S is for Started Kindergarten, Sophie

Back in Aug. Sophie started Kindergarten. Her teacher is Mrs. Littlefeild and Sophie just loves her. She is young, no kids yet and from California. Sophie goes in the mornings at 11:30 so we have some time in the morning to take it easy.

She is excited that she can read (a little) and sometimes just makes up words that she thinks fits better with the story while she goes along. She loves to play with My Little Ponies and keeps wanting to add to her collection. She watches You Tube videos of My Little Pony toys that kids get and lets me know what she wants her next one to be.
Before school started she lost her first tooth and got her hair cut in a short bob.

I got to go on the field trip to Cornbellies right before Halloween with Sophie's class. That was fun taking them around to the jumping pillows, the wooden play sets, the duck races, the corn maze, and the straw play set with slides. The picture of us above is on the tractor hay ride we did at the end.
This is a picture of Sophie at Jocelyn (her cousin) and Ty's wedding reception in August. She had a great time!
Sophie being a reindeer at the school sing along. The kindergartners sang Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer. They had a Polar Express party in class also for their last day before Christmas break.
For her birthday (last Friday), she brought a book to class with a picture of her in the front cover with her signed name. She chose There was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bell. She instructed me (after we had bought the book) that I needed to sing it when I read. I love this idea her teacher has instead of bringing in treats. Sophie sat right in front of me and giggled the whole time. She is such a happy girl!
She had a kitty party on Sat. She wore a new pink kitty shirt. We made tails and ears for all the girls. We made little collars and then I did a shrinky dink tag for each of them with their names on it. They loved to watch them melt and shrink with my embossing heat gun. We made kitty heads with pipe cleaners for whiskers and played pin the tail on the kitty and a mice toss into the kitty's mouth. Sophie made a little sign that said "Fansy (she sounded it out herself) Feast" for the goldfish crackers she put in a bowl on the floor. She loved opening her gifts and was so excited about the things she got. She wasn't interested in cake or ice cream. Nanny Nette helped make a kitty cake for her and helped me all day get ready for the party. Grandpa took Scotty on a Walmart shopping trip to get him out of our hair for a couple hours. It was wonderful having the extra help. Scotty took a HUGE nap and slept through the whole party, it was great! At the end we gave each girl a frosted pillow box with a thank you note (her invites were similar) and we put a Kit Kat bar, goldfish crackers, mouse, her tail, ears, and collar (if she wanted to take them off), and her kitty she made. Sophie was was so happy with how it all went and how many of her friends came! It was a great 6th birthday!

Thanksgiving in the heat!

This year we went to St. George for Thanksgiving. Jimmy's parents moved there this summer and I think we will enjoy getting out of the cold for visits during the winter. Although, it wasn't too cold here either.

The highlights from our trip were

-The Kendall Family (Jimmy's sister) drove in from Texas

-Sophie saying, "look DYU" When she saw the big D on the hill.

-Kneaders when we rolled into town

-Girls shopping while the boys golfed

-the bug net that kept Scotty in his portacrib at night (got it new from a lady down the street $1 off KSL)

-Kassie (our sister-in-law) & Arriana came from SLC

-Jon Atkin family came from S. Jordan

-a delicious Thanksgiving Dinner

-bingo ($10 for the winners, we had 3 winners in our family)

-pies

-homemade French toast with Kneaders bread

-Snow Canyon hiking

-In & Out

-Tuacahn's live nativity, hot cocoa, Santa, dancing to Christmas music, pictures by the tree

-Pizza Factory

-spam & eggs, hash browns & biscuits the morning we left

Just One More Book- pleeeeease!

A couple months ago, I went to an Osborne book party at my neighbors. I've always believed it's important to read to my kids. With my mom being an elementary school teacher, she has always stressed the importance. Sometimes it's good to get a reminder though to step it up a bit. The lady that sells the books based her presentation on the Read-aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease. It is a great resource for finding studies that have been done with reading aloud to children and has great suggestions for age appropriate books. Very motivating!

The lady that did the class had some great ideas to help get more reading done with your kids. One of her suggestions was to display your child's books so they can see the cover. When your child can see the cover, it makes the book so much more interesting to them and more likely to pick up. She even went as far as to say they will grab books and look at them rather than playing with toys.

