Happy Birthday Diana!!!

Just had to dedicate this post to my sweet friend Diana! She's turning 29 (again, wink wink!!!) today and is just SUCH a great lady!! She's the first to say hello to a stranger, the first one there when someone is in need, and one of the first people I think of to call. She's an amazingly supportive wife, a great mom, and a tremendous friend to all.

Diana--here's a shout out to ya, girl! You rock! Hope you had a day as wonderful as YOU!!

I don't have a pic of her and I, but go check out her BRAND NEW BLOG (as in she created it this week!)--http://hyerhappenings.blogspot.com/. They have the darndest cute little family eva!!

And don't forget, "You're not getting older, you're getting better!!"

LOTS to catch up on--

So my bloggin' life has taken a pause, but my "real" life has been clippin' along at quite a fast pace! I was put in charge of our Cub Scout's Blue & Gold Banquet this year. The theme was Chinese New Year and I had a LOT of fun working with the committee to make it all happen! The top picture is my sweet little fam at the night's event.

My second son Nathan earned his Wolf award at the Banquet. I spray painted white envelopes red (to go along with the Chinese tradition of giving "good things" in them) for all the boys' awards.

The table settings were fun to put together. It's hard to see in the picture, but each person had an "interactive" Chinese New Year placemat with trivia questions and a word search. I also stamped/embossed Chinese symbols and added them to the napkins. And all my "hard work" of saving up every flippin' empty roll of toilet tissue for the past 4 months paid off with the darling "Chinese Firecracker" decorations that turned out really cool! We also decided to go Asian style and sit on the ground to eat, so we just put the tables on the ground and covered/decorated them there. It was fun!!

And yes, my stampin' sistas--that take-out box is stamped!! Our local craft store has a die cut for the box, so I went over there and cut out about 20 of them (1 for each Scout), stamped them with my Asian stamps, and then filled them with fun Chinese trinkets for the boys. They LOVED 'em! The night was TONS of work but so much fun! Thanks to all you ladies who helped make this night happen--you know who you are!

Next up was a super fun night at the kid's school. Utah State University has an incredible Extension Program that offers all kinds of great resources, one of which is something they call the "Junior Engineering Program." They have a big trailer filled with all kinds of really cool science/engineering hands-on exhibits and they come to the school and set it all up for a full day. The kids then get to learn about things like electricity, the water cycle, how things work, etc. The picture above is my oldest son Alex learning how hydrolics (sp???) works. He was completely fascinated by the whole night--at the ripe old age of ten, he's already set his sights on becoming an Engineer. And the kid has the brains to do it--go big Al!!

And here's the FUN we had today at the Dr.'s office with Nate's arm!! Those lovely "sticks" you see on the x-ray are the pins they put in his arm last Thursday (yep, we had to have surgery after all, darn it!) I'm sparing you all the gory real pics of those pins sticking out of his arm. Ugh--just thinking about it makes me queasy all over! Nasty business, I tell ya.

So Nate got his SECOND green cast put on today. What a little trooper he's been!! He's not looking forward to 8 more weeks of this beauty, but he really is making the best of it. The number one reason he chose a green cast again? To quote him: "This way, NOBODY can pinch me on St. Patrick's Day on Monday! Cool, huh?" What a great kid.

For all of you that made it this far--thanks for listening to my ramblings!! I really will try to post a little each day instead of saving it all up for a mega-post.

Have a great night!

It's Easy Bein' Green (Casted)....for Nate!

Nate had his Dr.'s appt. this morning and he's ALL smiles! Why, you ask? He doesn't have to have surgery on his arm!! The doc is 95% positive that it will heal properly without having to put pins in it. Hooray for Nate and hooray for our checkbook! A huge thanks to all of you for your thoughts and prayers. The doctor was very pleasantly surprised when he saw today's x-rays--he really wasn't optimistic on Saturday because it was so tough for them to get his bone back in place. Nate chose his favorite color green for the cast color. In his words, "A green cast is just SO totally cool lookin'!" Nate--I LOVE your positive attitude and your strength! He told me it didn't hurt a bit when the Dr. was putting pressure on his wrist today to nudge the bone back into place. He just sat there and didn't so much as wince. Tough. Way tough kid. It really IS easy for him to be green!!

I also got the privilege of being the first person to sign his cast. I was such a dork as a kid--I always wanted to have a broken arm JUST so that I could walk around with a sling on and have people sign my cast! After seeing what a major inconvenience/pain it is, I'm SO glad I didn't!

Rock on, green-casted boy!

For my stampin' friends...I'll post my fave make n takes (from the Utah SCS get-together) tomorrow!

