Field Trip to Schnepf Farms

At the beginning of October, I was able to go with Cole's school on their field trip to Schnepf Farms as a parent chaperone. It was so much fun! We did a lot of walking and got a little sunburned, but it was still a blast! The kids got to go on rides, go to the petting zoo, watch frisbee dogs and pig races, etc. Here are some pics of the fun we had:

Katelyn is 3!!

Katelyn's b-day was back on October 25th - I am the worst blogger ever! I'm trying to catch up now, though.

I took Katelyn to Build a Bear for her b-day and she had so much fun!

Putting the stuffing in her bear! So exciting!

Giving "Princess" her first bath!
So happy with her new friend!

Her b-day was on a Sunday, so she woke up and had her first present (Fish family tradition) - breakfast treat - muffins!
Her birthday fell on a Sunday, so of course she got a new dress to wear.


How did my kids get so big?!

I love when I catch my kids being nice!

Katelyn requested a pink pony cake for her birthday so this is what I came up with.

Make a Wish!!

She had to try her new jammies on even though it wasn't bedtime yet.

I can't believe she's already three! Time goes by way too fast!

A boy and his dog

Bella, our dog, really loves to look out the front window of our house! In fact, she jumps up on the couch and perches there, just waiting for someone to come over or drive by (which, whenever happens, she barks! Any suggestions to curb that habit?). She looks so cute just chillin' and waitin'. If anyone ever wonders why that front window is always dirty, it's because she presses her little nose up to the glass! I could seriously clean those windows all day and they would still be dirty!




Cole loves to look out the window too, especially since we and our neighbors have put up our Halloween decorations. Ryan put a huge picture of a skull in the window and in one of our upstairs windows too. Pretty creepy!



But it's fun to finally be fall-time and cooling off a little bit! I think today was the first day we didn't have the air conditioning on at all and the kids even went out to play in the backyard and I had to tell them to come in! Usually after ten minutes, they're so hot they want to come in themselves.

Date Night!

Our friends Ryan and Alleen invited us to go out with them last weekend. It was so much fun! He had gotten a limo ride as a bonus for his work and asked us to go along (we're so lucky!).

Anyhew, we went to Maggiano's (the best Italian restaurant I have ever eaten at). Although I do still love my Olive Garden, this is way better I do have to admit!!



Afterward, we came back to the Fish Bowl (aka our house) and played Rock Band. It was Ryan and Alleen's first time but they rocked the house!

Thanks for inviting us out, you guys! We had the best time!!

Cole's 1st report card!

I have uploaded and uploaded this picture and it keeps going the wrong direction for some reason! Very frustrating! Anyways, you get the idea, right? :)

This is Cole's first progress report - ever! It's so weird to think that I'll be getting these every quarter for the next 12 years! He is doing really well in kindergarten. He caught on fast to blending sounds to make words and is reading as well! He has gotten 100% on all his spelling tests so far (maybe he got that from me?). I'm so proud of my Cole-y!

Our first parent teacher conference was the other day (unfortunately I didn't get to go, but Ryan went instead). Ryan said it was nice to hear from his teacher how he's doing and she gave us the art book he has been working on in class to keep! I'll post pics of that later, but it is so cool!!

Crashing on the Couch!

I snapped these sweet pics of Ryan and Katelyn a week ago. Katelyn has given up her afternoon naps (much to my chagrin) but sometimes she will crash on the couch around 7pm or so.

Why do they look so dang cute when they're sleeping? I love it!

I sewed!

I know for many of you, sewing is super easy, but for me, that's not the case! I was doing a challenge for the Project Runway scrapbooking challenge I'm part of, and it involved making a fun beach accessory. So, I had been wanting to try to make this bag for awhile, and finally decided to do it.

I'm embarrassed to say, I had to ask Ryan for help on this! He is a much better sewer than I am. (He defends his manliness by saying it's just like welding.) I was just glad he was there to help! He is so amazing and knows how or can figure out how to do pretty much anything!

He was helping me thread the machine and I kept getting it wrong and he just cut the thread so I had to keep doing it over and over till I got it right! I can definitely say I know how to do that now. :) That's why he's so good for me - he doesn't let me give up and he pushes me to be better. :)

Anyways, it was such a shocking sight while I was sewing that both of the kids were just sitting on top of their little Tikes cars watching me. Ryan had to come take a picture of me sewing in case it never happens again!



