Goodbye Twenties

I had a birthday last week, a very sad birthday...I turned 30!! I can't belive it. I don't feel thirty, not that thirty is old, but when I was younger it did seem old. But now that I have reached that age, I realize that I was wrong. I had a great birthday week and had some sort of celebration almost every day. It was great! My family got together the Sunday before my birthday and we had birthday dinner. Our regular Yancey tradition. Charyn, Jackson, and Zander came from Idaho Falls (Mike was in Seattle at a football game). We had pulled pork tacos and pumpkin pie. My choice and it was delicious! I was spoiled and got 2 new purses from Charyn. Some scrapbook paper and stickers from my mom along with a Frankenstein candle warmer, some Halloween lights, 2 new books by Josi Kilpack, and a picture frame. My dad gave me some money and Matt did as well. I have been wanting a new pair of Shears so I am going to save that money to go towards those, maybe fore Christmas. I also had several friend drop by during the week and drop stuff off to me. It is nice to be thought of and know that you are loved. So on my actual birthday my mom, Charyn and I, and our friend Sheri, went on our semi-annual scrapbook reatreat. I was so excited to go and told Matt that that was all I wanted was to be able to go and scrapbook for a few days and get away from the daily grind. My mom made a birthday cake for me while we were there and everyone sang Happy Birthday. It was nice. I was able to get 44 pages done and I put a small book together for Paxten with 20 pages in it. So the weekend was successful and the kids loved seeing the pages when I got home. It is so nice to be able to get away and spend some time with my mom and sister and the other friends we have made over the years as we have been scrapbooking there. I stayed up way too late, 2:00, 2:30 in the morning. And got up early 7:00 each morning. We laughed alot, ate to much and had a great time. I can't wait to go again!!! It was a great birthday and I think I can settle into my 30's alright, at least 40 is ten years away and I don't have to worry about that for a long time!!

Scrappin Weekend Update

Lately it has been really hard for me to find the time to sit down and update my blog. I don't know where my days go, I get up and get the kids going and before I know it my morning is gone and it is well into the afternoon and time to start thining about dinner. My days seem to fly by, in fact this year is going way too fast as well!! I guess that is life, and I better get used to it. Scrapbooking with my mom, sister, and our friend Sheri was a BLAST!!! I seriously could have stayed another week and still not have gotten caught up, but I did make some great progress. I managed to get 40 pages done and made a big dent in the pile of pictures I had to scrapbook. We had a very fun time being together and seeing some of the other ladies that are there as well. I stayed up until 2:30 a.m one day working on some pages, and anyone that knows me knows how unusual that is for me. I am usually in bed by 11:00 at the latest and up fairly early. But I was one a roll one evening and didn't want to stop. I made really good progress that particular day and got 26 pages done in just that day!! Our weekend was full of laughter, too much food, music, more laughter, late nights, early mornings, and a LOT of supplies. It was absolutely perfect and I can't wait to go back again!!

Scrapping Weekend

I am so excited that I get to go on a girls weekend this weekend to go scrap booking with my mom and sister. We will be gone for the entire weekend and Matt is watching the kids. It will be the first time he has been with all the kids by himself for the long. I sure hope it goes alright. I am sure the house will be a wreck when I get home, but that will be okay, as long as he survives. This is something that I look forward to and enjoy doing so much. It is like a little break from being a referee, chauffer, cook, maid, and mom for a few days. It also makes Matt appreciate me a little more that he usually does. I have been preparing for the last month to go, getting all my supplies together and putting together ideas for pictures and layouts, hoping that I will be able to get a lot done. I have over 300 pictues that I need to scrapbook into something and I would love to get a big chunk of that done. I am not sure I will ever be caught up, but I sure enjoy trying. The kids always love to spend time with their dad and to have him spoil them even more than usual. They also love it when I return home and they get to see the new pages I have done of them and they get to add them to their books. My scrap books are my most prized possesions, besides my kids. They hold so many wonderful, and pricelss memories. I am so glad that I have the time and ablility to make these books for my family. Wish me luck and great success, I will let you know how much I get done!!

