A little Melancholy

I have been a little sad this week.

I have been playing tennis since we moved to Utah at a club located at the mouth of Cottonwood Canyon called Canyon Raquet Club. It was sold last summer to a developer who intended to demolish the entire 23 court (tne are indoor) facility and then re-develop it as high end homes/condos. The head pro at the club was given 8 more months of running the club while tests and plans were being done, but today that time officially is up.

Yesterday morning I played with my Friday morning tennis group for the last time, we had a great little luncheon together, and took a few pics, so sad.

Last night was the closing party and today was the kids last lessons there.

I have gone to that club everyday sometimes 3 or 4 on lesson days. It is a hub for our family and it is going to leave a huge hole in our lives.

We will be going to Lehi where they have built a new facility and where the pros our kids have been learning from will be teaching at. I have taken a job there very part time. On the days the kids have their workouts I will be answering phones at the front desk.

During the summer I will very likely be there every day because of the camps that the kdis love to do.

Very life altering.

B-

Been a While

Things have been a little hectic around here, so I have had to let a few things slide.
Obviously the blogging was one of them, LOL!
Heroes, seriously addicted to this show!
I mean really how stinking cool is this whole thing anyway?!!!!
24 is of course on at the same time so tivo is also way busy at our house!

So I did manage to get Tyler back into the tux and took a few pics, he looked very handsome and was a little more cooperative about the camera thing because he wasn't stressed about the date, prom, dinner, dance, entertain, hang out and be cool thing.

Laurel has been learning how to do handstands (in the house!!!???)
She was never interested in tumbling as a kid so it never happened.
Well, now all 5'10 of her is into learning how to do a handstand with the eventual goal of maybe even being able to walk on her hands.
This has all been inspired by the movie "Stick It", which is quite cute and very teenage girly!

Chloe hasn't been feeling well for the last few days, the sinus/sorethroat ick, it has made her miserable! I think she is on the upswing though, and should be back to right quite soon!

I got my Scrapologie kit in the mail yesterday (finally!!) and in it was a Heidi Swapp stamp that said "today" very simple very cute.
Well Carter saw it and said "this must be for me!" So every day you can stamp "Today was a good day to be Carter!!" I LOVE this guy! He is always so happy and FUN!
I had a small glitch in my track yesterday. I was all dressed and running out the door to get to my tennis groups, and decided to blow my nose before I left.
Seemed like a good idea at the moment, but this is something I have to be super careful about, and so as I gently blew, so did my entire membrane inside my nose.
Both sides for about 45 minutes.
GROSS!
I know, oversharing.
But really, I had to cancel on two groups. Tennis people do not like to be canceled on when they are dressed and ready. So I felt like a complete dirtbag, and to boot, I was sick all day!
Dizzy and lightheaded, so lame!
Anyway, with all the good stuff going on a little bump in the road is no big deal!

B-

So Cute!

Taylor and Tyler in front of Tuscany!
They are both so sweet, and so cute!
Yup, I am biased, but this was a very cool mommy moment!

I am also a little upset with myself, I changed the batteries in my camera and forgot to reset the size to 6 mega pixels so all of my pics are in 1, one stinking lousy megapixel!
I want to cry for being such a ding bat!
I have been dying for a new camera for quite a while, and this is why! I bought the darn thing so long ago when 6 was a huge thing! Now, 6 is tiny and 1 is basically uneditable, seriously sick to my stomach right now!!!
This kind of problem just wouldn't happen with new cameras and the way their batteries are set up!
I have to literally reset the entire camera when I change batteries, and it is so often that you would think that I would have learned by now!
This is tragic to me.
Anyway, they did a group activity of laser tag earlier today, and they had a great time, and dinner at Tuscany is always delish so this is going to be a day that will be remembered fondly!
B-

Tyler and Taylor

Okay, so here is a toungue twister...
Tyler is taking Taylor to the restaurant Tuscany to try to show her a good time.
Her brother is Tyler, her Stepdad is Tyler and now sweet Taylor is going with Tyler to the Prom.
The details:
Tyler's date told him on Wednesday that her parents weren't going to let her go to the prom.
That is all Tyler would tell me, that is all he knows. He was soo disppointed!
I was talking to Teresa about it, and she was so sad for him. So she suggested that maybe Taylor would be able to go with him if he still wanted to go. I talked to him, I talked to Teresa, she talked to Taylor, she called me back.
This went on all day yesterday, but when it was all said and done, the darling Taylor will be accompanying my sweet Tyler to his Junior Prom.
Yes, a blind prom date. And I can honestly say that there are few girls that I would trust my sweet son's heart with! Taylor is a ray of sunshine, and I know that they will have fun because she is such a fun young lady with great ideals!
So, yeah, I plan on taking a few pics, and Teresa is a bit of a shutterbug as well, LOL!
Both of these kids are so photogenic, that it will be fun to snap shots of them all dressed up!

