Tribute

http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/200/5127/

Blogger isn't letting me upload the video but it's worth seeing. I want to be like President Hinckley and "inspire people in a quiet way." Amazing man..... Just copy/paste the link in your address bar.

A Few Cute Lacey Moments:

Lacey plays with her babies all day long. As soon as her daddy got home from work and sat down for a minute, she made sure he played with the babies too. She piled them all on his lap, one at a time, then crawled into his lap and arranged them all around her. I forsee lots of grandchildren in my future! Laresa, I hope Luke gets a good paying job! LOL


Lacey loves high heeled shoes! She gets into my closet almost everyday and picks out a pair to trot around the house in. Yes, she really can walk in them, amazingly well for an 18 month old! These brown ones I just bought and they actually match her outfit. What's really funny is whenever we go down the shoe aisle in a store, she sits down in the buggy and takes her shoes off. She was born to be my shopping buddy!!

Decisions

UPDATE: Even if I add emails, only emails associated with those who have Blogger accounts will work. Since half my family doesn't have a Blogger account, they couldn't even view my blog. This makes having a blog pointless! So, I'm leaving it open and keeping the comments moderated. Hopefully this will be enough!!
I've decided to make my blog readable "by invitation only." I'm not sure exactly how it works yet but I can't risk having my friends' feelings hurt by mean people. This way I will know exactly who can read and who can't. I'm not going to post my email address here because obviously there is a weirdo on the loose. If you would like to read my blog - and I hope many of you will because I so love reading your comments - post a comment of this post. Leave your email address in your comment. I will get your email and then WILL NOT approve your post so it won't be visible to anyone but me. I won't allow it to go to my blog but I can still get your address. I think, still not sure about this, that I will need your email address in order to add you to the list of people allowed to read my blog. Sorry for all the hassel! I hope to hear from you all soon. All those ladies in my blog list - please send me your email!!
This is so sad, but very necessary. Thanks for understanding.

Stick Together!

There are lots of evil people in the world. Yes, I had more nasty comments, this time on my ShoutBox which has now been removed from my blog. I don't know who in the world would want to be involved in DRAMA or contention. I don't know who in the world would want to stir up lives with FALSE accusations and ugliness.

Friends stick together and friends work things out. REAL friendships won't be separated by anonymous evil posts. You see, once you've been somebody's friend for umm.... 30 YEARS or so, you know each other pretty well. It takes more than an anonymous comment to break up that kind of a connection.

SO - I can happily say to whomever you are who loves to act as Satan's go-between: YOU LOSE.

It's Connie's Birthday!

MyHotComments


Have a great birthday Connie!

Lacey Loves Lemons

Say that three times really fast! She really does love lemons. She will eat them down to the peel making terrible faces and saying "SOUR" as she goes. I never thought anyone would ever love to eat lemons, except for me. I guess she got it honest!

No matter how old you are...

sometimes you still need your mother! I started off the day by ordering Cindy flowers for her birthday, then zipped down the road to my mom's. Mama had the day off today so we did a little power shopping! We took Harbison Blvd. by storm!! We managed to find a lot of good deals as we shopped for fabric, shoes, purses and clothes! We had a huge lunch at Wild Wing and went home exhausted. I'm so glad that my mother is my friend!! It's nice that she doesn't have to "raise" me anymore and we can laugh and shop and talk.
To top it all off, when I got home my friend Rebecca came over and brought me a luscious cinnamon toast candle and butterscotch hot chocolate. GIRL! You know me so well! Nothing like true friends to boost your self-esteem and pick up your spirits.

Rainy Day outfit

So this is what I made Lacey as the rain poured down ALL DAY yesterday. I've had this fabric forever, I'm glad it finally made it into an outfit!

brushy, brushy!

The boys have been asking for these chargable electronic toothbrushes. Well, being amost $20 each and having to buy three would set me back almost $60 for TOOTHBRUSHES. I thought this was a bit ridiculous so the free ones they get at cleanings were what they were going to use! Well, during a weekend visit with his grandma, Cody figured out how to get HIS toothbrush and came home with one - displayed it proudly. SO, to avoid problems, before Caleb and Dylan ever got back from their weekend visit with their dad, I bought two more toothbrushes. I'm only out $40 I guess. Anyway, Caleb and Dylan LOVE these things and asked me to take their picture. Who'd have thunk it?

