Together Again

My family is coming into town this weekend for Jack's baby blessing. The last time we were all together was at Caleb and Holly's wedding in August 2006. Russell and I saw everyone throughout our wedding festivities, but since Britni didn't come to San Diego and Caleb and Holly couldn't make it to Houston, we weren't all together at one time.

Cooper and Cymbre are so small in these pictures. I'll have to post some from when they are here because from what I've seen on Mom's blog, they are a lot bigger now. It will be fun to have everyone together....even if it is only for one full day!

Smore's in a Pan Recipe

Here's the recipe for S'mores in a pan for Mom and anyone else who wants it. Thanks again to Diana for the recipe!

8 C. Golden Grahams
5 C. Marshmallows
1 1/2 C. Milk Chocolate Chips
5 Tbs Butter
1/4 C. Corn Syrup
A Little Vanilla

Melt marshmallows, chocolate chips, butter, and corn syrup in a saucepan. Add a little vanilla after it's all melted. Pour over chocolate over golden grahams. Mix. Add extra marshmallows. Put in a greased 9x13 plan. Let cool. (Or eat it while it's hot!)

Best of 2008

This started out being the best pictures of the year, but as I looked through my pictures it turned into the best pictures/best events of the year. Some pictures might be repeats of things I've previously blogged about.....sorry. Enjoy!

Baby Jack on his birthday! Just a few hours old.

A new scrapbook setup, courtesy of IKEA.

Russell opening a board game. I love his face when he gets soooooooooooo excited, usually for a new game!

A scarf I got for Christmas. I was posing like a rich snob.

Caleb rocking out during some Guitar Hero on Thanksgiving.

An elephant in a jar! Two great birthday presents.

Holly's baby shower. That is Memphis, the hippo. Jack is bigger than him now!

Russell being disgusted at the pumpkin guts!

Caleb's victory pose at the end of the David Archuleta corn maze at Thanksgiving Point.

Our trip to the Manti Temple.

Touching a stingray at the aquarium in San Francisco! We went to San Francisco for a conference for Russell's work.

Meeting up with Bridgette in San Francisco while Russell went to meeting after meeting after meeting!

FIRE! Rick and Caleb getting the grill ready on the 4th of July.

Rick doing an awesome move while swimming at Grandma Chatfield's on the 4th of July.

A bobsled at the Olympic Park in Park City. We were there for our anniversary.

The Alpine Coaster in Park City! This is how we started our anniversary, I can't believe Russell convinced me to ride it!

Russell wearing some 4th of July decorations as earrings at Hobby Lobby in Salt Lake!

Russell pouting. It's one of his talents. Haha.

A funny photo shoot for the title page of the picture-a-day book! It was supposed to be like we were in one of those photo booths.

Our visit to Colorado Springs to meet our newest niece Izzy!

Making a cookie skillet spur of the moment. And for some reason I was acting like a pirate.....I don't remember why. When you are young, poor, and married you have to keep things exciting somehow I guess.

Surgery #1 - February 2008.

The castle bundt cake I made for Russell's birthday.

Thanksgiving dinner at our house!

The huge rocking chair at Thanksgiving Point.

The day we bought the Vue - May 2008.

Russell was very scared of the dinosaur's at the Dinosaur Museum.

Archiver's Glitter Wars - Happy April Fool's Day Elaine!

S'mores in a Pan

I was doing so good at blogging even without a picture of the day....until this week. I guess I don't have a lot exciting going on at the moment. I did, however, make these delicious S'mores in a pan to take to Sunday dinner at Grandma Chatfield's today! We were in charge of dessert, and I'm tired of brownies, cake, etc. so this is what came to mind.

Diana gave me the recipe after she brought them to the last employee crop, and it's great! And easy! Thanks Diana!

Project 365 Layouts

I got my Project 365 Kit of the Month this last week, and since I'm only taking 13 credits and had ALL my homework done before I even went to pick up Jack to babysit on Friday, I had a lot of time to start working on it. I have the first six weeks done. The first page only have 5 pictures, because the first week of the year was short. Here's how it looks.


