guess who's 27...

.....ME!! Hehe!




Yesterday was my 27th birthday, and let me tell you, my husband made it an awesome one. Where do I begin? Gray surprised me with a trip to the spa to get a manicure and pedicure...it was so fun! I've never even had a manicure before (mostly because I'm a nail biter) so this was a treat. It was so nice to go out and get pampered while gray stayed home with the girls...and I think they were more than happy to have daddy home with them! After I was done I went to my LSS and bout some scrap stuff....it was my birthday, of course scrapbooking had to make it in there somewhere! When I got home Gray and payton greeted me at the door with this cake:

....as if this isn't the cutest thing ever. They wanted to decorate my birthday cake "like a scrapbook page"....how sweet is that? I honestly have the cutest family...made me so happy. Payton was so excited, she was jumping up and down saying, "look, mommy! Cake! Cake!" I spent the afternoon reading birthday emails and getting lots of birthday phone calls...honestly, i was kind of overwhelmed with all of the people that thought of me yesterday...it was so sweet. Thank you so much to everyone who called, emailed and left me a message...totally made my day and meant so much. Made me realise how many amazing people I have in my life!


When Gray got home from work he brought me flowers (my favorite--gerbera daisies) and had a made a reservation for us for dinner...I told you, he didn't forget anything yesterday! So before we headed out to drop my kids off at my sisters we took a few WAY LESS THAN PERFECT photos...but at least we got some. I love the one of Payton and Gabby looking at eachother.






Dinner was so awesome....we ate waaaaaay too much and it was so nice to just sit and chat and eat with my hubby. When we were all done the waiter asked if we wanted dessert and Gray was quickly like, "no thanks"....but of course the waiter showed up a few minutes later with this ridiculously huge dessert...just another thing that Gray had planned before hand. Can he be any sweeter???




So like I said, it was an awesome day...but it doesn't end there! This morning Gray sent me BACK to the spa for a coconut scrub, a mud bath AND a massage!! AAAahhh! So I am feeling VERY relaxed, pampered, spoiled, lucky and loved. Thanks, babe for an amazing birthday. Love you!! Now I'm just chillin' with my girlies and then I'm going out with Kim and A tonight....we always do the traditional birthday dinner together. I can't wait. It's been an awesome couple days!!! And you know what? I may be closer to 30 than I am to 20 but OH, WELL...life is good. And I still feel like I'm 21!

i'm feelin' the LOVE...

So I've been in a "valentine-y" mood the last couple days. I don't really have any V-day decorations so I thought I'd make something cute, and I am so excited about my Valentine's Photo Garland. It was really easy to do...I made the shapes using Elsie's font "2PsLovebug" and then just decorated away...so fun. You can see more images of my garland here.




Then I also made these valentine's this week (let's hope I manage to send them out!!) as well. For my Year to Remember class we're focusing on people we love this month so that's why I made these. And yes, to anyone who is taking the class...I totally copied Heidi's valentine's, but I couldn't help myself!! They were just TOO CUTE not to copy them. Hehe!




And here is my February calendar that hangs on my fridge...I didn't get around to buying a calendar this year for the kitchen where we write EVERYTHING down, so I made my own...and it's way more fun than a store bought one! Like I said, I've been in the V-day mood...been playing with lots of pink, red and hearts! I told you...I'm feelin' the love!

my baby ballerina

Okay, so I am a picture takin', photo-editing maniac lately! My sister took Payton out for lunch yesterday and I took the chance I had to get some pictures of Gabby on her *6 month* birthday!! It was so fun...but hard to take pics of this little munchkin! She's pretty squirmy and just kept rolling all over the place, but I managed to get some ones that I love. Oh how I love my little girls!! And Gabby got to celebrate her half-birthday yesterday with some yummy, baby food apples for supper....she was very cute trying to eat them, but totally enjoyed it. I can't believe she's already 6 months old! Crazy.

It's been another busy week since I blogged last...my closet was driving me crazy, so last Thursday I totally cleaned it out and got rid of 4 GARBAGE BAGS of clothes!! It was so liberating and so nice to get rid of so much stuff...I'm all about keepin' it simple lately. I challenge anyone who's reading this to get rid of those clothes that you just don't wear anymore...chances are, if you haven't worn something in the past 6 months, you won't be missin' it when it's gone. And the funny thing is, I still have a closet FULL of clothes...only now it's just full of stuff that I actually wear.

Today has been a funny day...I'm embarrassed to admit that I took a 3 hour nap this afternoon while Gabby was sleeping. My mom took Payton to her house to play (all Payton says to me latley is "I want play Nana's house") and when gabby went to sleep I totally crashed. It was heaven...I don't think I've had a nap that long since I was pregnant with Gabby. It was lovely.

I've done some scrapping this week and I worked on my "Year to Remember" calendar. I love escaping down to my room to play...and Gray is so great about giving me the time to do that. Check out some of my new layouts here and my calendar here.

Did I mention how much I love these pictures of Gabby???

beautiful girl...

