Mother Wife and Artist

Our Plan of Study For The Year

2012-01-09T19:04:00.000-08:00

This year we are doing a study of the Book of Mormon throughout the church for Sunday School. I always love studying the Book of Mormon. The first Sunday of the year I was sitting in Sunday School, flipping through the Study guide. I ran across this quote which I absolutely love on the promises given for reading the Book of Mormon regularly with our families.

“I feel certain that if, in our homes, parents will read from the Book of Mormon prayerfully and regularly, both by themselves and with their children, the spirit of that great book will come to permeate our homes and all who dwell therein. The spirit of reverence will increase; mutual respect and consideration for each other will grow. The spirit of contention will depart. Parents will counsel their children in greater love and wisdom. Children will be more responsive and submissive to the counsel of their parents. Righteousness will increase. Faith, hope, and charity—the pure love of Christ—will abound in our homes and lives, bringing in their wake peace, joy, and happiness” (in Conference Report, Apr. 1980, 90; or Ensign, May 1980, 67).

I don't know a home or family that DOES NOT need these types of blessings on a regular basis. This quote always gives me a renewed purpose in making sure we are reading it in our family.

As I continued glancing through the study guide though I had a thought as I noticed the little section after each lesson for a family discussion. I've seen this my whole life, but it hit me a bit differently that moment. I started reading through a few of them and thought these would be great FHE lessons. Why not actually do what they suggest and discuss this as a family. Why not make life easier on us and have the FHE lesson, be the same as what we've been studying as a family in scripture study as well as what we are studying in church.

Most of the time Beau and I end up picking a topic that we feel our family needs at the time, and do a Family Home Evening lesson on that topic. But my thoughts were different that day. The thoughts I kept having were: The Book of Mormon has the power to change lives. Teaching Doctrine will improve behavior faster than teaching behavior will improve behavior. The promises made in the quote, and how we are need of them. I knew that if we did this our family would better in so many ways.

So I shared my thoughts with Beau and we decided to simplify things for the year. We're going to read the Book of Mormon as a family, and follow along with the Sunday School lessons, the following week, we'll use the family discussion suggestions in the Study guide to use as a basis for our family home-evening on the chapters we had studied the week before. Basically it's all about the Book of Mormon.

We are continuing to do our scripture stories with our kids as we read. Our goal is to illustrate as close as we can every chapter of the Book of Mormon, and then I'll bind them at the end of their year for their own scripture story book. We are really wanting them to learn the people, stories and events of the Book of Mormon. We've also be been able to have some great discussions with them while they are coloring about various things we're reading. One being the attitude of Laman and Lemuel. We discussed how they were still obedient to everything they were asked to do, the difference was they complained and murmured about it every time. We discussed our attitudes when asked to do something.

I try and print up all the chapters we'll need for the week, then all I have to do is put them on the table with the bucket of crayons when I set it for breakfast. When we're finished eating, Beau will pull out the scriptures and read while the kids grab their paper and start to draw about what we are reading for the day. Here is Savannah's for the week.

Tonight was our first Family Home Evening lesson, discussing the importance of the Book of Mormon. We also discussed how the Book of Mormon came about.

I assigned everyone a prophet from the Book of Mormon and then handed them each their own plate of gold (created from a Styrofoam meat tray I cut up). I gave them an opened paper clip to have them try writing some scripture on their own plates. The styrofoam works great to press into, but it's still a lot tougher than writing on paper. They did great and loved the hands on part of the activity. I was impressed with what Mirian and Savannah chose to write on theirs.

We then had Mormon (Isaac) abridge the plates. (combine all the pages together with some book rings.) We talked about how he had to take all these records from so many prophets, and through prayer and revelation know which parts to include in the final gold plates, which would come forth in the last days. We then had him give them to Moroni who buried them. Joseph Smith was then visited in a dream by Moroni (thousands of years later) and acted out the whole story of how the Book of Mormon came to be translated, published and now prints over a million copies a year.

We then ended with the testimony of Elder Holland on the Book of Mormon. His testimony affects me so powerfully every single time I hear it. It affected my kids too when they heard it this time. It resignates deep inside my soul, with my own testimony and knowledge that Joseph Smith was indeed a prophet and he did translate the golden plates and brought forth the Book of Mormon. It is the most correct book on earth. The prophets and people that wrote it did live, I feel that every time I read it, and it hit home even more so tonight in our little acting lesson.

This book is the word of God. It is so powerful and as I've been re-reading it again, I am always amazed at how much more I learn from it. I encourage you to watch Elder Holland's testimony. I would encourage you to re-read it this year and study it with your families. If you have never read it before. I encourage you to read it from start to finish all the way through for yourself. If you need a copy let me know and I will give you one, (in your preferred language.) See what it's about, find out for yourself why Elder Holland's testimony is so powerful. It is a true book. I know that with all my heart. I have no doubt. It will change your life if you let it. I'm excited for it to change my family's this year.

A Year Ago

2012-01-06T19:56:00.000-08:00

I thought I would share one more month from our Family Book. This is the month of January. Look at where we were a year ago, and how much the kids have grown! This was also a month were I took little pictures and didn't blog much. So it ended up being a short section. That has made me want to take more pictures and record more of what we were doing. What kinds of things do I want to remember and read about 30 years down the road when I pull one of these books out. I want to be better at documenting the little things, and recording our life happenings.

While working on this month, I included a calendar of what had been on our original calendar for the month, and decided I would like to include this as the last page of every month. (I now need to go back and update some of the months with this.) You never realize what a great historical document your calendar is, but it shows a great overview of those little every day happenings of the month.

Our Family Year Book

2012-01-06T19:43:00.000-08:00

So it was obvious that I wasn't around much on the blog during November. It was the start of that busy holiday season. Another reason I didn't blog much was because I decided I wanted to try and complete a family history album of the past year for our family. It was a huge undertaking and I'm still not finished, but I was able to get quite a bit accomplished.

I wanted to create it by month. Each month contained an overview, what we've been learning about in school and any other significant happenings. I'd really like to go back and do one for every year we've been married and continue doing it every forthcoming year. I think it would be such an incredible legacy for your kids to look back on, and for me to enjoy when they are all gone. I have so many thoughts about this, but won't dump them all on you right now. :)

One thing I wanted to accomplish during the project was making sure that it was fast and easy to do. No complicated layouts. I also wanted it to be cost effective. After trying several options, it came down to doing it 8.5 x 11, printing it for now and putting it in plastic sleeves. Eventually I do plan on binding each year into a finished book.

I've fallen in love with the 8.5 x 11 size and plan to never go back to the square format. (I'll still be doing them occasionally for my design work, but I've figured out how to convert those ones to 8.5 x 11 too so I can have a finished printed copy. I'm also happy to say that ScrapGirls is now doing a lot for 8.5x11. Yeah!!

So I thought I'd share our month of November from our book, since I didn't post much about it here.

Another Year to Look Forward To

2012-01-06T15:11:00.000-08:00

I love everything about the new year. I'm one of those people who thrive on change, love a chance to make goals and look forward to seeing what can happen over a year.

I realized I was pretty much absent for half of November and the whole month of December. Oops. Life was busy, hectic and full of good things. We enjoyed a wonderful holiday together as family and were able to relax from a busy month. Beau was on a deadline to finish up a journal paper that he needed to finish before Christmas. He almost made it, but decided to relax and spend Christmas Eve, Christmas and a few days after with us. It's a good thing too or Santa might have just left him a hunk of coal. We had a great time, and he was able to finish it up before the new year.

We are now on the countdown to writing the final dissertation and finishing up the last of the research by mid February so he can graduate come April. I think we see an end in sight. Our first 10 years of marriage to complete his education. Would I have done it differently? Never. He has grown so much in these years. The things he is now capable of doing, and the things he has learned have been amazing. To see him develop talents and abilities, along with watching him grow as a person has been worth it all. There have been hard times, frustration, late hours, stress and tight finances that we have experienced here and there through this road of getting a higher education while choosing to have a family, but the Lord has truly blessed us for that choice. It doesn't add up by the world's ways or on paper, but it has added up in our lives in blessings more numerous to count, happiness that is we could never imagine, and experiences we would never want to pass up.

It is going to be a good year. We can both feel it. Change is in the air and I love it's feeling. Here's to another new year of joy, growth, trials, love, new people, learning and fun.

October in Review

2011-11-15T06:16:00.001-08:00

October was a busy month, and I know I wasn't able to get everything posted on here that I would have liked to. So I thought I'd share a month in review with you.

Graphing Exercises

2011-10-28T05:22:00.000-07:00

Mirian had a science lesson on how scientists sort their data, as part of the scientific method. The lesson taught various methods, one being making graphs and charts to compare the results. So we did some exercises in graphing. This is also a great math activity too. We first sorted stuffed animals by types and graphed it. We then had Mirian go outside and tally how many trucks, vans or cars drove in front of our house over a period of time. We then did the exercise the kids enjoyed the most because it allowed for a snack afterwards - sorting Fruit Loops by color.

Isaac loved this activity and joined in the fun as well. In fact Isaac spends most of the time doing lessons right along with Mirian as well as Caitlyn.

They both graphed their numbers and looked at the results. Orange was the main color for both of them. So there's a good chance that your Malt O Meal bag of Fruit Loops is mostly orange.

Another graphing exercise Isaac really enjoys comes from these preschool packs. There is a dice that has a different picture on each side that he roles, and then a graphing chart to color in. To him it feels like a game, and yet he's learning graphing skills and how to record results in an organized manner.

Another things I've made is these learning to write books that I found here. You can find all of them under the printables section. She has a category of them called sticky learnings. They are cute! I printed out the number book and the letters upper and lower case. I then laminated them and created little books with rings. Now when Mirian is doing Phonics and Issac wants to join her, I can pull out one of these books and have him practice writing with a dry erase marker. She also has another cool book called, "About Me" that I created for him too. It has things like my home, phone number, address, birthday and pages of "my favorite...." I then used the Dashed font to write his answers he gave me. He can then copy over them to practice writing and learning important info like his phone number and address.

This homeschooling hasn't just been for Savannah and Mirian, it truly is a family affair with everyone involved. Isaac gets excited about what they do too. By the time he is in Kindergarten next year, he'll be flying through it.

It's been a long time....

2011-10-21T07:29:00.000-07:00

It's been a long time since I have actually put out a Collection Biggie. They just take me too long. This time around I was able to get all of these done in about a week. It was insane! I love it when inspirations hits like that and I can pump something out in the few moments I have throughout the week. Plus this one was just too much fun!

Just click on the products to go directly to their page in the store. You can also get all of them in this value pack for a killer price, especially with the 27.7% sale going on in the boutique right now too! (Up till Oct. 24)

A Little Fishy

2011-10-18T13:33:00.000-07:00

Our current science unit is the different classes of animals. This specific lesson was on fish. After doing an online lesson about fish and what makes them different from reptiles, amphibians and mammals, we got to do the hands on fun. One thing I love about teaching, is the various ways you can learn about a subject. I enjoy doing those little extra things that really make learning enjoyable.

For this unit, even though we have live small goldfish, I was wanting to get a real fish to look at for the anatomy part of the unit. Unfortunately I didn't plan early enough to take everyone on a family out fishing to catch their own. We resorted to the frozen fish at the local supermarket. I was really hoping they still had their insides. Oh well. Next time we're home grandpa you'll have to do a live gutting demo after a fishing trip with the grandkids.

This lesson also reminded me of my own Great Brain project in fifth grade on fish. We went to a fish farm where we did a video on how to catch a fish, and then later came home while they took a video of me teaching how to gut a fish. I can even add that to my list of employment opportunities. A whole summer of gutting fish for the local city folks who had come to catch their own fish. My hands were raw by the end of it. I've never been a greater lover of bag balm and gloves a night.

But on to our lesson.

We pulled our real fish for some hands on action.... which no one wanted to do at first. They weren't going to touch it. So Beau had to man up and start explaining where the gills were at, the different types of fins and their scales.

We finally got some takers on touching it. Then they even started having fun playing with it.

After inspecting the fish from every direction we assembled a paper fish while labeling the different parts of it's anatomy.

We then incorporated some art into it. (Of course! What else do you expect from an art teacher.) So we started off with making prints of the fish. Painting a good coating of black paint on it, we then laid a paper over top, rubbed it and pulled off our own realistic fish prints. I thought they turned out great.

The best part of this whole unit, was the amazing aroma we enjoyed throughout the whole house. By the time we were finished my stomach wouldn't even think of letting me cook it up. Which would have a been another fun unit of trying a new fish dish, or some sushi.

We then pulled out the clay and built our own fish. This was a art unit I did while student teaching with my elementary teacher. She did it every year with her fifth graders when they studied fish in science. She called them taco fish. I loved the unit. It was so fun to see the creative side come out of the kids. I just remembered it when I was looking at this unit, and was excited that I could do it again, even though I no longer teach.

You start with a ball of clay. Roll it out like a tortilla, fill the middle with some newspaper and then fold it up like a taco around the edges leaving the front open for the mouth. You also cut out a triangle from the top back to separate the top fin from the bottom fin.

It's a great unit to talk about texture, slipping, scoring and slabs with real clay and three dimensional sculptures.

I used model magic for these since I don't have access to a real kiln. Hmmm, could I fit that into the homeschool budget? :) It worked great, but if you do use model magic, when you get a bucket make sure you use your 40 or 50 percent off coupon at Joanns. It's not cheap stuff. We've been able to make it last for 4 different art units. When it was rolled out flat I had the kids add texture to the clay for the scales and then flipped it over so the texture would be on the outside when it was folded like the taco.

Here is Savannah's fish she is in the middle of making. She wanted to have a worm hanging out of it's mouth.

Mirian wanted to do a blow fish, which I thought turned out awesome!

Here is Isaac's fish, tongue and all. He did a really great job for a 4 year old.

Even Caitlyn made a great looking fish. I just helped her pinch the top together and cut the back triangle out.

When they are all finished and dry, they look really great painted up with silver acrylic paint. If you add a bit of watercolors to it, then you can get various colored metallic paints which can create some very shiny, festive fish. I forgot to get a picture of our final products, which only got half painted because of General Conference and distractions. We had a great time with this lesson and can't wait to show you our others as well. Mirian had been looking forward to it all day, and has now decided that Science is her favorite class.

Answering your questions

2011-10-10T05:44:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to thank all of you that have commented on my posts. I'm not the best at responding to them, but I really do appreciate all you have to say. You have asked me some questions I thought I would answer here.

How do I create the papers I used for our scripture stories?

I actually use a program that I purchased this last summer called StartWrite. I knew I would use it quite a bit to do custom writing pages, so to me it was worth the money investment. If you aren't sure that you would use it that often, and would only be doing it for the scripture stories a cheaper option would be just using a font. Print Clearly Dashed Font is free to download and would work great. You wouldn't have the writing guidelines or any of the fancy stuff, but it would be free and you could just type out the chapter, verses and synopsis for them to still trace.

If you have older children I ran across these great ideas for studying scriptures and keeping a scripture journal at Noggins and Nonsense. I love this idea and love how it helps them learn how to ask their own questions, ponder what they're reading and getting in the great habit of writing down what they learn. She also had some great resources that I've been using lately in my own gospel study. They are exactly the way I think and has helped me quite a bit in improving my scripture study lately and getting excited about it again. The Scripture Journal Ideas and the Scripture Journal Pages. She also talks a lot about the Red Headed Hostess which is another blog I've come to love. She is a seminary teacher and shares a lot of great things about the scriptures, themes to study and ideas she uses with her seminary students.

