The Wonderful Month of June

Again there is a POST OVERLOAD. I wanted to keep that giveaway at the top of my posts, but that meant that I didn't get anything else posted that needed to be posted.

I took the time to do that today and again I split it all up for you.

Here's the list:

My One Year Old Teaches Me A Lesson
We Like To Party - Even If It's A Bust
I'm A Slave Driver
I'm In The Doghouse, Yes ME!

What Happens Next...

So, I Splurged...

Last week, on about Thursday the weather was supposed to be in the high 90's. I decided I was going to be a nice mommy and surprise my kids with a pool.

I wasn't going to go all crazy and get like a 'real' pool, but I wasn't going to do the cheap, plastic little kiddie pools either. I wanted one that I could actually sit in with the kids. Even if it didn't cover me A LOT, I just wanted to be able to relax once in awhile as well.

I discussed the pool I was looking at with Eric and he finally gave in. (He's not a big water person, nor does he like the fact that pools other than the cheap kiddie pools ruin the grass) So, with permission, I head to the store and look for the pool I had decided on buying. I didn't tell the kids what I was getting so they were getting anxious when I kept walking around the pools. I just couldn't find the pool I was looking for (once again, I HATE OUR WALMART), but found another one I really wanted to have but I knew Eric would hate - it was also a bit out of the budget.

I argued with myself while I bought the other things I needed at the store that day and by the time I was done I decided I was going to just buy it.

It took more work getting up than I anticipated and I had about 20 neighbor kids just hanging around waiting, so I finally let them get in for awhile before it was totally filled up. I told Eric what I had done and he wasn't happy with me, but was somewhat relieved when he saw that the size of the pool wasn't quite what he imagined.

The next day we had to dump the pool out, move it and refill it because I had it on a slope. We thought it was good - but Eric still wasn't quite happy cause it was still on a bit of a slope in the new spot. We were going to ignore it, but then the neighbor kid and our daughter decided that it was fun to watch all the water spill over the side. UGH! So Saturday night we got to move it AGAIN and refill it. At least now it seems to be on move level ground and the kids have been warned.

Even with all the work (and the angry hubby), I am SO glad we got this pool. I've wanted one since I was a kid. And this pool is just pefect for relaxing a bit and the older kids can 'swim' without floatation devices. Ailey likes it okay, but she was only in the first day. The other times I've been in she's been sleeping or shopping with Daddy. Nate LOVED it the first day, but absolutely hates it now. Not sure why.

And to all my neighbors - I'm sorry you have to see me in a swimsuit. Next year we will hopefully have a fence, so you only have to endure the awful sight for a few more weeks!

Anyway here's some pics:

What Happens Next...

In Bloom?

So ever since we've lived in this house we've had this nice dirt pile. The builders must think that everyone is a gardener and knows everything about gardening or that those who don't will study up on it. Well, we don't anything and neither one of us has any interest in studying up on it.

With our limited experience we've tried planting things in this lovely dirt pile many, many times and nothing likes to stay. It recently became a digging pile and the kids were digging their way to China. Honestly - Shaylyn said they were digging a tunnel to China. LOL!

Anyway, a few weeks ago Eric's mom discovered a flower that she had planted in her yard had pretty much taken up her yard. This flower grows like weeds and is supposed to grow in harsh environments. (Which is what we have....) So she thought it might work in our space.

So she told Eric to get the dirt pile ready. She had to tell him to do it cause he obeys her. Had I told him to do it he would've just laughed at me and told me to stop dreaming. ;)






She bought like 4 new plants to plant in our area and then brought transplated starts from her yard. This is what it now looks like. One of the flowers in the back was a start and it's actually growing already! YAY!!! That means there's hope. Most of the middle plants were the ones she bought from the store. I look forward to seeing what happens next spring/summer!




***For the record, I didn't make the little boys help. They did it of their own volition...True story!***

What Happens Next...

Another Year Older

On the 11th of June Lex turned 7. Seriously no idea where that time went and it's been so interesting to see him grow.

Lex just loves life. It's hard to get him down. As long as something's going on and he is able to participate in some way he's as happy as can be. He is a breath of fresh air with this love of life.

He had a ball game on his birthday so we took cupcakes for him to hand out after the game. Then we came home and had him open his gifts from us. It wasn't a big number, but as we explain to each of our kids - you have x amount of dollars and that's that. So some years you may end up with more gifts than others, but you always have the same amount of money spent on you.







He enjoyed riding his scooter for most of the day and then just HAD to put his Lego set together. After all that fun we took him to dinner. He requested we go to Denny's! Yuck...He'd never even been there, but because Denny's is a sponser of the ball league out here this year he thought he should go. The good news was that the kids all ate for free. YAY!

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It took me 2 weeks to get a Family Birthday Party put together for Lex. I was originally going to have a party on the 19th of June, but then my sister pointed out that Father's Day was the 19th. So that wasn't going to work. I then realized it HAD to be last weekend because this weekend is way too crazy and then we hit July.

Well we threw the party together for Saturday, June 25th and I was really sad when only Eric's parents and my little sisters family showed up. (My parents were out of town for their anniversary and everyone else had different plans, apparently) I felt bad that all the other kids had such good turn outs for their parties, but Lex didn't because of my procrastination. I wasn't upset at the work I did for the party - I really was just upset that so little people showed up for my little boy.

Thankfully with Lex's love of life, the fact that only a few people came didn't even faze the kid. He was so excited with the banner that I made, the way I put the tablecloth together and the characters I made to put on the walls.

In his mind, it was a great day. Oh, to be a kid again.

He was originally going to have a Transformers birthday theme, even the invites were Transformers. However, when we went to order the cake he decided he'd rather have a How To Train Your Dragon theme. I also realized he had Transformers LAST year. LOL!

