Memorial Day SALE

Memorial Day SALE 25% OFF Storewide
ONE DAY ONLY

1st Anniv & Lark FREEBIE

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY to ME!!!

I've been @ DSO for 1 YEAR!!! WOW!

{well, my actual anniv date was May 20th}

I am amazed how quickly this year has flown by. It's been such a great experience being on a team of wonderful designers! I have learned so much!! DSO is the BEST!!!

I created a mini kit to CELEBRATE!!!

LARK is 30% OFF until the end of May {along with the rest of my store}!

I scrapped!!!! I made this LO for the DSO Font Challenge:

{credits HERE}

These pictures crack me up from the Father & Son's Campout. The men are wearing the SAME exact clothes both days! No need to bring clean clothes. LOL Oh and Nathaniel's disgusting crawdad! Bluh! Can't believe he thought he was going to boil it, then EAT it. Ummm sweetie, it's not fresh lobster! heeee heeee {credits HERE}

I also made this card (added fabric flowers & brad)

{scanned image}

And I am offering the card as a FREEBIE!

It includes the front & back and just the card face, so you can print it as you like.

You can download it HERE

Have a wonderful Memorial Weekend!

P.S. Don't forget about SAVERS 50% off SALE on Memorial Day!!!

CONTEST WINNERS

My Bath & Body Works GIVEAWAY is now CLOSED.

I printed all the comments and let Anson pick one from a big bowl.

CONGRATULATIONS....

Merrianne {my SIL}


I had such a great response, that I decided to pick a Runner-Up to win a Lotion. It smells so good, I can't help wanting to share!

CONGRATS

snowflake (Karyn)

WOOHOOOO!!!!!!

I already have your addresses, so your prizes will be in the mail soon!

Thank You to all who entered my giveaway & posted it on their blogs!

Maybe I will have another contest soon.

LAST DAY OF SCHOOL 2009

I'm still in denial. Can it really be the LAST DAY of school??? Has it already been 9 months? I guess it has because whether we're ready or not, they're coming home & not going back until August!

I am excited that I don't have to do these again until August:
*pack 3 lunches (in August it will be 4 lunches)
*wake up early (Monday thru Friday)
*race to get kids ready
*throw on clothes or robe & run out the door to get kids to school on time (Barely on some days)
*nag about homework
*sign everyone's folder or agenda daily

Instead, here's what we will be doing this summer:
*NOT getting up super early every day (only if we WANT to)
*Reorganizing the kids' rooms
*earning points so the kids can "use" them to play video games & have sleepovers
*doing summer workbooks
*summer reading
*practicing violins (I'll be tutoring the kids)
*daily chores so the house doesn't look like several tornadoes hit
*squeezing in a little Webkinz time {gotta take care of my Olivia☺}
*Playing with Friends
*Summer Movie Fun
*Swimming, lots of swimming
*free school lunch (during June, Monday thru Thursday)
*going to Utah for Ben's family reunion
*Ben gets to go to ComiCon again
*hoping for NO fighting, hitting, screaming (is it possible or am I just dreaming? LOL)
*Having lots of FUN!!!

BUT, before all the summer FUN begins, I have a BIG day before the bell rings at 3pm & all the kids flee the school campus!

The kids have their Winners Assemblies shortly after school starts, so I will go to both of those (the younger grades & the older grades). Ashley will be receiving "Winning Attitude" award! YAY!! Felicia will be in the B.U.G. Club again (Bringing Up Grades or if you keep straight A's)! YAY!!! Nathaniel doesn't know yet if he's receiving any awards.

Then I get to meet my sister & cousins for our monthly Cousins Lunch! I'm so happy I get to see them more often now! Anson is looking forward to spending time with my cousin's son too! They're the same age & they have so much fun together!

I have a couple errands to run after lunch.

Pick up the kids from school & hear about all the exciting parties!

Let the kids swim for a little bit to cool off.

Then we'll all be off to Pack Meeting to see Nathaniel receive TONS of awards! We haven't had an official pack meeting for a few months because there have been other important meetings, like Blue & Gold Banquet, Pinewood Derby, etc. We are so proud to see Nathaniel accomplish so much! He has really been working hard and even achieving a few badges on his own {to surprise Ben - who is also their Webelos leader}! He will receive 9 pins, 1 belt loop, Webelos badge, Compass, 1 point on the Compass, and his Arrow of Light {which if you know anything about cub scouting, Arrow of Light is very Honorable}! He's so ecstatic to be receiving so many, especially right before his birthday! He'll be 11 on June 2nd, so he'll move up to Boy Scouts! He is growing UP way toooooooo fast for me!