I am packed and ready to go. I have about 9 totes with all my scrabook supplies and I wil have one small suitcase. Matt rolls his eye when he sees all that I take with me. I have to be prepared. You should see the sububan when it is full to the brim with all the supplies of three or four of us. It is packed so full, we usually have to take out the back seats to have enough room!!

Scrap Weekend

I went with my mom and friends Sheri to our scrap book retreat this last weekend. Matt made arrangements to get work off so he could watch Parker and Paige while I went. Of course since I was taking Paxten with me, he decided he would catch the bug that Parker had earlier in the week. So I was up with Paxten the night before I went scrapbooking. The day I was going to leave he seemed fine, hadn't thrown up for a while and I decided that I would still go and try to get some pages done. We arrived on Thursday evening and I set myself the goal of 10 pages. Usually I try and get 30-50 pages done, but I knew that having Paxten with me would make that a very big challenge. So I set myself a realistic goal. I worked hard on Friday and with the help of my mom and Sheri and a few other ladies there taking turns with Paxten I was able to get 10 pages done. I was very excited, thinking that I could possible get another 10 pages done the next day. If only....during the night, I caught the bug that Parker had, then Paxten had. I was up almost the entire night visiting the bathroom. It was horrible. I was trying not to wake up the other people there and I felt miserable. By morning I was sure wishing I was in my own home, in my own bed, by my own toilet. I called Matt and had him come and get Paxten and me and take us home, so I missed 1 1/2 days of scrapbooking and I was mad about it. Why did I have to get sick? and why on this weekend? the one weekend I actually get my scrap books stuff out and get caught up on pages!! The bug only lasted 24-48 hours and I am feeling much better (Matt and Paige also got it over the weekend, so it made it's way thru the whole family) So now more than ever I am looking forward to the Spring retreat so I can get myself caught up. I am setting the goal for 75 pages at that time to make up for this last weekend. I won't have Paxten with me and if I can get a move on it I cane get really organized and know exactly what I am going to do... I can't wait!!

Scrap Weekend

I got home last night after 3 days of scrapbooking with my mom and sister and a bunch of other ladies. We went to Lava again and had a good time getting away. Paxten was super fussy the entire weekend and we all took turns holding him. Some of the other ladies even helped out and held my little man. I wasn't able to get as many pages done as I usually do (50) but I did get 14 pages done and they turned out pretty cute. It was just fun to get away and spend time with my mom and sister and to just be able to relax and hang out. I look forward to next time and just hope that Paxten will be better then!

Playing Catch Up

I have had good intentions to get on the computer and update the blog, but what I didn't plan on was our computer crashing. It has been super slow the last few weeks and hard to get onto the Internet. But this last weekend it froze up and we couldn't even turn it on. So we took it to a computer guy and he cleaned it all up and now it is as good as new. Luckily we didn't have to buy a new one. Along with the computer falling apart I had to get new brakes on the van last week. $400 later the van is running great and I can now drive it without being afraid that the brakes will give out on me. A few days after the brake repair my phone quit working. All the screen would show was a white screen. I couldn't do anything on it, I took it in and it is defective and just my luck they don't have a replacement phone in their store so I had to go about 5 days without a cell phone. I hope that this is the end of things falling apart and breaking for a while. We can't afford to replace anything else!! Oh and on top of all that, we have all been sick! So 2 co-pays and 11 prescriptions later we are on the mend. Hopefully this will be the last of the illness in our house for a while too!

On a good note, I was gone last weekend with my mom and sister for our semi annual scrapbook retreat! We had a great time and got a ton accomplished. I worked really hard to mentally prepare myself for the weekend so I was in a "scrapping" mood. I really wanted to get a lot done. This is one of the only times I am able to scrapbook without interruptions and to get caught up on all the pictures I have been taking. Luckily I was in the right mood and didn't have any major brain blocks and was able to get 50 pages done!! That is the most I have done at one time. I think that was the most that any one there did too. I had put my pictures together with paper that I wanted to use and things went together fairly smooth and I worked really hard to get that much done. I stayed up late and woke up early and kept getting page after page done. At the start of the weekend my goal was 30 pages. I had done about 25 in the past and was trying to out do myself. Well after the 2nd day I had reached that goal and exceeded it by 10 pages, so I changed my goal to 50 and I worked right until we had to pack up and leave. I felt really good about accomplishing so much and getting some what caught up on past events in our family. When I came home on Sunday and was showing the pages to Matt and the kids, Matt said to Big Brother "Aren't you glad mommy does this so we can remember all these good memories" I thought what a great husband!! Not only did he take time off work to watch the kids so I could go, but he fully supports what I do to capture the memories if our family. I love to scrapbook and I love love love to look back on the books I have done and reminisce over the great memories! I am so glad that my mom and sister and I all love to scrapbook so that we can spend time together and enjoy one another's company. It was just what I needed, to get away from the everyday routine and have to time to myself!! I look forward to the next retreat in about 6 months!