Saturday Projects

Saturday is always the day to get everything done at our house. Travis finished putting up shelving for me in our laundry room and I'm soooo thankful. I now have a nice place to hang and dry all of Lacey's handmade clothing. He also started on something very coooool. More details on this project later. I am so blessed to have such a devoted husband. He always says, "you know I'll get you anything you want." What's amazing is that he means it!
I had no intention of sewing today but with the rain there was simply nothing better to do. So, Lacey got another outfit!
We have lots of projects in the works - a little "home improvement" if you will. I love "change" and new things in my home. I can't wait! It was a super Saturday!

Such a FUN day!

I spent the day with my wonderful friend, Rebecca. Rebecca is already an EXPERT skirt maker, but she hasn't ventured into the world of dress making - until today! We have been trying to get together to do this for months and our schedules finally relented. I'm so glad Karlie got a mama made dress today! Soon she'll be an expert pillowcase dress maker too!

Rebecca's sweet puppy, Bonnie-Bell, a.k.a. "Bon Bon" is Lacey's first animal friend and oh does Lacey love Bon Bon! Lacey has been saying, "Becca" and "Bon Bon" all evening long. She even squealed with happiness when she saw Bonnie's picture! I hope our puppy is as sweet as Bon Bon, and I hope she will learn how to say her name! All dogs may be "Bon Bon" for a while! Here are a few photos from our fun day. Thanks for the fabulous lunch (the awesome cookies) and the great company Rebecca!

I can't believe how Lacey chased around and "man-handled" Bonnie all day long and Bonnie didn't even bark or growl or anything! SUCH a sweet puppy!!

The dress - modeled

I think this is my favorite outfit so far!

Stand Strong

Stand Strong

When others give up or surrender the fight,
When others choose not to follow the light,
When others choose to turn away from The Son,
Stand strong, for the battle must be won.

When others shun their spirit within,
When others choose to embrace sin,
When others fail and succumb to fear,
Stand strong, have faith, and persevere.

When others mock, and torment your life,
When others seek to impose strife,
When others brag of riches and spend without care,
Stand strong, in Heaven, your mansion is there.

Rise above “others,” rise above wrong,
Choose the right and always stand strong.

I wrote this very simple poem tonight – for my children. It’s always easier for me to remember “sing song” type lyrics and poems so I wanted to write this for them. Caleb and Dylan are with their dad this weekend and I miss them terribly.
I used to write poems all the time, it’s just fun! Maybe I’ll write more in 2008.

Inspiration...

The inspiration!
My wonderful husband bought me this beautiful diaper bag/purse for Christmas. He knows how much I love pink, and pink and brown is just gorgeous. I loved it so much I went on the hunt for some pink/brown toile to make Lacey a dress. I've had the polka dots since June!

I found this sweet toile and paired it with the polka dots. I just love how this turned out. Of course, I made bloomers to match and (not pictured) I made a monogramed sippy cup insert out of the toile. I will post my photos of my little model (and her cool cup) tomorrow!

Summer....

It never fails - I'm always dreaming about summer by the middle of January! I love warm weather. When I saw this fabric, it just screamed BEACH! So, in the middle of January, I bought it. It will make Lacey a sweet summer outfit, or maybe a purse for me!

PSP

You wouldn't know that both Caleb and Dylan have their own Play Station Portables. They always have to watch each other play. The only time you see both in action is when we are riding in the car. They crack me up! I'm glad they love each other though!

Rough Draft

Okay, so this is my trial run, or "rough draft" purse. I used only scraps and there are a few little errors, but for a first try I think it's okay! It's fully lined with pockets - one especially for the cell phone, and I just had to monogram it! The possibilities are endless - now that I see how easy these are to make, I can change things up with each and every purse. I have a zillion ideas spinning right now! Different shapes, sizes, fabric combinations!!! FUN!! I can still hardly believe I actually made something for myself!

