Back to me...

so more about my birthday...
My mom found this AMAZINGLY cool Wizard of Oz fabric and sent it to the AMAZING Sarah (Ok so you've seen her Etsy shop right? - check it out its in my sidebar!)
She made a bag that is to die for awesome. You'll want one even if you are not an OZ fan like myself.

And (because I am cool like that) My Mom and Aunt Beth sent this cool stuff too - Etsy is so neat!

Those little things are scrabble tile pendants. Gotta love it!

I ROCKED the thrift store costumes

I averaged six bucks a piece for Benjamin, Ella, and Maiya

Benjamin aka "Grim"
Ella aka "The Movie Star"

Maiya The Ladybug

Cora the Spawn Ballerina and Daddy the punk

Strike a pose!

Today...

and I got my eyebrows waxed

the sad thing is I am not sure which was more effective for my country.

I stepped solidly into my 30's

I turned 31, and my AWESOME sister made a slideshow of my life - Enjoy and don't tease too much.

Friends

One to make you laugh

And one to make you cry.

Mister has not come home and we fear the worst.

Meg decided to say goodbye - she wrote this for him last night.

We said goodbye to Gram

we (especially the children) gained a deeper appreciation and understanding of the
Plan of Salvation

Benjamin and Ella sang at Gram's funeral - it was beautiful.

and now we are home.
about 55 hours in the van in one week's time.

Texas
Arkansas
Tennessee
Virginia
West Virginia
Maryland
Pennsylvania
Maryland
West Virginia
Kentucky
Tennessee
Arkansas
Texas

we are tired.
Kyle still needs a job
health insurance ends on friday

stress and love and faith...
my life

Gretchen Gers
aka Gram

April 9, 1925 - October 20, 2008

Some people, no matter how old they get, never lose their beauty. It merely moves from their faces to their hearts.
Martin Buxbaum

I took pictures today

Wait...there is more, you have to go here and check out the rest of Sarah's photo shoot.

Did you know you are a daughter

of our Heavenly Father -

you need to watch this

all your girlfriends need to watch it :

Let this be an end to FAT TALK

Stop Leaky Water Facuet with the Instant Off

Remember that bathroom project...

Well its not done, but we did get this handy thing for six bucks at home depot. It will save me money. Do you want to save some money? - then come to Penny Pinchers. Its a new RS group starting this month. Next Tuesday - my home 7:30 pm! Check it out HERE

Letter

Benjamin had to write a letter to a friend using six spelling words. This is what he wrote:

Dear Nick,

Please do not dip my dog in red paint, and do not talk in class. And please sit down in class and you filled my ant farm with water and made a sand castle at recess. And you are a nerd.

Ben

Da Toofless wonder

Jesus wants me for a Sunbeam

This is how Maiya left Nursery today.

I personally think I would be a better person if Jesus was on my chin.

We've been busy!

We went camping ... Our ward ROCKS

The kids were in heaven - dirt, tons of other kids, campfire, playground, and the Bishop brought donuts for breakfast!
Have I said lately how AWESOME my baby is - fell asleep at the campfire around 8:45 - we moved her into the tent in her carseat and she woke up happy at 7 am - how cool is that?

We came home a little dirty

A quick shower and straight to Belt Testing - Benjamin and Ella are Senior Orange Belts now!! (those pics are in the other camera)

A few days ago I took this stylin' chick to feed the cows-

Don't ya dig the Guess What - Chicken Butt shirt - She sure loves it!

I have more fun feeding the cows than she does.

While we were gone camping, someone (it was the ever fabulous SARAH) snuck into my house and left me this AWESOME apron

"What did you do this morning Maiya?"

"I played with Daddy's Origami paper"

Still making me laugh

Still making me scared.

OK,

so asking for volunteers scares everybody away... I get it.

But check this out - bet you didn't know fat rolls could be this cute did ya?

Volunteers

Please, please, please

Sis. Lindsey is looking for volunteers for the Storytelling festival - interested? comment here or email me if you can help.

Early Birthday project for me!!!

Meg kept up with Craigslist and found this awesome picnic table for me!!

