News & Spring is almost here!

I’ll start with the shocking news…

For those of you who haven’t heard yet, my Dad met someone online, they met and immediately became engaged. They have recently set the date for May 20th to get married. It’s been kind of difficult dealing with this. My sister and I have been trying to be happy for our Dad but it’s still too fast for us. But it’s what he wants, so there’s no changing his mind. She will be visiting here March 18-26th, so that’s when we’ll get to meet her.

Good News…

I finally removed the hangers, bagged, and donated all of my Mom’s clothes. It was 2 huge trash bags plus a bag for her shoes.

Fun news…

I shopped for bunko prizes last week. Then I hosted bunko at my house on Friday. It was a blast! And I got a cute prize (I really wanted to keep all of them)!

On to sweeter news…

My darling Ashley had her 8th birthday over the weekend. I can’t believe how quickly she is growing and changing. She has been wanting secret journals, so she received a couple of those. You know the kind that has a mini key with it? She thinks they are so cool. She also got a Moxie doll (like a Barbie doll but with changeable heads) and an iCarly notebook, but I forgot to buy some batteries, so she hasn’t used it yet. I think you have to use a passcode to get it open, then you can write your notes in it. My sister also found a gift & card that my Mom had bought for Ashley before she died. So, Christy was able to give that to her. It’s a necklace with a charm and inside is a mustard seed with a quote attached that reads, “If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, nothing shall be impossible unto you.” Ashley was so excited!!! I love the one I got just like it when I was 8 from my Aunt Wendy. I still have it.

Enjoying breakfast (homemade Belgian waffles) with her BFF that spent the night. Playing a little xbox.Eating lunch after the makeover her sister gave her. her bday cake (rainbow chip with rainbow chip frosting) The whole gang! blowing out 8 candles. her Moxie doll. some wall scrapbook kits Ashley with Grandma and Grandpa Stradling              Ashley & me Ashley & Ben

And because Ashley turned 8, she will be getting baptized this Saturday. She is thrilled!

Decluttering news…

Ben & I helped the kids go thru their closets & dressers to gather all the clothes that don’t fit them. We filled 7 trash bags!!! {well 2 or 3 were already filled with baby/toddler clothes just waiting to be donated}. Ben dropped off ALL the clothing for donations yesterday! It really feels good to get all that stuff OUT of the house that we weren’t using. Now, if I can just get the computer room organized. Hmmmm. That’s for another day. LOL

* NEW * March Challenges are posted.

Head on over to the DSO Challenge Blog for some inspiration, plus you earn freebies!

Here's what you get FREE if you play along:

{remember my posting bonuses are coordinating}

FONT Challenge

QUOTE Challenge

HAPPY SPRING and HAPPY SCRAPPING!

Another Year Older & Wiser

hahaha yeah right! JUST OLDER! I finally found my FIRST white hair a few months ago! YIKES!!! Although, I have yet to see it grow back {of course I plucked it for safe keeping}.

Ok now I have finally caught up with my dear OLD hubby!

His birthday was the week of Thanksgiving and now mine.

I tease him that he’s OLD, but then a month and a half later – I “catch up!” LOL

By the way, do you like my new playlist? Enjoy it while you can because it will only play TODAY!

{maybe if I give enough hints – hubby will get that cake for me! I’ve already printed the $3 off coupon & will be placing it where he can easily find it. heee heee}

**I also want to add a BIG “THANK YOU” to all who have sent kind, loving emails, cards, meals and donations to my Mom’s Fund. My family and I appreciate your thoughtfulness and generosity!

♥((BIG HUGS))♥

My sister, brother, uncle and I spoke {I was so nervous and it took me days to prepare for it} at my Mom’s service and a dear family friend sang several songs {he is so amazing} and it was beautiful. I’m so grateful that my brother and his wife were able to be here. I wish they could’ve stayed longer, but they needed to get back to their kids. Can’t wait til they can visit again this summer!

HAPPY NEW YEAR! {and a Blog Hop freebie}

This has been one heck of a year for me and my family! I hope y’all had a wonderful Christmas and looking forward to what’s to come in 2010.

We had a nice Christmas {even though my Mom was in the hospital}. She came home Monday evening and passed away after only being home 5 hours. We are having services for her this Saturday, Jan 2nd at 1pm. It has been a struggle for me to say “Goodbye” to her because she was my BEST friend! But I know she’s not in any more pain and with her family that passed before her. Thank you to all my amazing family & friends that have sent loving messages to me. I am so grateful. ♥

Ok I don’t want to dwell on the sadness right now because today is the beginning of a New Year and new beginnings!

If you are still finishing scrapping your Christmas pictures, check out my Deck the Halls kit plus all the extras!

