100 (ish) Things

Stacy tagged me to write 100 things about myself. I did something like this about 4 years ago (back when I paper scrapped). If you click on the image to the right, it will enlarge and you can read "things" about me. I think this is a really neat thing to look back on. A few of the things I wrote about myself have definitely changed but most are the same. Obviously, I know myself better than anyone, yet this still reminds me of who I am and what is most important to me. I think this is a really great thing to do, and hope anyone that hasn't done this, will do it. I think it's a really fun list for posterity's sake. Make sure you print this list (as well as the rest of your blog) when you are done writing it. It would be a shame to lose this list and not get to look back on it in the years to come.

I tag my sister, Angie.

Oakcrest Girls Camp - Summer 1995

If you saw the last post, did you guess the picture was from camp? You were right. It was taken the summer I was a counselor at Oakcrest LDS Girls Camp in 1995. When I was younger, I went to camp at a similar camp called Brighton and thought it would be neat to go back and work there. I applied at both Brighton and Oakcrest. Brighton originally would have been my first choice, but I was offered the job at Oakcrest first and took it. Later, I was also offered the job at Brighton too, but I stuck with Oakcrest since I had already committed.

As you can see, I have posted lots of pictures of camp below. I never created a scrapbook about my summer at Oakcrest and although I’d still like one, I think this is going to be the closest I ever come to doing one. That’s ok. This will be a great reminder as well as all my journal entries from that summer.

Here are some fun memories of that summer that aren’t mentioned by the pictures below:

• When the water was low enough we took the girls to the river. Two or three counselors would stand downstream and catch the girls as they floated down on their backs. It was so much fun but since the water had to be really low we didn’t get to do this often.
  
• At the end of the week all the counselors went from cabin to cabin singing spiritual songs. We walked around with torches. It was one of the best parts of the week.Each week the girls had “solo” time where they were to go into the woods nearby and read their scriptures or write in their journal. I loved writing in my journal at this time. It was so peaceful… usually.
  
• Each counselor stayed in two cabins that summer. We were supposed to write our names on the inside of the door but I never did. I really feel bad I forgot to do that.
  
• On the overnight hike we made all sorts of different Dutch oven dinners. Yummmm!! We also made ash cakes where you put your dough directly on the hottest part of the ash from the fire. Sounds crazy, huh? Ash cake is soooooooo good and clean… I promise!
  One of my favorite memories is of all 20 or so girls in our cabin. They saw a mouse and ALL got on the same top bunk. Ha!!! It was such a funny sight.
  
• One day on the zip line we saw a bear. Is that what you call it – where you get in a harness and zip down the line? This bear hung around our camp most of the summer but kept its distance – hardly anyone saw him unless you were at the far end of camp by the dumpster. Anyway… we saw the bear… it wasn’t that close but we still panicked a bit and had to hurry and get one girl off the zip line. It felt like it took forever but I’m sure it was only a few seconds. Hummm… I didn’t make this story sound good. It’s better in my mind.
  
• The zip line was a blast. We had a couple mattresses at the bottom the girls got to smash into. Lots of fun.
  
• Archery – I love archery but I had such a headache every time we went. I was very strict with this and made a few girls pretty upset. That’s ok… the alternative isn’t an option for me. I can’t believe how dumb kids are… trying to gather arrows while others are shooting… duh!
  
• The last day of camp all of the campers went around trying to get all the counselors autographs. It was fun to be sought out like that but I also remember it being fairly annoying. It took so much time and it was hard to get anywhere.
  
• After meals we sang camp songs in the lodge. I LOVED that and so did the girls. I especially liked leading the singing with the other counselors.
  
• After camp, I had a lot of little followers. I got lots and lots of mail and a few came to visit me. Many came to my wedding. That was fun.
  

At this camp everyone used a fake name. My name was Cascade (my favorite canyon in the Tetons). At the end of the week we’d let the girls know our real names and we gave them the blue paper you see to the left (click to enlarge).

The typed paper to the left (click to enlarge) was part of my application. It’s fun reading it now… so many years later. This camp was for seventh and eighth grade girls and was run by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I really enjoy my church, and I enjoy sharing my beliefs with others, so it was fun to have a job that had a major emphasis on helping the girls come closer to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. What a great experience. I was able to talk to girls who had their personal prayers answered at camp. It was an amazing experience to sit and cry tears of joy as we felt the spirit together. It was an exciting experience to have the girls share personal things like this with me at camp. There was one girl who I will never forget. I know she got a powerful answer to her prayers and I am positive her life will forever be changed because of camp. I KNOW God answers our prayers. I KNOW He loves us and will help us understand His plan if we ask him in prayer. Answers don’t always come fast but they do come when we work at finding an answer. Life has so much meaning when we understand God’s plan for us.

