In Your Face!

God hath given you one face, and you make yourselves another.

-William Shakespeare

Gimme a big 'ol hug and make it all better!

...this.

Ava, after tripping a little bit and bumping the shower enclosure:

"Shower hurt me!  I got a boo-boo on my skin. I need a sticker(bandage)."

I just love toddler talk.

~Addicted~

I just can't stay away from the digi-scrappin'! Scrappin' has gotten in the way of Try It Tuesdays, cleaning my house and kissing my husband. What am I to do?! I need an intervention or something.

I really do.

Frame & elements from Simply Tess.

I love me some Jillian!

I'm having a really bad day, so I have decided to do what makes me happy. I made a layout using photos of my much-loved daughter Jillian :)

Boy, digiscrappin' is FUN!

Molly's First Temple Trip

I just had to share how excited I am that Molly was able to go on her first Temple trip last Saturday!

She turned 12 in January. This was the first scheduled Temple trip that the youth of our Ward went on to the Detroit Temple. She was thrilled to be able to baptize those who have gone on before us. It was a fabulous experience for her and I'm really proud that she chose to go.

She is my third daughter to go on Temple trips with the youth. Brycen is turning 11 tomorrow, so one more year and I'll have 4 kids in YM/YW! Wow. When they all go on the same day, it will be a lot of baptisms that my family performs for others. Around 40 in one day. What a blessing.

Jillian didn't take her camera, so this photo was taken with her cell phone. I'm just glad we have a little something to document the special moment.

My Dirty Face Valentine

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

New Nephew!

I have a new nephew!

Denver William Bertram was born last Wednesday, December 10th. Isn't he just adorable? He is my brother Kim and his wife Amber's 3rd child. Kim also has 3 other fabulous older children including this handsome guy.

Denver was born on my grandmother's birthday. She has been gone since 1991. For some reason, I thought about her all day on Wednesday. I guess she didn't want me to forget that the new baby was going to share her birthday. She would be 102!

Having Denver here is awesome, but it's also a little sad knowing he will be the last niece or nephew on my side to be born. Sure, there will be plenty more great-nieces and nephews, but no more kids from me or any of my 7 siblings. We are all old and so I guess it's time to be finished with our procreation. :)

Cough, Cough

Being sick isn't my favorite thing. I've got a fever and a weird cough with a sore throat and swollen glands. Not only am I sick, but I fell at church on Sunday. So now my foot and ankle are swollen and it's hard to walk. Rick is out of town and the kids are at school, so it's just Ava and I. I'm assuming she will get sick next.

-sigh-

Sorry about skipping Try It Tuesday yesterday, but I just don't feel up to it. I'll be taking a break 'til I'm repaired ;)

PS....I'm excited that my nephew is the Athlete of the Week at his H.S. in CA.
You ~*ROCK*~ Nate!

Rub-a-dub-dub

I loooove this bath-time picture of Ava. I made copies to send/give to the grandparents. I also blew it up to frame, but haven't gotten around to actually framing it yet. Ava loves to take a bath. The kids love to give her baths, so it makes a nice break for me. Actually, the kids help out a lot with her. I'm very grateful for caring kids who love their baby sister. A lucky Mom I am! :)

Funkified

Just having fun with the new features on Photobucket.

If I can't afford a Photoshop program right now (like some people I know! -smile-), then I can atleast play around using a free site. I heart Photobucket :)

Look at this Megan!

Wow. I stumbled across this photo recently. Megan looks youthful and super sweet. I look, well, weird. That hair! What was I thinking? And the look on my face? I just look like a dork. Too bad we didn't have digital cameras back then because that photo is a definite do-over for me! This was taken in about 1990 or 1991 I'd say in Hart, Michigan at the church which used to be an old funeral home. Just after we moved, they built a nice new church. I was Megan's YW advisor along with Judy S. who is now in my Ward. Those were the days. I'll never forget those girls. What a fun bunch :) I think you were a beehive back then Megan.

Molly's Moment

I keep posting photo layouts etc of Ava and not enough of my other kiddos. I really do love them all equally, so here is one of Miss Molly! She had a 5th grade choir concert on Tuesday at RPI.