With my awesome negotiation skills (just kidding) Meg got it for $75 with two benches thrown in! - we only painted one bench

Gallon of paint later, I have one very awesome outside table that seats 12 - well not twelve butts our size, but I digress.

I see many things at my future table:

Cub Scout meetings (did I tell you Kyle is the new Wolf den leader)

Dinners outside

smores around the fire

Peeling shrimp, picking crabs, crawfish boil, yumm

card games

birthday parties

many, many memories to be made!

I love it!

Thanks Meg!!

before
same paint that we used on our fence, different color
bench converts to table

taking a break

after

Check out this cutie that I photgraphed today!

rejected most kindly

Kyle received the NICEST letter yesterday regarding the interview last week.
They were very impressed.
They want him to be part of the team.
They can't pay him enough.
They think he is overqualified.
How do you feel about that? Proud of yourself...
then sad

Oh and I keep meaning to say my photo blog is kind of up. I wanted to do a lot more to it, and eventually I will - but if you wait to launch when its perfect - will you ever really?

Images from Oz

so here it is, for those of you who you think you want me to take pictures of your sweet family and kiddos you can check out my style. Let me know when you want to set up a time for those Christmas card pictures.

Date night ideas ...

I love fall!!! Its my favorite, especially October! For instance look at all the cool stuff this month:

General Conference, Ward campout, cooler temps, my birthday, Halloween, and this:

One of my all time favorite events is the Frisco Storytelling festival. For those of you who have never been I HIGHLY recommend it. The daytime activities are great for the kids, but I really love the night stories, which are more geared for adults. I have laughed, cried, and laughed some more at these events. A good story told by a good teller is what TV never has been and never will be! And just so you know its still held in Frisco but its now considered the storytelling festival of Texas and its has a new name - check it out here:

Lone Star Storytelling Festival

I have volunteered in the past too - its usually a short block of time and you get free tickets! A GREAT DATE NIGHT!

Here is another new date idea I want to try too:

info here

Funny Demotivator Poster

You can check out more of their stuff here - despair.com

well...

still no sign of Mister

I hate wallpaper

that's it.

did I mention I hate wallpaper?

Oh and when I am not peeling wallpaper off (still) I am really obsessed with this:

The New Family Search

Makes me smile, laugh, and break down in tears...

Blogging is my journaling, this belongs in my journal, but I will also share it here. Its personal but a great example of how important it is to tell each other how we feel. I will ALWAYS treasure this letter from my Mom. She sent it to me and my sister. today.

Hello My Beautiful Girls…
I am having a strange sort of nostalgic day, and I figured it was a moment I should share with you. For a brief moment, I just wanted more than anything in the world to go back to when you were both little and the world was perfect. I just didn’t know at the time how perfect it was.
You were both loving little ones who loved with such pure hearts. You never cared how much money we had, what we looked like, or how we compared in the rat race of life to all the other rats. We were just Mama and Daddy. And unlike other siblings in other families we knew, you WANTED to share a room. When we did put you in separate rooms, Daddy put a hole in the closet walls so you could sneak back and forth to each other’s rooms. And generally, I found you together in the morning. I think you were both glad when Tommy came into the family because then you got to sleep together “for real” as you said back then.
I remember living on Natchez Lane as some of our best times. Janie, you wanted to grow up enough to walk to Me-Maw’s on your own. I finally let you so you didn’t want to tell me that you actually got gently hit by a car. And of course, you said I let Meg do it much soon than I let you.
I remember working in the yard and even having a garden! You would get so dirty, I would hose you off outside before you came in and got in the tub. And once you got in the tub, it took an act of Congress to get you OUT of the tub. Janie, I remember putting you on the bus to ride off to the strange world of first grade, and Meg would wait at the glass storm door all day for you to come home.
Well, I could go on and on. But what I really want to tell you is that your Dad and I loved each other and we loved you more than you can realize. When each of you was born, we laid in the bed deep into the night talking about the marvel of creating you. There was much celebrating your births. You were beautiful babies and you have grown into beautiful women.
I don’t know where your lives will take you. But in your heart, you will always have my love with you. There has been a lot of anger and hurt expressed since the divorce. I just thought it time to express the continuing love and the beautiful life you have given me.

Mom