My sister in law was also asking me about simple things she could do with her preschooler at home. I ran across 2 Teaching Mommies a little bit ago and love their little preschool packets. They are free and they have a good variety of themes that would work for the seasons or the personality of your preschooler. I've printed out a couple for Isaac and Caitlyn to do and they have had fun with them. Each kit has basic activities and games directed to helping them learn skills needed for Kindergarten. Skills such as letters, numbers and counting, pre-writing, patterns, size recognition, etc.

They recently had a great time playing Monster Mash from this kit practicing their letters. Isaac also loves the game of rolling the dice and graphing how many of each monster he rolls. You could do some extension activities to make these a great unit. Art projects, some cooking activities, etc. They just released a pumpkin and forest animal themed kits recently.

Another resource I LOVE is the book Playful Learning.

It is a great resource for learning how to turn your home into a great learning environment for your children. With simple activities and physical areas that can be set up, you can help your kids have a love for learning. I love her ideas and have slowly started to implement some of them into our own home. I have loved watching them naturally just pick up something and start playing with them and learning, rather than just wanting to watch a movie.

I have honestly loved doing school with my kids, and finding ways to learn and explore together. There are so many great resources out there that you can use to fit to your own personal situation, but help your children grow, as well as spending quality time together. I'd love to hear about anything you do with your own kids right now. Please share!

How Great Was Our Joy!

2011-10-04T12:06:00.000-07:00

This last weekend was a wonderful time for our family. We were able to enjoy a weekend of General Conference for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. What a wonderful conference it was. One of the main reasons this was such a special weekend for us was the announcement of the new Provo Temple that will replace the old historic Provo Tabernacle that burned down last winter. It was such a tragic event and so sad to see the inside completely gutted with only the outside still standing. We have been attending this building for our stake conferences since we moved to Provo 9 years ago.

We were sooo excited to hear the announcement from President Thomas S. Monson that it had been decided to turn it into the 2nd temple in Provo. So excited. How blessed we are to already live so close to one, and yet now we have one only a few blocks from our home.

The second reason we were so excited and had a hard time concentrating on the following speakers was the announcement for a temple to built in Star Valley Wyoming. Star Valley is the hometown of both Beau and I. For years we've always wondered if we would ever see a day when a temple would be built there. Just that morning before the session started I wondered what new temples would be announced and if we would ever hear one announced for Star Valley. What a blessing it could be to my family who still lived there. When President Monson announced it, we all gasped wondering if we heard it right. Was it a joke? Is it for real? It's so hard to describe the excitement and gratitude I felt.

There are so many people in the world that live so far from a temple and do not have the opportunity to get to one frequently or at all. I can only imagine the joy that overcomes them when they hear of one being built near them. I felt some of that, but have not been denied temple blessings because it was so far away as some of them have been. Why were we so blessed to get one in Star Valley and here? All I can think of is "Where much is given, much is required." We were equally excited to hear about the new patron fund that we can donate to in order to help those trying to get to a temple for their first time. What an opportunity to give and help for something of such eternal importance to another person.

We are so excited to see the process of these two temples being built near us and our families, to be able to participate in the great work there when they are finished. There is no place on earth that I would rather be than the inside of these beautiful structures where families can be sealed for eternity and where the presence of the Lord can be felt. The peace and understanding I receive while I am there is worth so much to me. It is also such a blessing to participate in the work for those of my family who have passed beyond this mortal life. How wonderful is our Father in Heaven to let us be a part of his amazing work. How grateful I have been this last weekend to rejoice in his work moving forward in such a personal way to me.

Scripture Stories

2011-10-01T08:19:00.000-07:00

A while back I was talking to a good friend of mine about trying to do family scripture study. I was trying to figure out a way to help our kids pay attention a little bit better and help them become more familiar with the scripture stories . She told me that when they were little they drew pictures about the scriptures they were reading. They had started it with their children and it seemed to help. When they were finished they had their own small scripture book. I thought it sounded like a great idea and started it with ours. We aren't always consistent with having these, sometimes we end up just reading, but it does help when I take the time to do this.

I wanted them to draw a picture, but I also wanted to have something on the page to indicate where the story was in the scriptures and a little synopsis. I could also have them practice handwriting and tracing over the letters for school time as well. I thought I'd share some of my favorites from the kids.

Here are some of Isaac's renditions of the the scripture stories.

Here a few of Savannah's renditions.

Here are some of Mirian's.

I love the way Mirian tells stories. Here the girl was angry and wouldn't share her jump rope. The other set of pictures is of them sharing and jump roping together.

This one from Mirian cracks me up. It's the scriptures about not committing adultery. I tried to explain in the terms of 3-8 year old understanding what adultery was. I asked them if it's ok for someone that is married to go on a date with some other guy, or kiss some other guy. I asked them how that would make their husband feel, and if that was right. Of course they said no.

She she told me she drew a picture of me on a date with someone else, and dad all sad. And then of course wrote NO! to me on the date. I'm not sure why I had to be the one not faithful.

So far it's been working out really good. They can look at their pictures they've drawn and explain to me what the scriptures were about. They might not remember the whole chapter of details, but if they can remember small parts throughout the whole book I think that's a great start. They're also collecting a good amount of pictures for their own finished book of scriptures stories.

A is for Apple

2011-09-30T14:08:00.000-07:00

Here is my small creative result for the week. A is for Apple.

Our Day....

2011-09-27T20:56:00.000-07:00

Our day started with some zucchini muffins and scrambled eggs. Yummm... the muffins were soooo good. We then did some picking up and then jumped into some spelling, grammar and literature. This is where the complaining always begins with Mirian. This girl does not like reading or writing. Or so she tells me. She does just fine with it, she just doesn't like worksheets, phonics or practicing it at all. She's a hands on girl. It's hard to explain to her that the only way to practice writing is to ummm..... write. This is where I need to start being creative in this particular subject, because it's the most important stuff she can learn, and I really want her have a love for reading and writing.

She doesn't mind the Literacy so much, as she does love reading books, and hearing stories. It always helps too when there's an activity to go along with it. Today she got to create a postcard to send to the timid mouse in a story that complains all the time and looks for the negative. (How applicable after this morning.) She was to give the mouse advice on how to be happy. She decided to tell him to be grateful for what he was.

Art time for Savannah was illuminated manuscripts and creating one of her own initial.

Mirian was doing mono printing. Oh how I forgot about printmaking. I took a class in college and how I loved it. I forgot how much specifically mono printing is a personal favorite. Unfortunately I was fixing lunch while they were doing their project, and didn't have the chance to sit down and do some prints up myself. Something I definitely need to do in some down time.

Basically you paint your picture on a baking sheet, plexi-glass or any other smooth surface. Try to get a good even coat so it doesn't dry out . After painting the image, you can then use an eraser to draw additional elements or lines removing the paint for more detail.

You then lay your paper on top of the paint and rub it well. If the paint is pretty dry you can dampen your paper before placing it on the paint, to help it print better.

You then pull off the paper and you have a mono print. They are so easy and fast. Mirian made about 5 of them. Even Caitlyn and Isaac got in on the fun. Savannah was wanting to join is as well if she didn't have a separate assignment.

Savannah studied the feudal era today for history and created a mobile of the different feudal systems, and people that lived in that era of time.

Mirian has been studying nomads and their way of life. The last two lessons were on how the nomads ended up in the fertile crescent and began to settle and create villages in Mesopotamia.

Mirian is always funny when it comes to questioning her about a lesson and what she learned. I asked her during the last lesson if she remembered what the land was called between the two rivers. She stated that she didn't know. Her usual answer to anything and so I reminded her. The funny thing is that I know she remembers. Why? Because this weekend when they were all playing "family" together. Mirian kept calling out to her little daughter. "Mesopotamia! Mesopotamia come here!" Hmmm.. a little ironic that she remembered it well enough to name her daughter that. :)

So today we continued on with learning about the farmers that first settled there. How they farmed, grew crops and irrigated them. We talked about how they tamed animals and learned to raise herds of animals like goats and sheep. We discussed how they built their first homes. Later they started building them closer together to help each other and soon we had small villages. As they became more prosperous they were worried about people harming them or stealing things so they began to build big walls around their villages. The city of Jericho having the largest walls in the area.

As an option to the lesson we could create our own bricks from dirt. (Which I think we still might do.) Or we could create a small diorama of the first villages. Mirian voted for the village. It's hard to determine whether to do some of these optional activities. You know how much time they'll take, making it so you might not be able to move on to another area of curriculum. Yet you know that these are things that make learning fun. So I decided to go for it. So we built our little village and added the different elements we had learned about. Huts, crops, rivers, tamed animals, and stone walls.

Mirian had a great time and it's fun to see the others get involved as well.

They had such a good time that later they started adding their own things as well. Like the raft to go up and down the rivers.

And of course you have to have people to live there.

So they could all live next to each other in their little huts. They played with it all evening.

Savannah even decided she needed to create her own tonight before bed. They were so proud of the fact that she created it so they could hook the crops or rivers together with each other to create even a larger village.

I have to admit that these are the parts I enjoy the most about learning as well. Forget worksheets, let's build one ourselves.

Small Simple Things

2011-09-26T06:32:00.000-07:00

In the process of homeschooling, I've had to find a balance between all the different areas of my life. One of them being the design aspect. My days are filled with school. There is no longer a time when my kids are all gone at the same time to allow me time to work on a design project. My mornings are sometimes filled with prepping for school, and the evenings are filled with church callings, assignments or getting caught up on the house. It didn't take long though before I realized I still had to fit some small design time in. For the pure enjoyment and break that it gives me to be creative. Also to still help a little bit with that income while things are tight, the economy is rough and as we prepare to be in a good spot when Beau graduates so he can start up his own company. In reality I can't do it all. I can't give all my time to designing, homeschool, home and church. So I've had to find balances. Part of that balance is going back to the scripture that kept calling to me at the beginning of the year. That it's the small simple things that bring great results.

"Now ye may suppose that this is foolishness in me; but behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise." Alma 37:6

At the beginning of the year I decided I was going to conduct an experiment. I knew I needed to somehow increase the income from my designing, to help prepare us better for the future. I also knew I needed to cut down any time designing, so I could focus on my family and other obligations. I decided to focus on small simple projects. Specifically the JIF 6 Kits. I love making them, they are fast, and they easily let me get my idea out, and move on.

If I was working on large kits they would take too long to create, and demand too much of my time. I would loose my excitement over the idea, and it took longer to get in the store. Even though they would bring in 3 or 4 times the amount of money they didn't feel worth it for some reason. I ended up reading this scripture and felt that the small simple things were better. I could easily get a JIF kit out a week. It only had 6 parts to it. I could do one part every day for only 15 minutes if needed and then be able to release it at the end of the week. It was doable. It took up very little time from my day and family. The results? It worked. My income increased quite a bit, even though what I am creating sells only for a small amount. I saw how this simple small kit did bring about great things. Life got in the way and I had club to work on so I haven't made any in a while, but now I find myself in the same position. I have even less time than before now that I'm homeschooling. Yet what can I do for my sanity and to also help out financially? The answer is the same. The simple things. So I've been working on small JIF kits here and there. I can do one small element a day, and yet feel like I get some creative down time. I can still feed that artist in me. I also feel a huge sense of accomplishment when I see the final results. Especially knowing I didn't have to sacrifice my family or my time to do it. It really is in the small things.

I've also been applying the principle to my home. While teaching all day, I don't have huge chunks of time to do major cleaning. So I'm slowly getting rid of stuff. I can focus on one small aspect at a time. If the only small thing I did in cleaning a bedroom (that needs an overhaul) is picking up all the clothes and washing them, then I'm one small step ahead. Tomorrow I can pick the next thing. By the end of the week it will be finished.

It's the small 15 minute chunks of our time that can do great things.

Some people have asked me how I do it all. The answer? I don't. I let things go that don't really matter. I don't have an immaculate house. I try and just focus on doing the small simple things now, and trusting the Lord in his promise that it will bring about great things over time.

So here have been some of the small things I've been designing lately with my small amount of time.

What I've Learned So Far

2011-09-26T05:57:00.000-07:00

It's been over a month since starting our home school journey. What have I been learning so far?

I don't have as much time to blog about it as I would like.
It has gone smoother than I anticipated.
What Savannah's teacher really meant when she had issues with her getting distracted.
How my children prefer to learn.
What character flaws we all need to be working on.
How nice it is to be able to change up the day when needed, rather than having to depend on the public school hours.
How much I need to eliminate in my life and home in order to keep life simpler.
How much fun we can have together.
My weaknesses.
And these are just the beginning.

It has been going well so far. Actually better than I thought it would. I am definitely learning on how to tweak things or how to swap things up when someone isn't in the mood to do anything for the day. We also decided to start the girls with piano lessons this fall as well. Savannah is picking it up so fast, Mirian is struggling with it. I don't want her to end up hating it because she has the artist soul. She's the one with the music already playing inside her. So her piano teacher and I have decided to go at her own pace. If that's only working on one song for the week, great. That has helped her attitude adjust greatly. Mirian has to do things differently. Which is ok. They are both unique. That's the beauty in it all and part of the reason I wanted to teach my children in the first place. To be able to work with those individual differences and hopefully help them become the who their Heavenly Father needs them to be, each with their unique missions.

Our Little Home

2011-09-14T20:02:00.000-07:00

I read this blog post today. What a great post. I can relate in so many ways. We have a tiny little home. Just a little over 900 square feet. Luckily we do have a small garage with storage and a room attached that has become our office. That helps it not feel as cramped as the apartment we were in before. It is small. We often get comments on how small it really is and that we need a bigger one, with more cupboards, and yet we are perfectly content and happy here.

Yes having only one bathroom for 7 can get pretty rough sometimes. But I like it. I like the fact that having a small place makes me dejunk and get rid of things on a regular basis. It makes me evaluate if we really need "this" item or thing. It makes me wonder how many extra dishes do we really need, if a few will do just fine. It feels cozy, and it's home. It's where we've laugh, played, cried, and just enjoyed being a family, and right now I'm completely content with it.

Sometimes I do dream about a big large home, with more land, more animals and places for my kids to wander, and then sometimes I think... you know, having more just creates more work. I also look out my window and see our white picket fence my husband built. I see the new cedar fence he just finished in the back yard, with a secret hidden swinging door for the neighbor kids. I watch my kids holler from the top of their tree house, and see how my small little garden is over running the whole yard. I'm blessed. I'm truly blessed to have a place we can call our own. That we can work on and fix up slowly, and that settles in our hearts a bit more.

I think when we first got married we planned on being here for 4 years till the Bachelor was finished. Then... we decided to stay and continue on with grad school. 10 years later when he graduates (next April), we will still be here. In a tiny little home with 5 kids, and life is good. Really good. We always thought we would then move on, get a great job somewhere and move on with our life. Now we are planning on staying a few more years for Beau to start up his own company with a couple other guys. What will happen after that? I can't say. I've given up trying to guess.

Last summer I did not want to stay here. I wanted to move on with our lives. It was then that I went to girls camp. I left after that week knowing the Lord needed us here and I wanted to stay. I have come to love the people that we've served with. I have loved seeing the growth happening in our ward and stake. I think of picking up and moving.... and honestly I don't know if I want to. Only the Lord really knows where he wants us, and if it's still in this little green house, then I'm perfectly content with that. Because right now that little green house truly is home.

