Scrapfest

Last Saturday, I spent the day at one of my other favorite places (besides Bosa Donuts and the temple). It's been months - five actually, but who's counting - since the last time I spent any time with my scrapbook supplies, so I was really looking forward to a long, good day with my pictures and crafty spirit. I just booked the class a few weeks ago after realizing that we actually had a free Saturday and knowing that I had a bunch of store credit burning a hole in my account from all my past cancelled classes. It proved to be a great day. Lots of pages made. Lots of laughing with my girlfriends who I've missed. Lemon slushes from Sonic and Tia Rosas rolled tacos. It was all good. And Ryan and our kiddos had such a great day together. They need good father/kid days together where Dad spoils them rotten. They texted me pictures throughout the day at all the fun places they went. I was actually a tinge sad not to be with them, but since I was staring at their cute faces all day on my scrapbook pages, I managed to survive.

These are a few of my recent pages. The one at the top is my favorite page right now. Probably 'cause the kids are so cute and the memories from our summer Park City vacation are so awesome.

(I figured I should scrapbook last year's race since the 2010 race is only few days away. Now I don't feel so behind.)

(Yes, this is last year's 5th grade spread, but hey...we haven't even gotten the 2010 pictures back yet so I'm still ahead of the game, right?)

Happy Birthday, Mom!

My mom and dad just got back from Seattle yesterday. Here's a picture of my beautiful mother standing in front of the famed Public Market along the coast. My dad emailed this little gem to me while they were up in the northwest enjoying their getaway. Most every spring, my dad combines one of his many basketball trips into a little vacation and takes my mom on a trip with him, sometime close to her birthday. Last year it was San Francisco, this year Seattle.

Spending hours in a college gym, watching endless games of basketball, is not exactly my mom's idea of a good time. But she's a good sport about it and goes from time to time to be with my dad. My dad has been in the college basketball business (officiating, evaluating officials, sitting on the rules committee, commissioning, scheduling, training, etc.) ever since I can remember, so my mom has certainly had years of exposure to the game. Thankfully, they spent much more of their Seattle trip sight seeing, touring, eating out, shopping, and enjoying the beautiful Westin in downtown Seattle than they did inside the gym. They reported a wonderful trip! We sure missed them but are so glad they got to steal away for a long weekend together.

Today is my mom's 61st birthday. She was born March 24, 1949, in Phoenix, Arizona to Reid and Sue Teeples.

Named Cynthia Sue Teeples, she was the first of five girls. The Teeples crew grew up in Phoenix, living most of their life at my grandparents' home on Avalon (44th & Thomas).

Cindy, Pauly, Laurie, Nancy & Kristin Teeples

My mom went to Arcadia High (Class of 1967) where she was a Pommie and terrific dancer. She had legs for days! She was so beautiful (and still is). She's 4th from the right in the picture below.

She hated math (and still does), but was good at English and art (and still is). My mom started sewing during her middle school years, and became an amazing seamstress. Her parents bought her first sewing machine and enrolled her in private sewing lessons for her 8th grade graduation gift. I inherited that Singer machine from my mom and am still using it to this day. I am no where near the seamstress that my mom is, but she of course taught me the basics and is always there when I need some help with a costume or have a question about how to finish up one of my little projects. I love to sew, and wish I had more time to do it.

As she grew up, my mom sewed most of her own clothes and many for her four sisters, including prom dresses. When her younger sister, my Aunt Nancy, got married, my mom sewed an amazing wedding dress for her along with all of the bridesmaids and flower girl dresses (I need to find the picture and add it here). When I was a young child, my mom worked as a seamstress doing alterations at LeSueur's Men's Store in downtown Mesa. During my college and early married years, my mom sewed all kinds of draperies, window treatments, and bedding for high end model and custom homes. She's made all the beautiful window treatments in my house (and every house I've lived in), along with my current comforter.

After she graduated from Arcadia, my mom went up to college at BYU, where she met my dad, also an Arizona native. They fell in love pretty fast, and were married when my mom was just 20 years old.

Although my mom always envisioned having a big family, she and my dad were blessed with just two kids: my older brother, Michael, and me.