Here's a picture of the bag I made, in case you're interested. I used my die-cutting machine, the Sizzix Big Shot for Stampin' Up to cut out the butterflies and the Top Notes which I sewed together to make the bag! I was very happy with how it turned out, and now I can show my customers that the Big Shot can be used for sewing and other projects too! It's amazing all the different materials you can cut with this machine! Anyhew, that's all! :)

A little of what we've been up to lately

building fun forts

wearing scary masks Daddy made

painting Ryan's office



Just bein' silly - Cole and Katelyn both wearing Ryan's shirt at the same time!

laying in the grass - yes, it really was that high!

Sweet Cotton Candy

A couple weeks ago it was one of my niece's b-days and she had a super fun party! Complete with a water slide and other water games, yummy food (including cotton candy - they rented a machine and we got to see it being made right in front of us like at the fair!) and TONS of fun!

The kiddos probably ate 3 or 4 helpings each of the cotton candy. They were in pure heaven! I do have to say, I tried some too, and it was fabulous!

Here are some pics of the kiddos enjoying themselves:

Ryan's Wish Jar

If any of you know Ryan, this won't surprise you in the least! It was pretty darn funny, I have to say!

So you know how I have my baby wish jar that I'm saving $$ for a baby, right? Well, the other day, Ryan was rummaging through the cabinets looking for something, and I asked if I could help him find it - he said, "No, I got it." He pulled out a jar, then a picture from his back pocket. He proceeded to duct tape it onto the jar, along with various Christmas ribbons/bows, and more duct tape. If you can't tell, it's a picture of a flat screen television (Upon first glance, I thought - you want to save for a trip to the mountains? Then I saw the platform at the bottom of the picture.) He put in all the money and change from his pocket, which was under $5. I am totally beating him!! HaHa! :)



Then, the other day, we went through the drive-thru and he usually hands me the change, but instead, he looked at me, then the money, and then he put it into his own pocket! Silly boy!! He really makes life interesting for me! And keeps us all laughing!

Vote for Me!!

I don't know how many of you follow the show Project Runway, but I am involved with a group of cool girls who decided it would be fun to do scrapbooking challenges based on their challenges each week. Their challenge was to design some clothes for a celebrity to wear on the red carpet. To make it work for scrapbooking, we decided to have our challenge be to scrapbook our "Red Carpet Moment." Glitz Design graciously donated to our challenge, so we used some paper, stickers, and rub-ons from them (they rock, by the way!!!) and created kits for all the participants. The only rule is that you had to use something from the kit in your layout. We posted the layouts on the Project Scrapbook '09 blog here, so go check them out! They are all amazing. :)

Oh yeah, you can vote for your favorite (pick me, pick me!!) - the winner will be treated to some more amazing goodies that Glitz Design generously gave to us to give away!! To vote on the Project Scrapbook '09 blog, click here. Voting closes Thurs. Sept. 3rd at 9pm MST, so don't delay!!


The red carpet moment I chose to capture was my wedding day - I felt like a princess marrying my prince (still do - I'm so lucky!), the weather was beautiful, I loved my dress, my flowers, and especially my guy!! It truly was a perfect day!

It was so fun to try out Glitz Designs' products - their rubons are amazingly easy to use! And I love their paper! Gorgeous! I hope I win the prize! One of my brother's friends from when we were kids is actually one of the girls that started the company so I was able to hit her up for some donations - it's awesome to have connections, sometimes, huh?

The Baby Wish Jar

First off, no, I am not pregnant!! I wish I was, but unfortunately, I'm not. :)

Ryan and I have been talking for a long time about whether or not to have another child. Correction: Actually, I've been doing most of the talking - he's been trying to give away all our baby stuff! I tend to have difficult pregnancies, and so most of the workload falls on him unfortunately when I'm prego. Not to mention the economy, etc., etc.... Well, the other day, he said, "If you can save $2000, we can talk about having another baby."

So, I went out and bought this big jar and decorated it and stuck it in my kitchen. My friend Wendy and I figured out that if I put in $50 each week, I will have the $2000 in about 10 months. I am really motivated! I'm going to be clipping coupons and putting any money saved in the jar. Every time I pay with cash, I'm going to be putting the change in. If I have any part-time daycare jobs, I am going to put the money in there too. I am very excited and hope that Ryan will hold up his end of the bargain when I finally save up enough money (i.e.: seriously talking about having another child )!!


On another note, isn't it a cute jar? I made it yellow and brown since if we do have another one, I don't know if it'll be a boy or a girl, obviously. I love looking at it and dreaming of the future!! I am so baby hungry it is crazy!! You can make fun of me if you want to - I don't care!! :)

Wendy says I should take it with me to my Stampin' Up workshops and classes and ask for donations. How hilarious would that be??

My Stampin' Blog

Hey everyone!

Just wanted to let you know that I just started a Stampin' blog so I can put my papercrafting and scrapbooking projects on there! Here's the blog address: http://stampinlucinda.blogspot.com/ if you want to take a look! I'm also putting it on my sidebar in case the link doesn't work for some reason.

