My little girl gave me a lecture tonight. She told me I needed to tell her not to eat unhealthy things. She said if she is eating something bad I need to stop her and tell her to eat something healthy. I was totally smiling when she was telling me all of this. If only this type of thinking would last. She has an upset stomach tonight. Poor thing. At least she's learning and understanding how food can help or hurt you.
How cool is this? Oh my! I would love to be this close. Wow. I scuba dive and have seen some neat things, but nothing quite like this. I've never seen a shark either. Keith and I did some of our first dives in Tobago and the group we were with said they saw some of the biggest sharks they had ever seen on one of our dives. Neither Keith or I saw them. The people who saw them dove all around the world, so if they were impressed, I'm sure the sharks were awesome. Oh well.
I have been able to swim with manta rays in the Great Barrier Reef. That was amazing. I just followed them around and snorkeled a couple feet above them for quite a while. I've also seen a lot of big beautiful turtles, tiny sea horses and I *think* I saw a poisonous sea snake in Fiji. I'm not sure but it sure looked like one.
One of my goals is to see a whale shark. Whale sharks are about as big as a bus. I have a friend that saw one on her very first dive. It was a shore dive too. How cool is that?
Can you tell I still have Tahiti on my mind? One day... one day I'll make it there.
Check out these pictures on MSNBC.com. It's a picture slide show of "Natures Best Photography". Amazing pictures!
My friend and neighbor Angie tagged me the other day. She is really fun and has some really fun sports pictures on her blog I love to look at.
Tag Rules:
Tell about 6 unspectacular quirks of yours. Tag 6 fellow bloggers by linking them. Leave a comment on each of the tagged blogger’s blogs letting them know they’ve been tagged.
Six unspectacular quirks, huh?
1) I hate when the blinds aren't even. You know, when one side is open and the other isn't. Drives me NUTS!
2) I love well decorated houses but hate to decorate my own house. I have a really hard time keeping my house clean and I think it's extra hard to clean around a lot of stuff. I could live in a very contemporary decorated house and love it. Well, except I would need some family pictures and a comfortable couch :)
3) I don't like to listen to music in the car when I'm trying to talk to someone. As a matter of fact until the past couple months, I very very rarely had music on in the car even when I was alone. I don't like to listen to music at home either unless I'm cleaning or playing with the kids. I used to listen to music non-stop when I was a teenager and first married but the day I brought home my little boy from the hospital I didn't like it anymore. I liked the quiet and didn't want to fill a tiny baby's ears with junk. I still enjoy the quiet but my kids are requesting music more and more and I'm starting to enjoy popular music again. I love some of the songs on the top ten billboard and almost all the songs on Kidz Only and Radio Disney stations. It is so much fun to dance and sing with my kids.
4) I have no trouble spending money on vacations, entertainment and toys but I hate spending money on things like shoes, socks, underwear, towels, bath mats, kitchen appliances etc. In my head I feel so poor when I go to buy underwear, yet so rich when I am on vacation and want a $6 Pina Colada.
5) I don't like keeping things for sentimental reasons. I'd rather take pictures and give them away. There are a few things that I have kept because I feel like I should. They kind of stress me out because I don't know what to do with them and I really want more space in my house.
6) I hate when the waiter at a restaurant brings everyone a straw except for those drinking water. What is up with that? I want a straw!!!
I tag Kelli, Paula, Dottie, Amy, Jill and Mindee. All are great friends who helped my friends out for HOURS this weekend. Awesome, awesome, awesome girls. The Angie who tagged me is amazing too. She also helped for a long time as well as two non-blogger friends Linda and Sherilyn. We were all working to help my good friends who lost nearly everything in Hurricane Ike. I'll post more on their situation later.
Bora Bora, Tahiti is on the top of my list for vacation spots I want to go to. One day I'll make it there. I want to stay in one of these over-water bungalos. Mmmmmmm.... looks so good.
I'm still doing pretty good. This diet and fitness program hasn't been that hard until the last couple weeks. My mom made homemade cinnamon rolls twice plus I had other temptations I gave in to. I still lost a tiny bit. I was so happy to see my results today and know I still lost even if it was only a little bit. This week is going to be GREAT! I can do it!
