Some of my pages.

I love to scrap! LOVE it, I love being creative, its messy and its fun. Okay so maybe it is not always messy for everyone, but for me... I am REDICULOUS! Seri

ously! I do not have a scrapbook area so I have to bring it all out, and then spread it out. But the cool thing about it is, if I bring it all out, I'll work on pages for a couple days, I usually get 6-8 pages done in my Scrap-A-Thon, then I put it all away. One day though, I will have a designated space just for my scrappin'! Here are some of my pages, I did these a while ago, I need to get pictures of my recent ones. Some of these I need to fix, just a little warning!

The best of the best!

Do you have someone that you can tell all your secrets to, no matter how horrible, embarassing, funny, or sad they are? I really do hope so! My best friend is Julie, and she has been there since we were four years old. Most of my childhood memories include this lovely lady. She is the person I can say "remember when," and know what I am going to say before I even finish. She is the one that can make me laugh like no one else can, understands me for who I am. I think that she is amazing, an amazing mother and friend ( and I'm sure her husband would say wife). She is quite the crafter, has lots of style, and is a good cook. Of course I would love her just the same if she did not have any of these qualities, but they make her extra special. Currently Julie is going to nursing school, which is time consuming. So time consuming that since school has started we have been talking less and less, I try to give her time to study, and have time with her family, because that is what is most important. I am very proud of what she is doing, and she is motivating me to finish school for myself. I cannot wait for her to become a nurse, because its her dream! And selffishly I want my best friend back. But for now I will sit here quietly cheering her on, I just hope she does not forget about me.

Brotherly Love

I grew up with several and I mean several ( try six) siblings, and as much as we fought ( someone was always fighting someone) I loved that I always had someone to talk to and play with. So when Josh started talking to me about how he missed his brother and sister, I thought I should do something about it. It made no sense to me why he should feel like an only child when he clearly is not an only child. So, I talked to Hunters Grandma, who was taking care of him, and told her it was time for the boys to be together. That It was not fair to either one of them to be separated, it is not their fault that their mom has made the choices she made. So we started the boys out with weekend visits in September. Then in November, we went to weekly visits, and by Christmas Hunter moved in. It is so great to see how they interact. Josh loves being a big brother and teaching Hunter new things. His favorite thing to do is trying to get Hunter to say new words, as Hunter is almost two and is talking ALOT! The both have a love for cars, and usually they are fighting over the same cars, even if they both have the same cars. Ahh the love of siblings. It is also a blessing for me, because I have gotten to spend more time with Hunter, and he is the sweetest little guy, loves to cuddle. But at the same time he is the one who is demanding and yells alot, you can hear him say "NOW" with everything. He will come up to me witha juice cup and say "juice NOW". It is funny but I have to hold back the giggles, because he will only keep doing it. Winter break is almost over, and Josh usually loves school but he told me today he much rather stay home with Hunter all day, because he does not want his little brother to be alone. I think having his brother here is going to help him grow emotionally, and see that he does have a family.

I might go crazy, I might want to scream but I have to remember that it is all worthwhile... the boys will grow up together, but they will have those memories of loving, playing and fighting with eachother!

It's raining, it's pouring.....

Yep, it is fall... and I live in the valley. You would think I would be used to all this rain by now, but I am not. I love listening and watching the rain, I just do not like to be in it. And what bet better than doing that? Doing it and drinking CARAMEL APPLE CIDER! It is my favorite fall drink!

Apple cider is a great drink that warms me up, but add a spoonful of caramel into it and spray some whip cream on it and the drink becomes an amazing treat! So let it rain, I will be drinking my caramel apple cider!

"This Junk is Delicious!"

Well, here I am... shocking moment? probably.

I wanted to share this moment with you. A couple weeks ago I made meatloaf for dinner, which Josh has never had before. He looked at it and was like " Auntie Krystal I do not know if I should trust you about it." He normally says this about anything he has never had. So I encouraged him to take a "brave bite". He did, and he took a moment to think about it and then he says very excitedly " this junk is delicous". hahaha, it was a great moment. I did a couple things to capture the moment: I texted my best friend to share with her ( we do this constantly because we have boys the same age) and then I grabbed my camera... its going to be an awesome scrapbook page!

It is really interesting to me how a smell, touch, taste, or sound sends me down memory lane. It is even more interesting when I smell something and I know it is familar to me, but I cannot figure out why it is so familar.  The smell of old spice will always remind me of my father, the smell of vanilla does the same of my mom.   Anyway, I was just sitting out side drinking a cup of coffee and I got a strong sense of familarity came to me... so I had to say something.

In the last week I have done four scrapbook pages, so that has been nice. I need to get some more scrapbook inserts though, as I have run out. I will have to take some pictures of the ones I love so I can post them. I have SOOOO many pictures of Josh it is unreal. But then again, Im trying to capture the time he can't spend with his mom, for his mom. Plus if I did not take pictures of him, what else could I take pictures of? ME???? No, NO thanks.  I do have some pictures of myself, but unless I have a good reason, I tend to only scrapbook pictures of myself once a year. who knows why. 

I guess Josh was bored yesterday, he decided it would be a great idea to jump on his bed. I cannot blame him though, jumping on the bed is fun. I remember growing up my sisters and I ( who ever it was that I was sharing the room with it at the time) would have jump contests on our beds. Or we would create obstacle courses that involved alot of jumping. So on one hand I totally cannot get upset with this fun idea he had. HOWVER, he jumped so much that the frame totally buckled. I tried to put it back together, but it wont work. So Im calling in my parents, lol. They can fix it. 

Well, I should wrap this up, my best friend is coming over with her kiddos again today, and we are going to get bagels and coffee ( our ritual) and maybe take the kids to the park... or maybe we will just lock our selves in my extra room and scrapbook... hahahhaha yeah right, like that would keep them out!

I Fail.

I feel like a failure some times. I make all these goals  and I plan on sticking to them, but then I get preoccupied with other things that I could be doing. I have done several scrap pages recently So I have been pretty happy with that. My best friend of like 22 years does a great job of motivating me with that. She is constantly sending me pictures via text messages of her amazing pages. We hang out once a week when our schedules are aligned and compare our pages. I have so many scrap supplies I think I need to go to scrapbookers anonomous.

My five year old nephew is living with me, while his parents get their lives together. Anyway he is growing like a weed, and is a very busy little boy. He is so smart though, he amazes me with his intelligence some times.  He is also a dare devil, always jumping off of things, and is willing to try most anything. This July he will be learning how to ride motorcycles...I want to encourage him in anything he is interested in... reasonably of course. He also allows me to take alot of pictures of him, so he keeps my scrapping going. 

I had my birthday a little over a month ago, and it is weird to me. I don't feel like 26... so incredibly weird to me. Im not loving this getting older thing.... at all...