Girls Camp

As part of my calling as young women's president in my ward I have the opprotunity to attend girls camp with my young women.  The camp is organized and run by Stake leaders so it is very little stress for me.  I get to go up and just enjoy being with my girls and being away from the craziness of everyday life (ie. my adorable kids, housework, errands, cooking).  This year my mom was in town so I was able to leave my boys knowing they would have a fabulous time with grammie and that the house wouldn't be a complete warzone when I got home.

Our Stake has been going to a gorgeous campsite at Blue Know State Park in Pennsylvania for several years now (this was my third year up there).  Sadly this was the last year they will be going to good ol' Blue Knob.  Next year they are going to a new camp which is closer in Gettysburg.  Sad and exciting.

I had 19 amazing YW go up to camp this year.  They are such a blessing in my life.  I am grateful I am able to serve them and bask in their greatness.

Leftish to Rightish: Brenna, Kimmy, Alissa, Erin, Sister Teerlink, Isabelle, Jessica, Tanissa, Amanda, Taylor, Melissa, Bishop Johnson, Kayla, Lexi, Kristine, Brianna, SuJin, Elizabeth, Alyssa,Sarah, and Charlotte.

And their sillyness :)

A couple of my favorite things about girls camp this year:  Flag ceremony and Ward skit night

Panic/Survival Mode

I'm pretty much running on survival mode right now.  I can't really comprehend that this baby will be here in a matter of weeks.  I'm 6ish weeks out from my due date and I wouldn't be surprised if he came 2 weeks early like Sam.  But I've been so preoccupied and busy that I really haven't had a chance to do anything but panic a little that this baby will be here soon and be excited that my mother is coming into town.

I'm scared to think that in the next couple weeks Elijah will start Kindergarten.  I'm throwing him into the world.  My sweet innocent spounge is getting thrown into a den full of other little boys and girls that I don't know and I can't filter what he will hear and learn.  AHhhh!  Not only that but I'm actually accountable to get him there everyday, ontime.  That means I actually have to pull together a morning routine.  No more lazing around when there's nothing on the schedule for the day.  On top of that I AM HAVING A BABY!  I know what babies do to my morning routines.  I know how I feel/function (more like not function) when I haven't gotten enough sleep.  I'm crazy to be doing this at the same time.  Thank goodness my mother will be here!  At least I know Elijah will get to school ontime the first month and hopefully that will be enough time for me to get my act together.

In the meantime I'm busy getting projects together for the baby, finding the baby's room, busy with YW's, planning Young Women in Excellence, keeping up on laundry and dishes, and trying to be patient with my restless boys.

Phew... I think it's time for a nap.

Never Again

The boys and I went to the mall yesterday to check out a Gymberee sale (clearance + 30%off).  I found some cute things for bambino #3 and a few things for the boys for school next year. 

Anyway, while we were at the mall we passed the Motherhood Maternity store.  I've been looking for a cute, cool dress to wear this summer and decided I'd brave it real quick with the boys.

Never Again.

Thank goodness we were the only ones in the store and that the sole clerk was busy on the phone or I would have been TOTALLY embarassed.

While I was checking out the sale racks Sam was checking out the nursing bras and exclaiming "Mom, you have one of these!" and of course wouldn't stop touching them all when I noticed what he was doing.  Then, despite the signs, I decided to try on a couple dresses.  I herded the boys into the dressing room while Elijah complained "Are we going to see you naked?" -um... NO.  I tried on a dress over my undershirt and pants and Elijah innocently says "That doesn't look good Mom."  I agreed but not sure I needed him announcing it.  Meanwhile Sam is keeping himself busy licking the mirror.

All of this might have been worth it if I had found something I liked, but no such luck.  The search goes on and next time I will do it without my two little shadows.

