Move over Utah--HELLO California

Ok, so on Saturday, the 27th Richard and I decided to go to Cali on Tuesday the 30th. We didn't know until like noon on Monday the 29th if we were going to be able to go or not but alas my young friends we were able. Thanks to our well saved stimulus we were able to take a 4 night, 5 day vacation (if you would call it that) through Vegas and on to Disneyland.
Not that anyone cares but here is the story of our trip:
Tuesday we drove to Vegas and stayed in the Excalibur on the strip. I heard of all sorts of fun family things to do there so we went and checked them out. I'm sad to say everything was a flop except for the fountains at Bellagio which were so cool.
The next day we drove to Anaheim and stayed right across from Disneyland in the Portofino. It is supposed to have 1 seperate bedroom but we found that the glass sliding french doors with an inch gap doesn't provide any darkness or hardly and sound proofing to allow us to even watch a movie. Oh well. We got lots of rest...Except for the fact that the Geunter girl woke up every morning around 1-3 a.m. and required to sleep horizontally in our bed.
Anyway, that day we arrived in Cali we went to Newport Beach. Abi loved playing in the sand and chasing seagulls. Too bad it wasn't warm enough or else we would have stayed longer and would have played in the water.
The 3rd day was our day at Disneyland. First I must say that Abi was an angel driving down and trudging through crumy Las Vegas. She was wonderful! However, she was not so sweet on the day we went to Disneyland. She was so tired. She usually loves being scared and doesn't mind the dark or anything like that but she hated the rides at disneyland. We first went on the Carousel and she didn't care one way or the other about that. Then we went on pinochios adventure or whatever it's called and she screamed the whole way. Then we went on Dumbo and she didn't like the cold air in her face. We went on the circus train and that was all right. We went on It's a Small World which was all done in Christmas themes and she LOVED it. We then went to Toon town and met Mickey and she was ok with it.
We then went to lunch and she took a 30 minute nap after which we let her run around for a while in the hotel. After that we went to a 3D bug's life thing which we had to leave early and a little caterpillar train which she got scared in because she thought it was going to be bad just like everything else. We then went on the jungle cruise which she hated and then the tiki room which she actually liked. We watched the parade which was torture trying to keep her still to wait for and she liked quite a bit of it but she screamed when Santa came by (it was their Christmas parade). We left after that and let her run around the hotel room. We got some food and when we went back to the hotel, she kept climbing in her stroller because she wanted to go back to Disneyland. We were so through. We weren't going to attempt that again. The next day she found the disneyland tickets in Richard's wallet and she kept whining because she wanted to go back. Stinker is all I have to say.
Friday we went to the zoo in Santa Ana which she LOVED. They had a farm their and she said "Cow" when we saw the cows. She loved the monkeys. They were awesome. We went when they were getting fed and they were all so lively. We even rode on an Elephant (yup, a real live elephant). It was pretty cool. Abi got freaked out again though. Dr. Wise is right that there is just something about this age. We drove back to Vegas and stayed in the Hilton--which was way better than the excalibur. Saturday we drove back and got in late that night.
It was a nice vacation. I wish Abi had been happy the day we went to Disneyland. We just needed to get out of the house and we're again grateful for our Stimulus!!!
So, to the title of my post--if we could afford it, we would absolutely pack our bags today and move to California. We love the climate, the humidity, the beach and even the people. We had so much fun talking to locals and other vacationers. People were soooooo much friendlier in California than I have seen here in Utah. That's sad. Even in Vegas people with glazed over eyes held the door open for me or Richard as we pushed Abi around in the stroller. I can count only once in the last 6 months or so that someone in Utah has held the door open for me. That's pathetic. Even at the distribution center 2 weeks ago I had my arms full and was pushing Abi in the stroller and people walked right past me and wouldn't hold the door for 2 seconds longer. Anyway, if I had my way we'd be out of Utah in a milisecond.

Abi and Daddy in Vegas

Mommy & Abi at the Bellagio

Abi at the Beach

Abi and Daddy on Dumbo

The Castle all decked out for winter

Abi loved this piano which made some pretty sweet sounds.

Abi, Daddy, and Mickey

Abi learned that each hotel has paper and pens just waiting for her to use.

Abi liked the goat. Her favorite was the cows and the monkeys.

