a little slice of life

the blog that is no longer...

2009-11-16T17:51:00.000-08:00

there are certain people who judge me as a mother by what I do (and do not) write, so I will no longer be posting on this blog, thank you very much.

Some cute pictures of the Oliver...

2009-10-07T08:49:00.000-07:00

(These pictures were taken with my phone so they aren't so great, but they are so cute..)

a millie funny

2009-09-01T14:56:00.000-07:00

just to let you know how busy I am, today I was making cookies and Millie pointed to the stove and said, "what's that white thing right there, how come you never use it, and what's that thing even called?"

more family pics

2009-07-07T15:50:00.000-07:00

family pics

2009-07-02T12:46:00.000-07:00

Too bad the two boys won't look at the camera...

Handsome boy...

2009-07-01T22:27:00.000-07:00

Is he not the cutest thing ever?

two more boys in the family!

2009-04-20T00:55:00.000-07:00

Beega is here!!! I finally got to see Rebecca and her boys after 3 whole years! She will be here for about 2 months until she moves to Spain for another 3 years, I plan on spending as much time as I can with her until she leaves. On a side note, she is pregnant with twin boys, I can't believe it. 5 boys, wow.

Other news, my little scrapbook store has turned into a huge scrapbook store. I can't believe how it has taken off these last few months, I can't keep up with the demand so I have hired a few people to help me along, it is very strange to have employees, but nice to know I don't have to do everything by myself.

Ollie is getting big, he is 4 months now and starting to eat solids. He is such a good baby and just hangs out amongst all the chaos. (and believe me, there is a lot of chaos).

Right now it is 2:04 am and Gracie is hanging out with me, she has pink eye in both eyes and an ear infection, so I have to go cuddle with her now to make her feel better. I will try update a lot more than I have the past few weeks, busy busy busy!!

busy...

2009-02-05T09:24:00.000-08:00

Kissing these cheeks,

and packaging thousands of these.

so tired

2009-01-08T14:53:00.000-08:00

My days go like this:
Wake up really early (like 4:00 am), nurse, change a diaper, nurse, try to get him back to sleep, nurse, change a diaper, make other kids breakfast, nurse, send Gracie to school, call Jeff and tell him "I'm so tired", nurse, break up fights between Owen and Millie, change a diaper, take Owen to school, nurse, try to give Millie lots of attention, nurse, make Millie lunch (usually whatever I can get out of fridge in less than a minute), think about designing a page kit - don't have time, kids get home from school, tell them to find their own snacks while nursing, call Jeff ask when he is coming home, change a diaper, nurse, call Jeff and tell him to come home NOW, nurse, Jeff gets home, make him go get us dinner, tell the kids to stop fighting, make Jeff entertain kids while I nurse, kids go to bed, Jeff goes to bed, Oliver goes to bed, wakes up an hour later, nurse, goes back to bed, wakes up an hour later, nurse, goes back to bed, wakes up an hour later, nurse, and it goes on and on...

I love him.

Oliver Jack Garfield

2008-12-20T20:54:00.001-08:00

We are home from the hospital, everyone is healthy and the baby finally has a name.

birth story...

2008-12-18T15:16:00.000-08:00

Everyone wants to know exactly what happened yesterday and last night so I will update everyone. Of course you know me, I can never have a normal birth where everything works the way it should and this was an interesting one to say the least. (ps if you are a man and don't want details stop reading right now). Wednesday morning I woke up to really bad, intense pain in my upper legs, lower back and lower pelvic region. I knew there was something wrong because I had never felt this before, so we eventually went to the hospital where they found out I had a severe infection, maybe a UTI. I was contracting regularly but I guess was not enough for them to keep me, so they sent me home with an antibiotic, which after I took when we got home made me so sick I started throwing up. I was still feeling major pain and knew something was wrong, so we called the doctor and they told me to go to the office to get checked, when I got there she started pushing on my stomach which hurt so bad I started bawling and basicially had a break down so she sent me to the hospital to see what we going on. In the mean time my mom and I are so frustrated at this point because no one was listening to me or taking me seriously when I was saying I knew something was not right. So we get back to the hospital, and they said they were going to give me a shot of antibiotics, and a shot for nausea and send me home. I finally said, "I know something is wrong, if you won't figure it out I want a C-Section now!!!" After she called another midwife, and the doctor and they both told her to admit me, she finally gave in. Thats when it all started, as soon as they put me in the room my fever started going up and up, between the hours of 5:00 to about 11:30 they gave me four different kinds of antibiotics, which were taking no affect, two different kinds of anti nausea rounds (since the fever and antibiotics were making me so sick), taking my temp and blood pressure every 5 mintues, (at one point my blood pressure was 37/8, my fever got to 103), drawing blood to be tested, strong contractions every 1-2 minutes, baby's pulse spiking to 180-200 (normal is 140). Finally at about 11:30 they found an antibiotic that was working for the infection and I started feeling better, then started feeling a lot better when I go my epidural. Realized really quick that the epidural only took affect to the right half of my body but I was ok so I didn't say anything right way. She broke my water at 12:00 by this time I was dialated to a 5, and still a 5 by 1:30 am. She said she didn't think I was going to progress fast and I should be prepared for 12 hours before he was born and the nurse kept saying that my contractions were not "adequate" and wasn't bothering to check me. I could still feel all the contractions on my left side and they were starting to hurt but I was fine so I wouldn't let Jeff go get the nurse, but he snuck out and got her anyway and it's a good thing he did because she decided to check me and I was 10 cent. and he was coming out. So people started rushing around while I'm trying not to push until their ready, and he came out 7 minutes later. Afterward they thought maybe I had a hole in the sack by my placenta that was leaking into my body which caused an infection in the placenta which was causing the pain and fever, also, almost all the fluid was gone which is why I was measuring so small, so it's a good thing he was born when he was.

