10 YEARS

I can't believe it's been 10 years since Travis and I were married in the San Diego Temple. We've known eachother for 14. I love this man with all my being. He is a great father to our four children and a wonderful provider. Here's to an eternity together.
1999FHE at the church 1999 The Grand Canyon

1999 Our Honeymoon in Las Vegas.1st Baby, Jakob 2001...I'm hideous2003, 2 Kiddos Jakob, Tessa...Me:still hideous2005 3 Kiddos, Jakob, Tessa, Aaron and I'm getting better 2007 Travis and I both have less hair.2008 Baby #4 little Jonah joins our family2009 Still witht the man of my dreams.

Weird Card

This card is kinda out of my comfort zone. I made it for my mama. I know she loved it but There's just something that doesn't sit right with me. I'm STILL painting and organizing and weeding. Take care. Have a great day.

Hey birdie

a card I made for my friend Loma. This was different for me...more layered and ecclectic. Still packing and painting AND working on a landscaping project. Pics to come soon. Have a great day.

Here's Somethin'

I made this card for Mother's day and never posted it. I used my SU polka dot background stamp and my CB polkadot emobossing folder. The butterfly is from God's Beauty.
I'm STILL working on getting this painting job done. It really is A LOT to move around, plus I'm doing a bit of remodeling in the process. I'll try to post past cards and such, and updates on the room. It's a disaster right now.
Have a great day.

Beden Creations

Painting is taking a long time...looooonnnnnngggg time. Ugh.



But here's a wonderful place for you to visit. My dear friend E has opened up an Etsy shop BedenJewelry for her beautiful jewelry creations. Check it out if you have some time.

Painting...be back soon.

I have been meaning to paint my back room for some time and I finally just got the urge and the nerve to do it...it's going to require a lot of heavy lifting and moving of ALL my crafting stuff. Wish me luck. I am already loving the new color.
Have a great day.

Sparkle Tree

I love this image from Penny Black. I stamped it with white craft and then added Desert Rain embossing powder over. I sponged Taken with Teal ink over that. Used my dymo labeler for "without you". Have a great day.

Center of the Universe

This sculpture at the University of New Mexico is called the Center of the Universe. It is concrete and goes out equally in every direction, including down, from it's center. My children are the center of my universe and I thought the title fitting. Have a great day!

New Bedding

I'm so happy!!! I found the most amazing bedding the other day. I love the aqua and brown and the print on it. Love it all. I just want a deep rich wood head board to go with it and some matching dressers and end tables. Hah! My mama made that cross stitch for Travis and I when we were married. I know it took her many hours and I treasure it with all my heart. Only 14 more days 'til our 10 year anniversary.Have a great day!

Happy Birthday

Since she's now received it I can post it! I love this card and I love the gal I sent it to. You know what stinks though, I forgot to write in it...yup that's me, mom of four, mails off a birthday package and doesn't even write in the card! I would have written how I missed her dearly and how I'm happy she's now a 30 something like me and how I miss looking at her latest layouts and sharing a little time at the park with our kids or camping in the wilderness with no toilets...well that no toilet part is a stretch, but I would have written that distance makes the heart grow fonder and that we can't wait to see her and her family. But I didn't so, Michelle, just copy and paste this message in your card. MWAH!

Ahoy Thar

This image came to me from my blog buddy Jill. Isn't it cute? Retro stack by DCWV and I just colored the image in with markers. I used my dymo for the greeting and my Top Note die to cut out the lined paper. My sweetie is home today and that makes me so happy... so have a great day!

Sympathy

My friend asked me to make a card for a family member whose husband was killed by a drunk driver. Blues and understated tones make for a peaceful card. It's sad that after all people know about drinking and driving that there are those that still do it...and in the process take innocent lives. Really, truly sad.

I do so love you mother...

My mom raised my brother and I sans papa and while times were definitely tough she did the best she knew how. I can't imagine not having Travis around to help with our children...parenting is hard work but so worth it!
I remember laying in bed with my mom reading our respective books, hers was usually a romance novel, she's given those up now that she has a wonderful husband. My love of reading comes from her though. She taught me how to cross stitch and tried to teach me how to crochet, sorry mom. Many of my go to meals are the ones my mom cooked for us while growing up. My mom has passed on this recipe for meat Periogies from my grandmother that are the perfect comfort food. Everyone in my family loves them. They take some work but they're worth it in the end. I make a double batch so I can freeze them.

Periogies

Dough

1 egg

3 1/4 cups flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 c. water

1 1/2 TBS Buttermilk

Mix egg with flour, add salt and as much water needed to make smooth dough ( I always need more water)

Filling

1 medium onion, chopped

2 cups leftover meat or 1lb lean ground beef, cooked

2 slices white bread (I use wheat) soaked in water and squeezed.