Why only these pictures??? Because the Not So Cool camera we recently acquired scrambled the data on 1/3 of my pictures (which were mostly from the zoo where Abi was the happiest) and so I lost 1/3 of my pictures!

Get your digital scrapbooking freebie starting Monday

Go to http://dirtcheapdigiscrap.blogspot.com/ Monday the 29th through Friday the 2nd to get the first of my weekly digital scrapbooking freebies. I updated the site with elements, papers, templates, and alphas and now multiple items can be purchased through one transaction instead of a transaction per item. Here is a look at the freebie:

So what is Digital Scrapbooking?

Everyone has been asking me "So what is Digital Scrapbooking?"
It’s scrapbooking on the computer—without the mess, the unalterable mistakes, and the sticky, sticky glue. How it works is you use digital products (digital papers, brads, ribbons, frames, etc.) to arrange and re-arrange your scrapbooking page in a photo editing software (the best and most widely used are Photoshop (which is really expensive unless you are a student) or Photoshop Elements (Which you can get on Amazon right now for $59.99)). Most digital products are catered to Photoshop elements. So once you get some products and have some pictures ready, you add papers, pictures, and elements (the brads, ribbons, buttons, etc.) in layers to create scrapbook pages that look like real and appear to have depth. There are so many more things you can do with digital than you could ever do with paper scrapbooking because digital can look three dimensional and still print out as just a flat piece of paper. Once you get your pages done you can share them online (how easily can you do that with your paper scrapping?) and then you can get them printed in books at places like picaboo.com, blurb.com or snapfish.com or you can get pages printed separately at places like alpha graphics. Plus, once you buy a product, you can use it as many times as you want. You never have to leave home to buy products and you can often find lots of freebies on the internet. You can use digital products to enhance paper products. Go to my cousins blog at http://jenezedesigns.blogspot.com/ for some way cute ideas of treat bags, boxes, etc. So if you are interested in digital scrapping, first get photo-editing software and then start getting the digital things that you like.
I'll put some tutorials on http://dirtcheapdigiscrap.blogspot.com in the next few days.

If anyone wants to be sweet, they can leave positive comments about my products on the dirt cheap website so that it looks more legitimate so people will actually buy my products. That would be awesome. :) And of course if anyone wants to buy that would be awesome too. Remember everyone gets something for free. Just ask.

Dirt Cheap Digi Scrap

So I've finally got a site up and running of the Digital Scrapbooking Art I've been making. Everyone I know is eligible for something free from the site. Just tell me what template, paper, alpha, or element pack you want (the alpha and elements are coming in the next few days). Everything else is as the title says "DIRT CHEAP." I'm going with the whole wal-mart approach. Hopefully it works.

Please let me know what you think and please feel free to share my site with others. I will even do a referral system so if someone you know buys something and lets me know, I'll give you something for free. I'm also looking for requests so if there is something you want, I'll try and make it and it won't cost any extra.

Go to http://dirtcheapdigiscrap.blogspot.com/ to find what you want for free and also feel free to shop. If you're new to Digital Scrapbooking and need help figuring out how, let me know and I'll do what I can to help.

Miss Abigail

Abi update! Abi is amazing and wonderful and we just can't help loving her more everyday. She now has at least 16 teeth. She now says "What's that?" "Cat" (with a very strong "T" sound at the end) and I do believe she said Grandma and Papa tonight. She is a DANCING MACHINE. She loves to dance and she always wants us to turn on the radio so she can rock out. She taps her toes, twirls while on her tippy toes, lifts her right leg (its only ever the right), bounces, and now she is adding hand and arm motions. She likes to twirl until she is dizzy and she gets up to start again before she has even regained her balance.
Abigail is a very good helper. She helps us load and unload the dishwasher, she grabs rags from the drawer and "washes" the floor for me. She throws garbage away and she also tries to sweep. She now somewhat understands when I ask her to put things away and she is beginning to do that to.
She is beginning to climb more and more. We're grateful she hasn't been that interested in until now. She loves to run around, especially in her squeaker shoes.
We just love Abigail. She is such a blessing to us. Even on our worst days, we still feel so grateful to have her.