Sophie's books had been in a basket in her closet. It seems like we would usually read the same few books over and over. So I wanted to change that. First, I brought in an unused bookcase that was in the guest room. Then I found some shelves that used to be in the front room but since I had redecorated and not found a new place for the shelves. The lady suggested putting up a rain gutter and displaying the books in that (you can get it inexpensively and in different colors and styles) but I like free even better so I stuck to what I had on hand. (the bookcase and the shelves I got at garage sales a few years ago)

So it has worked. Sophie reads a variety of books now. I switch out the ones that are displayed, I have her pick from the ones that are out when it's reading time, and then put out new ones and I rotate with some of the ones that are in Scotty's room. She keeps saying, "this is my new favorite book," and then says it again when I introduce a new one. I usually read two books to her at night and then have her read one to me. She would have me read to her for hours if she had her way. Yesterday we cleaned up her room and she had books all over the floor mingled with some little stuffed animals. My plan worked, yeah!!

I would say we have a good number of books but I am always adding to our stash. I like to get them at DI for $.25 to $1.50 or at garage sales for $.10 to $1 per book. I have also gotten some off of www.half.ebay.com. When I want a specific title, this is the way to go. It's about $3 for shipping and sometimes the books cost as little as $.75.

Another new find is Jibjab Jr. app for our Ipad. You know those little dancing elves at Christmas time that you add your face too? It's usually all over Facebook. Well, this is an app by them with children's story books. You put your child's face, name and skin tone in and then there is a story that you read them that is animated. There is a cute pizza one for free and then you can preview their others and read part of the story with your child's picture. To buy the book it is $7 for unlimited editing with who's face is in it or get a new book each month for $3 with limited editing. Last night, we spent at least 30 minutes putting the kids faces in and reading the previews and the Pizza book. I might need to invest in the monthly membership. It is great fun and would be nice when we are away from home to have a collection of personalized books. My 11 & 13 yr old even like to play with it and read the stories.

Here's a link to you tube to see Sophie reading the pizza story. (I can't figure out how to make the link live and to upload a video takes FOREVER! So if you want to watch it, you'll have to copy and paste, sorry!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HD0pno_SPos

JibJab Jr. Children's Books Starring You

With JibJab Jr. Books, you can make your child the STAR of the show. In just a few simple swipes, you can create personalized storybooks that feature your child's face and name. Your child will be enthralled by the great stories, colorful art, and awesome animations in every JibJab Jr. book. So download the app, turn out the lights and take your child on a personalized journey!

Download from iTunesDownload from iTunes >

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Add Faces (Boys or Girls)

Easy photo upload from your photo library, Facebook or from your iPad2 camera!

Personalize with a Name

Each book can be customized with your child's name for a truly personal experience.

Choose Skin Tone

Because Sophie and Scotty love me to read to them so much, I also have recorded myself reading several books to my computer, then I transfer it into Itunes (a folder called "books read by mom") and download it onto my little ipod nano. Sophie gets how it works and eventually Scotty will too. I say the title of the book at the beginning and then wait a few seconds so they can find the right book. Then I say "ding" each time the page needs to be turned. The Ipod isn't as easy for her to handle as a CD would be though so I need to burn them on a disk and then I think she would be able to do the whole thing on her own. What a fun thing for my grandkids too eventually. I would have loved to listen to books read by my grandmothers.

My first job & wreaths!

As a junior in high school, I had a class called career exploration. We got to pick two different jobs and go there for the last two hours of the school day & try it out. For the first half of the trimester, I went to a kindergarten class at Longfellow and helped the teacher. Those kids were adorable and they were so loving and sweet to me. The little girls loved it when I wore my cheer leading uniform for game days.

For the second half, I wanted to actually get a job after I was done with the temp position. My friend, Jeremy was a delivery boy at Staker Floral and one of the girls I cheered with (that was a year older) had gotten a job when she was finished with career exploration. I started a week before Valentines Day and I got thrown into the busiest season they have. They hired me to start working there within a week. So I would go there and work for free during school hours and then start getting paid once school was over.

I loved it- immediately! The people I worked with were great. We had so much fun. Jeremy was a riot and the ladies I worked with were so sweet. The girls my age became some of my best friends and I loved the girls that came home and worked there during the summer when they got back from collage. It was a dream job!

So not only did I work with the best people ever but I learned how to design. I watched for a good year before I became brave enough to do anything big. But by the time I was finished there, (4 years later) I could do casket pieces and wedding flowers.

I've done family members wedding flowers over the years, arrangements for my mom and of course stuff for my own home. I probably do wreaths the most- since they need to be switched out several times during the year.