Feeling the Love

Josh and the boys worked hard to make my Mother's Day a special day.  I got to sleep in a bit while they made pancakes for breakfast using this:

(well they attempted, we were having some plug issues.  It did get used later for dessert though)

We all got to go to church together and I got to wear this that Elijah picked out especially for me because "he loves me and it is my favorite color"

Elijah went up with the Primary and sang two Mother's Day songs (He was the cutest kid singing up there, but I might just be partial).  We came home and made smoothies with this which Sam proudly presented to me, again in my favorite color

We had steak, sweet potatoes, and corn on the cob for dinner and topped the day off with brownies, strawberries and icecream.  Overall a sweet day spent with the most wonderful men in the world.  Without them I wouldn't be who I am, a much loved mother.

Drowning

I'm drowning in a lot of things right now one of them being GUILT for not blogging in a while so here I am having avoided it for long enough. 

A lot has been going on in the past month.  The big thing is we closed on our house on February 26th and moved in March 1st.  The move went very smoothly, Josh and Elijah supervised the movers while I was at the apartment trying to get our suitcases packed and the apartment cleaned.  Keep in mind that all of this was happening while I was drowning in NAUSEA which really just complicated everything on my part.  On top of all that I came down with bronchitis our first week in the house.  Not a great mix with the nausea -- at all. 

We are very happy to be in our house.  Josh has been drowning with little IMPROVEMENTS around the house like door stops, toilet paper holders, curtain rods, blinds, etc.  He's got a list to keep him busy for months.  Oh the joy of home ownership!   The big thing for us to attack is the yard.  Right now it's a muddy mess. (Thankfully we aren't drowning in actual water with that one)  We might need to call in professional reinforcements for that project.  It feels a bit over our head.

I'm also drowning in PREGNANCY HORMONES.  You heard me right.  The nausea is "morning sickness" and though it isn't fun there will eventually be a positive outcome from it. (I'm finally starting to feel a bit better) The hormones are also making me very scatter brained, I have a hard time concentrating and remembering things.  The hormones, resulting nausea, and bronchitis have sucked away all motivation to unpack thus I am drowning in BOXES, still even three weeks later.  And the boxes I have managed to unpack, out of pure necessity mind you, have me drowing in pounds of PAPER that the movers used to wrap every item we own.

I'm drowning in LONELINESS missing my family and friends out West.  Our ward here is massive and has made getting to know people difficult and slow.  I imagine once we get settled a bit more the loneliness will receed a bit.  I hope.

I'm also drowning in the POSSIBILITIES for our house.  We came here with little furniture so I am pretty much starting from scratch.  Not only do I get to actually paint my walls (!) I get to actually spend money on furniture (!!).  I'm feeling overwhelmed by the possibilities and decisions that I have to back up with a good chunk of change.  It is all exciting though and I think I'm getting it figured out.  At least we have started looking at furniture and I have found some stuff I like... now I just have to committ.

Well, that seems like a pretty good list.  Things are going well.  The boys are happy and have kept themselves occupied with a ream of paper, markers, and a paper airplane book (most of the toys are still packed.  I'm hopeful to go through them and weed them down while they are off the boys radar.)  Thus I'm drowning in ART WORK and paper planes.  Elijah is reading more and more and Sam is constantly asking about letters and their sounds.  Josh is enjoying his job and goes off happily to work every day.  He's been the one holding us all together (and feeding us for a while there) and I am drowning in LOVE for that wonderful man who has put up with a lot these last few months.

I guess overall I'm just drowning in CHANGE, a lot of change.  I look forward to the dust settling because these are a lot of exciting changes and I'm ready to sit back and enjoy them.

Limbo

I thought being in Limbo was a familiar feeling as we tredged through last year with job searches and graduation, but that had nothing on the limbo I am feeling now. 

