Some Joy and Cake

I actually got some craftiness done today. Nathan took a nap, Jared didn't but he was okay with sitting on the couch while I got a few things finished. First up is some Joy. Ali Edwards had a holiday project in her blog/eZine a few weeks ago and I gave it a whirl this afternoon. Very simple project, lots of squares, some stamping, rubons and Stickles. Also got to break in a new Cricut cartridge (Opposites Attract) to cut out JOY. I had a ton of these 4x10 frames from photography jobs left over so it seemed like a good size to make these frames. I'm giving one to Sue and the other to Tony/Tanya tomorrow.

Speaking of tomorrow, we are celebrating Sue's birthday at Tony and Tanya's house. Nick and I are making a lasagna and I made a Better than Sex cake. I got the recipe from the Cake Mix Dr. book, love this book.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is the crazy holiday for us. It is the only holiday that has to be shared with both families. That is the lucky part of having a multi-religion family. Nick's mom, Sue, starts her dinner a bit earlier than my parents do so it works out really well. We went over there in the morning and got to hang out with everyone, boys got to play some football and just chill out. The food was wonderful as usual. That is the awesome part about going to two different houses, different food at each house. My personal favorite is the corn casserole at Sue's house.

Then we went to my parents house. My parents had a little incident with their turkey and it got done way before they thought it would, hence dry. Michael was there with a backup though, his turkey was amazing. I have to find out what he did to it, it had rosemary and all sorts of spices on it. The kids chowed on cornbread that I brought and finished off the mini pumpkin muffins that I brought as well. They really did eat good all day.

Here are some pictures:
Lily getting a kick out of Jared


Nathan and daddy just chillin'


Sue's table


Uncle Tony celebrating his football catch


Kids playing catch


Michael carving up the "dry" bird


Sunset from my parents backyard (they have a view fence in the backyard)

Flagstaff day 2

We survived the night, Jared hardly moved and never really heard Nathan wake up. Nathan was having a rougher night, his bottom molars are cutting through right now so it was waking him up more than he normally would have. It was so cute though, one of the times that he woke up he said he was chilly and he did his best to suck the heat off of me. We had breakfast at the In The Pines restraurant at Little America. It was much easier to just stay close rather than have to get everyone dressed for winter and into the car to go to the McDonalds or something similar. Jared picked out blueberry pancakes and Nathan got French Toast, both were quickly consumed. Their kids menu stunk though, we just ordered everything off of the regular menu.

After breakfast we packed up and headed out to Sunset Crater. Our actual only plan for the day was to go to Lowell Observatory, but it didn't open until noon so we found something else cool. The crater and visitor center was a blast, we tried to do the long trail, but it was a bit too rocky for Jared and Nathan really wasn't sure of it, so we had to carry him. So we stayed on the paved trail and then played more at the visitor's center. You are able to create an earthquake by jumping on the ground, they had a blast getting to see the waves on the screen. Then we hit Lowell Observatory, more cool stuff, lots of mini science exhibits and we got to see the sun. After this little jaunt we headed out of town and onto home. The ride home was a bit noisier than the one up. Only Jared fell asleep on the way home and Nathan was a pistol because he was tired and just wouldn't give up and fall asleep.

Such a good trip, we are definitely going to be taking more

We are in Flagstaff

Internet access in hotels is awesome. Between planning on watching a movie in the bathroom tonight and Jared being insistent on downloading his pictures from his camera, I brought the Powerbook.

Okay, so these two kids love the outdoors, it totally suits them. The car ride up was a total breeze, we left the house at 12:30 and we took the 101 up and around the whole valley, what a nice way to bypass all of the central Phoenix traffic. By the time we were at the Deer Valley exit, Nathan was out, Jared was a little trickier, he fell asleep before we started to make the climb. They both woke up about 20 minutes outside of Flagstaff and we turned on Cars for them, they never once spoke. Of course they wouldn’t pay attention to us trying to show them the San Francisco Peaks.

We dropped off our stuff in the room, Little America Hotel is anyone was wondering, checked out everything including the phone by the toilet and then we went outside for a walk. The prospect of picking up each and every pinecone was terribly appealing to Jared. Nathan didn’t want to be poked by the pine needles on the ground so he steered clear of them.