Here’s my 2-page layout

Look at these fabulous layouts from the DSO CT:

These layouts were by Kerri (kayjaydo)

 

These were by Karen (bydelstorp) also using Jazzy’s A Christmas Song wordart on the 2nd layout.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today! The DSO Gals have been busy making gifties for y’all.

 

So, you probably hopped over from Shannon.

Since you’ve gotten this far, here is my special TREAT for you!

You can grab this HERE

For your next treat, go back to the DSO Blog to see what you’ve missed or hop over to Jazzy!

Since this is a Blog Hop, if you get lost along the way make sure you stop by the DSO Blog for directions! {Plus there may be a surprise for y’all there too!} Please remember that we’re all in different time zones around the world, so some may not post at the exact same time. Thanks!

**Ooooh I almost forgot, ONE LUCKY commenter will win a $25 gift certificate to DSO! Don’t forget to comment on THIS POST {and all the other blogs for more chances} to be entered to WIN!!! The WINNER will be announced Saturday, Jan 2nd on the DSO BLOG!

GOOD LUCK!!!!

ONE more day…

until CHRISTMAS!!!

Are you ready?

Are you having any parties/celebrations tonight?

Every year on Christmas Eve my husband’s family comes to our house to celebrate with a big pot luck dinner, plus treats and sometimes a gift exchange.

I did some baking yesterday with the kids and brought some goodies to neighbors and my Mom in the hospital. {oh she went back into the hospital Monday morning. She already received some plasma & vitamin K to thicken her blood, then had her left lung drained of fluid this time. She may have fluid in her right lung again that they will drain today and start chemotherapy because her breast cancer has spread to her lungs & throat.} My Mom is such a trooper and is MY HERO!

I still have a little more baking to do, plus clean up & start cooking the ham, meatballs, creamy corn, wassail, make a cheese spread & slice the cheese for the crackers.

I haven’t even begun to wrap presents. I guess it’s a good thing there aren’t very many this year.

I hope you & your family has a wonderful CHRISTMAS!!!

Don’t forget that you can TRACK SANTA. We’ve done this the last 2 years and the kids love it! Go HERE and select your language, then you can see him throughout his journey! It’s really cool. We just leave that site open and the kids come back and see the updates. Sometimes they race to see who can tell me which country he’s in now and where he’s going next. hahaha

MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

HOORAY!!!

After 15 days, 2 surgeries, and a blood transfusion, my Mom is finally HOME from the hospital!

My Dad was able to bring her home last night around 5pm.

Thank you so much for all your prayers! They really helped her get well.

Now she can relax in her own home in her comfy chair and fuzzy blankets. My Dad has been an excellent nurse staying by her side most of the day every day she was in the hospital. But his job doesn't end there, he's got his work cut out for him making sure my Mom takes all her meds, gets to her doctor's appointments and follows all the doctor's orders. You're doing GREAT Dad, keep up the good work!!!

Here's to a speedy recovery, Mom! You are my hero and best friend!
♥ I LOVE YOU ♥

Have you heard of Fruitcake Lady?

oh. my. gosh. This lady is hilarious! Apparently this was on Jay Leno.

She reminds me of the “Shoebox” cards lady. You’ve gotta watch this (don’t forget to pause my playlist on the right first, so you can hear what she’s saying):

{warning – you may not want young ears around}

UPDATE: My Mom is doing very good! I saw her at the hospital last night for a little while. Her morphine has her making up funny stories and wanting to bust out of there & go home. LOL She was cracking us up as usual. It was good to finally see her much more awake and aware. She’s been in the hospital almost 2 weeks and majority of that time she has been in tons of pain, very uncomfortable, and unable to talk much or be herself. We can tell she’s feeling better because she’s suddenly worried about getting her Christmas shopping done and cleaning the house for the holidays. She really wants to eat – when she was able to eat, she just kept vomitting last week. They wouldn’t let her eat or drink yesterday. Hopefully today they will give her some liquids, then solids soon. She overheard some nurses talking about pizza in another room, and my Mom said if someone couldn’t get her at least some ice chips that she wanted to leap out of bed and hunt down the pizza and eat it all. hahahaa

She just had some x-rays this morning and now they’re waiting results.

Gotta go. I’m heading to my parents’ house to help get some cleaning done so my Mom can stop worrying. Plus my Brother’s coming in town tomorrow night, so we are ALL very excited to see him! Hope you have a safe flight, Spencer!!!

Come See the Light

I had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend with family and friends.

