Grateful

Today I am especially grateful for Bryan.
I have been reflecting on how seriously AWESOME he is...and well, I couldn't help but be grateful (and amazed!). How did I get so lucky?!

One thing that made me remember, yet again, how great he is: I had my card workshop last night. Bryan came in and checked on everyone to see how they were doing. I love that he isn't embarrassed/afraid to come into a room of 9 women crazily crafting away and "Oohh and Ahh" over their creations! :) I mean really, most men would stay far away from something like that. I love that he not only supports my hobbies, but he does it happily! What a catch!

I am often left in awe of how really, truly, perfect he is for me. I can't imagine anyone better!

And since he supports my little hobby so nicely, I thought I would share a layout I made recently with some pictures we took on our last anniversary. It's my favorite!



Isn't love grand?!

Growing Up

Kids just seem to have a way of growing up way too fast, don't they?!
I have pretty mixed feelings about it, but haven't found a way to stop it yet! :)

This past weekend we had the opportunity to go visit some wonderful friends for a few days. It has only been a couple of months since we saw them...but I'll take any chance I get! :) The Odells were our 'family' while we were in Law School. We made a lot of fun memories together during that time! We are SO Grateful for them and that they are still apart of our lives!

I only took a couple of pictures while we were there, and one of them reminded me of this picture we took at a pumpkin patch 3 years ago:

Look how little they all look! Can't believe it has been three years already since we went to this pumpkin patch. Such cute friends!

And here they are today...just as cute, and just as good of friends! Love it!

Thanks for having us, Odell family! We enjoyed every minute!

Wonder"FALL" Crop (and some random stories)

I just wanted to let you all know that there is an online crop at My Scraps & More this Saturday!!

There will be lots of fun fall themed challenges, and the lucky winner will recieve the Finally Fall line from Bella Blvd....lucky indeed! And to top it all of, Tammi is offering 30% off your total purchase from the store. Just use code FALLCROP30, good through this weekend.

Stop by and check it out at My Scraps & More!

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Now for some funny kid stories...at least they were funny moments to me!

First up, Miss Grace!

We were driving to my friend Brooke's house for a Primary Presidency Meeting for church. Brooke lives an hour away. About halfway there Grace gets the fabulous idea to play the quiet game.

This is quite the feat for her....she talks non-stop, especially in the car!!

I agreed, and she informed me that it was going to be a contest to see who could be quiet all the way to Brooke's house. I was pretty surprised because I had just told her that was another half hour away. So I decided to watch the clock and see how long she made it. :) Any guesses?

Yeah...she made it approximately 20 seconds before I heard "Mom, lets start over because I have something to say!" Hahaha...love this girl! Then she changed the rules so that some talking was allowed, but only if you were asking for a drink or a snack or singing along to the music...but you could only do that if it was one of your most favorite songs. :) Where do they come up with these things?!

Now Joshua:

He has been really into any topic from History lately. I love this about him! We've been checking out books from the library on a number of subjects: the Titannic, George Washington, the Revolutionary War, the Pilgrims, Sam Houston, the Civil War, Sept. 11th, etc. He asks me questions constantly all day after school!

Now, I did major in history and I have quite a love of the subject myself, but my studies were pretty focused on WWII era, so with some (OK, a LOT) of these topics I don't have all the answers to his questions. For a while I could satisfy is questions, but lately I've been getting question like "How many men did it take to build the Titannic? Did it take more men to build the Titannic or the Statue of Liberty?" If I tell him I'm not sure, he wants to know why I don't know!

On the one hand I am flattered that he thinks I am supposed to know everything. I am his mom afterall. :) But on the other hand...who really knows those answers!?

Then today after he asked yet another question I didn't know the answer to, he very seriously says "well Mom, you're pretty smart, but you're not the smartest."

Dang...he's figured me out already!

I'm so grateful for these kids that made me laugh today!

Starting up again...

Some of my Lubbock friends know about my card workshop nights I used to hold monthly.
Well, I am very excited to announce that I am starting them up again...but not in Lubbock, of course. :) Although, if you Lubbock ladies are desperate for some cards, it really isn't that bad of a drive! ;)

Anyway, I am going to start holding the workshops every other month at my house. The first one will be on Thursday, Sept. 29th @ 7:00. We will make the following four cards, and the cost will be $5.

Here are the cards:

Cute, if I do say so myself!

