OOOOOH...Scary.

We had our school carnival last week.
It was really fun.....k, don't know why this is underlining everything!

These are the only pictures I took.

You won't be surprised to know that Kristen auditioned for the haunted house as a mad scientists...because she is SO SCARY!

See, scaaaaaareeeeeeey.



This picture I took after the haunted house, her science experiment was gone...but you can see her here if you like

They were quite the pair! They did such a great job, it really was a fun spook alley.

In a Holding Pattern

Went to the Dr. yesterday. Good news.....no NEW lesions on my brain, but the others are still there. No lesions on my neck (which is awesome!) Though they did find early signs of arthritis in my neck....wahhh, no wonder it hurts all the time. I guess I really am getting old, sshhhh, don't tell anyone!

The medication my dr. put me on seems to be working well. I've been feeling pretty good for a while now. I've also been doing some massage therapy which has helped immensely! I even got a prescription for it, but we'll see if ins. agrees ;)

From here, we are going to just watch. As long as I'm feeling good they'll leave me alone. When my symptoms flare up again I'll go back in for more tests. I am gathering my things for a specialist, to get a second opinion. But for now I've been told that I do have MS, but at the moment it's under control and we'll figure it out along the way. I'm not really worrying too much about it at this point. It is what it is. I'm feeling pretty good and the future is certainly not hopeless.

In scrappy news ;)
I played along with the Crate Paper blog sketch and got a mention. Didn't win the big shabang....but came in close. You can see me here ;)
Here's Jack on his first day of preschool BEFORE he realized none of his friends would be there!

Getting Ready

For the November kit over at My Scrapbook Nook!
Here are some sneak peaks....I'm so excited ;)




I also wanted to say thanks for all the sweet comments that you guys left me on that last post. I almost pulled it within a few hours of posting it then you guys started commenting and made me feel so much better. So thanks, I really appreciate it.

On My Mind

Do you ever mentally write a blog post???
I've been writing one in my mind for about a month now.
Haven't had the nerve to actually "put it out there".
But it's not going away....I think I just need to document this.
I think it's funny that we (as bloggers) will open our hearts and write personal things and throw it out for all the world to see.....why do we do that??? I think for me, it's easier to write what I feel than to say it out loud. And they aren't always conversations I would strike up with a friend.

This time of year used to be really hard for me....but as time has gone by I have kind of let it go, forgotten if you may. It's Father Day that kills me. (silly, I feel nervous just writing this now....such a painful subject for me).

Eleven years ago, this month...my 5 brothers and I buried our father. A spouse didn't bury him, his children did. I rarely talk about it, almost never actually. My oldest brother reminded me this year, he texted me on the day. He will never get over it, it almost killed him more than any of us I think. All 5 of them met Doug and I at the airport when we flew in from Texas less than 24 hours after the fact. I loved them for that.

I used to have the greatest dad ever. He loved us so much. Then I don't know what happened. He left my mom (we were mostly grown by then) and he remarried a woman that changed him. He left us all. She isolated him, she didn't like us and wanted nothing to do with any of us. She pretended when she had to, but I saw the change in my dad. He wasn't the person I knew. Our relationship became very strained. I hardly ever saw him. It seemed like he had to sneak away for a quick visit when I had my first baby, like he wasn't allowed or something. He was not the grandfather I knew he could be. Then we moved out of state. During that time he separated from his wife and moved back to the town everyone lived in.

I was so happy! We all were. I felt like I would get my dad back. That we would have a new start, that we could repair the relationship. He jumped right in to doing things with his boys again, they had just gone fishing (or hunting??). I was going to tell him we were expecting our second child.....

And then he was gone. He left us again, he chose to leave us....again. I'm still so angry at him. I feel so betrayed and I will never understand. I can't even go to his grave site. I've been only once or twice. It's funny, I'm so weak in areas I didn't expect to be. It surprises me that I can't go there. I would rather not think about it.

Every once in a while I will see him....a man at the grocery store, a grandpa at the park...I hear his songs on the radio, in a store. I admittedly am so jealous of those who have a father...that they are close to.

