find joy in the journey

bring your child to work day

Here's my two boys all ready for work!  Conner was sooo excited to go to work with Scott.  He's been talking about it and counting down for the last 10 days.  The other day Scott brought home an itinerary for the day's activities and it sounded pretty cool.  At the beginning they checked in and Conner had his photo taken so they could make a security badge for him to wear.  He got breakfast (fruit loops & a doughnut), lunch (pizza & snow cones), and a morning & afternoon snack.  He was pretty well taken care of.  There were some group activities but he wasn't really into those.  Scott stayed with him the whole day and they had a great time.  Here's Conner at Scott's desk (playing with his new calculator):

enjoying a snow cone (there's a reason for the expression on his face -- I'll explain later)

and when he walked in the door 

They gave him a cool sling backpack & some fun goodies (all sporting the company logo, of course):  a pen, calculator, water bottle, leather notepad holder, and an activity book.

Oh, and in case you didn't notice . . . .

 

Conner lost his first tooth!!  It has been loose for a long time and for the past several days he's been complaining that it hurts him.  So at lunch time today Scott took him into the bathroom, grabbed a paper towel and yanked it out.  Well, he didn't really have to yank too hard -- it came out very easily.  So the expression in the photo above is due to Conner dealing with the taste of blood in his mouth.  I think the snow cone he's sucking on helped out with that.

It's so funny how much older he suddenly looks with a tooth missing!  And to hear his little lisp -- it is too cute.  Tonight Conner's tooth is carefully tucked away in a ziploc baggie under his pillow.  Hopefully the tooth fairy will be visiting tonight. 

this, is in my future

Just got tickets today and I'm sooo excited!

Scott and I went to his concert in September 2004 in Vancouver, B.C.  We made a little over-night trip out of it and we had such a good time.  And truly, he sounds better in person than he does on his CD's.

I've been thinking for quite a while that we needed to go see him again, on his latest tour.  A few weeks ago I checked the website, nothing was up on Ticketmaster yet and I had no idea when tickets would be available.

So, at 10:30 am this morning I popped over to EK's blog -- I visit her site occasionally, but not everyday.  She wrote that she & her hubby just got tickets for Josh Groban in SLC.  One of the commenters mentioned something about a pre-sale starting today.  So I high-tailed it over to the JG site and found out that beginning April 26th @ 10am they were offering a pre-sale for select cities.  Holy cow!  What luck to discover that this pre-sale is happening and that it only started a 30 minutes ago!  So I went immediately to the venue's site and started the ticket process, requested the best available seats, and they came up with floor seats - 23rd row.  At this point I had to ask myself, am I really going to go for it?  Time was ticking -- the site was only going to hold those seats for 5 minutes & 45 seconds and the little timer in the upper right-hand corner reminded me that I needed to act quick.  So, being the indecisive person that I am sometimes I called Scott and asked, "do we really want to do this?"  He, of course, said, "Yes, go for it."  At this point I'm wondering why I wasted time to call him . . . . But for some reason I still needed a moment of personal thought before I clicked the checkout button.  And with only 20 seconds left I realize that they are going to make me create an account and insert all my payment info before the tickets are officially mine!  This is sooo aggravating.  Even with my 73 wpm typing proficiency (don't hold me to that number -- I haven't been tested in a few years) I could not beat the clock and I lost those seats.  The next "best available" tickets were in the first level and I snatched those.  I'm sure they'll be even better because I won't have to deal with someone's head directly in front of mine, right?  Can't wait!

April 19, 2002

This last week marks 5 years since we moved into our first home, a brand new town, and a new ward.  Wow. 

I think back to how excited we were to be getting out of an apartment, to have some space, a yard to play in and a lawn to mow (Scott was the one excited about this part).  We had lived in an apartment for the previous 2 years and it was fine (2 bed, 2 bath, 1000 sq. ft).  But we wanted more.  Conner was 17 months old and those apartment walls were shrinking in around us more & more each day.  In late February of 2002 Scott got a promotion and immediately we called up a realtor and started looking for a home to buy. 

After some looking around town & not much success, our realtor suggested we check out here.  It was something we hadn't even considered.  But we made the 30 minute drive and looked at a few houses (some old, some new).  And then we came to our street.  She had actually scheduled us to look at a house across the street, which we did.  As we were coming out we noticed this little ranch and thought we'd take a peek.  It was perfect.  We were sold right away.  And the rest is history.

