Kylie

I had the opportunity to take some photos of my beautiful niece, Kylie, a couple of weeks ago. I can't believe how fast she is growing up! She competed in her first queening contest in August and grabbed the title of 2nd Attendant of the Hooper Tomato Days Rodeo.Same as the photo above, but I played with the color a bit -
Same photo again, uncropped with texture -

She looks so much like her mom in this picture -

Kylie & Jetta-

Catch Up!

I am so far behind with blogging it's not even funny. Between school programs, scrapbook projects, photo shoots and a new van (goodbye youth), I have a lot to catch up on. I'll get to all of that soon enough, but I wanted to share some pictures from the Rusty Pickle retreat last weekend. I had my camera all charged up and ready to go, but when I went to take my first picture the dreaded "no camera card" message appeared on the screen! Whoops! Good thing there was a whole group of scrapbookers with their cameras at the ready. I snagged these photos from them - thanks, girls!

Every year the design team and RP office staff gets together for a weekend of scrapbooking and testing out RP's convention classes for next year. We go to a cabin in the woods above Heber. This year we had 22 women from around the country come and two even came all the way from Scotland.

LtoR: Cathleen (Georgia), Kim (Iowa), Alaina (Utah), Mandie (Alabama), Dawn (North Carolina), Beckie (Scotland), Tracey (California), Pamela (Colorado), Sarah (Scotland), Heidi (Arizona), Beth (Kentucky), Noeleen (California), me and Tricia (Utah). Also in attendance but not pictured (because they were out gallivanting around) was - Tasha, Laura, Andrea, Jeri (Utah peeps), Libby (California), Jill (Texas), Kathie (Oregon) and Julie (California).

Dawn, Beckie and Sarah flew in on Tuesday night. I took them to Temple Square on Wednesday so they could see some of the sights while they were here. On Wednesday afternoon we went up to the cabin. The snow started falling on Thursday and kept coming off and on throughout the weekend.
I took Aiden with me. He was such a good little sport the whole time and was totally spoiled rotten by his 21 "aunties." Kathie got such good shots of him!
You can even see his two little bottom teeth in this one -

We had such a great time eating, talking (Beth, Julie, Beckie, Dawn, me),
hot-tubbing in the snow (Kim, Dawn, Pamela, Mandie & Noeleen - crazy girls even did a few snow angels, but I took an oath never to divulge those photos - he, he!),
and even managed to fit in a little scrapbooking (looks like some serious stuff, right?).
Pamela helping Kim out on table "8."
Well, they can't all be as dedicated as me (ha, ha)!!! Love ya, Jill!

Halloween!

I swear all we did last week was party - the last two weeks actually. The kids went to 3 different Halloween parties and then trick-or-treating. Thursday of last week was Makele's Fall Festival at her school. She was so excited to go and kept asking me every 5 minutes when it was going to be time. I just loved this picture because it is so typical - Makele smiling sweetly at the camera, Aiden bawling and Jack goofing off.

Makele got some serious face paint at the party -
She even managed to catch a real live fairy before the party -
Aiden looked adorable in the little lion costume my sister made a couple of years ago for her little boy -
We went down to Jeff's parent's house for Halloween and went trick-or-treating around their neighborhood. We could barely keep up with Makele - she was running from house to house. We picked the right neighborhood though, the kids scored a bunch of candy including two full sized candy bars each.
Jack hasn't been able to get enough of his Mario costume. He pretty much wears the white gloves and hat everyday. He even insists on wearing them in public - I'm sure people are wondering what the heck is going on with that kid. He even wears them to bed!

His costume was a big hit - one little boy was so excited when he saw him. He kept saying to his mom, "look, Mom, it's Mario!" Several other people said "It's a Mario!" Jack just ate it up.

A Few Layouts

There hasn't been a whole lotta scrappin' going on in this house lately, but I did manage to get my Rusty Pickle projects done this month.

I actually did this one a while ago, but haven't posted it - don't ask me why. This photo was taken of Jack last year.

Supplies: Cardstock, Patterned Paper, Trim, Tag: Rusty Pickle; Transparency: Hambly; Alpha Stickers, Metal Tab: Making Memories; Stickers: KI Memories; Buttons: Rusty Pickle; SEI; KI Memories; Coloring Pencils, Pen: EK Success.

Journaling: Just this week you have started asking me this question every time we stop at a red light. When I tell you, you say, “okay.” You just like to know where you are going!

These next two layouts were done with Rusty Pickle's new Halloween line, "Thriller."

