Project 365 Week 22, Time Out & a Freebie Template

Friday night and Saturday I spent at Time Out for Women in Pocatello with my Mom. I enjoyed a break from the everyday life and time to hear spiritual music and messages. The theme was "Sweet Assurance" and they encouraged everyone there to pick one thing that they "know for sure" or one Sweet Assurance and take it home to share with those they love. Here is what I know for sure.... that there will always be darkness and bad things going on in the world but that you will find what you are looking for and there is also great beauty in the world and many good things. I know for sure that Heavenly Father sent us here to find JOY and that there will always be things in our life that can bring us joy if we seek after these things. I am determined to remain optimistic even when the world tries to tell me that the economy is bad, that nothing lasts forever, that it is raining outside.... whatever the world tries to tell me - I will stay true to the gospel and seek for the joy. Click HERE to find out more about the Time Out for Women event.

Here is my Week 22 for Project 365. The journaling reads:
May 28 Morgan received his Arrow of Light at pack meeting.
May 29 Savannah and her friend performed in the school talent show with the song from Annie, “I don’t need anything but you.”
May 30 We planted our garden starts and are now hopeful for a bounteous harvest.
May 31 This is my new hair cut that I got on Saturday. So far I really like it.
June 1 Today I spent a few hours weeding my flower bed but I hardly made a dent in all the work that remains to be done there.
June 2 Today was Carson’s 10th birthday!
June 3 The last day of school and all the kids just came home and dumped their back packs on the couch. Lovely addition to the clutter - not!
(Credits: At One With Nature by Bren Boone, A Good Life by Designer Valorie Brown, Template by Anna Jenkins, brads by ANAFLOR DESIGN, Fonts - Soopafresh, Wendy Sue)

And here is a page I made recently. I love Carson's joyful expression. It is made using a fun new kit, The Beach Collection: Surfer Dude and Hula Princess, by Ziggle Designs & Amanda Heimann Designs that you can find by clicking the image below my layout.

Oh and I almost forgot! My first Template Freebie was given away over on the Ziggle Designs CT Blog this last week. Be sure to head over there and pick it up by clicking HERE.

Project 365 Weeks 17 - 19

So a friend of mine pointed out to me yesterday that on my last blog post I was abandoning my family to go to Women's Conference but that in blog world it looks like I never came home lol. Well rest assured, I did come back to my family and I have been busy playing catch up ever since. Much of my scrapping and certainly my blogging has been on hold. I did find some time to scrap a few of my Project 365 pages though and it was so fun. I am thinking that I may just save up my week of photos and then make myself scrap them to share a post of my Project. It is just too hard to get my pics posted here every day lol. If you have noticed I rarely do get them posted daily. At the end of my post you will find a list of credits for the layouts - if that kind of stuff interests you. But hey... I have to tell ya that if you go to the end of my post you will find an image of just one of the many great kits that are available for scrapbooking Project 365 if you are doing the project too. Many of the kits would be great for scrapbooking everyday stuff too and best of all they are FREE! I am not sure how long the links will be available to download the kits so be sure to head over to Digiscrap Addicts soon and check it out. Oh and by the way... yes Women's Conference was wonderful! If you have never been or if you want to learn more about it there is information Here.



Credits for my layouts:
Project 365 Week 17 & 18 Daydreamin by Megan Turnidge, In Stitches by Angie Kovacs Digital Designs, Word Art (altered) by Stephanie2, Template (altered) by Miss Cutiepie, Staple by Flergs, Font - Wendy Sue
Project 365 Week 19 Love All Year Long by Jady Day Studio, word art Day by Day by Tracie Stroud Designs, Template by Michelle Filo, Font - Pea PaulaSo this cute kit is just one of many you can download for Free. Here is the link to the Project 365 kits. These are all submissions in the contest So You Think You Can Design that is currently going on. You will need to register at Digiscrap Addicts in order to download but it is easy! Ok... I'll try to do better with my blogging. If I have time I'll even be back to post another entry today. Happy scrapping all!

