It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

So, the decorating is done! The wrapping is almost done! And I'm so excited for this year's Christmas. You see this is the first Christmas we will have been home in 3 years! I am just so excited to be able to go all out on my decorating and have family and friends come over to enjoy it with us.






I have always wanted to have a tree in the front window, but I want to be able to enjoy it also...so my solution was a $30 fake tree in the front window! I think it turned out really pretty.

I love to have "real" trees also though because to me it just isn't Christmas without the smell and mess of the tree...LOL! So, in our TV room where we spend a lot of our time we put up our real tree, along with stockings and such.


I have to say I'm going to hate to see it all go ! I wish that I could leave it up all year, things just
feel so cozy to me!
So, I wish you all a beautiful and homey Christmas this year! I hope you have a wonderful season of celebrating our Saviour's Birth!

Putting things into perspective.

So, a friend of mine called me this morning asking if I could pick up her son and keep him since her husband was just in a "really bad car accident". She said that he was life lighted to the hospital and he had several broken bones and was headed off for surgery. She also told me that a news crew was filiming so I could watch the news reports.
I called Aaron and asked him to pray for them and then asked for prayer on the church list. Left and went to pick up their son. I was almost to his Day care when my cell phone rings, it is Aaron telling me that he just rear ended somebody about 10 minutes after I got off the phone with him.
Praise God!!! That Aaron is OK, and that our friend will be ok, as far as we know right now.
When I got home I watched the news report that I had recorded. Our friend was hit head on! It was amazing either driver will survive after seeing what both cars look like. They had to cut the entire roof of the car off. I am just so thankful that although they are bruised and broken that God took that situation in his hands and saved them.
I have been totally stressed out getting ready for our families to come next week and this was a total wake up call for me to be grateful for all that I have and to realize not to take it for granted because it could all go in a blink of an eye. So, take your loved ones and hold them tight tonight, and please say a prayer for my friend and her husband.

Feeling Blessed

So today I am feeling very blessed. Actually, I have been feeling blessed for the last week.
The other night Kaitlyn and I went shopping and out to dinner at Mimi's Cafe (for french onion soup, yes even Kaitlyn loves this soup!) and it was just a nice time to sit and visit with her. I remember doing things like that with my mom, and I really miss having those times with her.
Aidan is also helping me to feel so blessed, he just holds my face and tells me "I love you!" in his scarey monster voice and it just cracks me up!
I have a wonderful group of girls that I work with in Girl Scouts! It is so much fun to be with them. I thought that Girl Scouts would be horribly stressful, but it has turned out to be one of my favorite times.
I am leaving to CA to visit my family! Can't wait! It is always so nice to visit everyone. It just feels like home when I go there.
AND my interview went so well! I should know in 4-6 weeks if I have the job, but I did great in the interview! Doors are starting to open up as far as day care situations and things, so I feel as if this is what God wants me to do. And that in itself makes me feel blessed.
So, all in all it has been a great week!

Go UTES! 

my little soldier 

Excited and nervous at the same time!

I am so excited for my interview with Jet Blue this Saturday. I'm nervous about it, but I feel a peace about the interview also. I'm sure the closer it gets the more nervous I will get, but for the most part I'm just excited.
Now I'm just trying to figure out what happens if I do get the job. I have to figure out what to do with Kaitlyn in the mornings before the bus comes, and where to take Aidan while I'm in training for 4 weeks. I know if I'm supposed to have this job that things will start opening up, but I have to figure it out pretty quickly.
Other than that I'm getting ready to teach a crafts class at my church on Friday, and then Saturday night Aaron and I are going out on a date! I'm so looking forward to that, it has been too long since we have been out together by ourselves.

Exhausted!

That is what I am right now. I have spent the last week up at our church setting up for our churches annual Fall Festival. It is a Christian alternative to halloween.
I originally signed up just to help decorate. Come in do some decorations and go home, enjoy my night with the kids...YEAH RIGHT! I get this call about a month before fall festival starts from our Minister of Education (MOE) asking me if I would be the head of set up. Ok, I could do that, a little more shopping on my part, buying the decorations no problem. I am then told that we would be doing this with 3 other churches! And that MOE was not going to be there for 3 days prior to the event...YIKES! Well, things went off without a hitch. The kids had a great time, almost everything got done and the MOE said she was definitely asking me to run it again next year...ACK! That's what I get for volunteering! LOL!
But it does feel good to pull of such a large event successfully! Now I'm going to bed!

My new car is here!