Oh and Ben is also bringing the snow cone machine to make the treats for everyone at Pack Meeting! It's going to be yummy! And sticky. I'm glad I won't be in charge of that! LOL

Hope you all have a great day! And if your little ones have their last day of school today, hope your SUMMER is AWESOME!!!

Webkinz

Do your kids have Webkinz? My kids have 3 each. They have been getting them for their report cards at the end of the school year & for Christmas {in their stocking}. Sometimes I play on their account to earn them kinzcash (points for buying stuff in their virtual world). Sometimes I play just because I like some of the games {and they get addicting - like Tile Towers, Goober's Lab, Cash Cow & Solitaire}.

Anyway, LOOK what I got today!
Zebras have ALWAYS been my fave animal and when I saw it advertised on Webkinz, I just had to have it. So, today I ventured to the Hallmark store and got one for myself. I made my own Webkinz account & named her Olivia.

See the fun things I got...errr I mean Olivia got! tee hee That stripey sports car is too cute!!! And how delicious does that stripey dessert look? Mmmm making me hungry :)

Ok, so it's offical, I'm a total dork! But I don't care! LOL

I'm off to play another game before it shuts down for the night (it closes for a few hours at Midnight EST).

Fun & Busy + GIVEAWAY

Nathaniel & Felicia had their last orchestra concert last Thursday. They both did GREAT!!!
I'm so excited that they have both decided to continue playing the violin next year too! YAY!!!
{following in my footsteps ☺}
I also ran into an old friend from high school. We had orchestra & Japanese together (her mom was our Japanese teacher - one of my fave teachers).

Friday night, I went with Tangie & Molly to the Bohemian Bliss Soiree at Ms Alber's home. It was FUN! We all tried to dress up in Bohemian attire, but no one brought a camera, so you don't get to see our attempt. :( There were amazing booths of wonderful treasures! I wasn't able to purchase anything that night, plus how do you make up your mind with soooo many to choose from? I got their cards & will definitely be checking their sites & put a few things on my wish list! What's the next gift-receiving holiday? teee heee {just found some pics of the event HERE}

Oh, we also got a tour of her two homes (one I guess was remodeled to be a showroom/house). Holy WOW!! They are BOTH totally GORGEOUS!!! I wanted to park my behind in the showroom/house and not leave. Everytime I see some fabulous rooms/homes I want to totally redecorate my whole house. Decorating shows don't help either. I see those and again, I want to RUN to the nearest decorating store and buy all new things to dress up my rooms! Too bad I have NO BUDGET for that :( Oh well it was fun to see the beautiful homes and get some ideas!

Saturday morning came quickly. We got up early went to The Park of the Canals to let the kids put their handprint on a tile - Kaboom! is going to be building a new play area at the end of the month. These tiles are going to be included in the design.

We also saw a few people from our ward there. Look! Ashley was helped by our favorite babysitter!

Nathaniel getting his hand painted.

Felicia also got to spend a couple minutes with our babysitter!

Anson was also very excited to do his handprint with his fave color.

They all wrote their name & age on the tile & they're baking them so they will last a very long time.

The rest of our Saturday was full of running errands, dropping off/picking up Ashley from 2 birthday parties, shopping for teacher gifts, picking up Christy from her walk so she could hop in our pool to cool off for a few minutes before we were out the door again. Oh my goodness! It was a HOT day! I think my back was sweaty all day. {ok sorry maybe that was TMI}

Sunday we went to church, then relaxed in the afternoon. After dinner, we took one of our famous walks with the dogs to my parents' house. The kids LOVE walking to their house, hang out for a little bit {look around for any treats that could be shared with them}, then walk home! It's a great end to our weekend.

Now, on to something special....

Since this is the LAST WEEK of SCHOOL for my kids,

I'm having a GIVEAWAY!!!

Bath & Body Works has a new scent, which I absolutely LOVE!

So here's what I'm giving away:

Antibacterial hand soap, Body cream & Shower Gel all in the new White Citrus scent.