Conference & Project 365 Days 94 & 95

The kids did pretty good during conference. Eight hours of religious talks over a 2 day period can be a bit difficult for my rowdy bunch. I prepared ahead like I posted Friday and printed out some coloring books and workbooks for the kids to use during conference. We told the kids that if they did a good job on the workbook that we would all discuss the conference talks after they were over and then we could decide on a place to go out to dinner as a family later this week. The debate is still ongoing about where we will be going out to eat.
Another thing we did during the afternoon sessions was to select 6 topics and then the kids would assign one of the six treats to that topic. When that topic was mentioned they could get a snack.
Here is my photo for Day 94. The topic was Fragile. Carson hasn't even had his glasses for a year yet but he has broken them three times so far.
Here is my photo for Day 95. The topic was Fake. This is a CZ that I sometimes wear when I want a little bling.

Spring Break & Catching Up

Saturday Morning, March 21, we loaded up the van and made the long trek to Sunny St. George to enjoy a week together as a family. We had hoped for the weather to be a little warmer than it was. I think the highest temp was 65 but hey... it was lots warmer than it was back home so we were happy. We just were spoiled last year at spring break with even warmer weather. Now.... I warn you this is a long post with many photos. But just remember that I didn't do daily posts so this one had to make up for it lol.
The boys were anxious to get out of the van and were happy to pose for a photo. This is my photo for Day 80 March 21.
On Sunday we found a local ward to attend our church meetings and the kids were a little worried about going to primary where they didn't know anyone but after the block of meetings Savannah reported that it was just like home and that they even sang the same songs as we do at home. I love that the church is basically the same no matter where you go. After church we spent some time visiting the Temple visitor center where we watched two movies "A Mormon Miracle" and "Just a Stone cutter" they were both very good. We also walked around the temple grounds where I was able to snap a few photos for Day 81 March 22.

Here is where we spent most of our time while at the condo. There are actually 2 pools at this location and so we spent some time at both of them. It is nice that all the kids are old enough for the hot tub rules at the pool now cuz it was cool enough that often they had to go in to warm up. I don't know what photo I want to pick to best represent Day 82 March 23 so here are a handful of pool pictures. Savannah got a new swimsuit as an early birthday gift and did a great job modeling for the photo if I do say so myself lol.





Cheyenne's Birthday was on Tuesday and here is my photo for Day 83 March 24. Rather than a cake, Cheyenne asked for a chocolate cream pie. I really don't know where the 14 years have gone. She is just growing up FAST!Here is a photo from Wednesday and is my pick for Day 84 March 25. I actually did go to the gym at the resort and exercised two days of our stay. Not as good as I usually do at hitting the gym at home... but hey... I was on vacation lol.
On Thursday we took in a few of the local sites. There are lots of historical buildings in St. George. This is just one of them - Brigham Young's winter home. We also visited the Tabernacle (although we were there at the wrong time to actually go inside for a tour) and the Jacob Hamblin home. (Although we didn't go to the Hamblin home until Friday The kids loved searching the yard at the Young home for pecans in the grass under the pecan tree. Carson was able to find the most out of all my kids. He found 20 - what a NUT. I'm choosing this one for my photo for Day 85 March 26.
We also spent some time at the mall where Cheyenne spent her birthday money. She had only asked EVERY day while we were in St. George.... "When are we going shopping?"
On the way home we stopped in for the night at Clayne's brother Jedd's house. Were we had fun visiting not only with Jedd and Kathy and their 2 darling girls - but we also visited their collection of chickens. I can't believe how many different ones they have and I think there are like 30 of them.Kathy and Jedd had some fun activities lined up for the kids when we arrived. We gathered eggs and had an egg roll and a few races doing a "bunny hop" and a "duck walk" for some candy prizes.
This is one of the two cute cousins that we were happy to visit. Poor little Ellen was sick most of the time we were there so we didn't get to smooch on her and play with her as much as we would have liked.
Here is my darling niece Jenny who loved having the cousins visit. It has been reported that there were some tears after we left and not just because we took home our copy of the DVD Bolt.
Kathy made some brownies that were to die for and she wanted both of my girls to celebrate their birthday while visiting. Here is my pick for Day 86 March 27.
On our way home from St. George we stopped in Malad for my nephew, Walker. The poor kid doesn't like water and unfortunately he had to be immersed 3 times before his whole body went under the water. His toes just kept popping up and the poor kid was about traumatized before it was over. He is a good kid and I was happy to be able to be there on his special day. Here is Day 87 March 28.
Since we were on the road all day on Savannah's Birthday, we baked a cake for her on Sunday. I can't believe that my baby is seven and in just one year we will gather as a family for her baptism. This is my photo for Day 88 March 29.Monday was a sick day for me. I felt bad that I subjected little Megan to our flu bug but my sister had no choice since we were the ones lined up to babysit for the day. Both Morgan and I were sick. Megan kept me from taking it too easy though because she has mastered the art of walking. She is so cute and so very busy! Since other photos would have been too SICK to share for the day this is my pick for Day 89 March 30.
Tonight Cheyenne was inducted into the Jr. High Honor Society. She is super excited about the opportunities for service in this organization. I was super excited about her grades being high enough to be accepted. I'm so PROUD of her. This is my photo for day 90 March 31.
Whew.... that is a wrap. Thanks for stopping by and if you read it all and looked at all the photos.... even a bigger thanks. I enjoyed sharing our week with you.