Michael and his wife, Shari, live in Gilbert with their five fabulous kids, and we are, of course, in Mesa just a hop, skip and a jump away from where I grew up. Here's a picture of our crew taken a few years ago. We need a new one! Nine grandkids from her two offspring. Not bad!

My folks still live in the house where I grew up. They built it in 1974 when I was just two years old. Certainly, the place has changed quite a bit over the years. It has expanded by about 1,000 square feet, the orange colored slump block has been stuccoed over and painted tan, the 1970's hip orange shag carpet was replaced with a neutral tone, and the yellow and brown floral kitchen wallpaper, then the fruit wallpaper, were eventually replaced with just paint. They built a pool and spa themselves (my mom used to drive a cement truck, by the way, and she poured our own pool) when I was in early elementary school.

But even though the place has changed much over the years, it is and always will still be the same. It's the same place where we, and really everyone we know, is always made to feel incredibly welcome. It's the place where our whole extended family gathers on birthdays and holidays and just because days for great dinners. It's the place the grand kids love to swim and visit. The place that everyone knows they will be made to feel like they are the most special person on the planet. It's home and it always will be.

Thanks, mom, for being such an incredible mom, and for helping all of us become better because of your example of service and love.

This is a scrapbook page I made back in 2005, honoring my mom. It pretty much sums up how I feel about her:

(Double click to make it larger)

Happy Birthday, Mom! I love you!

Happy St. Patty's Day

Remembering last year on this day...

We didn't make our annual spring break zoo trek this year, but I was OK with that. Not feeling up to par yesterday, I was kinda glad that the kids decided to do something else. The weather this week is so gorgeous, though. It's supposed to be in the low 80's today, and totally sunny out. Kinda makes me wish I was laying outside on the lawn chair soaking up some sun. Or at the beach in Rocky Point with our friends. Or just about anywhere outside. At least tomorrow we'll be up north enjoying the sunny 65 degree mountains, playing with cousins, and lovin' life.

Happy St. Patty's Day! (I forgot to wear green. Don't pinch me...)

Time To Blossom

I just thought I'd forward this link in case anyone is interested in signing up their daughters for this fun Young Women's Conference. It's at the Mesa Hilton June 14-18 for girls age 11-16 (must be 12 by 12/31/10). Barrett and a couple of her cousins are going and are soooooo exicted!

http://timetoblossom.com/YW/Home.html

And since I'm talking about Barrett, I just thought I'd post one of my favorite scrapbook pages of her and Randi, together last spring at our house. So cute!

Gifts from the Heart

I scrapbooked this page last fall. My beautiful and very talented niece, Randi, took these pictures of my very beautiful and talented daughter, Barrett, sometime last year. I copied the pics from her blog. In fact, Randi took lots of pictures of my cute kids and made me the most precious book for Christmas. She did in on Shutterfly. It is hardbound with a lime green cover, and features one very sassy and breathtaking picture of Miss Rowan on the cover. Here it is.

My book sits prominently on the black armoire in the kitchen, and I smile every single day as I walk by it. So Rowan!

On Christmas day when I opened the most perfect gift, my eyes instantly teared up as I turned each page. I am always the one making the homemade stuff in our family. Typically, I've been the photographer, scrapbooker, movie maker, calendar creator, etc., and I love doing that. Gifts from the heart mean the world to me. When my kiddos make me a handmade card or color me a heartfelt picture, I cherish it.

Really, I don't think anyone has ever made anything as special as that book from my dear, sweet Randi. I love it! And I love that Randi is only 13 and has already developed such a love for photography. She's got a great eye and talent. We gave her a "Flip" for Christmas (one of those portable video cameras), and she's already making her own movies on iMovie. Oh, Randi...you're a girl after my own heart!

Here's the full body shot from that fun photo shoot. Courtesy of Miss Randi. My amazing SIL, Shari, rounded out the day of homemade gifts with a beautiful apron she sewed (I love aprons and wear them constantly in the kitchen as my family can attest), as well as a homemade cape for Easton. It is a black superhero cape sporting a big red "E" on the back. Captain Easton! So perfect for a kid living in the midst of three sisters.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

I am getting excited for Christmas, that's for sure. I've been having a lot of fun scheming and planning and decorating and shopping and wrapping...I've got all sorts of things floating around up there.