Breathing update: He has been doing better and better today, so I might get to hold him in just a little bit, and depending on how he does coming off his breathing tube and if he does good tonight all should be good and he can come home with us!

new baby...

2008-12-18T07:36:00.000-08:00

He's here! He was born this morning, December 18th at 2:40 am. He was 7 lbs 5 ozs, 18 1/2 inches long. Right now he is struggling to breath, exactly the same thing Owen did when he was born. Owen spent 9 days in the NICU, I'm hoping this new little one won't stay that long. Right now they said he is doing better, if he needs to be put on a ventilator they will have to transfer him to Utah Regional in Provo, so I'm hoping that doesn't happen. We still haven't named him yet, I need to be able to hold him and see what he looks like since I still haven't gotten a good look at him, and then we will decide on a name. Right now I'm exhausted since I have been awake for over 24 hours (but I have a feeling I won't get any sleep today either.) It's so good to have him here, especially before Christmas!

almost time...

2008-11-30T20:04:00.000-08:00

New Kits and Free Shipping!!!

2008-11-20T18:49:00.000-08:00

Free shipping from now until Nov. 30th with a purchase of $30 or more!!!

signs of fall....

2008-10-15T11:13:00.000-07:00

The Garfield's house in October.

Some pictures

2008-10-10T13:12:00.000-07:00

ok, so I finally downloaded my pictures to my computer, for some reason I hate doing that. So that's my excuse for why it's taking so long to post, that and I found out I'm severely low on iron so that's the reason why I can't walk my pregnant self more than 3 feet without feeling like I'm going to pass out. These are just a few random pictures from the past month:

Owen had his 6th birthday last month, on his birthday I dropped him off at school and had 2 hours to paint his entire room, and make his bed with his new Pottery Barn Star Wars bedding! This is his new bed, with his new toys after he opened all his presents.

His cake, I know it's not professional, I'm not a cake decorator.

These are the kids at Hee Haws, they love it there and look forward to going all year.

This is Gracie in her happy place, she LOVES horses!

This is our fire pit in the backyard, two seconds after taking this picture a spark flew from the fire and landed right under her nose, lets just say it was drama.

The kids in front of the house before Hee Haws, of course not all three will look at me at the same time.

Other things going on with The Garfields:

Millie is in the midst of potty training, she has not had an accident for 2 days, hopefully she will be all trained by her birthday which is in 2 weeks.

Owen is doing good in school, we were so worried about him and his hyperactivity, but his teacher says he is just fine, and is very, very smart for his age.

Gracie has made so many new friends, and they are all close by, so she is always off playing with someone, she loves that she can walk to her friends house by herself, she is so grown up.

I'm now in my 3rd trimester, and am 8 months pregnant. I still haven't found a name I like, and the baby room is still a storage room, so I guess I need to get around to doing something about that. I'm getting my hair done next week for the first time in 2 years!! (Thanks Melissa) I'm such a procrastinator when it comes to my hair, I always wait until it's disgusting before I do anything about it, and right now it's really, really bad. I'm in the process of buying Lindsey's half of the store from her, so I'm now running it all by myself. If anyone wants to help design page kits let me know!

So now that I have lots of pictures on my computer, hopefully I will post a little more often!

just a little summary...

2008-09-23T09:14:00.000-07:00

So expo was a huge success, we sold so much on Friday morning, that we had almost nothing left on Saturday, so Lindsey and I just sat and talked which was nice after the last few months of non- stop work. I think I'm going to pace myself a little better this time. It's nice to know that so many people want and like our page kits that we spend so much time working on, so we had a really good time, and the kids will have a normal mom again, at least for the next few weeks.

Sunday and Monday were spent cleaning my house, and pulling out the Halloween and Fall decorations, to make my house more homey. The kids love when it's time to decorate and they had an absolute blast. So I have a (semi) clean house, that looks comfy, and smells of pumpkin spice, it's my favorite time of year. I can't wait for leaf piles, pumpkin patches, and a corn maze. I love it!

Owens birthday is on Thursday, he is turning 6 years old! (And he still hasn't out grown the craziness that people keep telling me will happen). All he is wants is Star Wars everything, and Lego Batman for his playstation. I got him all the cute Star Wars bedding from Pottery Barn, so when he gets home from school, his whole room will be done up. Then he will have his party with his friends on Friday, we are going to roast marshmellows in the fire pit, and bob for apples. He can't wait.

Jeff has been working hard between work, and fixing this house up to my specifications, I think he needs a vacation more than anyone, but he never complains. He just enjoys making our lives better for us by doing anything and everything he can. As for me, now that I have time to breathe, I have been trying to remind myself that I'm going to have another child in just a few short months. This pregnancy had been about the last thing on my mind ever since I got pregnant, when people ask me when I'm due, it takes me a second to figure out what they are talking about! It sure is different between your first and your fourth.

Just one more thing, Happy Birthday to Max!!! My cute little nephew is turning 6 today, and I haven't seen him for 2 years now. I can't wait for the day to have my sister and her kids close to us again. (Mom give him and extra big hug from his Aunt Kate).

As soon as I find my camera, I will add some pictures because a post is never the same without some. Love to you all.

school days...

2008-08-25T20:17:00.000-07:00

Gracie's first day of school.

Millie on Gracie's first day of school.

Owen's first day of school. (He finally started kindergarten, I have been waiting years...)

Millie on Owen's first day of school. (Today)

It's been almost a month since my last post and here's why: We moved, painted the entire exterior of our house, including doors, shutters, railings, etc. We had weddings in the family, Lagoon Days, many other projects around the house, started school, and last but not least, designed and packaged thousands of kits. (Thanks Mom).

Expo is only 3 weeks away and although we have gotten soooo much done, I am in full panic mode because we are no where near being ready, and basically we are running out of time. Our kits are selling faster than we can package, which is good, but we are going to have nothing left for expo, not to mention St. George in Nov.