As usual, all of the designs surrounding any pictures are available at http://www.digitalscrapbookmemories.com/

Oakcrest Reunion - While looking through all these photos I googled Oakcrest to see what would come up. I found this article (scroll to the bottom) announcing a reunion in a couple weeks. I can't believe I actually had good timing. Normally, I would see the announcement a year late. ETA: 07/10/08 I won't be able to go to the reunion. Fill me in if you go/went.

Take a guess...

I found some fun pictures while cleaning in the basement today. Any guesses where and when this picture was taken? I plan to post a bunch of pictures relating to this photo soon.

I spent the day being questioned by the IRS

Fortunately it wasn't for anything unpleasant. I got to speak at a training event for IRS employees. If you know me, I'm sure you are wondering why they asked me. Ha ha. I taught a couple digital scrapbooking classes. The people over the conference think it's important to balance home, family and work and offered some "fun" classes to their employees. I really enjoyed teaching there today and loved so many of the people I met.

Sniff! Sniff!

Here are two of my favorite unfinished projects. It's time to finally let them go because I need more space in this house. The blanket was destined to be my favorite blanket of all time. It is so super soft. It's about half finished or more. Wouldn't take a lot of time to finish. If you live near me (Sandy, UT) and want to pick it up, you can have it.

The cross stitch was started when I was about 19 (I'm 33 now). There are only a few details to finish, including the cat. I don't like cats. I absolutely loved working on this project and I love Mary Engelbreit but I have no idea where I would display this so it must go too. Sniff. Anyone who can pick this up can have it too.

Pictures of these projects will have to be enough for me now. I've held on to them too long.

My Scrapbooking Rules

I want to share some of my personal scrapbooking rules. I think many of these ideas apply to journal writers (and bloggers) too.

1. Do not scrapbook every picture.
2. Do not scrapbook in order.
3. Do not allow yourself to feel pressure to catch up on the years you didn’t scrapbook.
4. Don’t change your layouts after they are finished.

Do not scrapbook every picture.
Are your family and friends really going to want to sit down and look at every picture you’ve ever taken? Do you really have the time to scrapbook every picture? I say choose a few of your favorite pictures from each event or photo shoot and scrapbook them. This will help you stay on top of your scrapbooking and will relieve the stress.

Do not scrapbook in order.
When you scrapbook in order, you often get stuck on a certain picture that you don’t know how to scrap. Some of you will totally relate to me when I say this can put you in a slump and stop you for scrapbooking for months if not years… literally. I say scrapbook your favorite pictures now. Don’t worry if you are spending more time on one child or one year. Eventually everything will even out and you’ll have a great representation of your life. By scrapping your favorite photos first you’ll be more excited to scrapbook and you’ll have a lot more completed pages to prove it.

Do not allow yourself to feel pressure to catch up on the years you didn’t scrapbook.
This is my most important personal rule. Although I have been scrapbooking or writing in my journal since I was 8, there are several years where I have no journal entries or scrapbook pages. The main reason I didn’t record my personal history those years is because I felt overwhelmed with the pressure to catch up. I have since learned that I should never feel the need to catch up. I get so much more recorded this way. If I miss several months, or even a year, I will no longer allow myself to catch up until I have recorded something recent I am excited about. After recording the events I am currently excited about, I will allow myself to catch up if I have the time. We don’t need huge albums to document each year of our life. Sure it would be nice but if you only had two scrapbook pages for each year of your life wouldn’t you be thrilled? Start with today. Make two pages about things you are currently excited about then go back and record older events and feelings if you have time. Most likely after you complete two pages you’ll be excited to do more!

Don’t change your layouts after they are finished.
Don’t! Spend your time making new pages. Once you are completely caught up (ha!) you can go back and change old layouts.

• The letter "stickers" above are from the Playground CD
• The cute circle image below (in the last post) with "I just can't get enough SUN" is from the In the Mood CD. I changed the size and color of the original image by turning it into a brush. Read how to do that here.

Home From Vacation

We spent the weekend in St. George, UT. Our *awesome* friends, Ian and Jodi Peterson, invited us to stay with them at their parent's vacation house. The house was beautiful. It was very comfortable and we had lots of room. Best of all we were in great company with Ian, Jodi and their son.

Saturday night Jodi and I left the kids with the boys and we went to see Les Miserables at the Tuacahn Theater. It was awesome! I really loved it. I've never seen Les Mis before and truly loved the story. Jodi has seen Les Mis in London and NYC but still thought this performance was wonderful. The Tuacahn theater is an outdoor theater at the base of a beautiful red rock cliff. There were fireworks and other things you could never have at a theater in NYC. I loved it. St. George is super hot in the summer but it was manageable in the dark and certainly didn't stop the theater from selling all 1200 seats. I can't wait to go back. Here is a link to the theater. I wish they had better pictures.