Everything worked really smoothly to get us here to Maryland and I am ever so grateful for that.  Josh's job is paying for us to live in temporary housing while we work on getting into a house.  They have us covered for the first 60 days of room and board.  This is a pretty nice set up and is saving us money but has proven to come with some unforseen "costs".  We pulled up our roots in Colorado and because we are in temporary housing I have yet to be able to really put our roots back down.  It's an aweful feeling.  I don't know if, where or when to put the boys in preschool, I'm afraid I'm getting attached to our ward, I haven't changed my address with anyone (it's all just getting forwarded), I'm excited about our house but afraid to get too attached in case it doesn't end up working out, etc...  I'm pretty much just existing and living off of high calorie restaurant food.  Blehh!  I'm going to have to break down and stock the kitchen.

I kept saying if I could make it through graduation and the move all would be good.  Well, now I'm saying if I can make it through to the end of February...  I wonder what it will be next.

Alive and Well in Maryland

I thought I would have more spare time on my hands to finally catch up on my blog, but find that most of it is either spent researching houses on the internet or actually seeing them.  House hunting is a process! 

Josh and I made it safely to Maryland.  The move with surprisingly smooth.  The moving company got everything packed up and loaded on the truck without a hitch.  I was amazed how many boxes it took; they tagged 370 items including furniture.  There was a lot crammed into that little apartment.  Having someone else do the packing is certainly the way to do it.  I was able to clean the bathroom and the kitchen while they were packing.  By the time they were done loading everything up the apartment was clean.  Wahoo!

The only hitches in the whole process have been related to our apartment.  The first night it took us 30 + minutes of walking around to find our apartment.  Finding stairs to take us down to the second floor was a trick and the parking garage is a nice feature but we got lost thoroughly the first night. 

Josh had his first day of work on Tuesday.  Went out to get in the car and came back in a minute later and said the cars were gone.  I was shocked and didn't believe him and had to go see for myself.  Indeed our Sienna and our Prism were not where we had left them.  Talk about a pit in your stomach!  Josh scrounged to get a cab to work (he was late) and I was left to figure out how in the world to get our cars back.  The temp housing company was a lifesaver.  Turns out we had put the wrong parking passes in the windows  (they gave us two white and two green and didn't tell us which to use where) and our cars were towed.  They found out what company had towed our cars and an employee was even gracious enough to drive me to the boonies (lets say gheto/white trash area in the middle of nowhere) to get my cars.  The operation was a man sitting in his SUV on a gated lot full of 20+ cars.  He had a laptop in his car took my drivers licence and my credit card, took my thumb print twice and $420 then let me take my cars.  Insain!  The lady from Oakwood was a lifesaver!  Prayers are answered.

House hunting is a rollercoaster ride.  We've adjusted the area we are looking in.  I saw one yesterday that has a lot of potential and I'm going out to see more today.  If only I had a million dollars!

I'm missing my boys.  I am grateful that we were able to leave them in Utah during the move.  Things would have been very difficult with them around (can you imagine if I had them on Tuesday with the car towing?).  I look forward to seeing them on Sunday.  It's cute to talk to them on the phone.  Most of the time I'm on the other end listening to them talk to someone else.  It melts my heart to hear their little voices on the on end of the line.  Man, they are cute buddies!  Sam is excited to get a house.  I'm afraid he will be disappointed when we get him here and we are living in a pretty minimal apartment but I'm sure working hard to find him a house.

Something else I'm very grateful for... GPS!  And I'm grateful we got two of them for Christmas.  I don't know how anyone can survive without them out here.  I am so turned around without the mountains.  It doesn't help either that all of the roads are curved and windy and that none of them are on the North/South East/West axis.  Everthing is either NW or NE or SE or SW and then they call them North or South when really they aren't.  Arrgh!  I'm going nuts!  It also doesn't help that the GPS map turns so you are always driving up.  I think I'm doomed to be GPS dependent as long as we live here.

Ramble... ramble.  I'll see if I can find my camera cord and put up some pictures of Josh's graduation.  The rest of my pictures are all on our portable hard drive and that will take some time to set up.  My goal is to do better with the blogging even though I'm being slow on the start.

Happy New Year, everyone (who hasn't given me up for dead and still checks my blog)!

