"To every thing there is a season..." Ecl 3:1

The year does not seem complete without a trip to see the autumn leaves (looking at everyone elses blogs and their "outings to see the leaves" I think you would all agree). Even though everything is dying, for some reason it feels like a fresh start as school starts and the winter holidays begin. I love having four seasons because it reminds me that time is passing and that I need to not take for granted the good times that I am having with my family right now. I won't ramble more, but enjoy some pics of me and my fam!

My crazy kids!

Ashlee trying to figure out how to get ALL of the leaves in her mouth

Me and my baby girl!

Top 10 signs that your hubby is a pilot

When Ashlee's third word learned was "jet" I decided that there are quite a few quirky things that come with your hubby being a pilot. So, I decided to jot a few of them down.


10. Your little boy's room has an "airplane" theme

9. You sleep almost better alone then with your spouse in bed with you (who's that stranger? j/k Justin)

8. Your little 15 mo old girl prefers to play with planes over dolls and perfectly makes the "jet noise"

7. Your pantry is full of "airplane snacks" brought from work

6. Your husband also owns a remote control airplane and a computer flight simulator game to fly on days off

5. Your child's 3rd word learned was "jet" (Ashlee)

4. Remote friends call out of the blue needing buddy passes (it's ok if that's you one day =))

3. Once having kids, you fly less frequently than your "non-airline" friends because non-reving sticks, especially with kids. It's just a little too hard to pass up the price of free!

2. You know what it means to "non-rev" and have many major airline tele #'s memorized

1. 3 or 4 days out of 7-- mac and cheese or similar is a perfectly fine dinner! (When the hubby is gone of course!)

One more-- you have your little boy's picture taken in daddy's uniform (Andew 1 year old)

A sigh of relief!

It's finally over-- YWIE! If you know what that means, then you have probably been busy too (or have in the past) It's Young Women in Excellence. We had a "you reap what you sow" theme. I think it went well, the only problem was the down pour of rain while we were trying to load the cars with the decorations when cleaning up. Once we were drenched, the rain didn't bother us much! I was helping with the decorations and invitations- fun but a little time consuming. We did a fall/Harvest theme, so it wasn't hard coming up with decorations. I tried a little of my digital scrappin skills for the invitations. It was a good trial on cards for future invitations and for christmas cards coming up-- yikes. (My sister already bought her neighbor gifts today.) Here's a look at the invite (printed as a 4x6 photo at Sam's):


Well, I was going to add some other pics of things we've being doing lately, but right now blogspot won't let me. It just says error and that "they are aware of the problem". Hmmm, are they really? Or does every error message say that? I'll try again another day.

12x12 it is!

Here's my latest page. I've finally decided to change to 12x12, so time to get scrapping. I'm excited to use my sister Suzanne's templates. This page is a revision of one of Suzie's 2 page layout. Thanks Suz!

I Need Your Help!

Help!! My digital scrapbooking has been on hold because I have been scrapbooking 8 1/2 x 11 (Letter) pages since the beginning of my paper days, but now I am thinking about changing over to 12x12. So, I need your help in deciding. Here are the advantages of each one that I thought of, please add any to help me decide!

Letter:

*Cheaper: pages, sheet covers, albums
*I already have a large box of sheet covers this size

12x12:

*I get to use my sister's and others' awesome templates (there are more out there for 12x12)
*I don't have to crop 12x12 papers
*I like the square look of 12x12's
*You can fit more photos on the page (potentially spending less on additional pages)-- do you think that this is true????
*There's more room on the page to play with the layout
*There are more ideas on the web for layouts

Here is a comparison:

12x12:

Letter:

As you can see from my list, I am leaning towards 12x12, but that darn $$ thing. So, since most or all of you that read my blog scrap 12x12-- help sway me!

Digital Scrapbook Class Info!!

Just a reminder that the district digital scrapbooking class is coming up next week. A few things to note if you're intersted in taking the class:

--It is Sept 28th, 8:15am-3:45pm. They will provide a sack lunch. There is a $25 registration fee.

--You MUST be basically familiar with photoshop elements (PSE). If you complete the shabbyshoppe Tutorial, you will know enough for the class.

