Four Monkeys

Winkflash Sale Extended!

2010-02-04T18:00:00.001-07:00

So if there were any of you who wanted to take advantage of Winkflash's flat rate book sale but couldn't beat the clock...the deal has been extended to February 10th. Promo code ITSBACK.
BTW, I got my book and I LOVE it!

winkflash Book Sale!

2010-01-20T11:23:00.003-07:00

I'm really excited. winkflash is having a flat rate photo book sale. That means you can have up to 100 pages for a flat rate. The price depends on the size, starting at $12.95 and on up. I scrapbook in 12"x12" and they have a book that is pretty much square. I might have to make some minor adjustments but it's WAY better than the alternative, and my original, plan. If I printed each page out seperately the best price would be $2 each. I currently have 90 pages for 2009 and I have yet to do December. So... I'm pretty psyched I can get them all printed and bound in one book for less than $30...rather than $180+!

If you're not a current member, it's free to sign up. I'm going to use it as a place to store my pages in case my computer crashes...

You don't have to have photos already scrapped, they have layouts to fill in your pictures. I'm just going to do pages with a "full bleed" so my scrapbook page takes up the whole page.

If you're interested, use the coupon code: ITSBACK at checkout!

Ahg! I forgot to tell you to act fast...it ends the 27th!

Do you Lagoon?

2009-12-13T22:16:00.001-07:00

Yellowstone!

2009-12-09T18:38:00.002-07:00

Chaz's only vacation this summer was our trip to Island Park, Idaho with our neighbors at the end of August. It was such a relief to be able to relax after He took the DAT.

Turkey Day

2009-12-04T15:40:00.002-07:00

I left Chaz on his birthday this year. I took the girls up to the cabin so he could have some much-needed study time alone. He studied for 10 hours on his birthday and didn't even get fireworks.

Not even a week has passed since we got home and I have already scrapbooked Thanksgiving! My goal has been to get all of 2009 scrapbooked by the time we get our tax return or, even better, by mid-January! I only have July through November to do. :) Only.

Wynn's Heritage Assignment

2009-11-23T10:20:00.006-07:00

Wynn had a project for school to write about your heritage (or some part) and to make a little clothespin doll. She decided to do a viking because lots of people could do a pioneer and she wanted to be different.

My Family Heritage

By Wynn Gibbons

What I would like you to know about my family heritage:

A long time ago one of my ancestors was a viking. Vikings were warriors from a part of Europe called Scandinavia. Vikings were the best at building ships and sailing them. Their ships were called longships and the vikings would paint them lots of bright colors and put striped sails on them. If they were at sea and didn't know where the land was, the vikings would let go a bird, called a raven, and follow the bird to find land. Lots of people think the vikings had horns on their helmets, but they didn't.

In other parts of Europe women were not treated well. They couldn't do what they wanted. But the vikings were different. The viking women could have land, money, and even go fight with the men vikings.

We were supposed to work on the doll as a family. Wynn picked out the fabric and style for the clothes and decided on the kind of face and hair (and length). She wanted her doll to have spikes even though they didn't really have spikes.... Chaz helped out by carving the nubs off the acorn top for the shield so Wynn could paint it and by carving the sword. Wynn kept saying how her doll was the coolest and it would be the most awesome doll at school.

And yes, about the scrape on her nose and lip, she got hurt at her Papa and Grandma's house. She stole the little 3-wheeled bike Ellie had and, as she was zooming away on it, flipped over the front wheel and face planted. She cut the inside of both top and bottom lips too. I think half the ward asked about it on Sunday.

Canning Hotline

2009-11-06T17:28:00.003-07:00

I was chatting with my sister and found out there is a canning question hotline. Any question you have, any time, free. Sweet. If only I had that at the beginnning of the canning season... Well, here it is for you:
1(888)823-3663

A Love-Hate relationship with canning

2009-11-05T20:00:00.005-07:00

Some time around the end of August or beginning of November I heard much talk of canning and thought, "Why am I not canning?" I got the canning bug and proceeded to search out things to can. Then it all grew exponentially. I ended up canning more than I ever have before. This year I did:

peaches

peach pit jelly

apricots

pears

pear sauce

pear peel jelly

pear peel and peach pit jelly

sweet zuchini relish (anyone want some? I have WAY too much)

tomatoes

tomato soup

peach pear salsa (twice)

turkey

turkey broth

chicken

applesauce

...with some help from Chaz. (yes! Chaz!)

I am running low on canned beans (black and great northern) so maybe I'll get the gumption to do those sometime. Also, next year I plan on buying lots of carrots from my friends, the Donaldson's, and canning those as well.

Despite loving the feeling of accomplishment and how easy it is to pull a jar off the shelf and dump it in a pot, I must say...

I. am. SO. done. with. canning.

A Day For Play

2009-10-13T23:18:00.000-06:00

RIBS!

2009-10-13T08:10:00.004-06:00

Kiddie Art and Pre-School

2009-10-11T19:24:00.005-06:00

This is my summary page for Wynn's preschool experience. I am pretty happy with my method of preserving her artwork. I've heard from so many people how difficult it is to keep it under control (aka: keep it from taking over the house). We kept maybe... 2 originals (Including one she painted for her future baby brother...apparently I am going to have a couple boys next). I might have to add some more journalling talking about this Caden. He liked Wynn and wanted to marry her. For a while she was on a marriage kick and was constantly wondering who her future husband would be... :) When she was helping me with the journalling for this page she informed me that she was Lucas's girlfriend. Not too sure how I feel about that. I think it's kind of cute. But... she has a boyfriend. And she's 5.