It’s been kind of hard getting in the Christmas spirit {which usually decorating the house with the family does it} because my Mom has been in the hospital for the past week and a half. Earlier in the week, Ben, the kids and I went to my parents’ house and set out their tree with lots of lights and garland, and we found some decorations to place around the house too. We wanted my Mom to feel “festive” when she comes home. I finally started getting us ready for Christmas by putting lights on the house outside and setting out a few decorations. I’m really hoping we can get our tree set up this weekend. Are you ready for Christmas?

Have you seen Mark Mabry’s photo exhibits called Reflections of Christ and/or Another Testament? They are so amazing! I have the book with all the pictures from Reflections of Christ and my parents have the CD, which they play often – it’s so beautiful and peaceful.

Well, I just received an email notice with this info:

“Dear Friends,
Great news! Deseret Book is offering a friends and family discount of 40% off the Book, DVD, and CD from Another Testament. This is for in store only so print and enjoy:
COUPON

“Also, we've made a new video combining images from both projects put to the music of Come See The Light:

“The biggest thrill of my life over the last two years, other than the birth of my son, Canon, has been the chance to speak often about the making of Reflections of Christ and Another Testament. The process of making of these two projects effected me deeply and positively. These projects deal with my personal understanding of the Savior and how His gospel works in my life.
This email reaches out to people of various faiths. Whether we're Baptist, Catholic, Mormon, Methodist, Unitarian, or anything else, the intent of this work is to let us all imagine together meeting Christ in person.

“The new video combines my two most recent projects and focuses on two different communities of people coming to the Lord. We are all familiar with the first group of people as those in the Holy Land at the time of Christ. The imagery also introduces another group living across the world on the American continent who knew about the Savior and awaited His appearance after His ascension to Heaven in the book of Acts. The stories combine the Biblical record of Christ and the record kept in the Book of Mormon.

“If nothing else, I hope these images give us pause to imagine that Jesus is among us and that we can see each other as we are... brothers and sisters.

Merry Christmas,
Mark Mabry
markmabry@mac.com “

I just watched the youtube video and it is incredible! I really hope that you’ll watch it. It’s only a few minutes and already I feel some peace in what’s been a really hard past week and a half, especially today.

My Mom is about to have surgery again tonight. Please keep her in your prayers. Her surgery last Sunday went fine until she didn’t come out of her anesthesia, the doctors gave her something to counteract it, then she stopped breathing. She had to be on a respirator for a day or two until she could breathe on her own. I’m praying that her surgery goes well tonight and she can wake up from anesthesia and get well so she can come home.

* * EDIT * * Received message from my Dad - surgery went well & my Mom is waking up! He is with her right now. THANK YOU for all your prayers! I was getting really nervous and scared most of the day since her surgery kept getting delayed. It's been a long day for everyone. Now my tears are tears of Joy! I can finally breathe easy tonight.

Updates & NEW Stuff

First, THANK YOU for all the kind thoughts & prayers sent our way. My Sister is recovering well from her surgery. She came home Sunday afternoon and stayed at our parents' house all week. She's doing so good that we were able to squeeze in our cousins' lunch too. It's always fun to see them & laugh for a couple hours! Christy had her follow-up doctor visit and got the OK to go back to work (sorry sis but you knew it was coming - LOL) and drive again. YAY!! Now she can feel independent again with her own car.

I've been trying to help my Dad by taking my Mom to some of her appointments so he can actually get some work done. This has been a BUSY week. My Mom has had several appointments EVERY day. I'm glad I am able to help out though. Plus it's time I get to spend with my Mom :)

We're trying to squeeze in our appointments before school starts again. {Yikes that's coming up quick - Aug 12th.} Nathaniel had his retainer adjusted since more teeth have been growing in. Nathaniel, Felicia & Anson all have their well visit next week. I had my yearly woman exam, then needed a sonogram (NO I'm NOT prego not even close). I've had painful monthly ovarian cysts since I was 21. Turns out I may have endometriosis now. My Dr wants to do laparoscopy to check for sure and if so, then blast any unwanted cells. {OUCH!} I also had my 3rd MRI on my left foot because of my dang toe joint that hurts. I have Freiberg's Disease and the pain just keeps getting worse. I'll be having surgery soon to remove part of the 2nd metatarsal head. Don't know how close together I can do these procedures, but I'll get it worked out. I'm going forward with the foot surgery first.

Ok enough with the blah blah blahs. LOL

DSO is still having their Designer Call and Site CT Call until July 31st

If you want a chance to sell your designs at DSO or love scrapping and want to be part of the DSO Store Creative Team, go apply now before it's too late! Good Luck ☺

DSO has a couple new talented designers in the store this week!!! WOOHOOOO!!!!

Sassy Sarah aka Designs by Sassy has joined us! YAY!!!