The Dangers of a Pregnant Mind

2011-09-07T06:27:00.000-07:00

(This post was written a few months ago, and I just realized it never got posted. Thought I'd still share.)

It was the annual weekend. The fathers and sons got to get out and enjoy their manliness, without the women around to tell them to grow up. The women were home wondering what they could do for a girls night out, and what to make for dinner that required no effort, since the husband wasn't home to impress. I had it all set up in my mind... go grab something to eat, stop by the fabric store with the girls on the way home and pick up some material to make the new baby some clothes. I was going to enjoy this night. It was then that I glanced out of the window and gasped. My van was gone! I don't know where my mind had taken a trip to all afternoon making no connection with the fact that my husband would need a way to get to this manly outing. Sigh... time to make new plans.

Free delivery? What could we get delivered for dinner besides pizza. America's favorite has not sounded appetizing lately. Sandwiches... That did sound good but by the time I totaled the cost up $20 compared to the $1 I would spend by making our own seemed ridiculous enough that I gave in realizing I was going to have to make some effort for dinner. Grilled cheese, ham, tomato and avocado. (That of course was mine. I have 3 other girls at home remember. Green and red things don't go over well on their sandwiches.) Some cantaloupe along with it and it wasn't too bad. Our outing was no longer possible, which of course led to a movie night. The girls actually went to bed early. I actually crafted for fun and all seemed well in the world.

It was then that I remembered that I had ordered a bountiful basket full of amazing fruit and veggies that were supposed to be picked up at 6:45 in the morning. I know. Who in their right mind would be up at 6:45 on a saturday. Only pregnant women, dreaming about eating healthy and saving money, who can't sleep past that time anyway because their back is in so much pain, and their bladder is screaming for relief. Ah... but this seemed so simple. Go pick it up in less than 15-20 minutes, and go back to bed if I wanted. But remember the dilemma. My pregnant brain went on leave when I ordered this basket, and forgot that I would have no vehicle to pick it up. I guess we just miss picking it up and have it donated... but I just can't let that go because that is literally just throwing money way. So I could... get up even earlier and walk there with the wagon. Hmmm... 6:45 was early enough for me, and at 8 months pregnant a 45 minute exercise routine pulling an awkward wagon, with a laundry basket filled with produce was NOT screaming to be the viable option. Besides if I was going to be gone that long, I would have to wake up the kids and bring them with me... this option was at the bottom of the list.

Bike... hook up the trailer to the bike and I could stick the produce in the trailer. That would be a lot faster. Surely at 8 months pregnant it was still perfectly safe for me to perch myself precariously on the top of a bike and assume that my balance is exactly the same as it is when I'm not pregnant. Something told me to not even consider this idea.

It was then that I remembered the truck. YES! The truck. We do have two vehicles now. It's a classic, used, beat up pickup truck brought straight from my father in law's used vehicle lot in his back pasture. Beau's been driving it around and it seems to work great. He mentioned the steering wheel was a little bit of a problem, but hey, I could do this. Plus I could get there quick, and be home in 15 minutes. That was the plan. Take the truck in the morning.

After digging all over in the house for an alarm clock, which we had abandoned since the 2nd day we were married, (due to always using Beau's cell as an alarm) I set it for 6:30 so I could be up, get the truck started and be on my way. That followed with a long night of the girls joining me in bed. I'm sure they could sense my loneliness and my need to have only about a foot of room to move my pregnant body around in the night to sleep. I woke up determined to get the produce and get right back home to bed.

After gathering my stuff, finding the wrong truck key, and finally getting the right one, hopped in enjoy the nostalgic smell of old trucks... I'm sure it was that small calming smell of my dad's old pickup that I grew up with that gave me even more confidence that I could do this. I looked around to familiarize myself with everything only to realize it was stick shift instead of an automatic. Hey no problem though. I pride myself on being pretty good with a stick shift, it being my first choice. It was then that things started to get a bit more complicated. I realized that manly trucks were not made for short pregnant women. Whoever built them knew that the only person driving this truck was going to be at least 6 ft. tall.

I could work with this. I just needed to scoot up on the edge of the seat. Ouch. That wasn't going to work, the 8 month old baby was in the way. A slight recline? This might be a bit more difficult, reclining slightly so I could push the brake all the way to the floor. It took 3-4 times to get the truck started. I should have taken that as a sign from heaven to leave it off and return to bed. Ah but after hearing it roar alive, I was ready. After two lerches forward it died. Then started rolling backwards. I slid down so I could push the breaks and stop it from rolling. Hmm this was getting pretty technical. How do I keep it from rolling, when I needed my left leg off the brakes to push the clutch in. The last thing I needed was the whole truck to land in the 1 ft. deep rain gutter. I'm just going to have to do it all quick.

The only problem is that pregnant brains can't work as fast, and calculate all the variables as fast as they need to be in order to account for all possible issues you might face while trying to get the truck in motion quickly. I started it, and while holding down the clutch gunned it so it wouldn't die, and was able to smoothly get the truck moving. (Now that I'm thinking after the fact, I was so concerned about getting the truck out and moving quickly I didn't even look to see if any cars were coming up from behind.) Some days I know I have a whole legion of angels hanging on to me for dear life.

Once I was moving though, my brain was not quite working quickly enough to determine the next steps. I know I needed to slow down to turn the corner, but if I slowed down, would it die, did I need to shift down? I tried to shift down, only to not have it shift and careen over into the other lane across the street, because I had forgot to turn the wheel. Or at least when I realized I needed to turn the wheel I forgot that it took all of my weight thrown into the wheel to get it to move. At this point on I was on the other side of the road and realized that if I didn't slow down I would find myself taking the sidewalk rather than the road, so I pulled up to the side of the road and parked backwards on the wrong side of the street. I wondered how many people were up at this time of morning, watching this escapade, and obviously driving impaired women make a fool of herself. Do they recognize the truck? Do they recognize me? It was best not to look around to realize you have a whole audience viewing your incompetence.

It was then that my confidence plummeted, and I realized that the odds of me making it there alive, with no accidents, or tickets was literally zero. I was ready to just park it there, and have Beau move it when he got home, but realized I would get ticketed because I was parked illegally. I had to make one more attempt to get it home. This time I wouldn't go as fast, so I could make the corners without shifting, was my plan. Somehow within the next block though, all knowledge of driving a manual went out the window. I lurched the whole way down the street, and if the loud engine, and screeching didn't wake the neighbors the horn that I kept hitting every time I lurched did. Any pride I had was gone. I was able to make it around the corner, and prayed that every corner would be car free so I wouldn't have to stop. After running through 2 stops signs I was finally able to make it around the block... yes 4 blocks to be exact, back to the front of the house, where I parked that baby, vowing to never get back inside. That truck was a beast, and I was determined to leave it's manliness for my man.

My produce. Well forget it. It was going to have to be money thrown out the window, it wasn't worth my life nor the life I was carrying. When my husband returned later that day, the first thing he said when he came into the house was, "Did you drive the truck?!" All I could was start laughing. Drive the truck. I don't know if you would call it that. I told him what had happened, laughing the whole time. He started laughing too.

"I'm impressed!" He replied.
"Don't mock me."
"No really, I'm impressed. That isn't an easy truck to drive. I'm impressed you even tried. Way to go. Look at my wife."

I'm sure if he had looked at me at the moment, he would have hid his face, and tried not to own me. But whatever. I'll let him be impressed.

A Blessed Weekend

2011-09-07T06:08:00.000-07:00

This weekend was a special weekend in our family. Savannah just recently turned 8, and was baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints this last Saturday. It was such a special day for her and she has been looking forward to it for a long time. Grandma Astle made her baptismal dress, and she shared her baptism day with her friend Melissa. We were able to enjoy family from both sides of the family in town for the weekend as well. I am so proud of her and her decision to get baptized, and so excited for her to have the gift of the Holy Ghost. It will be the greatest blessing she can ever have in this life if she learns to heed it's counsel.

We also had the opportunity to bless this little angel this weekend. Belén Joy. She has been such a delight and wonderful baby. Beau gave her a beautiful blessing. There is nothing I enjoy more than watching my husband use his Priesthood to bless his family. This is one of those moments, along with Savannah's baptism that I am so grateful for a righteous husband who honors his priesthood and looks forward to opportunities like this to bless his family. What a marvelous gift our Father in Heaven has given us to access his power and use it to bless his children.

One of my favorite parts of her blessing is that as she seeks out the Holy Ghost and heeds it she will become a personification of her name - Joy. That she will draw people to the Savior and teach them of him and his ways. I know she is a joy to me. We have given all of our other children middle names from their ancestors to help them live up to their amazing heritage. For some reason Belen's middle name Joy just sort of came out and has stuck ever since. But to me it fits her in so many ways. One being that she is my joy after having two previous miscarriages before her.

What a wonderful weekend we had. Thank you family for supporting us, and being with us on these two very special days in our lives. You have no idea how much it means to us when you sacrifice time and money to come and support. We know it is not always easy, but we appreciate it in so many ways. We missed those of you that weren't able to make it, and know you support us as well. We hope to see you at future baptisms and special occasions.

Creative Play

2011-09-06T15:21:00.000-07:00

This summer there was some down time where my kids pulled out the tangram puzzles and shapes. I love it when I see them break out of the box for what things are supposed to be used for and come up with their own ideas.

Savannah recently has been building miniature houses and furniture. She's been using any found object I let her actually use for her little strawberry shortcake dolls. It's been fun to see her mind start to think about what other creative ways to use them.

Magnifiers and Money

2011-09-05T15:07:00.000-07:00

The other day I ran across this infographic from dailyinfographic that I thought was fun. So I printed it out and for an afternoon activity pulled out the magnifying glasses, some dollar bills and had the kids see what they could find hidden on the US dollar.

I was wanting to create a learning station for money, since it's something both Savannah and Mirian will be learning about in their curriculum. It would have our fake coins and bills for them to practice counting. To create their own stores and practice buying and selling, I'll have receipt books, price stickers and calculators. There will also be money flash cards and games, a coin collecting book or sleeve, and I thought this activity could go in there as well. I'm going to laminate the dollar bill (so that it doesn't keep disappearing into children's pockets), and put in the poster laminated with a magnifying glass. I think it's fun to sit down and find out a bit more about the symbols and items printed on the dollar bill. It would also be fun to include some books about money or how it's printed too.

My Answer is Not Your Answer

2011-09-05T14:42:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to say thanks to all of you that emailed me, posted comments or gave me a phone call with words of encouragement. Sometimes that's all you need is just a bit of encouragement, and not a list of questions, concerns or arguments. So thank you.

It was interesting though as I was talking with Beau and sharing those thoughts I had the first time, what other things I learned. I felt like people were thinking I was making a rash decision without having any thought about it. I started to realize that I respond the same way sometimes. I recognized that I also do it when others tell me about some decision they have made. It might not be the same decision I would have chosen. And even though I might not say it out loud, how often do I question why they made that decision. I question what they were thinking. I too forget that they didn't make this decision just quickly either. Instead I need to trust them that they are also doing things for their family or themselves that they feel is right and the best thing. Too often I think it's just our carnal nature to make judgments and come to conclusions too quickly. That never helps anyone. How much better we need to be at supporting each other in these decisions we make as mothers and wives, and help and build each other.

We are all so different. Our families are so different. Our children are oh so very different. That is what makes this world such a beautiful place. We will all need to find out what the Lord needs us to do with our unique circumstances and family. That is what I love so much about personal revelation. As long as we are doing the best we can to seek out the Lord's guidance and to have his spirit with us, we know that we can make decisions that will be best for our families and that all will be well. It doesn't matter if it doesn't fit someone else's circumstances. Too often we ask Why? Why are you doing that? Why did you think that? Why are you pursuing that direction? And often as women we feel like we need to justify and rationalize all of our decisions, that we need to defend them when we are questioned - why? When ultimately it comes down to. Did we pray about it? Did the Lord give us a direction to follow? Did we follow it? Are we at peace? Then that's all that matters. It should be the end of the conversation. When someone asks why, sometimes instead of defending it till we are blue, I wonder if we should just be saying... "That's the direction the Lord told us to go, so that's where we're headed. We feel peace and know that it will ultimately be the best thing for us." And when we get an answer like that we should respond, that's AWESOME, and then give them support. We should be supporting each other as women in the personal revelation we receive in our lives and the direction we are going.

My sister also made the comment that she thinks many times we respond out of insecurities. Do we hear what someone else is doing, and then start comparing ourselves against them and their choice. Well should I be homeschooling my children then? Am I a bad mom if I'm not teaching them? Is it bad if I want them to go to public school? etc. We start making ourselves feel less, or comparing ourselves with others. It's the terrible plague of women. Comparison. It's hard. I do it all the time myself. We need to stop being so hard on ourselves. We need to ask ourselves the same question when we feel that we are starting to compare ourselves to others. Did I pray about it? Did the Lord give me a direction to follow? Did I follow it? Am I at peace? Then that's all that matters. We can encourage and support that woman going in a different path, and be at peace and content in our own path knowing that we are following the Lord's personal guidance for us. I've loved this quote from the book Contentment by Maria Covey Cole.

"However at times in my adulthood, the "five metastasizing cancers," as my father calls them - comparing, competing, criticizing, complaining and complacency - have reared their ugly heads in an effort to divert me from my divine mission and discourage me from accepting the Lord's guidance. I've found that engaging in any of these behaviors can lead to feelings of discontentment. Unless we are particularly vigilant, it is easy to, as the saying goes, get caught up in the "thick of very thin things," ultimately distracting us from the true purpose of life."

Isn't it wonderful that if we really seek out the Lord's council, we know that he will give us the direction we need to go for everything in our lives for our own personal unique circumstances. Isn't it awesome that if we seek that guidance and council, and follow it, we can be content and happy knowing we are doing the best thing for our family and not have to worry about comparing our way to someone else's. We will feel content, we will prosper and grow, and we can be supportive of others in their directions knowing that we too are going in our own individual direction with the Lord as our guide.

Too bad it's not always that easy to follow. :) Too bad it's so easy to quickly start making those judgments, start comparing ourselves and then starting to feel less than we are and start doubting our own direction. I need to do better. I need to learn to recognize what I'm doing sooner. I need to stop worrying what everyone will think when my kids are outside playing for the 15 minute break, and if the neighbors are wondering why they aren't in school. I need to stop worrying about the opinions of others.

Maybe I really am too often holding that precious white fruit of personal revelation in my hand, and even eating it, yet the whole time looking at the great and spacious building of people mocking, questioning, and telling me I'm crazy eating that fruit, when they have things so much better and easier. Maybe I'm listening too much to them and while eating that fruit questioning if they are right. How much better it would be if I turned and focused my eyes on the giver of that fruit. I also need to turn and focus on the others there eating the fruit too, who might need my encouragement to not listen to those in the building, and encourage them that they made the right choice too. Instead of questioning and comparing, let us support, encourage and build. Each in their own direction, choice and way, because my answer is not your answer.

A Word of Caution: I do not believe though that we should be supportive to those things that are contrary to the gospel of Jesus Christ and his teachings. We do not need to be so supportive to all things that we find ourselves also building up the kingdom of the devil and his teachings. Let us be supportive and loving of the person, but we cannot and should not support wickedness. This is something else I've been pondering about lately. How do we help, support and love individuals, but stand strongly against those things that part of the devils kingdom and are out to destroy the Lord's plan. How do we stand up against false teachings, ideas, behaviors and practices, when society accepts them, creates laws to protect wickedness, and we are seen as intolerant if we choose to do so. I'd love to hear any insights from you.