The picture above on the right is of the "Short and Scary Hike" we went on. It was totally fun. If you look EXTREMELY close you can see the sunlight peaking through the crack in the wall. The super short hike goes through that crack. I could have barley squeezed through it (I think) but I hated the feeling of not being able to turn my head as I squeezed through. Luke ended up being the only one who braved this hike this time. I was so happy he did it. Keith ran to the top to get him when he came out and I watched from below.

We swam both Friday and Saturday. My kids were AMAZING! Amazing to me at least. I was so proud of them. Luke was doing all the things he was scared to do in swimming lessons. He was floating on his back and jumping in the deep end. He was wearing floaties but was still doing much more than in swimming lessons. He went clear under the water a bunch of times which was impressive because he's been so scared to do this. I think the goggles I bought them really helped.

Love You Grandpa!

Isn't this article cool? Did you notice the date? My grandpa has done so many things in his life. He seems to be successful in everything he does. A couple things I think are really neat about my grandpa are:

• He used to fly around the world teaching people how to farm. He has worked in Iran, Afganistan, Pakistan, Yugoslavia, Equador, Republic of the Congo, Rome, and Thailand. He even went to Vietnam during the war to help them (he was contracted by the US to do this).


• He has been a bishop, branch president twice, and in the bishopric as a counselor 4 times. He has also been in the high council several times, superintendant of the Eastern States Mission MIA and superintendant of the New Jersey Stake MIA. I'm proud of him NOT because he was asked to do these things but because he spent an incredible amount of time serving the Lord and the people in our church.
• On his LDS mission to the Central Atlantic States Mission he was made the district president which is comparable to a stake president except it's for a much smaller amount of people in multiple branches in 5 counties of West Virginia. He updated membership records and put on a conference for the district with his companion. This is a job they normally don't give to young missionaries.


• He was a counselor in the West Indies Mission Presidency while serving a mission with my grandma. Keith and I got to visit him there. It was a great experience going to church and visiting people with him.


• He has a PHD in Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness Management from Cornell University.


• He was the Associate Dean of Agriculture at BYU.


• He was a professor at Rutgers University.
• In North Carolina (on his LDS mission) he had two radio programs. WRBM, is the station if he remembers right. He used the Mormon Tabernacle Choir records during the programs.
• He got his picture in the newspaper one time when he gave the govenor of Virgina a copy of the Book of Mormon.
• He was a 4H leader as a teenager. He took his cow he bought himself to the Eastern Idaho State Fair and won grand champion with it.


• He is an extremely POSITIVE person. Just try and knock him down. It won't work.


• He grew up on a farm and has lots of neat stories about his families farm and his grandfathers.
• He recieved an award from Future Farmers of America called the American Farmer Degree which was awarded nationally. His brother Bob also got one. This was a big deal. It entitled him to go to the National Convention in Kansas City.


• He loves to create new things and develop ideas to make things work (see article above).


• He will go with me whenever I call, even at a moments notice.


• He is a great cook. I need to post the recipe for his Cornell Chicken.


• He is very kind.


• He loves his family.
• He loves to tell tall tales. He made one up about a rattlesnake that totally fooled me until he talked about giant misquitoes sucking his blood. He fooled me at first because he was showing me a scar on his knee that does look like a snake bite.


• He wrote one of the first computer manuals.


• He is the one that came up with the idea to charge different prices for big and little apples. He developed this for his master's thesis at Utah State University. My grandpa just told me that my grandma helped him do some of the survey work for this.


• His house is decorated with lots of neat things from around the world as well as things that remind him of his life growing up.
• He wanted to letter in High School so he signed up for boxing. He says he is ashamed he did that. He wasn't very good but did end up lettering in football. I assume he lettered in boxing, but I can't remember now.
  
• He talks about my grandma with such love and admiration. My grandma was his high school sweetheart.

The list could go on and on. He is amazing!

Update

I still can't be part of the Kids Club but I was informed I could get "hired" to serve food from outside the door during all the parties. My lucky day!

I need to go. I've been informed I'll be fired if I don't hurry and get them food.

There was a whole lot of giggling going on here...

Today they made twice as many signs as yesterday. Here are the ones they put on their door.



Can you read it all?

• No parents!
• Kids Only
• Kids Club Sign In
• The next sign is the sign up sheet. It has Megan's name and my name, but my name is crossed out. Luke tried to tape a crayon to the door for the sign in sheet but I wouldn't let him.
• Free!!!!!

The "free" sign cracks me up the most!

Kids Only

The kids are taking over with their signs. Luke started with a "kids onle" sign on the bathroom door. Just today, Megan started making "kidz only" signs and was so excited to put them around the house. It's been Luke's thing before today so I think she was proud of herself for being able to do it.

When Luke wants to make a sign he says, "Mom, can I have a paper, a crayon, some scissors, and some tape?" At first I was really curious as to what he had in mind. He hates to color so this was totally out of the norm for him. Now I know that he is up to something when he asks for these things.

