LOST!!!

OMG! Is anyone a LOST fan! Just watched the season finale. I don't think I would ruin it for anyone. Isn't Pacific the last time zone? If not you probably better stop reading for a while! AHH! How is Locke in the casket? How is he even off the island? I'm dying! Well at least last years questions have been answered, now for this years questions. Like, where did the island go? And more importantly, where is Sawyer? He is so on my list! You know the one! Him and McDreamy! OK, I promise, story tomorrow, I have to go to bed!!!

My Heavy Heart

I have such a heavy heart tonight. I usually try to keep my blog very positive and happy but my heart just hurts tonight and I guess I just want to express it.

I have a very good friend that I have been friends with since Hayden and her Rachel were babies, we actually knew each other way back to when my ex-husband and I first moved to Arizona and we taught one nursery class and she and her husband taught the other nursery class in our church. We also lived in the same apartments as them but Jenni and I didn't make that connection for many, many years. Anyway, I have been doing Jenni's hair and her parents and her sister from Minnesota when she comes into town for a long time, so I know the whole family! I've known since January that her sister in Minnesota, who was pregnant, had an ultrasound in early January where Cassi and her family found out the gender of their baby. At this ultrasound they were told their baby was a girl and were so excited, they have a 2 year old boy. They were also informed that she had a problem with her heart. This finding set in motion an emotional cascade of further testing and appointments that culminated in the baby being diagnosed with a unique chromosomal disease that most closely paralleled something called Trisomy 18. They soon learned that the outlook for children with this disorder is not good with many pregnancies resulting in stillbirth and few living beyond one year.

I've talked to Jenni and her mom and dad each time I have done their hair and have heard the progress of her pregnancy and their trials. At one point Jim, Jenni's dad told me that a so called friend had emailed Cassi pictures of other babies with this same disease, that had died and were disformed, which I thought was horribly cruel. It of course upset her deeply.

Jenni called about 3 weeks ago to let me know that the baby had been born and as of that morning the baby was still alive but they had taken all the tubes out and were waiting. Cassi was able to hold her baby and they were able to bless her and give her a name before they took her away to a different hospital. As soon as Cassi was released she went to the hospital that her baby was at and was able to spend a little more time with her before she died. I had heard this from Jenni and her dad and luckily both her parents and brothers and sister were able to be there for her.

Today I did Jenni's hair and was talking to her about everything and she gave me the url to Cassi's blog, which I feel is too private to share with everyone. So the blog hopper that I am, I went to her blog tonight and was soon in tears looking at the pictures of the grave side memorial and the words of her husband who spoke at the memorial, I think what hit me the hardest was, 'For having so many problems, she had a surprisingly tight little grip – enough to consistently melt the heart of her 27 year old father.'

I am in tears again. This just breaks my heart and I feel so thankful that my 3 children have been so healthy and I have had the opportunity to raise them and be a mother to them. I admire Cassi's strength and they will be in my prayers daily.

So, I am going to kiss my children once again tonight and leave you with some word art. Our Speed Scrap was alot of fun last night and one of things we were instructed to do was create word art for our page. This was my final result...

This is my sweet little miracle, we know for everything we did to prevent another child, he is our miracle baby and has added so much joy to his mother's life. I'm sorry for the sad blog tonight. I promise for a more upbeat one tomorrow. I still need to tell my Hunter's hair story, I have pictures and maybe a video if I dare post it. He will be furious with me if I do. We'll see. Here is the download link for the word art, it comes in black, white and red. Go kiss your babies for me tonight and thank God for all your blessings!

Tuesday Challenge and Speed Scrap Tonight

Time for another Tuesday Template Challenge at ScrapMatters. This week is hosted by Kate with a way fun template.

You can check out the details for the challenge here.

Here is my layout...

I so miss my baby girl, she is getting so big. She cracks us up daily though, you never know what she will say next.

Here is my entry this month for the quick page exchange! I love HappyScrapGirls 'Inspire Me' kit, it is so pretty! That picture of Hensley was taken when she was 9 months, here are Hayden's 9 month...

I absolutely love these pictures. Last week we took Landon to get his. I put him in the same outfit as Hayden and had total Deja Vu. They turned out so cute, I don't get them back until next week.