I hope they all come to fruition.

My kids, of course, have the Christmas itch too. A couple of years ago, my SIL, Shari, shared her marvelous idea to give each child a reindeer name. When the presents get wrapped and put under the tree, names like Dasher, Cupid, Rudolph, Blitzen and Prancer appear instead of the real names of my angels. It's awesome that there's no more counting gifts, questions about why someone has more than the other. No more snooping, shaking, or guessing. Just lots of wondering and hoping...I love it.

On Christmas morning, we let the kids try and guess which reindeer they are, which adds to the fun. Easton is convinced he is Rudolph this year. With Christmas CD's being played on the blue boom box pretty much every hour of the day, Easton gets excited every time Rudolph gets mentioned in a song. He knows which CD showcases that song first, so he plays it over and over and over, telling me, "Mom! Listen! They're gonna say my reindeer name!" So funny.

Barrett tried to convince me that she had "ways" of figuring out which reindeer belonged to which kid. But then I blew her theory out of the water when I told her that our reindeer have middle names too. She gave me the wide eyed look of disbelief. Priceless. Since Afton was successful in guessing her name last year, she too is convinced that she already knows who she is. We'll just see about that...

So I was looking through some of my 2005 scrapbook layouts just for fun, and I found this spread highlighting Christmas. Our kiddos were so small! I loved re-reading my journaling from 4 years ago.

(double click to see it larger)

Feet on the Ground

"If you want children to keep their feet on the ground, put some responsibility on their shoulders. " - Abigail Van Buren

I was looking for a good quote today to use on a special project, and I came across this one. I loved it. I am trying so hard to help my kids keep their feet on the ground in the midst of all the indulgence and excess in this world. Sometimes I worry that they have it too easy or that we don’t expect enough of them. Truly, they work hard in school and with their music. We expect great things. Actually, we expect them to do their best, but it just so happens that so far, their best has proven to be great. So the bar is set high. We expect them to help keep our house running by doing their share. Each child has been given “zones” that they are responsible for at home. That was Ryan’s idea, and I like it. Our beloved white board that hangs prominently as the only work of art (if you can call it that) in our laundry room is our method for communicating evening or weekend chores to the kids. “Go check the board.” The board needs to be cleared before playing. We expect them to earn and pay for some of the “extras” they want. Amazing how the “must haves” become less important when they are faced with parting with their own money.

But still…I wonder.

Are we really doing all we can/should to help keep them grounded by giving them responsibility? I think my parents did a good job raising my brother and I to understand the value of work, responsibility, and commitment by doing three things. First, they showed us by example. My parents have always worked hard. In the house, in the yard, in the church, in the service of others. Always working. My parents own more pairs of work gloves than anyone I know. Just yesterday, for example, they went over to my cousin J.R.’s house and mowed his yard so that he could focus on getting his house ready for move-in. They are always doing things like that. They have done a great job of instilling that work ethic in Michael and I, but are also now helping our kids, their grandkids, appreciate a good day’s labor. During the summer, Thursday mornings are traditionally “yard work” days at my parent’s house. The grandkids old enough to work hard and stay focused for a couple of straight hours are invited to come over and mow, weed, sweep, and do other necessary clean up. And it’s usually not just my parent’s acre lot, but the bonus of both my grandparent’s yards as well. (Grandpa Steve pays some good wages too. I tell him that he’s over paying the kids, but he tells me that they earned it.)

Second, my parents insisted that we make substantial contributions to the upkeep of our home and yard during our childhood/teen years. Everyone worked. Since it was just the two of us kids growing up, there was plenty of work to be shared. And if we “forgot” to do our chores before playing (not an acceptable choice), then we had a good “talking to” and some extra chores the next go round. It didn’t take long to figure out that we worked first and played later. Truly, it is amazing how much faster we worked when we had somewhere we really wanted to go or something fun we wanted to do.

When I was a young girl, my parents wanted to get their front yard landscaping done, but it needed some fill dirt spread to level the ground. Through some connection of which the details are now shady, they were able to obtain some very cheap (if not free) fill dirt, which they thought was a screamin’ deal. Unbeknownst to them, the fill dirt was laden with rocks.