So I thought I would show my most recent projects.

This first one isn't really anything I made from scratch but I love it! I found this moon with wire around it with a crow glued on at a garage sale for a buck. I didn't love the crow but I did like the moon. Later, I found this cute little homemade sewn owl for another buck. I love owls so I had to have that too. At first I didn't think of paring the two together but then it hit me. (that's usually how my mind works- I like two things and then they come together to make something cool that I love)

The next wreath I made this last weekend. I went to DI with Kali on Sat. after her futsal game (indoor soccer- with a smaller, heavier ball and different rules). Since garage sale season is over, I hit there more frequently. I found a big wreath for $5. It was ugly. It had garland wrapped tight around it, white non-working Christmas lights and then wired Christmas ribbon again wrapped around really tight. (the ribbon, about 5 yards, was actually really cute and I will use that for another project- the rest went in to the trash) It had no shape and luckily whoever made it, didn't glue anything on to it.

First, I lightly spray painted the wreath a sparkly gold color since my door is dark I wanted the wreath it pop. Then I went and found some flowers from my wreath that I am going to need to redo for Christmas this year. (it has been weather beaten but the flowers still looked great) They are some flowers that were 75% off at Bath and Body works after the holidays a few years ago. They had displayed them in big vases all over the store. I am not a huge fan of some fake flowers but these were velvety and classy looking. I also lightly sprayed them with the gold spray paint to give it a glittery look but keeping the burnt orange color.

Next I went to the basement and found some dark orange berry vines that have been just sitting around for years. I'm sure I got them for a great price too but I can't remember the details. I poked those in first, then the flowers, wrapped some gold ribbon around it, and then used some gold spray painted curly willow to finish it off.

I had left over of the orange berry vine so I put it on the backs of the chairs on our front porch.

I bought some fall colored pillows at DI to set out there ($1 to $3 each) and also 3 wooden pumpkins that were a set to put on the little table ($5 for the set).

For my next project, I got my inspiration from Pintrest. My new favorite thing is that website. I'm not just going to get ideas from there though, I am going to actually do many of them. Here was the post about how to do the scrabble wreath http://www.livinglocurto.com/2010/11/diy-burlap-scrabble-wreath/ I just did my own thing though and then used the scrabble tile idea.

I had gotten a scarf at DI for a buck, I was going to keep it to wear but then I got the idea to make a wreath out of it. I already had a Styrofoam wreath form to do it with. I cut out brown and white pinstripe fabric (one of Jimmy's too big shirts) and hot glued that on the back and up the side 1/2 inch. Then I laid the middle seam of the scarf in the middle of the wreath and glued that down. Then I glued it around the side of the wreath. I made some flowers out of fabric and lace and placed them on one side (I like the stripped scarf so I didn't want to cover it all up with the flowers) For the finishing touch, I put on the scrabble tiles. (I still have 1/2 the scarf left so I might do another for a gift or something)

A Year

The phone was ringing so early. It was about 6 am. I didn't get it in time before the answering machine picked up. When I looked at caller ID, it was my parents. So I called them back & they didn't pick up. They were already on the other line talking to someone else. It was only a minute before they called me back. I went in to Sophie's room, she was in my bed because I didn't want to wake anyone up. My mom said "Angela, Blake died last night." She told me the little she knew about it. He had come home from a Young Men's Youth activity. They had played laser tag. He talked to my brother, Ken (his dad) and his mom, Gina, for a minute and then went down to go to bed. He needed to wake up early in the mornings for school. About 45 minutes later their little dog, Cocoa, kept barking so Ken went to make sure everything was locked up. Gina thought maybe their was a burglar in the house since Cocoa wouldn't be quite.

When Ken went in the basement to he saw a light on and when he rounded the corner to Blake's room. He was laying on the floor. Ken screamed to Gina to call 911 and then Ken yelled to Brandon, 15 yrs old, in the other room to come help him. They gave him mouth to mouth and CPR until the ambulance came. They were never able to get his heart to start beating again. He was pronounced dead at the hospital.

So my parents had gotten their call around midnight and had waited until early morning to call me and my sisters and brother. My parents were driving from Idaho to Ken and Gina's as they called us.

I went and woke up Jimmy quietly so Sophie wouldn't wake up. We sat on Sophie's bed and cried. We decided not to tell Conner and Kali until after they came home from school. I didn't know how I was going to tell them their cousin had died.

