This week I'm reading...

"Parenting Well in a Media Age, Keeping Our Kids Human"

Many moons ago when I lived in Los Angeles I took some classes at Santa Monica College to further my knowledge in a few areas of interest. One of those classes was all about the effects of mass media, I forget the exact name of the course. My professors name was Vivian Rosenberg and I will never forget the profound effect she had on me. Throughout the semester she opened our eyes and made us aware of the damaging impact which most (not all, but most) mass media (TV, video games, certain magazines, internet, billboards, etc...) has created in our society. She somehow really struck a cord on an emotional level and many of her powerful lectures often cycle through my head to this day.

I can finally say that I am truly thankful to have grown up in a home without television. As a teenager I would have voiced a very different opinion about my Mom's decision to keep media out of our home. What I realized as I sat in that little classroom in Santa Monica California is that my Mom made a very grown-up and educated decision to help us cultivate our creative abilities, learn good work ethic, nourish interpersonal (real) relationships, appreciate nature and spend quality family time together (meaning not in front of a TV)! One of my Mom's gifts to us for Christmas this year was this book and I STRONGLY recommend it to my friends raising children, or really to anyone who wants to become more aware of the impact of mass media today. It touches on several of the same studies / facts that I learned about in my media class. Even if you absolutely adore television, video games, magazines, etc...I think it's important to become aware of the effects it will have on your children and can have on you.

The truth is that I could go on and on about this topic, but it's 2:17pm and I have to finish a scrapbook layout, wrap up my meeting plans for tonight's downline meeting at my house, order vacuum bags, re-schedule Cody's dentist apt. and eat lunch before Brinley is back from school in less than an hour. Oh, and pray that Avery sleeps for longer than her usual 1.5 hour nap.

A Little Post Dinner Fun

Make a slideshow - it's easy!

Club Projects

I went for an elegant Valentines theme this year in club.


This month in club we used the "Embrace Life" stamp set with accessories from our Eastern Eclectic Style Watch.

Club members made the 5 1/2 X 5 1/2 acetate (see through) card along with a darling candy envelope pouch (the project with the white circle on the front).

I made these cute little Hershey nugget party favors (inspired by Mary E.) for my clubies to take home. Using the Pretties Kit and our Ginger Blossom Designer Series paper.

I would have to say that I am addicted to using our Designer paper these days. It makes creating projects quicker & I always like the way they turn out. This month it was a close call because Mr. UPS man did not deliver the paper for club until the evening before club. So, most of these creations came to life that same night.

Customers & Clubies : I am in the process of getting these pictures onto my website. There have been a few glitches along the way and in attempts to let you view these asap I have posted them here for now.

Remember that Sale-A-Bration is right around the corner!

Call or e-mail me today to book a workshop!

Arian & Jill's New Camera

Uncle Arian bought Aunt Jill a new camera for Christmas this year. During our in Utah he became quite the photographer and took countless incredible pictures. So although I have already posted pictures of this day, I had to add these taken by Arian!
Here is a picture of Avery when she was happy, right now she is not
because she is sick sick sick. Both Brinley and Avery adore their cousin Kenneth and had a
delightful time sledding with him!

My Little Sis

Ever since I can remember my sister Kelty has loved horses! She began horse back riding lessons in 2nd grade and it wasn't long before she had a major longing to purchase her own horse. After working hard to save money, Kelty purchased her first horse, named Buttercup, at age 12! At that time we lived across town from the farm where her horse lived and so often times little Kelty would drag her big saddle down the hill and catch the local UTA bus, about a 45 minute ride, to reach Buttercup for riding. Kelty over the years has purchased horses on a budget and so she has often had the privilege of training them also. She has endured being ran off with, bucked off and mistreated by a few of them, but none the less her love and patience just increases for the animals. To date Kelty has personally purchased and cared for 4 horses and she is only 24 years old! In grade 10 Kelty moved to Saint George Utah to attend a private preforming arts high school called Tuachan. Many of you have enjoyed the incredible performances held at their outdoor theater in the summer. At Tuachan Kelty became the trainer and care taker for their 20 horses used in various productions and for trail rides. She fed them at the crack of dawn every single day, cleaned out the stalls, lead trail rides, trained them for productions, etc... I can remember observing / helping Kelty out with her horse chores for just a day way back when and feeling great admiration for the day-in, day-out hard work she did for THREE years while attending high school and living away from family. Tuachan was only the beginning of many horse related jobs Kelty has taken on including: Managing the horse department and conducting horse education at summer camps in Utah, running trail rides at the Sundance ski resort, working as an equestrian therapist at a school campus for troubled youth, teaching horse back riding lessons on an individual basis and the list goes on.

Now in addition to wrapping up her schooling at BYU, Kelty has been getting educated in "dressage", an Olympic sport somewhat like horse ballet. A great deal of trust and communication is cultivated between a dressage competitor and her horse. At Kelty's first official competition, she received high marks and, boy, did she get attention for her graceful performance! Recently her sweet husband Duane made a 3-minute music video of Kelty practicing her dressage techniques. It's quite fascinating. She gives the horse commands through subtle shifts in her body weight and he responds by doing things you've never seen a horse do . . . except if you've attended a dressage competition. She gets the horse to trot in place, do sideways stepping, change his lead foot several times while cantering, drop into a sitting position and then get back into standing with Kelty on his back. The extended leg trots are just beautiful!

The stockings were hung...

and now they are gone. As Christmas disappears around our home my thoughts have turned to the New Year. I have spent a good amount of time evaluating my life as I focus on goals to set and accomplish this year. Elder Dallin H. Oaks gave a great talk last general conference entitled Good, Better, Best. In it he states "We should begin by recognizing the reality that just because something is good is not a sufficient reason for doing it. The number of good things we can do far exceeds the time available to accomplish them. Some things are better than good, and these are the things that should command priority attention in our lives." To read this entire talk go HERE. I feel like there are many "good" things that I do...but this year I want to focus on spending more time doing the "best" things.

A few of my good things:

*Blogging!

*e-mails

*scrapbooking

*teaching at the gym

*constantly organizing

*My business

A few of my best things:

*Taking time to teach my children, cooking with them, cleaning with them, reading to them, creating fun projects with them, listening to them, dancing with them, disciplining them and being patient with them.

*Spending time with my sweetie at night and making efforts to show him my love and appreciation for him.

*Extending fellowship, kindness and care to my friends, family and neighbor's.

*Reading good books to continue to learn and enhance my appreciation for life.

*Cooking healthy meals for my family.

*Creating thoughtful family night lessons and activities.

I love doing all of my good, better and best things, I just need to allot the proper time to those things in order of priority. SO as part of my efforts to devote more time to my "best" things I have decided to commit to blogging once a week. Now if time permits or if there is something that I just can't wait to post then I will post, but as of now I am going to plan on posting once a week.

Isn't it just awesome how we each have the ability to make choices that will enhance our lives and help us to reach our full potential!