{my beautiful hydrangeas not included}

Ok so HOW DO YOU WIN??

Here's whatcha gotta do:

Leave a comment on this post.

If you want an extra entry, post about my giveaway on your blog, then come back here & leave another comment.

I will pick ONE random WINNER Friday morning (May 22nd).

GOOD LUCK!!!

School Elections

Last week, Felicia ran for Student Council Secretary at her elementary school.
She's been a Student Council Representative this semester and you have to be in student council in order to run for an officer. Her meetings are before school, so I went to the meeting and got to see everyone present their speeches (they only had to be 1 minute & written by themselves w/o help from anyone else). Felicia wrote her own speech & did fantastic presenting it! I was pretty bummed because they weren't going to announce the winners until the end of the day. So, I went to pick them up from school & got there a little early hoping to hear the announcements. I was too late, so I had to WAIT what seemed like FOREVER for the kids to get out to ask about the outcome.

YAY!!!! Felicia WON as SECRETARY!!!!! Woooohoooooooo!!!!!

Way to go sweetie!!!

What's been going on...

I snapped this pic a couple weeks ago. I had to record Ashley helping to wash dishes! LOL No really, she can be a great helper {when she wants to be}. She was showing Anson how to wash dishes, so they could do it together.


Felicia got rollerblades for Christmas and LOVES wearing them all the time! She loves using them to get to/from friends' houses. One day a couple weeks ago, she fell on the way to her friends' house and skinned her knee.

OUCH!!!! A day or two later, this is how I found her sleeping! Yep, she made a 'sling' for her leg. Pretty creative if you ask me! HAHAHAHA

Ok think we have already hit SUMMER weather. It's been at least 100 degrees for several days in a row. But a couple weeks ago, the weather was absolutely perfect! Especially the evenings, I enjoy leaving our backdoor & our bedroom door {to the patio} open all day. Well, one evening, I left our bedroom patio door open most of the night (the screen was closed). I got up around 2am and closed it. I won't be doing that anymore!

Look what we found in our bedroom the next night! A SCORPION!!! YIKES!!!

This is the FIRST time in my life that I have ever found one of these horrible things inside our home! It may as well be as BIG as these! That's how much I despise scorpions!!!
{remember Clash of the Titans? I hated those huge disgusting scorpions! but totally loved that movie}

Ben carefully picked it up and put it in Nathaniel's bug catcher so we could have a closer look at it. He also decided to get out the black light {we use it at Halloween} to see if it really glows. Those are grasshoppers in the bug catcher with the scorpion.

Now that is pretty cool! We watched it for a little while. Then Ben used the black light and looked around our room and our back patio. Then the scorpion needed to go to heaven {if that's where they even go. LOL}.

Ben went right to bed, I mean after all, it was late and he had to get up early for work. Ummmmm NOT ME!!! I had a hard time even stepping foot into our room. I had to go to the other side of the house {of course, turning on each light before I entered the room} and watched some episodes of my fave shows on the computer (our DVR didn't record them properly). I stayed up til almost 3am. Anson got up at one point coughing, so I let him sleep in my lap for a while. I was so tired, I finally got in bed, but not before I checked the room again. I may sound like a total baby, but I did NOT want to get stung!

Ok, so I finally fell asleep in bed. Ben woke me up a couple hours later when he was leaving for work to let me know that his truck had been broken into and his stereo was GONE! He asked me to please call & report it. I came outside to see his truck and to also see if my van was ok. Whew! My van was fine. Went back to bed. Got up a couple hours later to get the kids up & took them to school. When I got back, I decided to look around the carport and see if anything else was missing. Yep, they took Felicia & Ashley's bikes! Dang thieves!

I called to report everything that was missing. We've had our car stereos stolen before, called to report it, then that's pretty much it.

