ck convention in mesa...

so excited that i had to post. michelle, sandy and i taught at the ck convention in phoenix.

we loved teaching so much that we decided to sign up to teach at the one in mesa.

i believe it's in april! so i've been trying to work on that this week.

i had an idea of what i wanted to do. it was just coming up with the cover.

it's going to be a unique kind of mini book. nothing that i've seen done before. anyways it finally hit me on what i wanted to do. now it's getting it done.

sometimes the hard part is coming up with the whole idea. i'm so excited.

i will post more info. as the time gets closer for the registration to open comes.

i think that might be in feb. anyways i know that i'm not giving out a lot of info.

yet i just had to share my excitement with you! continue to check back.

i'm sure i will have more to post after the first of the new year!

oh my goodness in all my excitement i almost forgot.

devine memories will be having a booth at the convention! we're all excited about this also!

tons of work, but we're looking forward to it!

upcoming classes

Follow the Leader is right around the corner. michelle and i are teaching this fun class tuesday, dec. 5th. we still have a few spots open. michelle and i each teach one layout during the class. then we also have other kits there to purchase for you to work on or take home with you! this sneek peek is of the layout i will be teaching. i've made an arrow out of wood that is super cute on this layout. we will also be using the cute magnolia rub-ons! so if give the store a call and sign up! also last month i made cards out of the scraps to go with the kits. it was a huge success. so i will be offering this again this month! come join in on the fun!

also i've filled my advent tree class up 3 times. we continue to get people that want to take the class. if you go to the store website and scroll down until you find the big wood tree this is the class i'm talking about. i've decided that with such a busy schedule i won't be able to hold another class right now. however if your interested in a kit then please contact the store. i will take sign ups for the kit up until the 10th of dec. the kit will include the wood, envelopes, instructions and a list of the other supplies needed to create the tree. the cost of the kit will be $22. i'm going to try and have all the kits done by the 15th of dec.

look back soon as i will be posting some more classes and classes in a bag! 

fun saturday!

okay so yesterday amy taught a class at devine memories. i was able to watch her darling girls for her! we had a blast. caitlin watched our puppies for a good hour after amy left. she just stood at the sliding door giggling! so later on craig took aliya and emily to fill up the water bottles. they were able to pick out a treat for helping. aliya picked out her favorite, m&m's. emily picked out one of those round lolipops that have the swirled colors. what is it about those suckers that attract the kids to them? it's like a magnet. then they never finish eating them!

anyways while they were gone i let tink in the house. she's the calmer one of the 2 dogs. caitlin was in heaven! we all played on the floor. crawling around and i thought she was going to walk a few times without the help of the furniture. i was having such a great time i had to grab my camera. so i thought i would post a few of my favorites!



i love to take pictures so this was a lot of fun! i have several more that i love. just with blogger i can only load 5. so here they are!


















this one she was watching the dog run around the house and just getting so excited about it!












someones up to something here!
















the ones that i took in front of the sliding door are my favorite! it's very subtle, but you can see her reflection in the window! completely by luck for me to get these. i couldn't have planned them!

amy your girls are welcome here anytime!

the end...

okay so i had to post about thanksgiving in like 5 different posts. too many photos to show! it's just a nice way to get the other family caught up on things!

so if you want you can read from hear down and it will be backwards or you can scan down and start with the great thanksgiving and continue with the chapters. it all works!

so today there was a great sale at devine memories. i spent all day down there! it was such a blast to hang out and help! the ladies who work there are just awesome! the customers are also the best! some of them would just kinda hang out and chat with us! it was a great day! it stayed pretty steady all day! we were even lucky enough to have lunch together. we ate at just the right time! we enjoyed wonderful food from gecko grill!!!!!!!!!

so now i'm going to get caught up tomorrow on some laundry and house cleaning! hopefully we'll have time and energy left over to start decorating for christmas!

hope everyone enjoyed this wonderful holiday weekend! check back for some more class updates. i've got 3 spots left on the advent tree for the 8th of dec. (during the day) wonderful deal on that class!!!! don't let it pass you by.

also be on the look out for a lot more wood shapes to appear in the store next week! they make great gifts and wonderful ornaments!

night all!

chapter 4

okay so this is one of my kids favorite games. we all end up laughing so hard! it's a fun game!














yep they're at it again. no matter how many times you tell them to stop they still tease each other!












okay so we went and played a mini family football game. we couldn't play very long because it got dark so quick. so we came home and the kids wanted to play twister.