Light Bulb Moment

I just had to post this morning because I'm so excited. I was lying in bed last night, trying to go to sleep, when a little light bulb in my brain finally turned on. For months I have been wanting to make a purse, for myself. But for me to like a purse it's got to have all the bells and whistles - pockets, pockets, pockets, and more pockets. I've made Lacey several little flat purses but I knew that type would never work for all my stuff. I even stopped making Lacey purses because she is just too young and I end up carrying them around. Anyway, I wanted to design a purse from start to finish making my own pattern. SO, all the designs are on paper right now. Stay tuned for the finished product! I'm also in the process of finishing Lacey another dress, a brand new pattern, so that has to be done first! It doesn't take much to get me excited, huh? Have a great Wednesday!

The Crooked Tree

I wrote this a few years ago for a scrapbook page that I did. I've always loved to write - I guess I have an English degree for some reason! I was cleaning up MS Word and stumbled upon it...thought I'd share.

There is was; a bare, crooked tree that had stood on my grandmother’s land for as long as I could remember. It looked like something Mother Nature had thrown out - a “mess up” maybe. It’s gnarled branches and bent trunk had always looked a bit scary to me as a child, and I remember wondering what happened to give this tree such an appearance. My mother said it had always looked that way, even when she was a child. This was the only explanation I had ever received, and it satisfied me at the time.
My brother, Dale, and his wife made a home on this land and now the crooked tree lives in their front yard. My five year old son, Caleb, became quite interested in the tree on a walk with his uncle. He, however, was not satisfied with a simple explanation.
“Uncle Dale, you have lots of tall trees in your yard.”
“Yes, Caleb, they have been here growing for a very long time. Even before I was born.”
“Did someone plant the seeds to make the trees?”
“Seeds get blown around in the wind and they plant themselves, but people can plant tree seeds too.”
“Uncle Dale, how did this tree get so crooked? It doesn’t look like the rest of the trees.”
“I don’t know Caleb, it’s been a crooked tree for a very long time. Nobody quite remembers how it got that way.”
So, the conversation went this way for a while, my brother trying to explain away the curiosities of a precocious five year old. As they ambled through the woods, they continued their commentary on the natural world around them. Even as Uncle Dale pointed out squirrel nests and deer tracks, Caleb still seemed preoccupied. As it was time for the walk to come to an end, Caleb was ready to announce his grand conclusions to the mystery of the crooked tree, his mind still churning with information.
“Uncle Dale, I know why it is that your tree is so crooked.”
“Please tell me, Caleb, I’d love to know,” replied Uncle Dale, anxiously awaiting Caleb’s explanation.
“It’s really simple: someone wasn’t paying attention and they planted the seed crooked. A crooked planted seed, gives you a crooked growing tree.”
So, it was that simple. I wondered why, as an adult, I hadn’t thought of this before. Maybe Caleb’s conclusions weren’t exactly correct, but we do know that the example we set for our children when they are growing and impressionable will have a profound effect on their lives as adults. They are watching and learning from every move we make, every word we speak. I often think of Caleb and this crooked tree before I make decisions, before I lose my patience. I have to be very careful, as a mother, not to plant any “crooked seeds.” I want my children to grow into tall and mighty oaks. Many lessons were learned on that afternoon walk. I will never look at the “crooked tree” in quite the same way.
The inspiration received from this tree and this story will live in my scrapbook. Perhaps future generations will learn from the crooked tree, and from the innocent wisdom of a five year old. Perhaps Mother Nature didn’t “mess up” after all.

Recipe Share!

Thought I would share this recipe. Everyone in my family loves this, except for Cody but this isn’t a hotdog so I expected as much. Anyway, this is quick, easy and very little clean up!

Chicken tenderloins or breast halves (enough for your family)
Shredded Cheese
Salsa (optional)
Potatoes
Aluminum Foil

This is so easy. You are going to make individual foil packets. Peel the potatoes and cut into thin slices. Place a thin layer of potatoes on you aluminum foil square, add your chicken tenderloin, sprinkle about a tablespoon of shredded cheese (more if you like) and I put one spoonful of salsa just to add a little flavor. You could also add sour cream but this makes the packet a bit watery and my boys didn’t care for that.
Bring up foil sides, fold at top and both ends to seal the packet, leaving room for heat circulation inside.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees, put packets on a baking sheet and bake for about 40 minutes!