Forgetful Me!

I keep meaning to share a "forgetful" moment with you but then I forget lol. It was during the week of Christmas that this happened. It was about 5:00 pm and I was in my bedroom just playing on my laptop when Carson hollered to me from the front door, "Mom the missionaries are here." My mind snapped very quickly to the reality that we were to feed them that night at our home.

YIKES! Here it was 5:00 and I hadn't even started to make dinner. Earlier in the day I had taken inventory of the fridge and decided I could be lazy and serve my family leftovers for dinner. Well, I knew that there wouldn't be enough leftovers for the missionaries and my family and besides that the leftovers were going to be a hodge podge of things and I just would feel stupid putting it all out on the table for them and saying pick what you want.

It was freezing cold outside and unfortunately I could not invite them in because Clayne had not come home from work yet. There is a rule that Elders can not be in the home without the husband or an older male present. I called Clayne and yes, he had forgotten our appointment too and was still sitting at his desk in the office. I told him he better hurry home quick and that he could pick up the Elders at the church house and then meet me at Wingers. I then had the missionaries walk over to the church were I had Clayne's key to let them in. I told them that my husband would be there very soon to pick them up and that I was going to go ahead and get us a table at the restaurant.

I really suppose we should be better at praying over our food when we go out, but we don't. It felt strange to be saying a blessing over the food at Wingers. We managed to get them fed and to their next appointment on time. Maybe we were meant to take them to Wingers though because our server did ask them how he could sign up to have the discussions about our church.

Anyway.... just thought I'd share a little blunder with you. It drives me crazy when I forget things but it always seems to happen when there is just too much going on in life. Christmas week is definitely a busy time and hey... we gave the Elders a nice dinner out for a Christmas gift is how I am going to look at it. Hope this made you smile or at least will help you feel better the next time you forget about something you were supposed to do.

Women's Conference

I was fortunate to be able to attend Women's Conference at BYU Provo a week ago. As always, it was a very wonderful experience. I attended with two of my friends Kathy and Trina. We had a great time eating out and shopping while on this girls trip as well. My favorite sentence from the talks I heard was, "If it is in the Mother's Heart, it is in the Mother's Home." A wonderful sentence to share with you on Mother's day. I do hope you are all having a beautiful day. I have to say that mine is a little less than picture perfect - but hey that is life! My kids were super rotten in church today. Ever have those days yourself?

One more thing I would like to share about Women's Conference is how amazing it was to have our Prophet, Thomas S. Monson, give the closing remarks at the end of the Friday session. We all stood as he entered the Marriot Center and started singing the song We Thank Thee O God For A Prophet. I was so overwhelmed with the experience that I could hardly sing. The spirit was so strong. I knew I had a testimony of him being our prophet before, but it was amazing to have the spirit flood over me while I stood in his presence. I know that Thomas S. Monson is the Prophet of God upon the earth today. I know that he leads God's true Church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. If you want to learn more about our church, click here.

What's New in Life?

Time Out for Women

Over the weekend I was able to attend Time Out for Women. My sister, Ashley, and my Mom came up to go with me. We had a good time together and it was a wonderful production where we enjoyed spiritual messages presented by speakers and some great music by LDS performers. My favorite was Sheri Dew, but then she always is. Another presenter, that I always enjoy, was Emily Watts. She is so fun to listen to. If you have never read any of her books, you should. She has such wit and wisdom. I have two of her books and if you live in my neighborhood and promise to return them, I'd love to let you borrow them.