From one Stress to the Next

Phew!  We all survived the wedding.  Everything came together really well in the end.  The bride and groom were married and happy, my mother did an AMAZING job decorating the cultral hall, and everyone had a great time at the reception (especiallly Elijah and Sam).

I will admit it was VERY stressful trying to get everything finished.  It didn't help that I was really missing my husband too.  It was all worth it though to be there for my sister.  I am so happy for her and Bryce. 

Well, now we can focus on the other things that are stressing us right now...

Josh has officially submitted his discertation to his defence committee members.  He's working on setting up his defence for the 18th (in TWO weeks!).  He is stressed trying to make final changes and get all the paperwork in order to graduate.  It's created a lot of tention having us be so stressed about it.  We will be SO glad when it is all done.

On top of that Northrup Grumman has hooked us up with the relocation company that will be taking care of our move to Maryland.  They have been emailing and calling trying to get us set up with the moving company, temporary housing, a trip to MD to look for housing, etc.  Apparently I don't have to pack a single box, they'll do it all for us, but it is stressful getting everything coordinated and I still have to go through everything and get rid of what we don't want/need.  I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed.   I will be very grateful when January rolls around and all of this will be behind us, but then there will be more adventures in store for us, to be sure.

(oh I do have a lot of pictures on my camera but the camera cord hasn't turned up yet from our trip to Utah... I'm still trying to dig us out of mounds of laundry etc... I'll get them up eventually!)

I'm feeling SO blessed

Some many things have started to come together this week and I am feeling overwhelmed with gratitude. 

I have made contact with a fellow genealogist who is breaking down walls and filling in holes for me on a line that has long been my "problem child".  I am so grateful that she is willing to share her information, scan her documents and pictures and email them to me.  I am so grateful that we have made contact and that the Spirit of Elijah is touching both of us.

Yesterday morning (at 5:30am to be precise) I was able to go to the temple with a group from my ward to do baptisms for the dead.  We were on the road before the sun came up and it was just beginning to shine as we entered the temple.  With my recent research I have been able to fill in some holes and had prepared names to take to the temple.  (If you have new.familysearch.org active in your area look at it, use it, it is an amazing tool to see what work has been done for your ancestors and what work still needs to be done.  It makes it so simple to then take their names to the temple.)  I chose to do the work for my great aunt and saved the other cards to take to Utah so that my family can share in the blessing of doing the work.  As I was doing the work for my great aunt and names for a friend in the ward the sun started to shine through the stained glass windows into the baptistry.  ...  The Spirit of temple work is so real!  The Spirit of Elijah is real and guides us and urges us as we search out our ancestors.

Things are starting to work out for where we will be after graduation.  I still don't have details but things are beginning to solidfy amid the haze that is currently our future.  Hopefully we will know in the near future.  

I am grateful for a Heavenly Father who is mindful of me, who loves me, who knows my future and has a plan for me, who gives me strength inspite my complaining.  I really am so blessed.

Menu Board Revisited and LOVED!

A few months ago I picked up a few wall charts. I blogged about possible uses for the charts and I am still using one of those ideas. I thought I would show a few more details about my menu board and how I use it.

The menu board is working really well for me. I like that it is big, dead center, and hard to miss. Planning and actually cooking what I plan has become a lot easier. When it gets to be 3 or 4 o'clock and dinner starts to weigh heavily on my mind, I can look at my board and feel relief knowing what is on hand for dinner. All I have to do is throw it together, all the brain work has already been done.


I have created for myself a little menu planning station. I have a maganet clip on the fridge with my printed grocery list along with a magnetic basket to hold a pen, dry erase marker, and my menu cards. You can print off a copy of my check-what-you-need grocery list and/or save it on your computer and customize it for yourself (which is what I did with a list I found online).