--If you don't have PSE yet, download a 30 day free trial on adobe's website and then do the tutorial mentioned above.

--If anyone is interested, I would be happy to walk you through making your first page. I thought that if anyone is interested, they can come to my house maybe next Wednesday evening, 9/26 around 8:30pm (after the kiddies are in bed). Let me know if you're interested!

--Registration opens only the day before the class to non-district employees. So, if you will let me know for sure by Wednesday night (9/26) that you are for sure interested in taking the class, then I will register as many as spots are available (I will probably draw out of a hat if there is limited space). The instructor thought that there would be plenty of room (only 2 of 15 spots were taken as of a week ago).

Let me know if you are interested, have any questions or would like to come to my "prep" night next Wednesday.

Beware you may need an soft seat and a snack ready when starting this post!

If in the digital scrapbooking world there are "mega-kits" to download and are very enjoyable to have, then this is the "mega-post" and hopefully this is enjoyable also. Somehow life got busy and eventually I had to catch-up on missing sleep, so it's been a while since I last posted. And, since I really do want to eventually print this thing and call it a journal, I am going to go back and catch up. (By the way, if anyone has any info on printing blogs, please send it my way.) So, beware you may need an soft seat and a snack ready when starting this post!

1 CUT, 4 STITCHES, 1 FRAZZLED MOM (AND CHILD)

Well I knew that the day would come when I had to make the trip to the ER without Justin for stitches for one of the kids. One little fall off the bar stool at dinner made for quite the eventful night. Just as we were finishing up dinner trying to get the kids ready to go to a babysitters so I could go to young women's Andrew took a dive off the bar stool and cut his chin really deep. Thank goodness for family, my sister was eager to take Ashlee off my hands so we get get Andrew's chin stitched up. Andrew did amazingly well!! (Mom survived too!)

Sorry- no before the stitches shot, too gory and a little too crazy at that moment for pics

The Stitches

All better!

MY BABY GIRL IS GROWING UP!

I caught a glimpse and caught this on camera-- my babe had climbed up on to her rocking chair, plopped herself down, found a book and began to "read". She just looked so old. She's 14 1/2 months old and her personality is blossoming! She loves to snuggle, giggle until shes blue and drooling, wrestle on the floor with Dad and big brother Drew, eat fruit as fast as she can and she's always found folding her arms whenever a prayer is said. What can I say-- I love her to pieces! She brings me such joy-- there's just nothing like being a mom =)

1ST DAY OF PRESCHOOL!

Well Ashlee has been looking so grown-up to me then I put some "school clothes" and a backpack on Andrew and I almost died. Andrew was happy to pose for the camera and show off his new clothes. (He insisted on having one picture in the pose below) Without hesitation he ran right in and when I came back 2 1/2 hours later I asked if he had fun, he said "no, because I didn't get to stay very long! I think he's already for 1st grade-- staying at school all day. He also has joined a little neighborhood soccer club. Between soccer and preschool, he's in 7th heaven!

Andrew striking a pose

Andrew and his cousin Ellie at preschool

THE OLD; THE NEW!!

Well after 8 years, the good OLD Nissan FINALLY did not pass emissions and safety and despite Justin's best mechanical efforts, he was not able to fix it!! (It's about time ;)). The Nissan has served us well since back into our dating days. When dating, we enjoyed watching many sunsets in it from the mountain side. It was the truck that I learned to drive stick in. It has hauled many mountain bikes, landscaping mulch, neighbors' "stuff" and more. We love the Nissan and have been happy to enjoy car payment free days. (However, now that it's leaving, I can look more easily past the broken A/C, peeling paint, dinged up bumpers, and the radio face that has to be taped on to stay-- to name a few things)

So after much looking, negotiating, traveling the entire valley (and beyond) and getting sworn at by a mean used car salesmen we found a replacement. Justin actually found it at a dealership in Lincoln Nebraska while he had some free time on a trip. It was an awesome deal (or at least the dealer convinced us it was) and they threw in the shipping-- so we sealed the deal. So If the last truck which Justin bought as a student and was junk yard material lasted 8 years, I'm sure this one is going to stick around for a long time. Here it is (or one that looks very similar. Justin's at work so I can't take a pic of it)

The Old: The Nissan

The New: Toyota Tundra