Picture Perfect Hobby!!!

So i have a new hobby and i have to say i am rather enjoying being creative with it and trying out fun new materials and shapes etc. There is more to come but here are a few i have done so far. i am thinking about trying to sell some at a craft fair coming up or maybe even on tip junkie so tell me what you think! The first two i made for myself to put in my house but now that we are remodeling we are limited on wall space so i am not sure they will get used in this house!

The Second Two i made for my friend Katie who is moving into her first house with her boyfriend and is so excited about decorating her house for the first time! (i kinda like hers better than mine!)

This one i used a print and i really like the way it turned out!

Here is the print up close it is kinda light but in actuality it is a darker green on the white! Stupid Flash!

Tip Junkie's Going DOT COM Birthday Bash!!!

Okay so i love this site and they are havng huge give aways all week and i am determined to win something. this site has inspired so many ideas i have had and is so much fun to look at, i search it on a daily basis just to put a smile on my face. I guess you could say it is my stress relieving hobby! So Check it out!

Loving Two Boys With All I Have Is The Best Decision I Ever Made!!

Max had his first swimming adventure last week. The day before his surgery Paul and I decided he deserved a little fun in the sun before the next few weeks of misery and pain he had coming, so thanks to our friend Sharon we were able to take him swimming for a while he loves the water and had so much fun playing with Daddy.
Here he is just loving life in the water!

Paul was so cute with him, he is such an amazing dad, Max is so lucky! I never thought i would find a man who would be as amazing father as Paul has turned out to be. I love seeing the two of them together and seeing the bond between them, and the look in Paul's eyes when he sees Max. Thanks Grandma Jones for raisng such a wonderful man who is such an amazing dad and husband, oh and for the good looks that got passed down from Paul to Max they are both so Handsome!

We went and bought him this floaty thing with a shade on top so his scar wouldn't get any sun, but it didn't cooperate with the wind and the shade kept falling down then catching the wind and blowing Max across the pool. He looks way cute in it though even if it was a big fat failure.

Mommy and Max! I just can't get over his squishiness i want to squeeze him all day every day!

I am using Max as my shield to protect you all from my not so swimsuit ready sexy body! Be careful girls if your husbands see this picture they may want to come runnin my way so they can see this sexy piece of woman in a bathing suit! Thanks Max for being my armor i think your chubbiness is so much more adorable than my own.

And we are done with the fun and onto the not so fun surgery day :( The morning of Max's Surgery he was the the happiest little boy ever, even happier than normal which if you know Max is hard to imagine, so it made it even harder than usual to let the nurse take him away (isn't that so sad i can use the word usual so casually in a sentence where i am talking about a nurse taking my son away from me, it breaks my heart.) I can't imagine what he was thinking it must be so sad for him with looking back at me bawling my eyes out as the nurse carries him through the double doors ( I am crying just writing this) and he is happy as a clam then he all of the sudden falls asleep and wakes up to me again bawling but now he wakes up to a whole new face and mouth which has to be so incredibly uncomfortable/odd feeling and also painful and feel so different and wierd to him especially with his palate being swollen to 5 times its normal size. He must think is this a nightmare or did my mom & dad really just put me through this and let me fall asleep and wake up in this much pain, and with all of these needles in me and machines hooked up to me, he must think "I thought my mommy loved me so much, so why is this happening to me while she is just standing there watching and doing nothing to help me." I know one day he will understand that Paul and I did this for his benefit and his benefit only so he could lead a normal amazing life and be the wonderful man I know he will become. (p.s. I know that there are a lot worse things out there that parents and children are going through than having a cleft but I just need to get this all out for all to hear (I just read my sisters keeper, these surgeries with Max were hard enough for me i can't imagine going through something like that. If you have not read it I highly reccomend it minus the excessive use of the "F" word) Anyway where I was going with this is that it breaks my heart to put him through this and have him be so sad for a week afterward when he is normally so happy and content, BUT I do know it is for the best.

He loved this Toy and played with it the majority of the morning!

I just love his smile and his "Sweet Spirit"(inside joke) ha ha :) he is the best son ever!

"Dad why are you taking pictures of me in this funny dress you put me in! Last time I wore a dress like this i woke up with a new mouth and so sad, are you up to something?"

I just love this picture his eyes mesmerize me every day they are so stunning and handsome!

This one cracked me up so i couldn't resist putting it up for all to see how adorable he is!

Paul trying to calm Max down. After not eating for 12 hours i would be cranky too!

We finally found something that made him happy after the elmo and cookie monster toy lost its appeal, and he cried from starvation for a bit. He loved this car and being pushed in it he thought he was so fancy and would flirt with the nurses every time we cruised past the nurses station. I think we will buy him one when he is done recovering after all he has been through he deserves it!

Look at my new set of wheels dad!

"Yeah i know Nurse Tammy you totally want a ride! But maybe some other time I would rather take my mom first." (I am creating an illusion for myself that this is what he will say someday when he has to choose between me and a hot nurse to take for a ride in his new car.)

After surgery he was so sad and his mouth was filled with blood for hours on end, he just kept drooling dyed red saliva and crying the saddest wimpering cry ever!

So Sad!

Daddy & Max post surgery Paul is so good with him and is so much more sympathetic and loving than i am. I must take after my mom in the lack of sympathy department. Paul took such good care of him and was so tender & loving with Max, he was by his side consolling him every step of the way while I was an emotional wreck!