Oh, and a funny story. Several weeks ago my Mother-in-law watched Abi so I could go to an appointment or something. When I got back, we played for a little while and then I got her ready to go. I told her we were going and I started walking towards the door with her behind me. I said something like "Bye-bye" and she stopped and started waving at me. She thought I was leaving again and she was perfectly fine with staying and playing at Grandmas. Silly kid.

Help to Create Your own Personal History

Go to http://myownpersonalhistory.blogspot.com/ for an easy help to starting your own personal history. It's a document with 250+ questions and/or statements to help you record your personal history or it is even great for conversation starters with friends, dates or even your spouse. The cost is $1.00.

Bathroom Deep Clean

Want your bathroom deep cleaned or want to buy a Bathroom Deep Clean gift certificate for someone? $20 for 1 bathroom and $35 for 2.

Holiday Card Templates

K, so here are 5 holiday photo templates. You get the psd (some of them I can do as a png) file for $3.00 if you buy before the 29th. (If you have no clue what a psd or png file is, for $5.00 you can send me your picture(s) and I'll send you back a finished jpg that you can send to a printer near you.) If you want all 5 I'll give them to you for $10. Sizes are currently 5x7 or 4x8 but I can make a 4x6 if you'd like. Comment and let me know if you're interested and I'll get you more details. If you have something in mind, I'll create something for you. Dirt cheap I know but I'm needing to see if anyone even remotely likes my work and to see if it is worth doing what I love anymore.

Oh, and a huge shout out goes to Jessie of http://www.jessieonealphotography.com/ . She took our family pictures which were amazing. I was going to wait to unveil them after Thanksgiving when I send out all the Christmas cards but I was desperate for pictures and I've needed to do something to keep myself busy the last couple of days. Jessie was absolutely amazing! Thanks and sorry I haven't posted any of these pictures yet to give you credit!

My Angel

My Angel

My heart is aching and overwhelmed.
My pain is consuming and deep
I trust in my Savior and He delivers me.
He’s carried me through another day

I’m grateful for the time I had
to be touched by your sweet and gentle spirit.
I wish I could have had you longer
I wish I could have held you in my arms.

I understand that you had to go
That your body wouldn’t have survived
I wish my body could have given more to you
But this is how it had to be.

Your life was a blessing to me.
You came during a dark abyss.
You gave me hope and joy
I needed you and I so wish you could have stayed

Our home is always welcome
Please come visit us and stay
Please be our guarding angel
Give Jesus all our love.

When I see you in Heaven
And can embrace you in my arms
You’ll know the love of your mother
We’ll never be separated again.

Your mommy will always love you
I will never forget you!

Contest Results

Ok, sorry it has taken me so long to get back about the contests. So, the stories were pretty funny. I must admit that the funniest story is definitely Rebekah's but I already gave her a scrapbooking quick page so I feel bad in giving both things to just her so.... I will give her a free Christmas card design--as well as give one to April for the next funniest story. Congrats!!! and check back for more contests coming soon.

Holiday Baking

Want this quickpage? I designed this and all the paper/elements/brushes. I'll give it free to the first person who replies and says they want it!
Abi has been helping me bake a lot lately. Hence the need for wearing fat pants in November as opposed to December. I love the middle picture. She was sooooo covered in marshmallow goo that necessitated an emergency bath.

Halloween Pages

CONTEST

Ok, so I want to design someone's Christmas cards for my own experience so I'm holding a contest. Tell me a funny story or experience and the best one will win a free custom Christmas card design.
The contest will end next Wednesday the 12th so make sure you reply before then! You don't have to be a regular on my blog to win either, so you can tell your friends.

Happy Belated Birthday Abi

Why haven't I posted?

Mix together a Month and a Half of colds, stomach flu, shots, and teething mingled with NO NAPS and a filthy house because you've had a miserable baby pulling at your pant legs (and don't mention being sick yourself) and you wouldn't post either!

Bloomers & Odds n Ends

Abi loves to put bloomers on her head. Why? Probaby because Daddy often puts them on his head to make her laugh.

Abi went through a stage of climbing onto the hearth of our fireplace upstairs and standing on the one downstairs. She would play up there for 20 minutes at a time. Just the upstairs one is high up and so I was always so nervous. She's passed out of that stage for a while. I'm sure she'll play up there again soon.