Confession

Remember this picture from this layout?

I have always wanted to write a children's book. I'm sure I will someday and at least publish one for myself. I would absolutely NOT classify myself as a good writer or a great artist but I have some fun crazy ideas I think kids would enjoy. My kids like the stories I make up at least. About 2 years ago I made the three pages you see below. Just for fun I started a book for my kids about a boy that went on a crazy adventure to save an ice princess. I never finished it because I didn't have enough pictures and the "star" of the book wouldn't let me take more. In case you are wondering, the middle page below is supposed to be the Yellow world, and the stars were helping him on his journey. I'm not proud of the art but my kids would have loved the book if I had finished.

I just finished the picture above today. I love how it turned out. My friend Katja created an art piece like this and I was so impressed I had to try it. Her picture truly is a piece of art. She is so talented. I like mine but it's nothing compared to Katja's. She'll post hers on her blog on Friday (after she gives it away to a friend), so check her blog then. You'll love it!

The idea behind my design follows this tutorial. I changed things up though. Instead of following all the steps for the dots layer, I used the stamp filter, then in a later step I filled in the rest of the lines as shown in the line art tutorial. Notice I also added just a bit of soft color to her cheeks and nose. I did this with a large feather brush, then I reduced the opacity quite a bit. I'm sure you didn't even notice I did that but if I showed you a side by side comparison to the picture without that coloring you would see a big difference. Its subtle but significant.

BTW - For those wondering... you can do some of this in Elements but it's much easier and much more professional if you have the full version of Photoshop. You need the full version of PS to follow the tutorials provided.

A Favorite Picture

I love this picture but I've never known what to do with it. This is just one more good reason for a blog so I can share it with someone. I took this at Wheeler Farm in Salt Lake City.

A Dinner to Remember

Almost a year ago I was asked to serve in the stake Relief Society presidency. This weekend we had a stake conference that two of our general authorities attended. Elder Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve, and Elder Rafael E. Pino both came. Because of my calling in the Relief Society, I got to help put on a dinner for these men, their wives, and about 16 other stake leaders and spouses. It was a neat opportunity. I love the ladies I work with and enjoyed working on this assignment with them, especially since this was such an easy and fun assignment. I also loved the opportunity to serve an apostle, as well as Elder Pino, a new general authority in the church. They were both just as nice and friendly as you would hope they would be.

These church leaders came because our stake presidency was being reorganized today. I've really enjoyed the last stake presidency and I have loved the counsel they shared with me. I'm excited for the new stake presidency too and I'm looking forward to serving with them.

Conference was really nice. I especially enjoyed listening since I had just met Elder Pino, Elder Nelson, and their wives. Their wives talks were my favorite. Sister Nelson encouraged Sister Pino to speak in English without a translator for the first time. She did great. It was fun to see her do so well. I absolutely believe the Lord has his hand in who leads and directs our church and I'm grateful for the opportunity we all have to learn from these leaders.

Here is a link to a page with several videos testifying of Christ. If you don't know who Elder Nelson is you can click on his name to hear a message from him.

Flashback

This is me at about 10 years old. I wish my hair was still this cute. Maybe if my mom would come over and fix my hair everyday that would help :) My sister Angie found this picture and e-mailed it to me a while ago. I love looking at all the toys. Check out that Brooke Sheilds Barbie doll. I remember loving that doll. I also remember the sewing machine, the pencil box, the Chinese Checkers game and the make-up. I loved that make-up. I remember one of the teenage boys (Matt???) who lived across the street was babysitting and painted our eyes with that make-up so that it looked like we had black eyes. We had so much fun wondering around the neighborhood "tricking" people into thinking he punched us.

Growing up I knew my parents loved making Christmas and birthdays special. They made our childhood so much fun! I have great memories.

I didn't know it was this easy!

I had no idea how easy it was to upload videos here. How fun! Speaking of easy, Luke got the hang of skiing pretty easy. I was so proud of him. We went late April, and since we have had so much snow this year the ski conditions were still awesome. Megan went too but she got tired fast and didn't get the hang of it as easy as Luke. At the end of the day Megan said she didn't want to go back until she was eight. Ha ha. Fortunately, she has either changed her mind or forgotten and says she likes to ski now. She actually did really good for the first couple hours so I'm glad she changed her mind. Luke was so excited about skiing that he must have talked about it a lot in his kindergarten class. Well, Luke doesn't ever talk a whole lot, but he did come home with a few class projects where he talked about skiing (see one below). It makes me so happy because I love LOVE LOVE to ski and skiing with the kids was a blast!

My sister Erin went with us that day. Thanks Erin for all your help!!! She is so much fun to be with. Keith's friend Sue gave us the tickets to Snowbird. Thanks Sue!!!!

Does anyone have suggestions on how I can possibly talk Keith into buying me and the kids season passes for next season? And all the ski equipment?

