Some SAD news..........

Well, my mom called last night and gave me some really sad news...My cousin, Tim passed away unexpectedly yesterday. He was having alot of back pain and was taking Pain Meds for his pain and appartently he overdosed. They're not sure if he mix the meds or he didn't realize he was taking the meds too soon, we're just not really sure. The coroner has ruled it an accident and they are not going to do an autopsy.

He was so young, mid 40's and leaves behind a beautiful wife, Tammy and three children, two that are in college and one that is still at home in High School. Unforuntately, his wife found him yesterday after coming home from work. I can not even imagine the pain that they are in right now.

My Aunt and Uncle are in Las Vegas and flying home to Iowa today to be with the family and plan the funeral arrangements. Please pray for our family, we are all devastated.

Remembering 2008, a New Year and some Reveals

Wow, a new year is on us and taking off with a bang!!!! With the new year comes new goals/resolutions and this is something that I so seriously need to do this year for ME!!! To help me out this year, I've decided to take part in the "ABC's of Me Art Journals" that Rachel is putting together for us.....I followed abit last year, but never really partipicated. Not this year, I'm jumping in with both feet.....Check out the first Prompt, I'm so excited about this....Here is what I created:

This is so much fun and let me tell you....alot of inspiration!!!!

Also, this is my second month being a Designer for Treasured Scrapbooking and Leslie can definitely put together some beautiful kits....here is January's Kit #1 that I got to work with this month....Love it!!!

Here are my "Reveals" for the Awesome January Kit!!!

I thought this kit was absolutely perfect for the kids Christmas Photo this year!!!

Here are some other sneak Peeks, but I just can't show you yet, you'll have to come back after the 15th, heehee......

Over at Tallyscrapper...they have a brand NEW Design Team and they are going to be ROCKIN' for sure....Big cyber crop this weekend, so come check it out!!!

Christine challenged us to do a challenge to recap 2008.....so many wonderful and not so wonderful things happened with us last year....Bill traveled alot more, Kaleb broke his arm and had two surgeries, Danielle WON county for her Speech Contest, Family Vacations to Disney....so much to get down for last year.....here is my layout "Remembering 2008", with 21 photos....Woohoo baby.......{and of course, I had to get my man, Edward...in it }

Some recent layouts that I've done....

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

Omg, I can't believe that year 2009 is almost here...where did the year go!!! Well, since I've been such a bad blogger and haven't even posted any Christmas photos...I thought I would share some!!!

We got a late start on putting up our Christmas tree this year, because Bill was traveling for work....I think we finally got candy canes on the tree maybe a week before Christmas!!! Of course, not everyone can be happy all of the time, hence my son!! heehee!!!!

Making Christmas Cookies on Christmas Eve for Santa Claus!!


Dad eating off the sprinkles off the table as the kids were decorating them!! Kaleb licking the knife....don't ask, I swear that boy...heehee!!!

We had a wonderful Christmas...kids got so much and loved it all!!! Santa brought Danielle an Ipod and Kaleb a new bike.

Look at Kaleb's expression....that cracks me up....too funny ;)

Hoping you had a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

So what else have I been up to....lets see, here's a couple of layouts that I've done recently:

Oh yeah.....I got my January "Treasured Scrapbooking" KIT....and let me just say...YUMMIE, bigtime!!! I got Kit #1 this month and its got some bright & pastel colors in it with maybe alittle bit of bling and some old vintage too...LOVE it!!!

Okay, how about some sneaky Peeks into it.........

Love this Poem

My friend, Nicole posted this poem on Tallyscrapper and I absolutely LOVE it.

Twas the night before Christmas, I'm glued to the tree.
I'm wondering what Santa brought just for me
Could it be cardstock or chipboard or lace?
Or a Cricut, I said with a smile on my face.
And that's when I hear him,
"Hi Santa," I said "You know...good little girls
should be in their beds."
"I know I should Santa, and now I've got caught
But I was just so excited To see what you brought."
"Well, let's take a look in this room
where you work.
He shook his head quickly, and left with a jerk.
I heard him exclaim as he put it in gear,
"You've got enough crap, I'll see you next year."

Isn't this the absolute truth...at least in my case...LOL!!!!!

Treasured Scrapbooking "Holiday Cheer CrOP", Holiday Band Concerts and Xmas Ornaments!!!

My first Official Treasured Scrapbooking"Holiday Cheer Crop" is this weekend!!!!We have got some AWESOME challenges planned, so come out and play with us!!!!

My challenge for this weekend's crop is "Bah Humbug", where you scrap about things that make you say "Bah Humbug", such as long lines, crowds, No $$, out of stock items....you get the picture!!!! I did my layout on "Christmas Lights".....they drive me CrAzzzY!!!! You get them too all work, put them up and they DON'T work!!!!

Also, I worked on my ornament for the Survivor Challenge over at Tallyscrapper....this was so much FUN!!! Check it out, isn't it pretty!!!! And it goes to my favorite girl, Christine!!!!

Danielle also had her Holiday Band Concert last night at her school.....and it was absolutely beautiful!!! Each grade played individually and it was amazing to see how far they have come in just 9 weeks...I was so proud of her!!!! Of course, we are going through the program looking for her name and to my surprise...she put her NICKNAME, I wanted to strangle her.....silly girl!!!!

A few more sneak Peeks!!!!

I still can't show you everything I did with the Treasured Scrapbooking December Kit yet, but to hold you over, here are a few sneak peeks of another layout and an altered item project!!!! I absolutely LOVED working with this kit...Check them out.....


I swear their are so many sick friends and family right now, its definitely that time of year again....so when Danielle called yesterday and said that she was having chest pains, I took her straight to the ER.....they did every test possible to make sure she didn't have pneumonia and thank goodness, she did not!!! They also checked her for diabetes, because she has been using the bathroom an awful lot, we really noticed it while on vacation in Florida, but that all came back normal, as well. So the diagonsis was Acid Reflux....so they put her on some meds and gave her some maalox in the ER and she started feeling much better. Both kids went to school this morning, so hopefully that is a good sign!!!!!!Thank You for all the well wishes about Danielle yesterday, means the world to me!!!!! Well, that's all folks....have a wonderful day!!!!

LOTS and LOTS to update!!!!

Woohoo, its finally here....I'm a designer for Treasured Scrapbooking. I think I'm still in shock over here, but let me tell you.....I got to work with KIT#2 this month and this kit ROCKED big time!!!! This layout of Danielle and Bill is using KIT#2 and I absolutely LOVE it....the papers and embellishments were absolutely perfect for this layout of them going to the Marine Corps Ball.


They sell two KITS every month and both are to die for......Check them out!!!!!

KIT#2





KIT#1

We went to Disney for the week of Thanksgiving and what an AWESOME time we had. Of course, we had abit of drama....our friends car broke down on the way down to Florida, so they were alittle stressed trying to get that fixed, but everything worked out and off we went.

We went to Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure, Sea World and then for Thanksgiving, we went to the Arabian Nights Dinner Show and what a treat that was.....the kids were in awwww!!!! So beautiful and yes, I forgot my camera that night, figures!!!! Here's some of our pics from the parks.....
The kids were dying to see the grinch.....















and Margaritaville, aren't they just the coolest!!!










Bill and I got to take alittle adventure on Saturday afternoon before heading home....the two of us went on an hour AIRBOAT tour on Lake Tohopedaliga in the Marshlands of Florida.....it was absolutely beautiful....we got to see alligators(oh yeah, baby) and I got some really beautiful photos!!!!