Supplies: Patterned Paper, Stickers, Tags, Buttons: Rusty Pickle; Glitter Glue: Stickles by Ranger; Glitter Pen: Sakura; Black Pen: EK Success.

Journaling: You had your heart set on being a witch for Halloween this year. I found a pattern and made this costume for you. You were the cutest little witch ever! 10-31-08 at the trunk-or-treat.

Supplies: Patterned Paper, Sticker, Tag, Trim: Rusty Pickle; Pen: EK Success; Edge Distressor: Heidi Swapp.

Journaling: To say you were excited to finally put your costumes on and go to both Halloween parties at the church would be an understatement! 10-17-09 & 10-21-09

We went to the Halloween carnival at Makele's school tonight. The kids were so excited to go and had so much fun. Photos to come soon (of course soon might be a relative term - we'll see)!

Family Pictures

A couple of weeks ago my sister asked me to take some photos of her little family. It wasn't too easy to get two little kids to look at the camera at the same time, but I still think they turned out cute!

This one is my all time fav of the bunch (although Taryn didn't like the color of the train in the background - whatever) -

4 Months

Aiden is now 4 Months old! We went in for his 4 month doctor's appointment on Wednesday. When I put him on the scale, I couldn't believe the number that came up - 17 lbs, 3.5 oz! That puts him in the 84% for his weight. Just for kicks, I looked up how much Makele and Jack weighed at 4 months - Makele weighed 13 lbs 4 oz and Jack weighed 15 lbs 11 oz. I also noticed last night that his first little tooth is starting to peek through. He has been a bit ornery this week and drooling like crazy (he was spitting and blowing bubbles all day), but I wasn't expecting him to get a tooth this soon. Both Jack and Makele got their first tooth around 5 1/2 months.

On Tuesday, we went over to my sister's house for lunch. My cousin, Jessica, was able to come with her baby, Caroline. Aiden and Caroline were born on the exact same day. Laney is in the middle and is 5 weeks older than them (not that you would be able to tell by this photo - she is so tiny!).
Taryn, Jessica and I were best friends growing up (Jessica was our closest neighbor - about a half mile down the street). We loved playing with our dolls - now we have the real thing!

I thought it would be fun to see some old pictures of us together with our dolls (you can thank me later Taryn and Jess), so I pulled out my old scrapbook (as evidenced by the Bee-u-tiful decorative scissor madness on this photo). Taryn is on the far left suffocating her doll, I'm in the middle and Jessica is on the right really cheesing it up for the camera. This particular Christmas Grandma gave us all Cabbage Patch Dolls - I still have it (well I guess technically my mom still has it). Landon and Jed are hamming it up in the bottom of the photo.

Then I saw this one and had to include it - a fair representation of my "angelic" personality! Taryn and I are the angels (bet you didn't know angels sported garbage bags back in the day, did ya?) and Jessica is Mary. The thing I remember about this Christmas is that I was so mad I wasn't playing the part of Mary. I even went and hid in my room!

Landon is the shepherd - wait maybe he's a wise man - he's bearing gifts after all; Jake looks to be a sheep or just a confused child wondering what the heck all these crazies are doing wearing towels and garbage bags; Huh, I didn't know Joseph and the amazing technicolor dreamcoat appeared in the manger scene as played by Layne; Jed is also a shepherd wondering when the heck he can get out of this get up; I'm not really sure who Shawna is supposed to be, but at least she's prepared for a flood should one come her way; and Mom looks ready to whack the first kid who steps out of line.

Wow, talk about getting off the subject - I started with a cute photo of Aiden and ended with a trip down memory lane! Oh well, at least it gave me a good laugh!

Makeover!

Saturday my sister, Taryn, and I went to get "mini-makeovers." She had a baby a month before I did, so we both needed a little me time. I decided to get rid of my long hair - it has been driving me absolutely crazy for the last little while. It had been forever since I had even a trim, so the ends were totally uneven and out of control:

Bye-Bye!

I had more than enough hair to donate to Locks of Love (12 inches in all).

I imagine most people go out on the town after they get a makeover, but that would be too low class for us. Oh no - instead we hit the DI (the local thrift store) to strut our stuff. Taryn had some grand ideas about altering some stuff she found there, I just had a ball rummaging through the old clothes. I mean what says makeover more than a good ole' moo-moo?

And FYI - no I did not dye my hair. It has just gotten darker with every pregnancy! The ends still had some lighter shades in it, but since I cut them off my hair looks a lot darker.

I know traditionally when people get makeovers, they post the before picture, but I don't like to dwell on the past, so I'll just post the after ;) -