I'm a sale shopper so I keep tabs on what's on sale in grocery ads for the week and they greatly influence what I'm cooking. I can go through my menu cards and pick out the meals that use the ingredients I know are on sale. It is so much easier to do this with the cards in hand then trying to dig through all the recipes or do it mentally. If I decide to do a paticular dinner I circle what ingredients I need to buy, make a note on my grocery list, and put the card up on my board. Some meals I generally always have the ingredients for and others I will have to complete with my shopping. By circling the needed ingredients I can remind myself at a glance whether I have the ingredients yet or not depending on which day I actually make it to the store (always an iffy thing depending on whether I have the car and what mood myself and my children are in).

Also on the cards I can make note of what leftovers are in the fridge so Josh knows what is availible for lunches.

For those recipes I decide to try that are new or haven't yet been solidified into my regular cycle of meals, I simply write them in with the dry erase marker on the back of an existing card.

Ew SICK!!!

So I am alive and well. I made it to the doctor and it seems the hangnail I pulled 5-6 days ago was the culprit. Somehow it got infected and caused the swelling and puss build up that has been paining me for two days now. The doctor numbed my finger (the most painful part of course) and then cut me enough to squeeze the puss out and relieve the pressure. NASTY! I never would have guessed that a hangnail could cause such a mess. EWWW! Now I get to take anti-biotics four times a day for ten days. Anything to stop the throbbing!

Mystery Swollen Finger

Yesterday morning I woke up with a swollen ring finger and today it is even worse. I'ts starting to stress me out a bit. It throbs non stop and is a bit warm to the touch. I think its a pulled hangnail that got infected. Needless to say I am making my way to the doctor today. I'm hoping it is an easy fix. I'll keep you posted.

Gr-8 to be ME

LIST OF EIGHTS

List of eight tag:
1) Post rules on your blog
2) Answer the five '8' items
3) Let each person you tag know by leaving them a comment

8 Favorite TV shows:
LOST
Numb3rs
Clean House
Rachel Ray
American Idol
Curious George
Blues Clues
Masterpiece Theater


8 (+) things I did yesterday:
DanceDanceRevolution
Got the boys ready to go to the park
Put the boys in time-out and didn't go to the park
Picnic lunch in the living room while watching Curious George
Took Elijah to school and ran errands with Sam
Picked up Elijah and dragged him to the car
Talked to Christina and my Mom
Made dinner and ate with the boys
Picked up Josh from the bus stop
CRASHED


8 favorite restaurants:
Ali Baba Grill
Rumbi Island Grill
Hunan
Thai Kitchen
Papa Murphys Pizza
Inta Juice
Chilis
Cafe Rio

8 Things I'm looking forward to:
Seeing Christina
Going to Utah next week and seeing my family
Going to the Draper Temple Open House
Josh getting published
JOSH GRADUATING!!!!
Figuring out where we will be in 6 months
Summer and playing outside with my boys (husband included)
Getting the top three things on my wish list


8 things on my wish list:
House
Mini Van (Toyota Sienna)
Baby (a girl would be nice)
Dog
Family trip to So Cal
Live closer to family
A craft room and a back yard
More time with Josh

8 People I tag:
1. Anna
2. Mom
3. Christina
4. Ashley
5. Cami
6. Cammie
7. Celeste
8. Jessica

I Voted

(and copied Ashley's blog post idea)

Despite all the precedence of long voting lines and stress on actual Election Day, I put off voting until today. But happily there were no bumps (for me, Josh had a bit of a registration in the right district issue) and no long lines. It was a pretty stress free event. The stress was all the time up to that putting up with the attack ads bombarding Colorado viewers, phone call after phone call (i got5 today alone) and actually deciding who I was going to vote for. I am happy to say that it is DONE and in the end I am grateful for the opprotunity to (go through the whole messy election process and) be able to vote and proudly wear my "I voted" sticker.

