Road Trip

Friday at 8:52 in the morning I got an email from Chris with the subject "WeBeCrazy" saying we should go to Heber for the 4th of July fireworks. I told him that he was crazy but agreed it would be awesomely fun for everyone to meet Fiona and to be there for my Dads birthday. 5 hours later we were packed up and on the road for our 14 hour drive to Heber, AZ.

As soon as we got to Denver the kids were already done with being in the car. We ended up stopping in Colorado Springs at Garden of the Gods so I could feed Fiona and let the kids run around.

We drove through crazy rain. Saw lots of elk, even a dead one in the lane next to me! We got to the ranch at 3:30ish Arizona time. We grabbed our pillows, the kids and fell right to sleep. My sister Kristi and her crew were up there already and it was so much fun visiting with her and hanging with her kids. (Thanks for breakfast and lunch Kristi!) We got all festive, took some pictures and headed off to the chaos in Heber for the fireworks.

Molly's crew spends every 4th in Heber too so we showed up and surprised her. It wouldn't be a good 4th of July without the Reynolds around and it was really nice to hang out and chat with Molly and Olen again while Daisy clawed at Fiona.

Right after the fireworks we drove down to Mesa and stayed the night at Chris's parents house. We just hung out, soaking up family and showing off Fiona.

We stayed up late hanging out with some of our favorite friends, the Lovells and the next day headed off to my family's house. My parents got irrigation and next thing we knew there were 4 naked little boys running around in it (Milas, Asher, Walter and Espyn).

We got to swim which we haven't done since we moved. We ate my brothers and Lael's awesome food. Sang happy birthday to my dad and Espyn, more naked boys in the irrigation, and ate some more. Chris left with Fiona to go to his parents house one more time for the Tietjen 4th of July party so Fiona could meet his other Grandma.

Aidynn was born 30 hours after Fiona so I like to call them "cousin twins." Aidynn was born 4 weeks early so she is still pretty small compared to Fiona.

We went to bed at my parents house and were on the road by 4:30am. It took us 17 hours to get home with a couple puke stops, and run around/meal breaks. Thanks to both Nana's for providing the kids with candy and toys to play with the whole trip. They did GREAT! (we might have had to break 10 car seat laws but we survived).

We got home at 9pm Arizona time and we were never so happy. It was 60 something degrees, rainy and our house was clean. This whole trip came about cause all the 4th of July festivities were on Sunday here and we were feeling a tad bit homesick. Turns out it rained all weekend in Fort Collins so they post poned the fireworks till Monday night. We don't regret our impromptu trip home one bit and I have tons more classic photos to scrapbook now!!

Artist of the Month

I know this is old news for my facebook friends but I do actually have some friends who aren't on FB (gasp! ELISA!) and a lot of my family read my blog but don't really do facebook so I'm not trying to be obnoxious about this and post it everywhere... ok, I am BUT it's nice to have some validation for a hobby that's borderline obsession and I really do just want my family and friends know what I'm up to.

 On Tuesday (6/29) I got an email from Design House Digital letting me know that I was chosen as Artist of the Month for July. They just started this and I was the first! It's a huge honor and I am so grateful I came across DHD to make my scrapbooking home. Someday I hope to be a decorator there! You can find the blog entry HERE.

Have you met Katie?

Besides being fabulously talented, fabulously creative, and fabulously adorable, she’s our fabulous Artist of the Month for July.
Here’s a little bit of information for you, straight from Katie’s mouth!

Name: Katie Richards

What camera do you use? My husband is the photographer of the family so I depend on him to give me the pictures I need to scrapbook. He uses a canon 30D and I have a “purse camera” that I use when he’s not around. It’s just a little canon point and shoot.

What program do you create in? I use photoshop CS4 and I LOVE IT. I used to use elements and once I switched to CS4 it was like a whole new world.

How long have you been digital scrapbooking? I was first introduced to digital scrapbooking a little over 2 years ago by my BFF Amy (aka. mrslovelly) but I was working full time and couldn’t find the time to scrap. I really started digital scrapping in December when I somehow came across Carina Gardner’s blog announcing that DHD was opening soon and decided I would give it a go since I had more time on my hands.