The week before this I went skiing with my friend Barb and her family. That was a lot of fun too. She posted a layout of our trip on her blog. She is an amazing artist. You'll have fun looking at her other layouts too.

Today Was The Day!!

Today was a day I've been anxiously waiting for! Megan swam for the first time!!! I took her swimming with me after her swim lesson and all the sudden she took off in the water. I'm so proud of her. She swam on her belly and could go about 5 feet before needing air. When she learns how to breath while swimming she'll do great! It was so exciting to see her cute little body float while she was swimming. Ahhhh! I'm so happy! Cute Luke (2.5 years older) still can't swim. Actually, I know he could, but he is just so scared to put his head in the water. He's getting really close though.

The kids have a really cute swim teacher named Jeffrey. He is only 16, but he is an incredible teacher (and this is his first class he has ever taught). Today in class, I was thrilled with the things Jeffrey was having the kids do. I'm pretty sure Luke was swimming a tiny bit but I couldn't tell from where I was. If he did swim he didn't go far because he would stop before his face went in the water. That's ok. He'll get it. Luke did go under the water for a toy today. It was totally scary for him but he did it! I think that now that Megan is swimming Luke will catch on soon too.

By the way... notice the date on the photos. These are old pictures. It's fun for me to see how much they have grown in two years. Also, (a little advertising plug here) that measuring tape is from the Oh Boy CD and there are a bunch of those quote bubbles in the Playground CD.

Photography Contest

About 6 years ago I won 3rd place in a photo contest for this picture. It was a photography contest at Gardner Village in West Jordan, UT. Since I was still keeping paper journals at that time, I never put it in my journal... so here it is.



Here are some other pictures I took and considered entering. I can now tell the one in the middle isn't exposed right but I still kind of like it.

I am excited about this blog. It's a great way to highlight the pictures I don't scrapbook.

Travel

I have traveled what I think is an insane amount this past year. Below are the places I remember traveling to. I went to many of these places 2, 3, or 4 times. I think I have them all listed. The list, pictures and descriptions of the trips make this a LONG post so it's a good thing no one is forcing you to read everything. I wrote most of this quite a while ago because I was going to make a scrapbook page on this but it's hard to fit all the journaling on a two page spread :)

My year's travel list:

1. Anaheim, California – We went for the Craft and Hobby Show (CHA). We hit Disneyland with the kids too. My mother-in-law Linda went with us and watched the kids while Keith and I worked. Keith and I did get time at Disneyland too though. Megan’s highlight was getting kissed by Ariel. Luke’s favorite ride was Space Mountain and he also loved Splash Mountain. Megan says she loved Space Mountain but wouldn’t ride it a second time. I’m glad she tried it once though and had a positive experience. My friends Amy Herzog, Alisha Shaw and Katja Kromann all helped at the show.
2. Portland, Oregon – I went for a scrapbook show. I was only there one night and had no time to do anything but I did get to see Mount Hood from the air. That was GREAT! I shared a room with my sister Angie and friend Amy Herzog (as well as Angie's baby Autumn). It was fun to be with them and laugh the night away.
3. Las Vegas, Nevada – I went for a Photography trade show (PMA). Met up with some friends there including Kelly Lautenbach, Alisha Shaw, Susie Carlson and Jessie Baldwin. We had a lot of fun when we weren't working.
4. Dallas, Texas –I went twice for meetings at Michaels corporate headquarters. I never have much time on these trips but I did drive downtown twice. The downtown Dallas Skyline is amazing. What a beautiful city.
5. Fort Worth, Texas – On one of my two Dallas trips I went to Fort Worth and stopped at the Fort Worth Stockyards. I loved that place! Shoot, my sister Angie and her family just got back from Dallas and I forgot to tell them to go here. While I was there I wished so bad I could bring my kids there. It was so much fun. It’s such a great historic cowboy place with a steam engine that pulls through, fun shops, cattle drives, etc. This was definitely a highlight in my travels. I had a sarsparilla in a saloon looking cafe. Fun.
6. Mansfield, Texas – I stayed with my aunt Andi on one of my trips to Dallas. Mansfield is a nice city with huge High School football stadiums and giant Christian churches. I really had fun looking around and loved staying with my aunt and her family. I’ve always wanted to so I’m glad I finally had the chance.
7. Cleveland, Ohio – I went here to tape for a PBS Scrapbook show called “Scrapbook Memories”. When I walked into the studio one of the first people I saw was my friend Dana Smith. I had no idea she would be there. It was really fun to travel across the country and run into a friend.
8. New York, New York – I went here three times. First, for a press conference at the Roosevelt Hotel, for a show I was participating in called Digital Life. On this trip I had a couple hours to tour the city so I walked around and found Central Park. It is such an incredible park. I had no idea. I kept walking and stumbled on Times Square where I saw a tour bus. I jumped on, not knowing what a “duck tour” was. All of the sudden they literally drove us into the Hudson River. I thought it was hilarious that I had no clue that’s what we would be doing! I saw the Statue of Liberty from a great distance on the river which was fun. The second time I went to NYC I drove myself there from Philadelphia. My plan was to fly to NY from Ohio but I got an opportunity to meet with QVC in Philadelphia so I quickly got a last minute ticket to Philly then rented a car and drove to NY for the Digital Life show. I felt so empowered driving there by myself. I was a little nervous to drive in the city especially since I got there right as it was getting dark but I made it to my destination just fine. I stayed at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square with my friend Danielle Catalano Titus (she is the one who has designed most of my CDs). It was great. The third trip to NYC I also drove from Philly. This time I went to meet with Canon in Long Island. All I did was drive there and around a tiny bit but I did get to see the Statue of Liberty much closer this time as well as some fun bridges including a really cool architectural piece at the beginning of the Manhattan Bridge. I think I drove through China Town too.
9. Cherry Hill, New Jersey – For a meeting with Cherry Hill Photo
10. East Brunswick, New Jersey – On my first drive to NYC I was THRILLED to see signs for East Brunswick. This is the main area my mom lived when she was growing up. I called my Grandma Park and my mom to share my excitement with them. I’m so glad I got to talk to my grandma that day. On my second drive to NYC I actually made time to stop in East Brunswick. I went to my mom’s old house and took pictures, and then I went to Rutgers College where my Grandpa Park used to teach. I called him while I was there and tried to find the office he worked in. We couldn’t figure it out on the phone but when I got home we realized I was parked next to it while we were talking. Ha ha.
11. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – I went here three times to meet with QVC. On the first trip I got to have lunch with my friend Lynette Wilkins (Bruce’s sister). On the third trip I got to spend time with my friend Amy Sullivan. We spent time downtown at the historic sites. We (at least I) had a great time talking. We tried to be serious and learn about history but we just had too much fun talking. Both Amy and Lynette live in or near Philly although Lynette just moved. The second trip I spent by myself. I really needed some alone time and I loved every minute.
12. West Chester, Pennsylvania – This is where QVC is. It looks like a really nice place to live.
13. Delaware – Ha! It kind of doesn’t count to say I’ve “been” to Delaware. I just drove through to say I’d been there.
14. Rosemont, Illinois – Every year for the past few years I go to a Craft and Hobby show (CHA) here.
15. Chicago, Illinois – This year I took Becky Lloyd, Brianne Judy and my sister Erin to work the CHA show with me. We went to Chicago one night to see the Broadway play Wicked. We also took (my favorite) boat tour through the city and went to the John Hancock building to over look the city. There is a bar/restaurant on the ?? floor that has more spectacular views than the Sears tower. The views from the women’s bathroom (seriously) are out of this world!!! I highly recommend going there. We didn’t even eat there. We just went up to the bathroom. Ha ha.
16. Idaho Falls, Idaho – I went here for another scrapbook show. It was fun because I took my kids and Erin and Becky. Erin and Becky did most of the work at the show and I played with my kids. We met up with my friend Mindy Bush and her family while we were there too. I love Mindy and her family is great. Luke’s favorite part was stopping at the Lava fields. We also stopped at Bear World. That was fun.
17. Miami, Florida – We went to Miami to get on our cruise ship. My parents took the entire family on a cruise (THANKS Mom and Dad)! The night before our cruise I really wanted to go to Miami Beach but we decided to just go somewhere closer. We went to a shopping center called “Bayside”. It was a real treat to shop there because it was absolutely gorgeous. We took a cab there and Megan sang her ABC’s really loud for the taxi driver. Ha ha. It was sooo funny.
18. Cozumel, Mexico – We stopped here on our cruise. My mom kept the kids on the boat while we dove with Liquid Blue Divers. Thanks Mom!
19. Ocho Rios, Jamaica – Keith, Luke, Megan and I got off the cruise ship and hired a driver to take us around. It was really great to be able to see the city but it was disappointing because the time was just too short to do anything. We were grateful for the opportunity to show Luke how poor some of the people are there. We made sure to point out some of the poorest areas in hopes he could understand how much he has.
20. George Town, Grand Cayman - Another stop on our cruise. Keith wasn’t feeling well but insisted on keeping the kids with him on the ship while I went diving with my family. I tried to take some underwater pictures with my dad’s camera but failed miserably. It’s going to take a lot of practice to get good at that.
21. Labadee, Haiti – This was actually our first port on the cruise. It was AMAZING here! It’s a private beach for Royal Caribbean. Absolutely gorgeous! We spent most of our time swimming in the bay. Everyone had a blast. My favorite part was floating on a mat in the ocean. Aaaahhhh! I could do that EVERY DAY!
22. St. George, Utah - I went to St. George three times last fall to teach classes and a forth time for a scrapbook show. The kids went each time and we always had fun swimming. One time my mother-in-law, Linda went with us. That was the best trip.