It's crazy to think about how much has happened and changed in our lives.  We have brought home 2 babies from the hospital (it's strange to think that this is the only house Anna, Payton, and really Conner have ever known -- Conner laughs anytime we tell him that we used to live in an apartment).  In 2002 we were driving a 2000 Hyundai Elantra and 1993 Honda Accord -- now it's the family van and Scott's dream truck.  Strangely enough, Scott is working for the same company he did in '02 even though he took a 3 year "vacation" from public accounting somewhere in the middle.  We've planted 10 trees in our yard.  I'm serving as a RS teacher for the second time in our ward.  Both Scott and I have served in auxilliary presidencies -- aren't we too young for that?  =)  We've painted every room in the house (the master bedroom twice), and getting ready to paint again this summer.  We can still park both of our cars in the garage.  We've celebrated 3 Christmases and cooked 5 Thanksgiving turkeys in our home.  And we've only had one broken bone, no stitches -- which seems a miracle for the amount of running & jumping these kids do around here.

Life has been good.  Our house has worked out perfectly for our family (and will probably get another couple years of use).  Coming to a new town has been a fun adventure (although smelly at times), learning about all the little things it has to offer, and discovering that sometimes people just do things differently.  And our ward has been wonderful.  We came from a ward where we felt "lost" -- as in, if we stopped going to church (not that we ever did) no one would've noticed.  To now feeling very much needed, wanted, & having opportunities to serve.

We're not quite sure what the next 5 years holds for us.  I'm sure some big decisions will be coming our way.  But for now we are happy where we are at.  We've enjoyed all that we have experienced here, the friendships we've made, and the family that we have grown into.  Happy 5 years to us!

ritzy chicken casserole

My mom first made this for me when she came to take care of us after Anna was born.  It is delish.  And it makes a ton, so you might want to consider halving it for starters. 

• 6 chicken breasts, cooked & torn in pieces
• 2 cans cream of chicken soup
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 12 oz. sour cream

Place chicken into casserole dish.

Mix soup, butter, and sour cream & pour on top of chicken.

Mix 2 rolls of crushed Ritz crackers with 1/2 cup melted butter and sprinkle on top.

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.  Serve with rice if you like.

my notes:  Sometimes I will do less chicken and the same amount of "sauce" because I like the extra sauciness for my rice.  And sometimes just one roll of Ritz crackers will do the job.  Play around with it, see what works for your tastes.

it's so hard to say goodbye

I know that I'm talking about Conner again, but he just keeps providing me with great material.  Here are two new ones from this Friday.

story I

Conner is very much attached to his shorts.  If you need a little background on this obsession go here.  Conner has this particular pair of shorts (navy blue, twill, just your basic shorts) that he has probably worn 3 days a week for the past 2 years.  These are the shorts that he puts on immediately after getting home from school.  He loves them, but at this point they are trashed.  Holes all over the place.  It's pretty embarrassing.  But for some reason I keep washing them and placing them back into his drawer.  For a long time I've been threatening to get rid of them.  And those were always idle threats, until today.  I saw him climbing on something from behind and there was this massive hole right below the bum pocket just glaring at me.  Right then I told him that we were trashing the shorts tomorrow, they have too many holes, and today was his last day to wear them.  There was a brief moment of whining, "but, mom" . . . and the subject passed.

So this evening we were sitting at our pre-ward activity dinner of Fruit Loops (I knew the kids were not going to eat baked potatoes).  Conner finished and I asked him to go get dressed.  He went to his room and a few moments later returned to the kitchen wearing nothing but his underwear and carrying his shorts.  I asked, "what are you doing?"  He replies, "I'm throwing these in the garbage."  I just about fell out of my chair.  If he was serious, I knew I was about to witness a huge moment in Brown family history.  I managed to keep it together long enough to say, "Wow, Conner.  What a great job.  I'm so proud of you."  He opened the garbage, tossed the shorts in with a heavy sigh and in a very solemn voice said, "I'm really going to miss them."  Then he turns around, shoulders hunched over, head down and slowly walks back to his bedroom.  This performance was like nothing I have ever seen come out of this kid.  Wow.  It also made me a little sad to realize just how much he loved those shorts. 

Later he came out, dressed & ready to go, telling me again how much he's going to miss his shorts.  I again commended him on his bravery & courage and we made a deal that when it gets warmer we will go shopping and he can pick out a new pair of shorts.  That seemed to make things better.  But I think I will forever have printed in my memory the image of my skinny little boy, wearing nothing but underwear, walking away from the trash can in mourning. 

story II

Conner's school teacher (Mrs. G) has recently been dealing with a health crisis in her family.  Her little 2 year old boy had several seizures over spring break and so they've been going to doctors to try to figure out why.  For the majority of this week (at least 3 days) he has had a sub, and his sub is a very nice woman from our ward (Sis. S).  Today I was waiting with Conner until Sis. S came to pick up the class and she stopped to talk with me for a moment.  First she had to say how great Conner has been -- this darling woman always has something nice to say. 