How would you describe your scrapbook style? Clean and linear is my natural style but lately I have been trying to break free of that and do more clustering or forcing myself to let loose a little bit.

Where do you create, and when? I use my iMac at my desk cause I have a super comfy office chair and it’s in my family room so it’s easy to keep track of everything that’s going on. I usually find the time to scrap in the afternoon when it’s the kiddos nap time or in the evening when I should be working on my homework.

What’s your ‘go-to’ technique or trick? I use the mask tool in almost every layout. When my friend showed me how to use it it totally rocked my scrapbooking world. When I had a smaller supply of digital paper and elements I used the re-coloring trick a lot too so it looked like I wasn’t reusing the same kit for every layout.

What’s your favorite color combination? GREEN! I’m kinda obsessed with the color and I have to force myself to use other colors. If I could do every layout with Green, brown and pink I’d be content.

Do you start your layouts with pictures, a story, or products? Right now since I’m trying to play catch up I just go by what’s next in the photo album and from there I pick my papers and elements that would go with it. Sometimes when I buy something I’m really itching to work with I will search my picture folders to find the perfect photo to go with it.

Where do you find your inspiration? I follow a million scrapbooking blogs so I keep an inspiration folder where I go to get ideas when I’m feeling stuck. So I guess you could say I’m inspired by my fellow scrapbookers and their great layouts.

Do you prefer movies or books? Ohhhh this is the tuffest question to ask me because I’m obsessed with both! I’m always in the middle of a book and looking for other good books to read. I was also a theatre major in college so acting and movies are a big part of my life as well. The greatest high for me is reading or watching a beautiful well-told story.

What’s your favorite snack? Right now it’s sweet potato fries (which I just discovered you can buy frozen!!!) I also enjoy a good muffin or chocolate treat.

What type of music do you like? Alternative and sometimes some R&B. If you look at my pandora.com stations I have Dashboard Confessional, Weezer, Joshua Radin, Regina Spektor, Arcade Fire….

If you could live anywhere, where would it be? I grew up in Arizona and always hated it. I wanted to live somewhere with 4 seasons, green and with lots of trees. It took since I got married to convince my husband to move somewhere else so now I’m living my dream of living in Northern Colorado and I LOVE IT! If I could pick another place to live it would be upstate New York.

What five adjectives describe you best? Spontaneous, friendly, loyal, random, dramatic

Here are a few of Katie’s layouts that really caught our eye:

All layout by Katie Richards

Whether her designs were ordered or chaotic, with photos or without, or bad times or good, they are all, well… FABULOUS! Congrats, Katie, and thanks for providing us with such FABULOUS inspiration!

Sisters

The last of the sisters left EARLY this morning and the house is eerily quiet. Well, not really cause I got my kids to keep it full of noise but I'm missing the constant conversation and laughter we had. I have a few minutes before I have to let Asher out of his quiet time and feed Finny so I'll have to blog about the busy extended weekend later tonight. I start school back up tomorrow and in two weeks I'll be starting my 6 months of doubling up insanity. We'll see how it goes but I may slow the blog down, scrapping will for sure slow down.

For he's a jolly good fellow!

Today is Chris's 30th Birthday!!! I asked him last night how he felt about turning 30 and he said it doesn't feel any different. It's all a mental thing. So I asked him what his mental age is and he didn't really answer that either (mine's 24, just an FYI) so I'll answer for him, I think he feels.... 27!

I asked the kids what their favorite thing about their daddy is....

Jocelyn said "TICKLES ME!"

Cecily said "When he wrestles me."

If Asher could tell me what his favorite thing about Chris it would be when he comes home from work and gives Asher the first hug. This little boy laughs and laughs when he sees his dad for the first time everyday.

And if Fiona could tell us what her favorite thing is when Chris tries to get her to smile. He's so persistent and never gives up. He tries tickling her with his beard and tickling and throwing her in the air. I know she loves his attention.

I have too many favorite things to list. (Cliche I know but deal with it, my guys perfect!) Anyway, if I HAVE to pick one thing it would be his ability to make me laugh. Even when I'm in a hormonal sob-fest he somehow thinks of something funny to say to get me to laugh through my tears. We have such a blast together no matter what we're doing and that's my favorite.