JC curled her hair and we put a splash of lipgloss & blush on. They all had to wear white tops and black pants so they would match. She had been practicing her Christmas carols for the longest time. Weeks! She did a wonderful job singing with her group. It was hard to take pics of her actually up there singing (tall people in front of me....note to self: get there earlier next year for a better spot!), so we took one of her afterwards. Molly has a great singing voice and I can frequently find her writing her own songs. She also likes to scrapbook and draw like her Mamma :)

My life with R.....a couples tag

Using Caity's tag, I'm posting my own answers of my life with my dh. The photo is one of my favs of us from a few years back. We've switched weights tho! Haha. He is thinner and I'm fatter after having Ava. Oh well. I also like the photo of us on the sidebar where we are dancing. It's not the most flattering of me, but we were happy and having a good time that night and it shows on our faces. Ok...here we go:

How long have you been married? 18 1/2 years!
How long did you date? 4 years before we were married
How old is he? He's 39 just like moi, but he is 7 months older than I am.
Who eats more? Well, duh. Him of course. You should see him eat a grapefruit. I swear he inhales it. There is NO chewing involved! He also can't get just a #4 or something at Mcdonalds. He has to add a fish or chicken sandwich to it. Quite the piggy, yet I'm the one who is pudgy!
Who said I love you first? He did. We waited to get to know each other before throwing out that word. Then the day came. We were driving in his car and he had to pull over to the side of the road. Out it came. I said it back and then our friend Alicia in the back seat who was sleeping, sat up and said, "It's about time!"
Who is taller? Him. He isn't really tall though by any means...I think he's about 5' 10", but I'm only 5' 3" at the most!
Who sings better? Well, I guess that would be me. But I bet if he would sing more often and louder (he's a quiet hymn singer in sacrament), I would know. He's quiet, but I know he can sing on key :)
Who is smarter? Oh HIM for sure. I've been beaten with the stupid stick.
Who does the laundry? Me of course. But he's been known to put in some of his work coats once in awhile, but I usually end up finishing them for him.
Who does the dishes? Again, me of course. I think I caught him doing it one time at someone else's house trying to be nice.
Who cooks dinner? Me, but he does all the grilling. He also makes things in the George Forman when he feels like it. He says I'm not the best cook, but I sure can bake! True. I'm not that bad at cooking, but I sure could improve!
Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Him. At our last house, I was on the right, but in this house I'm on the left because it's closer to the bathroom. I'm a frequent pee pee-er.
Who pays the bills? Mostly me. Depends on the bill though. Sometimes he will go pay a place that he owes, but I mostly pay the utility, mortgage etc.
Who mows the lawn? I've never mowed a lawn in my life! If he doesn't do it, my 9 year old son does :) That little man does a great job too!
Who drives when you are together? 99.9 percent of the time it's him. I hate to drive when he's in the car because he makes me nervous. I will drive on trips when he gets too tired though.
Who is more stubborn? We are equally stubborn but in different ways and over diff things.
Whose parents do you see the most? Well, his parents live in our town and my Dad lives 45 mins away, so I guess his. My Mom died in 2002.
Who proposed? He did on the beach in the dark after the 4th of July fireworks.
Who has more friends? Oh boy. It used to be that he teased me that he had more and I was a boring homebody. But actually, he just has more acquaintances and I have more true friends. He knows SO many people, but they aren't really his friends that he would do things with or confide in. I have more confiding friends. Speaking of that...who is up for a GNO?!!! I need to get away!
Who has more siblings? Me for sure. He has 3 siblings, and I have 7.
Who wears the pants in the family? Well, I'm wearing a nightgown right now, sooooo........no, really...HE obviously does, but he takes my opinions into consideration when I can convince him to listen! Haha.


Ok, I'm adding one more question:
Who kissed who first? He did. He did it on our first date when we were in Farrells Ice Cream shop. I had my finger in one of those blood pressure machines and then he kissed me. My blood pressure shot up! Awww...sappy huh?!

And that's it. I'll save more mushiness for a post on our 19 year anniversary in May :)

Celebrate!

Chinese Toy Recall

My friend sent me this in an e-mail (thanks Pam). I couldn't resist posting it.