For dinner we went to Oregano’s, didn’t think it would be bad for 5:30 on a Monday, but it was, we totally should have gone to Pizza Hut (next time we will). Everyone is fast asleep right now including Nick. He really needed the extra sleep, Nathan’s still crazy sleeping habits are hard to deal with. Supposed to have free Hi-speed in the room, but I can’t figure out what settings to do since I think they were planned for PC’s. I’m posting this from the lobby and then onto some knitting for me.

The random picture of me thrown in there is to show that I actually have multiple colors in my hair now. Corri who I work with at Recollections also is a stylist and I finally got in this morning for a much needed cut and color.

Going to Flagstaff

It has only taken us 4.5 years to take a trip where we stay overnight. This will be our first overnight stay with the kids. I think they are going to do fantastic. Nathan is very psyched about going. I don't think he has any clue about what Flagstaff really is, but he knows we are going to be driving for a while to get there.

I've got car toys ready to go, plenty of books and crayons. Target had an amazing price on a dual screen DVD player for the car. I snatched it up first thing yesterday. I plan on getting to Blockbuster to pick up a new movie for them to watch. We are actually hoping that they fall asleep in the car since we'll be leaving around naptime, but if that doesn't work out, I figure Cars will do just fine for them. So excited for them to experience some cold weather. I knit Nathan up a quick hat out of one of the many balls of rainbow Kareoke that I have from SWTC. It is the same hat that I made for Jared last year, so cute, I'll be sure to have a picture posted when we get back. I also brought all of my knitting projects with me. I've got 6 hours of driving ahead of me, should be able to make a dent in some of my started projects.

Have a great couple of days!!!!

Three Stamp Challenge

I've really been needing to scrapbook lately, just feeling the itch that it has been way too long without touching and cutting up paper and pictures. Yes, I've done other crafty things, been working on two different sweater projects and definitely working on photos for both clients and myself, but there seems to be something very soothing to creating a new page. Today was a perfect day, Nathan was heavily drugged today as his two year molars are killing him, this translates to taking a rather decent nap Ione of the little buggers broke through this morning). Jared wanted to pull out his paper and cut stuff up to, so I took the opportunity. Ali posted a challenge on her blog to use three different stamps and enjoy the process of the imperfection that can be created.

I used stars (Fontwerks), flourish (Autumn Leaves) and the Observation stamp from 7Gypsies. The paper is 7Gypsies and American Crafts. I also included some Basic Grey ribbon.

We saw Mercury today

Today Mercury passed in front of the sun and we were able to get a view of it. Between noon and 5 today it was visible using telescopes with solar filters attached. The East Valley Astronomy Club had their members setup shop at the Riparian preserve at Greenfield and Guadalupe. I got Jared picked up, then Madi (I was feeding her Sonic tonight), then we went to the preserve. They have an observatory there with a really large telescope. All three kids got a kick out of it, Jared and Madi got up there and looked through the eyepiece. The astronomy guy was helping them figure out what they were seeing. Hopefully they were able to see the black dot on the big white sun (little black dot was Mercury). Then we finished off the day with a good dose of playtime at the preserve. Here are pics from the day.

Coupon Sense rocks

I had a really good trip to Safeway today. They have a deal right now for buy 10 Betty Crocker items get $10 off instantly. Most of the items have coupons that can be used. I got 2 boxes of Bisquick, 3 Cookie pouches, 2 Crisco sprays and 3 brownie mixes for a total of $1.40. If anyone is interested in signing up for Coupon Sense make sure to use me as a referral. This program is awesome. I don't always do it, but when I do, it is totally worth it.

Woody and Buzz

Here are the boys in the two picture that I got of them. I was trying to get them ready while there was a bit more sunlight left but that wasn't going to happen. The minute we got outside they wanted to get down to business so this was the best I could do. Both kids had a blast and Grandma Sue came over to see them and help trick or treat. Of course they got into wayyyyy too much candy last night so it took us a while to get them to go to sleep, but it is so worth it to hear them say Trick or Treat and thank you to everyone who we saw.