Happy Halloween!

Well, today was the big day of course. The kids were so excited about Halloween. They are now in bed fast asleep. 2 hours of hard-core trick-or-treating has worn them out.

Reynna was Gabriella from High School Musical and Christopher was Bumblebee the Transformer. We went out with some friends (Hi Hall's and Paul's) tonight for the festivities and had a good time. By the end of it all, there were sore feet and tired legs. The kids had just enough energy after we arrived home to spread out the loot and do a couple of trades. Oh, the memories it brings back to when I was young and I would trade candy with my brothers. Good times, Good times.

I hope everyone's Halloween was a fun and safe one. As for me, I'm about to collapse on the couch and call it a night. I'll see you tomorrow.

A week late on the color challenge

I ended up working at home today because Christopher was up all night throwing up. Nothing worse than doing laundry and cleaning carpets when there is no time to make it to the toilet. He seems to be doing better now but still hasn't hardly eaten anything. He's been a trooper and is very concerned that he won't feel better for Halloween tomorrow. I sure hope that the bug that bit him is behind us now. No way could a 5 year old be sick on Halloween.

My card was done for Marjorie's color challenge last week. She chose sweet leaf, creme brulee, goldrush, and smokey plum. Again, I had to omit the creme brulee because I haven't placed a CTMH order in a couple of months. One of these days, I hope to get the new colors. Nothing too fancy going on with the card. I did the sketch myself, which caused some agony, trying to figure out how the papers should go. Although by the looks of the card, I can see some head scratching on how I could have a hard time placing the 2 pieces of paper. I can attest (ooh, I just used an audit term) that I did struggle with it. I used CTMH's consultant special stamp set that has so many cute little stamps. I love the little froggy and the hoppy birthday sentiment. I'll probably use this for the next birthday party Christopher is invited to.

Well, I need to get back to my studying. Oh how I look forward to the day when I won't have to study. It won't happen for probably another two years at the rate I'm passing my exams but who knows.

Thanks for stopping by and take care.

A color challenge to get me back in the swing of things

I had just a quick moment at lunch yesterday to whip this card up for Marjorie's color challenge. This week, she chose topiary, sunflower, black, and pansy purple. In hindsight, I wished I would have used the cuttlebug on the black piece of the card to give it more depth. I was working quickly and wanted to produce something, since it has been awhile. I used a pattern from CTMH's Originals book which helped speed the process along. I also feel like I should have maybe scissor distressed the edges of all the cardstock. Oh well. I'm sure the recipient probably won't be worried too much about the details I thought were missing.

It's been a crazy week. I was almost on my death bed Monday night and went to bed at 6:30. And then last night I met a friend from work and we studied together. She is studying for the financial portion of the CPA exam while I am doing some last minute cramming for my audit portion that I will take next.

A day at Fritzler's Acres

Today, Heather and I took the kids to Fritzler's Acres, a farm that features a giant corn maze, a big creature to go inside, lots of fun rides, and of course a pumpkin patch. It was a fun day and the weather was gorgeous. Heather and I were both wearing sweatshirts because we thought it would be a bit chilly out. Boy, were we wrong. I never did see the temperature but I would guess that it was in the 60's at least.

I'm sorry that I haven't been posting this past week. I've been feeling a bit under the weather and with Heather here, I haven't felt I could abandon her at nights to go down to the basement and create. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to turn Heather to the good side of the force. She hasn't shown any interest in card making or scrapbooking. GASP. That's okay though, as I love her just the same. It's been so awesome having her here this past week. I know we've all enjoyed having her here. She's braided Reynna's hair, applied nail polish. She's played Wii with Christopher and listened to him read. She's helped me with housework and laundry. She's a great sister, sister-in-law and aunt. WE LOVE YOU HEATHER.

Should I give up on sports?

So after two devastating losses by my teams this past week, I have to wonder if I shoudln't just give up watching sports. The Broncos were nowhere to be found in New England last night. I love sports so much but it causes me serious distress when my teams don't win. Devin loves that I love sports but sometimes thinks that a woman maybe shouldn't be as invested in sports teams because of all of our emotions.

WHAT, ME EMOTIONAL? Okay, I can see his point. I just love my football and basketball. I guess I'll keep on watching and hope for a better outcome in future weeks.

