Sometimes Joshua says things that make my heart melt and then there are those things that I want to laugh at but I hold back so that he won’t lose that innocent enthusiasm. Just a couple things lately…yesterday Kelsey said to Joshua ‘Guess what!’ Joshua almost asked ‘What?’ but thought again and screamed ‘No, MOMMY loves me!’ Maybe I say ‘Guess what! I love you!’ too much??? Heh!!

Then today on the way to take James to school Joshua pointed to a house and said ‘Thomas S. Monson was in that house.’ I have no idea why Thomas S. Monson would be in a little shack on Geneva Rd. in Provo, but Joshua insisted. I told him Thomas S. Monson lived in Salt Lake City. He said ‘Well, the boy in my radio in my room told ME to follow the prophet but I don’t know where Thomas S. Monson is so I can’t follow him! That’s why I think he is in that house.’ It pretty much took everything I had not to laugh. So stinkin’ adorable.

Lastly, here’s a layout about his latest idea for church attire…

ith 5 bodies wearing clothing in this house and 3 of 4 bathrooms being ‘tinkled in’ by boys, laundry can be an every day event. The good news is I am not the live-in laundress! Two words…FRONT LOADERS. We got our first front loading washer when James was about 5 and it was such a fascination for him, he INSISTED on helping with laundry. After a week or two of helping, he was doing his own laundry from start to finish with minimal help from me. I very much enjoyed the help and made this new ‘trend’ into a tradition. As soon as Kelsey was old enough to lug her laundry basket to the washer, she was enlisted. Joshua is already helping with his own laundry. Ken does his own because he doesn’t like the perfumes in the detergent and fabric softener I use for mine. Now everyone has a laundry day – scheduled on gmail, of course (I have two so I can do household stuff like bathroom mats) and it all gets done magically! The older kids have Laundry#1 (wash/dry) one day and Laundry #2 (fold/put away/hang-up) the next day. They also help Joshua with his. If they don’t get it done, they have no clean clothes and there’s no one else to blame.

I firmly believe that the boys’ wives will LOVE LOVE LOVE me for this ‘tradition’ and Kelsey will too when she implements it in her own home. I’m not shirking a motherly duty…in fact, I’m nurturing self reliance and instilling a healthy appreciation for work! Hmmm…I wonder how well it would go over if I had them start doing MY laundry…JUST KIDDING!!!

I love reminding Ken that he let me wait around all day on Valentine’s Day in 1998 *thinking* I was going to get a ring that day, only to go home empty handed and thoroughly confused. The next day he proposed. Who proposes on the day AFTER? My husband. Good thing he’s cute!

Obviously we aren’t big on frilly fluff for Valentine’s day – or any other holiday, for that matter. But I did happen to have a big chunk of dark chocolate in the cupboard and strawberries in the fridge. Kelsey and I made a bunch of chocolate covered goodness to show our love (maybe just of chocolate). We covered Ken’s with whipped cream (who doesn’t like chocolate? My husband.) and we all had a yummy after church snack. I grabbed my phone and snapped a few bad shots for a layout. Some high contrast adjustments and creative cropping made for a half way decent page!

And…in case you have some sweet shots that need a great digital collection to match, I’m adding my kits back into the shop slowly! The Viva Valentino Collection is up and it’s only $2 for the rest of the month of LOVE!

A couple weeks ago I went to see my grandma, in Oregon. I hadn’t seen her in a few years because we moved far away and we’re the only family here in Utah on this side so there aren’t many events to bring her out here. Sad, but true. I love her to pieces! At 94 she’s still sweet and funny and SO loving. I’m pretty sure I got a bunch of my creative spirit from her. She used to bring us handmade dolls and clothes and stuffed animals all the time as a kid. So glad I got to see her and give her big hugs!

While I was in Portland, I was also able to visit more family. Mom and my brother Ryan and his wife Lisa and their girls Cami, Lily and Maya. Super cute girls. So fun. They love to play games where you get to know people. Things like writing down 5 things that you love and having people guess what they are. And a game called WhooNu where you guess what things someone likes more than others. It was fun getting to know them better.
It was also great to see my cousins we called “The Portland Girls” growing up. Here’s a quick phone pic of me, Karmen and Dionne.

