welcome home

My beautiful little sister has returned from serving a mission in Ohio! We are so proud of her she worked so hard setting new missionary records, serving others, and touching the lives of many people with the light and blessings of the restored gospel. They will never forget her and I will never forget the great example she has been for me. Ashley is fearless and amazing.

We are so happy she's home!

Of course Ash took her time coming off the plane! It felt like we were waiting forever.

My favorite part was after we got all the hugs and pictures out of the way she says loudly, "The church is true.... now let's go eat." And was singing "Families Can Be Together Forever" when we were all crammed in the elevator....i love her

:D

peachy love

We picked some fuzzy sweetness yesterday at Gigi & Grandpa's house. AvERy LoVeS pEaChEs! We went to Costco over the weekend and a lady next to us had a huge carton of peaches in her cart. Avery was screaming for one like she was a starved child! Maybe you heard her since half of Utah County was there.
Mmmmm peach jam sounds yummy or peaches and vanilla ice cream-our family favorite!

:^*

because that last picture was starting to scare me...

Just a couple pics of Avery playing with her best friend"Ja-Na-Ta" Uncle Jonathan. I love that he lives just steps away and we can play everyday!! He is so protective of his niece and is always telling me how to take care of her-"that piece of turkey is too big for her to eat, Collin doesn't like Avery doing that, she needs to take a nap, she might hurt herself doing that, she needs to put this bow on..."He keeps me on my toes:)

I am gonna miss summer evenings like this when we'd just run around and play outside...

crack me up

I had just finished some projects that I had been stressing way too much over-when my silly Avery walked over to me and was smooshing a plastic thingy on her face-making faces at me. It was hilarious and I really needed a laugh-and I have to everyday to stay sane. Thankfully I am married to someone who so effortlessly can have me laughing my butt off in seconds, also thank you for The Office that we enjoy daily, thank you for the quoting abilities of my family to know funny lines from every movie-even if they've seen it once, thank you for Nacho Libre, any Will Ferrell movie especially edited Zoolander, Elf, and my recent favorite Stranger Than Fiction.

.

:^)

I am in desperate need of a yummy treat and wish that we had a treat drawer. I am so jealous of people who have random goodies from sour patch kids to symphony bars. I just scavenged my kitchen and found an old blow pop and some hard starbursts. What I would do right now for some chocolate covered gummy bears. They are de-lish! Or better yet my fave treat...

it is fun living close to em and russ because we get to see them more often-avery loves it too. especially when auntie em teaches her cool things like how to crow like a rooster and howl like a werewolf. (speaking of which I finished new moon and eclipse-love them!) anyway, i had to do a page for CK and it was so fun to do it about how emily survived childhood with collin as a brother. he was torturous! he would tie her barbie to a kite and let it fly away, called her chicken legs, teased her to death, and I don't think he approved of any of her boyfriends. but he did teach her how to ride a bike:) i don't know what's worse collin as a big brother or me as a little sister. thank goodness we grow out of our annoying sibling antics.

:P

we love 80's rock

For those of you still regretting never growing out a mohawk and starting a garage band named "Hydraulic Sandwich" or "The Flying Butt Scissors", here's your chance to make up for it. Guitar Hero 2 on Xbox 360! It's the most addicting thing since tiger's blood snow cones.

Here is Collin shredding little brother Casey in head-to-head playing "Dead" by My Chemical Romance. Notice Casey's facial expression. That's what everyone looks like when they go up against Collin. Liz "Lisa Turtle" on bass and Emily "Screech Powers" on the keytar. Get us started Slater. "Alright Preppy, let's try this one...One!...Two!..One, Two, Three (drumstick spin) Go!" P.S. Russ, Bret Michaels called. He wants his headband back.

silly girl

Well I figured out how to get Avery to stop running around for 5 seconds so I can take a picture of her...take a picture of something else. I got this old and ugly console at D.I. that I sanded and painted and was atttempting to snap a picture of it. Avery was confused and wondered why I wasn't fussing with her to sit still and smile so she kept coming in front of the camera. I couldn't help but laugh. And then she started posing. ha ha. This one I posted was my favorite.
I'll have to try this little trick again sometime.

:o)

Sunday afternoons, sigh, my favorite day of the week. Because I get to spend the whole day with my favorite people Collin and Avery- and our family. Today we hung out with Auntie Em & Uncle Russ. Avery played in the sprinklers, gathered rocks and ran around with her cute little piggie tails! I love the stage that she is in right now where she just looks at me and gabs like I know what she's saying-it's so cute. She also clenches her little fists and lets out high pitched screams-this not so cute:) I've been thinking about a conversation I had with one of my best friends. I miss her so much and it is fun to stay in touch even more now with blogs. We were talking about how fun it is to see what friends are up to and then she said how everyone's lives appear so happy and perfect in the blogging world-it is true. It's kinda like Pleasantville. Well, my life isn't perfect and I am sure we all have our struggles. But I guess we just blog the things in our lives that make us happy and the things that we want to share and remember.