Plotting and planning

My fingers and sewing machine are aching to make a quilt. I have been shopping around the internet looking at various patterns and fabrics trying to decide what I want to make a quilt for my bed. Did you know that Ebay and Etsy (if you don't know what etsy is, check it out! It is a place where crafters can sell their handmade wares. There are a lot of amazingly talented people that sell on etsy) are great places to find fabric in addition to the hundreds of other online fabric stores. They have a lot better selection than the local fabric stores and many of the fabrics come in designer packs of 40-50+ coordinating prints making it super easy to find fabrics that match.

I have determined that I really like the fabric by designer Amy Butler. The problem now is narrowing it down, there are just so many patterns and color combinations that I like. I found a quilt (for $550) on etsy that I really like and will likely use as my inspiration. It is the "Turning Twenty" quilt pattern which I am now trying to locate. I like it because it is big enough to show off the patterns of the fabric and still feel patchworkie. I guess the pattern uses 20 fat quarters but I think I want to make mine a bit bigger. I haven't bought anything yet, but probably will in the near future. I'm very excited!

Update: I was drooling again on the Amy Butler website and found a link to a whole bunch of her patterns that you can download for FREE. There are some quilt patterns, bags, scarves, etc... super "Uber" cute stuff.

Random Finds and Memory Lane

Saturday's garage sales turned up some random things. The biggest things I found were a set of rollerblades for Josh and a set of roller skates for myself. Talk about a trip down memory lane! I remember getting my first pair of rollerskates for my fifth birthday. They were pink Hugga Bunch skates with sparkle trim (see the movie below for your own trip down Hugga Bunch memory lane). I remember rollarskating down the driveway and making pathways with chalk to skate on. Needless to say 20 years makes a difference on my skating skills. Josh and I took the wheels out for a spin on Saturday between General Conference sessions and made total fools of ourselves (I'm sure our neighbors enjoyed the show). I did manage to not fall on my backside. Maybe next time I will venture more than 10 feet away from my building and go faster than 2 mph.

I also came into the jackpot for cd's at a garage sale. Our music tastes were similar and I came home with a couple Barenaked Ladies cd's, Shania Twain, Martina McBride, Dixie Chicks, Corinne Bailey Rae, and Faith Hill. I figure I could spend a buck getting one song off Itunes or buy the entire cd for less than that.

Family Fall Outing

Yesterday we took a spontaneous trip up into the mountains as a family. We hadn't had a chance to get out and see the Fall colors yet and we were all excited to spend time together as a family in the great outdoors. The drive up the canyon was gorgeous with the sun low in the sky creeping in through the peaks onto the golden trees.

We ended up at Longmont Reservoir (I had no idea such a thing existed until last night) and got out and walked around. The boys were the cutest and I greatly enjoyed watching them romp around enjoying the rocks and water. The air was crisp and smelled overwhelmingly of Fall. I was surprised to find a lot of wildflowers in full bloom along the trail/road. They were a lot easier to catch pictures of than my children which were too occupied to stand still long enough to get pictures of. Elijah is very observant and vocal about what he notices. It provides a great view of the world through the eyes of toddler.

I am so grateful for my family. I have been so blessed to have these three amazing boys in my life. They bring so much joy and worth into my life. I am grateful for God's creations. They awe and inspire me.

For the LOVE of...

I have come to the conclusion that Fall is my favorite season, followed closely by Spring but Fall has pulled out on top. I love waking up the crisp air and the earthly smell while I am wrapped up warm in my covers. I love the cooler weather, the warm-not hot- sunshine in the afternoon, the change of the colors in nature around me, and the change in menu. I love making chili and being able to smell it all day without worrying about heating up the house. I love the soups and breads that come with cooler weather too. I love pulling out my sweaters and digging out my socks (yes, I do sometimes wear them with my crocs depending on the weather. Though lately my footwear has branched out a bit). I love the decorations and planning that come with the season. Pulling out my leaf garlands and purchasing pumpkins, figuring out what Elijah is going to settle on for his Halloween costume, starting the Christmas shopping lists and research. MMM... I love it all.

