Pumpkin Picking & Carving

1- Hayride to the patch. Avery refuses to sit down on the ride or to sit still ever.

2- Avery tries to pick up each and every pumpkin.

3- Tonight for family night we carved the pumpkins!

Apple Cider Paper

My favorite paper this month is Apple Cider Designer paper

in our Holiday Mini Catalog!

Here is a layout of my sister-in-laws wedding day, two quick frames and a birthday card all made with this cute paper!

October Club

This month in club we made a fall card tote and three 3X3 cards with matching envelopes. These pictures do not do justice to the projects because the

flash fades the colors.

Final Good-Bye.

Pallbearer's: John, Forest, Ken, Austin, Arian, Paul, Sam and Travis all grandsons.

My brother Arian and his wonderful wife Jill.

Grandma was buried in Nephi, Utah right beside Grandpa Ken and many of her

other family members / ancestors.

Most of the grandchildren, not including great grandchildren.

Help?

For the past three days I have attempted to upload photos for new posts and my blog continues to say that there is a "temporary" problem with this feature. So my dear blogging buddies I apologize for the delay in posting. I hope to get this figured out a be up and running soon!

Remember When

Hello My Dear,
Do you remember how completely thrilled we were when Brinley was born? It was just you and me there in the middle of no where Missouri with our new little angel.
Do you remember crying with pure joy as you called our families to tell them the news? I wanted to freeze those precious moments in time as our family of two became three. Do you remember all of the sweet "firsts" we shared with our new baby girl? Who knew what an amazing father you would become. Who knew that four years later we would have experienced that joy again with another beautiful baby girl. I miss you sweetie and wish you could be here. I'm confident that Brinley has thoroughly enjoyed her "Daddy time" in the evenings as I have been away. How thankful I am that my children have such a loving and devoted father!

Today was...

(Grandma with her children long before I was born. My Mom is in the front with the blue shirt.)
a wonderful day! Our entire extended family reunited from across the globe to celebrate Grandma's life. Each of her six children shared great stories of her life during the funeral service. Arian and Ross sang the Cookie Grandma song which they wrote and sang to her on her 80Th Birthday and Aunt Tricia also sang a beautiful solo.
Music was a big part of Grandma's life and even during the years when she suffered from Alzheimer's she could still remember the words and tunes to hundreds of songs. She has passed her love of music down to each of her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.
Go HERE to listen to Grandma sing!

Little Leah

That's right folks, yours truly as a wee one.
Sitting in the sink, swimming in the gutter and eating messy food...
these were the good ole days!

My Cookie Grandma has Graduated

Make your own slide shows and scrapbooks

Make your own slide shows and scrapbooks

Dear Grandma,

How is Heaven? I can only imagine how wonderful it must be to have reunited with Grandpa Ken and all of your loved ones who passed on before you. How we love you Grandma and we will miss you. Almost every one of your 40 grandchildren are flying to Provo from various parts of the world to attend your funeral and spend time honoring what an amazing mother, grandmother, wife, aunt, friend and example you were.

When I told my daughter Brinley about how you went to Heaven she immediately asked to read the story/picture book about your life. She has really loved learning more about you as we have read that book together.

I love you Grandma because you were always smiling. You kept your special school house cookie jar stocked at all times for us grandchildren. Your voice was so lovely and calming and you had a song to sing for every occasion. You also played the piano perfectly! I love you because you served your fellow men in quiet humility. You raised six wonderful children who have been good aunts and uncles to me. I love you because you are MY Grandma.

I am thankful to know that families can be together forever and I know that you will be waiting for me someday when I graduate and join you in Heaven.

Circleville Pumpkin Show

I've been hearing for months now about the famous CIRCLEVILLE PUMPKIN FESTIVAL and so on Wednesday my friend Ashli, Katy & Vanessa and Brinley's friend Kathleen and I went to check it out. From pumpkin Chili to pumpkin pizza this festival was surely the most pumpkiny place I'd ever experienced. Along with craft booths, parades and food there were lots and lots of kid rides. I'm sure you can guess what Brinley and Kathleen enjoyed the most. The largest pumpkin weighed 1524 pounds and below is an enormous pumpkin pie that took 6 hours to bake. Avery and Vanessa were happy just to watch the thousands of people walking by and observe the older girls on the rides. I'd have to say that my favorite part of the festival was enjoying a to die for

pumpkin doughnut!

Autumn Fest!

Here is my pick of the month, Autumn Fest!

This is the stamp set I have chosen to use for my October stamp club projects.

Mandy's Wedding

This weekend Cody went to Utah to attend his sister Mandy's wedding.

Mandy and Darren were married for time and all eternity last

Saturday in the Salt Lake City Temple.

Cody and I were married in the same temple 6 years ago and I am happy to report to the newlyweds that marriage gets even better with time and our love for each other

continues to increase with each passing day!

To learn more about the 124 LDS temples operating

throughout the world go HERE

We love you Mandy and Darren and wish you much

happiness, patience and love as you begin your life together!