Then she went on to tell me how they had been discussing in class the problems with Mrs. G's son and what they could do to help or show that they are thinking of them.  Things like making cards, etc.  Then Conner raises his hand and suggests that they could fast for him.  (what a sweetheart).  Later the teacher's assistant asked Sis. S what fasting was, or what Conner meant.  She explained what fasting is and that it's something we do in our church.  To which the TA asked, "what church do you belong to?"  The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  Oh, this is Conner's roundabout missionary moment.  The TA went on to say that when she had taken a group out for reading Conner was singing a song -- she said, "something like the 13 chronicles of . . .???"  We had a nice little chuckle over this. 

It's so refreshing to hear stories like this -- where children feel completely uninhibited in sharing, talking about, and mixing in with their daily life the things that they are taught.  No matter the setting.  No matter the audience.  Makes you wonder at what point does that change for us.  Or why does that change.  At least for me . . . I don't find myself singing "I Am A Child of God" to Anna as we walk through the aisles at Safeway.  But as a little kid I belted it out on countless occasions in restaurants while standing on my chair.  I just hope that as my kids grow and choose to express their feeling & beliefs that I let them do just that (as long as it is polite or appropriate for the situation, of course).  Don't get embarrassed.  Don't make excuses to strangers.  Let your light so shine, right?

baby tai

okay, so my college friend Ily has just started up a cool little business venture and thought I'd share with you.  She is making these super cute baby carriers that are based on a Chinese design.  It's pretty versatile -- wear your baby in front, on your back, or your hip.  They look pretty comfy and easy to wear.  And the fabrics she's using are so fun.  Check it out . . . . Baby Tai.  Makes me almost wish I had little baby so I had an excuse to get one of my own.  Almost . . .

smorgasbord

here's a few recent things . . .

It's a barrette in Anna's hair!!  And it stays!  This darling clip is from Giddy Giddy.  I think the felt of the flower is what helps it stay put -- gives her hair something to cling to.  I've tried other bendy/snappy clips on their own, but they just slide off of her fine hair.

The Great Peeps Hunt!!!  First thing Monday morning after dropping Conner off at school Payton, Anna, & I had a great time hopping in and out of stores collecting Peeps in the post-Easter 50% off sales.  Safeway - zero.  Everything, gone.  Walmart - 7 boxes.  In fact, we cleaned out their shelves.  Just as we put everything in our basket a lady came around the aisle and I heard her mention to a nearby store clerk that she was looking for Peeps.  We high-tailed it out of there because we were not going to share our goods. And then we found the mother load at Red Apple - 12 boxes (and we were generous enough to leave about 10 boxes behind). 

Why, you might ask, are we collecting Peeps?  Let me help you paint a picture.  Summer . . . . campfire . . . roasted Peeps.   

Conner had his first t-ball game yesterday.  The real first game on saturday was rained out, and even this one was delayed an hour due to rain.  Anyways, such is the pacific northwest.  He did a great job.  We had really been stressing to him the importance of staying at his position when the ball is hit.  You know how t-ball games go -- ALL the kids go running for the ball.  And he was doing a good job at not wandering too far.  But after playing 3rd base for 2 innings he was a bit disgruntled because the ball was not coming his direction, ever.  At one point he did run for a ball that was hit to the pitchers mound and in a dog pile of five 5-6 year old boys he came out victorious with the ball.  Happy for him, but not something we wanted to see happening.  So we reminded him again about the importance of staying at his position (stressing it over & over again as we sat near the 3rd base), and he was not happy about that.  Folding his arms, grunting, but thankfully keeping it together.  Each time the ball was hit and he kept his position we told him "great job!" and Scott gave him a big thumbs up to which he would turn and do this . . .

   

a big . . thumbs . . .down.  I love it!  No, I don't love his bad attitude . . . but this definitely made the game entertaining for us.  This gesture is his attempt to get us all upset, but he's got to realize that his parents are not played that easily.  And we don't have much sympathy.  Just shake it off kid.

I feel bad I don't have a story about Payton at the moment.  I'll have to think of something soon.