I honestly don't know why I'm sharing this. I think sometimes I just want to acknowledge the fact that I had a father. That he existed. That I learned so much from him and that I love him. Despite everything that happened, I love him and miss having him in my life so much.

One thing my brothers and I have always been able to do is laugh at the memories...reminisce about our childhood and the things our father did and said. He was a bit of a cowboy, would threaten us with the long arm of the law! Loved his country music and his guitar... and we all love country music too. Had his cowboy hat and boots, and Farah Fawcett t-shirt! He gave us a great childhood...we have lots of good memories and it's those memories that carry me. Not the last 6 years of his life, but everything before that.

I need to get better at telling my kids about him. They know he's gone, but I don't talk about him. I just can't without crying and I don't want them to see that. But maybe, if I talk about him more it will get easier. It's been 11 years, you'd think it would be easier.

I'm going to hurry and hit publish, before I chicken out again and hold onto this post even longer!

More Stuff & Fluff

Here's a bit more of the October kit from My Scrapbook Nook
I made this little Fall banner for a class over at the forum
you can find it here.



The quote on this one here says "Dad, I know you've loved my as long as I've lived; but I've loved you my whole life"
I love it, and I love this pictures of these two.


I've been roaming down memory lane recently. Pulling out old photos of my babies. This here is Kristen again. Look at those big puffy, baggy overalls! Awesome ;)


I've been trying to clean up my scrapping this week so I can sew...but somehow I made a huge mess yesterday with scrap supplies so I need to finish that one up and then IHAVETOSEW!!! Someone's got a baptism coming up and she has ordered a dress ;)

Have a fun Friday ;)

Lets talk about Jack

Here's Brandon and his little buddy Shack.
That's what he calls Jack. It's so cute.
They were chilling the other day having a little snack outside on the tramp.
Brandon tried to hide behind the tree and Jack just gave me some bedroom eyes????!

Oh and Jack is wearing one of his favorite outfits....red shorts and red shirt!

These two have become good little buds.
It helps that Jack actually wants to play when he calls.
This summer these would be his answers if a friend invited him over
a. "I'm busy, I've got lots of stuff to do"
b. "I have a bad headache"
c. "I don't have time"

seriously. Just ask Heather!

Then 2 seconds later he would tell me he was bored and what should he do?????
PLAY WITH YOUR FRIENDS...FOR THE LOVE!!!!

He's gotten over it though and now thinks he needs a friend all.the.time!

I'm in total denial that he is almost 5.
He's my baby. He's only like 2 or something.

I'm totally enjoying my time with him. Though he hates it when we have to go shopping. Unless it's wally world and then he thinks he can talk me into buying him some Lego's. Which he can't! I hate those things. But I have a feeling Santa will bring him some.

If and when I exercise he likes to do it with me. Today it was Pilate's and he totally fell into me when we were doing some rolling move! He's awesome!

He comes up with some interesting ideas. And when I ask him where he heard "that" from he tells me "no where mom! I got it in my own brain!"

He likes to call people names: like Hippie....Samantha particularly hates this one. He told Nathan to call him Butterscotch?! And he thinks it's really funny to call me Carol ;)
He also likes to sing this lovely song: patty patty is a fatty, has a face that looks like a ratty!

He has taken over Samantha's old purple roller skates and wears them all.the.time! His favorite thing to play is "Cowboy Kitchen" (like I said, I don't know where he gets this stuff!)

Besides Lego's, he is obsessed with Star Wars (hence Star Wars Legos!!!) We started getting the costume catalogs recently and he pours over them constantly. One day he said "mom, come here. I wanna show you what I'm gonna be for Halloween" He then proceeds to show me the page of Star Wars costumes and says: "I want this one, and I want this one, and I want this one, and I want this one, and I want this one, and I want this one, and I want this one".....well you get the picture! He is set for the next 20 years!

Who knew that having him be Yoda for his first Halloween would set him for life!

Apparently he told his Sunbeam Teacher a few weeks ago that we were moving to Utah. That he had told his parents enough already! and that day was the day. We were packed up and leaving after church! (she had to confirm with me that it wasn't true) So then she asked him if he would miss her and per her description...looked at her out the corner of his eye and said "maybe" all serious like. She's got a few other good stories for me and seriously, I almost wet my pants every time I talk to her!

