I'm curious

Not that I blog for accolades or attention, but I do have to wonder if anyone reads this anymore? Would my time be better spent putting these thoughts in a real journal and scrapbook? I mean, I love all my friends and that they can get a peek at what's happening with me and my crazies, and I absolutely love reading your blogs to feel like I can stay in touch with some of the most wonderful people in the whole world, but lately I've been feeling a little... lonely. Blog lonely. Friend lonely. Like maybe we are on a friendship break. So, I'm sending this out there to the great blogger world. If you are out there too, please say so. I'd love to hear from you.

PS - Hi, Aunt Barb. I know you read our blog. Thanks. :)

Am I the only one...

Who hates hormones? I forgot how cold I used to be! Now I remember. I need three shirts, socks, slippers, and a hot bath every day to not feel like I'm a popsicle! Here's a little more than you want to know. I'm on a hormone free IUD and it is totally taking my back to high school. Not that I had an IUD in high school, but all the other female stuff is the same. And, my hair is starting to thin out again. I hate a mess of loose hairs on the counter when I'm done blow drying.

Anyway, now that you know more about me than you wanted to, you may return to your regularly scheduled day. Hope it's a great one!

A confession

Do you have a blog you love to read? Mine is saucy's sprinkles. She is hilarious, creative, fun, and witty. And she makes the most delicious looking cupcakes you will ever see. Mouthwatering. I want to be her.

Take a look, but I'm warning you, I had to have Brandon turn off the computer the first day I was perusing. She's addicting!

www.saucysprinkles.com

Hopefully that's all fixed. Otherwise, just copy and paste. Enjoy!

Sardines!

We went to Grampy and Gramma's the other day to visit and the boys decided to play sardines. If you can imagine, Hyrum wasn't a fabulous hider. Or seeker. He was hiding behind the couch one time and kept popping up saying, "Here I am!" It was cute, but not very effective. And, when Brandon was hiding Hyrum would follow Sterling around, then when Sterling found Brandon, he'd misdirect Hyrum. So I decided to help him. We had some pretty good hiding spots. The best one was the closet under the stairs. Sterling found us and then Brandon just could not figure out where we all were! He was just outside the door, so we squeaked it open and yelled "BOO!" He jumped about a foot in the air! It was hilarious!

This is all of us at the end of the game. Sterling decided he wanted me to help him hide and since we had hidden in all the good spots, we decided to cheat a little and hid on the back porch.

It was a ton of fun. We love crazy days like that. The other crazy we could do without...

Gettin' Crafty

Since my big announcement, Fridays are now craft day. (Attention Brook! Come on over!) Uh, and laundry, but that's another story. Anyway, yesterday was spent doing a few fun projects to get started. These are not projects that will be for sale.

This is an example of some of the fun signs I've been making. My cousin got married in November (yes, it is January and no, I haven't sent her gift yet) so I made her a sign with her new last name and their first initials. It wasn't until I had the letters glued down that I realized it spells Ed. Emily and David. I should have done them the other way around. Oh, well!

This is a project I did for my own house. Can you believe it? I usually give it all away, but my sweet hub asked I going to make anything for our house. So, since the lovey-dovey day is right around the corner...

It was a lot of fun making something for me! Wanna know how easy it was? And cheap?

Ingredients:

wood scrap (we all have them)

cardstock from stock on hand

vellum from stock on hand (if you don't have any, get a package of it from Walmart in the stationary section)

wood heart from Micheal's wood shapes row ($.49 or so)

red paint (on hand)

furniture tacks (Joann's - $1.49 for a pack of 100 or so)

ribbons and twine (on hand)

button

hot glue

spray glue

Mod Podge (or Elmer's glue watered down a little)

paint brushes

paper trimmer

Measure block of wood. Type word "love" (or whatever suits your fancy) on Microsoft Word in Rage Italics font. Size it appropriately and print on vellum. Trim cardstock and vellum to size. I left the cardstock a little larger than the vellum for matting. Paint wood with mod podge, apply cardstock and cover with mod podge again. You don't have to wait for it to dry before you add the second coat. Now you do have to wait for it to dry, so at this point, paint the heart. Now the glue should be dry. Spray the backside of the vellum with spray glue and center it on your cardstock. Put nails in the corners. If you are a perfectionist like me you will measure and mark to make sure they are all even. I know. I can't help myself. Now take that cute heart and wrap some ribbon around it. Futz with it till you love it and hot glue it into place. Add a little button (or whatever) for detail, and hot glue the whole shabang on. Don't be shy with the glue. Unless you don't have kids. I always try to imagine how it could be destroyed at my house and that makes me add more glue.

