Before and After

Here is the "after" . I added some PS effects. Click here to see the before and a few other before and afters.

We Love Grandpa

these are some pics of K and her cousin Braden, daughter of Katie, who just had her second baby, Carter, 3 weeks ago. As a child my dad always did "tricks" with us. And he still is young at heart doing the same tricks on our kids.Thanks dad. The picture of kennedee leaping off the stairs totally DEFINES this girl. She is fearless.

.......And Grandma, too

We got a surprise visit from my mother, Grammy Bo. Here is Ryan with her in Malibu, at my step-grandma's home.

"Be Ye Prepared"

One of our Christmas presents from both my and Ryan's parents was food storage. I feel so relieved to finally have some emergency essentials. My order arrived today. Check out www.beprepared.com.

New navigation bar and links to my other blogs

I decided to add a navigation bar to my blog. You should see it above my header. I have links to 2 other blogs. I want to keep this one as it is and free of clutter that not everyone is interested in. One blog is my DIY which will show my latest projects, sewing, crafts, and other home inspiration,etc. If your into that kind of stuff, check it out. I will add a few tutorials as well, and am happy to share any patterns or techniques, just ask.

The second blog is all about photos. Photography, photoshop, digital scrapbooking. It will showcase my fave photos and tutorials for photoshopping and digital scrapbooking. I have added some great link lists to find great downloads and online shopping sites to check out.

All in all I made these mostly for me, so that I only have to go to ONE place to link to my favorite sites rather than trying to store them in 'favorites'. But if you want to check them out, go for it.

Rock Band is for Everyone

We had my inlaws to dinner on Sunday and afterwards Ryan got his dad to play rock band and before you knew it, Cathy got on drums. Not bad for their first time. Seriously it is like buying one of those "brain age" softwares to keep your brain in tune. Who else is getting a quicker mind with guitar hero? Lots of fun guys, thanks.

Book Review
Of Human Bondage-by M.Somerset Maugham
my "lil" sister reccommended this book for me to read. It is 700 pages and to be honest the first 300 pages bored me. They were overly detailed with characters that never make a big impact on the story. By page 300, things got interesting and I began to enjoy. This book was written in the 1800's and is a life-story of an orphan boy who has a club foot. I was definitely interesting and I liked the characters, especially the ones that were so darn frustrating. Not a page turner for me, but I would give it a 'B'.

Murder Mystery Party

We had a really fun New Years Eve at a Murder Mystery party. I have always wanted to go to one of these. Unfortunately the batteries in my camera were dead, so no pics. But it was a 50's theme and we all dressed up. I wore this amazing hat that belonged to Ryan's grandmother. Thanks Marcille for a fun night and great food. Over the top.

Tips and SECRETS

We all have them............great cooking or cleaning tips. How to get chicken just right or that old stain out of clothes. Or how to shop for groceries or whatever. Well I really REALLY want to hear some of your famous tips on whatever. I will start. I've been obsessed with everything vintage lately, but to buy vintage fabrics it costs like $12-$18 a yard. So I went online to anthropologie.com and urbanoutfitters.com and looked in their sale section. I bought a couple of twin duvet covers of these cute vintage prints and figured I can cut them down for sewing fabric at now less than $3 a yard. Don't you love a good deal.

Question # 8

What is one of your best secrets or tips for anything? Feel free to share several.

Catch Yourself doing something dumb?

So for the last 8 days I have been babysitting my half sister, Abi (8) and my step-brother, Zane (17) in St. George while my dad and Heidi went on a cruise. Oh, and their poodle Daisy. You can all think I am a horrible person, but I'm just not a huge pet person and I realized that more this week. Don't get me wrong, they are cute and I love other's dogs, but I just don't want one in my house for me to be responsible for. ANYWAYS, back to the title of this post. After a few days of being around the dog I started whistling, calling for Kennedee and patting my knees. "What a total dork I am." I actually whistled for my child to come to me.
It was a fun week. It's a good thing that I work a couple of hours in the day, because I just had to get out of the house and I did WAY too much shopping. I am such a sucker for Kennedee's clothes. But little girls sale racks are amazing and I just can't turn down a good deal even if she has way too much.
We played games, went to movies, bowling and I had a lot of fun with them. I want to give GOLD STARS to all you moms out there. It was a great preview of how life could be with 3 kids including a teenager.