Skype is Awesome!

We skyped with Jeremy and Holly on Christmas Eve....it was really fun opening our annual Christmas Jammies with them. Even better than that was getting our annual Christmas Jammie Photo with all 5 of us in the picture!! Love Modern Technology!

Merry Christmas

Just wanted to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas!

My living room from last Christmas.

I came across this one a random blog a few years ago. I had printed it out and put it in my first December Daily from 2008. I loved what it said and thought it might be a good reminder for all of us. Especially after the harried day I had yesterday. So here is something for us all to think about. Hope you all enjoy it.

"If I decorate my house perfectly with plaid bows, strands of twinkling lights and shiny balls, but do not show love to my family, I'm just another decorator. If I slave away in the kitchen, baking dozens of Christmas cookies, preparing gourmet meals and arranging a beautifully adornee table at mealtime, but do not show love to my family, I'm just another cook. If I work at the soup kitchen, carol in the nursing home, and give all that I have to charity, but do not show love to my family, it profits me nothing. If I trim the spruce with shimmering angels and crocheted snowflakes, attend a myriad of holiday parties, and sing in the choir's cantata but do not focus on Christ, I have missed the point. Love stops the cooking to hug the child. Love sets aside decorating to kiss the husband. Love is kind, though harried and tired. Love doesn'tenvy another's home that has coordinated Christmas china and table linens. Love doesn't yell at the kids to get out of the waym but is thankful they are trher3e to be in the way. Love doesn'tgive only to those who are able to give in return but rejoices in giving to those who can't. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. Video games will break, pearl necklaces will be lost, golf clubs will rust. But giving the gift of love will endure. Merry Christmas!" ~ Author Unknown

An Attitude of Gratitude



We had lots of fun making these little guys, tasty and so cute



I have failed miserably at posting something daily about what I am grateful for this month. Not that I don't have things that I am grateful for but alas I didn't take the time to post daily on my blog about it. I have lots of ideas as to why but rather than try and figure it out I decided to post one more grateful post instead.  

      



This past week I have been surrounded by my family. It has been so fun to have Jeremy and Holly home for Thanksgiving. It was also fun to have our nephew Brent and his family here too. Though we didn't see much of them as they were at Disneyland most of the time. I am grateful to have my family here. I loved listening to Jeremy, Holly and Jason play video games and laugh and talk together. I am so grateful that now as adults my children like to hang out together.



Love this one around the table.



I am grateful for my job....even though I would have rather been home on Friday and Saturday hanging with my kids I am grateful that I can help to provide for us. I am also grateful many friends were at Costco this past week as seeing familar faces made it easier to work when I didn't really want to be there. I am grateful that Cliff and the kids came over to have lunch with me on Saturday before Holly and Jeremy left to go home. My heart hated that they had to leave on Saturday, but my mind understood their reasoning. My kids are grown now, they are making their own decisions and I am grateful that they have grown into such wonderful people.





AMAZING homemade dinner rolls.
A great recipe from the Pioneer Woman.



Last but certainly not least I am grateful for Cliff and all that he does for our family. He doesn't always get the recognition he deserves. He works hard....and he loves us dearly and I am so grateful for his love for me and our children. Thanks honey for loving us the way you do.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

The dog looks dorky but Jase looks great!

This was suppose to be just a picture of Jeremy
but  somehow I got Holly in there too...I love it
the two of them are simply adorable together!

I had to get at least one of me in the mix. =)

Doin' the Happy Dance

I went and checked my email this morning and look what I found...I have been published in an online scrappy magazine! I'm so excited! So I will be posting the layouts in a month....so I guess for today....since I have fallen way behind in the grateful posting again...I am grateful for email...and I am grateful that I have been published!

I didn't post the layouts here so you won't have to worry about what you are missing...but i had to post this anyway.

