it's so hot!

Normally I would be all about the hot weather, but being 8 and a half months pregnant makes me not want to be outside as much! It is beautiful weather, though...and Payton loves it. The 3 of us have all moved to the basement to sleep...it's just way to stinkin' hot upstairs to even consider sleeping up there. So, since we have no air conditioning, we're grateful for the basement!

Yesterday was fun...Payton loves the water so I filled her little baby bathtub (I know, I know, I need to go out and actually buy a pool!) with water and her toys and she splashed and played all morning. I even had the hose out and loved running through the water. Then last night, Gray, Payton and I went to the legislative grounds with my sister's family so the kids could play in the water...it was sooooo nice! Evenings are the best! By the point it was cooling off and a bit shadier outside, but Payton was determined she was going to swim...she wouldn't let us take her out of the water...when her lips were blue and she wouldn't stop shivering, we decided it was time to go home. I love summer...even though I'm boiling hot, I hope this weather lasts!

I did this page last week...just inspired by Ali Edwards who loves scrapbooking those "everyday" moments. I want to do more pages like this...ones where the pictures aren't necessarily perfect, but thet tell a story and mean something to Gray and I.

Happy summer, I hope everyone is out getting a tan!

baby announcement

I made this announcement for my bro-in-law and his wife of their little boy, Ochiel! He's such a cutie, seriously the tiniest baby I have ever seen. Payton and I went to a baby shower for him and Jody last night and it was lots of fun...always fun to hold babies and visit and Payton had a blast running around and playing with her cousins. Just a short post today...it's sooooo nice outside, I gotta get out there with Payton!!

payton and izzy

I just wanted to share these cute pictures of Payton and my friend Laurie's, little girl Isabe. How cute are they? Laurie is in town visiting from Winnipeg and we had such a nice night last night. She stopped by for a little bit and we *attempted* to take these pictures of the girls...notice how the 7 month old is smiling nice for the camera and my 1 year old isn't looking at the camera at all?? Yup, that's my kid! Anyways, they were so cute...Payton just wanted to kiss and tickle Izzy...I'm hoping she'll feel the same way about her little sister as she has about these other baby girls lately! Then we went to a performance put on by a local dance company called "Freefall" and it was awesome. Awesome dancers, awesome choreography and awesome to have a night out! Just made me think....hmmm....maybe after this baby I'll get back in shape and audition for the company next year. That would be cool. It was just neat 'cause in the show the dancers ages ranged from like 22-40...just a bunch of awesome, fit chicks who love to dance and wanted to perform. That's what I miss about dancing. Lots of people ask me why I don't teach more, and it's hard to explain that it's just not the same...it's one thing to be in a classroom setting and then it's totally another thing to be performing on stage. Both are great...but I miss performing....the nerves, the rehearsals, the hair, the makeup, the costumes, and then the rush of being onstage. I think since I started performing when I was 3 years old, it's hard to let go of! There are still times when I'm listening to music in my car and I'm choreographing in my head and designing cotumes and stuff. Haha! So funny. I guess that will always be a part of me, though, and I love that. My life is different now, but I'll always have a love and appreciation for dancing and all that I was able to accomplish. So...then I came home and watched "So You Think You Can Dance" which my sweetie hubby taped for me. AAhhh!! I love that show! I'm definately liking and disliking certain couples now...nothing personal, just from my dancer point of view! I though Danielle and Benji and Travis and Martha were awesome. And I still love Allsion, I think it's too bad that Ivan's her partner...he definately won't be able to carry her thru some of the other styles. Oh, so much fun. But...I gotta get going. Lots to do in the precious time that Payton's asleep!!

scrap therapy

Okay, so people who read my blog who don't scrapbook probably think I am the biggest geek ever because I am so into it, but I can't help it...this is what I do! This is what makes me happy and helps me to unwind. This past week and a half has not been fun...Payton and I have been sick with colds and we are just not getting better and I am SO OVER IT!! I feel totally useless and unproductive and Payton's getting bored being in the house all day...to top it all of it's been rainy rainy weather everyday (literally) so we haven't been able to do anything outside...*sigh*. So, while Payton was sleeping this afternoon I decided to do a little something fun, and this is what I came up with. Yay! Gray had Maggie with him today so I was all by myself in my room for a few hours which never happens. So...my nose is still completley stuffed up, my tooth is still aching (did I mention that, too??) and my house is still a mess but I created a pretty page. So all is good. Time to wake Payton up and see if I can get some food in her tummy. Oh, and did anyone tune in for "So You Think You Can Dance?" last night? I am sooooooooo excited that this show is on again, and 2 nights a week this year. Yay! I haven't decided who my favorites are yet, but there are definatley some amazing dancers. Last night I liked Benji and his partner (he wasn't at the top of my list before, but I like him now) and Travis and Martha. So awesome!! Who will be voted off tonight??? Can't wait to see!!

photo shoot...