So you might not be hearing or seeing lots of me lately, unless you are Lindsey of course who is probably sick of seeing me at this point, but I've gotta do, what I've gotta do, and the laundry can wait.

how old is she?

2008-07-29T21:06:00.000-07:00

Today as I was trying to get stuff done, Millie was sitting next to me entertaining herself by making up songs, once I realized what she was doing I started listening to what she was actually singing, something about, "so and so is SO handsome, and something something handsome" seriously every other word was handsome. So I asked her what she was singing, and she said:

"I Hannah Tanna, mom, Hannah Tanna"

Seriously?

Then she broke out with: "I best of both worlds"

She's not even 3 yet, I'm already worried.

expo so soon?

2008-07-29T13:26:00.000-07:00

Doesn't it feel like expo was just here? Well it does to me, and Lindsey and I have only about a month and a half to be ready, the problem is, we haven't really started...anything. And to make matters worse, we are doing a St.George expo in Nov. so thats two we have to get ready for. We need about 100 layouts designed per expo and about 3,000 kits packaged. Right now we have about 10 layouts designed, and most of them have almost sold out already, so we pretty much have about 200 kits packaged, maybe.

So it's going to be a busy few weeks, and it doesn't help that Lindsey has a brand new baby, I'm moving this week (to a house that is a major fixer upper, including which an exterior paint job which has to be done *asap* or I just won't be able to stand living there) and I'm 5 months pregnant, (oh and I have 3 kids too).

hmmm... wish us luck.

it's here...

2008-07-16T14:39:00.000-07:00

The best show on TV. Thank you Heidi Klum for this show,
my Wednesday's are now a whole lot better.

2008-07-15T14:38:00.000-07:00

Cabin '08
Millie's Mosquito Bites
The "squitos" were so bad this year for some reason, the worst that any of us can remember. Poor Millie was getting attacked constantly even with the gallons of repellent we were using.
"The Girls"
Hailey, Gracie, and Anna, these three are always together, all the time and Hailey was a big help with Millie since Jeff wasn't able to come up and I was still having some morning sickness.

Hailey, Gracie, and Owen tubing. Owen loved the tube, the higher the waves the better, and Gracie was right there with him, even when Uncle Craig was driving and scaring me half to death, they were still yelling, "faster, faster".

My cute boy. I think Owen loves the cabin the most out of all my kids, he just gets so excited to go and doesn't stop talking about it for weeks after. Owen and I had a couple of fun talks while sitting on the dock about our favorite things about the cabin. He loves: Grandpa's boat rides, the tube, going on walks, swimming, Sea-Doo rides, and playing with cousins.

S'mores and Millie don't really go together, but she sure loved them. After we were done with the S'mores and were going back to the cabin I realized by pants just didn't feel right, I looked down and I had an entire s'more stuck to my butt. It fell off before we could take a picture, but we were all laughing pretty hard.

The remnants of my s'more.

We had a lot of fun at the cabin this year, we wish that all the cousins could come, Gracie says it's not the same without the Peterson's but hopefully in a couple of years they will be up there with us. My mom told me I can't go anymore unless Jeff is with me (I had only a couple of breakdowns while we were there), but it is really hard when I'm sick and trying entertain, feed, bathe, etc. etc. 3 kids by myself for 2 weeks, but the cabin is worth it, and thank goodness no more morning sickness!!! Finally.

It's a....

2008-07-09T21:49:00.000-07:00

BOY!!!

I have to say, this is no surprise to me, I have "known" it was a boy since before I found out I was pregnant as I knew with all my other kids. For some reason I always just know.

One week ago we had an ultrasound, and the tech looked for a while and while he wasn't sure, he suspected it was a girl, the whole time I was thinking, "hello? it's a boy", but he kept saying, "I can't be sure, but I think it's a girl". When we left, I told Jeff. "It's a boy" and sure enough when we went back today, the other tech could tell right away that it was a boy, and it was obvious to Jeff and I also.

So Owen will have a little brother, and we will have 2 boys and 2 girls, I think we will stop while we're ahead.

p.s. mom I hope you don't read this before I will call you tomorrow, I know you would rather hear in person, I would have called earlier but I had to ichat Beega first, I promised.

counting down the days...

2008-06-17T09:50:00.001-07:00

Just two more days until our annual Cabin trip. It can't come soon enough. This is the one vacation I get a year and the kids and I are ready to go, well almost.

I have been doing laundry for 3 days straight so we will have some clothes to take with us.

I bought the kids those ugly swimmer shoes, so hopefully no slivers in the feet this summer. (This is a ritual we go through ever summer, that I don't want to repeat this time).

We are stocked up on sun block, swim suits, and beach towels, so it better be warm, but you never know with the cabin.

I have a years worth of page kits to put together and pictures to put on those kits, since this is the only time I scrapbook for myself.

They only things to be done are pack, and go grocery shopping for enough food to last us a couple of weeks.

We used to go up with my mom, Rebecca and her kids, and we would stay for weeks on end. Now that Beega's in Japan my mom and I go up with the kids for a week or two, the kids play outside, play in the water, catch some fish, go for nature walks, and take baths in the sink. Then we put the kids to bed and put a good movie on, and scrapbook until we can't stay awake, then we go to bed and do it again the next day.

Then the cousins and Grandpa come up on the weekend, and it turns into a big party with boat rides, Sea-Doo rides, water weenie rides, big pancake breakfasts made by Grandpa, smores also made by Grandpa, a pirate treasure hunt, 4-Wheeler rides by Uncle Craig, lots of game playing at night, Stacie's good dips and cookies, and lots of fun and laughter.

I can tell you that the cabin is the closest place to heaven on earth, I have so many memories of going there every summer of my life, and my kids have done the same thing, and they already have so many memories, just two more days.

8 years...