Abi started to kiss the charcters in her books on each page. She's been patting us on the back when we hold her now too. So cute. She gives really slimy kisses and straddles me when i'm on the floor and jumps up and down on my belly. Too bad her legs are too short and she can't straddle Richards girth. Just wait Daddy, your turn is coming soon.

These next two pictures are Abi in her new clothes. She's growing so fast and we're out of hand-me-downs that fit for the season. It is kind of fun to be the one to pick out clothes for her. I just can't believe how expensive they are. I don't think this kid will ever get a sibling. We can't even afford her.

Sorry this picture is so blurry but I was laughing so hard at her because she was laughing so hard at me. We were playing with her blocks and for some reason it was super funny.

My Little Helper

So Abi loves to sweep, wash the floor and unload the dishwasher. She'll pull a rag out of the drawer and start wiping the floor (i don't use a mop--just a rag. i think it gets cleaner that way. i'm crazy i know.) She actually helps a lot when it comes to the dishwasher. She used to turn around and hand me something and i'd put it away. Now she just reaches her arm back without looking or she'll go put it in a cupboard herself.

She's also great at scrubbing things around the house with MY toothbrush and pulling tons of things out of cupboards and drawers. I think she is the type of personality that needs to have clutter around her and I'm the opposite and I'm burnt out trying to keep the house clutter free...

Snowday

So it snowed a few days ago and we just had to play. Can I just say "Randy"?
Abi loved the snow. We built a snowman in the backyard. She laughed at us while we rolled the balls.

Great Weekend

So, we had the best weekend. On Friday I rode the bike with Abi in the trailer to the Library and she had the best time. She made some friends and loved to hear her voice echo and I'm sure everyone else loved it too. I checked out some books on how to draw because honestly--i can't draw a thing unless i have a mouse in my hand. Anyone know and want to teach me? I'll give babysitting as a trade!

Friday night the three of us went to the Monte L. Bean Museum (the museum of stuffed animals of the dead type) at BYU--which is free and open till 11 p.m. (random time don't you think?). Abi LOVED it! She was all smiles when we first started and she stood below the bears and looked up at them and laughed. She also laughed at the turkeys downstairs--except i don't ever want to go down there again because tons of the animals just have cotton balls for eyes and that is freaky--other than that it was cool.

On Saturday we rode up to Bridal Veil Falls--yeah we finally made it all the way up there. Abi slept in the bike trailer the whole way and then we had a picnic at Nunns park and Abi rode down the slide in the playground. She likes it but is still a little unsure of the slides.

I officially finished weaning Abi on Friday. It is kind of bittersweet. I wish I could have nursed her longer but my body just can't handle it. I miscarried in August and my body and mind have been out of wack since. I wasn't going to tell anyone but I have found that the more people I tell, the better I have felt about the whole thing. I guess sometimes we have to share each others burdens and somehow by sharing, they really are less burdensome. Miscarriages are never fun, but I'm finally starting to feel better and get on with life and enjoying the wonderful little girl I have.

Anyway, I'm so glad we're over colds and teething (at least for the time being right?) and that Abi is so much happier because she feels good. It feels like the worst punishment and torture when she is sick or teething because she certainly isn't as happy and I don't blame her. The only compensation is that it is night and day difference when she is better and so happy again.

Oh, and a funny story from church today. A sister in our ward picked up Abi today and held her for a few minutes during class. Abi took the woman's bracelet off and then put it on her own wrist. She is already accessorizing. She had to have a teething ring around her arm this afternoon because she thought it was a bracelet and she got mad whenever it fell off. She is such a girl and I love her for it!

The pictures above are of Abi and her cousins Lizzie & Jane in their matching outfits from Grandma. It's amazing what a good camera can do.

Scrap Pages

So here are some more attempts at digital scrapbooking using my own papers and elements. I didn't make the design team that I applied for so I'm back to the drawing board--literally.

Abi has been walking a ton--well, except this week because she as well as the rest of us have been sick.

For Richard's birthday we went to the Children's Museum. Abi had quite a bit of fun and I think it will be even more fun in a few years.

Happy WAY LATE Birthday

Richard,

You are amazing! I am so lucky to have you as a husband. Abi couldn't ask for a better Daddy. You certainly are a hunk. We love you!

Will you look at my Mini Kit?