I tell my kids what I am doing all the time to help teach them some good things about living healthy. I make sure they know I go to the gym. Megan has it in her head that I'm going to Jungle Jim's every morning. Jungle Jim's is an indoor play place for kids with all sorts of rides. Ha ha. She cracks me up.
There is a fun new store to check out. It's called Divine Mama and it sells all sorts of things created by moms. Yay moms! Check it out! Here is a link to the Digital Scrapbook Memories CDs on the site.
Quinn Curtis (who has taught digital scrapbook classes for me) is the one who started the store. I'm sure she'll be a success! Good luck Quinn.
Thanks to Alyson and AnnaMarie I figured out how to make some of the words bigger. She said to repeat the words you want bigger. If I wanted it really big I repeated it several times. Cool!
BTW - This is the same list as below.
Some of my favorite things:
My friend Alyson told me about this cool website where you can create fun word art. It's easy to use. The website is called Wordle.net. Alyson posted a really cool scrapbook page she created using this same idea.
I couldn't figure out how to change the word size so some words are bigger. If you figure out how to do that in Wordle, let me know. There are options at the top to change things but I couldn't find anything about changing the size.
Every fall I get so excited to go up the mountains and see the beautiful leaves and take pictures. Somehow though, the days go by way to quickly and I rarely do it! This picture is from one of the only years I have actually done it. Our mountains are so beautiful, it's a shame I don't take advantage of the beauty and get up there more in the fall time. This year I WILL MAKE IT!!! I will remember that the leaves change much earlier in the mountains than down in the valley and I'll get up there in time. It's probably gorgeous up there now. I better check it out this week.
I know many of you have heard this song tons of times but I felt like posting it here. This song just makes me so happy. I remember listening to it in July while I was rushing to the airport. It totally calmed me down. It's just a fun happy song.
This weekend I'll be at the Scrapbook USA Expo in Sandy, UT. If you plan to come, please say hi! We'll be in the very center next to the stage.
Last night I helped put on a Seniors Banquet. We invited all of the people 60+ in our stake. It turned out well. We have so many great people in our area. My dad helped with the dinner too. The theme was centered around the state fair and we had someone come and lead everyone in singing fun old songs. On the way home he said the funniest thing to me. He said, "What do you think they'll do for entertainment when we are older? They can't do the 'Golden Oldies' anymore so do you think they'll play rock music?" Ha ha ha ha! It makes me wonder though... maybe they'll do a big nintendo party for my generation?
I corrected the link in the last post but here is the link again if you need it. Thanks for pointing that out Emily. http://forum.digitalscrapbookmemories.com/showthread.php?t=5822
If you have any interest in photography, come join a free online photography class I'm hosting (not teaching). Here is the link.
It was so much fun going to Cats last night (thanks Mindee!). I'm really glad I had the chance to go. I have to admit though... I didn't really like Cats because there was no story line and I kind of felt like you had to be a cat lover to really appreciate the songs. All of the songs were about different kinds of cats. The Memory song was sure amazing, but the rest didn't really interest me. Some of the costumes didn't seem "broadway quality" either. Who has seen it? I want to hear what you thought of it.
Guess where I get to go tonight? My friend Mindee gave me her tickets she couldn't use tonight. Poor Mindee. I wish she could use them. My friend Jodi and I are going to go now. We'll have to do something super nice to repay Mindee won't we? I haven't seen many Broadway plays but I sure loved Joseph when I saw it. I also REALLY loved Aida. Jill and I went to that together. If you ever get a chance to see Aida -GO - it's so good.
Of the 10 comments on this post, 9 were entered into the drawing (Boquinha is in PA). The 7th comment eligable for the prize was Bruce!
Thanks for the prize Linda. I hope the rest of you will take your buisness to her the next time you need you nails done :)
The power of water is amazing to me. I pray the people affected by Hurricane Ike can have the strength to get their lives back together.
