Welcome Baby Miles!

I got to go to the hospital this evening and be there for the birth of my little nephew, Miles. I am already in love with him. He is just soooo sweet! He's a total blondy, I've never seen a newborn with such blonde hair. He even has blonde eyebrows. He's also very fair skinned.

I was telling Melissa that I thought he would weigh 7 lbs 11 oz just a few hours before he was born and I was right on the money! Not sure how long he is, I left before they measured him. He also has a dimple in his chin, like Melissa and my mom. He arrived at 7:47 pm.

Poor Melissa had kind of a hard time. The epidural didn't take all the way and she was in quite a bit of pain. Luckily, she didn't have to push much, only 6 minutes.

Anyway, he's just too cute for words. Here's a pic to prove it!

I've started a new blog: Come follow my crafting adventures on my new blog. Find me at: creativeirony.com.

Week #4 Sketchers Challenge

Here's the sketch for this week! Here's a link to the thread on creativexpress.com: Week #4

I still haven't had a change to get to last weeks sketch, but I'm hoping the motivation will hit me sometime soon. I just haven't felt like scrapbooking this past week, happens every once in a while. Then it will all come back in a rush. :)

I've started a new blog: Come follow my crafting adventures on my new blog. Find me at: creativeirony.com.

How old are you again?

There are times when I just look at Griffin in disbelief. I can't believe I just had that conversation with a child who just turned two. This is an exchange we had earlier today.

Me: Griffin, don't put your feet on me. It's rude.
Griffin: It's not rude.
Me: Yes, it is! Stop it right now or you'll stand in the corner. . .

He tests me once more, moving his feet closer to my arm.

Me: Griffin, that is rude.
Griffin: It's not rude. It's funny.

I've started a new blog: Come follow my crafting adventures on my new blog. Find me at: creativeirony.com.

Sketchers Challenge, Week #3

Here's the sketch for this week. I actually haven't done a new layout for it yet, but I will get to that soon and update this post.

Enjoy!

I've started a new blog: Come follow my crafting adventures on my new blog. Find me at: creativeirony.com.

Me Thinks--Restaurants

I've been thinking about restaurants. If you know, you know my favorite thing to do in the entire world is to go out to eat. I love all the choices on the menu, the way your drink keeps appearing, the appetizers, the entrees, the delicious desserts we usually split so I don't feel too guilty. I love being served by a good waiter. My idea of fun: someone catering to my every need. We always make sure to leave a good tip and thank our waiter/waitress, but without giving it much thought.

I think, however, that sometimes I approach my prayers like heavenly blessings are a good restaurant's menu. "I'd like the new house with a side of new car, please." Oh, and to get it, I'll try thanking you politely, but with little "real intent." Just because I'm supposed to show gratitude, but if my blessing doesn't show up on my timetable, no tip. What an attitude! No wonder my Wise Creator has not seen fit to bless me with lots of material goods. I wouldn't give my kids a piece of candy with an attitude like that!

I've also been thinking a lot about a talk we were given in church last Sunday. In her talk, this sister (whose name escapes me) told the story of a long move with a toddler, in which she was alone with her toddler in his car seat the whole trip. I can so relate to this! The toddler was not happy about being confined to his car seat. I can also relate to that. He just didn't understand and kept begging his mom with all his energy and quite loudly to be let out of his seat. And she, being older/wiser and seeing a larger picture, had to keep refusing his requests, because it would not be in his best interest to roam freely in a moving car. The parallels in our own life our clear. How much more does a loving Heavenly Father take care of us! How much more does he want the best thing for us, even as we don't understand! He is so patient with us.

So, I'm slowly learning to appreciate NOT having blessings. I'm learning to give thanks to the Lord that we don't have a house yet, that we "only" have one car, because He knows me. He knows what will be best for my growth. I'm learning to turn my life to Him and trust in his plan for me. The scriptures say,

"Verily I say unto you my friends, fear not, let your hearts be comforted; yea, rejoice evermore, and in everything give thanks;
2 Waiting patiently on the Lord, for your prayers have entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth, and are recorded with this seal and testament—the Lord hath sworn and decreed that they shall be granted.
3 Therefore, he giveth this promise unto you, with an immutable covenant that they shall be fulfilled; and all things wherewith you have been afflicted shall work together for your good, and to my name’s glory, saith the Lord." (D&C 98:1-3)

I'm working on giving thanks for everything, even getting up to feed Aubriana in the night, even the inconveniences of having only one car and no yard, even for my trials and for the bad things that have happened to me. When I can be grateful for those things, it's even easier to appreciate the wonderful things that surround me.

I've started a new blog: Come follow my crafting adventures on my new blog. Find me at: creativeirony.com.

Wash, Rinse, Repeat

So, this is a conversation I had literally six or seven times yesterday.

Griffin: I want some Cars fruit snacks.
Mom: No, you already had fruit snacks today.
Griffin: But I DO want Cars fruit snacks, Mommy.
Mom: I know you want them, buddy, but mommy said no.
Griffin: I DO want Cars fruit snacks.
Mom: I know, bubs, BUT YOU ALREADY HAD SOME. No. Sorry, but no.
Griffin: I DO WANT! I DO WANT FRUIT SNACKS!