After we got them off to school and Sophie and Scotty at a neighbors to be watched, we went to Ken and Gina's. It still didn't seem real. How could this have happened?

That night, Pleasant Grove High School had a candlelight vigil. Blake was a senior there. There was a huge crowd paying tribute to him. (the picture below is of Ken (Blake's dad) and Brandon embracing at the vigil)

The next days were filled with tears and planning. I got to work on a video of Blake's life for the viewing at the mortuary. I sat at a computer with Blake's best friend, Aaron, who also made a video and we went through thousands of pictures. It was therapy for me. I loved seeing all the pictures of him and his smiling face. He had a full and good life. His parents had taken him to experience a lot of the world for someone who was just 17.

Months later, we found out that Blake died of his heart beating out of rhythm and that caused cardiac arrest. He was a strong, healthy, active young man but they think he had probably had some cases of this happening before in a smaller degree.

Yesterday was a year from the night he died (late at night). We met at the Mt Timpanogas Temple late in the morning and went through a temple session with my family and a few close friends. Ken went through for Blake. It was a tender, spiritual experience.

We got together for soup and salads in the evening with Gina's and our family. Gina read a children's picture book to us called, Wherever You Are my love will find you. She gave a copy of the book to each family. Inside the book was a scrapbook page they made of pictures of what Blake loved to do

and a photo of the pallbearers from the graveside services on the day of his funeral.

On the left side 4 back, was little Brigham (11 yr. old then) who is too small to be seen. His other brother, Brandon, is in the back. This picture is worth 1,000 words to me.

Gina had also written a poem for Blake a few days ago. She emailed it to me and I put it together with a picture of him. I printed a 4x6 copy for everyone that came to the cemetery and then I made a 12x12 for Ken and Gina.

Then we went over to the cemetery. Ken & Gina had invited Blake's friends and the youth of their ward. They had white balloons for everyone to sign with sharpies, hot chocolate, and donuts. While we went to the temple, Kali had babysat her three cousins, Scotty and Sophie. She helped them all write a note and color a picture for Blake to put on his grave.

We sang a Child's Prayer

Heavenly Father, are you really there?
And do you hear and answer ev'ry child's prayer?
Some say that heaven is far away,
But I feel it close around me as I pray.

Heavenly Father, I remember now
Something that Jesus told disciples long ago:
"Suffer the children to come to me."
Father, in prayer I'm coming now to thee.

Pray, he is there. Speak, he is list'ning.
You are his child; His love now surrounds you.
He hears your prayer; He loves the children.
Of such is the kingdom, the kingdom of heav'n.

Then we sang I Feel My Saviors Love

1. I feel my Savior’s love In all the world around me. His Spirit warms my soul Through ev’rything I see. 2. I feel my Savior’s love; Its gentleness enfolds me, And when I kneel to pray, My heart is filled with peace. 3. I feel my Savior’s love And know that he will bless me. I offer him my heart; My shepherd he will be. 4. I’ll share my Savior’s love By serving others freely. In serving I am blessed. In giving I receive. Chorus He knows I will follow him, Give all my life to him. I feel my Savior’s love, The love he freely gives me.

Then Gina had Brandon (16), Brigham (12), and Emma (10) come up. They had signed a yellow balloon instead of white. Then we all let our balloons go. Some of the kids had flashlights that they were shining on the balloons as they went up and it made them look like they had lights inside them. The moon was a crescent shape and it was reflecting off of the balloons as they disappeared into the night sky.

Blake was an amazing guitar player. This year his brother, Brandon, started taking lessons. My brother, Ryan and Brandon changed the words to a Pink Floyd song, played guitars and sang last night. It was so touching. I'm sure Blake is so proud of his little brother. They were so close and Brandon misses him so much. And I am so thankful to my brother, Ryan, for spending lots of time with Brandon. I bet it's healing for both of them.

Then we shared memories of Blake. A friend had written a rap for him, it had neat words. I'd like to get them from him. Another girl was an artist and had pencil sketched a picture of Blake and then made a collage of the things he loved. That was amazing. She had framed it for Ken & Gina and then also gave them the smaller original. Other family members and friends shared stories. Steph and Camile (my sisters) did a cheer that spelled Blake's name that we used to do when he was younger. That was fun. His young men's advisor had spent the last night with Blake playing laser tag. He told a funny story about Blake from that night. It was neat hearing what people had to say.