To our surprise, late that night, the police was at our door! They were asking if the car stereo in their hands belonged to us. What? You actually found it? Ben came to the door, NOPE that's not mine. They caught a couple teenagers (13 & 17) behaving suspiciously near a park. Turns out they had a couple car stereos on them. Well, after talking to them a while, they confessed to stealing several and described where they got them. Led them right to our house. But first, the cops made them tell about the missing girl bikes. They took the cops to the canal and showed them where they had dumped them! The cops made them feel really bad about breaking little girls' hearts! Anyway, the cops went back to the boys' house and retrieved MORE stolen car stereos. They found Ben's stereo! But the bikes can't be retrieved from the very full canal. :(

One of our neighbors is also a police officer, and he tried to help the next day. He saw our report & went to the canal site and called SRP to see if they would send someone to retrieve the bikes. NOPE. They drain the canal once a year in December/January, they can be fetched out then. Darn it. But I really appreciate our neighbor cop trying to help.

I went to see STOMP with some friends. Well, last minute someone couldn't go, so we brought Felicia with us. It was AMAZING!!! Felicia loved it too!

Last week, Ben & I went to see X-Men Origins: Wolverine. It was AWESOME!!!!!

Sunday evening, Anson snuck up behind me with the corn holders and told me he was Wolverine! He was cracking me up, so I told him to stand still so I could take a picture. He jumped on the couch {yikes! watch out for the leather! he was careful not to touch anything} and posed for me! Silly kid!!!

The kids really enjoyed the corn on the cob my Mom brought over on Sunday, so I bought more while it was still on sale. Nathaniel helped me shuck it. Awww sweet helper!

Mmmmm it was delicious! We still have some leftover to eat tonight too!

Mother's Day/Weekend

I had the BEST Mother's Day/Weekend this year!!!

The weekend started out with the boys leaving for the Father/Son campout. They had a few extra people with them - Ben's friend Trey & his son, My Dad & a neighbor friend.
See how excited they are to go on their camping trip?!

Nathaniel ALWAYS has a way of finding interesting things to bring home with him. This is a DEAD crawdad. He's pretending to eat it. He ran in the house & grabbed a measuring cup to fill with water. He wanted to boil it and EAT it! I said NO WAY!!! Eeeeewwwwww! Ben made him throw it away. Whew!

Here's my fave boys returning from their trip. No need to bring a change of clothes. LOL They had a BLAST!!! They also quickly became a HIT because they all brought AirSoft guns and played around. They shared so other boys could play too. They thought it was cool to shoot at the water in the nearby creek because the way it looked when it hit the water! Boys are too funny!

While the boys were away, I had bunko! I was in the 3-way tie for most wins or losses (can't remember which one) but in the roll-off, I didn't win. Oh well, I got this CUTE door prize! The kids thought it was funny.

My sweet niece, Chantel, spent the night so she could be with the girls while I was out that night. Ended up staying out til 3am. I was soooo tired in the morning. The girls had fun getting makeovers from my niece & watching Hotel for Dogs.

After Ben got cleaned up from camping, we got some pizza for the kids. Then we snuck away on a date. He took me to Chili's for dinner and we wanted to spend a little more time out, so we hopped over to the theater and got there just in time to see Star Trek. I'm totally NOT a trekkie, but it was pretty good, esp with the eye candy!

Sunday morning, the kids woke up & wished me Happy Mother's Day right away! Awwww what a nice way to wake up! Kids hugging & kissing me while I was still in bed. So sweet!!! Nathaniel asked me if I would make Belgian waffles. What??? He quickly corrected himself, Ummm Dad can you make pancakes? That's more like it. hahaha So, he did. Ben makes the most delicious pancakes!

We got ready for church and the kids hardly fought. YAY!! What a nice morning! Ben took this pic right after church! I just told the kids to come stand by me but they immediately squeezed me with big hugs! {I almost fell over from all the love♥}

I love all my sweet munchkins that make me a MOM! They can definitely drive me crazy sometimes, but I wouldn't trade any of them! I couldn't imagine my life without them! They give me so many hugs & kisses every day, I love it!!!!

These are the fun & lovey dovey cards I got from my darling kids & Ben!

Ben loves putting my card in a place where I will find it {I do the same thing - it's fun}. Who doesn't love surprises? He usually places my card on my vanity or pillow so I will find it when I'm getting dressed. This year, I found it on my keyboard {yep I snuck in to check my email after breakfast - tee hee}. He's a sneaky one!

Ashley's card was sooo cute! She made it at school and inside it says all the things she loves about me! Awwww. She also made me a "diamond" necklace! I wore my pretty diamond to church. She was so happy!

Inside the card:

I like being with my mom most when going swimming with her.