Counting my Blessings

   I must confess, I borrowed this from Teresa Collin's blog. It does happen to be one of my favorite hymns however. I love the tune as well as it's message. It causes me to stop and ponder the wonderful blessings in my life. When I sing this in church I always think of my greatest blessing....my family. So today I am counting my blessings and I am naming them Cliff, Jeremy, Jason and Holly!

5 Days In

Here it is that time of year again when I like to post something I am grateful about each day....and for some reason I haven't posted yet and we are already 5 days into the month. I have been thinking about what I would like to post about...I am grateful for so many things...but I don't want to make this a repeat of last years list or even of the year before so because I was doing so much "thinking" about what I was grateful for I kind of froze. I once heard that "Analysis is Paralysis" so I decided I had better just stop analyzing and start posting.

So let me see if I can get up to speed here with 5 things I am grateful for in one post. Hopefully the rest of the month I will do better.

1. First off I am grateful for the opportunity I have to be creative in my studio almost     daily. I haven't done a lot of creating the last week or so but I am grateful for what I have come up with. I have kind of been in a "layout" slump. I have several sitting here waiting to be "finished". But I have started my December Daily album which I am super excited about and I have managed to make a few cards which I don't usually do so I guess it's good to change it up a bit once in a while.

2. Going along with my post on Halloween.....I am really grateful for my home and the neighborhood in which we live. It's quiet and we have wonderful neighbors.

3. I am grateful for the sound of laughter in my home. I am so looking forward to Thanksgiving when I will have my whole family here...I love to listen to them laugh.

4. I am grateful that I have always had a desire to take pictures. I am not a super photographer...but I am so grateful that I have the photographs that I do. My children don't understand how important it is for me to capture the memories and the moments. They often don't want to have their pictures taken but a photo can freeze a moment in time forever. I am so grateful that I have lots of photos of not only my parents but my grandparents as well. It helps me feel connected.

5. Today especially I am grateful that I have a job with benefits....sick pay to be exact. As I stood at the door at work today and gradually started to feel worse and worse...I was grateful that not only did our terrific board runner, Gabe, find a replacement for me but that I had the sick time to get paid as well.

Happy Halloween

I am not much of a Halloween person....I love cute Halloween....DO NOT like to be scared! So what am I working on today you ask? My 8x8 DECEMBER DAILY! It's turning out quite will so far....but I will spare you all the pictures of it until later.

We did have a neighborhood block party on Saturday night. I went down for a bit and listened to my awesome neigbor Roger Demers and his band play for a while...they were really quite good! I am posting a couple of quick photos I took...or attempted to take Saturday night...not the greatest quality but not too bad. =)

Tomorrow starts my month of Gratitude posting....I really have to work hard at it this year cuz last year I posted everyday.....wish me luck. I don't want to just post for the sake of posting I want to have what I say and what I am thankful for be meaningful, at least to me.

Tonight Cliff Jason and I are going to see the new Foot Loose...now that we don't have trick or treat aged kids living in our house maybe this will become a new tradition...Movie night on Halloween....only if it's a non-scary movie that is!

My Scrap Friendzy Challenge

I just posted my challenge over at Scrap Friendzy for their "Think Pink" challenge this month. I have been dying to share this layout. I don't usually do anything this fancy or detailed but I had so much fun creating it. I was initially inspired by a Websters Pages layout I had seen but once I got to playing with the paper it became totally mine. It was really fun to play off of the design in the paper. Sometimes I think, a girl just needs to play with paper!

Hard to Believe

That it's been a year since Jeremy and Holly got married!  Man does time fly! Congrats you guys....I love you!

Ten Things on the 10th

Shimelle Laine started this thing about blogging about 10 things on the 10th of the Month. I read about it a few months ago but never got around to starting it. I decided I would try it this month. October is after all the 10th Month...and tomorrow will be the 10th day....there's just one catch...I work all day tomorrow and have plans tomorrow night so there will be no time for 10 Things on the 10th....hence my posting my 10 Things on the 9th...it's either that or I will be posting on the 11th. I decided I would rather be just a bit early instead a tad late. So without further rambling here are my ten things for this month...mind you since I haven't done this before it could take me til the 10th to get this posted...ha ha

I decided to take the easy way out and post 10 Random photos that I have taken in the last few months that I love.


