Packed

Kids say the darndest things, don't they?

Erin didn't used to be a picky eater. She used to love meat and scrambled eggs. Now the only meat she will eat is a hamburger patty or ground beef in her dad's cowboy goulash. I think it's a texture thing. There are some things she loves, however. Grilled cheese sandwiches are her favorite - not the kind mom makes, but the ones on white bread that you get when you go out to eat.

One night we went out to dinner. I can't remember where, but it must of been somewhere where Erin was able to order a grilled cheese. She was hungry and ate a lot. Unable to finish what was on her plate, she looked at us and said, "I can't eat anything else, I'm packed." Stuffed - Packed they mean the same thing, right?

Can I bring the blog back to life?

Well, I didn't go two months without posting, but it's close. I got so wrapped up in my digital scrapbooking that blogging took the back seat for awhile. I did over 60 digital pages in less than one month. Yes, I was a bit obsessed. :)

Blogging is so much easier to do than physically writing in my journal, but I'm still having a hard time making time. When I talk to my mom on the phone and I tell her something funny that one of the kids said, she will usually say, "I hope you're writing these things down." My mom has kept a journal ever since I can remember and she has captured memories that would have been long forgotten. I definitely need to be better. So if my posts start to seem ordinary or mundane it's my way of keeping my blog alive with consistency even if what I'm writing about isn't something fabulous.

Here's to many more posts - I hope (fingers crossed).

A new found addiction...

Well, part of the reason I was selling all that stuff on Ebay was to finance a new computer purchase. The reason for this purchase was so I can move on to the world of digital scrapbooking. I was hoping to buy an IMac.

Isn't it normally that children become more knowledgeable than their parents about technology? Not in my family - my mom has paved the way becoming quite the pro with digital photography, making movies, perfecting photos with Photoshop Elements and now the world of digital scrapbooking. I remember when I bought my first digital camera. My Mom has always loved to take pictures and I thought to myself...Mom, will never own a digital camera. Never, ever, say, Never.

So this weekend I took the girls to visit Liz and Patrick. I knew that Patrick could teach me a thing or two about Adobe Photoshop Elements and I wanted to compare using this program with Pages that my mom uses on her iMac. Patrick taught me a lot and we created my first digital scrapbook page using the embellishments my mom had scanned and given to me on a disk. It was fun and Patrick survived my Rumbi Grill burps. :) Thanks, Patrick. I owe you!

So below you'll find a sample of my new addiction....digital scrapbooking. I so looooove it! In addition to my first page you can see some of my other pages - all created with FREE embellishments off of the internet.

Oh, and one more thing! Costco prints out 12 x 36 sheets of photo paper, so I get three pages for my album for $2.99! It's $5.00 in Utah, but this is a new Costco and they're not sure how much to charge, YET!

The first page.....

The second page....

third page...

fourth page...

Addicted to Ebay

I call my thoughts about Ebay an addition because I wake up in the morning and the first thing I want to do is go and check my auctions to see if some night owl bid on one of my items overnight. Literally, I wake up, use the bathroom, put on my workout clothes and then log-on to Ebay.

I was a Creative Memories consultant for 10 years. During the last few years I often bought things I didn't need. When new items came out I would buy at least one just to make sure that I had at least one of everything to show people. I sold quite a bit in the beginning, but it really tapered off once we moved to Brighton. In other words, I have a lot of supplies that I don't need. In my quest to declutter AND purchase a new IMac Computer I started listing some of my items on Ebay. Wow! They sold!! Out of everything I've listed (nearly 100 items) only two items didn't sell. Pretty good, huh?

Well, what was fun in the beginning is now an obsession. I list 10 items each day and go to the post office once a day. Today my earnings reached $600! Can you see now why I've become so obessed. Bid with confidence - I ship fast! lol

Check out my auctions:
http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZbekspartiesQQhtZ-1

72 inches and 69.5 inches

I promised myself that I wouldn't let a month go by without a post.....I just barely made it.

Yesterday I took Michael and Jacob to the Drs. for a "sports physical" so they could run track at Vikan. As they went back to the examining room I asked the nurse to please have them remove their shoes when she measured their height because I really wanted to know exactly how tall they are. After they went in with the Dr. she came back to tell me that Michael was 72 inches and Jacob was 69.5 - I did the math quickly. Yes, Michael was as tall as we thought, 6 feet and Jacob is nearly there at almost 5' 10". It's really amazing to me that they were about one inch different in height when they were born and for the past 13 years it has remained almost the same. The Dr. seems convinced that they aren't done growing and even more convinced that they should play basketball. He said they wouldn't need to do much - just stand under the basket and drop the ball in. The assistant principal at Vikan asked if the "Johnson Twin Towers" (his nickname) were going to play basketball just before the season started, but they declined.

