gave me fries. I ATE EVERY LAST FRY.

lastly, some funny kid things. carson and i were in the car today and she was telling me how in her science class she sometimes 'dozes off' while the teacher is giving instructions. would this be the class that you are getting a C in? yep. do you think that maybe you should try NOT to doze off during the "instruction" part. yeah--it's just so boring. like my teacher is giving the instructions and i am dozing and all of a sudden it's a quiz. then she says "i doze off in math too." and then the lightbulb goes off--oh, i'm getting a C in there too. do you think we can put an end to the dozing problem? well, i doodle in language arts. grade? C. 'nuff said.

i actually did a digi layout. i have been lacking in creativity lately and this was an attempt to jump back in. i know. looks like i was dozing...L

i have my own personal digi scrapper. ms kerry shumway. thank you very much for doing my scrapping for me. now if you would only come over here and clean my scraproom. that would be real love.

i survived the hike. didn't make it all the way to the top but i will share whatever pics i managed to get on my phone later. and yeah. my legs are killing me.

happy {early} sunday...L