Our craziness

I feel like our life is going so fast & I try to figure out why we are so busy but haven't put my finger on it just yet. I finally get a moment to post because Chris & Jaden are taking my brother to Burley to meet his wife...yay. Not yay that he's leaving us, yay that I have a small break (wait, I still have Landon & he just happens to be crying.)

First I should mention after months & months of waiting that Landon finally has not just a tooth but 3 teeth. I tried really hard to capture them on camera but for some reason any time your figures go near their mouths they think they're supposed to chew on them. AND the crawing is soooooo close. He goes in full circles but hates his tummy & I think that is what is holding him back. I'm thinking I should be enjoying this because I don't have any baby gates up yet & I have two full sets of stairs to monitor. It will be a challenge.




If you remember I posted curtains I made a couple of months ago. Well I didn't really like them & they've been bothering me. I think that I was just excited that I actually was able to sew them. I did another take & I think they look much better...the picture not so much. Too much light from the windows. I have been on this HUGE kick lately of trying to reuse, not be wasteful, thrifty, ect. So don't worry about the wasted fabric...I have some ideas. My minds just ticking away.

And speaking of my mind. I really have worried about continuing to use my mind. I don't want to lose skills that I worked so hard to get. For a good number of years I worked really hard at my career (60+ hours a week, pre-kids) & I want to make sure my minds keeps thinking (besides sewing projects & what to make for dinner). I decided to take a tax class & then do taxes one or two nights a week during the tax season. If anyone wants me to do their tax return for $20 let me know. I can do 5 for this price but have to know RIGHT NOW!!!

AND we've finally narrowed down Jaden's Halloween costume. That boy likes something one minute & not the next so it wasn't an easy task. He's going to be a lego. I'm still making the costume but so far so CUTE. I was going to different websites to see what Jaden liked & finally I went to one that had homemade ideas & the lego is the only one that he liked. This was after we had bought him items to be MAX from Max & Ruby. He loved them for like a week & now has zero interest. Anyone want some overalls.

And last of all...we were just "Boo-ed" twice within 5 minutes of each other so I didn't have time to put our sign out. The odd thing was that the second one had nothing on the plate. I did takes a few minutes to get to the door so I'm not sure if a cat or dog ate them but I was looking around to see if someone was playing a joke. NOW I have to BOO 6 houses.

The fruits of our labor

My mom & I canned today. YUM!!! We did apple pie filling & applesauce. I've never really canned before so I was excited to try it. We plan to do some more on Monday & I'm hoping to hide some mashed up carrots in the Mondays batch for Jaden who recently has taken a disliking to veggies. Kids, what do ya do???



I've had a couple people ask how I'm doing my digital pages. I use Photoshop elements....it's the simplest photoshop there is & I love it. I like to do my pages really simple so it's served it's purpose. I purchased it at Walmart for $60 or $70 so it's affordable & soooooo much cheaper then REAL scrapbooking. I've been uploading my pages into a shutterfly photobook. There are tons of companies out there that do these & I don't think that shutterfly is the cheapest but I prepaid for 4 books for $80 (20 pages each). I plan to do 1 book for each child a year. Jaden's book right now is about 30 pages & Landons 24 pages so I do have to pay $.99 per page that I've went over. If you compare that to the price of binders, covers, scrapbook paper, & embellishments it's a steal. PLUS there is no mess...I love it. I should mention I'm doing the 8X8 books & not 12x12. It's more of a storybook size and I liked that better. I hope this helps! AND if you don't want to do your own pages there are tons of companies (shutterfly included) that have premade ones that you just add & drop your pictures & writing. It's a timesaver; I'm doing one for my brother on a mission & I love it except there are some limitations with font selections & backgrounds.

a family style weekend...

Conference was fabulous & it's nice to just slow down & reflect & not run in a million directions on a Saturday.

Listening to the speakers can be difficult with two little ones but just having it on in our home brings a more reverent spirit.

I worked with Jaden on who the Prophet was. He kept insisting that President Monson was School...I was kind of confused. I didn't let him get off my lap until he understood that he was the Prophet, or no longer thought he was school?. I told him that it is who he prays for everyone night. I hope these moments make a small impact on a young mind.

We did take a moment between the Saturday Sessions to go to a pumpkin patch to let Jaden pick out a pumpkin. He started out with some really large pumpkins & settled on a really small one when he realized how heavy they were. We do think he is too young to carve it this year so we plan to just display it on a bench in our front yard. Jaden has other plans & partially buried it in the backyard. We'll see if it ends up in front.



FUNNY MOMENT!!! Yesterday morning I woke up because my yard is ugly & driving me crazy. I needed a moment without kids to dig in the dirt & get something done before conference. I was working in the backyard (chris was at the gym with the kids) & I hear a boy crying really loud. I at first assume that it's a neighbor boy so I ignore it for a while. After awhile I figure I better see what's going on so I go to the front yard to find a little boy from a couple streets over stalled in his motorized car. It was raining slightly and he was very unhappy. All he could do was cry for his dad & wasn't able to tell me where he lived. I asked him if I could push him home. Keep in mind I'm covered in mud. He doesn't say a word the whole time & I only know we're at his house because he pushed on the breaks so that I couldn't push him anymore. I was quite the sight!!!