Here is one more layout that I worked on the last couple of days...

Template, papers and elements are all from Dirty Feet Designs. Full Credits are here.

One last thing, I was going to tell you my Memorial Day/Hunter's Hair story but I need to post this before the Speed Scrap is over!!! Speed Scrap at ScrapMatters tonight at 8pm Mountain Time. I actually can participate this week. These are so, so fun!!! So we will see you at ScrapMatters tonight and I will tell you my story hopefully tomorrow!

Saturday Special and a Freebie!!!

Again, it has been forever since my last blog! Hopefully I a making up for it with a new Template freebie. Summer break has officially started. Summers are so hard here for kids to be out of school. I really wish we were on year round. It is way too hot for them to do anything but swim. So, except for the couple hours of the day we can swim, they are usually stir crazy in the house and getting on each others nerves. Oh well, at least I'm not pregnant this summer. Anything has to be better than last summer. My kids and I are actually going to Utah next month for about a week. I am excited for that. We will be there for Hayden's 7th birthday, we are going to Lagoon for that, I love Lagoon!

My Mural is finished and it turned out fabulous!!! Even better than the picture she initially showed me before she started...

The detailing is just amazing! Thank you Julie! My daughter is a very lucky little girl.

So, I am a little late showing you ScrapMatters Tuesday Template challenge. This week was hosted by Teresa and her template was a lot of fun...

I used Andilynn designs Summer is Here Remix and Sun Kissed Porch kits.

Today's Special Saturday Challenge is hosted by Staci. It is 8 Simple Rules challenge. You can check out all the rules here. Here is my layout...

My little Hayden is growing up way to fast! He is such an awesome kid though, I am very proud of the little person he is becoming.

I used Britt-ish Designs and GG Digital Designs collaberation kit 'High School Never Ends' This is such a fun school kit, for any age. I also used Brittney's 'Clearly Square Alpha' So fun!!!

Speaking of Brittney, she released a brand new kit yesterday called 'I'm a Dreamer' It is such a pretty kit. And as usual there is a fabulous freebie to go with it on her blog.

Here are some new kits that have just been released from ScrapMatters...

Misschifis has been very busy! Love all her new kits!

And now, as promised here is your freebie for enduring yet another long blog.

Download here

It is a template of my Wild Thing layout. Enjoy and have a great holiday weekend!!!

Speed Scrap at ScrapMatters

Quick post tonight! Tomorrow night 6pm Pacific Time, ScrapMatters is having a Speed Scrap. We had a lot of fun on NSD with them and have had alot of requests to have another one! Come on over and join us! Remember tomorrow 6pm Pacific Time!!! I'll be back tomorrow with the new Tuesday Template Challenge and some more pics of the mural. Almost done...

A Mural, a Preview and a Freebie!!!

Happy Mother's Day from sunny AZ! I am actually sitting at my parent's house across the street from mine by the pool. My parents are winter visitors which makes this an excellent home to escape to in the summer. I told my husband for mother's day I wanted to sit by the pool all day and not worry about kids. So far so good.

Also for Mother's Day I got a brand new camera. I got a Sony Cybershot 8.1 megapixel 10x zoom camera.

It is awesome, it's like a normal film camera, you push the button, it takes the picture, no delay!!! And, I love zoom! I love being able to take candid photos from across the room. So, of course the new camera and my day by the pool is all I would possibly need for Mother's Day, but then I went to Costco yesterday to pick up a cake for my sister-in-law's baby shower and saw the coolest thing ever....

It is a digital frame in the bottom left corner and then the other frames are for still pictures. It even plays music. Had to have it. So I was very spoiled this year.

