Home Sweet Home

My daughter and I just got home to Arizona last night...but not without a few hiccups.  First, we were flying Delta, and the only layover option for where we were was Atlanta.  Yeah....did ya see the snow storms up there?  So my first flight was canceled and rescheduled for two days later.  Ok, I can deal with that.  Then I kept checking up on my flight status and everything was good.  I checked one last time on our way to the airport...canceled.  Really???  So we went into the airport and talked to the ticket people and they said I had already been rescheduled for another two days later.  The ticket guy looked at me and said, "Let's do better than that."  YES!  So they ended up getting us on an American flight instead through Dallas, same day!  It was awesome!  Yay for the Delta ticket guy at Fort Walton Beach airport!  Of course, traveling alone with a two year old is quite an adventure in itself.  My carry-on bag was crazy packed and Caylan refused to wear her own backpack, so I was carrying that too.  Oh, and of course she needed me to carry her as well.  Sure, why not?  I have nothing else to carry, right?  I was quite a sight.  But we survived.  My husband came to pick us up at the airport, tulips in hand (my favorite)!  The house was spotless when we got home and I've never seen my dogs so happy to see us.  It was a great homecoming.

Now it's time to get back into the swing of things.  I have an OB appointment today, we're having lunch with my husband, and we have to go grocery shopping.  And I am most definitely diving into my scrapbooking!!!  I have so much catching up to do!

Oh, and another cool thing last night - we were flying into Tucson as President Obama was leaving.  We actually passed Air Force One in the air and got to see it.  Well, it looked more like a lot of blinking lights because it was dark, but we all waved.  It was pretty cool.  The President landed at Davis-Monthan, which is where my husband works and he was able to get a couple of pictures of the plane.  Pretty awesome.

I'm a Groovy Chick!

Exciting announcement: I'm a Groovy Chick over at the If It's Groovy blog.  If you haven't check it out yet, please go over and follow it!  They have great challenges that will push you out of your comfort zone and the ladies over there are so talented.  January's challenge is to use crayons on your layout, either using a rubbing or another creative way.  I hope you will all come over and check us out!

"A Bright New Year"

Happy 2011 everyone!  Over at The Sampler, the January kit is now available for purchase!  It's called "A Bright New Year" and let me tell you, it's gorgeous!  I'm drooling over the pictures and I can't wait to get home and start playing!  The creative juices are already flowing.  Be sure to order yours today and share your work with us!

Goodbye 2010

Wow, I can't believe 2010 is already over.  What a year it's been.  I've learned quite a lot.  Here are the top 10 things I've learned in 2010:

1.  Being a homeowner is awesome and hard at the same time.
2.  I'm super excited to experience the baby phase again next year.  I can't wait!
3.  Traveling with a 2-year-old wasn't as painful as I thought it was going to be.
4.  Potty training really is up to the child.  Can't force it too hard.
5.  I love love love Modern Family.  Love.
6.  I feel the same way about Dexter, with a few more loves in there.
7.  I will not sign up for a full year of personal training again.  Not worth it.
8.  Tucson, AZ is absolutely beautiful, despite the heat.
9.  I'm a pretty hardcore Republican.
10.  I'm really looking forward to what 2011 will teach me.

I hope that everyone has a safe New Year's celebration.  Happy New Year everyone!  Bring on 2011!

Merry Christmas!

Hi everyone!  I hope that you all are having a wonderful holiday season!  I'm traveling to Florida to visit my family for three weeks starting tomorrow, so I won't be posting as often, although I will try to pop in a couple of times.  I won't be on again until after Christmas, so MERRY CHRISTMAS everyone!  Ok, onto the December Daily updates:

I also had my first OB appointment today and everything looks great!  I'm 8 weeks and 1 day today.  We did a vaginal ultrasound and I was able to see my little peanut and see the heartbeat.  So exciting!  My due date is July 31, but if I have another C-section (which I probably will), we'll schedule it at 39 weeks, so we're still looking towards the end of July. 

I hope that everyone has a wonderful and safe holiday season!

Dec Daily Update

Here are my most recent December Daily pages.  It's hard to sit down everyday and add details, so I'm keeping a running list of what I want to record on which date. 

This weekend we are getting all of the last minute details done to prepare for our trip.  Including:
-laundry
-packing
-eating all of the parishable food in the house
-trying not to stress out
We leave for Florida on Tuesday and we're all so excited to spend some good quality time with our family.  I'll be back Monday with more updates from my DD and hopefully no stress stories!  Have a great weekend everyone!

The Sampler!

I just got the great news that I'll be designing for The Sampler, which is a kit club linked to Scrapbooking Supplies R Us.  I'm so excited about this!  To get a monthly kit to play with and make beautiful pages, count me in!  I start in January so I hope you will come follow me and the other great design team ladies as we work with our kits.  I'll be sure to share more details as I get them, but go and check them out!

I'll be back tomorrow with my December Daily update!

Book Review - Mercy

I just finished a book called Mercy by Jodi Picoult.  I. Love. Jodi. Picoult.  She is my favorite author.  Favorite!  She writes about hard issues that make you feel things you probably shouldn't.  In this case, she makes you feel sympathy for a man who killed his wife.  You spend the entire book hoping that he'll be found Not Guilty, regardless of the fact that he admittedly killed her.  I won't give anything away, but one of the main characters just made me so mad!  One of the main characters cheats on his wife (not the one who killed his wife, a different one).  And it made me SOOOOO mad!  I know that a lot of people cheat, but she really didn't deserve it.  I focused more on that than on the trial, that's how mad it made me.  As always, Picoult wrote a great book that made me feel so many emotions, including anger.  Another great book!

One of my goals for my 32nd year is to read 50 books, including the first book in each series that I'm interested in reading, to see if I do in fact want to read the whole series.  I decided my next book will be one of these series starters.  I'm moving on to the first book of a series that my mother and sister told me about.  It's called Nightwalkers by Jacquelyn Frank and the first book is about Jacob.

Updates, Updates, Updates

So much to say today!  Ok, let's start with my December Daily.  When I put the foundation of this book together, my husband was still scheduled to deploy.  So instead of ripping apart the pages I had already made about his deployment, I just added little notes about the cancellation of it.  I want to be able to look back and remember the change we went through and how thankful I am that he'll be us for the holidays this year.  So here are the first 5 days of my completed December Daily.

I'll show updates each week as I fill up my book!

Ok, second.  Have you checked out Scrapping the Moments yet?  No?  What are you waiting for?  There are so many talented ladies over there doing the challenges and kicking some scrappy butt!  You should be one of them.  Go to the site, sign up and look under the Forums tab for the challenge prompts.  These women are amazing!  Also, starting January 1, 2011, there will be a monthly contest going on.  You can enter it by doing any type of layout you want and you will be able to get points for elements on your page (you'll know the point system ahead of time).  What do you have to lose?  Go check it out!

In other news, all of my Christmas shopping is done, all plane tickets are booked, Christmas cards are being put together and mailed this week and we're gearing up for all of the holiday related activities.  Hope everyone has a great week!

December Mini Challenge

My December mini challenge is up on Scrapping the Moments!  Here's peek at what the finished product looks like:

If you want the full tutorial, go check out Scrapping the Moments.  There's also challenges up for cards, sketches, scrapping your stash, scrap lift, and a 3D challenge!  There's so much inspiration over there and I hope you go check it out!  Oh, and don't forget to sign up. ;)