We are back after our whirlwind weekend to Vegas. We got the car, no hassles. Everything was set, just had to go and get it. We got a really good intrest rate, so we are very pleased. It is storm grey with dark tinted rear windows, and I haven't heard Aidan complain about the sun since we bought it! YEAH!
I'm still getting used to driving it since for the last eight years I have driven an SUV, but I am enjoying driving it.
We had our parents meeting for girl scouts last night and it went very well. A great group of girls, they are fun and engaging and I think they will all become really good friends soon.
We have a good friend of ours coming to UT today. He is staying with another one of his friends that lives in Orem, so we will get to see him either Thursday or Sunday. I'm excited to see him since we haven't seen each other since Aaron's high school reunion in 2002.

Off to Vegas

We are leaving for Vegas to get a new car. Long story, but we could not get anything here in UT (Even St. George) for Durango so we are taking it to Vegas.
Everything is set. Just have to go in and get it. I love that part.
So, I'll update when we get back. The car we are getting is a Saturn Ion 3 in Storm Grey. Very Pretty, glad it is finally getting settled after a month of this.

YEAH!!

I got through the interview and was asked to come in for an IRL interview...which will be 2 hours! ACK, but I'm so glad the first one is done!
My IRL interview will be Nov. 5th.
Now I have to start shopping for an interview outfit!
Praise Jesus! that this interview went well! Now more prayers for my IRL one to go just as well.

ACK! It is almost 1:00 and the butterflies are here!

How can I be this nervous for an interview? Maybe it is because I really want this job? OH, I hope they don't wait until 3:00 to call! They can call me anywhere from 1-3...

The nerves are going crazy big time!

So, today is THE day. The make it or break it day. Yep, I have my phone interview today. I made sure that I went to bed early last night so that I'm all rested up. My friend says they ask some really tough questions. I just hope that I don't sound too stupid when aswering them.
On the plus side I have figured out that I can type 48 WPM with no errors...which is pretty good for me.
The girls scouts stuff is going really well. Last night we had our Mod 3&4 training. It helped me a lot since I have never done girl scouts at all. I learned what to do durring a meeting, and what the girls are to get from GS. I think this program is going to be an amazing gift I can give K when she is older. When you give your daughter independence you give her the world, the know how to do what ever she wants to do. I wish that I would have been able to do it when I was a girl.
I think we may have a sleep walker on our hands. A has gotten up every night for the last 3 nights. He walks to his door and then starts crying. We get up and put him back to bed, he usually seems disoriented. Poor thing actually fell out of his bed a few nights ago and didn't wake up, just went back to sleep on the floor. Good thing I heard him or he would have been there all night. So, I'm actually glad now that we spent the money for a toddler bed, I think he would have hurt himself by now if we would have done the twin bed.

Wish me luck!

I have applied to JetBlue Airlines to be on their "Reservation Crew". I am so excited! Basically what I would be doing is taking reservations for people all in the comfort of my own home! I have a telephone interview next Wednesday and then it is just a sit and wait game. It would be an awsome opportunity, but if it doesn't happen that is ok too. The pay is pretty good for this job, but what I am most excited about is FREE airline tickets for me and my family. I know my parents could fly free, but I'm not sure how far into "family" the list goes. I would so love to be able to just hop on a plane to go visit my family for the afternoon and hop back home later the same day or next. How great would that be???? I'm so stinkin excited, but I know I shouldn't get my hopes too high!

More on Cars and Scrapbooking.

So, we have decided on the Saturn Ion. They have great safety ratings and Aaron gets fleet pricing for them so they are really inexpensive for us. That way we will be able to buy a used SUV to have for towing our trailer and for all the girl scouts outings that will be happening this year....
That's right I am leading a troop with my friend Kristi. Our girls are the same age and they are just so excited about it. Start saving your pennies for the cookies! HA...that is what Aaron is most excited about.
On to other news. I am taking over the play room. Gradually most of the toys have been moved to their bedrooms anyways, they just like to play in their rooms, and it keeps the mess contained a little better I think. So, I get to have a scrap room again! YEAH!! I'm so excited to be able to decorate it and make it my own. I think I'm going to keeps the yellow and add some blue touches to it. I can't wait until it is all finished! And everything won't be so dusty anymore, having my things in the unfinished part of the basement just made for a really dusty mess. I'm so excited.
A quick story. The other day I was sitting on the ground putting my shoes on and Aidan came up to me and said "Mommy your so pretty"...AHHH! What a way to melt any mommies heart is to tell her she is so pretty. I can't believe that a 2 almost 3 year old came up with that all on his own (and I know it wasn't planted because we were the only ones home)! Anyways, just had to share how sweet he is!

More about cars.