Viola! An adorable sign to decorate your home and make you feel accomplished! Okay, that's what it did for me at least. So fun!!

I also put up a montage of temple pictures on my wall. I tried my hand at photoshop a little and I don't think I'm a photoshopper at all, but the frame looks fab. I borrowed some photos from Flickr. I hope they weren't copyrighted...

What am I thinking?

Uh, so, my mom and I have decided to have a both in a craft fair this fall. Are we totally off our rockers? I think so. Be prepared for lots of crafting coming up!

Here's our plan so far:

- Embroidered aprons with matching hand towels (my mom has an embroidery machine)

- Seasonal tea towels

- Hooded towels that I've made in the past with the Superman logo or a princess crown on the back. I think I might also do Batman. Any ideas for a different girl one? Maybe a flower. Hmm...

- The fun and funky blocks we've been playing with. In addition to the Christmas gifts I've made this year, I've also done some for Valentine's day, Thanksgiving, names, and monograms.

- A spattering of handmade ornaments. Also revisited from Christmases past.

- Two simple but bold and fun Christmas throw quilts. We got the fabric today for half off!

Our price goal is to have things priced for what they could go and buy the supplies for, so we are shopping some serious deals. Plus, all the wood blocks are free. We just provide the embellishments. So, I hope we will have some stuff people will want at prices they won't balk over. I'm terrible at craft fairs because I look at the stuff and think, "I could make that for a fraction of the price!" I don't want any "me"s visiting my booth.

Any other ideas? Do you remember a craft I've made that you really liked? I can use all the help I can get.

Oh, do you know where I can get some quality towels for less than Walmart prices? Just wondering.

Remember me?

Do you remember this super sweet, kind, and thoughtful gift my hubby got me after the baby was born?

Well, I've finally figured out how to use it without anyone trying to join in, without getting up at 6:00 am (yeah, that's never going to happen), without waiting until 9:00 pm (uh, there's no brain at that time, much less energy), and keeping everyone fairly entertained.

I now do aerobic free step to Curious George, Sid the Science Kid, and Sesame Street. While I do wish I could get some different elements added and I must truly confess I'd be way more interested in watching something else. this works. I get a little exercise, Hyrum gets to watch some fun and educational tv, and Jonah gets his introduction to the great world of PBS from his high chair while eating Cheerios. It's all good.

Finally!!

Whew! After waiting and waiting, the big reveal has finally arrived! Without further ado, here's what I made for Christmas this year.

TADA!!

Many thanks to my aunt for having an enormous supply of unused stamp blocks and my fab mother-in-law for the use of her Cricut. Add some scrapbook papers, mod podge and a few embellishments, and voila! A thrifty and, if I do say so myself, very cute Christmas present. Multiply by 10 and I've got everyone covered!

Fat and happy

Jonah got a tub in the sink the other day. He was a disaster after dinner!

Can you tell he was enjoying himself?
And me and Brandon being ridiculous trying to get him to smile...

He is the epitome of fat and happy. Oh, yeah, and cute.

In all it's glory

Have you ever heard the song from The Forgotten Carols "I cry the day that I take the tree down?" I always want to. Putting up the tree is one of my all time favorite things to do. I have collected ornaments from every place we've been and shared some with friends, so putting up the tree is such a special time for me to think of all the wonderful friends we have and places we've been. It just makes me so nostalgic.

This year, I got my most treasured ornament to date.

When I was a teenager and I would decorate my moms tree all Martha like, I never understood why she kept all those ugly ornaments we made over the years. Now I totally understand. My tree will, from now on, have this ornament hanging on it. I seriously got all chokey when I opened it. It was so special.

This same sweet boy made sure the lyrics to the song were true tonight. He cried the entire time I was taking it down. The. ENTIRE. time. At least he loves Christmas as much as I.


Since I didn't take pics putting the tree up, I thought I'd take some in reverse. Isn't it pretty with just the lights? I get all giddy when I start wrapping the tree in lights. I love twinkly white lights! It also looked pretty laying on the floor. Remember that? Oh, yeah, how could you forget. Someone else was crying that day.

Am I a total shmo?

I really want one of these tee shirts.

Does that make me the biggest dork around?