November 30, 2011

How About This for News.

 

In case you haven’t heard yet.  My sister-in-law has some pretty big news. 

Yes you guessed it, she is pregnant but it gets even better.  Do you see what I see?

I still can’t believe it!  I am so excited for her!

November 29, 2011

Thanksgiving Vacation

 

We did something a little untraditional this Thanksgiving.  We decided to take a family vacation to a place nearby.  So from Wednesday to Sunday we spent our vacation in Seattle.  We had a lot of fun just relaxing in the hotel.  It was Michael’s birthday on Thanksgiving so we celebrated with cupcakes and presents and then we found a little place that was doing a Thanksgiving Buffet.  The best part was that we didn’t have to do any dishes.  While we were in Seattle we visited the space needle and there was a surprise visitor there (Santa in a space suit).  We also went to IKEA, Pike’s Place Market, and we went swimming a lot.  It was so fun to get away and great to spend so much time together.

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November 25, 2011

More from Jewel

 

 

We were born to Love.

                     ~Jewel

November 24, 2011

Happy! Happy!

 

 

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Happy Thanksgiving! 

 

Today I am especially grateful for my big 3 year old boy.

 

Happy Birthday Michael!

November 23, 2011

Troy, TJ, and a roll of Saran Wrap

 

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        Now on to the next victim. 

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November 22, 2011

Confession!

 

I can’t seem to part with the unmated socks. 

I have done all of the laundry in the house and yet there are still socks that don’t have matches.

I want to throw them away, but I just have so much anxiety that the other one will appear somehow.

November 21, 2011

Elevated Films

 

Home videos are priceless.  We don’t have very many home videos of when I was growing up, but I love the ones that we do have.  I also love watching videos of my kids from just a few short years ago.  My newest favorite way to scrapbook my pictures is to put them together in a video.  Wedding videos are popular, but I also love having videos of  vacations, Birthdays, sporting events, dance recitals, and especially everyday life.  I am trying to compile all of my pictures and video clips from each school year so that I can put them together into a video.  My kids Love watching themselves. 

Ok let’s face it.  Most of us don’t have the resources or the talent to do great video editing.  That is why you have to check out Elevated Films.  They are amazingly talented.  Contact them for an individual pricing quote.  Especially if you already have pictures or video clips that you want them to edit.  Or if you have an event that you want them to come and video, they can do that too. 

Check out this cute video clip that they made from a simple 3 year old birthday at the park.  It is so cute!

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November 18, 2011

Mouths of Babes

 

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 “Dad, Are you leaving?” 

“yep”

“Can I go with you?”

“Where do you want to go?”

(Deep Thought)

“I want to go to the Moon.”

November 16, 2011

Etsy

 

We set up an Etsy shop with our wreaths that we made for the craft fair.  Check it out!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/expressionsbyhart

November 15, 2011

What is for Dinner?

 

This is a phrase that has grown to really get under my skin.  When we lived in civilization where there is a fast food restaurant on every corner, I use to beg to just stay home and eat a home cooked meal.  I felt a sense of homemaking type mother of the year when we actually sat around the table and ate dinner together.  Now that the closest fast food restaurant is 18 miles away, we eat at home much more than we go out.  I no longer feel that sense of accomplishment from simply making dinner.  I would now much rather prefer a fend for yourself night, or a trip into town to hit up Taco Bell.  Why?  Well, part of it is laziness.  But for the most part, I am just sick of making the same things over and over.  And most of the time when I try a new recipe my family stares at it like it is from outer space.  The worst part about it is that this event doesn’t come around just once a year, once a month, or once a week.  We are faced with this question every single day!  It is like a nightmare from the twilight zone.  What’s for dinner?  What’s for dinner?  What’s for dinner?

November 14, 2011

Visitors are always Welcome

 

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My mom and dad came up for a short visit last week.  It was really good to see them.  My dad has been going through a pretty rough time with his health.  He had a real invasive surgery on his neck and also surgery on his shoulder.  He has been in ALOT of pain.  For a while he couldn’t shave so he is now sporting a pretty white beard.  I told him to hang on to it until Christmas was over, but my mom hates it she says it makes him look 20 years older.  Well anyway, Mom and Dad thanks for enduring the car ride to come and see us.

November 12, 2011

November 11, 2011

A Few Mom Favorites

 

Ok moms.  Here are two things that I love having for my kids.  First thing is The Letter Factory.  If you have a pre-school aged kid and don’t own this DVD then your child is missing out.  In my opinion it is the funnest most effective teaching aid on the market for letter recognition and learning the sounds of the letters.  All three of my kids have loved this movie and it helped them learn the letter sounds as early as 2 years old. 

 

My newest favorite thing is a CD of children’s songs that I can play in the car to keep them entertained.  It is by Jewel! 

She is my favorite artist.  So to have children’s songs that don’t sound like the chipmunks and don’t give me a headache is amazing.

November 09, 2011

DOTS

 

Last night we had our Night of Excellence for the young women.  Sheila gave us this great idea to do the theme DOTS.  It stands for Depend On The Savior.  No one knew what it stood for until they got there and it was all explained in the talks.  We did one table representing each of the 8 values and the other table had one side with all the things we depend on everyday in the world like the computer, car keys, food, water, clock, remotes; the other side included things that represent depending on the Savior.  Each of the Young Women presented an experience that they worked on from personal progress.  Then we had refreshments and gave them a book mark and a box of DOTS.  It worked out great.  Thank you Sheila for the great idea!

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November 08, 2011

Bonfire

 

We have a sweet little lady that lives at the end of our street who is 86 years old.  She has been itchin’ to do a Bonfire for a while now.  So on Sunday we pulled out our winter gear and went on down there and roasted some hotdogs and marshmallows.  She is such an amazing person because she is so full of life for her age.  She lives on her own, still drives, and if that isn’t impressive enough she went sky diving last summer.  

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November 07, 2011

Crafting…sort of

 

Rachelle and I decided to be a vendor for the Elementary school craft fair again.  We made wreaths and snowman gift tins. 

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It turned out that the lady in charge of the layout put our booth in the entry way because she ran out of spaces in the gym and she decided we would be good at greeting everyone.  Well, she was right.  We greeted everyone, directed traffic, and blocked the bathrooms and we were great at it.  No one that came in could even tell that we were a vendor with things for sell.  They all thought it was the entry way decor and we were the face for the PTO.  Oh well, I think we will get over it.  However, Rachelle’s little girl may have been holding a grudge because she decided to pull the fire alarm halfway through the day.  Rachelle you might want to teach her that revenge is not the answer.  

The best part of the day was our contribution to the bake sale.  We went to Krispy Kreme and picked up 50 dozen doughnuts and don’t worry because they all sold.

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November 04, 2011

Christmas Shopping

 

I have never been able to figure out the best way to tackle the Holiday Season.  Part of me can’t believe that there is even talk about Christmas yet because it seems so far away, but then another part of me thinks it would be so fabulous to be done Christmas shopping before the big rush and then I could actually sit back and enjoy the season.  Do any of you do your shopping online?  Do you find better prices in stores if you wait until after Thanksgiving?  I would LOVE it if you would all comment and tell me how you approach your Holiday shopping.

November 02, 2011

Someday

 

There comes a point in every man’s life, where a decision has to made. 

No one can make this decision for him. 

He will decide and he will conquer.   

 

 

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Unfortunately, today is not that day

November 01, 2011

This is Halloween

 

Boys and girls of every age
Wouldn't you like to see something strange?
Come with us and you will see
This, our town of Halloween

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Halloween! Halloween! Halloween! Halloween!
In this town we call home
Everyone hail to the pumpkin song.