I got my carpets cleaned today.  {no picture for that one}.  But it was looong overdue.  Right now the kids are watching tv bundled up in blankets as we've got windows open to help air things out.  I think that in the future I'll remember to do this in the summer time.  Or at least on a day above 55 degrees.

easter dresses, sweaters, & ties

For us, bringing out fresh new sunday clothes on Easter is a tradition.  It's something I always looked forward to as a little girl.  I loved the white hats, the lacy gloves -- all of it was so much fun.  And those easter dresses & ties are the subject of a mini-album I'm hoping to whip up sometime -- it's on the long-term to-do list.  So I just wanted to share a few photos of my cute little chicks on our Easter morning . . . .

and I got something new too!

Oh!  Today was Anna's first day in the nursery!  So I actually packed my RS manual and scriptures in the diaper bag.  It's been a long time since I've opened those at church.  It was very nice.  And she did great in the nursery.

easter bunny

The Easter Bunny came to our house on Saturday.  The boys woke us up, so excited, after spotting their baskets (which we set out the night before) full of goodies on the kitchen table.  After oogling over the new toys & stuff (Peter Pan DVD, sidewalk chalk, books, play-doh, rubber snakes, cuddly bunny rabbit, little tikes piano) they went hunting through the house for eggs hidden by the EB.  That easter bunny can be pretty tricky sometimes.

  As for the rest of the day . . . . we baked & frosted sugar cookies, earlier we contemplated going to the big egg hunt in town but the pouring rain made up our minds pretty quick, Conner's first t-ball game was cancelled due to rain, Scott watched The Masters coverage, and I took the boys to see the family matinee - Happy Feet.

fun run

I think I've said it before, but we love Little Einsteins.  The kids love the show, they interact with story, and they get the added bonus of learning about art, composers, and music.  Specifically, music terminology. 

Today Conner participated in the "Fun Run" at school.  It was a fundraiser where the kids collected pledges ahead of time, they were given 15 or 20 minutes to run around a track, and their laps were totalled at the end.  Conner did 28 and he was sooo proud of himself.  He said he did more than any other kid, except Ethan who got 30.  He has been talking about this fun run for quite some time, letting us know just how fast he is going to run.  After school he gave me the play by play:

I ran so fast that I was running presto!!  Ya, and 5 other kids were running presto too.  And 10 of the kids were running moderato.  And I saw 3 of them running addagio.  And the rest of them were running allegro.

Holy cow . . . I just about wanted to bust up laughing, but kept my cool.  I had to remember that he wasn't trying to be funny -- this is just the way he knows how to describe speed.  If the train in Little Einsteins can go allegro, then obviously a runner can too.

A little more about the fun run . . . . Conner can be pretty intense and when he sets his mind to something, he's going to do it.  In his commentary of the event he told me that at one point he started to cry a little bit because he was so tired & couldn't run anymore.  I'm sure that through the whole thing he was doing an all-out sprint -- he was determined to be the best.  I asked him if the teachers talked to him or tried to help him.  He said "Ya, they said I could just walk.  But I didn't want to walk.  I had to run!  In the fun run you have to run!"  Oh my poor boy!  His perfectionist nature just would not let him accept what appeared to be defeat.  Whatever the problem was, apparently he got through it -- or the grape popsicle at the end was enough to make everything all better.

Conner is at the head of the pack (of course) on the far right.  He said that this picture shows him passing up 10 kids, but he really passed up 30.

scrapping this month

I feel like this has been a really good scrapbooking month.  Although, to date, I have only completed one layout in March, my desk is a total disaster, I've got ideas for about 5 scrapbooking projects floating around in my head at the moment, and there is a year and a half of digital photos sitting on my hard-drive that really really need to be backed up before something bad happens.  But for some reason it's all okay and I'm feeling good.

I've mentioned before that the AYTR theme for this month is gratitude.  Heidi had us create a scrapbook page on "the things that you are grateful for that have MADE you who you are." Along with that we had to choose one word that encompassed our feelings.  She always shares her awesome layout and gives us step by step instructions & tips, but at the same time allowing individual creativity we create our own layouts.  Anyways, here's my layout:

(yes this is a 12x12 page -- not my usual thing, but it's a fun change).  My word was blessings and the title reads "I am grateful for the many blessings that have made me who I am and enriched my life."  From there I chose 5 specific things:

• "the cutest & the smartest" ENCOURAGE -- (that's what my parents always told me when I was little)
• BYU EDUCATION
• temple MARRIAGE and loving him -- (arrow pointing to Scott)
• becoming a MOM to these 3 turkeys
• choice and opportunity to be SAHM -- (this stands for stay at home mom)

Anyways, I was pleased with the layout, for getting those thoughts down.  I posted it to our class gallery.  There are about 1000 people enrolled in the class and by the end of the month there are anywhere from 650 - 800 postings in the gallery.  Sooo, much to my surprise I was elated one day to find a personal comment from Heidi Swapp on my layout!  (She is the only one who can comment in the gallery).  Here's what she said:  "nice job with this art challenge too! dang, i love that paper! thanks so much for sharing in the gallery! looks so great... heidi".  Now, it's not like she's gushing about my layout or anything, but still -- to get a comment from Heidi Swapp was pretty dang cool!