So I am applying to be on a design team for faithsisters.com. I had to submit a mini kit with specific colors and a birthday theme. I would appreciate if anyone would look at it and comment or even vote for me if they like it. Here's the link: http://www.faithsisters.com/photopost/showphoto.php/photo/19937

You can also download all of the jpeg's and png's for free from my mini kit.

Woah...long time no post (hence the horrendously long post)

So, life happens. We've been busy enjoying our summer and our super busy little one who has taken tons of "steps" today.
So several things have happened recently. I got my new wedding ring:

So a prong on my wedding ring broke almost 2 years ago and it broke in such a way that I would have to get the whole ring re-done which would have cost A LOT. Plus it isn't my original wedding ring (LONG STORY) so I was trying to decide what to do. Anyway, I decided to sell my diamond and get a new ring. I found this ring and loved it so I guess everything works out. Anyone know anyone who wants to buy a diamond at a great price?
Another great thing is my best friend from childhood/high school came and visited this past week. Richard was AMAZING and watched Abi a ton so Rebekah and I could go out and play. We went shopping and went out to eat and looked through old year books and had a great time catching up. I'm so grateful that you came and visited me Rebekah! I had so much fun and I'm so glad we got to hang out!
Abi loved playing with RebekahNow for the Abi Update:
Abi has now started to drink whole milk--well kind of. She finds it really weird. She looks at it every time she drinks it with the weirdest look on her face. She LOVES pasta and we eat it almost every day for lunch--which usually requires a bath. She rubs more pasta sauce on her face, eyes, hair, & ears than any other food. But she also eats it better than anything else. Who knows. She still loves peaches and she eats a whole packet of fruit & cream oatmeal for breakfast.
She loves to cuddle her stuffed animals and she seems to cuddle with us more often too. She knows what the word kisses means and if she is in the mood, she'll give you a few. I LOVE IT! So does Richard of course.
Her first 5 words are (in the order of usage): Da da, hi, bye, Abigail & uh-oh. Notice none of these are mommy or mama. Daddy was amongst those first words but I can't remember when it appeared. The last few days she's started to mumble some "ma's" while crying. I think it is just jibber-jabber. Speaking of Jibber-jabber, Abi can talk your ear off already. She has lots of things to say. She also likes to sing really, really loud in church.
She likes bubbles but she loves it when Daddy "prances" through them on the grass. She laughed hysterically the other night when Daddy did this. He's going to love that I told everyone about him prancing. :)
Abi has 7 teeth now and I'm sure she'll start teething again soon. It's about that time again I think.
She really likes to play soccer. I'll hold one of her hands and we'll go around kicking a ball. She LOVES it! She also loves it when we push the ball around while we're on our hands and knees and I chase after her.
She is great at going up and down stairs and she thinks that all stairs are toys specifically for her. She loves reading books and she really loves to turn the pages.
She smacks her lips when she eats (Grandma Tregaskis loves this about her). It is hilarious.
Her hair is long enough to put these little clippies in but not long enough to keep them in for any length of time. Soon enough... although there is plenty of hair in the back. Maybe mullets will come back in style again....please no.... She is our happy-go-lucky social bug and she is sooo much fun!

She got to eat chocolate cake a few weeks ago. I love the look on her face in the first picture. It's as if she's asking: "Can I really eat this?"

Chocolate cake was great fun...however, she tried to share with the curtains, which didn't go over so well. We ended up putting up new blinds because the curtains were ruined.

We went up the canyon several weeks ago with the Maxwells. Abi & Molly seemed to sense that something fun was going to happen.

Abi had tons of fun crawling in the dirt, eating it, and walking with daddy along the trails. Abi had her first marshmallow while sitting on Daddy's lap. Bad idea. Daddy couldn't handle the stickness that Abi so lovingly spread on his arms so he placed her on the ground. However, marshmallow hands on dirt & soot don't go over real well. At least this picture is good pay back.

I NEED YOU!

Ok, I need some help from some Digital Scrapbookers. I'm trying to make Digital Scrapbooking products and I need someone who actually does Digital Scrapbooking to look at my stuff and see if it is good enough. Whatever files I let you look at will be yours to keep for free. Once my stuff is adequate, I'll need some people to use my papers and elements to make some digi pages so I can show off on my website. Again, whoever does the pages will get free stuff. Let me know ASAP if you are interested by commenting on this post with your email.