So, we are still car shopping. We can't agree on anything right now. We test drove the Nissan's, the Mitsubishi, and the Chevy and boy what a pain.
The first thing we drove was the sentra...We both liked how it rode, but the head rest hit me funny so I felt like it was pushing my head forward the whole time we were riding in it. I adjusted it several times, but they just didn't make that car for a person of my height. So we test drove a used (not by our choice) Altima. I loved it, but Aaron said it had way to much road noise for him. So the Altima was out. Next came the Mitsubishi Lancer, I didn't even ride in that one, but Aaron test drove it...he liked it. I felt the interior was really cheap and would fall apart in about 2 months time (esp. with kids). So, we went on to Chevy. We test drove the Cobalt. Neither one of us really liked it. So, we are back to square one now. We are going to look at Saturn's, hopefully this will be THE car. I have driven older ones, but not the newer ones. After that we are about out of cars and will just have to make a decision. We are hoping that our Durango will sell, the ad in the auto trader starts this Wed. so hopefully we will start getting some calls on it.

So, our car shopping still continues. At this point I am ready to just be done with this whole mess. We are hoping that this will all take place sometime this month. Let's pray that we can agree on something!

This is pretty neat.

I'm trying to win a free ipod. I've been wanting one for awhile, but not wanting to spend the money on one I keep putting it off. I've heard that this is actually true. I signed up for the blockbuster movies, and just have to get 8 people to sign up too. I would love to win one, but I don't think that will actually happen. But if you are interested here is the link....

http://photoipods.freepay.com/?r=21392407

Shannon

car shopping

I think A and I have found a car. We have been shopping all weekend and looking at pros and cons of various cars. We test drove the hybrid cars...prius, and civic, the scion and have looked into many others. A test drove the Mazda 3 today (we had both kids so I stayed back, but sat in the drivers seat to make sure that I would be comfy driving it.) We both really love it, it is sporty, A says it drives really smooth. I thought it was the most comfortable car that I sat in, that is important when we are talking sitting in it for 710 miles! Another neat thing is we get the fleet pricing with this car also (a great RR perk, car shopping with no hassle!) which we would not with the Toyotas or Hondas.
We figured out that it will take us 10 years before the Prius would save us any money because it is quite a bit more expensive. We also found out that the batteries can not be recycled, so yes you are saving fuel, but littering the earth with a batterythat we would have to change about every 8 years...HMM not sure which is worse there.
So, we have our Durango up for sale on Auto trader and KSL, hopefully it will sell soon. And until it sells we will be limiting the amount of driving we will be doing because that thing is a big gas HOG!

The car we both really like. 

Musings about the internet.

I have to say that I am truly amazed by the power of the internet. I mean where else can you connect with people that have the same interests as you from all over the world. It is just so amazing.
I have met several friends online. A lot of people think that is strange. They have this fear that there are a lot of weirdo's lurking about waiting to prey on poor unsuspecting people who have nothing better to do than sit and look at message boards on the internet. This is true in part, but for the most part this is not true. There are a lot of small sites, that have a small group of people with the same interests. This thing called the internet has opened door to people, to make friends. Some who may have a hard time making friends in the first place.
I am thankful for my group of internet buddies. Some of which have become very good friends! The internet helped me when we moved to a place where I knew not one single soul, it helped me reconnect with my friends back home and it helped me branch out and make new friends in this new place I call home. I think if you go about meeting people from the internet in a safe way that it can be an amazing experience.
This last weekend for me was one of those. Where else can you get a group of 12 women together and have everyone get along? I have never laughed so much in my life I think. The projects were just amazing, and the friendships are something that I will cherish forever! I am so grateful for the friendships I have, and the internet has just made it easier to create a larger circle of friends.
HUGS! To all of my internet friends!!!

Stampin Up

So, this week I have decided to get busy working on my projects for Stampin Up's concept artist position. I am amazed that they are still looking for one. It is even up on Monster. com (the look for jobs website). I am really nervous. I have not had a job in 7 years now. Unless you count the 6 months going back into teaching preschool when Kaitlyn was little. It was a horrible expierence and I refuse to do that anymore. I am praying that this is the right job for me. I have 4 projects finished, and need to do 6 more.
I am trying to get them finished this week because that job has been posted since June and I am afraid that it will be gone if I wait any longer. This is something I really want, so I figured I should go for it!
Other than that this is crazy clean up week, making sure everything is ready for people to come and stay.

So, I finish a project, but no time to photograph it.

