50 FREE photocards

I saw an add for 50 free photocards on this blog and I tried it and it worked! The only difference I found, was that the code only worked on 4x8 cards not the 5x7 cards. Go get your free photocards today! Click here to start!

I'm really liking this...

These are the 4th and 5th quilts I have made this year for my nieces/nephews. I have loved learning how to quilt! And as long as they keep asking, I'll keep making them. The next nephew that asked for one has a birthday in February! This sports/zebra one was for Hunter. This princess/tinker bell one was for Reeslyn. I used most of the same material in this quilt that I used for my niece Caitlyn's quilt. But I love how different they are. I love the creativity that quilting allows me to have. Most of all, I LOVE seeing their faces when they open their gift. It makes all the hours of work worth it to see the huge smile on their face when they first see it!!

What was she thinking (during the triathlon, anyways)?

"Wow, I've really made it now, a star is in the same race as me.""I want to cross that finish line!"
"I don't think I can make it...seriously...I am so tired."
"I'm so happy Marlee said she would run with me during the run portion. But this will probably be embarrassing since she'll run faster than me and she just had a baby 7 weeks ago!!!"
"I really wish I had swam a few times before this race..."
"Marlee wants me to go first in the swim, so she is trying to get me to do rock, paper, scissors with her. No way!"
"I'm so glad I am DONE!" (I got 1:15; almost the exact same time I got last year, my swim was slower than last year but my run was faster. I got 5th out of 39 in my age group!)
"Why do they have speed bumps on the final part of this bike course? So annoying."

Another year...

Happy to report that 7 years later, we're ready for more!

Halloween

We went to our ward party and then the next morning drove down to Sierra Vista where we went to another ward party and trick or treating in the neighborhood. I'd say we are good on candy. We had lots of fun trick or treating with the cousins and enjoyed Madison's baby blessing on Sunday. Great job Spence!

Makeover

Remember when I mentioned I would be sad if my house burned down because I had a new makeover in one of my rooms? Well, as of yesterday, now I have two makeovers so I would be twice as sad if my house burned down.

My sister Wendy came over yesterday to help me paint my family room. This half wall was white and then the kitchen/family room was a light yellow. I have never liked having the half wall white because it gets so dirty but never knew what to do since one side of the wall was a light tan and the other side was yellow. So I picked out a darker tan color than what's in the living room and painted the half wall and the family room/kitchen area the same color. I really love how it turned out. Thanks for the help Wendy! With a little hard work and some spilled salsa, I'd say we did pretty well.

My next makeover was my laundry room. We have been in desperate need of a new washer for quite a while now. I have also been wanting a freezer for a few years but didn't want to put it in the garage. Walking through Home Depot a couple weeks ago I saw these stackable washer/dryer sets and a lightbulb went off! If we got the stackable set we could fit a freezer in the laundry room too!! Major space saver, and I even had 13 inches left over to put some shelving in. I am absolutely loving this set up. And the best part is, I almost forget that I hate doing laundry because when the cycle is done, instead of an obnoxious buzzing noise, there is a delightful chime, making me feel happy that it is time to go and get the laundry!

don't burn the house down, kids [read Sean]

Mental note: when leaving a husband who has not slept for 20 hours with the kids, while you go have fun at your Super Saturday, remind him to not bake cookies. He just might fall asleep for a minute or two and forget that he had them in the oven. It might be a good precaution, just so the house won't burn down, cause I kinda like my house {especially after a new makeover in one of the rooms!} .

post-edit: just to clarify, the house did not burn down. we just had some really burnt cookies!

U2 concert

We went to the U2 concert on Tuesday night with my sister Wendy, and her husband Steve. I haven't been to a concert since 1998 when I saw Boyz II Men!! Sean has been to several since we have been married but we have never gone together. Our tickets were in a suite and it was so much fun! Black Eyed Peas were the opening act and I LOVE them. It was fun to dance (even though I couldn't get anyone else to dance with me!) to the songs. And U2 was AWESOME, of course.

Thanks for the fun night guys!

I heart Superman.

Superman stopped by to help make applesauce. He's a nice guy. I hope he flies in tomorrow when I am cleaning.

Reason #7 why I need to live in the same location as my husband

Nights like tonight.

I got home at 6:30 from work/picking up Carter. Sean had an early night and was home at 6:15. When I picked Carter up he was *literally* screaming that his stomach hurt. In the car he fell asleep. When we got home he woke up and was crying again about his stomach and I wasn't able to console him. I got him to lay on my bed and was trying to take care of him and get dinner finished. I try to have dinner ready for Sean right when he comes home because he works on average 15 hours a day. Seriously. He has only had 4 days off in the 5 weeks he has been home. I don't know how he is functioning, he works CRazy hours. It's still kinda like he is in Louisiana because we don't get to see him much, Carter is asleep most nights before Sean gets home. But I'll take seeing him 1-2 hours a night over none at all. But back to the story, (remember, I am trying to clean, finish dinner, and take care of a crying child). Sean came in and told me to just focus on Carter and that he would finish dinner and clean the kitchen (it was a disaster). I was finally able to console Carter and came out to a nice clean kitchen with dinner ready.