Their love right now is soccer, especially because their indoor soccer team is undefeated and will win their division. It's fun to go their games and listen to the parents all around saying, "How OLD are these boys - look how tall they are!!" Whenever I can I mention that the two tallest boys on the team are my boys and yes, indeed, they are only 13 years old.

The weather was nice today so I took the kids to the park. Michael and Jacob practiced some juggling.





Jacob



Michael

Hand-me-downs

I've been going through clothes the past couple of days. The Lupus foundation called a couple of days ago and asked it I had any donations. I knew I could come up with at least a bag so I said put me down for a pick-up.

The first drawer that I went through was Erin's "top" drawer. It's the one with undies, socks, tights, hair bows, jewelry and a few other odds and ends. This drawer was far beyond cluttered. I dumped everything out and threw it on Erin's bed. I threw away a bunch of cheap jewelry and some socks without matches and then I made a pile of things to pass on down to Brooke. Despite the girls being born in different seasons, it has worked to pass the clothes on down the line. Erin has grown out of some of her underwear so I made a pile to transfer to Brooke's drawer.

Later in the day Brooke decided to change her clothes - happens too often and usually at least once a day. She came running downstairs with a handful of underwear and exclaimed, "Mom, these aren't mine, they're Erin's." I explained that Erin had grown out of them and they were here NEW underwear. She was visibly excited and ran off giggling. I'm sure this is only the excitement of a three year old and soon hand-me-downs won't be so exciting.

A few minutes later Brooke appeared without pants. She had managed to put on ALL (including those she already had in her drawer) of her pairs of underwear! She looked very padded. I told her we needed to go pick up Erin from school so she needed to put on a pair of pants. She managed to pull a pair of pants on over the underwear, but then started to cry because everything was too tight. Imagine that?! We took her pants off and I searched for the camera because I knew her "padded" look wasn't going to last much longer. ARG! I couldn't find it! I'm so sorry that you won't see the look, but I did count as I took each pair off...1..2...3...4...16!! Yes, my daughter put on 16 pairs of underwear! Talented, huh?!

Valentine's Day (2007).....

will forever be a reminder of my Grandma Everton. I got a call from my mom shortly after 8:00 this morning that my Grandma had passed away. Grandma has been going down hill over the past couple of weeks and though she has proved to be quite a fighter over the past few years, this time she didn't pull through. I was lucky to be in Utah a couple of weeks ago so I got to see her before she passed away. I didn't know it would be the last time. She was weak and while I was there she fell asleep while holding a sandwich in her hand. When I said good-bye I told her I loved her and gave her a kiss. She smiled and told me she loved me. I know she did. I have so many good memories of growing up near she and Grandpa.

Birthdays were special because we got to spend the night at Grandma and Grandpa's. They would pick me up and on the way to their house we would stop at Dick's grocery store. I got to choose ANY kind of cereal for breakfast in the morning. This was a big deal because at that time my mom and dad rarely bought "sugared" cereal. I remember going up and down the aisle as I made my choice. Grandma and Grandpa waited patiently for me to choose. We would play ping-pong down in the basement and I would sleep in the bedroom upstairs across the hall from their room.

I remember going to Grandma's in the summer with my sister Lisa. We would make a s'mores recipe that we developed: miniature marshmallows, graham crackers, and M&M's melted in the toaster over. During the summer I also remember being hired by Grandma to help her clean her house. The one job I remember was washing her walls in the living room. I don't know how all of this came about, but I enjoyed the time with Grandma.

Every Christmas I can remember Grandma and Grandpa coming to our house early Christmas morning. They made their rounds to all of their children's homes because they lived so close. I looked forward to the doorbell ringing so I could show Grandma and Grandpa what Santa had brought. I also remember buying Grandma Christmas presents. She was always on my list of people to buy for. The funny thing is I don't remember ever buying her anything but a skein of yarn because she liked to crochet.

I remember sitting in a circle on lawn chairs in Grandma's driveway shelling peas from Grandpa's garden. We'd laugh and talk to help the time pass as we took the peas from shell after shell.

I remember sitting on Grandma's couch as she taught me how to crochet. She was patient as I crocheted the longest chain you've ever seen.

I remember Labor Day breakfast at Mueller Park, Thanksgiving at Zarahemla and holiday lunches at Casa Melinda.

Most of all, I remember Grandma's love. She was such a Christ-like person. She was always so concerned about how everyone felt. She wanted people to be happy. If she saw me picking on one of my siblings she quickly asked me to stop in the kindest way. I will miss her sweet smile and the way her face would brighten when she said my name.

I love you, Grandma. I will miss you.