Freebie Friday 9-28-07

Hey guys, it's Freebie Friday! :) I am excited to offer you a little mini collection I did the other day. As you can tell from some older posts, I'm in the mood for fall. So here is my In the Air Mini Collection!

Embellishments
Paper1
Paper2
Paper3

Sorry it was kind of late today, my hubby just left on a business trip to Amsterdam and so we've been running around getting him packed and ready to go. :)

Have a great weekend!

New Desktop!

Over at Scrap Girls, we had a chat/crop where we made new backgrounds for our desktops. It's such a fun idea, and I love having a personal look to my desktop. Plus, having a calendar right there is going to help me out as well.

It was so fun, I'm going to have to do the one next month.

You can go check out all the desktop layouts that everyone made. There are some great ones for inspiration there.

Here is mine, it's with pictures from our fall photo shoot last year, as it hasn't been cold enough to do one yet this year. Gotta love California, right? :)

Trip Update

Well, we had a great time in Utah! We got to see Summer, Shayla and Thomas. Sorry to anyone who was there that we didn't get to see, we were pretty busy. I was excited to get to eat at all my old favorite places that we are sadly missing here. One was the Smoke House barbecue joint that makes the best garlic knots around! Another was Kneaders Bakery that has awesome cream of broccoli soup and really good sandwiches.

We got to help celebrate Summer's 25th (!) birthday, which was a ton of fun. We all went out to Chili's and had some great food, followed by (of course!) some great Molten Lava chocolate cake. Yumm-O!

Eli did great on the trip, only complaining a few times. Thank goodness he's getting better at keeping himself busy with books, crayons, and toys.

Although, at this point, he was like, "Mom, no photos!!"

We listened to Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince on CD while we drove. I just love all of the books in that series! It was fun to get to re-experience this one, knowing what was going to happen in the next one. Plus, it helped take our mind off of all the driving we had to do. That's a long trip!

We also got to go surprise Tom at his new job at the Creamery. He showed off his scooping skills.
Eli wasn't so sure about the sample at first, but he came around quickly once he tasted it. Maybe it was the rubber gloves that spooked him. :)

Overall we had a great time, but I'm glad to be back home. I miss Utah sometimes and it was great to get back there just for a little while. Now it's time for Summer and Shayla to come out here and visit us! :)

Freebie Friday 9-21-07

Happy Freebie Friday! With Halloween coming soon, I wanted to do something fun and festive. So I've created this cute brush set of little Halloween illustrations. Enjoy! :)

Free Download here!

Also, let me know what you think! I'm always curious to see peoples' reactions to my stuff. Thanks!!

Off to Provo!

Nathan has got to go to some recruiting events at BYU this weekend, so we're headed up to Provo today. I'm way excited to get to see my brother, Summer, and some good friends. I will still have Freebie Friday this weekend, but I may be a bit scarce between now and then.

Catch you on the flip side! :)

Snuggle Bunny

Just after bath time. I love this time of the day. Eli is snuggly and loving and I can't wait to get him all dried off and warm. It reminds me to slow down and breathe in this time where he's little enough for me to hold and just smell that fresh from the bath baby smell. There's nothing like it.

I love Costco!

I just have to put in a little plug for Costco.com here today. I went in and picked up some 12x12 pages that I had printed and I just love them. They did a great job and it's so fast and easy! You just have to create an account, upload to their site, select which pictures you want to order and then go pick them up.

I love being able to have them soon, soon, soon, as opposed to sending them to print online from somewhere else and having to wait for a week or more. I'm impatient, I suppose. :)

So you should check out Costco.com if you have one close by your house and you're a member.

Freebie Friday!

Okay, guys, I'm starting something new on Fridays that I think will be fun! I'm going to give away a freebie that I've made. I dabble a bit in design, and I thought this would be a great way to test out my new products.

If you download these freebies, please leave me a comment and let me know what you think. I'm always up for suggestions, as well, so if you're looking for some specific element, just let me know and I'll see what I can do. I know this will be a fun adventure and I'm looking forward to growing as a designer. Thanks everyone! :)



For today's freebie, I created a fun San Antonio paper. I've been missing the Alamo city and so I thought I'd do something to remember it by. Enjoy!

Free Download here!

This layout uses Amanda Sok's Digital Layout Template: 3 by 3, Shalae Tippetts' SS Tools - Styles: Watercolor; Melissa Renfro's SS Tools - Custom Shapes: Stylish Stars and Laurel Lakey's Alamo paper.

I'm Ready for Fall, People!

I made this layout the other day when our temperature actually got below 90 degrees and I was feeling it! I just love these rustic colors that signify warmth and family and comfort and happy times. Living in Southern California doesn't give you the kind of front-row seat to witness the changing seasons like living in Utah does. I miss that.

I miss the crisp air and the smell of wood fires burning in peoples' homes. I miss going to the canyon with marshmallows to roast and hot dogs to cook and good friends to be silly with. I miss having to decide whether or not it's cold enough to get by with just a thin sweater or if I need to put on the full sweatshirt for the evening.

Don't get me wrong, I like California. I really do. I just miss Utah sometimes.

Okay, enough feeling sorry for no seasons. :) My friend told me last night, "Just go down to the beach and you'll forget all about it."