More pictures to come. Well... maybe.

My Mother-in-Law

I thought it might be fun to write some things about each of my family members. It might take me years to get through everyone because knowing me I'll get distracted and take a long break before getting back to it. That's ok, it's still good to get started, right?

I want to write about my mother-in-law, Linda Oaks first. She may not like this on my "public" journal, so I hope she'll forgive me if that is the case. She is amazing and I am so lucky I married her son so I could have her as part of my life.

Random things I LOVE about Linda:

She has an amazing memory. I am so impressed with how well she remembers details. She usually buys the perfect gifts for everyone because she pays attention and remembers things I normally don't.

She is very patient.

She isn't judgemental. She accepts the people in her lives the way they are and doesn't try to change anyone or make anyone feel bad for the way they do things.

She is inviting. She is always happy to have us over.

She loves my kids. I feel very secure knowing how much my children are loved. Linda makes us feel like the most important people around.

She knows a little about everything. I'm very impressed with her.

She gives great advice. I can trust her with so many of the questions or concerns I have.

She used to accept dares to get stung by bees. What a random thing to put on my list, huh? I do love stories like this though. It's fun to hear about her childhood. On a dare, she used to stick her finger in a flower so she would get stung, then she would quickly put her finger in the mud. She said it didn't hurt if you did this. I'm not going to test it though.

I love that she has gone with us to Disneyland twice. She helped tend our kids while Keith and I worked at a convention. It was so nice to know that our kids were having fun.

She bought me a dress for Keith and my 1st wedding anniversary and sent it to my work as a surprise. It was so much fun to get! I was so excited, surprised and happy with that gift. The first few years of our marriage she bought me quite a few dresses. I felt like she was having fun finally having a girl around and I feel really lucky that I was the first girl married into the family for that reason.

We share the same beliefs and I love talking religion with her.

She went with me to St. George and tended my kids while I worked. I loved talking to her on that trip. There is a picture of her with the kids on that trip in the "blessed" entry below. It's on the top row, third picture over. We stayed at the Christmas Cottage at the Green Gate Village Historic Inn.

She feeds us dinner any Sunday we want to come over. She is a great cook too!

Her house is always clean and organized.

She helps me anytime I need something. Thanks Linda!

Preserving History

So, I've wanted to start a blog for a while but I've resisted for a couple reasons:

1. I want to make sure I save my blog pages and I hate the idea of printing my blog and having it format funny.
2. I hate the idea of my pictures being printed low quality.
3. There is always the chance I won't print my blog. No! I couldn't let that happen!

As you can see I decided to start blogging anyway because:

1. It's fun.
2. I love that my family and friends can read up on our lives when they feel like it.
3. I think it will help me write more. I think personal history is important.
4. Even if this blog prints funny, and the pictures are low quality, I'll still have more memories written down because of it.
5. Already, I notice I have a different perspective as I blog verses write in my journal. I'm thinking of other people as I write this blog and want to write things that family and friends might be interested in. I think that is great because it will motivate me to write a little bit more than I usually do.

Now that I'm blogging I'm not going to stop writing in my journal, and I'm certainly not going to stop scrapbooking. I love both of those. Recently I stopped writing in my paper journals and started keeping a journal on the computer. I found a program called "The Journal" that runs on your computer (not the internet). It's awesome. I love the program! Here is a link in case any of you are interested in trying it. I love how I can easily put pictures next to my journal entries with "The Journal" and with this blog. It makes it so much more fun. Scrapbooking is also a lot of fun. As many of you know, I love scrapbooking so much I designed a business around it. Here is a link to my company website and here is a link to some of my scrapbook pages.

Just for fun. Here are my second and third journal entries. I was eight years old when I wrote them. You can't read the inside very well because I tore them out of my journal. I remember I thought they were ugly but fortunately I didn't throw them away and found them a couple years later when I was more sensible :) I'm glad I still have them.

The grandparents I'm referring to is my Grandma and Grandpa Thorup. They were in England visiting my Aunt. I have a couple other journal entries talking about how much I missed them during that trip.

See that flower? I remember thinking I was a talented artist after drawing that. It was really disappointing to look at it years later. Ha ha. I don't remember a lot of things that I write down but I clearly remember this.

Wanna learn how to make a customized candy bar wrapper?

1) Scan in a candy bar wrapper at 300 dpi. Scanning in and printing at 300 dpi is the key to getting your custom wrapper the right size. Pull that scanned image into Photoshop (or any other image-editing program) and create your own design on new layers on top of the scan.

2) There are tons of ways to create your image to fit the candy bar. I personally like to create a new layer, then use the marquee tool to select around the outside of the candy bar. I fill that space with any color.


3) Reduce the opacity of the new layer so you can see below it. This makes it easy to make sure you design the front, sides and back in the exact right spots.