Our first broken bone

We knew it was only a matter of time before it happened. And we had our bets on this kid being the first. Now if only we GOT money for being right (instead of paying our lovely $1,000.00 co-pay to our insurance company)!! But what we didn't think would be the cause was something as simple as falling out of a bunk bed!! Nate's our high-adventure/no fear kid. We figured it would be sledding, tubing, the tramp, or a bike accident that would put our son in a cast. Instead it was a scout campout with his dad that ended in a trip to the ER at 3:00 a.m. Saturday morning.

They were staying in a lodge that had cement floors and Nate really wanted to sleep on the top bunk. My hubby let him, figuring he'd be just fine as he's 9 years old and sleeps on a bunk bed at home. Sam woke up to a big thud and Nate screaming. He figured he was just scared from the fall and brought him in to bed with him. But when the painful cry persisted, Sam flipped the light on to check it out. The second he saw his arm, he knew it was broken. Apparently there's 2 bones right where he broke his arm, and one of the bones completely dislogded and went "up and over" the other bone--YUCK! (I know all you moms out there are getting queasy just thinking about it--I am!!) So they packed up as quickly as possible, gave Nate a blessing, and headed down the canyon to the nearest hospital an hour away. A HUGE thanks to Ben Romney!! Poor guy had to get up at 3 a.m. and drive someone else's kid down the canyon to the hospital (Sam didn't take his truck)! We owe you your favorite treat, buddy!

Here's the x-ray of Nate's arm AFTER they "fixed" it. Do you see where it's still not lined up? That has me worried. Sam said they put Nate out and then 2 ER doctors spent the next 20 minutes twisting and wrenching on his arm trying to get it back into place. He stood there watching and bawling as Nate cried out in pain--even with being knocked out. I was glad I wasn't there for that! He broke it down close to his wrist, but VERY luckily missed the growth plate about an inch down (to the left). We go back in on Wednesday to see if it can be casted or if he will need to have pins put in (read: surgery). Keep him in your prayers, k?

This is the makeshift splint that my hubby used on Nate up at the Scout Lodge. Once they got the splint on, his pain eased up a bit. It just makes me cry to think of how much this hurt my sweet boy! And to top it all off--it's his left arm and he's Left Handed!! This should make school very interesting for the next 6 weeks. We told him it's a great opportunity to become ambidextrous!

On the upside of this whole thing, he's getting the royal treatment. No chores, staying home from school, get-well balloons, phone calls, presents. If it weren't for that pesky break in his bone, he'd be absolutely lovin' life!! Ah, life with kids--it's one big adventure, isn't it?!?!

Five Faves and a Favor to ask..

I went through the swaps I got on Wednesday and picked a handful of my very favorites...

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The first card was made by Tina Larson (tinatuna) - Love her colors and layout!!

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2nd card is Debora's (liandrin16) and it's just beautiful and sparkly!

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I don't know who created the middle card, but I loved the color combo and pullout card.

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4th card was Amy's (amysings)--it's a really cool fold-out card. Very ingenious!

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And the last card was made by my darling friend Vicky (TTFN). Her cards are always a work of art--I luv them almost as much as I luv my sweet friend!!

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Here's where the favor comes in....

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For those of you who use blogspot, could you post a message here and tell me how on earth I get the text intermixed with the pictures? I would have loved to be able to indicate right below each pic who made it, but for some reason it never lets me do that. Do I have to pick something in the format to allow that? Thanks in advance for your help!!

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Thanks to all who read my blog--it really does make my day to come and find more comments!!

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Hugs to all!!

Park City Stampin'

What a FUN day I had yesterday!!

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I spent the good part of the day stampin' and chattin' with a bunch of gals at a Park City Lodge Clubhouse. There were familiar faces as well as new friends made. I forgot to take pics--even though I had my camera with me!! Tina Larson (tinatuna on SCS), who hosted the event, took group pics as well as individual ones, so I'll try to have her send me copies. Thanks again Tina and Evie for a great get-together!

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We had a shoebox swap as well as a regular (pre-made before we came) swap and they were just AWESOME!! Some supa supa creative ladies out there. These pics are the swaps I came up with. The little 3x3 cuttlebug'd cards were my make n take swap and the pink criss cross card was mine for the other swap. I luv how the criss cross card turned out, but man did it take foreva to crank out 13 of those suckers!!!

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I'll post some of my fave swaps from the other gals tomorrow. Thanks Utah girls for a fabulous day!!!

Quick post to let you all know I still have a pulse...

Sorry for the WAY too long absence from my bloggin' adventures. Our internet was out for almost 2 weeks (don't get me started on Qwest--it makes me swear in my thoughts!) and then I've been supa supa supa busy this past week with Valentine's parties, LOTS of sickness at our house, and a birthday.

My stamping friends....your lonnnnnnng wait to see some creations will pay off tomorrow--I went to a fun stampin' get-together today and have some FAB things to show you!!

Hugs to you all!!

-Melissa