AND…I got to see my friend and former editor Molly Newman and her family. It was so great to see her in her natural habitat (as opposed to trade shows and meetings). I accompanied the whole family to the Portland Spelling Bee – yep, an adult spelling bee – and had the privilege of a basement photo session with her talented husband Jim. I stood in same kitchen she makes her awesome 365 soups in! I even caught her with a slotted spoon in hand. Winter has been mighty cold and my kitchen and my family thank her for her genius idea. For her it’s 365 but for us it’s yummy warm goodness a couple times a week and I couldn’t be happier. I’ve never used a bouquet garni before, nor have I used so much bacon in so many soups. I am loving it and since James and Ken call bacon “Man Candy” and “The King of All Meats”, they have no complaints either. Soup for all! (Or potage if you’re fancy!)

A few weeks ago in Sunday School, the Family History Consultant for our ward told us about the “New Family Search” site (http://www.new.familysearch.org)and also talked about adults AND youth volunteering to do indexing. Ken and I came home and registered on the new site and poked around a bit. The really fun thing for me was to see my family tree already filled out. It’s generated by church records, so the people who have been members or had their temple work done are already there. No data entry required, no uploading gedcoms, just there! (For non-LDS members, the familysearch.org site is still the place to go).

A couple years ago I gathered a bunch of information on family members of one line on my mom’s side (Ballard/Havens) and I pulled out the folder and entered them all in. The great thing about this new site is that they have you check to see if you’ve duplicated a person who has already been entered. This gives me a bit more confidence in my information because I can make sure I’m not redoing something that’s already been done. It’s been fun and I’ve been to the BYU family history library twice this week to get copies of pedigree charts in books they have on fiche. Overall, this is a far easier experience than it was just 2 years ago. President Hinckley was definitely inspired to ask for the creation of such a program.

As far as indexing goes, James(15) has indexed (indexing is entering data from census images into forms so the text is searchable) about 60 names so far and we’ve asked him to spend about 15 minutes a day on it before he plays computer games. Who’d have thought volunteer work could be done on a computer? To volunteer any time, any place, any attire(my favorite part), go HERE.

I scanned some of my mom’s photos a while back and I particularly appreciate one very old photo of four generations of my ancestors. Combined with another photo from my own life, there are 6 generations. Pretty cool! The woman on the left in the first photo is the woman holding me in the photo below.

Lots of fond memories are being brought to the surface today of Ken’s Grandpa, Walter Curtis Snyder, who passed away this weekend. He was a great man. My memories are of a caring, loving grandfather who valued family above anything else. I’ve only known him for about 14 years and in that short amount of time, he became someone to look up to and admire. So much so, that we named Joshua after him (middle name Curtis). I see a lot of him in Ken and I’m betting I’ve seen a glimpse of my husband at 80. He was a pretty cute 80 year old, so I’ll be looking forward to it. Here are a few photos of Grandpa Snyder & family.

With the change in temps here in Utah, I’ve broken out the stock pot and made a couple of soups. The creamy split pea and ham I made Thursday went over well with the family and even the leftovers are gone. I’m afraid, however, that today’s Beef Bourguignon will be my lunch for the next week. It got no love from my picky eaters. Mind you, this was not the infamous best-beef-dish-ever-created Julia-Child recipe, but I *thought* it would be well received. Nope…no second helpings on this one. (In their defense, they didn’t HATE it).

All I have to say about it (besides the fact that I LOVED it) is that I live in a house full of Vanillas and I am a New York Super Fudge Chunk. I guess I’ll save my delicacies for daytime when they’re all away. Anyone want to come over for lunch? I’ve got a big pot of Beef Bourguignon.

I guess that would be a yes since they are controlled by their owners. So, this blog is shifting because my life has shifted. I still do digital scrapbooking but it’s not the major focus of my life anymore. So, while I may post a tip or two or a layout here or there, I’ll mostly be posting about my favorite things and people and events in my homemaking life. Starting……now!

Life Imitates Art Imitates Life…09/28/09

Like most other 3 year old boys, Joshua has a fascination with the movie Cars. He names all of his matchbox cars after the characters in the movie (i.e. every box type truck is called ‘Mater and every Porsche is Sally). He has Lightning McQueen underwear and bedding and every semi-truck we see is Mac. So, when we pulled into the parking lot of Smith’s in Provo and saw that it was being resurfaced, he shouted for joy! He went on to tell me how they were making a new street with the big machine and the roller…”Just like Lightning McQueen in the movie Cars!” Instead of going right into the store to get our groceries, I (best mom ever as far as he was concerned) took him right over to the edge of the caution tape and we watched the ‘new street’ being made. It didn’t smell that great but he didn’t care. And his beaming face made me not care much either. I didn’t think to snap a bad camera-phone pic until after we got our groceries, but I did get it. In all its 3mpx glory.