I've had such a busy week! My sister was in town from Houston with her baby, Molly, so of course we had to take advantage of the opportunity and take pictures of all the grandkids. And, oh, what fun that was....hehe. (note the sarcasm in my voice!) Oh, it wasn't that bad...how many kids do you know that actually WANT to sit and get a hundred pictures taken of themselves? Not many. But I did manage to get some cute shots. I'm by no means a pro photographer or anything like that, but with good lighting and a good camera, I'm ready to go! So these are some of my faves from the shoot...you can check out some more cute ones here.

Today was a looong day....both Payton and I have colds and it's been raining like crazy outside, so there wasn't much for us to do other than laze around today...while the day was a bit long, we definatley had some nice moments...cuddling on the couch and watching Dora was one of the highlights. Payton is so busy lately that I treasure those moments when she'll sit and snuggle...so that was nice.

Just thought I'd share these pictures and now it's off to bed for me!

havin' some fun...

...in my scrap room the other night. It seems like forever since I've just sat down and done a couple pages. So that was nice. Didn't get to bed till about 1 or 2am...I lose track when I'm down in the basement all by myself!

I also thought I'd share that I've been added to The Urban Scrapbook's design team (my local scrapbook store) so I'm excited about that. I'll complete 1 page a month to be displayed in their store as well as teach classes whenever I can. I've also added a link to the right where you can click to see the classes I have taught and upcoming ones as well...so take a look if you're interested!

Happy Father's Day!

So, this project was for a class that I taught at my LSS, The Urban Scrapbook, this morning, and I just thought I'd share some pics! It was lots of fun to teach and I'm *pretty* sure all the ladies in my class were happy with the results. Hehe!! Besides all of the sanding (I'm sorry ladies!!) it was a fun project to do. All the patterned papers are KI memories, the cardstock is Bazzill and the silhouette words are Heidi Swapp...probably one of my top 10 fave scrapping products right now. The album is assembled using ribbon and plastic zipties...another fun thing to use! So thanks so everyone who came to class this morning, you guys were all awesome!! Hope all of your daddies, grandpa's and hubby's love' em!

my girl

So I just thought I'd post this picture of Payton on Mother's Day...totally makes me smile. Gray and I looked through her baby album last night and it is just so crazy how much she changed in just one year. I still think of her as my baby and it's just so scary how quickly you forget how much these little people change. Looking at all her newborn pictures almost made me cry...and she's only a year and a half!! (must be all those pregnancy hormones! hehe!) It's just hard to believe that she's grown so much and changed so much already. It is so fun just watching her everyday...honestly, she could entertain Gray and I for hours! She loves loves loves to dance...girl doesn't even need music, she'll just bust a move when she's in the mood. It's so funny. And the whole having another baby is starting to become more of a reality to me now...I'm not sure if it's because of how big my stomach is getting, but it's just totally on my mind now. Gray did some painting on Saturday and it's time for me to start organizing thru all my newborn stuff. It's sounds like I'm preparing way too early (I still have 2 months!) but we all know how quickly time goes by. So we're trying to slowly get ready for all of the changes to come. This next week will be a fun one...Niki is coming with Molly on Thursday (yay!) so I'm sooo excited for that. It will be fun to see Payton with a baby around, and I've been dying to meet my little niece! And I'm teaching a class at the Urban Scrapbook on Saturday morning, so hopefully that goes well...I'm a little nervous! Anyways, just thought I'd share this pic of Payton. Goodnight!

P.S. Ryan and Jody named their little boy Ochiel Madden Audenart (pronounced Oh-SHEE-al) and he's doing awesome. He's breathing on his own and just doing really really well. I got to hold him on Saturday morning...he is so tiny and precious. So happy for them!

so cool

Check out my bracelets that I got in the mail yesterday! I'm so excited. I found these online via Tara's blog right before Mother's Day and I knew I had to get some. So mom, your mother's day gift is here...I told you I had something coming!! You can shop on line for them here if you want to check them out. So cool.