A Road Less Traveled

2011-09-02T06:16:00.000-07:00

Recently Beau and I have made a decision that is taking our family on a new adventure. We have decided to participate in Provo's e-school and begin teaching our kids at home. Yep, we are on the adventure of homeschooling. It has been interesting to see the responses we get from others when they ask us if our kids go to school, and we inform them that we're homeschooling them this year. You get surprised looks. You get lots of advice, warnings and opinions from anyone and everyone. Especially in the LDS culture, it isn't something that you see very often.

As Beau and I were discussing the reactions we've gotten from people, I ended up finally being able to express something I had been feeling but couldn't quite put my finger on it. It was the response I had felt to those that responded with, "Why?" "Don't get extreme on us." "You're going to ruin your children for life." It was as if they felt like we had just suddenly in the spur of the moment, (while out of our right minds), ran down and withdrew our kids from school. That now we are going to blindly teach them at home, withdraw ourselves from the world, and end up creating socially misfit children who can't make it in the "REAL" world. When getting this reaction I want to reply with...

"You know... it's not like this was just a sudden decision, which we have given no thought to. On the contrary we have been looking into doing this with our children for the last 2 years. I have studied and tried to read everything I could on the topic. We have been weighing the pros and cons for those two years, and have had many major thoughtful discussions with my husband. We wanted to make sure we were both in agreement and on the same page. We have prayed about it over and over, trying to know what is right for our family. Last year we considered doing it, and didn't feel like it was right yet. We knew that we needed to leave the option open, learn all we could about what is available and ways to do it, so that if it ever came to a point that we decided to do it, we were educated in our decision. We have looked at the issue that everyone brings of "socialization." We even started doing a bit during the summer with the program we were wanting to use. We wanted to see how it went, how to fit it into our lives, and see what the kids thought. We've asked the kids what they would like to do as well. They voted to be home. It literally wasn't until about 2-3 weeks before school started up for the year that we knew it was time to just do it. We felt that confirmation that we need to do it. We have felt the peace of that decision ever since, and we are honestly excited about the possibilities, growth and experiences we'll get from it. We did not make this decision alone, the Lord was part of it. Did we just make this decision overnight. No it's been a process over the years. Do we feel good about it. We feel really good about it. Is homeschooling for everyone. No. It's not even an option for some. But for us it is the right thing to do in our life right now."

Here are a few of my personal reasons though why I've chosen to do this.

We sent our kids to school last year and Savannah was not happy. We saw lots of changes in her that were not the best, and she fought about going to school every day. By the end of the school year we were back to seriously contemplating it again and praying about it. I was physically sick about the thought of sending her back to school. I did not feel good about it. I wanted to teach her myself and bring her home. I wanted to give her time with me that she needed and was wanting.

The more I started studying the church's handbook for my calling, and general conference addresses, I started feeling more and more that it was my responsibility to teach my children. That as parents Beau and I will have the greatest influence on our children. We are the ones that know our children the best, and can help them become what they need to be. I started recognizing what little amount of time I had to teach them. Especially when they were gone all day to school. The things that I wanted to teach them the time to do it weren't matching up.

I also started to see that I was spending more time on things that didn't matter and that in reality my time should be spent in raising my children to the best of my ability. I started to realize that my kids were growing and time was flying by. Was I truly enjoying this time of life and moments with them? I started seeing that what my kids wanted most was me. Time with me and Beau. Time together as a family. When Savannah was asking for things, it wasn't time with her friends, it was one on one time with Beau or I. I started looking to see if I truly loved being with my kids all the time. Did I want to be with them? Did I want to spend time with them? Did I enjoy being a mom? Or was I seeing them as constantly distracting me from other things I wanted to do more. Did I find myself giving them other things to do to get out of my hair. I started recognizing that there were times I needed to change my attitude towards my greatest calling as a mother. It was going to be my eternal calling, and if I didn't enjoy it here. I would not want it there in the next life either. I started realizing I needed to change some attitudes in myself.

So we are embarking on a new journey in our family. In the two weeks since we've started it has been going better than I thought it would. There is much to learn, many ways to grow, and changes that need to happen. But it excites me and I know they will be good. I feel good about it in so many ways. The hardest part has been feeling that I'm paddling my boat in the opposite direction and against the current of our culture, especially the LDS culture, which I honestly don't understand. I feel ostracized in many aspects. That's what can happen when your take the road less traveled on. But it is helping me see things that I didn't see from the other side.

I want to record it. I want to do better at recording our families history, growth and life. I plan on posting a lot on here when time permits. I hope you'll join me here. For both the good and the bad that I know will come with it all.

Their Self Portraits

2011-08-23T20:25:00.000-07:00

Today for our art time we talked about self portraits and then the kids drew and painted their own. I'm hoping to do this at the beginning of every school year, to see the progression over the years of their skills and also how they physically change as well.

Savannah has always been my little artist. She's one that would always just jump right in, and always felt comfortable drawing, painting, and coming up with some new art project or creative endeavor. She had no problem getting started on this project.

Mirian has always been a little more self conscious. Whether she is comparing herself to Savannah or has a bit of perfectionism in her. If she can't get it just right, she starts to loose it. I was really proud of her today. She almost lost it drawing her hair, because it didn't look like her hair in the picture she was trying to copy. But she pulled herself together and ended up one proud little girl in the end. She told me. "I took my time and drew like a 3rd grader!" Which she was so proud of. She knew it was one of her best drawings and was super proud of it when she finished.

Isaac didn't quite finish getting his all painted before he decided that he would rather take a bath instead. He did a great job though trying to draw all the parts of his face, and then part of his body with arms.

This is Caitlyn's self portrait after she declared it finished and decided to take a bath instead. I asked her to pose for a picture with it later tonight, and this is the face she shared.

Now I just need to come up with a place to hang them. That's one of my favorite parts, having artwork created by my kids brightening up our home.

A New Little One

2011-08-22T10:14:00.000-07:00

For the last 6 days I have been enjoying the sounds, smells and joys of having a brand new tiny little life to take care of. Belén Joy joined our family Tuesday August 16th. She was healthy and beautiful at 7 lbs. 13 oz and 19 1/2 inches tall.

I was induced being 6 days over due, and everything went well and smoothly. After weeks of on and off labor, we found out that I just had so much fluid in me that she could never really drop low enough to engage in full blown labor. When I walked around, gravity would help out and we'd have labor and be miserable. As soon as I laid down at night or any other time, she would float away and labor would stop. It wasn't until they broke the water that she finally came quickly.

It's always amazing to me what an incredible thing it is to give birth and to create a new life. To be amazed at her tiny little perfect body that has all the amazing, miraculous systems and functions. To me there is no greater truth and testimony of a supreme being and creator than to see a brand new baby laid on my stomach and to sit in wonder over the next week at how truly amazing creation is. There truly is a God, and I'm always humbled at every birth, that I get to be a part of his amazing work.

Since then I have enjoyed her newness. Her fresh smells, her jerky movements, her open bird mouth, her desire to suck on everything, her hours and hours of sleeping. She has been perfect. She's only cried 3 times that I can count in the last 6 days. Right when she was born, once while changing a diaper, and the other day when they poked her foot for the 3rd jaundice test. Even at night when it's time to eat she just makes little noises trying to search for her food. We will see how long that lasts.

The kids can literally not get enough of her. They are constantly battling for "their" time to hold her. She didn't get much sleep the first day, because they kept waking her, wanting to hold her, touching her, and just being smitten with her. Isaac has been the most smitten. Savannah, just wants to be a little mother to her, which I happy about. She'll be a great help to me. The last 4 days they went home to Star Valley with Beau, to see his brother who just arrived home from his mission. So she's been able to have at least 4 days of peace, quiet and rest, before they return once again to smother her with love.

It was also a unique time, as Beau and I celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary in the hospital. (Keep in mind the circumstances of this picture and why we look so amazing. :)) Time has flown so fast, as we looked back at all that has happened in 9 years. We realize how truly blessed we have been. We have been taken care of so well, and have had so many wonderful opportunities and experiences. The greatest one being our 5 wonderful children. Families are really what is all about and I am so thankful for mine. I am always amazed at how I could not have picked a more perfect man to marry and have be a part of my life. He is amazing in every way, and every day I love him more. I can say that the last 9 years have been the happiest of my life, and I know we only have many more amazing ones to come and that makes me so excited.

Life is good. It is beautiful and there is so much to enjoy and look forward to. I hope to slow down, and fully enjoy each of these moments, and those things that really matter the most.

What do you do while waiting.

2011-08-15T05:54:00.001-07:00

We are still waiting for this baby. Five days past due and definitely teaching us patient. It has been rather frustrating. There have been days of full labor contractions to make you miserable all day long, feeling like she might actually arrive that day, to only have them stop when I go to sleep at night, not to return for another day or so. So what do you do while waiting?

You build a tree house in your backyard. Ok I didn't build the treehouse, my amazing husband did. I was impressed. He got it all finished in two days, here you see it in the works and already being used and played on with the kids. It has been a great way to get them outside. I love looking out and seeing Mirian up their coloring, or Savannah reading her books. You hear excitement and adventure as they are all up there in their own creative worlds living out an adventure ad midst the trees.

It's something I've wanted for a while, and Beau realized he had enough scrap wood around that he could throw one together. So while feeling a need for a break, helping out at home on those days of never ending contractions, he got to work, and now we have a little bit of heaven in a tree.

My favorite part? Finding my husband sitting up there in the evenings in the peace and quiet just sitting. (I have yet to attempt to climb the rope ladder at 9 months pregnant to enjoy the view myself... hopefully here soon I can join him.)

Scrapping for Me

2011-08-05T19:57:00.000-07:00

It always seems that once I finish a huge design project all I want to do is scrap for myself. To scrap for the fun of just creating a layout to remember those great times as a family. Lately I've been resorting back to the 4x6 size. I love it because it's so cheap to print .13 cents instead of $1.25. I can buy a huge 4x6 album, and just slide them in the sleeves. Lately though I've been doing them as a two page spread. I LOVE it this way. I feel like I can get quite a bit recorded about an event and show off quite a few photos in the process. Here are three recent ones I've done.

Caitlyn's Third Birthday

A Ward Campout. I'm also trying to go back a few years for memories that I haven't ever recorded about but I know my kids would love seeing the pictures and reading about them.

The Stake Picnic - 2011

They go really fast and quick and I feel like I'm making some progress on recording our every day life, which is the stuff I want to remember.

My husband is wanting to relax for the evening, so I'll have to post supplies later. If you want to know where something is from leave a comment and I'll get that info to you! :)

August Club

2011-08-05T19:36:00.000-07:00

Finally I get to now share my huge project I have been working on literally for months any time I had a spare minute, which seemed to be few. My new Joyous Collection is the new ScrapGirls Club for August. It's a killer way to get LOTS of scrapbooks supplies for really, really cheap.

You get all of the above for $9.99 which usually costs you $28.22 when all of the items are bought separately in the store. But we now also have some club member's only benefits which now give you this JIF 6 kit and a JIFFY Album for free.

So by the time you get all of your club items for the $9.99, it would have cost you $40.87. Not bad savings huh. It really is an amazing deal for all that you get. A cheap way to stock up your digital scrapbooking supplies during this time when we are all very tight with our money.

Here's a few layouts I created using the club.

My favorite part of the whole club? The rubber stamps. I had a blast making them and had tons of fun scrapping with them. Once it was finished and finally launched on the 1st I have now been able to relax, breathe easier, start getting ready emotionally, mentally, and physically for this baby who should be showing up anytime here. We're getting excited. The kids ask me everyday when she's coming.

Small Moments

2011-08-01T14:06:00.001-07:00

I am not a lover of cold cereal, and rarely buy it. I would rather have a hot, filling breakfast and less sugar. But I admit, the last few weeks of this pregnancy, I have given in. So today on the spur of the moment, we made better use of some of it. :)

Journaling Reads: "The other day I had bought some cold cereal, and today Caitlyn kept wanting to snack on it all day, carrying it around. I told her she had to wait till snack time and then we could eat some. I decided we could even make it fun. So we pulled out the yarn and made our own cereal necklaces. The kids loved it. I encouraged them to create a pattern as I’ve been trying to get into a “every-moment is a school or teaching moment.” Isaac did amazingly well at creating his own patterns even though he isn’t in Kindergarten yet. The only bummer was Caitlyn fell asleep and missed out on the whole thing, so we made her a necklace anyway. It doesn’t take much to have a few minutes of fun. I just need to look for more of these small opportunities to do something with my kids."

Supplies Used: Baby Chronicles Collection Biggie, Arts N Crafty Collection Biggie, Document It Maxi Kit.

I'm This Many!

2011-06-27T20:27:00.000-07:00

This weekend we got to celebrate Caitlyn's 3rd birthday. Everytime someone would call to wish her a happy birthday she would tell them on the phone, "I'm this many" and then hold up three fingers. She's been looking forward to this day for a while now, and was finally old enough to realize it was HER special day.

We decided to let the kids decorate their own birthday cupcake and went with the simple goldfish cupcakes from the book What's New Cupcake.

Here she is getting ready to blow out her candles and then dad getting a little silly.

Hhmmmm.. nothing like cherry chip cake according to Beau and the kids.

Opening the presents. Obviously the only wrapping paper we could find was Spiderman from Isaac's birthday. It's a good thing she didn't seem to care.

We enjoyed the evening, playing, tickling each other, and having having birthday blower wars.

Happy Birthday sweetie! It seems like just yesterday that you born. Instead your a little girl now, full of life, happiness, giggles, and spunk!

Carnival Night

2011-06-27T14:41:00.000-07:00

Every year our stake (large church organization of 6 smaller congregations) have a summer picnic. I would call it more of a carnival. It's one of the highlights of the summer for the kids. They have a huge BBQ with hamburgers, hotdogs, watermelon, salads and chips. Then the night is spent enjoying the activities. (The best part is they are all free instead of carnival prices!)

Snow cones and cotton candy for anyone that wants them.... There's something so good about cotton candy.

Then there is the face painting, which my girls had been looking forward to all day.

Then there were the handmade rockets. Isaac lives for this activity. They have a table where you make your own rocket out of paper, and then they have these pvc pipe rocket lauchers that are hooked up to air compressors. The kids push the rocket down on them, release the valve switch and watch their rockets shoot 100 ft. in the sky. Of course you have to try catching it on the way down.

A girl had brought her two ferrets which my kids immediately had to go check out.

There was also volleyball, a 10 foot beach ball to kick around, playgroud equipment, caricature drawing, and entertainment going on. My kids were in heaven. It was also great being able to socialize with the amazing people we have in our stake. I have come to love them so much.

Unfortunately Beau either had some serious reaction to the smoke created from the burgers he was helping cook, or something got in his eye. He was in serious pain, and couldn't open it or move it without it killing him.... which led me to the 24 hour grocery store at 3 am in the morning to find any and all remedies that could possible help the guy out. It seemed to help and he could at least keep it open most of the next day. Today it's almost looking normal again.

We spent Saturday at a family reunion and spending quite some time afterwards visiting with one of Beau's cousins. It's always fun to see family, and I love getting together with Beau's side of the family. It was a packed weekend but one we really enjoyed!

It's a Beach Day

2011-06-21T20:44:00.000-07:00

After months of rain it finally has felt like summer, the sun is out, the weather beautiful and my kids have been dying to go to the pool. After working on another project, I just needed a break and needed to draw. So I decided to celebrate the fact that summer was here.