I hope you will join us! I will put a kit together for you with everything cut out so all you have to do is come and glue it together, stamp a bit and add the finishing touches. You don't even have to bring anything, I will provide everything you need to make the cards. It is always a fun night of creating and visiting...and a yummy dessert is thrown in the mix, too!

Hope to see you there!

The End of Summer and the Beginning of FALL!!

I tell you what...
there were days these last couple of months that I thought summer (and the INSANE heat it brought with it) would never end!!
Much to my surprise and complete joy), we seem to be hitting the end of Summer!
Welcome Fall, I love you!

We started this last weekend by going to our first football game of the season.
Our poor Harvesters got walloped...but you will probably still find us watching them play again next home game.

After all what else do you do 'round here on a Friday night?!

These Harvester Fans are a sure sign that fall is here:

The kids were so excited for the game. Joshua was excited because he likes the games, Grace was excited because she knows she gets to pick out a treat at halftime. :) That girl...

On Saturday we had one last summer swim. The kids and I spent all afternoon outside in the perfect 85* sunshine. It was lovely. Fido even joined us outside...he loves to eat grass (or anything, for that matter).

It was a fun way to say goodbye to summer...and I'm glad it was cool enough to be outside that long!

Can't wait for all of the fall and winter activities coming our way soon!

Sweetness

Lucky us, we got to go meet our brand new niece last weekend!

We had a great visit.
The kids got to swim and play with their cousin Stanley and Bryan and I got to hold baby Elizabeth and chat with Wayne and Kristen.
What a beautiful baby girl!

Isn't there something just so peaceful and sweet about a baby fresh from heaven?
We could certainly feel it while enjoying our couple of hours with baby Elizabeth and her family.
I love that feeling.

Some Layouts

Just a quick post here. It has been a busy, busy day and there is still more to do! YIKES!

I wanted to share the layouts that I made for the design team call at My Scraps & More. I had a lot of fun with these!
The first two are my own designs, the last was based on a sketch they issued for the call.

It has been fun to be on the team, and it is definitely making sure I get a good amount of scrapbooking done each week! :) You won't hear me complain... just be warned that I may be a little more sleep deprived than normal!

Growing Up & Growing Things

Joshua decided to celebrate starting first grade by loosing his first two teeth as well!

For those of you who have kiddos, you know what an incredibly HUGE thing this is for them! Joshua had been waiting for this day for what seemed like FOR-EV-ER. :)
He had been wiggling them for weeks, and he was so excited when they were loose enough to pull out.

He came to me in the afternoon and wanted me to pull them out.
Umm...no thank you.
I had never thought much about it, but when faced with having to pull my son's teeth out it was suddenly very clear to me that this was a "Dad job." :)

So the poor kid had to wait all the way until dinnertime.

But he survived and we had a lovely pre-dinner show of watching Joshua get his teeth pulled...lovely indeed.

Seriously, we were sitting at the table and Joshua was wondering how he was going to eat when his teeth were so loose. So Bryan took care of it by pulling them out, then and there!
Yeah, next time we will pick another time and place for teeth pulling, I think! :)

But anyway, it got the job done and we still even enjoyed our dinner.

Here is our toothless boy!!:

Toothless and his accomplice, so happy!!:

Funny thing is, his adult teeth were already growing in behind, so he really doesn't look too different, but, you know, it is still really cool!!

So while Joshua has been doing things like going to school and loosing teeth and other things that mean he is growing up, I have been attempting to grow things in our garden.

The weather has really not helped me out this year! It has been so HOT! Of all the five things I planted, only one has survived....and I even remembered to water them all.

Anyway, the mighty survivor is......

The Cantaloupe!!!

It was small, and beautiful and perfect....and so very, very yummy!

I didn't know I liked cantaloupe so much 'till I ate this one.

I was so proud of myself!

And I just picked another perfect one today...amazing!

Lots of good Growing going on around here!

Fun! Fun!

Guess what!?!

I was chosen to be a new member of the Design Team at My Scraps & More!

I have kind of been up and down with the news. :)
First, very excited!
Then, I started wondering what part of my brain thought I could keep up with one more thing. :)
But now I am back to being excited!!

I get to work with some fun and very nice ladies in making up scrapbooking challenges for the members of the site. Quote challenges, sketches, all kinds of fun things! We have a new challenge posted every week day, so if you scrapbook be sure to check it out! And I really do love Tammi's online store she has got going, too, so I am happy to help it grow!

How fun!