Our Walmart is crap (another story for another time) and had NOTHING for How To Train Your Dragon as far as party decorations, so we got creative. We bought cups, silverware, plates and a tablecloth in colors that related to How To Train Your Dragon. I then decided I could find pictures of the characters in the movie and put them on the tablecloth and it would hopefully bring it all together. It worked pretty well.

Here are the party pics:

Next year I vow to be on top of Lex's birthday. Last year he had to share his special day with his baby sister's blessing. Yeah, I'm feeling like a bit of a failure as a mother with this birthday...still!!!

What Happens Next...

Conquering Fear 101

I posted this video on Facebook the other day, but I'm not sure anyone really got to see it, so I figured I'd put it here too.
- A little background on the video: Nathaniel got this squooshy type ball for his birthday and he really likes it. However, since the day Ailey first laid eyes on it she's wanted nothing to do with it. Something about it scared her.
Well the other day this is what took place with this ball:

I need to take lessons from my 1 year old daughter...That's pretty sad!

What Happens Next...

WINNER!!!

Don't be sad if you missed your chance to enter this giveaway. I know of another one going on right now and ending today, right here! Utah Mom's Life has a lot of fun giveaways!

Now onto the winner of my giveaway...

So, Kaeloony I'll be emailing you the details of how to get the program! Congrats. I can't wait to see what you'll create with it!!!

If anyone is still interested in buying the program you have till Sunday to get it for $10 off by using the code STMMMS67294 at checkout!

What Happens Next...

What I've Been Up To AKA THE GIVEAWAY!!!!

Now, we all know that I've been scrapbooking for a good 11+ years. It hasn't necessarily been CONSISTENTLY, but hey - it has been 11 years.

Anyway a few years ago digital scrapbooking came about and I didn't care for it much because it just felt 'flat' to me. I like the tactile way of scrapbooking where things actually 'pop' for you. I swore I'd never switch to digital scrapooking.

I lied.

After getting Paint Shop Pro to help me fix my photos and to help me with the family website, I now had the tools I needed. I still didn't/don't do A LOT of digital scrapbooking, but when I don't feel like pulling out all the stuff necessary for tactile scrapbooking - I sit at my computer and whip pages out. Sorta.

Anyway a few weeks ago, I happened across a program dedicated to all the digital scrapbooking, etc. that you could want! It's not a photo editing program and it is solely dedicated to all things digital. It's also VERY user friendly. A perfect program for beginners to use.

There was a few things that bothered me about the program - but that's coming from using Paint Shop and having a bit more control of things. That said, I still enjoyed using My Memories Suite! It made making the following projects so stinkin EASY!!!

I wrote this poem in High School sometime, and it felt like a good thing to use as journaling for this picture of me...

Awhile ago I found a cool hanging picture frame set from IKEA. It's set up so that you can have a picture in front and in back. I knew what I wanted to do for one side of these frames, but had trouble figuring out what to do for the other. I did do something a few weeks ago, but I just wasn't loving it.

I then found out that My Memories Suite is perfect for setting up a 6x6 layout (size of the frames) and came up with these...LOVE IT!!! These frames now picture a current picture of each of my children along with one of their earliest pictures.







This program also allows you to make a VIDEO without switching to another program. I just saved the movie and uploaded it to YouTube. This alone is AWESOME!!!

The program also allows you all sorts of options after you complete your project and all of the options are on the sidebar. You can print your project off at home or save your project as jpeg files. There's an option for professional printing of photo albums, calendars, cards and even trading cards. If you're interested in the multi-media aspect of things you are able to make an interactive photo album, a movie (like I did above), an ipod-ready video or a DVD.

I'm also trying my hand at a calendar. I simply used a premade layout for the picture part of the calendar and then created the grid part of the calendar on my own - WITHOUT using Paint Shop.




I'm so glad I got the opportunity to try out My Memories Suite and will probably use it as my scrapbooking tool most of the time. And guess what!?!?!!?! ONE of you LUCKY PEOPLE will get the chance to try this program out as well. FOR FREE!!!

Here's the nitty gritty:

Mandatory to enter the giveaway:
* BE A FOLLOWER OF THIS BLOG
* GO TO http://www.mymemories.com/ AND TAKE A LOOK AROUND. LET ME KNOW WHAT YOUR FAVORITE KIT/PAPER PACK IS. ALSO TAKE A LOOK AROUND THEIR FREEBIE SECTION - THERE'S SOME FUN STUFF THERE!

For extra entries: (1 extra entry for each that you do)
* BLOG ABOUT THIS GIVEAWAY ON YOUR BLOG
* MENTION THIS GIVEAWAY ON FACEBOOK
* MENTION THIS GIVEAWAY ON TWITTER
* BECOME A FOLLOWER OF MY CRAFTY BLOG (There just may be a giveaway going on over there in the next few weeks...)

Come back and let me know when you have done each...Remember there's a chance for 5 entries! This giveaway will END on Wednesday, JUNE 22, 2011 @ 11:59 MST. Good luck!!!

Also, if you don't feel like entering the giveaway or if you don't win, you can still get My Memories Suite for $10.00 off! The $10.00 off will be good until Sunday, June 26, 2011. Use the code STMMMS67294 at checkout!

What Happens Next...

Small Update

Just thought I'd drop a note to say that I've been a tiny bit busy with life and such, thus the reason for no new posts.

However, I did finish the family website update a few days ago, so feel free to take a look.


We had a birthday this past week that I need to post about and that will be coming.

Also, this is the biggest news and probably the most exciting - - I'm going to be doing my first GIVEAWAY soon!!! Look for it in the next day or two - most likely it'll be posted tomorrow! ;)

A Bientot for now!

What Happens Next...