3 strips of bacon, cooked and crumbled

Cook bacon, keep drippings. Saute the onion in the bacon drippings until translucent. In a large bowl mix together cooked meat, crumbled bacon, and onion. Tear up the bread and incorporate into mixture. Season with salt and pepper.

Start a large pot with water to boil.

Roll out dough to about 1/4" and cut into squares. The larger the square the bigger the pocket. I usually make mine about 4" to 5" square. Place about 2TBSP of the meat mixture into the center of the pocket. Fold over into a triangle and seal sides. My brother and I always used to do this part and now my kids do it. We use a fork to press down the dough on the two open sides of the triangle. Make sure there are no holes in your pockets. Boil pockets until they float...this happens quickly.

You can either freeze at this point or move on to cook and serve. In a frying pan melt butter and add little olive oil. Pan fry the periogies until golden and serve with sour cream, yogurt, salsa or any combinaton!

ENJOY!

Have a great day.

So uplifting.

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.

We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?

Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God.

Your playing small does not serve the world.

There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that

other people won't feel insecure around you.

We are all meant to shine, as children do.

We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.

It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.

As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

~Marianne Williamson, A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of "A Course in Miracles," 1992 (commonly misattributed to Nelson Mandela, 1994 inauguration speech)

Hard of Hearing

Here's my little Aaron having his hearing tested. I knew there was something going on. I kept telling the doctor that he said "huh" every time I said something and that he made it a point to look at my mouth when I spoke. So, unfortunately, I was right. The audiologist told me to put my fingers in my ears and that is and appoximation of how Aaron hears things. The good news is that it is easily corrected by draining the fluid behind his eardrums...which means another surgery for tubes...he's grown out of his other set. I'm so grateful for modern medicine.

Have a super day!

Inlayed

Another lo from Friday night. I'm still going to journal a bit on the lower left corner with white. Other than that I love the way it turned out. I was having a problem with there being too much of the patterned paper but I had already glued down the scalloped chipboard (SU). So I proceeded to cut out the ppr from the inside of the square, then I layed that over my go to cardstock that looks like a brown paper sack. I used and Autumn Leaves alphabet set that I got for my birthday and SU Doodle This stamp set. The ink is Bali Breeze and Rose Romance I believe.

So have a great day! I'm going to!

Scrap Happens

Feeling extremely good today as I worked out yesterday and can barely stand and sit today. I made this lo on Friday at Scrap Night. I just have to add the date and maybe a few words about who where when. The stamps are from Penny Black and Impression Obsession. I used SU whisper white craft ink.
When I was uploading my pics I came across this one and it's too precious not to share...go ahead...say "awwwww" my little munchkin all decked out with little cap and all. He's sleeping from 8pm to 5:30am now, nurses and then sleeps a couple more hours. He just makes me so happy. I can see why people keep having children but as I told my friends...I don't want to go through the pain of labor again...and I had a GOOD labor.

So have a great day! It's beautiful here.

Tessa turns Six

My one and only beautiful little baby girl turned six on Sunday. How, does it all happen so fast. I just want to soak up each moment with her while she still wants to be around me! She was born with such dark brown hair and now she's so blonde. I love that smile!

I just want to let the world know that Tessa is such a sweet girl, she is so giving and kind. YES, she is still a girl and that means drama especially when it comes to her two brothers that like to annoy her but for the most part she's the mediator. She plays baby with Aaron and rides bikes with Jakob. She's always willing to pitch in and she hates it when I'm upset with her. Her teacher says she's quiet and very studious at school...I couldn't believe she used the word quiet in a sentence with Tessa's name in it. She's full of life and laughter.

I found these boxes of Sweethearts at Smith's when Twilight came out on DVD. I just bought them for the heck of it. Sometimes it's nice to feel like a school girl again and these books just take you back there. I have to give Jenny a big thank you for introducing me to them when they were still new to the world.
I attended a baby shower for my dear friend Lacey who is having her fourth child and, YEY!, it's a girl finally. It was nice to be around friends and laugh and feel good...btw how come none of you told me there was a hole in the back of my pants?
Have a great day.

What's Happening....

So I redid my picture screen ( I used to have each of my kids in each column but now I have four so I had to switch it up a bit). What'dya think? Oh, I just had Aaron's four yr old pics taken (upper left) and I did it in the sam sweater Jakob wore when he was two (lower right). Jakob's a big kid. We broke down and got Jonah an exersaucer. He loves it. And hopefully someone else can use it when he's done cuz we're done ya know.
March in New Mexico and it snowed on Easter too! I just love how excited the kids are and I'm itching to plant stuff.

Here's Travis working hard. I was lucky to catch him wiping his brow while doing the dishes. Like my curtains? I made them from some Joann's clearance fabric. It's time for a new faucet too as this one doesn't want to STAY in the on position. One of my favs of Aaron. I caught him giving me a shrug and he's just such a little elf. Have a great day everyone!