Another thing I've noticed over the last week or so that the cooler weather has been setting in, that the urge to do projects has been setting in too. Fall is my major crafting season (not sure why, it would be busy enough without all the extra projects). I love digging out my yarn and fabric remnants, surfing around on hundreds of blogs dreaming of what I can make. I've got the ideas flowing so beware... there will be posts to come to share the crafting madness that has infected me.


To start- today I found a cute pumpkin pattern that I just had to try. My fabric was a garage sale find from a few months ago and it worked perfectly for this cute little pumpkin. Granted I fudged and cursed my long underused sewing machine but I'm quite pleased with the finished project (though I'm thinking it will be a one and only). Sam fed my ego by giving a big "Oh" when he woke up from his nap and noticed it. Here's to the first Fall decoration of the year to grace my table.

FALL letters came together on this website

Family History Friday- "The Three Quarters"

I apologize for my family history absence. I've been a bit distracted these past few weeks and haven't done much in that area. I promised I would be better this week and then realized that today was Friday...


Josh was out of town Monday through Thursday. I really dislike being apart from him. With the help of great friends and some addicting books (the Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer) I was able to survive his absence. Unfortunately the books took up all my extra time that I should have spent doing some family history.


I thought though, that I would share a picture that my grandma gave me a few years back. It is of myself and my maternal grandparents. My grandma calls it the Three Quarters picture because each of us in the picture has a quarter blood from some country. I am a quarter Palestinian Arab, my grandma a quarter Irish, and my grandpa a quarter English. The picture was taken in July of 1982 in Decatur, Illinois and hung on my grandma's wall from then until 2005 when she passed it on to me.

I am grateful not only for the picture and the people in the picture but also the story behind it's history. It makes me so sad to go through the antique stores and see old photos of people who are now name-less and family-less with a price tag on them. If I could claim them as my own they would be priceless to me.


So amid all this rambling is my plea for you to do something to preserve and label your pictures. Not only the current ones of yourself and your family but also the old ones that are stashed away somewhere of your parents, grandparents, etc. There are so many ways to preserve them, do anything that works for you.


I am dying to get my grandma's pictures scanned and digitized. I cam across a site, mypublisher.com, last week that prints photo books. They have a special layout for vintage photos. You simply upload them into the layouts, adjusting as you desire, submit it online and they will print you as many copies as you like in a variety of formats. There are also other websites that will do the same thing. It seems like a great way to share all the photographs with multiple generations. That's my dream!

Family History Friday: where have I been?

My mother brought it to my attention yesterday that I haven't done Family History Friday for a couple weeks now and she has missed it. SORRY! I completely forgot yesterday. I just haven't had time lately to do much family history and have completely spaced my weekly post.

I couldn't tell you exactly what it is I have been doing though. I guess I've been reading (Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell-an excellet book despite the cut off ending. Gaskell actually died before she completely finished it) and crocheting on top of my regular duties around the house. I've also been going through my massive photo database picking out and cleaning up photos to be printed (and eventually scrapbooked). I was successful in getting some printed yesterday along with some large prints of the amazing pictures that Angie took a few months back. I'm now working on getting them framed and hung. I'll be sure to share how they look hung up; I'm very excited about my Hobby Lobby clearance frames.

Oh, I did do a garage sale with my friend Cecilia last week (sadly this weekend is being rained out for any garage saleing. It's been raining solid for two days which rarely happens in Colorado). We did it last Friday morning and it was great fun! We had a fairly good turnout and I made $30+ off just random stuff around the house. Unfortunatly I still came home with a lot of stuff unsold. There might have to be a follow up sale in a few weeks. It was interesting being on the other side-selling instead of buying. I was grateful that Cecilia was there and speaks spanish.

I've been sitting on a few posts that hopefully I'll get done this weekend. One about our Olympic Opening Ceremony Party and another on my cool new crochet book and projects.

AND
this week I will try and get a post ready for Family History Friday.