After the first page, I went to using Thickers on the pictures to establish what day they were for. So far the only two things I don't love about the kit are: 1. The clear stickers to establish the days on the 4x6 pictures because they don't show up very well, even when you put them on top of patterned paper instead of just on the picture. 2. The fact that there are only horizontal slots for pictures, which really is the only way to make the whole kit work, but since I did the project before I even knew about the kit I'm having to be a bit more creative with my vertical pictures. Some I have cropped down and put in the journaling card slots and the journaling for them above. Others I decided to keep as big as possible, but put a border on the side.

I LOVE the kit! It's so much faster than if I had to do the whole book really scrapbooking. I love to scrapbook, but for this project this is more than enough, I don't need as sorts of frills.

Babysitting Jack

Caleb called me Thursday and wondered if I could keep Jack while they used their giftcard to Olive Garden Friday night, and of course I said yes! I went and picked him up at 4:30pm and we came home and hung out for a while (he stayed awake the whole drive, which I was surprised by!). He feel asleep for a few minutes while we ate dinner, and I let him lay on the couch, but he woke up after about 5 minutes and we played some more. He feel asleep again about 20 minutes before Caleb and Holly came to get him about 7pm. He's such a cute kid, and it was fun to be able to keep him! It was fun that he was awake more too.

Max Hall

This should get a few people jealous. Guess what? Max Hall is in my Human Resource Management class! I was quite surprised to see him.

For those who don't know.....Max Hall is the BYU Quarterback.

100 Things

I've seen this on many a blog and decided to do it. The ones with asteriks are what I have done.....you're supposed to highlight them, but that's difficult with my blog set up!

1. Started your own blog*
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band-Hmmmmm.....I think a quartet is equivalent!*
4. Visited Hawaii*
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Held a praying mantis....a dead one for my biology insect collection......gross I know!*
9. Climbed a mountain*
10. Sang a solo*
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris*
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch*
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables*
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France*
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight*
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you weren't ill*
24. Built a snow fort*
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Ran a marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset*
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person*
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo's David
41. Sung karaoke*
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt*
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris*
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain*
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies*
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason*
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy*
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial*
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London*
77. Broken a bone*
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person*
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper*
85. Read the entire Bible*
86. Visited the White House*
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox*
89. Saved someone's life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous*
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one*
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person*
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone*
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Read an entire book in one day*

Final Semester Classes

So.......because I don't have much to blog I'll write about how I've spent my last two days.......in class.

Strategic Management - The best perk? NO TESTS! I think the class will be pretty interesting and not nearly as hard as I thought. The class is mostly reading cases and talking about them.....oh, and then there's a simulation (Which takes 4-5 weeks and is done on the internet. No class for a month.....I'm not complaining!). There's a couple papers too.....I can't wait to be done writing papers.

Consumer Behavior - The best perk? EVERYTHING is done in groups.....even the MIDTERM and FINAL! The professor is kind of wierd......and there's a few presentations I'm not too interested in, but I think the subject matter will be really, really interesting. Sometimes I think I should have changed my emphasis to Marketing but what's done is done I guess.

Financial Planning - Perk? SUPER useful in life.....even right now! I'm really excited for this class even though it looks like it's going to be a TON of work. The reading for Thursday was a 14 page chapter (not bad in itself), but also 3 scripture chapters (not short ones either), 3 Ensign talks, AND 2 case studies! Crazy. By the end of the semester I will have written an approximately 100 page Personal Financial Plan for our family though, which should be helpful.

Human Resource Management - Perk? Well.....I haven't found one yet. I'm not too excited for the class really. I guess we'll see how it goes. At least it doesn't look too labor intensive.

And finally......Entrepreneurship Lecture Series. I haven't been yet since it is only on Friday's but I look forward to it. I've heard great things about the professor......and really, how hard can a lecture series be?