Haven't been up to much this week...it's been raining everyday and I'm without a car right now while my husband is on a quest for a new truck so Payton and I have been stuck at home. Kinda nice, but at the same time...where's the sunshine?? I could use a good walk with Payton and Maggie everyday. Maybe the sun'll come out later on today...

I'm definatley in my (miserable) 3rd trimester now...fat, uncomfortable and grumpy! I feel sorry for Gray, he's so patient with me. I'm just to the point that I just want the baby to be here...I'm over all this pregnancy stuff! But...I guess 2 months isn't THAT long compared to how far I've come already (deep breaths, Talia!). And it IS nice to nap everday while Payton sleeps. I'm sure that's something I'll have to give up as soon as I have the baby!

And speaking of baby's, my bro-in-law Ryan and his wife Jody had a little boy on Tuesday! He was actually born 8 weeks early...pretty crazy, but both mom and baby are doing fine, so that's all that matters. They're still picking out the perfect name for him...I'll post some pictures and his name as soon as I find out! Congrats guys!!

Well, like I said, it's been a pretty lazy week, so I'm gonna crack down today and do some cleaning and laundry. Fun, fun, fun!!

check it out!

So I picked up my copy of the new "Scrapbooks, etc Baby" book today! These are the pages I have of Payton in the mag...so fun! I actually didn't really know when this book was coming out, and when I was talking to my mother-in-law on the phone yesterday, she told me she was flipping thru a magazine and saw Payton! So...I made a trip to the store today and bought a copy. So fun!!

I guess I have been a bad blogger this past week! The week started off busy...I was teaching on Tuesday morning, had YW's on Tuesday night, plus Gray's parents were in town...then things slowed down a bit. Graham left for a biking trip in Idaho on Wednesday, so Payton and I have been keeping busy at home. Nice to have some girl time with my little girl. She is so cute, but so BUSY! Holy cow. But that's okay...I need the exercise. And it won't be long before Payton's a big sister, so I'm happy to just play with her and have some alone time. We sure do miss daddy, though!

Anyways, speaking of Payton, she's climbed on top of a chair and is bouncing up and down...better get her before she falls!! Later!

okay...

so I finally have about 5 minutes to post! AAaahhh! Things have been so busy lately, and Payton hasn't been wanting to nap and I've just entered my 3rd trimester (yay!!) ...so needless to say, I'm tired. And fat. And tired. I finally managed to get my house somewhat clean...as long as the kitchen is clean and the rest of the rooms are somewhat in order, I feel like I'm doin' good. My sister's house is always spotless and I don't know how she does it. Well, I guess it helps that her kids are in school all day...I have a while till I'm home on my own during the days!! I just find that when I clean my house Maggie and Payton just follow me around and leave a wake of disaster behind them. Ah, well...the joys of motherhood, right? Hopefully I get something *really* good for Mother's Day on Sunday! (hint, hint Graham!) Hehe!

Anyways, it's Kennedy's 12th birthday today and the whole family's going for ginger beef tonight. I realized I didn't have much to wrap his present with, so I did Elsie's challenge on 2peas... to use your scraps to wrap a gift...this is what I came up with. Thought I'd take a pic 'cause I know that I probably think it's cuter than a 12 year boy will! Haha!!

And then I had to post a pic of how Payton did her hair the other day. All by herself. So hillairious. And so adorable. I always say this, but I just can't believe how fast she is growing. I wish she would slow down just a *little* bit!!

finally...

i got to scrapbook last night. I only got 3 pages done, but that's still an accomplishment! I just wanted to to do some simple ones of Payton to get back in the groove...I feel like I haven't been doing any layouts for her lately and when she changes so much so fast, I don't want to miss out on anything! So I gotta get crackin' on some more of her. And I looove this NYC layout. I was like, hmmmm....how get I scrap tons of pictures without having to do tons of pages?? So all the little mini-pics was my solution. I've been wanting to do a page with index prints for a while now, so that was fun. Only you pretty much need a magnifying glass to actually see the pictures, but oh well, it's the overall look I was going for! Just wanted to share!!

look what i got...

in the mail today! I've been waiting for my copy to come for a while now, this issue has been out for about a month. So I was excited to get it and see my layout in print. Fun, fun! This page makes me laugh...some of my pictures are brutal, but I guess there's no escaping that with school pictures, hey? Haha!

