a spooky six pack.

no, not my abs.

(silly.)

this:

pretty fun, right?

similar to the bottles I did for valentines a few years ago (but not really the same..  those were empties.), these have homemade labels that are spooky enough, but more fun than spooky.

I cut paper strips from my patterned paper that measured 8 1/2 x 3 1/2, and distressed them, first with an emery board, and then with some black ink.  I taped those on the bottles and then popped a label from nancie rowe janitz, distressed in the same way, on top of the taped-on strip.  I punched 1 inch circles out of the same papers, distressed again (I kinda like it that way.), and popped those on the bottle caps with a glue dot.  to finish off the bottles, I tied ric-rac or twill around the neck, cause it was cute.  the cardboard container was flattened and used as a template to trace onto more patterened paper that was cut to sixe, distressed (see, like it!), and glued onto the cardboard container. 

for a full list of digital supplies used, click on the pic!

the bonus to this cute, fun, halloween project:  I got to drink ibc rootbeer and crème soda (my second fav drink of all time) for the next few days. :)

treasure found.

while cleaning the c drive the other day, I found one file folder that read “mom’s”.

that was vague and mysterious enough to have me wonder what it was, and instead of deleting it immediately (pffft.  like I would do that..) I played it.

I am not going to lie when I tell you it brought tears to my eyes.

I forgot this even existed.

it is only a few seconds, but they are wonderful seconds.

ashley’s birthday

it was october 5th, 2004.  ashley made her way into this world via emergency c-section.

my plan for how that day was supposed to go, was completely thrown out the window.

as I look back on that day, I remember how wonderful it was, but realize how terrifying it must have been for merrill.  I have nothing but wonderful memories.  sure, I was nervous.  but it was one of the four most wonderful days of my life.

those days are in the past, the seconds have ticked by way too fast.

eight years later…

and here we are!

happy birthday my little ashley.

for the record:

- you LOVE anything and everything coconut.

- you are not “short”, you are “fun-sized”.

- you love soccer.

- despite your energy level and active little body, you are not exhausted at the end of the day.  you are a night owl.  (one more item to add to the short list of traits you inherited from me.)

- you want tacos for your birthday dinner tonight.  my bet is that you eat the leftover tomatoes.

- you are so excited to be baptized!

- I can’t tell you what your favorite color is.  I am not sure, it seems to change weekly now.  just a couple of weeks ago, it was orange.  you wanted your whole room orange!  then it was fuchsia, then blue, and now, well as of yesterday anyway, it is maroon.

- you have suddenly turned into a neat freak.  your room hasn’t been messy for 2 weeks now!

- you are so thoughtful.  you asked for a coconut cake for your birthday, but realizing that lynn and dad don’t care for coconut, you asked if I could make a chocolate cake too.

we are so happy to have you as our favorite middle child!

davis family

this is my cute friend cindy.

we once ran track together.

she is still darling, has a kind husband, a son with dimples that KILL me, and a sweet little girl that cracked me up with her serious ways.

snowbasin and mother nature cooperated awesomely to provide us with a beautiful backdrop.

here’s some of my favorites:

  

gwyneth

love cake smashes!

(have I ever said that before?)

I joined a book club with my best friend this year.  we were invited by another friend.  we were a little scared at first, but it has been so much fun!  this little girl’s mom is one of the reasons it has been so fun.

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.

scrappy doo.

here’s a few layouts I managed to complete last month.

as per usual, click on the layout for a full list of credits!

can you guess which one is my absolute favorite?

I will give you a clue:  it is the one that took me the most time to complete.

meanwhile, at the pitcher house..

I have some pretty awesome intentions.  like, they are unfathomably incredible.

but, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

yup.

I had dreams of the many things I would accomplish when the girls were back in school.

all the time I would have.

all the blogging and recording and picture editing I would catch up on….

not so much.

here is a bit of what has been going on whilst I have been truant:

merrill turned 33.

he didn’t want cake, but “crunchies” (our version of no bake cookies) instead.

(and it was nice to not have a large, delicious cake, sitting around, tempting me to eat it all, for every snack and every meal for the next 3 days…)

the girls started school.

*sniff*

we went to the brigham city temple open house.

we have been reading…  a lot still.

and we went to lake powell…

we rather enjoyed that.

now soccer season is upon us, and two of the three girlies are enjoying it.

currently, I am depressed.

(seriously.)

merrill has left me for two weeks.

left me for alaska.

I love the guy just a bit and miss him terribly.

if he brings me home some halibut, it might not be so bad in the end.

meanwhile, being a single parent has it’s sucky moments.

but mostly, I just miss him.