Family Update...

Well, it's that time again to get new family pictures so I thought I would share those and some updates.

Michael turned 15 in March, and is ready to get his driver's license at the end of July (I'm not so sure that I am ready for that). He finished up his freshman year at Great Falls High, and he is excited to drive himself to school next year. He just finished up his first year as a teen volunteer at Camp Francis (a camp for children dealing with the loss of a loved one and helping them grieve). He had a fantastic time and is looking forward to going back next year.

Devin will be turning 15 in a couple of weeks. He just started drivers training a few days ago, and he is excited to get his license. He participated in track and cross country this past year for Great Falls High. He is rocking his sports and really working on improving his technique and times.

Bryce is 12 and 1/2 and will be starting middle school in the fall. He loves playing football and is participating in football camp this summer. I'm anticipating that he will be participating in as many sports as he can once school starts. He has done VERY well with his academics this past school year, and I'm always amazed at the interesting things that he talks about that he learned at school. He's a good boy and I am grateful for him in my life.

Connor turned 10 in December and he will be starting 5th grade in the fall. This year will be interesting for Connor because he is switching elementary schools and will be making new friends this year. He just started playing the violin this summer and he is really enjoying it. He is just a fun and happy kid, and I love his stuffings!

Parker just turned 5 a month ago. He will be starting kindergarten this fall, and will be attending the same school as Connor. I can't believe that my baby is old enough to go to school! It's sad to see my last one growing up so fast. Parker is such an awesome kid and really completes our family. I can't imagine life without him. :)

Jeff turned forty....oh...nevermind. Anyway, Jeff is currently working at FedEx and is also working for Head Start as a family advocate. He loves his family advocate position and enjoys going to work. He is a wonderful father and husband and I appreciate his love and patience.

As for me, I finished up my Associates degree at MSU-GF in the spring, which was really exciting for me. I got a very large scholarship to the University of Great Falls to finish up my bachelors degree, so I will be starting there in the fall. I decided to take the summer off to reconnect with my family and to complete unfinished projects around the house. I have LOVED the summer so far, and I'm not really looking forward to starting back to school in the fall. However, I'm going to push through and finish what I started.

Finally....

Well, it’s been a while since I have updated my blog, but I finally had something happen that was blog worthy! I hit my weight loss goal today! That’s right...in the past two years, I have lost 57 pounds (I know, sounds like a strange goal, but it got me to a nice round number)! I have so much more energy than I did when I started, and I feel much, much healthier. I’m not done yet, I would still like to lose probably another 10-15 pounds, but I am ecstatic that I finally hit this goal.

Some other “blog worthy” news is that I will be graduating from MSU in about 6 weeks with high honors! Finishing school is something that has been on my “to do” list for a long, long time, and I am so happy that I have accomplished the first part of my goal. I received two wonderful scholarships to the University of Great Falls, so I will be starting on my bachelors degree over there in the fall. I am anxious and ready to continue my education!

Goals, goals, goals.....it feels so good to get them accomplished!

Update...

I was thinking about my poor, neglected blog today and decided that I should really post an update. First of all, I made it through summer school in one piece. I hope to never relive that semester ever again! It was very difficult, but I managed to pull a 4.0 (by the skin of my teeth!). I started fall semester about a month ago. I am taking 15 credits this time, which is about the maximum I can handle with 5 kids and a husband that needs attention every once in a while! I have one more semester after this and I will be graduating in the spring (yay!).

The kids are doing very well. Michael and Devin started high school this fall, which is making me feel really old. They both seem to be enjoying the experience. My hope is that they soak it all in and fall in love with this time in their lives. The other kids are enjoying their time in school also.

I haven't had any time to scrapbook or papercraft, which makes me so sad. It's upsetting to see all my fun papers sitting on the shelf, not being used. Hopefully, I can at least make some Christmas cards this year. Heaven forbid I have to send out store-bought ones! LOL

I hope everyone is enjoying their beautiful fall season! The pictures above were taken last month by Jeff's very talented brother, Michael VaughAn. We had a nice two-week visit with him and his family! I hope we get to do that more often.

Where Have I Been??

My Summer school books. I'll be happy when I can put them away!
Parker's reaction to the fireworks on the 4th of July.
Devin contemplating the best way to blow something up with his firework.

Devin and Michael trying to eat a chipmunk at camp.
Parker and Connor showing off Parker's bed head.

It has been so long since I have posted, so I thought I would do a little update. Going back to school has really been keeping me quite busy. It seems like I am doing homework ALL THE TIME! I am loving every minute of it though (well, maybe not the time in math class). I have been working my tail off to try and maintain a 4.0 GPA so that I can try and get a scholarship to help pay for school. So far so good! The summer classes, so far have been the hardest because I'm still taking a full class load but it's condensed into only 8 weeks instead of 16. I haven't had any time for scrapbooking and I really, really miss it! In fact, all of my CTMH sisters are in Washington DC this week for Convention!! I obviously couldn't go because of school, but I am really missing seeing them this year. My boys have been getting big. Parker just turned 4 a few weeks ago which means that I'm getting old! Everyone is doing well and plugging along. Hopefully, I'll get around to updating this blog more often then every 7 months!

Can you hear me now???

I had to give him kisses before he went under.
They made him change out of his favorite batman pjs so that he could wear their "cool" hospital garb.