Besides no one wants to see a fussy Miss Avery; so here's some cute toesies instead.
;o)

Some of my fellow bloggers have been asking to see my scrapbook pages and since I need to scan my recent work in-I'll start with 2 simple cards:) I made these for Green Grass Stamps a company I design for. Or at least I did design for; I have just been busy that last few weeks making QVC samples for American Crafts and soy. But on our Green Grass Stamps blog Tammy posts a card everyday for some inspiration. So if you like stamps check it out! This is my scrap desk-where all the magic happens. Thank you Ikea for coming to Utah & for selling reasonably priced, cute furniture! I didn't even recognize it without paper scraps, photos & embellies all over it. I just moved all that stuff aside while I snapped a pic:) What's your favorite scrapping stuff lately? Some of my favs: Martha Stewart's line at Michael's-I love it! 'Love, Elsie' line and colorful acrylic paint.
:o)

call me

Tonight I was talking to Collin on his way home from work and she grabbed the cell phone from me and started gabbing. It was so funny because she finally realized what I was doing when I held that pink thing. Until then she thought it was only used for biting, slobbering in, and then tossing when she was tired of it.
So if you ever wanna chat and you speak Averianese then give us a call.

Avery and I both finished a book tonight. I finished Stephanie Meyer's book Twilight, in a couple days actually, I couldn't put it down. I fell in love with their sweet romance and then was reading it at stop lights during the intense part! Sorry if you were honking at me when the light turned green:) I hope New Moon is just as good.

PS don't you wanna just squeeze those fat rolls on her arm and her leggies? they are quickly disappearing so I must enjoy them:)

:*

double stampies no erasies

My sister Emily tagged me!
And not that there's anything interesting on this list about me but here it goes:
Places I've worked:
1. Ruby River Steakhouse
2. Pebbles In My Pocket
3. Cheesecake Factory, San Diego
4. Aspen Salon
5. The breakfast girl at Hampton Inn and Suites-don't ask

Favorite Movies I watch over and over:
1. Nacho Libre "Mmmm good toast"
2. Serendipity
3. Ocean's 11 & 12
4. Return To Me

Places I've called home:
1. Pleasant Grove
2. Orem and Provo
3. Santee, California
4. Rupert, Idaho

Television:
1. The Office

What makes me happy:
1. Collin, Collin, Collin
2. Taking pictures of people I love
3. Lately when avery goes on & on as if I know what she's saying
4. Sunday afternoons

Yummy in my tummy
1.Thai Ruby
2. Fruit Pizza
3. Brownie Sensation Ice Cream

Vacation:
1. The beach
2. My Scrapbook desk
3. Time with family

I'd rather be:
1. At the beach
2. At my scrapbook desk
3. Spending time with family

Blogs I lurk on daily:
1. Design Sponge
2. Tara Whitney Photography
3. Elsie

I'm tagging:
1. Camille so she has to post:)
2. Mary because I miss you!
3. Cash because you rock!
4. Heather because she's so cute:)
PS Thank you to all my friends and family for your sweet emails and comments about becoming a SOY finalist!!

And to my cute sis-in-law Bethany and my mom-in-law for making this sign for me. It was so sweet and fun to pull up to their house and see. How cute are they?

When are we taking that boat out?

Exciting News

Why am I screaming with excitement you wonder?

Because July 31st I got a phone call from Creating Keepsakes magazine telling me that out of 500 submissions I am 1 of 10 finalists to become the Scrapbooker of the Year!! Yippee!

The requirements were 20 scrapbook pages and one essay. And surprisingly they liked mine! What happens next? Well, I get cash and prizes for being a finalist and an all expense paid vacation for me and Collin to go to Vegas where they announce the winner at a huge scrapbooking trend show! The winner not only gets a 2 year contract with Creating Keepsakes magazine but $10,000 cash and tonz of prizes. wow. Wouldn't that be awesome!!!! Wish me luck!


Check it out here. . . Finalist

The Voice

Do you Recognize this guy? Don Lafontaine is Liz's great Uncle who she has been close to since birth. We just hung out with him and his awesome family (Nita, Skye, and Liisi) at our family reunion. We had an auction to raise money for the next reunion and Don auctioned off a recording session for your answering machine or anything else! We got outbid : ( ....but then he turned to Liz and said he'd do ours anyways! He's done every voiceover for all the major movies, TV commercials for Fox, NBC, American Idol, etc...and of course, this awesome Geico commercial. We love him and his fam! Despite the fame they are so warm and down to earth.

Saying Goodbye! Hope to see you guys again soon!

Don LaFontaine GEICO Spot