the kids had a blast with this one! even baba and i played! man that's a hard game! tons of laughs though!

twister makes for some interesting pictures.

so needless to say i was wiped out! i crashed on the couch around 7pm for a nap. then when everyone went to bed later i wasn't tired. yep i tried getting caught up on my scrapping!

chapter 3

okay so our family is definately a "game" family! gotta have the snacks to go with it though! everyone has their favorites!!!

most of the time we like to play the guys against the girls! the girls rock!

lately kameron has really gotten better about me taking pictures of him. so he was playing around a bit with his water bottle so we were playing around just having some fun.

chapter 2

kelsey biking it with baba. hasn't been on her bike in awhile. thanks g-pa for fixing the tires!




aliya decides to take her scooter for a spin. and yes she's wearing boots. and yes we get 20 comments a day on them. and no it's not cold enough here to be wearing them. they were just too cute to pass up and they were the best $20 i've spent on shoes. she loves them! and she can pull it off! she's got a thing right now with the tape measure going through the basket on her scooter. don't know why, just don't argue! she actually spent most of her time dragging and pushing the scooter and posing for the camera!



okay the boys decided to join us outside. they had some fun tossing around the football for a bit!







braylie trying to get through to go up the stairs. 

wonderful thanksgivnig!

we had such a wonderful thanksgiving this year! it was so nice to just relax and go with the flow! kameron had plans to play in a football turkey bowl, but some reason it didn't happen this year. he was pretty bummed about that. once my little brother got here he was more excited. it gave him something to do.

this is how kam and jon spent some of the morning. hooked up playing games together. hey they were happy and getting along that's what matters!
this craig. for those of you that don't know craig this picture just describes him to a "T". he loves to cook. loves his shorts and t-shirts. on his days off you'll find him sporting his flip flops! this picture makes me smile!
well the girls wanted to ride bikes and scooters. so they talked g-pa into pumping the tires and getting the bikes ready. baba even decided to take a bike ride. (g-pa and baba are my parents) it was such a beautiful day. you can tell we've had great weather here, craig has the top of the jeep! love jeep weather at our house!
baba taking the bike for a spin.









okay so i have so many pictures that you know your going to have to see them in the next post, which will end up being before this one. so onto the next chapter. 

happy turkey day!!!

okay so i thought this was cute for turkey day!

Happy Eating
- Anonymous
'Twas the night of Thanksgiving, But I just couldn't sleep... I tried counting backwards, I tried counting sheep. The leftovers beckoned...the dark meat and white, But I fought the temptation with all of my might. Tossing and turning with anticipation, The thought of a snack became infatuation. So, I raced to the kitchen, flung open the door And gazed at the fridge, full of goodies galore. I gobbled up turkey and buttered potatoes, Stuffing with gravy, green beans and tomatoes. I felt myself swelling so plump and so round, Till all of a sudden, I rose off the ground. I crashed through the ceiling, floating into the sky With a mouthful of pudding and a handful of pie But, I managed to yell as I soared past the trees... Happy eating to all -- pass the cranberries, please.

and this cute little one also...

A lady was picking through the frozen turkeys at the grocery store, but couldn't find one big enough for her family. She asked the stock boy, "Do these turkeys get any bigger?" The stock boy answered, "No ma'am, they're dead."

hopefully later i'll have lots of pictures to show!!!

have a great day and enjoy your families and friends and the precious time that we have been given to spend it with them!

nothing to important...

Your Power Color Is Orange

You live in the fast lane. You love action, risk, and competition.You're spontaneous, enthusiastic, and persuasive.But you're also easily bored - and love to rebel against structures.You resent rules ... as well as people's attempts to control you!

What's" Your Power Color?

oh i found this somewhere and decided to take the quiz. the part about being easily bored is right on! and somedays i do hate structure! if i took it tomorrow i'd probably be a different color!

hey i found this on elsie flannigans blog and thought i would give it a try! funny thing is i'm not really a cat person!