When we came home we put the little two to bed and then let Conner and Kali stay up for a bit. Conner said he was scared because it was about the same time Blake had died. So he came into our room and we laid in bed and talked about the past year. He recalled how he didn't cry when I first told him about Blake. But then when I told Kali he was sitting on the couch with Jimmy and he broke down. He was only supposed to be in bed with me until Jimmy came to bed but then Jimmy saw on the news that a 13 yr old boy died yesterday in S. Jordan when he was hit by a car crossing the street on the way to school. So Jimmy came to bed and cuddled with Conner all night.

It was a emotional day yesterday that had a healing effect on me. Ken and Gina planned a very special day for us all. I am grateful for families and for my knowledge that families can be together forever. I love and miss you, Blake!

Hitting the Yard Sale Jackpot & Yard Sale Tips

I started this post over a month ago and never finished it. It is such a pain to place pictures in the right place after downloading them. (that's what took the longest) So I didn't post all the pictures I wanted to for sake of time. I am certainly rusty at this!

I LoVe hitting garage sales early on Saturday mornings. I have a physical reaction when I see garage sale signs. My mouth waters a bit and my heart beats a bit faster! (that sounds crazy to admit but it is true!!)

Jimmy was out of town this weekend (Lake Powell Man-cation) so when Scotty woke before 7, we jumped in the car and hit the bank, I withdrew $60 bucks (usually I do $40 but I decided since Jimmy was living it up on a houseboat, kidless, I'd treat myself to a little more)

So here is what I found....

Home Sweet Home plaque (trade with Brooke from cheerleading classes for her girls this summer) free :) (all decor on top is from DI or garage sales)

Our family is forever temple plaque and a family plaque (not shown) (free- Brooke)

a large black & white (vintage, antique?) wooden cat $1 (I got the other two cats at DI last year and I like putting them out at Halloween)

A tiny bike for Scotty $1

A pink, black and white dress for Sophie. $1 (she wore it to church on Sunday- so cute!)

A red Theodore California"church" purse from the 60's $1 The cute old lady told me she didn't use it much because it was a pain to transfer all her stuff from one purse to another. Then she asked if I would use it and if I liked it. I love, love the style!

metal wall hangings (6 of them) $8

(I spray painted them black and put them in Kali's room for her to use as magnet boards for pictures and notes)

7 baskets for Kali's shelf (Brooke) free :)

Two small vases/pitchers (green & aqua) for Kali's room $.50

a Metal letter C to put in Conner's room (I am going to spray paint this orange so I'll post a picture when I get it done) $1

a kids art display board $1

An old copy of Green Eggs and Ham $.10 ( I memorized this book when I was little... I can't believe I haven't had a copy until now)

5 little cars for Scotty $.25 each (Each time I stopped, I would tell him I would look for a car for him. I could leave him in the car and he would play with his new truck and wait for a new one. He was such a little trooper and it well worth the $1.25!

A huge framed print $5 (I might take out the print and put something else in it eventually, but for now I have it hanging in the hall in the basement)

A pair of jeans for Sophie $3 (a little pricey for a garage sale but still cheaper than DI)

A pair of black and grey stripped leggings for Sophie $.50

6 homemade, fresh, hot cinnamon rolls to bring home to my hungry kids $.50 each (I should have bought the whole pan) My kids loved them and there were none left for Jimmy when he got home last night

Fabric for a Peacock costume for Sophie. $3

2 pairs of shoes for Scotty, a multicolored Nike pair and an all black Air Jordan pair $2 each (he needed them badly, I've been holding off buying new ones at the store just for a day like today :)

Hat for Conner $.50

My most exciting purchase was made at the very end of the day. I was leaving to go to Kali's soccer game at around 3 and thought I would stop at the neighbors sale to see if they were still out. My friend, Emily, was selling some benches she got to go around a fire pit they haven't gotten yet. She sold me all four benches for $5 plus she threw in a wall growth chart for free. The benches are wobbly and need some screws and a little TLC but for $5 I couldn't go wrong! (plus I think they are charming just how they are)

I know I left out some little odds and end things but at the end of the day I still had $15!

Sometimes friends say "you are just lucky to find things at garage sales." I don't think that's true. I think everybody can find treasure at garage sales. So here are some tips that work good for me that I've learned over the years.

-I stop at garage sales even if it doesn't look like they have anything good from the road. I would have passed up that little old ladies on Sat. (I got the red purse and two small pitchers from her) She just had two little tables out and most of the stuff I wasn't even remotely interested in. But then in the middle of what seems like junk will be a treasure. So don't prejudge. (plus the lady was the sweetest- that was worth my stop right there.)