2008-06-08T21:48:00.000-07:00

8 years ago today Jeff and I got married, after knowing each other for only 3 short months. I tried to find some pictures but we got married back when digital cameras were still in the future and I didn't feel like going through pictures and scanning them, so just use your imagination. We were young, although at the time I thought we were so old, Jeff was 25 and I was a month short of my 23rd birthday. I was a good 20 pounds heavier than now, and Jeff was a good 30 pounds lighter. We certainly don't waste time in our family because Gracie was born just 9 months later. (Actually 8 months and 3 weeks, but don't freak out, that was because she was breech and we had to schedule a C-Section a week before my due date.)

I can honestly say that Jeff is my very best friend, we love to just hang out and laugh together. I know that we will always be together because no other man would put up with me the way he does. We seem to compliment each other in many ways (meaning he does everything for me that I don't want to, and sometimes I do things for him). Examples:

1- He always puts up with my crazy ideas, but I have to talk him into them, (I usually have to talk a lot before he will finally agree).

2-I hate, hate ordering food through a drive through, I only do it if the kids are crying in the car because they are so hungry, Jeff is always in charge of getting food. (That includes ordering pizza, something I refuse to do).

3-I hate putting gas in the car, so he usually makes sure I'm always filled up.

4-He does the dishes for me and takes out the trash.

5-He lets me sleep in on the weekends even though he wakes up at 3:00am every morning for work (I blame that on his internal alarm clock because he can't sleep past 7:00).

6-He changes Millie's diapers when he's home.

7-He puts up with my millions of phone calls a day complaining about the latest disaster at home.

P.S. (I feel like a horrible wife reading over this.)

Things I do for my husband:

1-I'm the one who mows the lawn most of the time, I would rather mow the lawn then clean the kitchen, and I think Jeff probably would to so maybe this doesn't count....

2-hmmmm, let's see, what else do I do...

3-I grow and give birth to his babies, doesn't that count for something?

well I think that's about it, aren't we perfect for each other?

silly millie...

2008-06-06T09:11:00.000-07:00

Millie is going through a phase where she can't wear anything other than a costume of some sort, or a princess dress. When she does let me get her dressed in clothes, she has to add a snow hat (like the top picture) or some accessory to add some personality to her outfit.

She has even been wearing her princess dresses to bed at night because she refuses to take them off. She is so full of personality and she cracks me up on a daily basis, 2 year olds can be so fun!

Happy Birthday to Stacie!

2008-05-30T08:57:00.001-07:00

Today is Stacie's, my oldest sister, birthday!
Things I love about her:

1-She is very organized
2-When she calls and leaves a message on your voice mail, every time without a doubt, it is always over 5 minutes long.
3-There is always some reason why she is late somewhere, and she likes to explain in detail what exactly happened to make her late.
4-She makes really good food.
5-She loves to take pictures of all her nieces and nephews, a lot.
6-She still doesn't have a computer.
7-She still is using her film camera even though she has a digital one.
8-She sends birthday cards to everyone in the family every year, and she never misses.
9-The face she makes when she does her hair.

and the last thing I love about Stacie:

10- Her toes.

Happy Birthday Stace, we love you.

Summer to do list...

2008-05-29T08:54:00.001-07:00

For the past few months I have been thinking about my summer to do list which consists of two things:

1-Potty train Millie
2-Teach Owen how to ride his bike without training wheels

Well last Saturday, he beat me to it. He decided he wanted to ride without the training wheels so Jeff took them off, and off he went. He didn't need any help, and he didn't fall, he just rode his bike.

That was easy, somehow I have a feeling that number 1 on my list is not going to go as smoothly.

mud pies

2008-05-16T20:37:00.000-07:00

Warm day + dirt yard =

They thought it was really fun until it was time to hose them off!

boo hoo!

2008-05-14T21:06:00.000-07:00

boo hoo is what my cousin Andrew and I used to say when we were feeling sorry for ourselves, well I have been having one of those days. I'm having extremely bad morning sickness (all day) and I have had an extremely bad cold on top of it (it just won't go away). I haven't felt like moving from my bed for the past week, I haven't cleaned my house in over a month (seriously, my bathrooms look like a truck stop, and if you don't believe me ask Lindsey). I have no yard for my children to play in for the upcoming "heatwave" weekend, or for the entire summer for that matter. I have other things happen to me that are associated with pregnancy that I won't mention in particular, but make me extremely uncomfortable. I miss my sister in Japan like you wouldn't believe and got an email from her today that made my cry uncontrollaby for 10 minutes.

What I need is a weekend of scrapbooking with some girl friends, my mom, sister-in-laws (anybody!) with good food and good music and some laughter because right now I'm just feeling sorry for myself.

as most of you know...

2008-05-13T13:14:00.001-07:00

Disneyland...

2008-05-08T08:31:00.001-07:00

Here are the kids in their new Disney pj's the night before the first day at Disneyland, they were so excited that it took a lot to get them asleep.

Gracie was way too shy to get her picture taken with any of the characters, until she found an autograph book, then she was on the look out for all of them. She got autographs for all but one page, now we just have to get the pictures developed and put them in.

This is Millie waiting for the Princess Fantasy Fair to start. This chair is where all the princesses come out and tell a story. There were a million little girls wanting to get their picture taken on the chair, but Millie did not want to move, she kept going back and back...

We got a pass that let us stay an hour past the closing hour of the park so we took the kids to Fantasyland and went on every single ride with no lines, we then had to walk home for 20 minutes because the shuttle stopped running at normal closing time, but it was worth it.
(I don't think Judy thought it was worth it though).

Owen is in his happiest place ever in this picture, he got to become a Jedi and fight Darth Maul, I think this was his favorite part of the entire trip.

We definitely had a fun time, it was also a lot of work with the three kids. It was 100 degrees there pretty much the whole week, and I wasn't feeling my best but we did make a lot of fun memories. I think now I need to take a vacation from my vacation.