Proceed to melt down, do not pass go, do not collect $200.

This may also be repeated with Nemo fruit snacks. I wish I had never bought them.

I've started a new blog: Come follow my crafting adventures on my new blog. Find me at: creativeirony.com.

Sketchers Challenge, Week #2

Here's the sketch for this week if you want to play along!


And the layout I did using it, plus the layout I originally did and based the sketch on:


And the thread on CX. So, I think that's all ya need to know. I so love doing this challenge--not only is it great to get some scrapbooking done each week that I can share on the web, but it's so fun to see everyone's take on the sketch!

I've started a new blog: Come follow my crafting adventures on my new blog. Find me at: creativeirony.com.

Griffin's Party Pics

Griff is such a hoot! He was an energetic little fireball on his 2nd birthday. If anyone said happy birthday to him, he'd respond with a very cheerful and sincere, "Thank you, _____." He also tried very hard to blow out the candles on his cake and got nowhere. He got tons of Little People things for his birthday and all three boys have had a blast fighting over them and playing with them.

I've started a new blog: Come follow my crafting adventures on my new blog. Find me at: creativeirony.com.

Me Thinks Kara Style

So, my sweet friend Clarice, brought me this sweet little book by Mary Ellen Edmunds, called Mee Thinks (link to see it at Deseret Book) when Aubriana was a baby. She also brought me a whole bunch of girly scrapbooking supplies and a stash of candy (isn't she wonderful! she's one of the most generous people I've ever met). Anyway, I just got around to reading it before conference and what a wonderful, fun and inspiring little book. In it, Sister Edmunds has very short chapters, usually on gospel topics that start out with her musing over something or other. I'm going to do my own version of it from time to time on my blog. This is my first entry.

I've been thinking about food. I admit, I hate food. I mean, I love to eat it, I just hate to buy it, decided what to eat, change my mind, find out we're missing enough eggs, and then prepare it, being interpreted by hungry children who are demanding it now and also want drinks. By the time I get to the actual eating, there is a lot of time invested it in. And I'm just going to have it start the process all over again in 4-5 hours! Even Aubriana, who is still nursing, is quite a bit of work. I realized the other day that I spend at least three hours nursing every day (some of that in the middle of the night, which is much worse). I hate daily tasks that never end. Add laundry and dishes and diapers to food prep and you pretty much have my life, with a dash of scrapbooking thrown in (although you can MEASURE progress in scrapbooking, probably one of the reasons I love it so much).

And even then, I realized even with all the hassles of food, I'm quite blessed. I don't have to grow it, harvest it and then alter it into consumable substances. I don't have to feed any animals or milk any cows. I have a fridge. It's much nicer than an actual cow. I don't have to worry about crops failing. What a blessing! I also got to thinking, I wonder why Heavenly Father made it so difficult to keep our bodies running. Why do we have to eat so much?

Well, one reason I thought of was to remind us of our debt to God. When we are provided food, we are thankful. It's one of those things you don't appreciate too much unless you are without and it can be a very quick reminder. I also think there is some symbolism there; after all, Christ is the "bread of life" (John 6:35, Alma 5: 34) and we need him daily (if you're me, you need help more often than just daily), just as we need nourishment for our physical bodies on a regular basis to feel comfortable.

I've started a new blog: Come follow my crafting adventures on my new blog. Find me at: creativeirony.com.

Monkey Cake

Well, today my little monkey turns two! We bought Griff a shirt at Target a few months ago and I might have become a wee bit obsessed with it (he's going to wear it tonight so he'll have it on in the rest of the birthday pics). I did a layout for my Scrapbook Trends article based on it. And, well, I made a cake based on it too. Luckily, I did this one mostly the day before, which was a lot less stressful than Xander's cake. This was my first time ever covering a cake in fondant. I learned a lot and gosh, I'm just having a blast learning how to do all of this.

Here are some pics!

I've started a new blog: Come follow my crafting adventures on my new blog. Find me at: creativeirony.com.

Weekly Sketch

I'm so excited to start a weekly sketch challenge over at CreativExpress! I'm also going to post it on my blog every Monday, so everyone can play along if they want.

Here's this week's sketch:

And my layout based on it:

Others will be posting their takes on this thread if you want to check it out!

I've started a new blog: Come follow my crafting adventures on my new blog. Find me at: creativeirony.com.

She's so happy!

Aubriana is four months already. Times just flies. She is just so cute and so happy. I love having her in our home and of the four, she's probably the least work right now! She loves to just hang out with me, wherever I am. She's 14 lbs 6 oz and 26 inches long. She's really tall for her weight, which means that dresses look more like shirts on her and onsies are almost always too short. She is super fun to dress and now that it's a bit chillier, I've discovered tights. I also bought her a pair of super cute shoes, but they are still a bit too bit and they won't stay on. We almost lost one at church last week, so I'm giving up on them for now. I recently found out you can attach bows with washable glue stick, so I'm excited to try that.

I've started a new blog: Come follow my crafting adventures on my new blog. Find me at: creativeirony.com.