Later!

Cole's First Day of Kindergarten!

Yesterday was Cole's first day of kindergarten! He was so excited! His teacher is super nice. Here's some pictures of him sitting at his desk and in his new classroom.

He is so big!! I got a little teary-eyed as I was leaving, but he was not even sad or scared, just super excited! I cannot believe he is in school already - where have these past 5 years gone? It makes me sad that my little Cole is not little anymore, but I'm also excited to see him growing up and learning so much! Is that weird?

Father Daughter Princess Party

A couple weeks ago our ward had a Father/Daughter Princess Party. Katelyn and Ryan had so much fun! Katelyn got to get all dressed up in her princess dress, shoes, and crown (the dads didn't have to).

There was dinner, dancing, story time with princesses, and even a ride in a Hummer limo!

One of the people who was in charge took some pictures at the event, so as soon as I get those, I'll post some more!

My Awesome Craft Room

Ryan is awesome at making stuff, I have to say! He has been wanting to trade offices with me for awhile now and said he would build me some shelves for all my Stampin' Up stuff if I would agree to trade him. I said yes, and he literally started and finished building all this in a day! It took me longer to paint the room and shelves than it did for him to do the building. He is so amazing! Here's a picture of the shelving unit (I was still doing touch-ups at this point).

Did I mention that he also made me a table? Yeah, who knew you could buy fold up legs at Lowe's and make your own table? Super cool! My sister-in-law Kristin came and helped us paint and stain one night (thanks a ton Shorty!) which was so nice! She is way faster at painting than I am!

Another awesome feature of the table is that it hooks up to the shelving unit and rolls up for storing (kind of like those fold down beds). Here's a picture of the table put away. I told him I still wanted to have some room for guests or a playpen if I needed it (since I do daycare), so he thought of this idea all by himself - brilliant!

Okay, I am a ribbon and punch addict, so he made me some bars to hang all my punches on and some shelves for my ribbon. He also made some holders for my ink pads and markers. He really went all out to make this room the way I wanted it to be (without even asking)! I am so happy with it! I knew it would be nice, but I wasn't expecting it to be this nice!

I am seriously lucky to have a hubby like Ryan who knows how to do all this stuff! If everything he already did was not enough, he went ahead and made me some drawers to store my stamps in that I can pull out and see them all (and they're not stacked on top of each other anymore!). All my friends have been saying they need to have him come help their hubbies do the same thing for them at their house.

Here's a picture of the (mostly) finished room. I still have some decorations and stuff I need to hang up on my blank walls, but it is sooooo wonderful to not have to carry all my supplies up and down the stairs for classes, clubs, and workshops! I love being able to see all my supplies and have them organized in one central place (rather than in bins like I used to have them).

Thanks so much, Ryan! You are the best!!

07-08-09 at 10:11:12 pm

Elizabeth Kartchner is having a contest on her blog - all you have to do is take a picture of what you are doing on 07-08-09 at 10:11:12 am or pm. Easy enough that I can do it! :)

I don't know about you, but I get the munchies at night! This is what I was getting ready to do at 10:11 pm today - I know, so bad to eat sweets so late at night!!! Every once in awhile I give in to the urge. Anyways, I was going to have this Cherry Chocolate Chip ice cream, but unfortunately, Ryan ate it all!!! I guess I'm going to have to dish up the Rocky Road (still one of my faves). I'm off to enjoy my special treat now! Ta Ta!

Random Pics from the last couple months

Here are some random pics from the past couple months (you can click on the image to make it bigger). A little disclaimer: Cole is drinking ROOT beer in the picture! We've been busy having fun - sorry I have been such a nonexistent blogger! I will try to be better, I promise!

Cole turns 5!

I cannot believe Cole turned 5 on June 17th! It's true that time really does fly when you're having fun! This is him about 10 days old:

And here's a picture of him on his b-day! He has grown so much!

We had a family party on his actual birthday that his cousins, aunts & uncles, and grandparents came to. My big brother Ben was in town doing some training for his new job, so we were glad he got to come!

On the Saturday after his b-day, we had a friend party with his friends from preschool and church. It was a lot of work, but Cole and his friends had a good time, I think! Thanks to all his friends who came - you made his day! Ryan found an awesome water slide on Craig's list. Of course, he had to set it up inside the house for the kids and test it out (without the water, thankfully). They had a blast and thought it was so funny to have a huge slide inside the house!

Katelyn was too little and kind of scared of the big slide, but she went on her little slide just fine! It's weird that it fit inside our house!

We're so glad to have Cole in our family! We love you tons!