Rocks, rocks, rocks.

So many rocks.

In fact, despite all our efforts to pick up and remove the rocks, they seemed to practically grow back every time they irrigated. Needless to say, both a common chore and an occasional punishment involved picking up rocks. But I was pretty wise in my youth. It didn’t take long to figure out that if I found a gigantic rock to fill half the bucket, then I could just cover it up with small ones and meet my bucket quota much quicker. I thought I had my parent’s fooled, but I’ve since learned that they knew my game all along. I remember on more than one occasion complaining to my dad about all the chores I had to do.

His simple, half-joking reply: “That’s why you have kids. When you have kids, you’ll do the same thing.”

But really, now that I am a mom, I know that he was not only teaching me to work for the benefit of our family at that time, but so that I would learn the life-long importance of work and responsibility. He wanted to keep me grounded. I so much appreciate the lessons both my parents taught me.

And thirdly, I think my parents helped us keep our feet on the ground by, ironically, giving us the freedoms we wanted, within reason, after we showed that we could be responsible and trusted. Trust is like a leash. It can be short and tight, or very long and free. I think all of us would admit that we like our freedom to choose and want to be trustworthy. That trust has to be earned. Of course, I made plenty of mistakes growing up and still make them all the time. Of course, there are choices I wish I’d made differently. But I was grateful to have had parents who let me choose, who gave me some freedom, who trusted me. I was taught by their example, I was trained to work with their encouragement, I was enlightened by the wisdom they shared, and I was given the freedom to bloom. Even though I sometimes start to float, I think my feet are planted pretty squarely on the ground. And much of that is due to the influence of my good parents. I pray that as Ryan and I forge ahead in the parenting of our four precious souls, that they’ll be able to look back as adults, with feet firmly planted, and recognize the lessons learned in their youth.

Here are a few scrapbook pages featuring my terrific kids.

Happy 40th, Michael!

Here's a little shout-out to my #1 brother, Michael, who turned the BIG 4-0 today! I can't believe he's 40. That means I'm almost there! We celebrated on Sunday night with a delicious Mexican food dinner at Mike & Shari's house, courtesy of our one and only Enlightened Homemaker, Shari. Tasty as always. Then we watched a tribute "This is Your Life" movie I made for Michael on my Mac. It turned out great and I think he loved it. I loved making it for sure. What a great experience it was going through so many old pictures and re-living the memories.

Truly, I am blessed to be his little sister in so many ways. He's taught me much about living a Christ-like life by his humble example. He makes me smile. He always greets me with a hug and a kiss on the cheek. What sister could be so lucky? When we were kids, he looked after me, included me, played with me, and treated me more like a friend than a little sister. I have loved him forever! And now that we are both grown with families of our own, I am so blessed that we are still such good friends and love to go out on double dates, vacation together, and spend time with our families.

Here are a couple of scrapbook pages I did last year in honor of the world's best brother. Happy 40th birthday, Michael! You're the best!

Measuring Up

Some days are better than others. Some days, the little tender mercies of the Lord are more evident and our souls seem a little more “in tune.” Some days, it seems like my “cup runneth over.” Yesterday, Sunday, was one of those great days for me. Every one of our meetings was good and inspiring and what I needed to hear. I especially loved our sacrament meeting. Because of the upcoming General Conference this weekend, we had fast and testimony a week early. And even though I don’t love to fast, it’s so good for me spiritually. It helps me realize that I can be strong even when I am weak. It helps me feel a little more humble, a little more teachable, a little closer to the spirit. Sometimes we all need that I think.

Bishop Uncle Jim was back at church yesterday. He looked good and said he felt good. He finished his first round of treatment (8 days in the hospital) followed by a week of recovery. Round two will start in early October. At the end of our sacrament meeting, he stood and took about 5-10 minutes and shared some thoughts and testimony with our congregation. As always, he was humble and grateful, but so powerful in his message to us. My heart was full and my eyes were wet as I listened. Just what I needed to hear.