If I could give my mom something special just from me, it would be some flowers.

It really bugs my mom when ask her if I can play. {she means begging for xbox or computer time}

My mom helps me most when she helps me make my bed.

My favorite thing about my mom is she makes dinner for me.

One of my mom's favorite places is the snow. {ummm this one is questionnable. not a huge fan of cold, but do like to play in the snow like one day a year}

My mom likes to go out to dinner.

My mom looks prettiest when she puts makeup on. {at least she can appreciate my hard work 'trying' to look pretty - LOL}

My mom is special because she's kind to me.

I like it when my mom tucks me in to bed.

My mom's favorite food is chinese food. {yep that's one of my top faves, it's a close tie with Mexican & Italian}

If my mom could have anything she wanted, she would probably have 4 children. {she said she put that answer because we already have 4 kids}

At church, all the primary kids got up in Sacrament meeting to sing a couple songs for the Moms. This is one of my favorite times at church! Even if they're not singing or don't remember the words, the fact that they get up there and smile back at me - awwwww just melts my heart!

The talks during Sacrament meeting were Awesome!! Especially Jaime's talk all about being a Mom! You Rock Jaime!!!

They got subs for us in primary, so we could go to Relief Society. It was AMAZING being with all the wonderful ladies and the lesson was incredible!

The kids also made these cute cards at church:

Ashley & Anson made some too, but they were cards that you wrote something inside about your Mom. Ashley said she likes that I have brown hair just like her. Then she drew a picture of me, I think with blue hair & brown eyes! heee heee

Oh my goodness! They totally spoiled us at church! Not only did we get the sweet cards from the kids, but this is what they gave all of us too. A super delicious cookie from Sweet Cakes {a family in our ward owns it}, caramel/chocolate dipped pretzel, primary cookbook {kids wrote the recipes with the 'real' recipe attached, bookmark & sweet quote to hang on fridge.

Ok, so I broke my almost 2 weeks of 'no treats' diet and had a couple bites of the cookie & pretzel. Shared the rest with the fam. Could you resist those?

After church, we went to visit Ben's Mom. Ben picked out an apple scented flameless candle (takes batteries) & cute mug {both from Real Deals} for his mom.

She loved them both!
Ben & his Mom

Ben made fabulous BBQ Chicken & baked potatoes for dinner. My parents came by {and brought yummy fresh corn on the cob already cooked & hot for us to have with our dinner} and I gave my Mom her gift.

I found the delicious White Cheddar popcorn seasoning {she loves getting this topping at Harkins movie theaters}, white & yellow popcorn kernels, popcorn bowl & $15 GC for Hollywood Video.

ME & my Mom

I love my Mom so much! She is the BESTEST Mom!!! Thank you Mom for always being there & all that you have taught me!

It was a fantastic weekend! Hope you had a good one too!

My Design Style

Saw this on Tammy's blog!

I guess this is kinda true. Why don't they have a style called "Simple Designs due to Simple Budget {and kids who love to run around throwing dirty socks & toys everywhere}"?? Maybe I should've picked my total dream rooms when answering the questions on the quiz. Then again, some of the pics just didn't match what I would choose. I love Pottery Barn & many different pictures in Better Homes & Gardens magazines. I love going to my friends' houses to see their beautiful homes & decorations. I have a mixture of styles, a little of this and a little of that. But we also have tried to choose items that will last a while & not look 'worn/ruined' due to kid damage. LOL

What's your decorating style??

Happy {inter}NATIONAL SCRAPBOOKING DAY!

Oh boy! I know I've been neglecting my blog again! But for good reason. I have been busy, so have the wonderful gals at DSO. I have some BIG NEWS!!!
Plus, we have several NEW Designers, TONS of NEW Products, and Bunny & KimB have a Collab CU Grab Bag!
You do NOT want to miss out on these great savings!

I am also hosting a NSD Surprise Challenge! Go HERE for details & a chance to win a $5 GC.
Better Hurry! The challenge lasts for ONLY ONE DAY - ends May 2nd at Midnight (CST)!!!

I am Featured Designer of the Month at DSO!

To read a little info about ME, go HERE!

To Celebrate, I created Bee My Honey to share and it will be FREE the whole month of May!

Click HERE to get this kit for FREE!

HAPPY SHOPPING & SCRAPPING!!!