Silhouette Magic

So I thought I'd post a few examples of what I can do with my Silhouette. Mostly I want my mother-in-law to know how awesome her gift was, but I also want to show you all so you can be convinced to not buy any other die-cutting machine! Here's three examples:

Instead of having the blade in the machine, you can put a pen in and it will sketch the image rather than cut......and then it will cut around the image for you too (once you put the blade back in of course)! This is one of the sketches from my Jingle Portfolio Design Set, which has all sorts of Christmas shapes.

Here's an example of just simply resizing and cutting a design. Super easy and they have all sorts of fun things. This is a nativity border from the Holly Set. I've only bought sets so far....but you can download individual designs for $3-$4, which is soooooooooooo cheap!

And finally....the way I will probably mostly use the Silhouette is to weld words....and thus make titles for my pages. You have to weld the words together in another program, but then you import the image into the software and it will cut! The best part is you can use any True Type Fonts on your computer, which is AMAZING! They also have alphabets you can buy.

Link to Picture of the Week Blog

I posted a link with my others on the side to Ahlstrom Adventures (our joint blog), where our pictures of the week will be for those of you who want to get there from this blog.

Scrapbook Set Up

So I've worked a little on getting things set up in my new scrapbooking room set up. I'm really loving the whole desk thing.....I just need to decide on some baskets or bins to put in the cubbies to hold all my things so it doesn't look messy. Oh....and then find money to buy those baskets or bins....that would be good too! Whoever knew a basket could cost $20!

Anyway....here's what I have so far. Most of the cubbies are still empty because all my embellishments, stamps, and adhesives are still in other drawers waiting for baskets......and my paper is still in it's trusty Mac box until I order some 12x12 paper holders. I do have my scraps hidden in one of the cubbies under the desk, which turned out to be a great place to hide things that are an ugly sight!

And here's a close up of the desk part. I'm loving how I can have my cool magnetic tote set out so that I can work and then save everything in place and come back to it. Also....my new purple magnetic mat that has a cool free roaming trimmer Russell got me for Christmas. And.....my Silhouette! I'm so excited to have that out and set up where I can use it easily!

And.....I went to Archiver's and bought some adhesive today (which I was TOTALLY and COMPLETELY out of) so now I can get to work on my half-done page about Cornbelly's Corn Maze and other projects I have planned. Now I just need some etching cream so that I can etch some glass with my Silhouette!

Picture of the Week Project

Instead of a picture-a-day this year, I've decided to do a picture of the week. And.....Russell has decided to take part in the project too!!!! So we are each going to take a picture of something cool each week and then post about them. We've started a joint blog to post them on so I won't be posting the picture of the week here.

Here is a link to our joint blog: http://blog.ahlstromology.com/

We might post other things there as well, but we will at least each post once a week with our picture.

I'm still keeping this blog though.....so keep on reading. I'll even try to keep having some good pictures now that I'm used to taking one a day anyway!

I'm excited to be doing another picture project.....and for Russell to use his bookbinding skills to make a book for us to put our pictures in at the end of the year.

Day 366 - The LAST Day!

Day 366-Dec 31st: Yay! I made it to the end of the year and didn't miss a single day! Caleb, Holly, and Jack came over tonight and we had pizza and cake, played Guitar Hero, played some board games, and just talked and snuggled Jack! Caleb has his eyes closed in this picture, but I think it's still a good one. Jack LOVED that bottle, it was quite funny. He just couldn't suck fast enough!

I'm not doing a picture-of-the-day next year, so I'm worried my posts will be much fewer.....I guess we'll see. I am going to do another picture project......which I will post about later today or maybe tomorrow.

Scrapbook Heaven

Day 365-Dec 30th: I've been needing a desk of some kind and some storage for my scrapbooking things, and getting a Silhouette for Christmas really made me want someplace to have it out and ready to play with besides on the floor, so we went up to IKEA today and came home with this! I'm not an IKEA fan, I don't like the style of furniture at all, but I needed something that was decent, would work for a while, and wasn't expensive.....so off we went. It doesn't look too "IKEA" to me, which I love, and I LOVE having the space to organize and work!

We finished painting today after I worked and before we went up to IKEA. It turned out wonderfully if you ask me. We have to do a little touchup still because the people who painted before must have not taped or something, but it's a million times better than the green!