It's been fun having Heather here. I know the kids are enjoying her company a lot. I'll sure miss her when she leaves.

It is raining now and there is a possibility of snow in our forecast for tomorrow. Yikes. I'm not sure if I'm ready. Okay everyone, take care and see you tomorrow, hopefully with some art.

Pictures from Utah

Here are some pictures from our trip this past weekend.

Another layout

So today's post is again a layout I did a few weeks ago. Our family went to Elitches about 3 years ago. I used the cocoa cafe paper again. The lettering for the word Elitches were large chipboard stickers. I decided to arrange them how they are and like the look that it gives.

My day at work has been good. And it's gone by pretty fast for it only being a Monday. I'm looking forward to going home and hanging out with the family and Heather. I'm sure I'll watch a bit of the Bronco's game. Hopefully they can rebound from their loss last week.

Take care!

I'm Back!

Well, we are back now from Utah and having 2 days of no cable or internet. I really feel like I have been out of touch. Linda's baptism was beautiful. She had so much family come out for it. I am very glad that we could go and very glad that Heather came back with us. We have her for 6 whole days here before she heads back to Washington. After a horrendous car ride today with the children, she might be ready to go back now. Neither Reynna nor Christopher slept one wink the entire 8 1/2 hours.

So as much as I'd like to forget it happened, BYU lost big to TCU on Thursday night. So much for a shot at a BCS bowl or for a national championship title. It was pure torture, as we listened to it on the AM radio in the car as we traveled to Utah Thursday night. At least we didn't have to watch the ugliness.

The layout I'm showcasing tonight was done a couple of months ago. The pictures, however, are about 5 years old. Better late than never, right? It's a real simple design but sometimes anything more is just overdone.

Happy Birthday to Arianne!

October 16, 1994 was the day I gave birth to my first daughter, Arianne. She was born 6 weeks premature and stayed 2 weeks at the NICU in Provo, Utah. I got to spend those 2 weeks with her before I gave her up for adoption to a loving family. What a hard decision that was. Months of pure agony. I do know that I made the right decision.

14 years ago, adoption was such a different thing than it is now. I did get to meet the birth parents the day that I place Arianne in their arms. For the next year, they did a great job of sending me letters and pictures. After her first birthday, the adoptive parents weren't allowed to send pictures anymore, only yearly updates until she turned 5. I treasure those letters that I have. I also had the chance to write letters during that first year. Unfortunately, it was just too painful for me to do so. I regret that now. I did write a letter to my precious baby the day I gave her up and gave it to her parents. I wonder if she has read that?

I long for the day, which I hope and pray will happen, when I can meet my daughter and tell her how much I love her and that I have always loved her. She was the one bright thing that came out of a very bad situation.

Arianne, I LOVE YOU. Happy 14th birthday!

Your Mom

Just being goofy

For the next few days, I'll be showing layouts that I made a couple of months ago. Today's is just pictures of my kids at their silliest. Please pardon the picture of the two pages together. I just realized that I have it laid out wrong. I used the cocoa cafe paper from CTMH, which is just so fun. I absolutely love that paper. I also used Delightful alphabet from CTMH which is just a fun little font.

Happy Birthday with Magic Moments

Today's card uses the magic moments kit from CTMH. I just love the colors in it. And I love that CTMH's patterned paper is now truly two sided. The blocks on the left and right side came from the same sheet of paper. How awesome is that? I cut a slit at the top of the card to allow the ribbon to go through. I've never done that before but like the look that it gives with that scrumptious hollyhock twill ribbon.

Well, we are leaving tomorrow for Utah and my house still isn't how I want to leave it so I best be going for now. Thanks for taking the time to stop by.

Congratulations

So I made good use of my lunch hour today and went home and whipped this card up. I'm going to give it to my mother-in-law when we see her this weekend. As I mentioned before, she will be getting baptized and I'm so happy for her and proud of her.

Since the papers from the card I made a couple of days ago were still on my table, (Shhh, don't tell anyone. I am notorious for not cleaning my area up right away), I thought I'd use them. Again, the most time consuming part of this card was the scoring of the cardstock and sanding it. I decided to go both directions this time and like the look it gave. I finished off the card with 3 pewter brads and a pewter embellishment from Making Memories. Real quick and easy.