I have been trying to update my blog all week and everyday something has happened. Monday I was so excited to blog about Cinco de Mayo which is kind of a fun holiday here in Arizona and I love Mexican Food so I have been excited for weeks to eat at Arriba's which is actually owned by my father-in-law's boss. He's the guy that goes around to all 4 (almost 5) Arriba's and makes sure everyone is doing there job. My husband also has their accounts with his sales job, still no one brings me home chips and salsa everyday!!! We take the kids there every year, they have mariachi bands and pinata's and of course, Mexican Food. My husband got the flu Monday morning, followed by Hayden and then that night, when I should be at Arriba's and my husband is in bed because he is sick, Hensley got it. Luckily the baby and I never did get it but still, no Arriba's. Monday night, while Hensley was sick, my laptop died, like just died... so my nephew who luckily is very good with computer's had to crash it and start over from scratch. I have been very good to keep all my picture and Digital Scrapbook stash backed up and on a separate hard drive, but I never backed up my music and never even thought about all my fonts. But, it is almost like I have a new computer. I just can't ever update my ipod again or it will wipe out all my songs.

Also this week, the same person that painted Landon's mural last year...

Julie Hughes-Konishi from Phoenix Valley Murals graciously offered to paint a princess mural in Hensley's room, we have been trading ever since last year for the one in Landon's room. So she started the mural this week. I wish I had the picture of what it looked like when it was just a sketch but my computer died and I hadn't moved those picture's over yet...

She is doing all 8 princesses on her wall. She is amazing, there is so much detail in her work. So she just needs to finish the last 3 princesses and it will be done. It is so fun to watch it all come together princess after princess. I will post the rest of the pictures when she is done! So, so fun!!!

Well, as promised I have a preview for you...

Great new kits out! Available at ScrapMatters.

Brittney's new kit is called 'High School Never Ends' and the fun thing is that she graduated from the same High School as me(years later) and her kit favors the school colors. It is actually a collaberation kit with GG Designs. They both have freebies on their blogs to go with the kit. Brittney's has a 'High School Musical' feel to it and Leslie is designed for the grads of '08.

Brittney's blog
Leslie's blog

This layout was for Tuesday's Template Challenge hosted by Kristie from Suzie Belle Designs. Walk Down Memory lane challenge. Mine is a photo of me when I was almost 1. I used Andrea's new 'Sun Kissed Porch' kit. I muted the colors so that it would coordinate with my dress. Her kit is very vibrant and colorful. It really reminds me of summers at my Nana's house in Utah.

This layout is for the Saturday Special Challenge that started yesterday. Tell a funny story. You probably think this is yet another layout of Landon, but it is actually my 6 year old Hayden when he was about 8 months old. I used Brittney's 'Dreams do come true' kit with the 'Mouse Encounter' mini freebie.

One more thing, the Quick Page Exchange this month is with HappyScrapGirl's 'Inspire Me' kit...

Maybe I will get it done before the last day of the month. I'm hoping that this week I will have a little more time to scrapbook! There is so much to do and so little time.

Now, for those of you that made to the end of this very long blog. Here is your freebie! I am giving you my template that I made for NSD weekend as a participation gift...

Download here

So there you go, enjoy. I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day!!!

National Scrapbook Day

It's National Scrapbook Day today, YAY! And I am sitting here, my husband had to go into work and my real quick appointment turned into a double process color! Oh well, I'm here now! So I posted my challenge at ScrapMatters. I had it all ready to go, I was just waiting for midnight to post it. So 11:30 I layed down for just a minute because I couldn't see straight, I am such a party animal!!! Well, then I am dreaming about NSD, I know, scary huh and woke up a t 4am. So I got out of bed, came out in the dark and proceded to post my challenge. OK, so 4 hours late! I hope the members in Australia weren't too irritated with me. LOL! So just a quick preview of my participation prize and layout that I did for the challenge.

You can check out my journaling challenge here.

Also there is a new Saturday Special challenge in the team blog, check it out here.

OK,now my baby is crying, next year I am checking into a hotel. LOL!

Happy Scrapping!!!

It's Starting!!!

Events are up and running at ScrapMatters, Shutch and KateyPie have already started their challenges since they are in New Zealand and Australia. The Queen of Scrap challenge is up and running too!!!

Just a few previews, 1st here is ScrapMatters mega collab kit, free with a $10 purchase from the ScrapMatters store. The store is having a sale through the weekend!!!

It is a huge kit and so fun! Here is my layout...

And then here is the participation kit for the Queen of Scraps. You can get this kit just by submitting 4 layouts...

So go check out the Queen of Scrap here

ScrapMatters store here

ScrapMatters forum for other challenges here. I will be hosting a challenge tomorrow. Hope to see you there!