Also today Laurel had her Keys to Success assembly at school!
I got to go and I took my camera and I knew that the batteries were low, so I took extra! I should have changed them before I got there though, as soon as she got up on the stage to have her turn to try her key, the flash sucked the batteries dry and I only got ONE picture, waaaahhh! It was so cute to see her up there holding the key and trying to turn the car on! A bit of a bummer that it wasn't her key, but soooooo proud of her and her efforts to improve in her academics! She might end up with a 4.0 this semester, and we are so pleased with her!
I think it has really helped her self esteem too, she really has grown up so much this year, and while it is exciting, I am kind of bummed to have it all going so fast!
Anyway, life is just one big adventure here!
B-

Circumstances

There are circumstances in which things must change, and this is one of them!
There have been huge changes afoot for Lazar StudioWERX in the last few months!
After having a wonderfully successful CHA winter in Anaheim and then hosting a mixed media art festival called ARTistry, Lazar StudioWERX has now opened a storefront In Vancouver BC in conjunction with the existing business of RubyDog's Art House to create a mixed media shopping extravaganza!
So to coincide with the timing of this exciting event a call to create a new design team has just been put out!
Here are some of the juicy details!

Submission Criteria:
In order to evaluate potential Team members and their creativity with rubberstamping, collage, mixed media and of course scrapbooking, you are required to submit the following eight projects for consideration:

Minimum 2 Card Designs that combine rubberstamping, pattern paper and other embellishments as needed to complete the design

Minimum 1 Card Design that includes mixed ephemera or found objects in combination with paper and rubberstamping

Minimum 2 Scrapbook Layouts that include a mix of rubberstamping, paper and vintage/found ephemera - any size

Minimum 1 Altered Art project - should be dimensional and at least 4x4 in size

Minimum 2 Digital or Hybrid Layout/Card Design

Examples of Art Journal or Altered Book pages if possible.
Supplemental material may include:
collage and assemblage artwork
mail art and/or faux postals
fabric journals

What do you get out of it?
Bi-Monthly mailing of paperWERX papers, Poppets(R) products, digiWERX digital scrapbooking products and a collection of authentic vintage ephemera with a minimum retail value of $75
The opportunity to experiment and stretch your creative boundaries with new products and projects
Potential product design opportunities or provide creative input into the development of new products
Meeting new people and sharing your art with more than the scrapbooking world!

This is a wonderful team to work on, and the products are so INSPIRING!

We want YOU!

So give it a whirl, and share your love for creating fabulous things with other fabulous people!

If you have questions or thoughts, I would love to hear them!

Let these circumstances put you in with a fun group of creative people!

B-

Easter Sunday!

Easter was a beautiful day here, church was wonderful and the kids had a great day!

I am always so grateful to see the green back in the yard, to hide the eggs and smell the fragrance of the hycinth in the air!

I am a tough egg hider too, we have been doing a golden egg, and it is one of the hardest to find! This year I bought a few extra golden eggs, so there were three instead of one big one.

The kids really enjoyed this, and managed to find them all!

I think we hid about 150 eggs and then a few little random pre-wrapped candies.

Lots and lots of sugar!!!

I myself have consumed almost an entire bag of those evil little Cadbury Royal Dark eggs, they are so YUMMY!

Tyler didn't hunt for eggs this year, sad day for me!

He bribed Carter to share some eggs for a Squirt soda!

Love my boys, they are so cute!

Laurel got home late from Las Vegas and she had a great time, such a "big" experience for her!

So proud of her and her willingness to try new adventures!

So tomorrow they go back to school and I will miss them, but summer break is not far off!

YAY!

B-

Easter Saturday

The hycinth are up and smell wonderful, the tulips are popping their heads up and Danger Kitty (not!) decided to take a brave gander outside!

She usually only makes it to the deck before some noise freaks her out and she comes scampering, with her tail all bushy, inside!

The birds are chirping and Chloe is willing to hold her paw, so to speak, so she is venturing out to the flower beds to watch the birds and bugs!

As for the rest of us, we are going to have a trip to Target and some Saturday tennis for Carter!

Yesterday I took Chloe out shopping and we had a great time!

We found a darling dress, skirt and pants, with some cute tops and the perfect spring espadrilles! We got a little denim jacket to top it off in case the weather is not cooperating, it is Utah and it changes here in the blink of an eye!

Anyway, I hope that this Easter brings me a renewal of energy and hope, it is what I love most about this time of year is seeing the things that have been gone come back and they seem even more beautiful than before!

B-

Big News!

It was a very exciting day today!
I will be a design team member for the Creating Inspirations online store and kit club!
I met Beth last summer at CHA in Chicago through Suzanne Quillen who was on her design team then!
This team is amazing, and it will be so inspiring and motivating to be trying to keep up with them!
The store is great, the kits are gorgeous and the inspiration is spilling over!
Also there is always something fun, interesting or inspiring going on at the message boards!
Beth is a little prankster and loves sharing her surprises and they never disappoint!
So follow me over, I hope I get to play with you there!
B-

Go For It!

Whatever you do, do it with all your might.

Found this yesterday at Creating Inspirations.

Holly Pittroff does an inspirational quote or thought most everyday, and she does a great job!

They are always thoughtful and insightful and leave me feeling better, so thanks Holly!

I have been struggling in my personal life, just the little things that get on your nerves, but it has been going on for so long that I just feel raw. So I love these thoughts that Holly finds, it just reminds me that I am not alone, I am not the only one and I need to do the best I can everyday.

I have played tennis for 3 hours for the last couple of days too, and I am exhausted, but it helps my anxiety so much that I really appreciate being able to go and play!

I am sending my oldest daughter to LV (Jessieville, LOL!) tomorrow with her tennis coaches and friends to go to a tournament, and I am not ready for her to be gone for a major holiday. I have always had the kids and family together for these important dates and it is going to be hard for me to not have her around!

Have fun and be good Laurel! (love ya tons missy!)

B-