Scrapbooking News

Yep you read right... another creative team assignment for me lol. I just can't help myself. I am so in love with this new hobby of digital scrapbooking that I just had to join Mandy Mystiques creative team. I have added her blinkie to the side bar of my blog if you want to go and see what she has in her shop. You may have seen the layout I made of my girls in a post from last week that was made with the very kit (Soda Pop) that this announcement was made with. This kit is very much a "girl" kit... unless you decide that you want to recolor it (very easy to do) and then it works very nicely as a boy kit too. This layout also used one of ChrissyW's templates.

I want to share just one more layout for now. This is my new favorite layout that I have done so far. It was made using using the Swing on a Star kit by Kami of Ziggle Designs and Pineapple Plantation. I just had to make a layout of that Jazz game that Morgan and Clayne went to.

Well, thanks for stopping by today to check in on me and if you haven't seen enough of my layouts lol, you can always click on the link on the right hand side of my blog to go to my gallery. Have a great day.

Grocery Deals - week of Feb 20

Smith's


2lbs/$3 Seedless grapes
$1.89 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
$1.99/lb rump or cross rib roast
$1.39/lb assorted pork chops
$1.29/lb country style pork spareribs
$2.49/lb petite cut sirloin steak
$1.89/lb pork loin or rib chops
$1.59/lb sirloin boneless pork chops
2/$3 smith's butter
3/$5 Lay's potato chips


Albertsons


98 cents/lb assorted pork loin chops
$1.88/lb beef round rump roast
88 cents/lb sanderson farms whole fryers, drumsticks or thighs
$2.88/lb beef loin boneless top sirloin or 93% lean ground beef


And yes it is that time of year already. I have mixed emotions about the return of these sweet little goodies. Cadbury Mini Eggs are my all time fav candy and each spring I am anxious for their return, but then I eat way too many of them and there goes my new year goal to eat more sensibly. Clayne brought me home a huge bag from Sam's club the day after Valentine's day. They are soooo good. Just thought I'd remind you to pick some up while you are out grocery shopping lol.
Here is a treat that won't hurt your waistline... unless you have to have popcorn to go with it lol. Just thought I'd pass along the code to you.


This post is becoming a bit random... You may remember a few weeks ago when I shared a bunch of info from the LDS Living magazine? Well, here is another great feature they offer. You can sign up at their website for their email listing and you will have a wonderful Family Home Evening lesson delivered right to your inbox each Monday complete with a desert recipe. I was very impressed. Ok that is all for me for now. Have a great day.

President Hinckley

I awoke to the newspaper on the counter with the lead story about the death of our beloved Prophet, Gordon B. Hinckley. Tears sprang to my eyes immediately. What a love I have for this wonderful man. I will miss hearing his distinctive voice, Seeing that sparkle in his eye and his sweet smile. I will miss his fun personality. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that he is a true prophet of God. I know that he served honorably and never wavered in his faith. What an amazing example to us all.

My other feelings as I read the headlines were of the joyful reunion that must have occurred as he was reunited with his wife. I loved seeing them together and hearing them speak of each other. What a strong bond of love they shared. Yet another example. I am so grateful for my knowledge that families can be together forever.

I now look forward to the ever onward growth of the church with President Thomas S. Monson as our new prophet. He too holds a special place in my heart. I love his sweet stories and his happy spirit. I know that I will come to love him just as much as I loved President Hinckley.

A bit Random

Rexburg Temple Open House

Our family was able to attend the open house on Wednesday, Jan. 23. What a wonderful experience for our children. Savannah was enraptured with the beautiful chandeliers and all the wonderful details. In the Celestial room she bent down and traced the pattern of the flowers that was embossed in the carpeting, she looked in the eternal mirrors, and stood in awe. My children loved seeing the baptismal font where their Grandparents will be working. Clayne's parents are in charge of the Baptistery when the temple opens. They have been so busy but are such wonderful examples to us all of serving the Lord. What a blessing. Everything about the temple was so breathtakingly beautiful and I look forward to attending a session now and then in this gorgeous temple.

I was getting my hi lites yesterday at the hair dressers so I had a bit of time to look as my surroundings as well as through a magazine. She had an awesome tile plaque with a saying by President Hinkley that I want to remember so I am posting it here...

"Remembering who you are, changes what you do."

Isn't that cool? A simple statement but very profound. I love our Prophet and all his wisdom and love.

