Life in the Junction: family

Showing posts with label family. Show all posts

Sunday, June 24, 2012

Elle's Book 2

Nothing like a coupon to get your butt in gear to finish Elle's book. I had a coupon to save 50% on a photo book plus free shipping--Elle's book was going to cost 80 bucks and I got it for 35! In 3 days, I scrapped these final pages.

And here is the final result:

Click here to view this photo book larger

Shutterfly photo books offer a wide range of artful designs and embellishments to choose from.

As we race into year 3 with some party planning, can't wait to scrap some more of my girl's many adventures!

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

From Pinterest to Reality {Bucket Lists}

Family adventures ahead!

katieballa via pinterest

Reality: I just printed these out instead of making our own. I think I will make our own next year so it has things we would actually do. Like the winter one, has shuck oysters--maybe this is a Christmas tradition in other parts of the country but here on the west--not so much. And no I do not want Rocky Mountain Oysters either. It was fun though to do things together as a family instead of just our usual.

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Scrapping our Fall Adventures

Simply Tiffany 52 Templates Template 15 and Meredith Cardall's Farewell to Summer Kit

Simply Tiffany 52 Templates Template 17 and Wicked Alpha from Monster Mash Blog Hop

Simply Tiffany Templates Template 31 and Meredith Cardall Falling Into You Kit

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

House Hunting Disapointment

So I blogged about the beginning of our house hunting adventure here. Well we found a house, exactly what we wanted and for a great price. It seemed too good to be true. We knew there were multiple offers but we still thought ours would win.(You should know I get emotionally invested easily). Well it didn't. There was an all cash offer, which we can't compete with. After our realtor called and told me and then said I know there is a better one out there for you, I still cried. And cried. And was bummed the whole evening(and truthfully still bummed). It may have been compounded by Grandmaster Bass neighbors blasting their music which meant Elle did not get a good nap and neither did mommy. (I am scared of them now so I didn't go down and ask them to turn it down--apartment life is getting old).

I know that things don't work out the first time and I know there may be a better house out there. But it is kind of like when I was waiting for Kevin to propose. I "knew" it was going to happen, but every birthday or holiday or anniversary that went by with no ring was hard. It is kind of like when we were trying to have Elle and seeing the negative tests, we knew it would happen eventually but it is still disappointing each time you see no. And of course in both these cases, things worked out. I wish I could be as confident as our realtor and friends, who say your house is still out there; but I am not there yet. I need a little more time to mope. On the plus side, I didn't turn to ice cream or chocolate to mope!

Sunday, January 9, 2011

My sister--AKA Auntie Karen

My daughter is so lucky to have an Aunt like Aunt Karen. Who spoils her beyond belief but who I also know will be an amazing influence, confidante, and girlfriend to her later in life. She so deserves her own scrapbook layout in Elle's Book...

I took a Photoshop Friday class from Jessica Sprague--Lesson 15 and got the first template and all the papers(I learned how to make a brush into a clipping mask and a sticker. The second page I used a template from Simply Tiffany--Holidays 2010 Template 11. And I used Fonts for Peas--PeaAngeDawn. If you are just starting out I recommend both Jessica's site for mini lessons and Tiffany's Templates for ease and beautiful simple design with a focus on journaling. Tiffany has a great blog--and does giveaways and discount codes!

Oh and Auntie Karen, you may want to hit that Aaron Brother's Sale for some 12 by 12 frames!

Friday, January 7, 2011

2010 in Pictures

Found this very cool template by Splendid Fiins and added a paper from the And Everything Nice Kit.

Saturday, January 1, 2011

2010

One of my favorite years so far:

JANUARY: A few days before January we announced our big news! I had the blog redesigned and posted about this book--one of my favorites of the year.
FEBRUARY: Made some Valentine's crafts, and hosted a Lost Season premier party! We also found out that Baby Byrd was a girl!
MARCH: Wrote this brain dump about all that was going on with me. And read a lot, took a spring break trip to Vegas at the last minute to visit my sister who was also there, and tried to survive the cold that seemed to stick around forever here in Western CO.
APRIL: Found my inspiration for Elle's nursery and the perfect birth announcement. My mother in law threw me a great baby shower.
MAY: Finished the school year, had another great baby shower thrown by my friends and sister, finished the nursery--of course we then decided to move as well. Had another triage visit, and basically had to take it easy which meant I missed field trips and some fun stuff with my students.
JUNE: Read a lot, went to a great week long class in Denver, crafted my heart out (1, 2,3) and wished my parents a happy 35th Anniversary and celebrated 2 years with my wonderful husband!
JULY: Elle was born! And we survived and thrived during some challenges!
AUGUST: Learned to be a mommy!
SEPTEMBER: Adjusted to maternity leave when all my visitors left and Kevin went back to work. Found a play group and made some new friends, and missed school more than I expected.
OCTOBER: Starting to learn how to digital scrapbook, prepared to go back to work, visited a pumpkin patch and dressed Elle up as a sweet pea
NOVEMBER:Started(but never finished) the 30 Day Blog Challenge and went to Moab, UT for Thanksgiving!
DECEMBER: Elle met Santa Claus, I finished my first quarter back at work, and we went to CA for the break!! Christmas was so much more meaningful with the Elle Belle in our lives!

Monday, September 27, 2010

Week in Pictures

THURSDAY
During Elle's morning nap--or at least her quiet time kicking in her crib, I did this 15 minute digital scrapbooking class and made this...I think I am hooked

Thanks to inspiration from The Dating Divasabout dating your husband(if you haven't checked their site out--do it has tons of great ideas!), I planned this family picnic date complete with invite.

and some picnic pics...

WEDNESDAY
It is my amazing sister's birthday--so Elle willingly posed for some pictures!

TUESDAY
Elle and I made blueberry muffins to surprise Kevin the next morning--put this cute tag on the box, thanks to Dating Divas!

For dinner--slow cooker tamale pie courtesy of Taste of Home Magazine--only about 8 points per serving and very filling!

MONDAY
I made some shadowboxes of some of Elle's stuff I wanted to keep and display somehow. Thanks to Michael's sales this project was less than 20 bucks for both. I bought some foam I can return as I didn't use it--or I'll keep it for something else.

And for dinner--Maple Glazed Salmon from Cooking Light

And some Monday Night Football with Elle cheering on the Pack--and another win in my fantasy league

SUNDAY
I made these Cheesesteak Kabobs from Rachael Ray's Magazine--one of my husband's favorite things is Cheesesteak--surprisingly this version is only 9 points--I doubled the veggies on mine.

I made this countdown to Halloween--Thanks to a kit from How Does She

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Tomorrow...Tomorrow...

I love ya tomorrow, you're only a day away!
Tomorrow am we head to the hospital for our daughter's birth!

Monday, June 28, 2010

35 Years

My Stick Family from WiddlyTinks.com

My Stick Family from WiddlyTinks.com

My parents have been married 35 years and here is our family--we're too big for one stick family picture!
What they have taught us...
Laugh a lot.
Make mistakes but know we are there for you.
Follow your dreams.
You can choose your friends but you can't choose your family--this is normally when one of us is doing something embarrassing--but your family may be the best friends you've got!
Scrabble is super competitive--apparently my dad is the County Champion.
Vacations are so much fun when we are all there.
And so much more...
Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Back in the Saddle Again

Yesterday was our first day back at school--no kids until next week--so it was a day of meetings. The best part of the day, we each brought an item that represented us, and one by one we shared our stories. I really saw another side of a lot of people I work with, very cool. I shared my glass fused necklace of our families dog Snickers and talked about my family and my love of shopping on etsy.