Expo and Disneyland

2008-04-23T15:36:00.001-07:00

Expo was so much fun and very successful! Lindsey and I had such a blast, I'm sad that it's over, even though it's a TON of work. We worked all day Thursday setting our booth up, which is lots of lifting and carrying things, good things our husbands came to help! Then Friday from 8:00am until midnight, we sold most of our kits between 9:00-11:00. I mean it was non stop. We were worried we weren't going to have anything to sell for Sat! But we did end up having a few left. Out of the 3,000 kits we had, we probably only have about 300 left, and we sold almost all of our other product that we can't use in page kits. So now we get to start all over for Sept. expo. I have already designed 3 layouts for next time.
But I'm going to take a week off and take the family to Disneyland!!! We are so excited, we have had it planned for months and we haven't been for 4 years, and it's finally here. We are leaving Friday night and coming back Saturday, with one day at the beach and 5 days at Disneyland. Disneyland, the beach, and In-N-Out, 3 of my very favorite places in the whole world.

I definitely need a vacation.

Millie's Morning Hair

2008-04-08T16:06:00.000-07:00

This is what Millie's hair looks like every morning, you can imagine how fun it is to comb her hair. So I rarely do, pretty much just on Sunday's.

Owen is so handsome.

Millie's hair when it is combed.

Millie was so sick a couple of weeks ago, she kept falling asleep on the floor, then she would wake up and want me to hold her then go find another spot to fall asleep on. She would NOT sleep in her bed. Jeff finally took her to the ER at 12:00am, and they were there all night, they said she had bronchiolitis and a sever ear infection, but thankfully she was her old self a couple days later. Side note: These are Millie's favorite pajamas, they are hand me downs from her cousin Tatum, and they have Tinkerbell on them. She will take her clothes off at least once a day and bring them to me so she can wear them.

None of us can figure out why Gracie is always so tan. Even in the dead of Winter, she looks like she has been out tanning all day. I tell her she is going to love that when she is a teenager and she says,"I don't EVER want to be a teenager, all they do is lay in bed and watch TV".

I want to give a shout out to my little bro Michael who turns 28 today! Happy Birthday Mikey!

Melt In Your Mouth

2008-04-03T20:11:00.001-07:00

Doesn't this make you want to scrapbook? Too bad I don't have time to scrapbook for myself because I can't wait to use this! 14 days and counting until Expo, and then I will be normal again.

My Girl

2008-03-28T12:11:00.001-07:00

I spent all day on this album yesterday, I forgot how long albums take! I haven't made one since I was teaching at our local scrapbook store.
I made this with a Fancy Pants chipboard album and our February Monthly kit.
The pictures are horrible, I'm used to scanning everything in so forgive me, it looks much better in person.

easter & emme

2008-03-27T17:59:00.001-07:00

I spent all day today working on a mini album for the store, and I took a bunch of pictures but after waiting for 30 minutes to upload all of them, I gave up. So you will have to wait until tomorrow when I have more patience. So for now, you will have to put up with a couple of cute pictures.
Emme came to visit a couple of days ago, and Millie was enthralled with her guitar, she wanted to play it, hold it, touch it, and when Emme started to sing, she just sat there and watched.

Side note: Emily and Millie were both named after my Great Grandma Amelia. Millie's real name is Amelia, but we call her Millie, unless she's in trouble and she hears "Amelia Ruth!"

Here is the best picture I got this Easter, of course Owen isn't looking at the camera, but that's just him so I'm ok with it. Look at Millie's cute smile, I love how it looks like she is being protected by her brother and sister, right in the middle of them.

this is why...

2008-03-19T10:56:00.000-07:00

...it has been so long since my past post!

Expo is just a month away, and we are working so hard to be ready, these
are just a few pictures of my basement.

Here is just some of our paper, there are 5 more of these, completely full.

Bazzill Swatches! It took me four hours to organize these swatches, a lot of the colors
are discontinued, so they sent us a thing to download and organize them all. They said it would
take an hour, they were wrong.

My shipping station in the basement. Jeff was sooo nice to set this all up for me, including a TV.

Our sign for expo, painted and all glittered up.

Some cute owls in a frame.

Our kits, there are about 3,000 but we got them all to fit on 3 tables!

Another shot of the kits. Yes we packaged most of these kits by ourselves. We did have a packaging party that was helpful, and my mom helped for a couple of days, but Lindsey and I have pretty much done this all on our own.

So now you know what I have been up to, and I still have a month to go!

Gracie's Birthday Pictures

2008-03-05T16:28:00.001-08:00

Pictures of Gracie opening her ipod, she keeps asking,"am I the only 7 year old you know with her own ipod?" she thinks she's really cool.

Happy Birthday to Gracie! (yesterday)

2008-02-29T11:37:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was Gracie's 7th Birthday! She has been waiting since Christmas for her birthday, and when it hits Valentine's Day, she knows she is getting close. Gracie and I celebrated her birthday on Wednesday, just the two of us, she went on a shopping trip to Justice for Girls, her favorite new store. (Isn't it weird when kids get old enough that they want clothes instead of toys?) She picked out a Hannah Montana journal, some new pj's, a dress, earrings, necklace, a pair of shorts, and a couple of T-Shirts. She was in heaven going on a "shopping spree". Then we went over to Old Navy and got the cutest swimming suit. Then on over to Applebees, where they sang to her, I honestly thought she was going to start crying, you could see the horror on her face when she realized what was going on, but she LOVED the free ice cream so she said it was worth it. (Such her mother's daughter). Yesterday on her birthday day, she got to open the present from Dad and was very excited to see she got her very own IPOD! (Not a real ipod, but she thinks it is, so close enough) and a pair of pink Skull Candy headphones. She has been walking around listening to High School Musical, and wants Jeff to put Hannah Montana on it. Tonight she is having a sleep over with her friends, they are going to order pizza, watch a movie, and play on the playstation. Happy Birthday Gracie! (pictures later, I promise).

March Montly Kit!

