playing catch-up is a great form of exercise.

so merrill is home.

(sigh.)

he has been home for a week, but I have been too busy enjoying his presence that I have not mentioned it.

we have already enjoyed our first halibut dinner.  delicious.

we were also thrust back into real life (i.e. work and the daily routine) rather quickly.

so while trying to be creative, take pictures, mother, cook, clean, organize (because fall puts me in the mood to de-clutter and visit the d.i.), prep. for a certain 8 year-old to be birthday+baptism, soccer, tumbling, and getting a new hotel ready to open, I have managed to have some fun.

I had an especially fun night last night while I cleaned-up the old hard drive on my computer.  organizing the c drive and the external hard drive seriously define what fun is to me.  I am a geek.  I did a little happy dance when I found a long lost (think almost 8 years long) video.  I also did another happy dance when I freed up about 100 gb on my c drive.

I have many projects to document, I allowed only a week of the two merrill was gone, to be depressed, then I got crafty.  they are quite cute, if I do say so myself.

so, you can sit back and be patient, enjoy these here posts as they come.

here’s the scrapbook layouts I got done in september:

(click on the image for the list of products and junk.)

I wanted to do a quick layout of all the snippets of memories from this year’s trip to lake powell, and that is what the journaling of this layout consists of, those little bits.

my favorite memories:

- merrill surprising me with a playlist for the drive that had old, sentimental songs on it.

- ashley jumping off the top of the houseboat!!!  (she is my dare-devil daughter.)

- staying in reflection canyon.  (gorgeous.)

here’s a layout featuring a quote that I have used before, and HAD to use again.  the picture told me to do it.

and, well, I will NEVER get tired of pictures of my girlies reading.

never.

ash was so excited to start moby dick.

mommy memory.

I am having some issues.  not huge issues, but things that make me feel kind of silly.
example 1:
it’s saturday night, I am putting the finishing touches on a project, and I am thinking about how I NEED to get to bed because if I get to bed too late, I will want a nap on sunday, and if I take a nap on sunday, then my body delays bedtime (or the time I actually fall asleep, rather) naptime x 3.  and if I don’t sleep good that night, then monday is going to be a pain!  you know, what with getting kiddos up for school and all..
wait.
there is no school monday!!
it’s summer!!!!!
example 2:
after I realize that it is now summer, I start to make plans in my head for monday.  there were a few errands thrown in there, and then I realized, monday is memorial day.
that would be today.  but with kids barfing, and a husband working (because he kinda sorta forgot that it is memorial day too, and didn’t plan to take the day off), it doesn’t feel very holiday-ey.  but believe you me, when I remember that today is memorial day, at different intervals throughout the day, I will honor it.
along with that, it is more in store monday.  and with that, there are a few projects to post, and more of the hybrid type to come. 
I am also in the midst of cleaning out my room..  kinda fun.
(click on the page for full list of crap used.)
some elle’s studio:

a new kit from pink paislee:

and here’s some goodies from nancie rowe janitz:

I am hoping to complete the art journaling class that I started in the spring..
I suck at finishing classes!

feeling scrappy.

I love pinterest for some good old inspiration, love blog hopping for the same reason.  there have been many things that have caught my eye, I have pinned them, totally planning on doing something with them sometime…

I finally crossed off a couple of those ideas last week.

#1 – wood grain.

now I have used it here and there, but I wanted to use it in a funkier way.  not in your traditional woodsy tones.

splendid fiins came out with another “knock-out” misting mask, and well, the rest is history:

(click on layouts for full cred.)

I have admired the look of title work cut from the main background paper, with a fun patterned paper placed behind, peeking through.

here’s me favorite example from elizabeth kartchner.

I mean, sure, you could get stickers, or cut the letters out of the patterned paper, but there is something about the look of it…

I can admit, that it took me awhile to get the drop shadows on this kraft background just right, and still, I look at it and wonder if it should be tweaked more…

I adjusted those darn drop shadows, merging layers, duplicating them, tweaking the shadows, multiplying and tweaking so many times, I lost track of how many times I did it!

my eyes, seriously, were on the verge of bleeding.

but that is what happens when you get passionate about an idea!

it’s like christmas at the pitcher house.

seriously.

it started with snow, and then I started in with the christmas tunes, and movies (and for all the bah-humbuggers/grinches, I have a totally valid argument for that, to come later..), and then the scentsy scents, and well, the best present of all…

merrill came home!!!

(it was only two weeks…  two very long, much TOO long weeks.)

I found ways to kill time..

painting a couple of rooms.

re-doing my picture wall. 

painting a bookcase in the living room.

re-arranging/re-working a couple of rooms.

taking apart and fixing my dryer.

a couple of photo shoots (one in which we had to leave quickly, before the sheriff arrived).

editing photos.

(which I need to catch up on posting, like desperately.)

playing with the girls.

playing just dance with the girls.

watching movies with the girls.

putting little girls to bed early so my brain and emotions could have a release.

and some scrapping…

exciting news at jessica sprague:

pink paislee has joined the ranks of awesome designers there!!

 

darling stuff there..

(click on layouts for full credits.)

and then there is some new lovely goods from miss samantha walker.

the name of the paper pack I used for this layout is “foundations gray baby”.

and well, if you know me, ever been to my house, you’d know just how much I adore babies and the color gray.  I would have painted the whole first floor of my house gray while merrill was gone if I could have also refinished the cabinets.

(but I am not that crazy.)

I will have to post pictures of what I did while the husband was away (for far too long I might remind you again..) soon.

so to catch up on the thankfulness:

friday-

so very thankful that I have lovely pictures of the temple to display in my home.  so thankful to have them so abundantly and so near us.

saturday-

I am thankful for my body, for my health and strength, and ability.  thankful for the fun (and exercise, and sometimes bruises) I get with good girlfriends playing volleyball.  (BEAM!!)

I am thankful for the snow today, and for the “elf” soundtrack.  (I will really have to get into my completely valid reasons why christmas is coming before thanksgiving in this house.)

I am thankful for red bull.  you see, I was awake at 5:45 and could NOT go back to sleep.  I was excited for volleyball, thinking of the finishing touches for a few projects, and mostly because merrill was coming home that night.(!!!!)

no napping.  too excited for napping.  thankful for red bull.

I didn’t tell the girls about merrill coming home until an hour before we left to get him from the airport.  their squeals of delight were awesome (and reminded me why I waited to tell them).  I was so thankful, that despite the snow, and many accidents throughout the day, we made it to the airport safely and in time.

that reunion was so sweet!

so thankful that he made it home, because if he hadn’t, I would have lost it.

for real.

sunday-

so thankful to have my WHOLE family under the same roof to enjoy the evening.  incredibly thankful for the many prayers that were answered over the course of our two (way too long) weeks.