April Photos of the Month

Quiet, boring April!

I guess pulling out my camera was not in the plans last month. And sadly I have very few photos to post. 

I don't know who took these last few photos. Must have been one of the kids. 

Since February I have been scheduled to work 9 of the last 11 Saturdays.  

I only work one day per week and it seems like Saturday is the only day they want to schedule me. 

That is all about to change. I am tired of missing out on all of the family outings. So starting very soon. I will only work a Saturday here and there.  I am not opposed to working Saturdays, But every Saturday is not acceptable. 

So then I may be able to pull out my camera and work in some photography time. 

These are of Justin and one of his planes.  He just finished building this one. 

 And it is big! 

 I guess it is time to see if it flies? 

Spring is here and we hope to be outside much more now. Hopefully, I will remember my camera!

March Photos of the Month

Here we go! Spring is here and summer is quickly approaching.

 We just had a really great Spring Break. It was fairly relaxed and we did get to rest and catch a few movies this last week. However it also put me behind in my photos of the month posting. 

Elyssa is becoming so skilled in her drawing abilities.

 She can sketch something in a very short amount of time. It really amazes me to see some of the things she comes up with. I never know what to expect and it is always a delightful surprise.

She did this profile of her dad while listening to Ken Ham and Dr. Tommy Mitchell 

speak at the Home School Convention. 

 She drew and water colored this little under the sea gem and I turned it into her Birthday card.

 I did a little bit of tangling this month as a wedding gift for my dear friend in Colorado. It is 11x14 in ink. 

It was definitely a bit of  a  challenge and I sure was intimidated at first. But I had a great time creating it. 

One more from Elyssa. 

This is her creation for Passover and Resurrection Sunday.

 I really really love this one.  

These are our Resurrection Sunday Family photos. 

This last one I edited to use for Christianna's Graduation Photo. 

I have just started dabbling with my Photo Shop Elements and I sure do not know what I am doing yet.

 I plan to take a class this summer and hopefully figure it all out. 

In the meantime I will just dabble and see what I can do. 

February Photos of the Month

These are just a few of the photos from February. 

Trying to keep up and not get behind....

 These lovely girls spent the weekend with Elyssa, While the mommies went up to a condo at Snowbird Ski Resort. We had a great Girls Only Weekend! I am so thankful for a husband who supports me and allows me to have time with my girlfriends. And who misses me when I am gone!

The Girls made this cake all by themselves too, I heard it was yummy!

 Also while I was gone we got frost... Strange frost and I can't say I have ever seen anything like this in Utah... which is not saying much because I am not usually up and out and about when it is frosty.

 The incredible edible egg comes in many sizes and colors. We just happened to get one that was incredibly teeny tiny for our chickens.  This egg was so small it did not even have a yolk in it. and it weighed in at under an ounce.

 Ironically we also happened to get the largest egg from our chickens that we have ever received. 3.12 oz.  It was HUGE!  Just for kicks here is a run down of how eggs are sized. 

Greater than: 

1.25 oz. Peewee 

1.50 oz.  Small  

1.75 oz. Medium

2.0 oz. large

2.25 oz. extra large

2.50 oz. jumbo 

So.... What would an egg that weighs in at 3.12 oz. be called.  King size? Mega? hmmm. and for that matter what about the little tiny one? under an ounce... mini? 

 Ok I wouldn't say I am obsessed with Pinterest.. I just really really  really like it. and I come across things that I think are so stinking cute! This cake is one of those things and I have vowed to make it this summer for a shindig. I tried to find the original source for this post but was unsuccessful if anyone knows the source that would be great.  Isn't it adorable? I think kids will really get a kick out of it. 

Lastly as I was leaving the school parking lot the other morning. I chanced to see this under the vehicle next to me. I got a good chuckle out of it. The school news letter had just come out and in it there was a pointed message about being very careful around the cones. They were expensive to replace and many had gone missing. Well.... I think I know why they are missing.

January Photos of the Month

 I don't promise these are all from January. As a matter of fact I am pretty darn sure I took the last 2 in December. 

 I am officially a Trader Joe's girl! I am so glad they finally opened one in Salt Lake. It is a  bit of a drive to get there and definitely not very convenient to get too, but we have one. I was very disappointed in the size of the building. It is teeny tiny! And there were so many people there the day I went. But all in all I really enjoyed my visit. I purchased Olive oil, Parmesan cheese, Orange juice, Sea salt, a Ciabatta baguette, and a Trader Joe's reusable bag for a grand total of $13. None of the items I purchased were more than I would spend on them that if I went to Walmart, and  few of the items were a bit less expensive as well. 

 I saw a feather similar to this one on Pinterest, and I really wanted one. So I went to my 12 year old resident artist and asked her to draw one for me. She did a fantastic job! 

 She also drew this dog and I just love the softness of the finished piece.

 Her Baby Chick Eye turned out incredibly well. It has a fluffy baby quality to it that I really love. 

She received a Christmas gift this year from one of her youth leaders. He happens to have a printing company. He printed up 10 pads of tear off sheets that say  "An Original by Elyssa C."  The gift was a real ht and we love seeing what she comes up with on those pads of paper. 

December!

Oh snap! It took me til February 6th to get a shot of this year's Christmas Cookies loaded.  

I hosted a class on sugar cookies and royal icing this year and we had so much fun. Then I came home and made over 400 of my own to hand out. I kept it down to just a few shapes so I could get them iced as quickly as possible. I am loving those mittens this year and the red, white and gray icing. I am also in love with the red and aqua color combo and can't seem to get enough of them. I am thinking I may make some hearts for V-day but we'll see. 

Thanks for stopping by my humble little piece of the blogosphere!

December Photos of the month.

I am so behind!!! Oh well! I guess I will just have to learn it is ok to be behind on my blog I will eventually catch up on things, So here is my lame attempt at that. 