Anyways, it's almost 3 am and I am WIDE AWAKE. AAAaaahh! So ridiculous. I actually had a really long nap today (or should I say yesterday?) and I'm paying for it now. This always happens to me when I have somewhere to be early the next morning (9am=Dr's appt). Soooo... I know tomorrow I'll be exhausted all day. But I figured while I was up I may as well do something useful. So I'm updating the ole' blog and then I'm gonna clean my scrap room! And if I'm still wide awake after that, then who knows...breakfast?

I'm also excited 'cause I'm (finally) going to be teaching some classes at Urban Scrapbook. I'm finally feeling good and have the time to do it. I've been working on my samples and getting the instructions and supply lists all typed up, so it's been fun. I can't even explain how much easier this process has been after taking classes at CKU and the Urban convention. I just feel like I "get it" now, whereas before, the thought of teaching a class, I just didn't really know where to begin. But this has been fun so I'm pumped. I won't post pictures of the classes I'm teaching till I've already taught them so I don't give anything away! Oh, the suspense.... (I'm sure you're all dying! Haha!!)

Okay, so off to clean my scrap room!
Tal:)

NYC!!!

Okay, so I just realized that I haven't posted any of my New York pictures...can we say how behind I am?? Anyways, I can't believe it's already been over 3 weeks that I've been home...time is flying and I still haven't scrapped one photo of my trip. Oh well, I'll get to it sometime! Anyways, just wanted to share some of my pictures! Kim and I had so much fun...it was so warm the first day we were there and then it got pretty cold, so that made it kinda hard to walk around...but we had warm jackets and stuff, so it was okay. The day we went to the Empire State Building it was pretty rainy and cold....and the wind at the top of that buliding was INSANE!!! Honestly, it was hillairious how windy it was...so we quickly snapped a few pics and got outta there. Anyways, here are my pictures, I can't believe how long it's rtaken me to post them!! Tal:)

fun, fun, fun!!

Okay, so to begin with...I am a bad blogger and I'm sorry!! Life just gets so crazy sometimes that it takes a while to catch up. And sometimes i'ts kinda nice to stay away from the computer for a little while. (*smile*) So last night, I typed up this totally long post with pictures about my fun weekend, and then it just disappeared...45 minutes of my precious time that I will never get back! So I was pretty annoyed and couldn't bring myself to post again...but I'm here now, and ready to share!

So this weekend I went to the Urban Scrapbook Convention here in Edmonton and it was soooo much fun!! I'm so glad I went! I wasn't going to go since I was just at CKU, but I decided that I didn't want to miss out...and I'm so glad! I got to meet and take a class from the one and only Donna Downey and she is freakin' hillairious. Holy cow, that chick is crazy! (in a good way!) I always heard that she was a total riot but I didn't get it till I met her....so if you ever get the chance to take a class from Donna, do it! She has such a great personality and I love her laidback teaching style...lots of time, and no stress...so that was cool. The other teachers were Danelle Johnson for Art Warehouse, Candi Higley for Cactus Pink, Becky Fleck for Basic Grey and Janet Hopkins and Kara Wiley for Heidi Swapp. Honestly, every class was so awesome, and the projects were amazing that we made. (You can see the picture above of my Heidi Swapp project....soooooo cute!! For more images click here.) Each class was 2 hours long so we lots of time to work and learn. The cactus pink class was great, too...we made these fun interactive chipboard albums with tons of color...totally my style. The picture with me and the cute blonde is Candi! It was just an altogether fun weekend that has left me feeling inspired and ready to scrap!!

Besides the convention, life has just been so busy as usual. I moved my whole scrapbook room to the basement last week to make room for baby upstairs...it was such a huge job, but I LOVE IT!! Graham made me a big corner desk, so I have so much room to spread my stuff out and work. Everything is just clean and organized and functional....makes me so happy! I'll have to post some pics of my new room soon.

Payton is becoming more and more of a little girl every day. I can't believe how much she is learning and changing. She is so cute, I can't stand it. I'm so proud of her that she's growing up and becoming more independent, but it makes me sad, too...where has my baby gone? Just hard to believe that she's almost a year and a half and will already be a big sister this summer. Oh, how time flies.

Anyways, enough blabbing for today!! I'm off to have lunch, clean the house, maybe take Payton for a walk...loving this nice weather!!! Tal:)

so in love...