4) Take your marquee tool and select the area where one side of the candy bar will be. Right click and choose "layer via cut". This will cut that area into a new layer. Recolor that area so that it's easy to see. Follow this step for all the other sides of the candy bar. Remember you have to be on the layer you want to cut from when you choose "layer via cut". If you are on the wrong layer it won't work.

5) There are many ways to create this candy wrapper but here are two of my favorite ways:

• Option A: Increase the opacity of each of the layers back to 100%, and then use the layers as a template and "clip" your papers, pictures and embellishments to it. Have you tried this before? If not, read this tutorial.



• Option B: Cut the background you want to use to the size of the candy bar wrapper on your bottom layer. Then design the rest of your wrapper on top of that layer but UNDER the rest of the layers you created in step 4. When you are all finished creating, delete all the top layers you created in step 4.

6) Print, cut and wrap your candy bar. If you print at home (or at most photo labs) the size should be perfect. I printed mine at an office supply place. It shrunk the size down a little. The size has to be perfect for this to work, so you may have to adjust the size a bit until it works. Bring your original candy bar wrapper to the printer to make sure it prints right.

More tips:

*Do you see how I added the nutrition information and the barcode to my new wrapper? It was easy. I just turned them into brushes. Learn how here.

*You can delete the numbers off the bar code and write a message where the numbers were.

*Add a personal message or a quote to the back.

Father's Day Tile

I got the design idea for the candy bar wrapper from Brooke Kemp. She created this cute tile for a Digital Scrapbook Weekend Retreat I held in Park City this past April. It's REALLY easy to put your pictures or scrapbook layouts on tiles. Go somewhere like Lowes or Home Depot and buy tiles that are smooth. Any size is fine. Create your design on a canvas the same size as the tile, then print and cut it out. Apply a thin layer of Modge Podge on the tile and then put your print on top. It will only take a few minutes for this to dry, then you can apply a thin layer of Modge Podge on top of your print and the tile for a nice look. I love these tiles. Thanks for your help with that class Brooke!

Blessed

We are blessed to have amazing grandparents in our lives. I'm so grateful for the way they touch our lives. My kids have known all of their great grandmas and two of their great grandpas. It's the same for me. I also knew all of my great grandmas and two of my great grandpas. I think that is a very special blessing. Each of these people are people I admire and love more than words can say.

Marriage Plans Crushed

Megan was in tears, and Luke was equally as upset when I told them they couldn't marry each other. Oh my. It makes me laugh so hard thinking about it. Luke protested saying, "that is the dumbest rule in all the neighborhood, actually the whole town". They kept asking why but I wasn't about to tell them. I'll save that conversation for another year. It took about 10 minutes to make them feel better. I think the thought of having to leave their family is really scary for them. I told them they could live with me for as long as they wanted... will I regret that later?

Our Lives Are So Easy

This picture was from a "week in pictures" feature I really enjoy on MSNBC.com All of the photographs are amazing. AMAZING! I really look forward to looking at the pictures. Many pictures are very artistic and happy but others are very very real and sad. Part of me wishes I could overlook the sad pictures but in other ways I'm grateful for the reminder that my problems really aren't that bad. This is a picture in China where 69,000 have died and 18,000 are still missing from the recent earthquake. Our lives are so easy compared to so many countries that struggle with things like this. My heart goes out to these people.

Here is a link to the "Week in Pictures" archive on MSNBC.com If you like photography, you will LOVE the pictures there.

As long as I'm showing you pictures on MSNBC.com, this link takes you to rare photos of an Amazon tribe. I watched a movie a long time ago I loved called, "End of the Spear". It was a fascinating look into the lives of a unknown tribe. It's a true story that starts with some Christian missionaries that were killed trying to save the tribe from a logging company encroaching on them (if I remember right). You can watch the preview here and see if it sounds at all interesting to you.

Let's Get It Started!

Ha ha. I have that song Lets Get It Started by the Black Eyed Peas in my head. We just got cable and the kids and I have started dancing to the music on the Kidz Only music channel. It's been kind of fun. Luke does all sorts of tricks, Megan changes her clothes between songs, and I just try to move as much as I can. I'm positive I look like a dork but my kids still think I am really cool. If only that would last. I'm getting a great workout as we dance so I think I need to encourage this activity for as long as I can. I honestly think I'm getting a better workout than I do at the gym.

Speaking of dance, we have been watching So You Think You Can Dance. Luke has been picking up on some pretty cool hip hop moves. It's pretty cute. Luke and Megan don't love that show but they enjoy watching with me because it usually means I'm letting them stay up late to watch it. It's my very favorite show of the whole year. I normally don't like reality shows. This one is good though. Sooo good.

I'm sure you can guess why I've posted these pictures. Last week was Megan's birthday. I think we all had a great time with her on her birthday. I love this picture of her in her cute new crown and jewelry.