2008-02-26T20:43:00.000-08:00

This is our new monthly kit from the store, I think it is my favorite so far! So cute for summer pictures. Go to Out On A Limb to check it out!

quote of the day

2008-02-22T10:08:00.000-08:00

This is my favorite quote of the day so far:

Millie woke up this morning with a huge rats nest in the back of her hair, and the first thing that Gracie said when she saw her was:

"Millie, you like like a pretty lady from the front, and a rock star from the back!"

another "real" layout (see below)

2008-02-21T15:00:00.000-08:00

snow angel

2008-02-21T11:11:00.000-08:00

Owning a scrapbook store is so fun, you get to order all the stuff you want, but you rarely get to use it. I spend so much time designing kits for the store that I never get to scrapbook for myself. So I decided to do just that today, this is an example of the "real" way I scrapbook!

Millie gets a haircut

2008-02-20T12:19:00.000-08:00

Millie got a haircut today, isn't she just so cute? She is growing up so fast, it's hard to think that she is 2!

Millie is sooo full of personality, she is such an actress. She will always fold her arms and "pretend" cry and look up every once in a while to see if anyone is paying attention.

She also loves to watch "Dora Dora" with a sippy cup on my bed and is very particular about how the pillows are arranged, she has to have a certain blue one or she's just not happy.

She is also very much into the Disney Princesses right now. Gracie never liked any of that stuff so I was not expecting Millie to, but she loves Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Ariel especially.

She also immediately tells me when she has "stinky poops" by bringing me a diaper, and wipes, I guess it's time to start the potty training, she has also decided that she no longer is going to take a nap which makes me not so happy.

We love "Millie-kins" so much we can't imagine life without her.

some new kits

2008-02-18T12:24:00.000-08:00

We have added a TON of new kits in the past few weeks so check out the website:
www.outonalimbscrapbooking.com

so over winter

2008-02-14T09:00:00.000-08:00

So last night we had a huge, windy, winter storm. The only road leading into Eagle Mountain was closed for hours last night. Jeff didn't get home from work last night until 9:30 pm. Now, you have to remember that Jeff leaves for work at 4:00 am, and what is a usually 15 min commute, took him 4 1/2 hours. So he came home, went to bed and was back to work this morning at 4:30. Millie decided to start the day today at 6:00am screaming for no reason and woke up the other two, and all three of them thought my room was the only room to play in. This was mine and Millies conversation this morning :

me: Do you want a sippy cup?
millie: NOOOOOO!
me: Do you want some cereal?
millie: NOOOOOO!
me: Do you want to get in bed with me and watch Dora?
millie: NOOOOOOO!
me: Do you want me to change your diaper?
millie: NOOOOOOO!
me: Do you want a sucky? (Gracie got suckers for Valentines Day for her class)
millie: NOOOO, yes sucky.
me: thats what I thought.

Gracie's school has a delay start today because of the storm, so she doesn't go to school today until 11:00, just enough time for her Valentines Day party, lunch, a recess or two, and then she's home. So thats how my day has been so far..... I am so over winter.

things you may or may not know about me

2008-02-06T08:14:00.000-08:00

*I love puzzles.

*I don't remember the last time I saw a movie in the theater, I actually don't like movies at all but I love TV (although I did rent The Waitress the other day and liked it).

*I am related to some semi-famous people. My uncle is Vai Sikahema, he played football for BYU, and went on the play pro football (he made me a cool 2nd Grader). I have a cousin who is the President of WeR Memory Keepers, a huge scrapbook company and he makes regular appearances on HSN. My other cousin is Jon Heder, or more commonly known as Napolean Dynamite. My sister Emme is a musician, she tours all around and has released 3 albums and is working on her 4th.

*I get migraines a lot. My doctor won't prescribe the migraine medicine because I have freakishly low blood pressure (another thing you didn't know about me.)

*I have never read Harry Potter, nor have I seen any of the movies.

*The only time I ever call my sister Rebecca, "Rebecca" is when I'm talking about her to people who don't know her. To me, she is Beega, and if I call her Rebecca, we both get weirded out.

*My dad, brother and brother in law are all Dentists. My husband and other brother both make teeth for a living.

*I have had a C-Section. Gracie was a footling breech. They tried to turn her in womb and that hurts worse than labor.

*I have to take a bath everynight or else I can't sleep. I have to raise my core body temperature back up to normal before bed. Which brings us to the next one:

*I'm always cold.

*I am a freak about clean sheets, I cannot sleep unless my sheets still smell of fabric softner.
(I think this stems from an Oprah show I once saw.)

*I have had braces 3 times. (The last time was just last year, and I got to wear those cool Invisalign ones).

*I'm shy until I get to know you.

*I read a lot. I will go through 10 books in a few weeks.

* I HATE styrofoam.

*My husband feels bad that I never mention him on my blog.

*I used to run 10 miles a day.

*I love to vacuum, it's instant gratification.

*I HATE the phone, seriously it's a phobia. (ok, everyone already knows that).

Come for a Crop!

2008-02-05T16:19:00.000-08:00

We are starting a monthly crop called Kit Kamp! If anyone ever wants to come crop with me and Linds, we would love to have you come. The first one is tomorrow night from 7-9 at Lindsey's house in AF. The cost is $10 which includes two page kits of your choice, snacks, friends, music, etc. You also get first pick of the newest page kits! Here are some pictures of the newest ones. All you need to bring are your scissors, adhesive, trimer, ink (if you'd like), maybe some pictures, and we provide the rest! Let me know if anyone wants to come, we would love to see you there. Kate.

sisters

2008-02-01T13:38:00.000-08:00

Aren't my sisters beautiful? Rebecca is my sister that lives in Japan, we miss her a lot. I am excited for the day when I can see Rebecca more often, she lived in Cleveland for four years before Japan, and she has two more years before she can move back so it will be a total of eight years that she has been away. Rebecca and I are 20 months apart, she was only a year older than me in school so we had a lot of the same friends, and were best friends all growing up. My mom even dressed us the same so we were always mistaken for twins. I miss her and her family so much.