Earlier this month I got to attend a Creating Keepsakes Scrapbook Convention with a few of my cute friends.  We had a great time.  Took a few classes, shopped, met Ali Edwards, and just made it our little day away.  (I think Sheila chronicled the details).

At the Conventions they always sponsor a page layout contest.  I have learned from past experience (my first convention, and CKU) that you should always enter the contests.  The reasons are:  1)not that many people actually enter because they think everyone else is doing it or that everyone else is better than they are.  2)the real truth is that 60-70% of the entries aren't anything special -- in fact, many of them are just bad.  3)you never know what kind of mood the judges are in that day (or what planet they are on).  I remember seeing winning entries for various CKU contests and thinking, "that really won?"  So, to make a long story short I entered one of my pages in the Simple Scrapbooks contest (pictured to the left).

So get this, one and half weeks after the convention I found out that I won!  Third place in the contest.  I was so surprised!  They announced the winners at the end of the event, but we didn't stay that long.  It wasn't until I stumbled upon the website again, saw that the winners were listed (I hadn't been contacted) and scrolled down to see my name!  Pretty shocking.  So on tuesday of this week I received a package in the mail from CK with my prize!!

I received 4 idea books from Simple Scrapbooks.  I'm so excited about getting the new Clean & Simple by Cathy Z. and the Beautiful Basics has got a serious book binding (not your ordinary magazine idea book) and includes all the pieces to make a 6x6 mini album.  The retail total is $54 -- pretty sweet!  Kinda makes me wonder what the 1st and 2nd place winners got.  But not too much . . . I'm happy with my prize!!

This weekend I finished our Hawaii album -- woo-hoo!  I went with a pretty simple format.  I found a cute photo album at Target -- the kind that you just slide your 4x6 photos into.  So I stuck my photos in there and then for each "layout" I cut a 4x6 piece of white cardstock which I used for my title, journaling, and added minimal embellishment.  My supplies included a Fontwerks stamp set, one sheet of Heidi Swapp rub-ons, 4 KI Memories patterned papers, and some Heidi Swapp flowers.

 

I used this format once before for my Disneyland album and I absolutely love it.  I think it's perfect for something like a vacation where you have taken a TON of photos and you don't want to make page after page after page.  You get your photos in a place where you can see them, you jot down the memories, and you're done.  Simplify the process.  No guilt.  Doing what works for you.

I just started reading Cathy Z's book "Clean & Simple" and I just have to share this little excerpt from her first chapter.  She's talking about photo albums and what a great tool they can be for eliminating those piles of photos, and thus eliminating the guilt that you must scrap each and every one. 

Narrow definitions just can't apply to this hobby.  There are more ways to document the bits and pieces of your life than you can imagine.  That's the truth.  Even if you were only to create photo albums and write notes in the margins . . . guess what?  I believe that is scrapbooking.  Think about it:  if scrapbooking combines photos and words to tell a story, then all expressions of this very fundamental definition apply.  Scrapbooking is not exclusive.  You don't need a special club membership card to get in.  And you don't need to scrapbook all of your photos, either.

And just because I think she is hilarious, here's another one:

I'm always surprised at the reactions I get from people when I tell them what I do with so much of my spare time.  But I can never say, "scrapbooking," and leave it at that.  I feel this moral obligation to elaborate -- to help vaporize the stereotype of ladies wearing applique sweaters, running amok with decorative scissors and teddy bear stickers.

See, the scrapbooking of today is really an exploration of life through words and images.  It gives people the chance to celebrate that which matters, that which enlightens, that which makes up the very fabric of life.  It's really cool.  No, I'm serious.  I see you smirking, but I'm telling you:  don't knock it until you try it, and then, don't come crying to me when you've maxed out your credit cards on scrapbook stuff.

Sick of hearing about scrapbooking?  Well, tough!  It's been 2 months since I've made a scrapbook related post so I'm just catching up.  xoxoxo