I was asked to make a recipie book for a friend at church who is moving away. This thing tooke me a long time to finish, but it turned out so nice! I just wish that I had had time to photograph it. She loved it, and that made me feel good since my work was appreciated. She scrapbooks so she knew how much work was put into it.
We have been so busy this summer. Kaitlyn has gone to 2 VBS, and we have been swimming every week at this really neat pool here. It has a whole playground in the water, slides, tunnels and all sorts of things that squirt water everywhere, the kids love going. Then we went to Lagoon Monday which was so much fun for the kids. We spent money on a ticket for Aidan (you have to pay if he is going to ride the rides) thinking that it would go to waste, but he had more fun that Kaitlyn I think. He rode this ride that went so fast and LOVED it! I thought once it started going he would cry, but he just said WHEE!!! So cute.
Now I have to go start getting my house in shape for a bunch of people to come and stay here. I am on a private scrapbooking board, and we are having an all weekend crop. I was asked to let everyone come and sleep here, it should be a lot of fun! Everyone comes in one week (next Thursday) and will be leaving on Sunday. I think there will be about 8 ladies over...I told Aaron he might want to run away for the evenings, but he is a trooper and doesn't mind a bit. Durring the day's we will be gone scrapbooking, and some of the girls are teaching a class on how to make something. We are making albums, cards, dry embossing and all sorts of stuff. Should be a great weekend.
On the job front, I have been so busy working on projects for other people, and keeping the kids entertained this summer that I have had absolutely no time to just sit and play around to create some projects for the Stampin Up position. I think the are always looking for concept artists, so I can just keep plugging along on some samples and when I get enough submit a resume, they want at least 10 samples.
Well, I have written a book so best be getting back to cleaning...YUCK!

Change.

I like this. I think I'll stick with it for awhile. I can't seem to find the exact template I like, but this one is close. HMMM Maybe A can help me figure it out.
Was supposed to go to LSS to buy some more paper, but I'm tired and not feeling well, so I'm staying here tonight. Trying to get a teaching job, but I'm starting to freak myself out a bit. I mean, what if nobody likes my stuff? Am I really good enough? UGG! Last week I felt so confident that I could do this, but now I'm second guessing myself. I really need to get my butt in gear and start trying. I know I'll never figure it out unless I put myself out there.

Tag book for my mom

I had such a great time putting this tag book together for my mom. I wanted her to know how much she really means to me, and how much of an influence she has had on my life as a person, a mother, and a friend. Basically the book is a letter. All the places with the polka dotted ribbon are little books that open up. I made the box that the book goes into also. The best part was that my mom really loved it ! TFL!

Lat set of pages 

fourth set of pages 

third set of pages 

more pages 

First pages in tag book 

tag book all put together 

back of box 

Box to put Mom's tag book in. 

Finally a LO with me in it.

I really had fun doing this LO. It is a bit darker IRL, but the scan made the picture so dark that you couldn't see who was in it. So, I had to play around with it a bit.
The journaling reads:
Oh, How I love being your Mommy. There is nothing better in this world to me than to listen to the 2 of you laugh. I love the feeling of your grubby little hands reaching out for mine. I only with that they would stay little and small forever.
This picture is so special to me because I am usually the one behind the camera taking your picture. This reminds me that I need to tell daddy to take more pictures of me so that you will be able to see that I love you too. Remember that I will always love you no matter what.

TFL! Shannon :0)

My Latest Creation 

Finally a day just for scrapping!

Saturday I'm having a day all to myself. I'm taking 2 classes at our local expo and will be scrapping while I wait for Aaron to come and get me. Then I'm having dinner with a friend. I'm looking forward to getting some scrapping done, and maybe working on an abulm I am making! It should be a great day.

Apples.

I love these photos of Aidan eating an apple. His face is just too cute! This was my first time stitching on a LO with my sewing machine. I really like how it worked...Much easier than sewing on fabric IMO.

An oldie but one I love 

Birthday card.

This is a card I made for my brother's girlfriend. I hope she likes it. :0)

Birthday card 

Seaside 2004 

Seaside

Seaside is my a Layout that I currently finished. I loved blown up picture of Kaitlyn. She just embodies everything I love about being at the beach durring the summer.
The title came from an idea book called "Monochromatic Scrapbook Pages" I have to be truthful that I basically copied how she did hers, but I love the way it turned out! Please forgive the bad scanning, I'm still in the process of learning how to do it properly.

One Scrappy Site

Hi! Here I am new to the world of Blog. I'm not so sure about this journal your life away on the computer, but, hey I'm willing to try anything at least once. I'm actually planning on using this blog to keep my family and friends current on my latest scrapbook pages.
Thanks for looking and feel free to make comments.