After drawing up the digital stickers, it was only fitting that I needed a small collection to go with it. It just wouldn't be right to talk about summer without sand.

I also decided to try out a value pack. Buy buying the three of them together you save quite a bit of money rather than purchasing them separately. So now you just need to go make those beach memories to scrap.

Here's a little bit of inspiration from this house of beach babes.

(All the supplies for these layouts can be found on the product pages. Just click on the product images above.)

Pure Thrills

2011-06-21T20:31:00.000-07:00

What I love about this boy is that he is soooo easy to please. He can get a kick over just the smallest things. Today he wanted to spend his dollar that is burning a hole in his pocket, and ended up getting this plane at the dollar store. He is in love with paper airplanes. His uncle Jared had a wind up one that he thought was the coolest thing in the world. Today he had to settle for just a styrofoam one, that has gotten stuck on the roof twice, in the tree 3 times, and according to him does amazing tricks and loop de loops. Boy this kid makes me smile.

Our Roots

2011-06-21T16:16:00.001-07:00

I am always trying to come up with some Sunday activity that is appropriate for the kids to do. A couple of weeks ago, I started thinking about Family History and how to get my kids to learn about their heritage and where they came from. I came up with the idea to make their own Family History Book. I printed out some blank pages with the ancestor's name on it, and then either printed from digital pictures or copied from some history books that I have about them.

We then sat down at the table and they cut out and glued the pictures I had printed. They then colored pictures about that ancestor as I read them stories and a brief life story about them. They were to draw what they wanted to remember about the person. They loved the activity and they actually sat and did it for about an hour and half. Both Bessie Louise and Bertha Marie are the name sakes for Savannah and Mirian's middle names.

It's been three or four weeks since we did this activity, but when I pulled out their pictures and asked them to tell me about their ancestors, they all remembered quite a bit. Even Isaac who seems to not be paying attention, remembered the Floyd had a horse named Firestarter when he was a boy, and married Bertha. Him and Mirian both remembered the story about how his mother was at the point a death right before he was going to go on his mission. Everyone was telling him that he should stay home, but his mother told him "No you go, and I will be alive and well when you return." He left for the mission and his mother was there when he returned.

Savannah could tell me all about Bertha his wife, and I was pleased that they remembered so well. The only problem I ran into was that I have no histories for Father in Law or Mother in Law's sides of the family. I guess they if they don't want my kids to be one sided on who they remember they better get going on their family history. :) (I guess that applies just as much to me and Beau too.)

I'm spotlighted

2011-06-20T22:06:00.000-07:00

Currently I'm being hightlighted on the Shutterfly Blog for my digital scrapbooking designs. It's part of a small series they'll post over time. Watch it long enough and you'll get some free goodies from me! :) (Ignore the fact that they didn't edit well, or spell my name right. It was a great opportunity and I've loved reading about my fellow designers.)

Here are the first two posts, the freebie posts will be coming a bit later.

Everyday Inspiration

Shalae Tippetts

Weekend Goodness

2011-06-20T21:31:00.001-07:00

I hope you were able to enjoy your father's day weekend. We had a really good one! We enjoyed celebrating Father's day with this amazing father. I honestly had no idea when I decided to marry him what an amazing dad he would be. I have been too blessed to end up with him.

We were trying to decide what to do as a surprise for Father's Day. Friday after a whole day of feeling behind in cleaning and getting anything done in the house, and trying to get kids motivated to clean, I came up with an idea. I got the kids together and told them I thought of something that dad would really, really love for Father's Day. There are (a minimum) of three things that drive him absolutely crazy to have dirty. His Bedroom, the car, and yard. (Like I said these are just a few I'm sure... :)) But all three of those have needed some major care lately. Being 32 weeks pregnant and trying to get other things done, it has just kept getting pushed to the side. There's nothing like a good reason like a surprise to motivate all in the house. We had about 3 hours to tackle all three. We barely made it (except for getting the car actually vacumed). The kids actually did really well helping on all three projects rather than moaning and groaning about it the whole time.

When we finished we sent him on a treasure hunt with clues to the three spots. You've never seen the kids so excited to show him what they had done and to see how happy he was. They felt like they were giving him the world. On Father's Day they picked up the front room really fast to surprise him before his special dinner, and during the pick up Savannah and Mirian were trying to explain to me why dad loved his present so much. Not only was he happy because they were all clean but "Because he knows when we have a clean house, we are happy too! He loves having a happy family" as the other chimed in "because we can feel the spirit when the house is clean and it makes us all happy!" (They might have learned something yet.)

So we were able to enjoy some time together as a family that evening, and then we were able to have a date together on Saturday. We decided to hit a movie at the dollar theatre and chose to see Soul Surfer.

What a great movie. We loved it. Lately I've gotten really tired of all the crap that's in movies lately. I hear a review about a movie and I go look it up on Kids in Mind to find out what exactly is in it to give it the rating, and think... why do I want to see or hear this stuff? So I've really enjoyed it when I get to watch a good uplifting movie. Ones that are usually based on true stories. But really.... I want to hear more of these stories. We have tons of people that have lived amazing lives, gone through incredible and very difficult things. Stories of real people that are more inspiring and can teach us more than some high tech movie from Hollywood. Why aren't we sharing more of these stories out there? If any of you have any suggestions for movies like this I'd LOVE to hear them.

Do anything fun or memorable for your Father's Day? I hope all you fathers out there had an amazing one.

Letting the to do list go

2011-06-16T20:40:00.000-07:00

Recently I have tried REALLY hard to not say the phrases "in a minute" or "I can't right now," to my kids if i am pushing them off for my "to do list". I realize that too often I push them off for later and am missing the "nows." Today was one of those moments. I'm behind on laundry, my bedroom still needs cleaning up, fix it projects and designs projects were calling. I even invited friends to come over to play with the kids so I could get something done.

Savannah came up to me after lunch and asked if we could do something together. I opened my mouth to give her excuses, or ask her to wait till later till I had finished this, this and this.... and luckily stopped myself. I asked her what she was thinking and she gave me a few ideas. I've known that I have really needed to give Savannah more personal time lately to see how it affected behavior, general happiness, etc. I knew this moment was her asking for that personal time.

A few weeks ago I asked my kids to pick one thing they wanted to learn how to do this summer and we would spend some time each week learning how to do it. Savannah picked sewing, Mirian cooking and Isaac picked learning how to ride his bike without training wheels.

Savannah asked if we could learn how to sew today. In my mind I thought... "oh not now, that takes lots of time to learn how to do that, and we have friends showing up in 10 minutes." But I held my tongue, agreed, and we set out our plan. She has wanted to learn how to sew on the sewing machine. I figured a easy quilt would be the easiest. Squares and straight lines. So I let her pick some fabric from some of my sheets I've cut up.

I taught her how to use the rotary cutter and cutting board and how to measure her squares so they were the same size. She decided she wanted to throw some strips in there as well instead of just squares. I helped her with fabric that was a bit too long for her to reach all by herself, and let her cut out all her squares. She did a great job.

I then had her take all her pieces and lay them all on the floor in a pattern she would like. I tried to encourage her to make both a pattern vertically and horizontally, and she went to work. It was fun watching her change colors, rearrange them, and finally declared that this is how she wanted her quilt to look. I have to keep the obsessive compulsive part of me under control when it comes to visual colors, patterns etc, and let her be herself. She did really good for her age. It was unique but had some pattern still to it.

I then had her find matching markers and draw her quilt on the paper and color in the different squares so she would know the order to sew them in. She drew it all in, got it all planned, put all her squares together and then went and started pulling out the sewing machine without me realizing it. :)

(see her pattern there on top?)

So I showed her how to thread the machine, set it up, and sew a straight line. She was a little nervous at first, but did really good about sewing straight. I then showed her how to follow her pattern, how to put the right sides together and start sewing her squares into strips. She was nervous at first, but ended up becoming a pro. She has some advantages to having Beau's analytical and systematic mind when it comes to organizing things. She easily could understand following the pattern, and figured out how to mark squares off when she finished them. She figured out how to sew her thin strips together, and ended up finishing up all her strips by the end of the night. Tomorrow she gets to iron them out and sew the strips to finish her top.

The best part was seeing how proud she was of herself. She was so excited to show Beau that she was using the sewing machine all by herself, and that she was making a quilt all by herself. It was worth everything I didn't get done to see the confidence she had in herself, how excited she was, and what a great job she was actually doing. She was sewing really really well (skill wise). I had some young women ages 12- 14 that I was trying to teach how to sew that did not do near as well as she did. She was bummed when she messed up one time during the whole thing and we had to unpick two squares. The only other thing she was bummed about was that she couldn't get the whole thing done tonight so she could sleep with it. I had to try and explain to her that this was a long p project, that we still had to put the batting in, quilt or tie it, put the binding on etc. But I can't wait to see how excited she is when she finishes it completely.

I was also excited to see how well she did. She also mentioned how a couple of months she sewed some headbands by hand and embroidered her friends names on top to give to them. She explained that one girls was really excited and happy about it and wore it all day. The other one didn't really like it, shoved it in her backpack and never looked at it again, while commenting to someone else that she wanted something different instead. Savannah mentioned how that made her feel really bad. She had spent all night sewing it by hand, and had given up all her free time to make it for her friend, and then to have her not want it. It was a great chance to discuss how the two different girls made her feel, and how we need to be careful how we react to people when they do nice things for us like that. Do we show that we are appreciate of it, and help them feel good, or do we make them feel sad about all the time and effort they put into creating it. What a great time for life lessons not only in physical homemaking skills, but people and life skills too.

Now I just need to give her some more training and I can start getting her to sew all these projects I never have time to do!

Enjoy these Little Things

2011-06-16T20:09:00.000-07:00

One thing I've been trying to do this summer is just relax and enjoy my kids. I've been looking forward to the time when they would be home from school and we could just spend time together. So despite the fact that MY bedroom STILL has not gotten clean, I can say I've enjoyed my kids. Here's a few of the things that I've been enjoying lately.

The summer reading program - going to the library for books and some of their summer activities. I actually finished one of my 5 summer reading books for the adult summer reading program... let's see if I can get another 4 done. :)

Mormon Channel - (www.mormonchannel.org) Lately the kids and I have found ourselves listening to it on a regular almost daily basis. There is enough variety that I can usually find something I'm in the mood to listen to, it's always uplifting, and I've learned some really great stuff. Savannah lately has been turning it on to the Friend Preview (a preview of the children's magazine put out by the church.) It's a mixture of stories from the friend, quotes and talks by the apostles, and music. It's short for their attention span, is about 20 minutes, and we have been listening to it while eating lunch, sitting around, Sunday mornings, etc. My kids love it. I personally have enjoyed these specific interviews recently.

Personal Revelation with Julie B. Beck
Creating and Sustaining Wellness a look at overall health
Music with a Message
Friend Magazine Preview

Watching my kids be kids.
Sew Liberated A new book I got for my birthday. (Thanks Heather) I've been getting excited about doing a few projects for it for the new baby.
Your Child's Weight; Helping without harming. A book that I've been reading and trying to implement after it's high recommendation from a workshop I attended years ago at the BYU Women's conference. It's about developing healthy family eating habits without being extreme on both sides with food. I needed something to help my kids be healthy and develop healthy eating habits. In it I learned a lot about the way I eat, which has actually helped me realize those issues, and in being 7 months pregnant, I have not put on any extra weight so far, (being that I was already over-weight to begin with.) But I have stayed at a low healthy weight gain for my current weight, and hope to maintain that so when the baby goes, the lbs go with it.
Grilled Chicken Salad with feta, fresh corn and blueberries. Tried this yummy recipe last night and enjoyed it. Even Beau didn't think it was too bad. I'm anxious to try out some of the Marlboro Man approved recipes as I think some would definitely appeal to my husband.

So there is a taste of some of my favorites lately... and finally the sunshine that has decided to appear. It's finally feeling like summer.

Finally Summer

2011-06-08T05:32:00.001-07:00

May was a really rough month for me. Unexpected family things happened that has had me only focusing on things that really matter and dropping a lot of things for a while. I have learned a lot though. Isn't that what all the hard things are about sometimes, making us really stretch and grow?

After months and months of rain, snow and cold, it's finally starting to feel like summer here this last week. It's been beautiful sunny days, beautiful temperatures and we are officially out on summer vacation. I have been looking forward to this for months. I have lots of things planned for the kiddos and hope to really enjoy this summer. The baby is growing, moving lots and it's hard to believe that she will be the culminating event of the summer. Time has flown.

Our camera also broke which has left me with no visual way of documenting our life for the last few months or so. It's been driving me crazy and I realized I just can't seem to blog unless there are photos. I'm a visual blogger by far. I loved my old camera. It was just a point and shoot but took great photos. We finally got a new one the other day, same camera just the newer version and I am pumped to play around with it, and start documenting the little things going on, and the fun I'm having with my kids.

Allergy season has suddenly attacked in full fury for me. Savannah and I have been so miserable. I forgot how miserable it is. Seeing cotton blowing from the trees right now is almost horrifying. The things you have to deal with when the sun begins to shine.

Despite the itchy eyes, congestion and constant sneezing, we are going to enjoy our summer days and I hope to have this blog filled with the daily happenings of our life. Life is too good right now not to enjoy every moment of it.

Where We've Been

2011-04-18T19:11:00.001-07:00

3 days, 2 nights camping in the desert at Dead Horse Point Utah State Park. Slightly chilly and jacket weather but definitely better than the snow, rain and dreary clouds that we left in Provo. We survived a miserable first night of constant strong winds and freezing. The next couple of days were beautiful. We all came home sporting sunburns.

Spent time with our close friends the Lilywhites. Reminscing about that first time we met. They sat next to us in church. Beau introduced me to Kirt, telling me that they were in the same major. Little did we know that 9 years laters and 8 kids between both families, they'd both be getting their doctorates together in Robotic Vision - Engineering and looking at starting a business together after graduation. These are the best kinds of friends.

Getting messy. Nothing is greater than watching your kids get dirty, kick off their shoes, throw rocks, make mud pies from the red dirt, run hard, climb rocks, hike, and fall asleep exhausted for the nights.

Family hikes and bike rides in another one of God's amazing creations. Red dirt, sand, cliffs, the Colorado River, cactus, lizards, bluffs and the desert sun.

Dutch Ovens... yummy breakfasts, chili and cornbread, Honey BBQ Chicken and rice, and our new favorite - popcorn.

Car rides listening to Ramona and Beezus. We've decided that although we loved these books as children. They were not fun to listen to now as parents. The lady reading the audio book did too good of job and it felt like we were listening to our own whiny, arguing kids, non stop for 3 hours. Too close to home. We'll take Lemony Snicket instead!

Sick little girl. Poor Mirian didn't feel good the second day. She had a tummy ache, was tired and we wore her good spirits right out on the hike. Luckily the next day she was back to normal running, climbing, digging and playing.

Just ones of those great family memories. Small mini vacations are just perfect, especially when it involves sleeping in a tent, and no showers.

Little Lambs

2011-04-06T15:20:00.001-07:00

About a month ago we had the chance to go to Idaho and spend a weekend with both sides of our family. It was an awesome weekend! At the end of our trip we were able to spend about a day and a half with my sister and her family. Our kids are always so excited to get together to play with each other. This year they have been on the adventure of raising sheep and goats. We got there in time to help feed about 70 bum lambs and boy did my kids think it was the best thing EVER. They were squealing with delight when they'd have about 10 lambs come up to them at a time sucking on fingers, the bottle or nibbling on their pants.
This little girl was besides herself. She was the highlight of my weekend. She would pack these babies around that were just slightly smaller than herself, laughing and squealing with delight. "It's sucking my fingers!" she would laugh with her whole face lit up. She was always the last one out of the barn. The next morning when we woke up the first thing she said when she walked in the room rubbing her eyes was "feed the cows?" "the lambs you mean?" I replied. "Yeah the lambs. Feed the lambs?"