After almost a year solid of ear infections, Parker's pediatrician finally recommended that he get tubes put in his ears. We had a couple weeks worth of appointments with the ENT and the Audiologist before we could be set up for the surgery. The apt with the Audiologist showed that he has hearing loss in his left ear. We are hoping that by putting the tubes in, he will regain all of that hearing. On Monday, November 30, we went in to the surgery center for his procedure. The actual surgery only took (literally) 5-10 minutes and he was awake very shortly after that. We were able to head home around 9:00 in the morning and I just needed to keep an eye on him throughout the day. He was in pretty good spirits and only complained a couple of times that his ears hurt. He was back at school on Tuesday and says that his ears feel great! I'm hoping this takes care of the problem. Anyway, here are some pictures of Parks at the hospital.

Fall Fun...

Connor and Parker kissing the glass door. Why, you ask? I don't know.

Michael helping Parks dig out the pumpkin guts.

Connor wiping the caramel off of his nose.

Bryce is doing pretty good with his apple.

Well...at least he ate the caramel. Apple dippers may have been a better choice for him.

Fall has been moving fast and furious in our house! I was so sad that we had snow before the leaves turned red and gold. It's normally my favorite time of year because of that, but this year was disappointing since all the leaves fell off the trees and turned a yucky brown color.

I had big plans for the kids but the farthest we got was making caramel apples. This was our first time doing this as a family and the kids had a blast. It was really fun to see them try to sink their teeth into the apples. We also had planned on carving pumpkins together but by the time I got around to buying more pumpkins, EVERYONE was sold out! Luckily, I had already purchased one a couple weeks before Halloween so at least we had one to do.

Fall has been busy with all of the kids and myself going to school. I will be excited when this semester is over, but I am taking a heavier load in the Spring. I'm still doing CTMH and have a great group of friends that come over once a month and do projects. I've spent the last couple of days moving my scrapbook area to a smaller space in the house and I've had to clear out A LOT of my stuff. I plan on having a scrapbook garage sale soon. Since I have now moved and cleaned my area, I will be creating a couple of Christmas projects that I will post soon. Blessings to everyone! Have a Happy Thanksgiving!!

School and other Random Treats...

I just realized that it's been almost two months since I've updated my blog! For those of you that don't know, I have started back to school and I've been hard at work for the past month. School is going well so far and it's nice to be working towards finishing my education. Parker started pre-school and is completely loving it! I had a hard time when I dropped him off that first day, but he has so much fun that I can't complain. I thought I'd add a couple of pictures on here. One is of me and Parker on our first day of school. The other one is the project that I helped Bryce with for his Indian project. He chose the Iroquois tribe and we had to make this diorama to show how they lived. I have to say that I'm mighty proud of the little vegetables that I sculpted (basically, I just think they are cute).

New Artwork...

I've had so many friends having children over the past 6 months that I'm WAY behind in sending out cards! I sat down yesterday to work on a couple of little girl cards and this is what I came up with. I did some clear embossing on the sunflower cardstock and some stitching around the felt shapes. I think they turned out ok. I can't wait to send them out!

All products are CTMH:

• Animal Cookies paper
• Dutch Blue cardstock
• Sunflower cardstock
• Clover Meadow cardstock
• Whimsy Felt Shapes
• Desert Sand Ink
• Tulip Ink
• Clear Embossing Powder
• Versa Mark

Team Closeup (1 photo), by CTMH CTMH

I'd like to share my Snapfish photos with you. Once you have checked out my photos you can order prints and upload your own photos to share.

Leadership...

Me and Jeanette Lynton - Founder and CEO of Close To My Heart.

My beautiful roomies! Melissa Robinson, Sheila Wilkerson, Teri Baxter, Me and Heather Snow

My wonderful upline - Teri Baxter and myself

Me and Kristine Widtfeldt - Close To My Heart VP of Sales and Marketing (she's got a GREAT personality...I always enjoy her!).

Our sandy feet

Well, I'm back from sunny Long Beach, CA and I had such a great time! It was so nice to see my friends and fellow CTMH team mates again. We got to see all of the new and exciting products that CTMH has in store for the Fall AND we got a bunch of free goodies! I'm already looking forward to going to Washington D.C. next summer! Who wants to join me?

What the Fat??!!!.....Update #2

Sorry this isn't a more exciting post since I haven't posted anything in a while. I just had to share that I've officially hit the 20lb weight goal! I'm totally excited that I hit this milestone! I still have a bit to lose but this was the first major goal of mine. I'm still having fun with Abby (my trainer at the gym)...she puts up with all my whining and makes me do it anyway. :-) I'm feeling really good, healthy and strong. I'm also getting ready to go to Long Beach, CA to go to Close To My Heart's leadership conference and I'm super excited about that! I can't wait to see all my girls there! I've been finding it hard to get any scrapbooking or creating done this summer with all the kids home but hopefully creativity will strike me soon!

Parker Turns 3!

Ok... so my baby turned 3 and I need a second to mourn the loss of my baby! He's not a baby anymore!! It was really fun to watch him this year because he knew exactly how this birthday thing is supposed to go. I found this cute cake pan in the shape of ice cream cones at Crate and Barrel and decided it would be perfect for Parks. We topped them with scoops of ice cream and candles and he was good to go. The kids all loves them! Parker's favorite present was the accessories to his favorite Wii sports game. I still can't believe he's 3! Time goes fast...enjoy the little moments!