I just love this picture of Emme, I painted that parrot all by myself, doesn't it look just like one? Emme is the most talented girl I know, and she knows what she wants and works hard for it. I admire her ability to make new friends, and to not be shy when hundreds of people are watching her (something I could never do).

This is a picture of my oldest sister Stacie (with Emme), Stacie is 7 years older than me and I'm 7 years older than Emme, I'm right in the middle. Stacie is hilarious, we love to tell stories about things we remember about her from when we were little, like her "brushing her hair face", and "this ham is sooo good." Stacie still doesn't have a computer ( I think the last person alive) so she will never read this, but I love you Stace!

the last few weeks

2008-01-31T18:00:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures of the last few weeks:
Jake came over for a sleep over, all the kids were out of control excited, they had so much fun.

Just a cute picture of Millie

Emme came for a visit, we ate good food, played a little Rock Band, played a snorting game (this is a picture of Gracie in the middle of it), and watched favorite scenes from Arrested Development (Gob doing his magic). Millie loves Emme and it always walking around saying,"Emme, Grandpa, Emme, Grandpa."

Owen doing a snort.

Gracie got her hair cut, after months of me bugging her she finally gave in and let me do it, and she LOVES it. The pictures don't do it justice, she looks older and sassy, (I don't know if thats a good thing, but every time I look at her I want to give her a hug, she's so cute.)

Just a couple of funny stories that have happened in the last few weeks:

Owen is way into the playstation right now but when he gets stuck he starts whining hoping I will come help him. Most of the time I just tell him to figure it out because he can do it better than me. Well the other day, I was a little sick of hearing it, so I was being a little short with him, basically telling him to stop crying. Millie was trying to be nice so she gave him a cookie, well about 10 minutes later, he starts up again, and Millie yelled down the stairs as loud as her little lungs would let her, "Owen stop it, eat your cookie!"

Today I was trying to explain to Owen the difference between right and left, and I told him a good way to remember is that his right hand is the hand you write with. He looked down at his hands for a second and said, "You mean the hand I hold the remote with?"

more new kits

2008-01-21T11:24:00.000-08:00

little princess

2008-01-18T13:21:00.000-08:00

Here is a new layout I did for the store. I have been kind of a slacker lately but hopefully I will have a productive weekend!

2008-01-16T17:01:00.001-08:00

a few pictures

2008-01-15T15:00:00.001-08:00

Here are just a few pictures from the past month or so...
Owen before his hair cut, looking at this picture makes me miss his long hair. If it weren't for the comments from my mom and my mother in law it would probably still be this long :) but I have to admit he does look handsome with his haircut and he looks so grown up.

Gracie and Millie, with her "puppy". Millie got this from Grandma Packer for her birthday and she doesn't put it down for a second. (She is right next to me as I'm typing this and is yelling "my puppy, my puppy"). Millie starts to panic when she hasn't seen her puppy in a while, and she can't go to sleep without it, but the puppy is getting some competition from her stuffed My Little Pony she got for Christmas.

This is me and Gracie last month, I rarely let Jeff take my picture, so you probably won't see another one of me for awhile.

Gracie lost one of her front teeth last week, and the other one is very loose, she has been wiggling it all day today because she wants "both of her front teeth missing at the same time."
Life is busy right now, in fact I should be making dinner right now instead of blogging, (Sorry Jeff, you will get a late dinner tonight). Jeff crashed his car last week in the snowstorm and called me at 4:00 in the morning to pick him up and take him to work, and I said "hmmm, no" thankfully his boss helped him out, and his car was only in the shop for one day.

I'm dreaming of summer, for some reason this winter is hitting my harder than it usually does, I can't wait for flip flops and sun.

Lindsey just found out she is having a boy, it seems like everyone that is pregnant right now is having boys, maybe I'm next?

Millie just fell and is crying her "I'm going to pass out cry" so I'd better go, later! Kate

Cute Robot

2008-01-11T12:31:00.001-08:00

This is my little desk where I sit A LOT. Don't you love the Bam Pop
Robot? He is there to inspire. And of course I have my Diet Coke
and my ipod. I am just sitting down to do a little designing of some page kits.
And yes that is me e-mailing Lindsey on my laptop.

Creative Gracie

2008-01-11T12:02:00.000-08:00

One of Gracie's homework assignments this week was to make a snowman out of three paper plates. Last night after getting home from the store, I sent Gracie up to my craft station to make her snowman while I relaxed in the tub. I asked her "do you want me to find a snowman for you to copy?", "no mom, I will do it myself." ," do you want me to find anything for you to use?", "no mom, I can do it" , "ok, I will be in the bathtub if you need me." so afterwards I go upstairs to see how she's doing, and this is what she has done. I almost cried, look how creative my baby is! Instead of making a typical snowman with a carrot nose, black hat, and stick arms, she made a cute fashionable snow-woman with a flower in her hair. "Look Mom, I gave her rosy cheeks!"

Sale!

2008-01-09T12:42:00.001-08:00

Cute Picture

2008-01-09T12:36:00.001-08:00

Emme and Gracie on Christmas Eve.

starting over...

2008-01-01T18:46:00.000-08:00

It's a new year and a new beginning for us. This is the year that Gracie will turn 7, Owen will be 6, and my baby Millie will be 3. We are also planning on adding another one this year (no I'm not pregnant, but I will be shortly). This is also a new year for Out On A Limb. We decided to focus on only page kits and monthly kits, since the shipping was getting to be too much for Lindsey (who is pregnant), and we are trying to figure out how to make the most money with the least amount of work. So that means a limited website, and expo twice a year. With spring expo in April, we have started designing and have added our first batch of new page kits. Here are a few I have designed so far...

I know they are not spectacular, but designing page kits is a whole different way of designing. So we are starting over, when it feels like we just did fall expo, but here we go.

A Christmas Weekend!