At the last feeding before we left, we were getting ready to leave the barn when she picked one up and started carrying it to the door. "Take it home?" she'd ask. Jeremy would have let us, if we thought we could have raised a sheep in our tiny backyard in the city. We told her we had to leave it here. "It sad," she declared with this sad hopefully expression. "No Mommy, or Daddy." Boy could she melt your heart right then and there. We tried to explain that it would be even sadder if it came with us because it wouldn't get to be and play with all the other lambs. She felt like that was a good enough answer, and didn't break down dad enough to load a lamb into our car for the 4 hour drive home.
It's times like this, that I am sure I don't want to stay in the city forever. I want to be able to have some animals, and have my kids learn to take care of them and learn how to work, even though it would loose all it's excitement and fun after the 2nd or 3rd day. But how can you look at these pictures, and faces lit up and not want some land to run around on get dirty in, with a few cowboy hats to wear, animals to feed, and live a bit slower paced life than in the city.

Since we couldn't convince dad to bring any lambs home... maybe we can still convince him that we need a few of these since we are allowed a few with our city ordinances. :)

Raise the Praise Printable

2011-04-04T12:39:00.000-07:00

After making this post, I decided to make me a little reminder to frame and hang within my constant view. It's a saying that was on my sister's wall, that I've always loved. I thought I would share it with you as well, if you need a little reminding. You can print it as is and put it in a 8x10 or 5x7 frame, or cut on the red border for a 4x6 frame. Click either on the image or here to download.

Life Lesson

2011-04-04T11:20:00.000-07:00

My little girl is turning 6 soon. How time does fly. She is so excited about her birthday and has been asking for a birthday party for weeks. She wanted to know if she could invite Jenny, a girl from her school class. Her face lit up and was so happy when I said yes. Every day since, she has asked about the party and exclaimed how excited she was to invite Jenny. She has reminded me over and over to make sure that we make invitations today so she could take it to Jenny during school and to make sure that I put on there directions on how to get to our house because her mom wouldn't know.

I smiled at her pure delight and enthusiasm for that special day and the excitement of inviting her friend to the party. I kept thinking how glad I was that she had a really good friend at school that she wanted to invite and that she felt like was her friend.

Today after making the invitation and while eating lunch though, she opened my eyes to the real picture. "Jenny is always mean to me," she commented, having that look of introspection. It took me back. Why was she so excited to invite a girl that was mean to her? "Do you know why she is mean to you?" I asked. "No" was her answer.

"Do you play with her at recess?"

"No I play with Aslan."

"Would you feel bad if she didn't end up coming to the party?"

I wanted to know, not sure how this Jenny would feel about the party if she was constantly mean to her. She thought about it for a minute, smiled and shook her head no.

She jumped in the car clutching the invitation because she didn't want to forget it, rode all the way to school and declared, "There's Jenny!" when we pulled up to the school. She bounced out of the car and skipped over to the kids heading into the classroom, and I watched as she timidly approached her, and followed her into the school.

I left with my mind full of questions. Would she give it to her? Would Jenny be rude and brush the whole idea aside? Would she be happy and excited that Mirian invited her? Would she come? but the question most of all... "What makes this daughter of mine be so excited to invite someone that is mean to her all of the time to her special birthday party.

I left with my heart breaking that yes my children aren't exempt from being hurt in the world. They will be teased, they will have others be mean to them, and life will not always be easy. It about kills a mother to think that her kid she loves so much, is experiencing these hard things, but in the moment I saw a huge part my husband and I must play. A part of being a builder. Of making sure that there is no meanness, hurtfulness, or criticism coming forth from my lips and mouth out of frustration and impatience.

Every day they hear how they are not good enough, smart enough, pretty enough or popular enough. They are told where they are lacking. They are told to do better, they are asked why they keep making this same mistake over and over. They are being torn apart but other heartless comments, remarks and things that kids say. They may not have much self worth left when they are finished for the day.

Do the need to come home and get the same thing? Irritated voices, frustrations at their weaknesses, impatience and reprimands?

No.

They need to be able to come in the door of our home and be able to breathe a huge sigh of relief. They need to know they are loved by everyone in that home. They need to hear how much they are loved and how great they are doing. They need to hear appreciation for helping out and how well they treat their siblings. They need to be complimented on everything and develop a sense of worth and ability. They are not perfect because they are children, they are just learning, and they need that room to make mistakes and not be torn down. They need to feel like they can make mistakes and will be built up and become better from them. They need our love. They need to know they are amazing.

Because they are.

It's not always easy after a long tiring day, and they are doing the same annoying thing for the hundredth time after being asked not to do it... I just need to stop, take a breath, and remember I can either add my comments to the rest of the world or I can help erase the rest of the worlds comments.

I'm a little anxious to see how it went at school with Mirian... she is far better than me to reach out in love to someone who has not shown it to her. And when she comes home I can make sure I let her know how much I love her and how amazing she is.

Under Construction

2011-04-02T21:06:00.000-07:00

Bear with me, while I do some changing and updating to this blog. Not all links work quite yet... I'll try and get it up and running as fast as I can. :)

Do I need Photoshop?

2011-04-02T19:23:00.001-07:00

My cousin asked recently in a comment if she really needs to get Photoshop in order to do Digital Scrapbooking. No you don't have to. But.... if you really want to be able to do all the cool things that are out there, create your own papers, use styles, brushes and honestly do all the fun cool things... then yes. You can create basic layouts in Word, which can be really tricky. You can do it in other Photo editing programs as well such as Paint Shop Pro, or Microsoft Digital Image. But honestly... if you want the best and want lots of options and tools then Photoshop Elements is the only way to go.

Many people get confused and think that they need to buy the large Photoshop CS5 for $700.00. WRONG. That program is for designers and people that are creating anything from scratch, do it professionally, and are pro's. If you are just wanting to digital scrapbook all you need is Photoshop Elements.

The newest version is 9.0 and is $79.00 if you get it straight from Adobe. Sometimes you might get lucky and get some version of it with a new printer or other software bundles. But honestly do you need to pay $80.00 and get the newest version?

When I first started, Adobe had released either version 4.0 or 5.0. It was around $79.00 and I could not afford that at the time. We were broke. My boss told me to look it up on the internet and find an older version which would do everything I needed it to, and so I found 2.0 for $20.00. It did everything I needed it to, and I could afford that price. If you don't want to spend $79 then look on the internet for an older version. I just looked up Photoshop Elements 4.0 software and found some on amazon for $30 - new, or $15.00 used. (someone upgraded to a newer version and is getting rid of their older version.) I looked up 6.0 and found some on Amazon for $60 new, or $20 used. There are options out there for cheaper versions if you are on a tight budget. If you feel like you want to go with the newest version because you plan on using it forever and that way it won't become too outdated - go for it.

Photoshop does have a learning curve though, and as my mom found out from getting the digital download version, that there is no instruction book. (Unless she goes to help within the software and reads it on the internet) but even then it won't necessarily tell you how to scrapbook with it.

You might want to consider finding other tutorials, books, or videos that teach you how to use it. One example is Scrapbook Software Secrets Revealed: Photoshop Elements that is sold in our store at ScrapGirls. The CEO of ScrapGirls, taught herself how to digital scrapbook using Photoshop Elements, and eventually created a series of 33 videos that teach you all the basics you need to know to create great layouts and use all the tools in Photoshop Elements. It is well worth the money, if you'd really like to learn how to use the program. There are other things out there and available on the internet as well.

At ScrapGirls we also put out a daily newsletter that has tutorials in it to teach you basic skills and fun creative techniques to use in your scrapbooking. It's free and you get free scrapbooking supplies with it too. If you prefer not to get it everyday then you can sign up for the weekly roundup which is a summary of all the tutorials, products, and articles sent out through the week.

It can seem intimidating at first, or out of reach. But there are ways of doing it for an affordable price, and learn how to do what you would REALLY like to do. Honestly, I promise if you were to buy Elements, and then take the time to learn how to use it, you will never regret the purchase. You will use it for everything! Editing photos, creating handouts, making calendars, gifts, and of course digital scrapbooking. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask! I'm more than happy to answer them!

How to Make Easy Layouts

2011-04-02T07:55:00.000-07:00

How to Make Easy Layouts with JIF 6 Kits

Tutorial created using Photoshop Elements 7.0 with Windows XP.

JIF Kits are one of the fastest and easiest ways to create a finished layout within minutes - literally. Because they come with the finished layout in a PSD file, it's super-easy for you to simply click-and-drag your photos and customize the layout to your preference. The finished product is a beautiful professional-looking layout in a fraction of the time it normally takes you to assemble a digital scrapbooking layout. Let me show you how easy it is.

First, open the PSD files that come with your JIF 6 Kit. I am using JIF 6: My Sunshine for this tutorial.

In your Layers Palette, you will see all the embellishments, word art, and papers that create this layout. Each layer can be deleted, moved, or altered to your liking.

Open the photo you would like to use on your layout.

Move (click and drag) your photo into your software program. Move the photo up or down in the Layers Palette until it is directly above the round photo mask. I'm going to use the round circle photo mask with my photo so that it will focus just on my son and eliminate all the other extra background in the photo.

Make sure your photo layer is selected in the Layers Palette. By holding down Ctrl+G (Alt+Ctrl+G for PS users), you will create a clipping mask. A clipping mask makes the photo take on the shape of the layer below it. In this case, my photo takes on the shape of a circle. You will know that it created a clipping mask when you see your photo indented with a small arrow next to it pointing down.

If your photo is still selected in the Layers Palette, you can easily move around your photo or resize it to get it exactly where you would like it on the photo mask.

You can also add a shadow to the black photo mask (if there isn't one already) to give it depth on your layout.

Adding a photo is as easy as that! Go ahead and try it! I know you'll be hooked with how easy and fast scrapping can be now.

Layout by Shalae Tippetts
larger view


Commercial license versions of JIF 6: My Sunshine are also available.

Article written by Shalae Tippetts

I'd love your vote!

2011-03-31T11:46:00.000-07:00

I thought I would try the contest at Spoonflower - Project Selvage. A fabric design contest for baby boys. I made it past the first cut and am one of the 75 semi-finalists. It's now open to the public for voting, to narrow it down to the 10 finalists who will then go on and design 5 more coordinating fabrics. From there the winner is chosen to have their line of fabric printed through Michael Miller Fabrics. I thought it might be fun to at least try. If you like it enough that you feel it's worthy of your vote, I'd love to have it! I think it would be fun to try and come up with 5 more coordinating fabrics. You can place your vote here.

Surprise, Surprise!

2011-03-24T04:37:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we found out that another girl will be joining our family in August. We were all hoping for a little boy... we're a little out numbered in that direction. Even more so now. :) We weren't sure how disappointed the kids would be when we told them. When I told Mirian she replied "Another Girl?! Really?" And then started laughing. They weren't too disappointed. They're pretty excited. I'm glad that I have children that really enjoy having brothers and sisters, and get so excited about having another one join our family.

A couple of weeks a go, I started drawing up some little animals in Illustrator to start learning the program, and it evolved this new "JIF 6 Plus: Lil' One." A way for me to get excited and celebrate a new addition to the family and a healthy pregnancy.

These digital stickers felt like such an accomplishment. I've been trying to learn how to draw in illustrator for a long time, and I think it has finally clicked in my brain how these vectors work. Yeah... so it's been addicting drawing with it. I still have lots to learn, and skills to perfect but it was a breakthrough!

layout by Laurel Lakey

You can find them here and here in my store. Here's to more pink, dresses, princesses, emotions, and little mothers.

No TV: Day One

2011-03-22T05:54:00.000-07:00

We are trying to get out of the winter blahs, and trying really hard to not turn on a movie during the day what so ever.... pretty tough some days when you resorted to it too often during the winter cold months.

So with cabin fever, only random beautiful days to be outside, and the desire to have my kids be creative and get away from the tv, we having been trying to come up with alternatives. So we thought we'd share a couple things we've done that has helped us make it through the whole day with NO Movies.

Printables.... I ran into these through some link to familyfun. They had a variety of fun craft printables to cut out and put together. I let the kids each pick one, and we spent the day building and playing with them. Caitlyn chose the farm.

I bet you can't pick which one of my children chose the swamp monster that took his turn scaring the tiny fairies and woodland creatures.

This set is a fun one, it has a tree and mushroom house that you can build and then it also has a whole bunch of mythical creatures to play with. Mirian had fun with this for hours. We also found out later that they work perfect for replacing any game pieces you don't have. Now we have elves and fairies journeying through candy land and up and down ladders.

This kept them entertained for the day, especially those times when they were in the habit of turning on the tv instead. It seems if we can make it past those key moments, they are good for the day. They were excited for me to post the pictures on the blog so that they could show other kids what they could do instead of watch TV. So now we have a NO TV mission to share with others... so stay tuned for other episodes.

My Own Leathers

2011-03-22T05:43:00.000-07:00

This was a Designers Life for the ScrapGirls newsletter yesterday. Thought I'd share it here too.

I had never been on a motorbike until a month after I was engaged. My father-in-law declared that if I was going to marry into the family, I needed to know how to ride a bike. He had me climb on the front of a dirt bike, then he sat down behind me and told me to give it some gas. I drove him straight into a fence. He's never had me try to learn again.

Instead, I've enjoyed the thrill and view behind my husband as we've ridden dirt bikes in the mountains and road bikes down the freeway. Years ago when I was dating someone else seriously, I thought horses were the best thing around. Boy, was I wrong. There is nothing like the wind whipping through your hair, weaving around beautiful canyon roads, or gunning it for the speed. Yes, my husband has sold me on bikes.

We never knew that when we purchased our house that the garage would be our best investment. Winter comes to Wyoming (where my father-in-law currently resides) two-to-three months earlier than Utah, and then stays two-to-three months longer. Because of this timely seasonal happening, for the last couple of years, I have started to count down the days till winter chills start hitting Wyoming. As soon as they do, I can count on a beautiful red road bike being dropped off and stored in my garage for the winter. The only thing is, when it's dropped off, it's not winter here. It's beautiful, and the scenery calls for as many rides as possible on this new love of mine, at least until it's so cold that it's impossible to ride any more.

We plan date nights and excitedly drop the kids off so the two of us can climb on and speed away for a night together. One day recently, in the middle of winter, we actually had a beautiful day in the 50s. It was warm, it felt like spring, and it was all I could do to not call up my husband, tell him to come home early, bundle up, and go for a mid-winter ride.

The last couple of summers we've been able to take a two-to-three day road trip on his bike for our anniversary. It's been so much fun. The first year we were caught in a downpour of rain for the two-hour ride home. I was frozen, but what a thrill. The second year, we took long drives in the Idaho countryside, saw beautiful farmlands, gorgeous mountains, and geocached when we needed breaks. I came back with dry swollen lips, saddle sore, and a wind-burned, sunburned face. I never had so much fun. We hope to make it a continuing tradition.

I joke with my husband that when we finally graduate from school we're going to forgo that second car we'll need when he gets a real job. We'll just go straight for the bike. When the day comes that we have a bike for keeps, if he knows me well, he'll hand me a large gift at Christmas of my own leathers. Yes... that's right. This girl wants her very own leathers.