I was also really touched by the words of Craig Pulver, who is currently serving as first counselor in the bishopric. He is such a good man. He’s an avid bike rider, so he began his testimony talking about his Saturday morning bike ride and how he wasn’t really feeling up to par. He decided that he didn’t want to ride at the fast pace of his group, so he fell back and decided to ride alone that day. He plugged in his earphones and ipod, but said that he never turned them on. Instead, as he rode, he found that he had time to think with a clear head, with no distracting voices. He began singing some of his favorite church hymns. Then he recited the articles of faith. Then some of his favorite scriptures. All outloud, all while he was biking, all while he was alone on his ride. Craig said it was such an out of the ordinary thing for him. He talked about how he started to think a little more about his testimony of Christ and the gospel, and wondered how he “measured up.” He talked about how we seem to measure everything in this world with numbers (e.g., our sales goals, our home teaching, our finances, our weight, etc.). But our testimonies and faith can’t possibly be measured under such a test. And that is what God intended. We need to do our own self-evaluation and see how we “measure up” against the person we are striving to be. Again, just what I needed.

His anecdote rang so familiar. So many times as I am out running in the early morning hours, all by myself, no iPod or distractions, my mind roams free. I think of all kinds of things. I make lists in my head, I recite things I know, I plan for the day. I love it. Time for reflection and re-commitment is essential. I always know I can be better.

At the end of our meeting, our closing hymn was “Secret Prayer.” My parents were sitting in the pew right behind us. As I listened to my mom’s beautiful voice singing loud and perfect, I had the craziest flashback to my young childhood days. I vividly recalled being in the old chapel of the Lehi building where we attended church during my childhood years (before our current church was built). I remember laying on my mom’s lap while winding her fabric belt around and around my tiny fingers. She was gently stroking my hair and playing with my ear, which I love. And as I laid there, she sang “Secret Prayer” aloud with the congregation in that same perfect, simple, clear voice that I heard yesterday. I love to listen to my mom sing. I love the echo in the chorus of that song. First the women, then the men. Every phrase is an echo.

May my heart,
Be turned to pray.
Pray in secret, day by day.
That this boon,
To mortals giv’n,
May unite my soul with heav’n.

I smiled as I sat there yesterday, singing aloud with the congregation, remembering my church going days from long ago, loving listening to my mother sing. I am so grateful to have my parents in the same ward. I am grateful that they taught us the gospel and encouraged us to be our best. And I am most grateful that no matter what, I always have the opportunity to try a little harder to be a little better.

I know that it’s nowhere near Mother’s Day, but as I was typing these thoughts about my wonderful mom, I thought of the pictures that my mom and I took together on Mother’s Day this year.

Almost 4

Easton's big day is fast approaching. Only four more days to wait until the Lightning McQueen pinata gets cracked open by a bunch of excited cousins enjoying the four year old birthday party of Easton Matthew Brown. Just about every night for the past two weeks as I tuck my little man in for bed, he asks, "How many more days until it's my birthday?" I tell him, but he doesn't really get the concept of time so well yet. So he immediately follows up my answer with another question, "Is that going to be a really long time?" Tonight, with only 4 days to go, I could honestly tell him that it's not going to be a very long time at all. It will be Saturday before he knows it. He smiled contentedly.

Without sounding too much like a cliche, I really can't believe that it's been four years since Easton blessed our family with his presence. I know that time seems to pass more and more quickly the older we get - no doubt about it - but it really seems like we just celebrated his 3rd birthday. I still remember the cake, the presents, the party. And here we go again. The really terrific part about this year's milestone is that Easton is getting old enough now to understand what birthdays are all about and old enough to anticipate his big day with much enthusiasm. He talks about it all the time.

Last Friday, he and I went out to do errands and tackle some things on my to-do list. Conveniently located next to Michael's, one of my stops, was the Discount Party Store. It caught my eye so we decided to dash in and scout out the pinata selections. Easton instantly spotted the one he wanted, then found some napkins and cups to match. All in the theme of the "Cars" movie, one of Easton's favorite picks. And then the bonus: the Lightning McQueen cake that Aunt Jayme is making for the party. She is so talented with her cakes - I can hardly wait to see it!

So in honor of Easton's upcoming celebration, I'm posting some scrapbook layouts this week about him. Here are some of the pages I really love. I'll share Easton's past birthday layouts later this week as well.