'What" will your obituary say?' at QuizGalaxy.com

<okay i guess this doesn't really count as catching you up on things over this way but it sure was fun! okay so could make a quick list of things i'm grateful for since i don't have my layout done!1.wonderful friends2.loving and wonderful family3.opportunity to attend church4.holiday season5.wonderful weather6.good books to read(finished one this week)7.supportive husband8.long sunday naps9.humor10.a way to reach so many people that i know with a quick post11.many many more!

love, love, love wood!!!

well at least i do! i have a class tomorrow at devine memories. so i decided to make up some little pins to pass out. i always have scraps of wood laying around in the garage. so i made up a pattern and came up with these cuties! they look so cute all together! well i just love the fun things you can do with wood. one of my favorite things is the smell of cut wood. especially the pine. hmmmmmm. i know kinda wierd. i also love to cut wood this time of year. it's nice and cool and it's so relaxing. gives me lots of time to think! okay so i'm off to bed. we've got a long class tomorrow! should be lots of fun! 

halloween photos!

okay so these are some halloween pics i promised you awhile back! i've been really bad about blogging lately! sorry! i've been just putting it off and then before you know it a week has gone by and then another. hopefully i'll get back on track with it!

aliya really enjoyed all aspects of halloween once it was finally here. in fact she already wants to be a firefighter next year. i'm sure that will change by the time halloween rolls around though. we did find a firemans hat on clearance. so she can use that in the mean time!

okay so i know i still haven't posted my gratitude layouts. i think i had really good intentions when i started that. it's just sometimes i forget how busy life is without those extras. i'm still taking pics. and i'm still keeping track of those things that i'm grateful for. it really helps me to remember the small and simple things when things get very chaotic. i will continue to keep track and hopefully every now and then be able to share something with you in a layout.

i've been busy with classes at devine memories.

i'm teaching the advent calendar again tomorrow. there is a picture of it on the home page of
devine memories. this class is full with people wanting kits. it's definately a fun class. i went ahead and added another one for december the 8th during the day. it's a friday. so if your interested in that i know i have a few spaces still open. i'm also going to be teaching our regular "follow the leader" with michelle. then i will have one more class in december. i'm currently working on finishing up that one. it's a wood project that will be in a frame. it's the baby Jesus in the stable with a star. i'll post a pic. of it when i get it finished.

everything else is going well right now. just very busy. it's just the time of year to be busy. we're totally enjoying the weather here! it's been really cooling down at night. it's been so nice sleeping with the windows open. i love the smell of the air when i wake up in the mornings. although it makes me want to stay in bed longer than i should. well i have a few last minute things to finish for class tomorrow so i'm off! have a great day and enjoy the simple things!

so far behind...

that i think i've made a complete circle and i've almost caught up with myself.

if that makes sense then you know exactly what i'm talking about!

okay i'm gonna try and get back on track here! i'm usually pretty good about staying on top

of my blog! i'm still doing my gratitude journal. i just haven't completed the last 2 layouts.

i'm getting the pics. for one of them tomorrow. then i think i'll start back up again on this sunday. that way i don't have to try and play catch up! i've been busy with a few

other things and just kinda let those slide.

let's see how far back do i go?

HALLOWEEN

some of you knew my exciting dilemma for aliya's costume this year! and you get to hear

it again. well about 2 months ago i found a really cute costume at

a yard sale and only paid $2 for it! i was so proud of myself! i thought i was ahead of the

game! NOPE! aliya threw a kink into that plan! she informed that she wasn't dressing up!

no matter what i said she wouldn't budge on her decision!

UNTIL

3 days before halloween!

she came up to me and informed me that she wanted to be a "DOG".

okay????

ya well about 2 minutes later she decided that she needed to be a

"SUPER DOG"

no budging on that decision either.

so off we went shopping on the hunt for super dog! man did i luck out!

i ended up at j's and found this cute little headband with floppy ears and a nose that

came down and covered her face. perfect now for a cape!

well we found one in a pile of all the opened costumes at the bottom of the shelf.

the lady at the store gave it to us!

so we had the majority of our costume. we went to wally world and found a cute baseball t-shirt, gray with red sleeves. so i just stenciled on it and she was set!

for the next few days she wouldn't take that mask and cape off! she went around the house

yelling "super dog to the rescue!"

so for halloween i put these steam rollers in her hair. i just love when her hair is curly!

well that caused a screaming fit when i took them out. her comment was,

"NO, I DON'T WANT TO LOOK LIKE A GRANDMA!"

okay, what??????????

well i got her calmed down and she turned out soooo cute! we got many compliments

on her costume! a few of which really irritated her! when people told her what a cute dog, bear or whatever! she said in a stern voice 'i'm not a (dog, bear, or whatever) i'm super dog!

so needless to say we had an eventful halloween!

the other 2 were at their dads so no stories to unload about them!

okay i'm definitely a chatter! so i'm not going to catch you up all in one post!

i'll come back later tonight or sometime tomorrow.

i'll post the halloween pics also!

later!