- Shalae

Favorite Product I've designed:
Biker Collection

Commercial license versions of Biker Collection are also available.

This collection has to be the most fun collection I have ever designed. Maybe because I felt like I was creating it for my husband and my father-in-law. Really though, I was creating it for me, all those things I love about the biker "attitude" and the ride. All those things I have started to love. Most people don't realize that the collection can be used in so many other ways besides the obvious biker theme. There are aspects and embellishments that can be used for Cowboy (old west), teens, masculine, road trips, truckers, first car or bike, Americana, mid-life crisis, silver wedding anniversaries, proms or elegant evenings, and more.

Layout by Shalae Tippetts
larger view



Commercial license versions of Biker Collection, ScrapSimple Tools - Styles: Black Leather 4901, The Weather Outside Collection Mini and Geocache Collection Mini are also available.

Pumpkin Spice Pancakes

2011-03-18T05:00:00.000-07:00

This has become regular breakfast for our family. Personally it's my absolute favorite. It's healthy and I love it with vanilla yogurt and banana's cut up on top. My grandma and mother came to visit and they loved them this way too. It's a bit more healthier for you than all that sugary syrup. (I have also used whole wheat flour for both cups and it has turned out fine, a bit more grainy but they were still good, and I usually dump into all in one bowl and mix it rather than two.)

Pumpkin Spice Pancakes

1 c. whole wheat flour

1 c. white flour or Hi-Maize Resistant Starch

3 TBS honey

1 TBS baking Powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1 1/2 c. milk

3 eggs lightly beaten

1 cup canned pumpkin

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tps. ground cloves

3 TBS canola oil

1. In a large bowl, combine flours, honey, baking powder and salt. Ina second bowl, combine milk, eggs, pumpkin, cinnamon, cloves and oil. Stir milk mixture into flour mixture until slightly lumpy.

2. Heat a lightly greased griddle or skillet over medium heat. For each pancake, pour 1/4 cup batter onto the griddle. Cook until golden; turn when tops are bubbly and edges are slightly dry.

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 2 minutes per batch

Serving Size: 2 pancakes

Each serving:

Glycemic index: low

Glycemic load: 14

Calories: 204

Protein: 7 grams

Carbohydrates: 26 grams

Fiber: 2 grams

Fat: 8 grams

Saturated Fat: 2 grams

School Notes Printable

2011-03-17T08:48:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is teacher appreciation day at our elementary school. Need a little something to tell those teachers thank you? Here is a free school note card printable for you. There are two sizes included in the pdf download. Small miniature ones for quick notes or a 3x5 size for longer notes.

You can use them in a variety of ways.

print out a couple of sheets and bundle them together as a thank you gift.
write love notes to your kids and leave them in their lunch or backpack.
use them to send notes to your teachers from home.

You can find the free printable here or by clicking on the image at the top. If you would like to pass on the word or share them with others, please direct them straight here to my blog to download them. (They may look grainy in the preview, but will print in better resolution when downloaded.)

Somehow let the teachers in your life know how much we appreciate everything they do for our children.

I'm Lucky to have you.

2011-03-16T19:11:00.000-07:00

Tonight I'm getting a few of these ready for the morning. You can find the printable topper and instructions here at eighteen 25. I really detest sugar packed cereal. There is nothing healthy about it. My kids never get full on it and want breakfast all over again in an hour, and then they're also on a sugar high. They are lucky kids indeed when I will buy it for them, especially Lucky Charms. It's the biggest waste of money for me, since my kids only pick out the marshmallows and leave the rest of the cereal. Can you blame them? I always ate the rest of the cereal so the last thing in my bowl to enjoy was a whole bunch of marshmallows. So I'm leaving the scrooge behind and decided it might be a fun treat for St. Patrick's Day tomorrow when they wake up.

A Little of Everything

2011-03-02T12:37:00.001-08:00

It's been a while... and it's literally impossible to catch up with it all. So I'm not going to even try. Instead here's a few glimpses of thoughts, happenings, news.... anything random. :)

My kids have enjoyed the puppet theater grandma made them for Christmas. Here we are enjoying a rendition of How to Tame Your Dragon while having popcorn. Nothing gets better than this.

I'm excited about going to the BYU Basketball game tonight with my husband. Our 2nd in 9 years of attending BYU. Pathetic huh.....

I enjoyed the morning with the three kiddo's feeding ducks, playing at the park and having a picnic. It was a bit nippy, but boy did it feel good to be outdoors.

Really hoping this "new baby" joining us in August is going to be boy. I'm glad to be over the sickness, and feeling pretty decent. Everything has gone well with this pregnancy and we'll find out whether it will be that boy Isaac and I are hoping for in a couple of weeks. (Yes this is an announcement. So if you had no idea, you aren't the only one.)

I'm really excited for this contest with spoonflower and Michael Miller Fabrics. It never hurts to try right! :)

After years of getting up early and having my time in the morning to myself, I'm about to go nuts with the habit our children have gotten into of also getting up at 5:30 in the morning ready to go. All of them awake by 6:00. Where have my quiet mornings gone! (I've always wanted to have my kids get in the habit of arising early, and to bed early.... but now my selfish wants are really fighting this.) So either I have to get up earlier, or figure out how to deal with this issue.....

Since we were up early, and everyone was ready way before school today we enjoy a little bit of competition between the kids having a tug of war, leg wrestling and stick pulling. It was great!

Just a small taste of life right now.

Eating Disorders Awareness Week

2011-02-23T19:31:00.000-08:00

I have been enjoying the opportunity to learn from Katie Green about her personal experience with eating disorders. I love to learn as much I can about mental disorders and issues, to hopefully better understand people and know how I can help. For some reason this topic specifically has been on my mind recently with raising a bunch of girls in this culture of ours that is obsessed with 'perfect bodies.' It's been interesting to read her underlying reasons, thoughts and behaviors that led to her disorders. She'll be addressing the topic all week.

How Much Longer

2011-02-21T13:24:00.001-08:00

Saturday it was a beautiful day outside and a bit nippy. The kids had been stuck inside for so long, and all week have needed to get outside, for their sanity and ours. So Beau declare that they MUST all go outside and play for a while and get some fresh air. Every few minutes someone would come in and ask if they could come in yet... not yet, they needed to play some more. (How heartless we are to tell our kids to go outside and PLAY, SWING, RIDE BIKES, etc.... but if you would have heard them you would have thought we were the worst parents on the planet that day.)

At one point we heard the door open and then heard footsteps run back outside. Two seconds later Beau's cell phone went off with 'my' cell phone ring. I wasn't calling him. Someone outside was. (Lately Mirian has learned Beau's cell phone number and likes to get on our home line to call his cell phone, even when he's just in the other room. Often he just lets her leave a message.) Today he let them leave a message, when we listened to it a few minutes later, we could help but laugh.

Small and Simple Things

2011-01-27T19:43:00.001-08:00

This year as I started out the new year, I knew I needed to make huge headway on many projects and yet wanted to simplify everything in my life. The scripture "by small and simple things, great things are brought to past.." kept going through my head. (More on this later).

So I decided to test my theory... and test it with my design work. I have very little time to design. Too often I pick a big project that takes forever for me to get it out and into the store. I might get one product out a month if I'm lucky, and then I get burned out so fast.

So I decided to only do "small" products this year. Ones that were quick and fast. Ones that I could literally finish in 2-3 hours. I only have about 1 1/2 hours in the early morning before the kids awake to do any designing. I wanted something I could easily get done in those few hours, and possibly get two done in one week on my good weeks. If I had a bad week with life and general it was still small enough to get in the store.

I wanted it simple. I wanted it to be doable. I wanted it to work with my ADHD when it comes to having new ideas I wanted to work with. I somehow believe that even though these things are small and don't make big amounts of money, that small, consistent things will bring greater results than random, in frequent large things. So far I'm feeling good about it. It's been very doable. So far I've put something in the store every week, which has not happened for a VERY long time. I'm sort of looking forward to the end of the year, to look back and see if my theory proves correct. That these small and simple things will help out greatly in trying to prepare ourselves for when Beau graduates and we start job hunting. That somehow out of small things great things will come to pass.

These new JIF 6 Kits can be found here in my store.

When Inspiration Hits

2011-01-13T08:49:00.000-08:00

Recently I ran across this treasury at Etsy. It immediately sparked some ideas for a Jif 6 Kit.

Which lead to some sketches and ideas for papers and elements.

Which lead to the finished product.

And a couple of fun layouts to go with it.

You can find it here.

Handmade Giveaway

2011-01-08T08:20:00.000-08:00

One of the things that I want to do this year is make more time for sewing and making things. For both my house and others. I was able to work on a bunch of things before Christmas and it was just so relaxing and fun to create handmade gifts for people. So when I saw Laurel's blogpost. I wanted to join in on the fun!

So I'm going to give away 5 handmade items created by me to the first 5 commenters on this blogpost. I'm going to try and do my best to create something that you'll like, but it will be a complete surprise what it is. You've got to give me at least the next 6 months to get all 5 completed.

Here is just a sample of one of the projects I made for the Christmas season. A Baby blanket for a new little one our extended family. (I've been trying to teach myself how to quilt on my regular sewing machine... I have a long ways to go, but it's exciting to see all the possibilities.)

So is what is the catch? Be one of the first 5 commenters, post about this giveaway on your own blog, and do the same thing for your first 5 commenters. If you do not have your own blog but are willing to just surprise 5 other people with something handmade, I'll let that count!

I'm excited to spread some handmade goodness! What about you?

Look to the Light

2010-12-15T20:32:00.001-08:00

I love this. Especially at this Christmas Season. He is the reason. He is real.

Technology. A Blessing from God.

2010-12-15T09:33:00.000-08:00

Recently our church made changes to it's main website. I love it. I love how easy they have made it to share the gospel, share our beliefs and have so many wonderful resources at our fingertips to help us live the gospel and teach it to our families.

I especially love this page which shares our beliefs. It's so well done. Videos, pictures, members sharing their personal experiences and thoughts, options to ask questions and chat with someone. It is done in such a non threatening wonderful way. It let's anyone get answers to their questions, find out the correct things that we believe, and learn for themselves about our faith.

My cousin has been serving his two year mission in the MTC referral mission. He has had amazing wonderful experiences about how people are searching for answers and finding the gospel online. They are able to chat with missionaries like my cousin and get specific questions answers. He has had baptisms all over the world. What an incredible blessing technology is! The Lord knew the power and blessing that it would bring, and how much it would be needed to take the gospel to all the earth. My cousin returned home last Friday and I loved being able hear about the experiences he has had using technology to spread the gospel.

Recently I've been thinking a lot about my faith. Wondering why it is that I don't feel suppressed or limited in who I can or want to become, when we have so many commandments from the Lord, or doctrines like the Word of Wisdom or the Law of Chastity. Many people of the world feel that Mormons have no freedom. No freedom to do or be what they want.

In fact my first year of college my family took in a foreign exchange student from Norway, Silje. She was a long lost sister. We loved her. She had previously been assigned to another family somewhere else in the US. They decided they just couldn't do it and so we were asked if we would take her. We agreed.

The people and friends she was around before coming to our house, told her that it would be awful. That she wouldn't be able to do anything because of all our Mormon commandments. She came completely worried. She later told me that she came expecting to have no freedom to do as she wished, instead she found more freedom than she had ever felt before in her life. She was expected to live the same way the rest of us did in the family and abide by the same rules. But what she found was not the lack of freedom but an abundance of it. A freedom that comes when we live the commandments God has given us. A freedom we can find no where else.

Many of you may get sick of me talking about my faith. But in reality it is everything to me. It makes me so incredibly happy. It gives me incredible freedom to become a Shalae that is far better than anything I could have ever made her to be. I know it's true with every part of me. And when you know something like this to be true without any doubt, it is impossible to never share it.

At this Christmas season, one of the greatest gifts I could ever give to you dear friends, would be the FULLNESS of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that Christ's original church he set up on the earth during his mortal ministry has been restored. Through Him. Every aspect of it. People wonder, ask and are sometimes appalled that we declare that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is Christ's only true and living church on the earth. That it is the same as the one he set up during his mortal ministry.

Does this mean that everyone else is wrong? No. Not at all. They all have truths, they have his word in the bible. But is there anything that is missing? Anything that has gotten lost in the many divisions of religion? Living Prophets? Modern Revelation? Priesthood power and authority to act in the name of God? Saving Ordinances? The Gift of the Holy Ghost? Is there more? Yes there is.

At this Christmas season. The time of giving gifts to those we love, I often contemplate and think of how my heart desires to share what I know to be true with others. The greatest of all gifts I could give is the restored gospel. The hard part... it has to be taken, looked at, thought about, prayed about, and acted upon by those I'd like to give it to. There has a to be a desire to even want to have the gift. There are not so many that are willing to to take it. Until that time comes, all I can do is keep sharing, keep testifying and keep offering.

I hope you are all enjoying this wonderful Christmas season. I hope you have had some time to ponder the Christ child. Who He is. Why He came. And what it means to you and me. I know he lives. I know he'll return one day, and what a glorious, happy day it will be.

Merry Christmas to you and your families! May this upcoming year be an amazing one for each of you.

Too Hard on Ourselves

2010-12-03T09:41:00.000-08:00

I am the type of person that tends to lean more on the side of justice than mercy. This is not always a good quality trait to have. Especially when it comes to myself. Sometimes I hang justice over my head and tell myself that I'm just not doing good enough, I'm falling short in everything, and completely letting the Lord down and everyone around. I am human, I have weakness, bad habits and things that hold me back in very large ways.

I also know that I have a real and strong desire to do what is right. I really want to be more faithful, be more diligent in my study of the scriptures and the gospel. I really want to have a closer relationship with God and feel his spirit strong in my life all of the time. I want to do what is right, because when I do I experience a happiness I can't find anywhere else.

The problem comes when life happens. I get off track and it becomes a while since I've had a decent scripture study at all, or even opened the scripture for that matter. Or it might have been a while since I have been able to be less concerned with myself and my problems, and selfishly serving and helping someone else. Inwardly I know I should be doing things better, and so I bring out the justice card, and play it.

I start to be really hard on myself... leaving no room for forgiveness, understanding or mercy. I start comparing myself with others, and the perfect person I know I should be. The problem comes, when we don't let any small crack or door open for mercy to enter in. Compassion and understanding with ourselves. Forgiveness, hope and acknowledgement for how far we have come. We tend to close the Lord off completely because we just haven't been good enough, or worthy enough to feel his love, or have a spiritual experience, or let him reach out and put his arm around us and say, hey it's ok. You are trying, and you have good desires.

Reading a friends blog today reminded me of this and I think many women struggle with this in their lives. While thinking about it I was brought back to an experience that I had over a year ago when I was struggling with those moments of discouragement about where we are and where we want to be. I thought I'd share excerpts of my journal entry I wrote then.

"I haven't been keeping up on my scripture study, and I feel like the heavens have been closed of my own making. I feel like I've been trying to do it all on my own and have not been succeeding. I have been failing in every way. Tonight I was just feeling tired and hopeless. Stressed out and wondering how I'm supposed to do it all.

What am I supposed to do?

I felt the need of help from heaven, communication again, inspiration and direction and felt lacking it. I picked up some scriptures off the floor. Flipped it open and found myself in Doctrine and Covenants. I saw section 6 and thought "read this chapter."