I spoke in church today. It was a good experience for me. I always learn so much more when I speak and I'm grateful for that. I'm also grateful it's over :) I was going to post my talk here but I only have most of it written down. The rest came from my heart. The topic I was assigned was, "What I need to do so the Spirit can guide me". The spirit meaning the Holy Ghost. We believe if anyone wants to know truth concerning spiritual things they can know through the power of the Holy Ghost. If any of you have questions on religion I suggest you pray for answers. You'll receive them if you do your part to listen and study for answers. Answers don't always come immediately, but they will come. When they do, you'll know what is true because the power of the Holy Ghost is incredible and will help you have a clear understanding. YOU are not excluded from this. Everyone can and will have their prayers answered if (again) they are patient and take the time to study and listen.
Check out this dragonfly! The picture isn't the best because I took it with my iPhone, but you can get an idea of how neat this bug was. In the sunlight, it looked like it was made of gold. I thought it looked too pretty to be real. It landed right on my friend Amy's barrette. Thankfully she isn't a wimpy girl and sat still while I got a couple pictures. I don't know that I've ever seen a golden dragonfly, let alone a dragonfly this big, have you?
Amy has a blog that I enjoy reading. You can find it here. 
In school, Luke was asked to draw something that makes him happy. He drew himself sitting at his desk listening to his teacher. How cute is that? THIS makes me really happy. He used to dread school and now he loves it. I can't quite figure out what the change is. Maybe it is just all the time he gets to play with his friends at recess and lunch now that he is there full day??? I don't know what it is but I am THRILLED he is happy and enjoys school.
I thought it was really fun reading my SIL Jill's blog today. She wrote about her life 20 years ago, 10 years ago, 5 years ago, 1 year ago, yesterday, today and tomorrow. I went to my journals to do some research to write my own list and decided I might as well post my journal entries. I hope none of my dedicated blog friends will feel obligated to read all of this. It's going to be pretty long but it's fun for me and that is the main reason I blog. Here goes...
20 Years Ago
First of all, am I really old enough to remember 20 years ago!!! I didn't write in my journal September 11, 1988, but I did write on the 8th and 12th. The entry on the 8th is about my sister Angie and how I was trying to talk her into running for a class office position and she decided to run for vice president. Here is the entry on the 12th. I was 13 years old.
11-19 Years Ago
I'm going to stick to the dates Jill wrote about, but I thought I would mention these years were big for me. I went to two high schools, played some sports, graduated, worked in the Tetons for two summers, started working at Jordan Valley School (for handicapped kids), worked at Oakcrest camp, met Keith, got married, bought my first house and started selling real estate.
10 Years Ago
This is a long journal entry because I hadn't written in a while. It covers "10 years ago" pretty well.
5 Years Ago
This is the closest journal entry to "5 years ago". Several months after I wrote this, I got pregnant with Megan. That was almost exactly 5 years ago, and I'm sure I was too tired to do much, even write in my beloved journal.
For those of you that don't know what primary is... Primary is basically the childrens Sunday School classes. I was in charge of all of the kids 3-12 as well as the teachers who taught the kids in our church. We met for 2 hours each Sunday, had 4 activities a year, occasionally sung in sacrament meeting (yes, three hours of church), and put on the entire sacrament program with all the kids once a year.
1 Year Ago
I'm sure I have a journal entry but it's on my other computer and I'm too lazy to get it. I finally switched to journaling on the computer and I love having spell check and not having to look at my handwriting. One year ago, Luke started kindergarten and Megan started preschool. This was also the start of a really big year with my business. I was able to get a few articles published, travel a lot and be on a few tv shows. Not as impressive as it sounds, but I did do a lot.
This Year So Far
Sigh. I'm tired thinking about it. It's been a great year but tiring. Life is tiring for everyone right? My most exciting personal thing to note is that I'm finally losing weight and working hard at it. I went to Total Health and Fitness again yesterday and I have the results to prove I had another good week. It's exciting.
Today
Gym, Luke to school, Megan to school, mow the lawn, work, pick Megan up, library, pick up Luke, home with 2 extra cute kids, meeting, get ready for bed, read books, tv in my room alone, sleep.
Tomorrow
Gym, Luke to school, Megan to school (2 hours), work, pick Megan up and hang out with her, pick up Luke and hang out with both kids, hopefully a date with Keith, kids to bed, sleep.
Next Year
I'll have both kids in school (Megan half a day) and I'll be able to work more. I hope to really be able to get a lot accomplished with my job. I love writing goals for my future based on family, spirituality, personal, financial and health but I'm not going to go into that here. At least not today :)
Is giveaway supposed to be one word or two?