He has been playing Barbies with the girls lately...I know, cool right! Anyhew....he likes to pretend that his barbies house has burned down and has to move in with Samantha. SHE DOES NOT LIKE THIS! She does not want him living with her! Then he'll come crying to me that Samantha's barbie slammed the door in his barbies face! ( if I had a picture for bug eyes I would show them here)

I could go on....but I won't. Thanks for making it this far!!

This kids a hoot and I totally adore him!!!

Wanna See???

What I've been doing with my Oct. Kit???

Made this double pager....which I don't usually do. But I had all these pictures from Samantha's birthday last year. The apple bobbing portion and I wanted them all.


This kit turned out to be perfect for Samantha's party last year, as it was a fall themed party. So I did another page of just her. I totally dig this banner and think I will be using it a bit more. It's not my original idea, but I've taken it on ;)


For this one I wanted to stick to a softer color palette and only used the blues and browns from the kit, I also added a touch of pink. These are some super old pics of Kristen and love them even more now that I trimmed off all the extra space so you just see her now.

I love those little thighs up there......ahhhhhhhh.

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Looks like my blog is turning into a big scrap fest. I can't for the life of me think of anything interesting to write about. This is me blah blah blah blah blah!

But if you like the scrap fest....than I guess it's not all bad....RIGHT??????

btw...I've got a few more I'll post in another day or two and we'll see if I can think of anything good to say ;)

Yellow

Excited to finally be able to post this layout.
I was asked to by Scrapstreet.com online magazine to do a layout based on a color.
At first I was like...a color??? What am I going to do with that.

It took about 1.2 seconds for me to realize...duh!
I have a FAVORITE color and it totally dominates my life these days.

Yellow ;)

I pulled out my new yellow items, adorned them....
and had Samantha take some pictures of me.

Then I made this layout. I love it.
You can see it here to read the journaling.
Just scroll down a little to see my layout.

Best Day Ever!

It's Saturday.
It's conference.
It's quiet and relaxing.

No chores right now, just listening to conference. Which I love. Will be doing some scrapping along the way, which I also love...duh.

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It's been such a crazy week, much going on.

Jack changed preschools this week. The way it worked out(it's a long story), he ended up at a preschool where he didn't know anyone and all his friends ended up back together. He was sooooo sad and never wanted to go to school. For weeks he kept asking if they were still going to be his friends and when would he go back to his old school. It was breaking my heart. Than I found out that all his friends kept asking where he was...and they were missing him. So my wonderful friend offered him a spot...even though it's more kids than she wanted...it was just too sad for all the kids ;( It's good to know my little Jack Jack is loved. And now he is one happy little man and is back in the usual groove of preschool. We are sooooo happy!

I got a surprise visit from my cousin this week. We haven't seen each other in 9 years! Which is crazy. We were so close growing up even though we never lived in the same state. It's crazy how life and distance just get in the way. But so nice to see that 9 years doesn't diminish the relationship at all. It was just like old times....though a little wiser :)







I'm in charge of the activity day girls at church and we had our Mommy Daughter Night. It turned out really nice and I think everyone had a good time. We served a light dinner and had a few activities. We had been teaching them about etiquette so the night was based on fine dining, and being a proper princess. Kinda :) Mostly, it was fun.


I've been doing a no dairy diet the last month.....I've been told it would help with the MS symptoms. I'm not so sure it's doing anything. So I totally caved this week and have had some dairy again. Mamma needs pumpkin pie!!!! We will see now if having it again does anything. I doubt it.

Speaking of MS.....it's Oct. and that means testing time again. I'm scheduled for a few more MRI's and a dr. visit. We shall see. I'm working on getting into a specialist in SLC for further evaluation and diagnosis.

Have a great weekend!!!

My Scrapbook Nook Oct. Kit

Just arrived on my doorstep. It's gorgeous. I've got loads of ideas for this one :)

We are also celebrating World Card Making Day at the Nook. There is lots of inspiration for you card makers there ;)

Here's my card and sketch using the new Oct. Kit with Lily Bee products.


Have a happy day !!!