Vintage Baby

Church today was really great. Other than Lacey being sick with double ear infections and a sore throat, the morning went fairly well. I oh so nervously gave the lesson in Relief Society. I will do better next time - I'll slow down and be calmer I think! I enjoyed the testimonies. I think we, as women, seek and appreciate the role of friendship in our lives. I can't even number the amount of times something has happened to me over the past 6 six years when the first thought that went through my brain was, "Oh man, I gotta call Cindy!" hehe In the end we all need a listening ear and someone to make us feel like we are of worth. I hope to cultivate the precious friendships that I have and maybe gain a few new buddies this year.
Here are a few photos of Lacey in her "vintage baby" dress. She felt so bad this morning I was lucky to get any photos at all!

2nd Debut...

I originally made this black dress for Lacey to wear with all her halloween dresses and her kitty twirl skirt. I decided to get even more use out of it by making this little red and black stripwork skirt. The embroidered rose and monogram sash just tie it all together. viola...brand new outfit!

40 and Fabulous!

Happy birthday to my wonderful husband!! We had a great little party and laughed hysterically at all the "over the hill" gifts.

I resolve...

·Have you ever felt like everyone in a room stopped talking because you walked in? Have you ever felt like an after-thought rather than a top consideration? Do you ever remember working on a group assignment in school and coming up with something super creative only to have a more aggressive group member claim the idea for their own and steal your thunder? I think we all encounter situations like this in our lives – this year I RESOLVE not to let it bug me. Granted I don’t deal with these issues on a daily basis, but some variation is always lurking about. I have decided to march to the beat of my own drummer this year. I have an awesome husband who supports me at each and every turn and with his help, I know this will be a successful year for us. US – that brings me to my next point. I love my husband so much, and the most wonderful part as is he LOVES ME BACK. Isn’t it awesome when it works out this way?? Travis knows my struggles, and he knows how to help me through them. I am so very blessed. Also, with a new calling in the Relief Society presidency, I know I will grow a lot, in a lot of ways. Yes, I know I will probably be the topic of conversation (see the beginning of this paragraph) but I know I will be doing what my Father In Heaven needs me to do, and I will do the best I can.
·I RESOLVE to surround myself with good and uplifting things. I was sitting in my friend Rebecca’s kitchen eating pizza and I knew I was in an uplifting place. There are many happy spots on this earth that don’t involve glitz or glam. Best frozen pizza I’ve ever eaten Rebecca!! I’ve found that uplifting people and things also work together to fight off those “am I good enough?” feelings that seem to plague many women. I think we all have to learn that just because “so and so” didn’t invite you to this or that, it isn’t the end of the world. I remember being stunned when someone I had known my entire life didn’t add me to their list of “friends” on their blog. WHO CARES?? Again, I will surround myself with “happy.”
·Keeping up with – the Joneses? Not me. I RESOLVE to be happy with what I have. Do I need a new car because my friend bought one? Does this benefit my family? Nope. I keep up with Christy, we put money in savings, not in cash registers. Yes, I do love to shop, but within reason – and NEVER because I have to have what someone else has. This is one of the many reasons I love to sew – I like “different.” My daughter doesn’t have to wear a dress that every other 18 month old may be wearing. And what is “cool” doesn’t require “GAP” or “Abercrombie” to be splashed across the front of it. This brings me to my next, uh…chapter.
·Our R.S. president asked my husband to describe me in one word. The word he chose was “creative.” The creative process keeps my spirits up, my heart beating and keeps me looking forward to another project. I was tickled with excitement that Travis chose this word. I love coming up with my own “stuff.” I had a online friend tell me after she saw a dress I made to “prepare yourself, it will be copied.” Travis always reminds me that “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.” This is all well and good but there is NOTHING like the rush of growing your own creative seeds, reaping the harvest of all those little brain cells that sparked and jumped and came up with your very own amazing creation. I challenge everyone to kick-start your own creativity this year!! It feels great! Remember in school when you worked hard and aced a test? This has to feel better than copying your neighbor’s paper, right?
·Lastly I RESOLVE to be more thankful and worry less about situations that are out of my control. There are people, no matter how much I love them, who will never love me back. There are issues in our lives that we simply cannot control. We can’t always make other people see our goals the way we see them. They can’t see the grand design or picture the scale and outcome. Just accept it – I’m really trying to do this. Accept people and situations for what they are and just be extremely thankful for all that you have and all that “works” the way it is supposed to!! I am thankful for my family and my good friends who are only a phone call and a good laugh away.
Happy 2008 to everyone. This will be my only novel for the year..LOL!