See what's new in her STORE

And one of my *online* designing buddies - Charlie (aka Charlie's Digiscraps) has joined the DSO team also! We've gotten to know each other thru blogging and at our fave digiscrap place DSO!!! Welcome aboard sweetie!

See what she's added to her STORE already

Oh I almost forgot, there's a couple new treasures in the store too!

Kim & Gaye (two very talented & creative sisters) have joined forces and created this amazingly beautiful Toof Fairy Collab kit:

You don't want to miss out on this kit!

It's so incredible & with so many hand-drawn elements!!!

{There are LOTS more pictures & close-ups HERE

& some FREE add-ons on their blogs!}

Ya know what?

This kit would go perfectly with this month's DSO Quote Challenge!

{hint - it's about *toothless grins*}

Bunny created this amazing poem wordart in this same theme:

Jazzy also has some darling Toof Fairy wordart

To see all the new designs go HERE

I also wanted to share some lovely layouts using my Hokey Pokey kit:

Renee's Flowering Cactus

Michelle (aka SunshineState) Birds of a Feather

{she won my kit at DST}
Bunny playing with glue again, made this darling hybrid box


I also want to do a little shout out to my brother-in-law:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ERIK!!!!

Hope it's a good one!!! Have a safe trip home!

Shocking News & a little Hokey Pokey

For those who haven't heard yet, my Mom had been really sick all last week and my Dad finally took her to the ER last Thursday night because she couldn't hardly breathe and was coughing like crazy. Turns out she has pneumonia and they drained a LOT of icky yellow fluid out of her right lung and put her on antibiotics. So, with that she's feeling a little better now.

However, it doesn't end there. She has had a lump in her breast & hadn't seen a doctor about it. I have known about this for a while. My Dad and I have tried to convince her to get it checked out. She's so stubborn. Well, now that she's in the hospital, they have discovered she's in the advanced stages of breast cancer. It has spread to her lymph nodes in both armpits and may be in her right lung (or could be part of her infection).

They have done a full body scan, biopsy and bone scan. The bone scan results came back clear. YAY!!! A little bit of good news! Still waiting on the other results. She is optimistic and really likes her team of doctors. They want to start chemotherapy as soon as they get all the test results. She will be in the hospital a couple more days. We are all hanging in there and doing fine. We've all visited her a bunch of times, I even took the kids a couple times (we had to meet her in the lobby of her floor since the kids are under 12). She's excited to have her family near and enjoys receiving phone calls from friends and family.

We were still able to celebrate Father's Day this weekend. My Sister and I took my Dad to a movie of his choice. He chose UP in 3D. It was SO CUTE!!!! We all loved it :)

After the movie, we took the kids to McDonald's for a late lunch and then went to visit my Mom at the hospital again.

My sister, Dad, and ME

We always have a FUN time when we're with our Dad! He's an amazing Dad and he's always been there supporting and encouraging me! Thanks Dad - you're the BEST!!

The kids enjoyed shouting "Happy Father's Day!!!" to Ben several times Sunday morning!
They love their Dad so much!! Ben is such a wonderful father & husband!! We hit the jackpot with him :)

I also invited my Dad and sister over for dinner Sunday evening. We had a good time together. Then my Dad, Ben and I visited my Mom at the hospital (w/o the kids).

Oh my goodness! We were all laughing for hours! The nurses must've thought we were all nuts! We finally left around midnight. Under the circumstances, it's been a good weekend.

We all really appreciate all the warm thoughts and prayers everyone has been sending our way!

Now I've been doing laundry most of the day so we can pack. We're going to Utah for a few days for Ben's family reunion. It's more like a sibling reunion rather than huge extended family one. We're excited to see everyone. Not looking forward to the drive, but there's no way around that.

On to some more exciting news! Well exciting for me. I have finally finished a new kit!!! It's taken me a while, but I had fun creating this one.

HOKEY POKEY SAVE 25%

Somehow I got this silly song in my head, so that's how it got it's name:

You put your right foot in, you take your right foot out.
You put your right foot in, and you shake it all about.
You do the Hokey Pokey and you turn yourself around.

That's what it's all about!

You singing with me yet? hahaha
That song is fun and quirky, just like this kit!
There are lots of fun pattern papers with birdies, gems, glitter, strings, swirls and flowers to play with.
17 Papers and 52 Elements (not all shown)

Here's a better look at the pattern papers

And the Solid Papers

I took a little time {in between doing laundry} and made a layout with the kit!

I also used my Deck the Halls Alpha.
It's for the DSO Template Challenge.

These pics are from Easter this year. I just love their matching dresses and so do they! They look so beautiful! I can't believe how big they're getting.

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!!!

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!