Paul fell asleep with him on the couch in Max's room in the peds ICU, they are so adorable and I really hope the old saying "Like father like son" holds true to Paul & Max, that would make me the happiest most lucky mom and wife in the world! P.S. when we got home Paul came down with a horrible case of bronchitis and it was all me in taking care of Max it was rough but Paul was so amazing even being as sick as he was and helped out wherever he could!

Laundry Baskets have Multiple Uses!!

Before Max's Surgery Last friday (sorry pictures of his surgery and the days prior are coming soon) i walked in my parents bedroom looking for him and found him in this predicament (spell Check) i thought it was the cutest thing ever. He somehow crawled into my parents closet, managed his way into their laundry basket and crawled back out of the closet while still in the laundry basket. i can't wait for him to be fully recovered so he is back to himself and happy again. It is breaking my heart to see my happy little boy so sad and in pain. Paul and I Love him so much and he brightens our life in so many ways. Thanks Max for being so adorable and happy!

How to be an 8 Cow Woman!!!

I am now the enrichment leader in my ward and i had my first enrichment activity the other night and it was so much fun, i hope all the ladies in my ward got something out of it and had as much fun attending as i did planning! The activity was entitled How to be an 8 Cow Woman and how it worked was we set up 6 tables each with a different theme and asked 6 different people to speak or give a short presentation on a specific subject the sisters entered into the gym to fine it decorated in cow theme and when they entered they were given a sticker of the table they were to begin at!!! They then went around to each table and enriched their lives by listening to the speakers! Below are the pictures of the evening and the different table that were set up!!!

We only used half of the gym!

The Streamers blocked off the other half and had signs hanging from them that said "Electric Fence"

I Decorated the food table with some sayings and jokes in frames that i made and thought were appropriate!

This one was my personal favorite and suited the food table rather well!!!

After going around to all the tables the sisters got Their last two stickers to become an 8 cow woman by chewing the cud ( chatting with the sisters) !

And by Grazing eating the Cow Patties (no-bake cookies) and drinking the Brown Cow Juice (chocolate milk) and White Cow Juice (Regular milk)!!! It was very yummy and not a lot of work to clean up and or make!!!

The food Table!!!!

This is the sign the sisters saw when they firs walked into the gym it just stated what each table was and informed them on the events for the evening, and it is decorated with the cutest cow balloon i found at Zurchers!!!

The First table was called "Cow Tippin" which was fun inexpensive ways to have fun with your family i.e. cheap dates for you and your spouse, summer activites for your kids, activities to do with your grandkids when they visit for the older sisters in our ward!!!

The second table was entitled " The Cow Jumped Over The Moon" and it taught you how to get your home organized and clean i.e. organizational tips for certain rooms in your house, book recomendations to hlep you get organized, scheduling tips etc. this table was fabulous one of my favorites since i am always looking to get more organized even though it never seems to happen hence the name fits me well because for me to get organized would be like a cow jumping over the moon!!!

Third table was "COW-A-BUNGA" this was the excercise/fitness and nutrition table vory informative and the lady who gave it is fabulous and in excellent shape, she was so straight forward and made so much sense!!

The Fourth Table was called "I'm so hungry i could eat a cow" This table was on Food Storage an Water Storage. i Liked this table as well because the lady who did i broke it down in work sheets to hand out (every speaker had worksheets made up for the sisters to take home and review because they only had 7-10 minutes to give a whole heap of info) As i was saying her hand-outs broke it down so instead of sayin one person need thi much for this amount of time, she siad 1 person needs 4 gallons of water for this amount of time and this many lbs. of flower for 1 week etc. so she broke it down my amount and person and not just by family. ( I hope that makes sense)

The 5th table was entitled "Udderly Delicious" and it was about gardening and how to grow a succesful garden and how it helps with food storage as well. the speaker spoke of the different soils that tend to work better in our climate and with the type of land we have here etc.

The last table was called " Mad Cow Disease" ad i was the speaker at this table which was totally inappropriate because the table was about destressing your life and by the time i got all of this together and organized along with all the other stuff going on in my life right now i was the last person who should be teaching sisters in my ward on how to not have a stressfull life. But i pulled it off (hopefully without anyone knowing i was so stressed) i brought some udder cream to rub on your hands whie you listened and had some nice relaxing music playing in the background. (one of the olders sisters in my ward made a hillarious cmment about the udder cream when i offered it to her she said "where am i supposed to put that") i laughed so hard through the whole thing. Good thing laughing is such a great stress reliever. Anyway at each table the speaker spoke for about 7-10 minutes and i kept the time and rang a cow bell when it was time to rotate tables. when the sisters were done at each table they recieved a sticker with that table logo and title on it that they stuck to their shirt or pants or wherever they felt like putting it and by the end of the night each sister was officially 8 Cow Woman! it was alot of fun and i hope everone liked it. I just thought i would share my activity on my blog for anyone to steal if they have the same calling as me and to hear what everyone thinks about this idea as an activity. so let me know and if you want to do this with your ward and have any questions i would be more than happy to answer them. P.S. there are so many other tables you could do as well gear them towards the sisters in your ward, i.e. "Holy Cow" -spiritual thoughts, "Cash Cow"-Finances etc. use your imaginiations i hada blast coming up with the sayings and ideas with my commitee!