I don't believe I will be back today as I must study tonight. No more creating for me for the day. I'll be back tomorrow, however. Until then, enjoy.

Marjorie's color challenge

This week, Marjorie chose twilight, cranberry, creme brulee, and brown bag for her weekly color challenge. I used all the colors except for creme brulee. I assembled this card in about 20 minutes from the idea in my head to finish. I didn't have a whole lot of time tonight to create.

So it has officially gotten cold here in Colorado. I had to scrape a very thick layer of frost off my windows this morning. I think it's time to find my winter gloves. I am looking forward to the first snow. Last year, we got our first snow the middle of October. So, any day now, we could see white.

I hope everyone's Monday was a pleasant one and that you had a good start to the week.

I'm in mourning

So I just got done watching the Broncos lose to the Jaguars. Too many mistakes made. It's been a rough day. Church was very tiring and then to watch the Broncos lose. In between the two, I had fallen asleep and was rudely woken up by a political phone call. I had only been sleeping for around 15 minutes and was unable to rest anymore.

Towards the end of the Bronco's game, I made this card. I wanted to do something "fallish" because of the cold weather we've had this weekend. We even had to turn on our heat. The card is relatively simple and was quick to put together. The most time was spent on scoring the barn red cardstock and then sanding the lines for the white core to show through. I just love the look of the lines. The sentiment comes from that oft-mentioned Say it in Style stamp set. Did I mention how much I love it and how versatile it is? Oh wait, I believe I did.

Well, I need to do some studying now. My exam is offically less than 4 weeks away. Not that I'm panicking, mind you. Really, it is starting to really weigh on my mind. I've done a lot of the studying but still have some to do plus I need to do an overall review. Okay, I guess I've rambled enough now. Hope your weekend went well and that you were able to do something that you enjoy.

The Cougars are victorious!

I just got done watching BYU win over New Mexico 21-3. While at times the game wasn't pretty, they did win and the defense was phenomenal. So far, it doesn't look good for BYU rising in the polls but we'll see hot it all turns out tomorrow afternoon.

I didn't do much before the game because I was too busy toting kids to birthday parties. I made 4 separate trips out of the house today for these parties. And it was cold and rainy so all I wanted to do was to curl up and rest.

I made these cards a couple of nights ago. I made a few of each color to have on hand. There is no sentiments now on them. I'll probably just leave them blank. The size is 3x3 which are so easy to make. The design came from CTMH's Originals book, which showcases beautiful cards.

Before I go, I must tell you how addicted I am to the game I posted at the top of my blog. I found it yesterday and have played it probably 50 times. Did I mention that I have an addictive personality? Anyway, it's a fun one. See you all tomorrow.

Marriage and Laringitis

So Christopher attends an in-home daycare with a 5 year old and a 3 year old little girls. Today, my daycare provider informed me that they were fighting about who got to marry Christopher. He and I were talking about it on the way home and he said that he could only marry one of them. He then proceeded to tell me that he wished he had the same birthday as me and was a grown-up so that he could marry me so that he could live with me forever. As he was saying this, he was choking up and I saw a tear. It was the sweetest thing ever. I told him that he could always live with me but I thought that when he grew up that he would want to move out and get married. He didn't seem to be convinced.

And then yesterday, Reynna tells me that she wasn't feeling very well because she caught her music teacher's laringitis. (Did I spell that right?) Now maybe she knows something that I don't but it sruck me as funny how she could "catch" that.

Oh, the things that kids will say. These are the moments that make motherhood all worthwhile.

A day at the Park

More pictures being scrapped from the kids' and Devin's trip this summer. They went to a park with Heather and Steve. Unfortunately, only these 3 pictures were snapped so that's all I have.

If I may, can I just tell you that I love this layout? I don't normally say that about my layouts but I think the simplicity plus the rounded corners plus the waaaay cute patterned paper that my good friend Terra gave me give it just the right touch.

So who's glad we made it to Friday? I know I am. Some good friends are coming over for dinner and games tonight. That will be a fun start to our weekend. I then hope to see the Cougars win big tomorrow along with everyone else ahead of BYU lose big. :)