Actually Jason took this one with his new camera. He was just playing around and I loved the off center look of the whole thing. He of course doesn't like it for the same reason that I do like it. To me it's Artsy....to him and his slightly OCD ways it's just not right...but more than that...it's about me getting to spend some fun time with him!



I LOVE this photo....I didn't take it...I wasn't even there...but I love that Jason and his friends took it and that he shared it with me. Someday I may scrap it...I am seriously loving the artsy photos these days.

I think I have posted this picture before. Cliff thought I was crazy for taking pictures of the 5 dishes of fruit he had just prepared...to me it said We are a family of 5....Jeremy and Holly were home...even if only for the weekend it was awesome to have them here.

This picture just cracks me up...I am not quite sure who is sillier Jason or Riley!

I love flowers...if I had unlimited funds....I would have fresh flowers delivered every week. Flowers just make me happy!

I love wild Mustard...it reminds me of being a kid. There
were lots of orchards in San Jose back then and the stuff
grew wild...it was always so pretty.

This little guy just stayed there while I zoomed in and
snapped his photo.

I love anything that has to do with the beach!





Last but certainly not least #10 is my family.
I love them beyond words! I would
be lost without them. They are the reason I get up in the
morning. They sustain me and always keep me smiling!

There you have it....10 random photos from my massive collection. If you have made it through this post...Thanks! And Stay tuned....I will have another post on Wednesday!

Posting x 2

My Silly Boy with his Cute Girl

After updating my blog I decided I would scrap a bit. I wanted to do another Shimelle Laine Scrapbook Starting Point Challenge. So now that it is finished I wanted to post it. I took this picture of Jeremy and Holly last weekend. We were on the escalator and I turned around to snap the photo and this is what I got...two goofy 20-something kids hamming it up for the camera. I eventually got plenty of good ones but this is the one I wanted to scrap....go figure. I guess it's cuz it shows their personalites so well. It's a far cry from their beautiful wedding photos but thats ok...this one is more real. Thanks again Shimelle for the great starting point...it made putting this layout together a snap!

A Little Face Lift

Not for me but for my blog! No thanks no interest in being pulled too tightly and not looking like who I am. I just came across Aqua Poppy Designs and decided I would grab one of their free backgrounds and make my blog all cute! Living in a house with all men I often times crave "cute and girlie" so why not on my blog? It is mine after all. =) Hope you all like it.

Jeremy and I always use to think (and still do) that thunder
clouds look like mounds of whipped cream.

Here are a couple of layouts I have done recently. I have a couple more I need to finish up and then I can post them too...have a great rest of the weekend everyone! I'm off to scrap!

Love that I have pictures of Jason in the same place in the park
15 years apart!

The End of my Staycation

I had such a wonderful time on my staycation that I totally forgot to post on my blog. I didn't do a whole lot  actually we had a quiet Labor Day I made Jason his birthday dinner since we both were working on his actual birthday. I did a few things with some friends during the first part of the week. I also did a lot of cleaning and reorganizing in my studio. One might think I was nuts to spend my vacation time sorting and weeding and throwing out stuff but it so needed to be done and I was in the mood to do it. My wonderful friend Mitzi Dean came over and helped out one of the days and so now I have a really well organized room and I have more space thanks to eliminating stuff and moving things around. So in short...it made me happy. About midway through the week all I could think of was "Man I could get use to this." If only I got paid to stay home all the time...lol

