Window Flashback

Back in the day... ha ha, like it was that long ago... anyway, after I had my 2nd baby I stopped working at the furniture designing store I was at, and started my own business. It startedwith some chair covers and then I figured I'd dive into drapes. I'm insanely fearless when it comes to some things, and one of the first drape jobs I did was a $5000 set of 3 motorized Roman Shades, with the largest being about 15' x 10' and out of fabric that was $40+/yd. And did I mention that I'd never made a single Roman Shade before? Ya, crazy, but miraculously we pulled it off and I ws off from there. I had some amazing connections, and great help and it turned out to be a fun business that kept me pretty busy until we moved away and I decided it was time to put that on hold. So I still reminisce and thought I'd randomly share some of our old projects with you.

My first real draper job:

Can I please have this laundry room? These drapes were so fun to do! I even pulled my mom in on this job. Let me tell you, staple and glue guns ARE your friends.

Shutterfly woes

So I'm working on printing an album with all our family pics from 2007... the first printed one I've done. (I am now totally anti-scrapbooking with paper.) But I guess I'm realizing what a control freak I am. I love the quality of Shutterfly books, but I have issues with the rest... the pre-designed books have the most adorable layouts, but the headings can't change and they don't always work with the pics and get a little redundant. So 4 hours later, start over with a generic one, but sadly, the layouts aren't nearly as cool. So now I'm going back to my pre-shutterfly plan... doing the digital scrapbooking with Photoshop and getting exactly what I want. A TON more work, which I was hoping to avoid, but thank goodness for super cute digital products... if you haven't gotten into digital scrap stuff, you've got to check out the products from DSM. They are really cute, well-priced, and have helpful tutorials. If you're in the Salt Lake City area, their workshops are a must. Look for pics of my book in a few months now :( Ha, hopefully the work will pay off.

Woops! and other Funnies!

And after the tears this morning, this is what he did? I feel horrible!

I think SOME of the food made it into her mouth!
I guess dinner wasn't that appealing.
Is it just me, or doesn't she totally look like the step-mom off of Pete's Dragon?
Thoughts swirling!

Feeling the Love

I love the blogging community! It's nice to be in my cozy little world and still feel a part of so many other people's lives. It's nice to drop in and be inspired by other people too... like Camille, who has the most amazing fabric line and beautiful quilts (see the sneak peak pic). Not to mention adorable family! I'm so glad I stumbled upon her site. I think I'm going to borrow her theme for my new year and Simplify a few things around here too :)

Is it really still January?

Anabelle says 'hello'... she looks so grown up :)

I love snow... sledding, skiing, watching it fall...
the snuggly blanket and hot cocoa that follow.
But with days like we've been having, I don't miss it too much :) We've been having weather in the low 60's... beautiful. So we've had some fun outside.

Girls playing together (not fighting for a few minutes... miracle)!

Our boys... they've got to stick together.

We had a play date with the B Boys... Dylan and Nolan came over and the kids had so much fun!

So I just ran across this Nesting blog and I love it... thought you might too. People and their ideas are AMAZING!

(Credit... this photo is from their site... I only wish it were from my family room.)

And check out my side bar for the other cute blogs I found!

Holiday Recovery Under Way

It was a super fun, busy holiday season... a boutique and a wedding on top of all the other holiday events made it a nice crunch... but I like pressure. I keep wondering why I am feeling like a turtle wanting to hide out in its' shell... then I remember, oh ya... maybe I just might need a little breather :) So to let you know what I've been up to, here's my half of a 12 days of Christmas.

6 Teacher Gifts:

5 Flower Girl Dresses:

4 I spy bags:

3 Frame Stitchings:

2 Hand-made Pillows:
1 Holiday Boutique:
Everything seemed to turn out just fine, thank goodness I started in October! Meanwhile, I'm veerrrryyy slooooowwwly getting back into my new year. Trying to get things in order, and adding a little more structure to my anti-structure way of being. I'd rather just wing it, but with 5 kids and a lot of ambitions, I'm realizing that order is the only way I can get things done that I need and want to and end up with some sort of sanity in the end! So these are some of my attempts to get things in order:

The post-it note weekly plan--set yet post-it flexible! Sigh :)My laundry solution--eliminate 1 step to the dreaded event :) Surprisingly, the kids get so excited to put their laundry in the correct basket. How does it go?... "Find the fun, and snap, the jobs a game"... yes, Mary Poppins is my hero, and I want her bag!

Christmas in Utah 2008

Laughing, talking, sewing, puking
Weddings, presents, stockings, cooking
Two full weeks of fun-packed bliss
These are the things (minus puking) we'll miss!

Kids all decked out for Christmas Sunday!

This picture pretty much sums up the Wedding...
totally fun chaos :)

Christmas Eve PJ's

Sledding at 'The Bowl', before the ramp gone bad :)
P.S. More pics on my Facebook

It snowed!!!

Spending last winter in Phoenix was so weird for the kids... they really missed the snow. So when they woke up to this on the ground they were SO excited! It required a 7 am trip out to play followed by some hot cocoa. The hilarious thing was that school was delayed because of the snow! Ha... you'd never see that happen in Utah.

UHI Prescott Christmas Party

Bling-folded dune buggies on a timed race.... awesome :)

The Prescott Guys: Eric, John, Danny, Ben, Chris


The Prescott Girls: Stacie, Jessica, Tara, Shauna, Angela

Thanksgiving 2008

Thanksgiving is my favorite holdiay, but it just isn't Thanksgiving without a ton of amazing food, pretty table settings, and a big crowd, so we convinced Ben's family to drive down and join us. Wish it would never end!

The place settings that go on and on and on....

It's good to have a full table!


Our day at Watson Lake. The kids, the rocks, the water. We only gave Pa a couple heart attacks with the kids jumping around the high rocks :)


Who doesn't love Rock Band? The best game EVER!


And top off the trip with a private heli tour of the Prescott Valley area! It's great being married to a pilot!