I took these pictures of Payton on Saturday and once again...I am in love. My beautiful little girl. This was so much fun...she was totally happy and smiling and willing for me to take pictures...don't ask me how that happened! But since then I've been on the computer playing around with editing them...wanting to scrap some of them but scared I can't do them justice...she's just too cute! Hehe! (remember, I'm her mama, I'm allowed to gush!) These pictures were inspired by Rebecca Cooper, an amazing photographer and scrapbooker.

Just wanted to share these before I head off to bed!

baby shower stuff!

I just thought I'd share some pictures from Kim's baby shower last night. I took these just before the shower started and then I totally forgot to take pictures DURING the shower! Aaahh! Can you believe I didn't get one picture of Ryker...so silly. Oh, well. We had fun and lots of people came. It's always nice to connect with people that you don't see on a regular basis...lots of girls that Kim and I grew up with and now we have tons of kids running around! So crazy how things change.

So these pictures aren't the best (I had to use the flash which I hate to do!) but I wanted to share some of the stuff i did...some "Ryker" water bottles (I got this idea from Heidi's blog over a year ago...I've been waiting to use it!!), a centerpiece using Kim's baby announcement, a diaper cake, a little jar of baby advice. We played one little game and I was going to do another one, but I didn't want to get all "Monica" on everyone...if everyone's happy, why bother them with a lame game, right? hehe! (I'm referring to Monica on "Friends"...she always cracks me up!)

Anyways, just a quick post...can you believe it's the weekend already???

believe it or not...

...I still scrapbook!

I just haven't had much time to do anything lately due to Christmas, kids and just LIFE in general. So I just wanted to share the few things that I HAVE been working on. The first is Gabby's baby album. I did the same thing for Payton...a 2page spread for every month of her life and then special occasions and stuff. I love this album...I put it ALL together before Gabby was even born, so all I have to do is add the photos and journalling every month. I just wanted to make it as simple as possible to guarantee that it would actually get done. It's been working so far...I still manage to get a little bit behind, but as long as I stay on top of the journalling, I don't mind if I get a bit behind on adding the photos.




Another little album I just finished is this one of Payton. I included a picture of her for every month in 2006...I can't believe how much she has chnaged in just a year!! This was a fun one to do, and again, really simple. Check out the rest of the album here.









So this is a page that I did for an online class that I'm taking called " A Year to Remember". It's taught by one of my all-time favorite scrapbookers, Heidi Swapp, and I am soooooo excited about this class! It's a year long and we'll be completing a calendar (a layout for every month) but it goes beyond just scrapbooking....every week we get a new assignment and an audio message from Heidi. Our first assignment was to set a goal that we want to achieve this year, and a completion date for that goal. My goal....to dance onstage again. Some people may think that this isn't a very big deal considering dancing was my life up until I got married...but since i've had my kids I haven't danced at all...and I miss it. And the thought of being onstage totally scares me. But it's something I want to do, and just a little piece of me that I want to get back. So now that I've put it out there, I guess I better do it, right? Hehe! So if any of you are interested in taking scrapbooking classes from the comfort of your own home, go an check out Big Picture Scrapbooking...there's some really cool stuff over there.

(Oh, and ps....Kim took these pictures for me last week...it was fun. I thought it would be alot easier to pose and move around...not so much. I soooo have to work on balance, control, flexibility, everything...this definately will not be an easy goal!!)

This has been another busy week...Payton keeps me on my toes. She hasn't been wanting to nap and it's always funny to watch her emerge from her room. Today she came out of the room with her Dora blankie over her head so I "couldn't see her"....seriously, I totally cracked up. She was just standing there totally still...I'm sure she thought she had tricked me. Another funny thing she does that Gray and I have noticed lately is every time she comes out of her room, she HAS to close ALL the doors in the upstairs hallway. I have no idea why, but she does. Again, it totally cracks us up to watch her in action.

I'm having a baby shower for Kim tomorrow, I'll be sure take pictures and share...can't wait!!

Tal:)

new pictures...

...i am GIDDY right now over these pictures.


Gray got me a new camera for Christmas and I hadn't really had a chance to try it out yet, (It's a SONY DSC-H5) so since we're stuck in our house today (it's totally blizzarding outside!), I thought I'd play.

And I am SO HAPPY with the results. It takes pictures totally fast, no annoying delay. And the pictures are so clear...my last camera I was having a lot of problems with pictures always being totally fuzzy...not with this camera. Yay!

I've been wanting to do some pictures of Gabby and I for a while now but since she's been sick I haven't gotten around to it. I'm so glad I caught her on a happy day...she is so sweet. Her cheeks, her eyes, her lips....

I am dying right now. (not literally, but you know what I mean.)






I told you, I am totally giddy right now!!


So I've basically spent all day playing around with photoshop just editing away. Haha! My husband is sitting here right now going, "so...what are we gonna do tonight?" I think he is bored. (I told ya, we've been in this house all day!)


Just wanted to share these pictures with you all.


Happy Snow Day!

everyday stuff...