I may have to take her up on that advice. :)

Layout made with Amanda Sok's Alluring Autumn collection. It's so gorgeous, you have to buy it just to be able to see the amazing detail that goes into it. I swear, I work with the best, most talented people around.

Being Sick is Yucky!

Okay, so I've been missing for the past few days. I've had a not-fun-I-wish-I-was-able-to-sleep-without-drugs-sore-throat-frog-sounding-voice-stuffy-nose-headache kind of cold. It hasn't been fun.

And the worst part is that I am one of those people that NEVER gets sick, so when I do, it really makes me stop what I'm doing and just exist. Wipes me out. I suppose I should take it easy every once in a while so that my body doesn't make me. Anyways, so that's why I've been MIA. Not sure if anyone even noticed, but I like to pretend. :)

Here are some fun pictures of Eli that I've taken recently. He doesn't like the camera so much anymore, I think because he's so used to it that it's more of an annoyance for him than a fascination. He does like to push the button to make the flash go, though. That's how I get him to smile sometimes, I let him do the flash and then snap a quick one of him smiling. You have to be sneaky with toddlers, apparently! :)

I seriously love this picture. Eli and I were playing the other day and he let me put this bucket on his head. It was too funny. He even stood in his potty with the bucket on his head. Pure genius if you ask me. There are some of you out there who may not be interested in seeing a picture of Eli with a bucket on his head. To those of you I say, "Too bad, my blog!" :)


This one is so cute, although I think he looks a little like a girl. Poor kid. I promise, we got him a haircut 2 days later. :)

He's trying to push the button on my camera to make the flash. He's not really interested in being the subject -- he wants to be the photographer. That's my boy!


Don't even know what this one is all about. Maybe he was striking a pose for his audition to become America's Next Top Baby. You must connect with the camera! Be free but fierce! Controlled yet crazy! And don't forget to be fierce!

We'll see where that career takes us... :)

Lucky

There is nothing sweeter to me than to sit and listen to the sounds of my hubby upstairs reading Eli a book before bedtime. He even does all the voices and inflections.

I sure do love that. :)

Crazy Familia!

I just love this layout using Shalae's awesome Zoo collection over at ScrapGirls. These pictures encompass the reason I love my family SO much. When we're together we are wacky, silly, goofy, fun, crazy, and always ready for a good time.

It doesn't have to include much, just something hilarious like book cover beanies. There's nothing like just letting loose and not caring what anyone thinks of you. There's also nothing like laughing so hard your stomach hurts. Those situations happen more often than not when I'm with my family and I'm so grateful for them.

Love you guys!!



(I also used Tonya Doughty's Hip Chick stitches and Dinny Miller's SS Emb Templates: Torn Edges III., and Thao Cosgrove's SS Layer Your Own: Brackets - Funky Super Biggie.)

Back from Vegas/St. George

Hello all. Just got back last night and had no energy to do anything. Luckily Nathan drove the whole way, he's such a stud. I couldn't have done it. I'm glad that he does all those 'manly' things for me, like take out the trash and work the grill. :) What a good guy.

We did not have the best time this weekend. I felt so bad for Eli. He had a major fever the night that we stayed at Matt and Shayne's house, I know he was miserable. So the next day we loaded him up with Motrin and he drifted between being cranky and sleeping all day long. I felt like such bad houseguests. Ah well, I know Matt and Shayne didn't care, as long as he wasn't contagious and didn't pass anything on to Rem.

So anyway, after he had that fever all day Friday, we drove up to St. George for Nathan's uncle's birthday party. Nathan got to golf with his dad, uncle, cousins, etc. He had a fun time. Then the party was that night and we ate good food and mingled a bunch. Eli was still miserable. So the next day we took him to an Urgent Care in St. George where we found out he has his first ever ear infection. The doctor was surprised that he had never had one and said we had been lucky for 18 months. :)

So we loaded him up with his prescriptions, more Motrin, and headed back home, stopping in Vegas again to spend some more time with Matt and Shayne. It's so fun to watch Remi, she's so cute. She says a ton of words and loves being the center of attention. Too, too fun.

I'll include some pictures of the trip, although I'm so dumb and didn't even get any of Remi, Matt, or Shayne. Next time I'll remember, for the sake of the blog! :)



Eli showing off his toes and how they got wet in the remainder of rainwater outside. This was on our front porch area of the most beautiful little hotel I've ever stayed in. We had our own condo, basically, that was just gorgeous. You'll see what I mean in a bit...


This is Eli showing me that his ears were hurting. He looks like he's smiling, though, so they must not be hurting too much. Love love love this picture.


Eli again, what a surprise. Here he is giving me a tour of our front porch area at the condo. He loved being outside, even though it was blazing hot!! I don't think I'd want to live in St. George after visiting it in the middle of summer. Maybe if I came back during fall I'd love it. :)


Look how tiny he is compared to that massive door! And he's a tall kid, too. It was an awesomely cool door, I must admit.


And finally, just a shot of the inside. I just had to say a big Thank You to Ron and Lori for letting us stay here while we were in St. George. We had a fun time, even though the road trip was a little long and painful for Eej. We'd definitely come stay more if it meant we got to sleep there again, though! :)