I skipped November photos of the month because in reality I did not take very many photos.  And i  am thinking that many of Decembers photos will end up on January's photos of the month. 

 This year I really wanted a new tree. Ours was a cheap one we got on an after Christmas sale quite a few years ago. It really was a nasty little thing to deal with. I also wanted to see if we could borrow Justin's Parents white tree to avoid dealing with the other one. So with a little searching they were able to dig it up and we were told we could borrow it as long as we did not bring it back. I LOVE this tree SOOOO much I can't even tell you. 1strand of 300 white lights made this tree light up like you would not believe! It was glowing! Needless to say we did not go shopping for another tree after Christmas.

 Justin and I at Little America Hotel for Justin's Company Party. This is the 7th year we have attended this party. I wish we would have started taking a photo every year in this same spot.  I only have one for last year and this year. It would have been interesting to see the changes.  We always have a great time at the party.

Sadly just before Christmas my baby brother was standing with his back to a bonfire, hanging out with his friends. When someone poured gas on the fire. Although Caleb was 10 ft away, he caught fire. The fire went into the gas can, pressurized and then like a flame thrower saturated him in gas and fire. He did the right thing by dropping and rolling but he was rolling too fast. they finally got the flames out and he was rushed to the hospital. He was then transferred to the Burn Unit at University Hospital. He ended up being in the hospital for a total of 11 days in the hospital. it will take 2 years for his hand to be back to 80% of normal. He also had burns across his lower back, down both legs, his hip and from his knees down on the inside of his legs.   I have never seen anything like that in my life. And I hope I never have to again. It was seriously the most horrifying thing to see burned flesh. Sitting with him in the Emergency Room I realized I could handle more than I thought I could If I have too. This picture was taken a few days later. He had a fever. On top of all of this. Because he had open wounds, we had to be very careful not to get him sick. He spent Christmas in the Hospital. And for the most part I was not able to go up and stay with him much. I was either working or coming down with some kind of cold.  Which made me really sad!

That leads me to one more thing. "Working"

Recently I started working outside of the house for the first time in 12 years. Let me tell you, it has has been CRAZY!  I didn't realize when I started training in late October that when they opened the new location I would be going into a new job at the busiest season of the year. What was I thinking?????  Couple the busy-ness of just being a mom, with a new job, plus I am still homeschooling  E. Throw my own Christmas traditions and planning, baking, shopping, and other responsibilities into the mix. Caleb's burn injury, we had a car stolen and recovered, I got sick, the kids have been sick. Christmas concerts, parties and services, and work. It made for one crazy busy season. I am so glad that is over with. 

I really am enjoying my new job. I work at the New Megaplex Movie Theater in town. Thankfully I am in the Box Office. It is a great job. Very easy for the most part. But it is long hours of just standing in the same place. I absolutely love the group of people I get to work with, they are fantastic. Plus my supervisors have been incredibly patient with me. I could not have asked for a better work environment! Hopefully now things are slowing down and I have a better handle on things around here. I might just get a chance to pull out my camera and take some pictures.   

Kudsudama Ball Ornaments

I am participating in a Christmas Ornament Swap over at Yarnigras.blogspot.com. The theme was Christmas, and we were to make 5 ornaments, send them to the hostess and she would send back 5 random ornaments from other swappers. They all had to be hand made. I am really excited to see what comes back. 

The ornaments below are about the size of a softball. Each Kudsudama ball has 12 flowers. Each flower has 5 petals. Each petal needed to be folded and glued together.  In total I folded 300 petals, to make the 5 Kudsudama balls. You can find a great tutorial here.  It took me a  really long time to fold all of those little papers.   

 But in the end it was worth it. I added a loop of ribbon to each one so they could be hung on a tree or from hook. Elyssa and I had a  hard time deciding what beads to use for the centers and for the petal tips. Then the dilemma of should we spray paint them or not? Or leave them be so they yellow with age on their own... Oh what to do? In the end we left them white to let them age on their own. 

I am very happy with how they turned out. I am now making a really big one out of magazine pages that I can spray and hang in a corner somewhere. 

October Photos of the Month

One day I will blog again... I promise! But for now I guess I will just have to deal with the fact that all I am capable of is putting together a Monthly Photo post. Sadly there is so much I want to share but have not had the time to  do so.  

This was a month full of artsy endeavors. Elyssa started to draw faces and eyes. Last month it was dogs. She creates these pieces very quickly. I just love to sit and watch her work. I think for a 12 year old she is 

ah-mazing!  She is not intimidated by a blank sheet of paper like I am. 

This years harvest/ halloween brought us to a strange place. Ashton does not want to dress up anymore. It makes me sad. He is growing up so much. He will be 15 next week.  

Elyssa decided to recycle one of the costumes in the trunk. I didn't really get any pictures.  I suppose I will always paint my face, just because I can. This is the first year I have strayed from the butterfly theme in quite sometime.  I did go into the restroom and startle myself at least once when I looked in the mirror. The black and white was so striking. 

My artsy endeavors are not near as amazing as E's tend to be but I do have fun with it. 

I have found it to be absolutely therapeutic. Zentangle has been found to lower blood pressure and have the same effect on the brain as  meditation, and since I don't meditate, zentangle and prayer will do nicely. 

Sometimes I get those pesky heart palpitations, which bring on feelings of anxiety. At those times I take a time out and grab my fancy pens and a piece of scrap paper and let my imagination go to town. With in about 10 minutes I feel much better.  The top piece was done on a scrap of card stock, it is only

 3 1/2 x 3 1/2 inches. It is the perfect size for doing a quick zentangle. 

This piece was done on 8 1/2 x 11 piece of printer paper. It took up most of the page and most of the evening to complete.