Well, with the holidays being over we're (kind of) getting back into the swing of things over here. It's been nice to not feel like there's always something I have to be doing...I like it when things slow down a little bit. Gabby's been doing a lot better these past few days, she's actually been willing to eat so that's made things a lot easier. And she's just been so happy, so we love that. And she's been sleeping through the night....we REALLY love that!

I feel like there is always stuff to organize and clean around my house...and no matter how much I organize and clean, there's something else that pops up that needs to "cleaned out". Aaaahhh! Does anyone else feel like this? Anyways, we rearranged our family room last weekend and I love it now...we actually have a clean, functional space. It was so nice to move all of the furniture and clean up in places that you can't get to all the time and dust and vaccum everything. Makes me so happy! We made a little play area for Payton behind the couch which has been awesome...I totally organized all her toys so now she actually can see what she has and she can entertain herself for hours. And the best $30 purchase I've ever made was this little table and chairs from Ikea...she loves to color and will sit there coloring away forever!


And here's Payton in the tub...I went to the movie "Dreamgirls" the other night while Gray watched the girls and this is one of the pictures he took...this little girl can be wild, let me tell ya! But so, so funny. She talks so much...one thing she says lately that cracks us up is "Yee-haw!"...not quite sure where she got that from, but it's funny. And she's awesome at identifying when people are "happy" or "sad"...that keeps her busy for a while when she's in the mood, too. (and if you haven't seen this movie...GO NOW! It was so awesome!)




And here's another picture of my happy little baby...we are just so in love with her. With both her and Payton having been sick on and off since october it's been hard to just sit back and be thankful for my daughters. How lucky I am to have them. How happy I am that I am their mama. How happy they make ME. Gabby has the sweetest personality...she is so easy going...not at all a fussy baby. She is such a blessing to our little family. The other day I watched her and Payton absolutely laughing at eachother. It was so cute and so neat to see them interact...I hope they will be best friends.



Anyways, I'm hoping to get some scrapping done tomorrow...I haven't been able to do ANYTHING in the past month and I'm getting itchy to create. I just want to sit and PLAY. Wish me luck!!

Talia:)

Happy New Year!

It is hard to believe that the holidays have come and gone, but Christmas and New Years for us was definately busy and fun. All that preparation...and it seems to go by too fast! Like I said, we had lots of fun...and my girls were happy and cute, so that made it all the better. Here is a picture of my happy little Gabby...I love her big smiles!



And this is Payton with her cousin Winter whom she idolizes,,,everyday she asks me "Where Winter go?" and she just babbles away about her. Winter is at that perfect age for playing with Payton...she is so patient and fun with her...I love to see them together.



And me and Gabby at my mom's in front of her (little) tree. (I inherited the big tree this year!)



Do any of you ever shop at Children's place for your kids? I love that store...they have such cute stuff and always have awesome sales. Here are the girls in their Christmas dresses on Christmas Eve...they even had a skirt in Winter's size...so so cute!!





We spent Christmas Eve at my mom and dad's house, just eating, playing games and hanging out...it was nice and low-key. Then on Christmas morning we opened presents at our house...it was nice to do Christmas at our place...every year since we've been married we always do Christmas morning at my mom's, so it was nice to just wake up at home and do the Christmas morning thing. Payton was so cute...she had a pretty good idea of what was going on, and was actually really sweet...we just kept handing her presents and she was just trying to concentrate on one toy, rather than the million that were all around her! haha! Oh, to be a kid again. After that, we headed to Graham's parents to spend the rest of Christmas with them...and let me tell you, there is a full house over there! It was so fun...3 babies, and Payton got to play with her cousins Mya and Kedan...she was very busy. We all just got spoiled this Christmas as usual...just always makes me so grateful for all that we have, and for all the people that love my little family...it was good times. So here's those 3 cute little babies...Gabby, Osh and Jack. I just couldn't get a picture with Gabby and Osh looking at the camera...they just wanted to play with their toys!



So, shortly after Christmas, Gabby got sick AGAIN...we've found that she's just been consistently sick lately. And it's so sad, 'cause she's the happiest baby in the world when she's feeling good. So I took her to the doctor this past Friday and he diagnosed her with asthma. I knew something wasn't right, so I wasn't very surprised to hear this news. I'm just so sad for her...many people are telling me that lots of children "grow out" of their asthma, so I'm hoping that's the case for Gabby...but it doesn't make things easier in the meantime. Luckily we have an awesome doctor and there are medications that can help, so we're just plugging away over here. I'm hoping within the next few days she'll be getting a bit more back to her normal, happy self. Life just never stops, right?

Gray and I also re-discovered our "movie nights" over the holidays...just turning off all the lights, cuddling on the couch and watching movies. It's been so fun...reminds me of when we were first married and had all that time ALONE (hehe!). And seriously, why get ready and go out, when you can just sit at home in your pj's and be comfy? That's the way we see things! So we've had fun.

Now I'm thinking about the new year and what my resolutions should be...the top of my list right now is:









GET MORE SLEEP!!!!!








Hahaha! Happy New Year, everyone!!