Daddy is back home and ON CALL

6:30pm- Avery goes to bed.

7:30pm- Brinley goes to bed.

8:30pm- Mommy takes TWO Tylenol PM determined to get a good night sleep after being up with sick Avery for the previous two nights.

9:00pm- Avery wakes up crying and has great difficulty breathing. I wish that Daddy were not on a plane so that I could call him.

9:30pm- I get into bed and a few moments later Avery is up again. She has blood all over her face and bedding. She tries to cry but her voice is so horse that she can't get much sound out. She has a very "barky cough." Finally she is calm again and goes back to bed. I am worried about her airway and call Cody... he is still on the flight and the cell is turned off.

11:45pm- Cody gets home and I am so thankful to have a doctor in the house. He listens to her lungs, hears her cough and diagnosis her with Croup.

He takes her outside to breath cold air.

12:15am- Cody goes to Meijer to buy a humidifier which he says will also help with her breathing. I again feel grateful to have a doctor at home.

1:00am- Cody listens to Avery's lungs again as we determine if she needs to go to the ER for steroids or not. We decide to stay home, set up the humidifier and turn out the lights.

5:00am- Cody is up for another long day of residency.

7:30am- I drag the girls into the pediatricians office and the doctor tells me the EXACT same thing that my husband told me about Avery's condition the night before. I feel proud of my husband. Avery is given a dose of steroids much to her displeasure.

It is now 7:45pm and I have not yet had the chance to really talk to my sweetie since he arrived home late last night. He is tucking Brinley into bed and then folks I am going to sit down and spend some time with my husband!

Halloween Party

Yesterday afternoon we attended the Doctor's Hospital Halloween party. Brinley dressed up as Snow White. Avery is going to be a bumble bee for Halloween but yesterday she had a play date with Vanessa during the party and boy was it wonderfully

relaxing for me to be Avery free, thanks Katy!

Ashli (the party planner) went all the way with hand stamped party favors, a witch pinata, a pumpkin bean bag toss game and the balloon maker man!


I would have to say that Mr. balloon man was a definite highlight. He was by far the best balloon guy I'd ever seen. Along with making Brinley a Snow White doll and teddy bear he also created Elmo, Boots (from Dora), a bouquet of flowers, etc...

Brinley was mezmerized watching him make the balloons come to life.

This other little darling pictured is Leah. We got to hang out a little during the party!

Her daddy is a surgery resident and her mommy is just amazing. We have become friends through the spouse support group and Stampin' Up.

To learn more about my little buddy Leah and her family click HERE!

A BIG thanks to the Welsh family for hosting such a great party!

When My Kids Were Not Sick

On Monday when my kids were not sick we went to get their pictures taken at JC Penny's. We had a few minutes before our appointment to play at the indoor playground. As you see Avery was happy and so was Brinley...this has not been the case for the remaining days of the week as both girls have had high fevers, coughs and runny noses.

Back to the picture day. Avery was completely happy to be a part of our morning outing until the second we walked into the portrait studio. She decided right off the bat that a) she did not like the photographer b) that she was absolutely not going to sit down for one single solitary second c) there was no door in the room where we were having pictures taken and if she ran out fast enough she could almost escape into the mall d) if she threw herself face down onto the floor and cried for long enough she would get out of

having her pictures taken.

This is how our picture day went.

Thank You

Thanks to all those who have expressed concern for my cousin Joy. As you can see here her older three children where able to visit her recently and her one year old twins were finally able to visit her yesterday. Joy is doing much better than expected! ALL of Joy's white blood cells have been destroyed. (This is a very, very good thing). This means that most of the cancerous cells have been eradicated. She is really feeling the effects of chemotherapy, complete with extreme tiredness and nausea. Her doctors gave her some hemoglobin transfusions today which helped her to feel a little better. Please continue to keep Joy and her family in your prayers as she continues to undergo chemotherapy.

Downline Meeting

Last night I held my first downline meeting for the 2007 - 2008 Stampin' Up year.

I'm really excited to have new demonstrators join our Ohio group!

Each of these women have great strengths and I have already had the opportunity

to learn from them!

The Stampin' Up statement of the heart:

To love what we do and share what we love,

as we help others enjoy creativity

and worthwhile accomplishments...

in this we make a difference.

I feel like this statement could not be more perfect in describing why I became a demonstrator, why I am still a demonstrator and why I enjoy helping others as they

learn to love what they do and share what they love!

My Work Space Today

You never know what you will find upon entering my Stampin' Up room. On any given day various projects tend to be sprawled upon my workspace calling out to be finished. Today you would find finished treat baskets for Brinley's teachers, the ladies I visit teach and neighbors. The popcorn wrappers need their finishing embellishments before they become favors for an upcoming workshop and then we have the frames...oh the frames.

Leah has this great idea to participate in a few upcoming craft shows to earn some extra $. If I stay sane as I find time to create over one hundred frames, matching cards and coaster sets I will post some of my finished projects on the blog.

Wish me luck!