Friday morning my Staycation became a Vacation as we left for Arizona to see Jeremy and Holly. It was a quick trip but a lot of fun. I met up with my fun online friend Janet Bell when we got there. We went shopping at a local scrappy store and then out to lunch.We celebrated Jason's birthday again with Jeremy and Holly at Famous Dave's if you are ever looking for good ribs...Famous Dave's ROCKS! We went to the temple in Mesa with Jeremy and Holly...had really good chinese food for lunch...went to the mall...you know just stuff. We went to a concert at ASU that was beautiful Saturday evening. Most of the time we were just hanging out with the kids. It was great to be together. We saw lots of cool lightening and actually got some rain while we were there too.  All too soon it was Sunday afternoon and it was time to head back to SoCal.
I was really tired on Monday and kind of bummed out that I had to go back to work...and yet grateful that I have a job to go back to. All good things must come to an end so Tuesday back to work I went. Here are a few photos from my Staycation/Vacation




Had fun at the HB Farmers Market with my friend Linda and
company. 



My newly cleaned and organized Studio

My lovely clean desk

That's Jason and Me with Wilber the Pig
drawn by our waiter in BBQ Sauce

Cliff with the kids....of course they noticed the guy behind
them taking a mouthful of his dinner...lol

Jason's Birthday Ice Cream complete with
fireworks! Only in AZ...he shared too it was
yummy!

The boys outside in the rain posing for a picture
to keep me happy....I so love my boys!



Birthday boy



Not sure what to call this  look they are giving each other
but I love it.

Holly's friend Kim came over on Sunday...love her!

It only took us about 4 tries with the self timer to get this photo.

Staycation - Days 1 & 2

I have been looking forward to my little "Staycation" since it was first approved at work the end of July. So here I am already into day 2....so far.....so good! Yesterday I went and had me some fun at one of my favorite scrappy stores, Scrapbook Daisies in Long Beach. After that I was suppose to have lunch with a friend but it got postponed so Jason and I went and had lunch. After lunch we went and ran some errands...one of which was, oh yeah, go to Costco and shop....I so didn't want to go but figured if I could just get in and out quickly I could pretend I wasn't there. It was busy but Jason kept me entertained...he was tired and in his words...."Loopy". He pretty much had me laughing the whole afternoon. I so love that boy...er uh young man!  After all he is now 19...ackkkk how did that happen? That will have to be for another post. Last night I got to play with paper and came up with this really cute layout of my "loopy" son on his birthday...I would post it but alas...I haven't taken a photo yet and it's dark out so that will have to wait for yet another post.

Today, I slept in a bit and then got up and made hopefully my last trip to Costco til after vacation...had to get gas...the line was just too long yesterday and I wasn't willing to sit in it. We came home had a leasurely breakfast and then we took off and went to Huntington Central Park for their annual Civil War Reenactment. Jason had been but Cliff and I hadn't so we thought it would be something fun to do today. It turned out to be an interesting event. Seeing everyone dressed in period costumes, listening to music and of course there was the "battle". Actually we got there too early for the battle so we left and had lunch picked up a few groceries and then Cliff and Jase went back to see a little bit of it. I was really tired by then, my back was bothering me, so I took the groceries home and then went and picked them up. Let me tell ya...those cannons can make some noise. The boys said it was cool to see. I loved seeing all the cool artifacts. They really try to keep the costumes and things authentic to the time period. We even chatted with "Mr. Lincoln".

Jason took this one with his new camera
while we were at lunch.

Mr. Lincoln waving to the crowd



Cliff and Jason with Abe



Don't you know I had to take the photographers photo

We stopped and talked with this woman about her costume

How cute is this  sewing machine and iron?

Loved this chair with the "chamber pot" next to it

This lady was sewing.

This man was playing cool banjo music.

Part of the Confederate Camp

Yep I did get a photo of one of the cannons.

I loved how neat and tidy this tent was.

Perhaps I should try wearing this at the door
at work this winter??

So that is pretty much it for today. I came home and got a little nap and did my lesson for Sunday School and the really cool thing is it's only 8:40 PM If had worked today I would be in much worse shape by now. So heres to tomorrow and more "Staycation"!