2007-12-09T15:39:00.000-08:00

We have had so much fun this weekend! It has been snowing for the last two days and since it's just two weeks until Christmas we decided to have some fun. First, we played in the snow.
Made some Christmas Cookies.

Decorated a Gingerbread house.
Had some hot chocolate.

Had our annual "Treasure Hunt" for the "Movie Basket" (my mom will love that.)
The kids watching the movie. Millie lasted for about a half a minute.
Moving on, this is what the Garfield's house looks like at Christmas.

We also went and saw the Christmas Lights at Thanksgiving Point, and did some Christmas shopping. Hope everyone else had a fun weekend too!

Happy Birthday to Emme!

2007-12-03T10:52:00.000-08:00

I remember this day back in 1984 when I found out I got a new little sister, I was so excited she was a girl because I already had a little brother and I didn't want another one. Emme is so talented and so fun to be with. Everyone can always tell we are sisters because we look so much alike, which I take as a huge compliment, and we both look just like our Mom. So I love you Emme, and have a Happy Birthday. Kate

sale at the store!

2007-11-25T22:46:00.000-08:00

Check out www.outonalimbscrapbooking.com for the Cyber Monday sale! 40% off your entire purchase all day Monday, it's a big thanks to all of our customers. Enjoy!

Designers at Out On A Limb

2007-11-19T17:17:00.001-08:00

I miss you.

2007-11-13T19:13:00.001-08:00

Tuesday nights just aren't the same without Gilmore Girls, this was probably my favorite show ever, (Felicity is right up there though), I feel like I know Lorelai and Rory, like they are my friends or something. I used to SO looked forward to see what had been going on in Stars Hollow, and the writing was genius. Maybe I will rent all 7 seasons and start over again, I'm just not ready to let go.

thank you delivery men.

2007-11-08T09:35:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was Christmas come early (for me) at my house. My two new toys, the LG washer/dryer came, and my new sectional. I have been begging Jeff for years for a new couch but he wouldn't let me, saying the kids will destroy it within 24 hours. I promised I would set rules for the kids and not let the couch get ruined. So what happened less than 24 hours later? Millie, my 2 year old found a pen, I have had them all hidden since we moved into this house, but Jeff bought a "Cars" pen for Owen a couple of days ago that Millie go a hold of. Thank goodness for the internet and rubbing alcohol because it came right out, and looks brand new again. (By the way there were 5 of these all over the couch, not just 1, I have no idea where I was at the time, but she did major damage in just a few unsupervised minutes.)

And look at these beauties, I love, love, LOVE them. I feel like a real grown up when doing laundry now, except to get these in the house I had to make room in the garage for the old ones, so I picked up a huge box full of scrapbooks, and threw my back out. So I have been walking hunched over since yesterday, and have been on pain killers, and I couldn't sleep in my nice clean sheets because everytime I moved pain would shoot up my back and down my legs. It is all worth it though for these, they are amazing, very expensive but very worth it. So it was a good day yesterday, I saw my husband for longer than usual (he came home early to help with the back), he did things around the house that have been needing done for a while, all my laundry is done, and I now have an excuse to lay down and do nothing all day today, which is the best part of all.

millie go round

2007-11-05T11:30:00.001-08:00

Millie hated the merry-go-round went went to the local fair this summer. I put her on the cutest horse I could find, and she started bawling, but I made her sit there thinking that when the ride started she would think it was so much fun. Finally it started to go round and round and she cried the whole time, she was holding on to my shirt for dear life while she went up and down, the other parents were looking at me like I was the most horrible person, besides what was I going to do, make the guy stop the ride? So we waited it out, and no she never stopped crying, and I gave her ice cream after to make me feel better.

I love...

2007-11-01T19:43:00.000-07:00

Andy Bernard is growing on me more and more, he used to drive me crazy but each episode he gets better. My favorite recently was when he put his buddies on speaker phone and they sang "Take a Chance on Me" to Angela, and this week when he was trying to be a member of the Finer Things Club. So good. This show just makes me happy.

some layouts

2007-10-31T12:34:00.001-07:00

Just some layouts I have done the past couple of days. If you want to see more, go to http://www.outonalimbscrapbooking.com/gallery.html Kate

spooky

2007-10-30T15:48:00.000-07:00

"spooky", that is what Millie says everytime she sees anything that has to do with Halloween, if she sees something and wants to show me, she will say "spooky, mama, spooky" it's so fun to see everything through her eyes. Like the other day when is was snowing, she kept saying "kooah, kooah mama kooah" which means cool, mama, cool! Jeff and I think that everything that comes out of her mouth is the funniest thing we've ever heard, thats the fun part about this age, it kinda balances out all of her temper tantrums. Tomorrow I get to take Millie and Owen to Gracie's Halloween parade, and try to get both of them to sit still for millions of kids to walk by just so Gracie can try and look for me in the crowd (and not find me) while I'm frantically waving my one hand with a camera in it & trying to take a picture, with a screaming Millie on my hip and an ADHD 5 year old doing who knows what, then fight the millions of parents in the too small parking lot to see who can leave the fastest. oh the joys. Happy Halloween!

pottery barn life...

2007-10-29T15:54:00.000-07:00

I want my life to be like a pottery barn catalog. Everything is just so, all the rooms are spacious enough to fit many pieces of furniture, all the childrens hair is perfectly placed, no one is crying, whining, or asking me for something. Everything is clean, no dirty dishes, no dog hair. I have strived for this for some time not realizing that behind the scenes the kids are crying, the snow is fake, the houses are probably on a sound stage, and the photographer is a pro. You see we just moved into a new house that would bring me closer to this dream, and as I look around, there are toys everywhere, there are dirty dishes in the sink, a dirty diaper on the stairs, you can see footprints on my floor. I thought my new life in my new house would be different, but its not and I'm ok because I had a few seconds of real happiness today, you know the kind that comes and goes in seconds, but in those seconds you think, I'm happy, I have a good life and thats better than a fake catalog.