Scrapbooking

I just got back yesterday from a weekend filled with paper, brads, ribbon, stamps, eyelets, ink, staples and pictures and it was so fun. I went with my mom, my sister and a close family friend of ours to a place in Lava where we stayed the entire weekend indoors scrappin til our hearts content. We arrived on Thursday night and unloaded all our stuff, it was a miracle we got it all into one vehicle. Our overnight bags were so small compared to all the stuff we took along "just in case" we needed it for scrapbooking. We stayed up until about midnight getting things organized and ready to go before heading to bed. When we woke up we went straight to the table to start on out projects. I completed an 8x8 album with 20 pages from our Cruise to Baja and also did 23 12x12 pages mostly of the kids. I stayed up until 3 in the morning Saturday and got quite a bit done. Towards the ends of the weekend I hit a creative wall and couldn't' seem to get anything done. Everything I started didn't end up working or I didn't like it so I pretty much looked through magazines and watched everyone else there work. I was still pleased with all I got done. My goal was to get the 8x8 book done, so everything else I accomplished was just a bonus. We had a great time with lots of great food and made some new friends. There were about 25 women there scrabooking and sewing. It was a great getaway and a great birthday present! Thanks for letting me go Matt while you watched the kids!!

When I got home Matt asked if he could go golfing in Buhl with a friend...how can I possibly say no after he watched the kids all weekend so I could go. Nice timing Matt, you knew I couldn't say no!!

Today I have been busy getting the house back to normal after a weekend with just Matt and the kids. No matter how hard he tries he can't seem to keep the house out of shambles while I am away. So today I am working on 10 loads of laundry and picking up many toys and garbage that was left lying around. It will sure feel good to have a clean house once again!

Scrapbook Vacation

Well I got home last night from a weekend full of scrapbooking and fun. I went for the weekend with my mom and sister to a scrapbook retreat about an hour from home. We went with a group of about 20 women, none of which we knew when we got there. We got right to work when we got there on Friday morning and by then end of that night I had completed 15 pages. I stayed up until about 2:30. After a couple of hours of sleep I woke up and started up again. I was trying to accomplish my goal of 30 pages for the weekend. By the end of the 2nd night I was on page 29. I knew that I would hit my 30 page goal. On day three we only had about 5 hours to scrapbook before we needed to clean up and get home, but I managed to get my 30 done plus 3 more. I did 33 pages in 2 days (I say only 2 days because by the time we go there and the time we left it was only about 48 hours of scrapbooking.) I was so excited to have gotten that much done. I am almost caught up with Paige and Parker from their births so that makes me very happy. I still have several years from my childhood and Matt's to get caught up on, but in due time I know that I will get those done too. We had a great time laughing and visiting and scrapping our hearts out. You should have seen the place with 20 women who all brought their supplies, there was so much scrapbook stuff in the room, probably thousands of dollars worth of stuff. We even had a hard time getting everything in 1 vehicle, it was packed full. Matt watched the kids while I was gone, the first time I have left Paige over night and the first time he had been alone with both kids for that amount of time. He did really great, the house was even clean when I got home, what a great hubby! Paige was so excited to see me when I walked thru the door, she clung to me the rest of the day, afraid I would leave her again. And Parker even said to me "mommy not go again." I think he missed me too! It was nice to have a little break from the everyday monotony of things and to do something for myself. Now I have 5 1/2 days to get ready for our vacation! We are really excited and after this last weekend I know that the kids will be okay without me, or rather that I will be okay without them!