Now for the fun tidbits I found in the magazine LDS Living. I just may end up getting a subscription to this little gem. I have looked at it before, but yesterday I really liked it. I asked Susan if I could borrow it for the weekend and I am really enjoying it's contents.

A Plug for Blogging!

Did you know that Elder M. Russell Ballard has urged members to participate in Blogs? I was excited to know that I am doing something that I enjoy and following the council of the brethren at the same time lol. It was mostly in response to an increased interest in the Mormon religion with Mitt Romney's presidential campaign. Elder Ballard encouraged students to share their views on blogs to respond to news stories about the Church and to share the gospel in clear simple terms. While not every post on my blog is of a spiritual nature, I do often share things that clearly represent my religious preference. So let's hear it for blogging!!

Spiritual Downloads

I have often visited http://www.lds.org/ as well as http://www.byubroadcasting.org/ to search for information for a talk or lesson or to listen to a conference address or talk but I must admit that I wasn't aware of some of the other resources that were available there.

Did you know that at lds.org free downloads of the following are available:

• The Standard Works


• Ensign, Friend, and New Era magazines from 2004 to the present


• Jesus the Christ by James E. Talmage


• General conference talks from 2003 to the present


• Songs from the Children's Songbook, Hymns, and other specialty music


• Select leadership broadcasts


• Select CES firesides

At byu boadcasting you can find:

• Classic devotional speeches given between 1949 and 1999


• Select Women's Conference broadcasts


• Select Education Week presentations from 1996 to the present


• David M. Kennedy Center for International Studies lectures

Anyway... I just thought it was interesting. Sometimes I actually will have a broadcast playing in a window while I surf the net in another. Makes me feel like I am not being overly idle while I surf lol.

A Recipe I want to try.

Bacon-wrapped Pork Tenderloin

• 1 pork tenderloin, cleaned and trimmed


• 3 slices of bacon


• 1 tbsp garlic powder


• 1 tsp seasoned salt


• 1/2 tsp oregano


• black pepper


• olive oil

Combine seasonings to make a rub for the meat. Rub seasoning on the meat. Wrap the tenderloin with bacon, using toothpicks to hold the bacon in place. Coat the meat well with olive oil. Place in a pan and bake uncovered in a 375-400 degree oven for 45-60 minute, or until pork reaches 155 degrees. Make sure the bacon is completely cooked. When the meat is done, remove from the dish and wrap in aluminum foil. Let stand for 10 minutes.

National Pancake Day

Yep there is such a thing lol. I think that there is a day for just about everything. Anyway it is on February 5. I think I will plan to serve breakfast for dinner that night in honor of the event. Another interesting tid-bit is that IHOP will be honoring it on the 12th of Feb. (they are doing it a week late because of Super Tuesday- which has to do with the presidential primaries) On that day you can go between 7-10 pm for a free stack of pancakes. They ask that you contribute the money you would have spent on the pancakes to a local children's hospital or another worthy cause.

Keeping Marriage Magical

There were tons of great ideas for dates because the focus was on Marriage with Valentine's Day around the corner. There were ideas for dates that cost nothing like...

• Walk through a crowded area and make up stories about other people's lives. Be creative! Be funny!


• Go to Costco and eat the free samples and then watch a DVD on your laptop in your car facing the sunset.


• Take your iPod or boom box to a remote parking lot and dance together in the beams of your car's headlights.

Some of these are a little corny but I do think we'd have a fun time doing them anyway lol. I want to try those listed above this summer.

Here are a few more ideas for creative dating...

• wishing date - Find a fountain that donates its proceeds to a good cause, and take a roll of pennies to throw into it. Take turns wishing with the pennies and talk abut what you wished for. If you want to, you can bring a picnic style dessert, or just pop into a nearby cafe.


• stargazing date - Find a planetarium or observatory in your city and go watch the stars move through the universe. Afterwards, look at the sky outside and look for any of the constellations that you learned about.


• tourist date - Find a tourist map of your city and see the sights. Go through the map with your date and decide which things interest you most.


• book date - Go to a bookstore and look at books together. Talk about books that interest you, things you've read, and things you want to read. Find a book on questions for couples and ask each other questions while you have dessert at a cafe.


• dining date - Go downtown where there are lots of restaurants close together and have appetizers, dinner, and dessert at different places, walking from one restaurant to the next.

I know this was a long post so thanks for reading and I hope you found some fun ideas too.