It's been a chapter that I have come to love, and have had it give direction many times before, but tonight the message from the Lord was different. Tonight as I read it I felt a loving father and son saying... It's ok. We know your thoughts and desires. We know your tired. We know your stressed. We know your overwhelmed and want to do so much and can't. We love you. The heavens are not closed, and you know that or you wouldn't have opened your scriptures...

It was so what I needed, along with a long heartfelt prayer afterwards.

I wanted to share a few verses though that stuck out, that sunk in my heart and made me realize my father in heaven is fully aware, and he is there wanting to help. He doesn't think less of me, he's not disappointed in me, he wants me to know he understands.

"Seek to bring forth and establish the cause of Zion; Seek not for riches but for wisdom, and behold the mysteries of God shall be unfolded to you, and then shall ye be made rich."

Lately with the stress of finances, and the recession, I have been stressed and feeling a pressure to design to make some money so we can survive. This one just spoke peace to my heart saying... "Don't seek the money... don't worry about the money... worry about the things that really matter, that's all that matters anyway. I'll take care of you. I always have."

"Verily, Verily, I say unto thee blessed art thou for what thou has done; for thou has inquired of me, and behold, as often as thou hast inquired thou has hast received instruction of my Spirit.

If it had not been so, thou wouldst not have come to the place where thou art at this time. Behold thou knowest that thou has inquired of me and I did enlighten thy mind; and now I tell thee these things that thou mayest know that thou hast been enlightened by the Spirit of truth; Yeah, I tell thee, that thou mayest know that there is none else save God that knowest thy thoughts and the intents of they heart."

This one spoke peace to my soul in telling me that the heavens are not closed. I did what I should - turn to him, and they were opened, they always will be opened. He knows what I'm thinking and going through ... I need to go to him, and when I do I'll recieve instruction. This one gave me peace that to know that even though I have been terrible lately about studying the scriptures, prayers, and having the right attitude and desire to serve, I could still go to him, he will still answer me, and he understands. He wasn't holding it against me, and holding back a spiritual experience or feeling his presence just to teach me a lesson.

"Therefore be diligent; stand by my servant (Beau), faithfully, in whatsoever difficult circumstances he may be for the word's sake. Admonish him in his faults, and also receive admonition of him. Be patient; be sober; be temperate; have patience, faith, hope and charity."

Here I heard the council once again to stand behind Beau and support him in ALL things. In whatever aspect the Lord calls him. Be there for him. Counsel with him.

"Behold I do not condemn you; go your way and sin no more; perform with soberness the work which I have commanded you. Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not."

This one was one where I just felt overwhelmed with his love. He did not condem me for not going to him lately, for doing it on my own, for abandoning the scriptures, and having trite prayers. He loves me, he's saying it's ok. Do better and move forward. I love you. Trust me.

You never know when you'll have an overwhelming experience like this one. One where tears freely flow. One where you just feel the the love of the Lord, his mercy, his forgiveness, his desire for you to do better, his understanding. What an incredible blessing to have. What a wonderful incredible blessing to have that in this life. To know it and feel it. God loves me. Despite all my weaknesses. He knows my thoughts, he knows my heart, he knows my struggles. He cares. He is there. He completely understands. He wants to help. I need to trust and let him."

We need to stop always beating ourselves us up. We need to remember that we are doing better that we think we are.... but we can always do better. But during the process he is always going to be there, he will help us, he will console us, he will just let us talk, cry, and share our thoughts, he'll put his arm around us and he'll say.... "I know" because he really does know.

Fixed Now

2010-11-30T20:28:00.001-08:00

The Young Women's Easy Page if fixed now, and can find the link or the right hand side bar under free stuff. Let me know if it doesn't work for anyone!

Small Problem

2010-11-30T20:09:00.000-08:00

Someone notified me that the download links for the free personal progress easy pages were no longer working. Until I can figure out a different solution, here is a temporary one. It'll only be active for 100 downloads or until Dec. 7. Until then I'll be working on another solution. I'm so sorry about that for those of you trying to download it! Please let me know if you run into more problems.

Download here.

Why Not?

2010-11-30T11:45:00.000-08:00

As a mother I too quickly squash my children's ideas because I think they'll be a hassle or create even more work for me. Or sometimes it just seems so insensible at the time.

I don't believe this is a good thing for me to be doing. How are they going to develop this creativity if I'm always saying no. How are they going to learn to think outside of the box if I say no? How are they going to enjoy the little things and experience life's joys if I'm always saying no?

The other night was no exception. We had two or three cardboard boxes in our front room from some current purchases. The kids were cutting them up making cars, doggie houses, and any other random item that they needed right then for their play world. In the process of making doggies houses, they created one for Isaac, the doggy. It was only about 2 feet by 2 feet. The one side was completely open, the opposite side had a large hole cut out. When laying on the ground he could stick his head in the box and out the hole. If he curled up tight enough, most of his body could fit inside the box too.

It soon became time for bed. Groaning from the ranks ensued and Issac immediately asked "Can I sleep in my box?!" I immediately opened my mouth, to say "no way, you can play in it tomorrow," when Beau exclaimed "Sure buddy!" I gave him a look, questioning his own sanity when he smiled, said "look" and nodded towards Isaac. The little boy was grinning from ear to ear, so excited. He grabbed his box and dad helped him put it in his room on the floor, helped him get his head inside and out the other end so it could lay on his pillow and tucked him in.

He stayed in bed, didn't put up his usual fight, and fell asleep. I didn't think another thing of it. The next morning he rolled into the kitchen rubbing his eyes and Beau asked, "How did you sleep buddy!" He smiled and said good. I then remembered. "Did you sleep in that box ALL night?" I asked incredulous.

"Yep!" was the reply accompanied with the largest, proudest grin a little boy could carry.

Really what did it hurt? He had the time of his life. He did something out of the normal. He pretended all night, and he was proud of himself. I say no to too many things, when there really is no good valid reason why not to do it. Why not them really be kids. Maybe they'll show me how to enjoy those small things life are made of.

photo credit: z287marc

Thanksgiving Daily

2010-11-25T19:05:00.001-08:00

How do you express....

2010-11-25T18:41:00.000-08:00

how grateful you are for:

Moments catching my 2 yr old singing primary songs at the top of her voice.
Mybest friend - Beau. Heavenly Father not only knew what I needed he gave me the absolute best.
Hard trials that teach me life lessons, despite how many tears are shed through them.
Nature and it's amazing power to soothe and heal.
A visiting teaching companionship I was scared to death about, and turned into the greatest blessing of my life.

My immediate family - parents and siblings, and how they love me despite all my faults.
My extended family who reaches out and makes me feel part of their family.
The many opportunities the Lord has given me to grow, learn, develop talents and skills, opportunities to learn leadership and to grow spiritually.
Amazing people that are constantly coming and going in my life leaving their mark forever one my heart.
A Savior who never gives up on me, and gives me opportunities to feel his mercy and love.
The restored gospel. The plan of Salvation. Priesthood Power. The Atonement. Covenants. Promises of Eternal Families and Eternal Life. Prayer. Answers to prayers. Unanswered prayers. The Book of Mormon, Bible and other scriptures. A Living Prophet. The Relief Society.
Those tiny every day moments that bring a smile to both my face and heart.

The Unknown

2010-11-19T07:22:00.000-08:00

I don't think he realized what it would really be like.

No hot meals for 4 days.

A disaster everywhere he turned in the tiny one room apartment.

No place to sit.

No place to eat.

No clean laundry.

Tears.... lots of tears.

Favors. Requests.

Stress.

No time to study for his own exams.

We had only been married two months if that.

He said he wanted to support me in my art.

Now in the chaos is this what he really wanted?

Four months earlier, we sat in a car as friends talking. I ended up pouring out my heart's desire to create art. Not just any art. Art that pulled at your heartstrings, pulled at your memories, your fears, your desires. Art that led you to him who could wipe away all tears, bind up broken hearts and shattered dreams. Art that taught you who he was and how to let him succor you. Art that left you wanting more... of him.

I had felt those strong, incredible promptings and desires at certain points in my life. Three months prior to that quiet evening in the car, I had gotten a very distinct prompting to stop running from it and start acting in faith. I felt without any doubt in my mind I was supposed to stop teaching, and create art. It scared me to death one minute and made me breathless with excitement in the next. I didn't know what to do. I couldn't see how I could support myself while doing it if I had no job, yet I wanted to do it so very badly. I listened to fears and others. In the end I procrastinated. I told myself I would build up to it and quit next year. I gave into the fear and didn't act.

As we sat together in the car that evening. I shared with him these desires, this specific prompting and the struggle it brought with it. Then I shared what I truly felt in my heart.

"I'm afraid I made the wrong decision."

Still to this day I wonder the same.

"Did I make the wrong decision? Did I loose my chance?"

I wonder as he looked around him at the mess, at his wife who was so consumed in finishing up a piece of artwork that she had forgotten him, if this is what he really wanted. The only answer he gave me in the car that night was a listening ear, nods of understanding and a simple statement.

"You know what your answer is don't you? Get married and let your husband support you so you can do art."

What he didn't say out loud at the time was this:

"Let me be that person."

It's been over eight years. Eight years since he saw me spill rubbing alcohol all over the artwork that I had been consumed with for 4 days. Holding his breath knowing that I had just ruined 4 days of work, and that the deadline for the juried exhibit I was trying for was tomorrow. He watched for my reaction thinking how calm I was, only to realize it truly was as bad as he thought when he saw the tears start to roll down my face and the sobs start to come. All he could do was hold me and let me cry.

He had became that person.

He has watched me over and over the last eight years, try to figure out what to do with this burning desire in my heart. He's watched me be creative in other areas, as I hoped that it would satisfy this feeling in my heart, only to have it give temporary relief. He has watched me sit for days with my mind so consumed with reoccuring questions, thoughts and dreams. "Did I make the wrong decision?" "Where would I be now if I had done something differently?" "Should I be doing it now?" "Is it to late to ask the Lord forgiveness and see if I can begin again."

I just want to paint.

He has seen the Lord guiding me and teaching me a long the way. Blessing me. Providing opportunities. Sending people. Increasing my talents. And always calling after me.

A month ago... I heard that call again. Shalae have faith and do what your supposed to do.

I heard it again and again as we stood holding hands in front of 1, 2, 3 very large paintings of the Christ. I felt my heart leap into my throat, and the tears starting to well in my eyes. They were beautiful. They were what I wanted... I someday want to create something like this.

Maybe it isn't too late.

It's been eight years since I spilled the rubbing alcohol. Two more of these competitions have come and gone. I have only been the viewer of them. The ninth one is coming up. I'd have a year instead of 4 days. What would he think if I told him I was going to go for it. How will he respond?

He'll smile.

Because he is that person.

My Actual

2010-10-25T20:17:00.001-07:00

Honestly. I have had a lack of desire to blog, and yet feel a need to. I’m not sure what to write or say. Life has just been busy lately. My mind has been with my sister and her husband who have been going through some serious health issues. My heart has been touched by a blog post from Mandy that has had it reeling ever since. It has sent me back to thoughts, desires, dreams and feelings I felt a long time ago that have been on the back burner. They have been all I can’t think about. Maybe it is a good thing to have blogging droughts. It means I’m actually out living life and experiencing things such as:

hikes
autumn
canning and feeling that satisfaction that comes from provident living
laughing
costume making
more canning
visiting family
road trips
bowling
pancake breakfasts
double dates
peanut butter candy
good books
my husband’s new project
rain
even more canning
did I say more canning? Did I say it still isn’t finished.

Life is good. I love this time of year. I think it naturally makes me slow down and take pause for reflection.

Brighten Someone’s Day

2010-10-07T05:39:00.001-07:00

About a seven months ago we had a large meeting called a Stake Conference for our church. It is usually a two-hour meeting in which our local authorities speak to us. Since my husband is in a Stake Leadership position, he is required to sit on the stand with the other leadership, leaving me to keep four small, unruly children quiet and reverent.

This specific conference was held later in the day from 2:00-4:00 p.m., which are my children's worst hours of the day. They are always hungry, tired, and either cranky or wired. Well, that day they were wired. They were all over the place, and it was all they could do to sit there on the hard benches and behave for such a long period of time. We managed through the first half all right. It was a little rough, but hey, it was now halfway over. The second half was a little rougher. At this point, I was wondering if everyone around me was wondering why they came to the meeting because my children were keeping them from getting anything out of it. I had brought a few crackers for them to snack on, because I knew they were going to be starving, which would make it even worse. At one point, Isaac sneezed and spewed crackers all over the back of the guy in front of us. It was embarrassing.

We had about 30 minutes of the meeting left when I had to take Isaac and Caitlyn out into the foyer because Caitlyn (my 18-month-old) was squealing and laughing at everyone, and Isaac was throwing a tantrum. We sat out there for a while until Isaac told me he could be good. We made it back in, and then Mirian handed me this little yellow note which the lady behind us had given her while we were out.

(Note: Oh mother, you may have 4 busy children and only 2 hands to guide them. But it is obvious you have plenty of love in your heart and room on your lap for each one. Thank you for your example of righteous motherhood. Whether your husband is in leadership in the church, or something else keeps him from the family, carry on in love.)

It was all I could do not to break out in tears from frustration, but also gratitude that one lady understood the struggle and was not annoyed by it, but understood and loved enough to pass me an encouraging word. She'll never know how much that little note of encouragement brightened my day and made me realize that although they are kids and a handful, I'm blessed to be their mother. They will not always be at this young and crazy stage. It will be gone before I know it, and I need to love every minute of it.

Too often I think we get annoyed with people around us, frustrated that they are disturbing or bothering us. Instead, we need to look with the eyes that this woman had: Eyes of understanding and love. We can reach out to brighten someone's day, give an encouraging word of hope, and show some empathy. That's all we really need in this world anyway.

- Shalae

A “sweet” embroidery pattern for you.

2010-10-05T05:12:00.001-07:00

One thing that I have wanted to do for a very long time is to create some embroidery patterns. There is something that I love about basic simple embroidery. It’s cheap and versatile in so many ways. It can be a fast relaxing way to embellish or create something beautiful with simple floss. There are also many stitches to learn and so I feel like I can constantly be learning and enhancing the skill as well.

I finally decided to stop thinking about it and to just do it. So I took my drawings from a couple of digital collections and switched them into downloadable PDF embroidery patterns. I have 3-4 others in the works at the moment and hope to get them finished and up sometime soon as well. I also thought I’d offer a small one for a free download. Try it out and see what you can come up with. It could make a cute embroidered dish towel, hot pad, wall hanging, etc. I included two different sayings that could be used or just use the the cupcake.

You can download the free PDF pattern here. The freebie coordinates with the Sweet Shoppe Embroidery Pattern which you can find for sale here. The Sweet Shoppe Embroidery Pattern is a 5 page PDF which includes a cover, copyright info, original pattern, color suggestions and a reversed pattern.

I also have the Fly High Embroidery Pattern out as well. It is perfect for embellishing little boy’s pillows, clothing, quilts, etc. You can also find it in my shop.

A Thrifty First

2010-09-22T06:17:00.001-07:00

My first pieced baby quilt. I’ve done just regular square quilts when I was little with random fabric, but this is my first one since then. I worked on it a little bit at nights here and there when I had a chance. Amazing what you can get done by doing small things at a time. I even quilted it on my own machine. It’s not perfect, but I’m really happy with how it turned out. The best part about it, that my husband agrees is that it’s made from old sheets. They’re a lot cheaper than fabric, and I love the soft feel they already have because they’ve been used.