Winners . . . Better late than never!

Sorry it took me so long to post the winners of the stitchings, but time is getting away from me again.  So here they are:

Missy - Boo!
Beatrice - Home
Aria - Bats

If you ladies could get me your addresses I will get these in the mail soon!  Hope you are all enjoying fall like we are!

13 Days of Halloween and a giveaway!!

My hybrid project is on the DHD blog today (go there for the tutorial and list of credits) - so I thought I'd share it here too.  I'm giving away all three stitchings, so if you are interested leave a comment letting me know the one you would like.  I'll be picking 3 winners on October 13th, the last day of our blog series.  

My Mom was able to come for Aubrei's last volleyball game this past week.  We had so much fun with her here.  She makes us all feel loved and special.  Aubrei's team won and it was so nice to watch her having fun and playing her best.  Brodyn got to show Grandma his preschool and even introduced her to his teacher (like he was a mini grownup) - he was so excited!  Ainsli got to pick her Halloween costume and look through lots of fun books and magazines and had a ball!

We miss Grandma and Grandpa all the time, but I'm very thankful that when we get to be together that it is special and filled with precious memories.  More than anything, my kids know that my parents love them and that is priceless.  

Now I think I will go start another project!

Happy Halloween!

Loving fall . . .

Credits here

I'm finally getting around to scrapping our "school pics" that I took in August.  Hopefully I'll have some more done soon. . . 

Our lives lately

Its been crazy busy around here lately.  I've been pleasantly surprised that we've been doing as well as we have with our schedule since school started.  Early morning seminary, volleyball practices and games, dance and tumbling 4 nights a week, preschool 5 days a week and loads of homework.  I must say that I'm so thankful that I'm healthier than I have been in several years.  I'm pretty sure I couldn't have done all this 4 months ago.  

Can I just say that I love watching Aubrei play volleyball?  She is the setter and team captain and so much improved from last year that its hard to believe.  She has also become more competitive, which I relate to well :)

High School volleyball is a whole different story - much more demanding and for the first time I haven't been able to go to all her games, which was hard for me.  All of the schools we play are just too far away and it isn't possible to travel that much, especially with the farmer's market just finishing last week. 

Ainsli loves school and has been riding her bike to school (even though it is just down the street).  She  still loves creating things whether it is drawing or cutting out and sewing barbie clothes.  She has been doing so well with her chores and homework too - I can't believe she is 9 already.

Brodyn loves preschool.  They didn't have school last Friday because of meetings and he was so upset! He is slightly obsessed with V8 juice boxes lately and can be bribed accordingly . . .

Ryan canned some of his jalepenos tonight.  They were so prolific that even after canning salsa and making jalepeno poppers several times - we have bags left!  (I'll be glad when they are gone, even the smell is too hot for me!)

Things may get crazy once in awhile, but I am so thankful for these guys that keep me hopping and bring so much joy and happiness to my life!!

So much . . .

So much has been going on lately - 

Most recently Brodyn had surgery on his teeth.  He was a trooper and although he had a mild reaction to the anesthesia and pulled out one of his stitches, we are thankful he was able to get this done and over with before preschool starts.  He is back to his crazy, wild self today, even though his mouth was still bleeding last night.  

Aubrei had fun at girls camp and made good memories thanks to a wonderful camp leader and the other  young women leaders who were able to go.  I was sad that I couldn't go with my "girls", but Bubbers needed me.  Aubrei also survived volleyball camp, she was quite surprised at the rigorous workout and even as in shape as she is she had a hard time even moving for a few days.  Hopefully she's now prepared for High School volleyball.

Ainsli has become a much better helper, since she's had the big sister role while Aubrei has been away so much this summer.  She's been working on stitchings with me for the farmers market and helping with painting sometimes as well.  

I finally got a few pages done with this years dance photos, I still have a lot left to do since the kids were in so many dances, but at least I have made some progress.

This was Brodyn's ballet to Somewhere Over the Rainbow . . .

And Ainsli's competition team . . .

And more of Aubrei's solo . . .

The gardens are growing like crazy and take a lot of time, but before we planted this is where Brodyn could be found, night or day . . .

Image removed for publication

The puppy is growing like crazy and after we finally got her house trained she developed a bad habit of bringing dead birds into my house, so now she is an outside dog!

I've been struggling with a really bad infection in my leg for over a month and I'm finally starting to feel better, but its made the craziness of summer a little difficult, and at times disappointing.  The kids were so excited to go to the carnival and we finally made it on the last day.  The kids had fun and I survived, but I was in pain.  Their happy smiles made it totally worth it - here is the proof . . .

I love May!

I really do, especially now that I've made it through dance recital craziness and the end of school is in sight.  Yes, I have many dance pictures to share, but its gonna take me some time to wade through them all - so be patient :)

This month we finally found a puppy for Brodyn and its been chaos and fun ever since.  Her name is Lily, and in true baby fashion, she rules the roost!!  

We've had some great new kits being released at DHD, so I've had the mojo going and been able to preserve a few memories.  Hope you enjoy, it definitely makes me feel good to be a part of the creative process.  Plus I love looking at my pictures and finding the story about our life that needs to be told.

Hope you have a great weekend!!

(layout removed for publication)

Retrospect Blog Hop

This weekend is [inter] National Scrapbook Day, and as part of the celebration at Design House Digital, the designers have an awesome collaboration kit called Retrospect:

Here’s the kicker - Its free!  FREE!  And, to make it even easier, you don’t have to download pieces at a bunch of different blogs!  It’s all right in the shop at DHD.  All you have to do is follow along on the blog hop to grab the letters that make up the coupon code, and then download the kit at your convenience. 

My letter for the code is:

Here is the layout I made using the fabulous Retrospect kit . . .

Then I made it into a quick page for you to download - Hope you enjoy!!

I will also be randomly choosing a name from those who comment on this post and they will receive a $10 gift certificate to DHD!!!

If you are participating in the layout challenge, my challenge is to use the burn tool somewhere on your layout.  To be entered into the drawing for the digital photo frame, you need to use all 26 of the challenges on one layout and submit it by Tuesday, May 8th.

I use the burn tool on almost all of my layouts.  Its simple, but very effective.  I was really glad I had that option with my “Big Branch” layout.  

The chevron paper pieces looked very flat, but I could only add a drop shadow to the bottom piece, or it looked crazy.  Burn tool to the rescue!  The burn tool looks like a hand, after selecting it you can choose your brush size in the drop down menu at the top.

I was able to add a small amount of color and dimension, and it still looked like the papers were stitched down to the page.  Try it on a layout soon - you’ll love it!!

Next in the blog hop is Erica Coombs.  If you run into problems along the way, head back to the DHD blog post.

Don’t forget to grab your letter for the code to get the amazing Retrospect kit for free and have fun scrapping this weekend!!!