{Now in the voice of Buddy the Elf}

I LOVE YOU! I LOVE YOU! I LOOOOoooooooooovvvvvVVVVE you!

Father's Day

Yesterday was a super great Father's Day! The weather was perfect, the kids were well behaved, and the food tasted pretty dang awesome. We started the day with the traditional blueberry pancakes Chris loves and opened presents. We usually do breakfast in bed but I decided it's just too tricky with these little guys so we blind-folded Chris and brought him downstairs. We got him 2 work shirts, awesome plaid pants and a beard trimmer.

 Cecily colored another masterpiece.

Chris was asked to substitute my class so I decided to join him at church so he didn't have to do it alone. Good thing I did cause there were two of the CRAZIEST boys EVER visiting. I thought they were cousins or something (I came late to primary so I didn't get introduced to them) at one point one of them started whipping the other one with his tie! I told Chris and he said "they don't even know each other". Thank goodness for our class regulars who are so sweet and listen to me but Chris and I came home from church exhausted. I wanted Chris to do nothing all day but I needed his help to cook the menu I planned (I didn't do it on purpose it just so happens so of Chris's favorite foods I can't cook. For example steak. Which we had and it was cooked to PERFECTION!)

After church we got a photo of the kids. (EVERYONE IS LOOKING! CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?! A MOTHERS DREAM COME TRUE!)

After dinner Jocelyn reminded us she needed to learn to ride her two-wheeler (she really wants to be able to ride her bike to school with it starts again). So we did some lessons and I was so impressed with Chris and his awesome teaching skills. Jocelyn did great too but got tired of it quickly.

It was my job to wrangle Asher while Chris did the lessons. Let me tell you how awesome it is to be able to keep up with this kid again! No more waddle run after him. (He was wearing his backpack and looked so dang cute I wanted a picture but everytime he saw the camera he would sit and smile. This is him showing me his owie.)

I saw this recipe for smore brownies and it looked awesome and like something Chris would love. It turned into a big giant mushy mess. At least the ice cream was tasty.
I think Chris enjoyed his day, he's got another big day tomorrow. The big 3-0! I wish I could have planned the giant party I was planning in Mesa but I got a few cards up my sleeve still.

COOLEST GUY IN THE WORLD! MY HUBBY, BEST FRIEND AND KICK-A AWESOME DAD!

Degree of Happiness

Chris and I finally did the math on how many classes each of us have left to finish up our degrees. With moving and having another baby and all the little in between breaks from classes it feels like we've been saying "only one year left" for about a year. After a huge punch in the stomach we are now more determined than ever to get our degrees done ASAP.

I have 9 classes left and they are mostly core classes for my human resource management degree. I decided to double up so I will be done with school, drumroll please..... FEBRUARY 7, 2011! I'm pretty dang excited about it! A couple weeks ago I had a dream that I graduated and UoPx sent me my degree in the mail and it was one of the best feelings in the world! I can still remember how I felt in my dream and I think about it nearly every day. I know it's not going to be easy to do with 4 kids and doing two intense classes at a time but I know it can be done. I have two great examples, my sister who got her masters working full time and having 5 kids. And my BFF Amy got her BA while super pregnant with her fourth.

We're still working out the numbers for Chris's completion date. Right now it's looking like it's around the end of this year. He of course will be going on to get his masters but this will still be a huge stepping stone for us.

So it looks like Chris and I will be spending our 9th anniversary in Italy (and my awesome 29th birthday of 11/11/11!)

Basement time

On Saturday night Fiona kept me up all night so Chris let me sleep in. When he finally brought Fiona up to me cause he couldn't hold her off from eating anymore it was 11:30am. So Chris and the girls missed church but it felt SO GOOD to sleep longer than the 60 minute chunks I was getting all that night.

The girls were playing in the basement and Chris and I decided to join them which always ends up in cleaning. But before cleaning we had some more fun using Fiona as a toy. Chris used these blocks to build a crib (aka cage) for Fiona. Right when he was about to snap the picture Fiona started to cry and Cecily was there immediately ripping it apart to rescue Fiona.