My good friend Linda Horrocks said I could give away a free pedicure (or $20 towards another service). If you plan to be in Salt Lake City (Sandy) sometime this year, post a comment below and I'll draw one lucky winner from those comments next Monday.
A few weeks ago, Linda was a little frustrated coming up with business cards and gift certificates. I forced her to let me help her. She is one of those people who does EVERYTHING for everyone else, including me. It was fun to do something for her for a change. I really appreciate her. She is a great friend and an incredible person. If you win, you are in for a real treat getting to spend some time with her.
Below you can see what I came up with. I'm kind of proud of them. I think they turned out great and trust me, you won't hear me say that very often. I especially love the logo. It's called "Mom & Me, services from head to toe" because she does nails and her daughter does hair.
I did use a couple papers from my DSM CDs. Please remember though, that it's against copyright to use these papers for commercial use unless you have permission from me.
Luke is convinced he is rich and famous. He is rich because he has OVER a hundred dollars and famous because he has been on the internet, in magazines, as well as on the cover of a magazine, and on TV. This weekend I put a video of him on YouTube to announce the grand prize winner of the Digi Olympics on my website. He was so excited to find out he was on YouTube. Ha ha ha ha!
The first few times I was published somewhere he could have cared less. It's almost surprising to me that he thinks it's cool now.
To see his YouTube debut, click here. The video is only 30 seconds long. You have time :)
I enjoyed giving out so many prizes for this contest. By the end of this week I will have shipped off over $1,500 worth of prizes to all the lucky winners. Below is a picture of who won the grand prize.
Here is why I was a cool mom (for a half hour). I love the cookies the kids designed. Meg did the top three and Luke did the bottom three.
Here is one of the many reasons why my kids can say their dad is super awesome.
Megan finally got to start school today. She has been waiting a long time and was really happy to go. She is in a class with two of her cousins. How fun is that?
Brown paper and felt heart from the Digital Scrapbook Memories Garden CD.
Danielle Catalano Titus made a bunch of really cool overlays and edges for pictures. She let me play with them early. I'm in LOVE with them. I'm not sure if I'm supposed to show anyone yet but I can't it any longer so I thought I'd show you this one. You are going to be in love when you see the rest of the beautiful things she has come up with.
I love the quote I put on the picture but for the record... I think my son is an incredible gift too.
My cousin Lesley asked me to take engagement pictures for her. While taking the pictures we decided to get a family shot. My kids jumped into the picture because they wanted a picture with the baby. We were all laughing. I think it is the cutest picture. Don't they look like the perfect family of five that anyone would love to be part of?
Here is a real family photo. I LOVE this one. I had to add a quote to this picture. It has just the perfect space for one.
Last, here is a picture I love of my kids.
I'm not going to post their engagement pictures because I think they should see them first. I got some great ones but about 250 out of 300 pictures were terrible because I had trouble with my camera. I was so frustrated with my photography skills. I couldn't figure out what in the world I was doing wrong!! Hopefully some of my photography buddies will be able to give me good advice. I'm baffled as to what I could have done wrong. At least I got good pictures from time to time throughout the night.
Normally I hate to shop but I had a blast shopping today. I went with my four year old who thought everything was "beautiful". She was so much fun. We left the boys home. They think five minutes in the mall is going to kill them. Geez. Ibought Megan school clothes and she was so excited to get socks and headbands and anything else she could find that would match. I didn't let her buy everything but she got just enough she was really happy.
We stopped in the Hello Kitty store. I told Megan she couldn't buy anything, and that we were just looking. As soon as I saw the prices that wise idea flew out the window. They had an entire table with the cutest little things under $2. We are definitely going to have to stop in there every time we go to the mall. I wanted to buy everything, but Keith will be grateful to know I have some self control. We got out of there with only one little stamp set for only $1.81.
My favorite things in the store were the pencils and erasers. Did any of you love erasers as much as I did? I remember having so much fun admiring them during class. I specifically remember my 5th grade desk and pencil box. Oh how I loved that pencil box and all the super cute pencils and erasers I had. Megan is too young to appreciate erasers. I hope she likes them later in life :)
Ok... if you read this whole post you are a true friend.