-hit them when they start, the good stuff goes fast especially when it's priced good, I wake up early on Sat. mornings I get up around 6:30 because I am so excited and I look online to find where some are that start at 7. (KSL classified is where I look) Most of them start at 8 or 9 so I hit some early ones first. I usually just stay close to home there are plenty to be found.

-if you see things are priced high, grab a simple item and see if they will come down in price (I don't try to rip people off and usually things are priced good, but some garage sales are just overall priced too high, by the end of the day when they haven't sold anything they will come down) So if this is the case, I don't waste my time at these ones and just leave. There are always tons of great priced garage sale treasures just waiting to be found!

-think outside the box when you see items. Imagine them painted/sprayed a different color or re purposed.

-keep a list of items that you are looking for, (hold off buying items at the store because as soon as you do, you'll find it for 1/8 of the price at a garage sale) If there are tons of things at the yard sale ask if they have an item (ex. toddler boys shoes size 7) then they can direct you to the right area or tell you they don't have it so you don't waste time looking. Sometimes they may not have it out but be willing to sell it. On Sat. I asked if they had any tiny My Little Ponies and the lady went inside and came out with three and then she didn't charge me for them when we totaled my amount.

-don't be afraid to stow things away for Christmas and birthdays. I found a brand new hat for Conner on Saturday that I am tucking away. Kali accidentally saw it and wanted it so if he doesn't like it, I know she does. I've found ipod docks that I've given the kids, toys, clothes, ect for birthdays. I also have found things I use for reward charts. Sometimes I give the kids things that they need now after I go garage "sailing" but more often I tuck it away for later.

-sometimes there are cute boutique homemade items at garage sales that are super cheap. These are great for girlfriend, Visiting Teaching, and Mother's Day gifts. I keep that in mind when I shop.

-I used to grab things at garage sales for great prices and then resell them on Ebay, craigslist or KSL. Baby items sell great on KSL- especially during the winter when there are no garage sales. Also name brand clothes in great condition. (Gymboree has been my best seller for clothes on Ebay)

-for everything you bring home, take an item to DI or a local thrift store (or have your own garage sale) It's easy for things to add up. So make sure you are getting rid of stuff you no longer use or have outgrown.

I have garage sale withdraws during the winter! DI is fun but not as cheap! I'll have to do a post of some of my latest DI finds though because there are treasures there too! My house is decorated with garage sale and DI finds in every room. I would say that's where most of my home decor comes from.

For my friends that live close and want to come around with me next spring. I'll help you find treasures of your own!

Better late than never!

So it's been about a year and a half since I've posted. Yikes! I feel over whelmed every time I think about starting up again. It's not like I blogged very much since I had baby #4 and it seems like I slowed way down once he came along. As a result of my long absence to blogging, I had a hard time remembering how to change my header and I forgot how to change my background color... but one thing at a time.

So last November, my friend, Cecily, ( http://www.mychaosmybliss.com ) from the days back in the Village (Ogden, Weber State) came to the American Fork Amphitheater (by the Mount Timpanogus Temple) and took our family pictures for us. With those photo's I made the collage (the one in the header) and ordered a big canvas from Costco. I ordered it for Jimmy for his birthday (it was more of a present for me though, :) & I have it hanging in the entry hallway.

Just tonight, I was inspired to do a project with the Family Proclamation to the World with a family picture in the background. I did this for a Christmas gift for Ken & Gina and their family a couple years ago with their family picture.

My brother, Ken, took the picture I used at my cousin, Andera's, wedding last year. My sunglasses were on the top of my head for all the pictures. Woops!) After I take down our Halloween owl art above the couch, I'm going to hang it there. It's going to be a 16x20 print in a matted frame. Here's a peek of the jpeg.

With both of these projects I used the program Memory Mixer 3. Whenever I want to do a digital project, that's my go to. It's user friendly and although it's limited in what I can do, I just don't have the time or patience right now to learn photoshop. (it's on my list of to-do's though)

Both these projects have reminded me it's time to get new family pictures taken. This year, my friend Steph ( www.steph@picsbysteph.com ) from Lehi is going to be taking our family pictures. She took our family pictures in 2005, when we only had 2 kiddos! This year, I taught her two girls cheer for the summer for a photo shoot trade. I keep telling myself I need to loose 10 lbs before we do it but it's getting colder and the kids are getting older!!