...with these two. I took these pictures of Graham and Payton a couple days ago when they were just playing together in front of the TV one evening. I love these pictures...I love that they aren't perfect, but that they totally capture the relationship that Graham and Payton have with eachother. Totally smitten by eachother...always making eachother laugh. Daddy and his little girl. How did I get to be so lucky? How did I end up with two people who just make me so happy? Looking at these pictures, I realise that this is what life is all about. Love. Family. Just being together and being happy. This is what really matters at the end of the day. Last night before going to sleep I told Graham I loved him, and instead of the usual response (which is still great!!) he just said..."Good. That's all I care about. As long as you and Payton love me, nothing else matters." And it's so true! It's so easy to get caught up in life...when all I really care about is them.

SHE

Okay, so I've finally found a few minutes to share about my "SHE" experiance at CKU. Let's just hope Payton doesn't manage to destroy too much while I'm on the computer. Hehe! Anyways, to put it simply, it was amazing. The class was taught by Heidi Swapp, and she totally created and came up with the concept of the "SHE" album. She was inspired by this book by Kobi Yamada, and then she just took it from there. The class had about 114 women in it, so there was alot of us! On our first day we were all given these plastic containers FULL of Heidi Swapp products and everything that we would need to make our album...so fun! Everyone was super excited.




You can see in this picture the little instruction booklet that came with all of our stuff...it made it so easy to follow along. Heidi's page is on the left hand side and all the insructions are on the right so it's pretty fool-proof and makes it possible to work at home. This album is so involved with lots of techniques and stuff that there really was no way to finish it in the 2 short days we had there.

This picture of Heidi speaking isn't the greatest, but it just gives you an idea of what it was like...she was at the front with a microphone and she would explain certain teachniques and whatever else we were working on, and she had images up on the screen for all of us to follow, etc. So cool! It was such a neat experiance 'cause at the beginning of our first class, Heidi just explained about the album and what it means to her and stuff...the whole room was crying within the first 5 minutes! I liked that this wasn't just a "cut and paste" type of class...it really made everyone think about that certain "she" in her life that she was doing the album for...whether it was for a mother or a sister, or a daughter or a grandmother, or even ourselves...we all had to come up with "She" statements for each page. Some of mine for example, are "She is a woman", "She is in love", "She loves to dance", "She has a life within her", "She lives for her daughter"...and then I'll do journallin on each page. I'm excited to get working on my album and do all of my journalling, and of course I'll share the finished product. It may take a while, though! So anyways, here's a picture of my workspace and then Kim and I with Heidi and her team (Liz, Emily and Jodi). They were awesome and just helped out with everything. Liz even made all the ladies in the class "she" rings. You can check them out here. There were just so many extra things that we got out of this class that made it so fun!! On our one night where we had an evening class that was supposed to finish at 9pm, Heidi and her team all stayed with us till about midnight (Kim and I left a little earlier than that!) but they ordered us pizza and just chatted with all of the students. It was so laidback and fun and neat to chat with Heidi and share stories.


And finally, here are 3 of my almost-finished pages! These were the ones I completed at CKU, and I'll have to finish the rest on my own time. Most of our class time was filled up with learning different techniques using Heidi's products, and then we have the instruction booklet to actually finish our pages.

Whew! So....lost of photos and blabbing today. But I didn't want to leave anything out...for me and for anyone who's interested!! You can check out Heidi's blog here for her take on the weekend and some more pictures. FYI...the picture of all the little piles of projects that we were working on is my stuff! I feel so special she took a picture of my little work area. Hehe! Anyways, on our last class with Heidi, she let anyone who wanted to share one of their "she" statements, or who they were doing the album about and it was so great to hear what people had to share. Of course there were more tears...one woman shared how her mother has beat breast cancer 3 times, another one shared how strong her mother was when her brother passed away...all things that people were including in their albums. Who are the "SHE'S" in your life? Who are those special women who inspire, uplift and motivate you? The whole weekend just really made me think...I'm doing this particular album about myself, but I want to do another "SHE" album about all those "SHE'S" who are so special to me...my mom, my daughter...my grandmas and my sisters...my mother-in-law, my friends...I get teary just thinking about all of the things I want to write about them! Anyone who's reading this, I challenge you to do a "SHE" album of your own...maybe it'll just be a little journal that you can write about all the "she's" in your life, including yourself. Trust me...you'll love it!