I would highly recommend looking into arranging the same living location as your spouse if you haven't already.

i love the fall because...

*i don't have to go running outside at 5am to beat the heat

*i have to put a jacket on in the morning because it is 60 degrees outside

*i can decorate my house for halloween

*i can eat apples and carmel dip (YUM)

*we get to play outside all day long

The Old and the Beautiful

I posted them in reverse order, but you get the idea. After sitting in the hot sun for 5 years, our swing needed some serious TLC. My mom had this extra material at her house and I gladly took it and spruced up the swing a bit. I think I will add a couple pillows to it?

Our shower faucet began leaking at the beginning of the year. But remember how I have been husbandless for the first 8 months of the year? So it continued to leak and it became corroded and just gross. We got a new one and had it installed today. I absolutely LOVE it!
That's just gross.

Take your son to work day

Did you know that today was take your son to work day? I didn't get the memo either until about 8am this morning when my son needed to be dropped off at my SIL Jen's house but we were stuck in traffic. I soon realized that it was indeed take your son to work day to avoid being late to my 9am training. He liked drawing on the board with me, erasing everything I had written down (before I had a chance to copy it down on paper!), copying what I was saying to the teachers, playing on the computer, and spending time with mom.

How did the teachers like having mini-me in their class today? I guess we'll have to wait until tomorrow when the survey results are in...

Spend the nights...

You might call them sleep overs or slumber parties, but at our house they are officially known as spend the nights. I didn't know what this term meant when I first heard Sean refer to memories of spend the nights as a kid. Now the term has stuck. We had Carter's best buds (his cousins Mallory and Tyler) over for a spend the night recently. We had lots of fun having picnics, playing games, going to Splash Park, playing Super Hero/Prince and Princess, and eating treats!!

A spend the night is much more fun than a sleep over, don't ya think?

Preschool

 

Preschool was so much fun today. I used my new Promethean Board that I received this week for my new job.. The kids LOVED using the board and so did I!!!

Did you see this?

Did you see the VMA's last night? Taylor Swift won the award best female video and was giving her speech when Kanye came up and took the mic and said Beyone had the best video. Crazy!!! I thought it was a joke at a first. Check it...here

baby Madison

Good work Spencer and Marlee! We loved getting to meet her this weekend. Every time Carter held her, he would smile and say, "she is so cute."

*Madison was born on September 8, 2009

What to do?

Remember these pics from Lake Powell? I loved how they turned out so I got them made into 2 large canvas prints because they were 2 for the price of 1. I got them in the mail today and was so excited, until I saw the package. I expected them to be ready to hang. They were rolled up. Now I have no idea how to hang them. Any ideas? And, I have no idea WHERE to put them in my house. Any ideas? I am posting a couple of pics of some wall space in my house for those who haven't seen it. Need some input here!

timing is everything

Sean is working in Phoenix now and is also now working nights. His hours are 8:30pm-6:30am. As of Thursday of last week he had not been home earlier than 10am. I had a job interview at 9am. I had a backup plan to have my mom come over to watch Carter if Sean wasn't home on time. At 7:30, Sean text me to say he was about to leave work. I called my mom at 7:32 and informed her, her services were not needed this morning. At 7:45, I got in the shower and proceeded to get ready. At 8:40, I found it odd that Sean wasn't home yet. I went to my phone and saw I had several messages. One was at 8:00, one was at 8:05, and another at 8:15. All messages from Sean, informing me he wasn't going to make it home, and wondering why I wasn't responding to his messages. At 8:41, I text him to make sure he was being serious (he's kinda crazy like that sometimes, jokin' with me all the time). Unfortunately, he was serious. At 8:43, I now had no choice but to throw some clothes on Carter, throw his Top Ramen (a very nutritious breakfast, right?) into a tupperware container, and head to the interview. At 8:58, I explained to Carter that I was meeting someone and needed him to be very quiet while I talked. I then waited at an outside table, very nervously, for the man I was meeting to show up. At 9:03 he appeared and gave me a double look as he cautiously asked if I was by chance Jessica. I put on a big smile and said yes, and that I brought some back up with me. At 9:35, the appointment was done, and I thanked him for being such a family oriented person! (Carter sat quietly and ate his noodles the entire time).

Sean was home at 9:20.

oh, my multi-tasking skills of feeding a child, watching over a child, and holding a business meeting at the same time must have stood out, because i got the job! and in case you were wondering, or even if you weren't wondering i am still going to tell you: it is a part time job working with the same school district i am already working with part-time through PLATO, teaching teachers to use technology in their classrooms.

Reason #6 why I need to live in the same location as my husband

Monday I got into the shower, and it was COLD. I love a good scalding HOT shower. But I was in no such luck. It was freezing cold!! The husband, who is now living in the same location as I, was able to come home from work and fix it!

This morning, a light bulb went out. No big deal, I can change it. Except, I can't. I can't get the lightbulb out, it's too high and is seriously stuck. The husband, is about to fix it. Another bonus of living in the same location as the husband.

I highly recommend this living situation. It has lots of advantages.