Coral is on the computer and not cleaning

2009-09-22T14:00:00.003-06:00

Some more pages... I'm actually done with May! Every year I start out the new year scrapping and doing my best to keep up. I don't know if I've ever finished as far as May. Go me. Hope it lasts!

Child Labor

2009-09-09T13:18:00.001-06:00

Here's my latest page!

Hermit Me...

2009-08-09T22:09:00.003-06:00

I have been a hermit the past few days, enjoying (mostly) time with my new printer/scanner/copy/fax. LOVING the top document feeder. Without it I would never have been able to scan my Grandmother's wonderful geneology papers. She passed away a couple months ago and I have been designated to go through all her photos and little scraps of paper and scan them. Okay...I volunteered. I wanted to make sure I got a copy of her things and this was the best way to make sure that happened.

I have truly enjoyed learning so much more about her through her papers. I love to see the care she put into mounting newspaper clippings on cardboard and carefully wrapping them with plastic to keep them safe. She would write little notes of whatever she remembered...mostly dates for family history, and I keep finding little tidbits here and there. One of my favorite things I found in her geneology suitcase is this report card that was my great grandmother's, dated 1892.

I've learned so much about my family, and I've felt the spirit close. I'm so grateful for my wonderful Grandmother's example. She had a hard life, and always made the best of it. I love you Grandma! xoxoxox

A Fairy Tale....

2009-08-06T23:22:00.003-06:00

I have had many requests for pictures of the dresses I made, so I whipped up a page...I DON'T like the picture of me/my dress, but look at Wynn!

(Isn't she cute!)

Any photoshop pros out there that can tell me how to improve my shadows? I can't seem to make buttons and brads more real looking...I struggle!

Girl's Camp

2009-07-31T11:19:00.003-06:00

Here are my girl's camp pages...finally. I've had them mostly done for a long time now and just didn't spend the extra 5 minutes to get them post-ready. They aren't the cutest but I like how they show the fun, carefree spirit of our camp. The girls were so amazing, I hope I get to go next year too!

Fishies!

2009-06-18T01:21:00.005-06:00

I'm really loving getting so many pictures on one page...

Laziness

2009-06-15T21:53:00.002-06:00

Well, I've been rationalizing again. Rationalizing all the time I spend on the computer, that is. I tell myself that Ellie's nap can be my "me" time and I deserve it. But when she sleeps for 3-4 hours every day... I really need to use that time more constructivly! But this is what I did with yesterday's and today's "me" time...

LAZY SCRAPBOOKING

That's right, lazy. But at least it's done. I have a really hard time scrapbooking all the random pix of everyday. And I am at a point where I don't want a million pages...so here is my solution.

(and those of you pictured...I hope you don't mind. If you do, I'll fix it!)

I never thought I would like collages as much as I do.

And I know I've posted these pics but I actually scrapbooked them (finally). I love them. My family, I mean.

5 Years Old and Photogenic (when she wants to be)

2009-06-11T15:26:00.005-06:00

Wynn helped me scrapbook her birthday...if she keeps at it she will be a photoshop pro by the end of the summer!

I loved the pics from this trip to the zoo. I had sooo many good ones of Wynn (surprise) it was hard to choose!

The Latest...

2009-06-08T16:12:00.003-06:00

I'm not scrapbooking in any particular order. I have occasions I would LOVE to get scrappin' but I don't have pics from my siblings yet...and they inevitably have some good ones!

btw, I'm addicted to my computer...can you tell?

April pages

2009-05-28T13:39:00.006-06:00

My pages of our Easter weekend. Ta da!

And an April page...gotta love templates!

I loved this because it's so hard for me to scrapbook all the boring snapshots of everyday...but I still want to tell the story.

Picnic with friends

2009-05-20T16:28:00.002-06:00

We celebrated the end of the semester by actually playing with friends! We have been so busy, it was great to get together!

Thanks again, Mike, for teaching me to longboard!!! (SUPER fun!)

BIG Bubbles

2009-05-12T09:44:00.001-06:00

Another scrapbooking page... Park picnic with friends forthcoming...

Tiredness

2009-05-04T22:47:00.005-06:00

Today we were all tired. Chaz stayed up ALL night studying for a final today (only 2 left...) and the girls are both sick. They've had fevers and are pretty on edge emotionally. I'm tired from dealing with it all.

I've been going through my memorabilia box and found a bamboo spitwad shooter (Maybe a pea shooter? I don't actually know what a pea shooter is...) that my sister, Marla, brought back from the Philippines. I was super excited to show it to Wynn...I remember it being great fun. She asked me what it was and I explained how you made a spit wad (great thing to be teaching a 5 year old, I know!) and pushed it to the end, then you made another and pushed it in, with the pressure buildup in between forcing the first wad to shoot out. Well, I was trying to demonstrate and I broke it. So sad. I just sat there for a minute, trying to get over my disappointment. I was really looking forward to having fun playing with it with Wynn. Well, a couple minutes later, after I had returned to what I was doing, Wynn gets a piece of paper and explains her plan to cheer me up. She would draw me a super special picture because I broke my special gun thing that Aunt Marla gave me. It was so sweet! While working on her picture, Wynn had a couple breakdowns because it wasn't turning out quite like she wanted. She was so tired and not feeling well and was trying so hard to make it special for me! I've always dismissed the comments on how emotional girls can be, even at a young age. Well, now I know. Now I know.

Here is my special picture:

Wynn made sure that I looked really closely and saw the happy sun, and she explained to Chaz that, "It's a picture of you guys getting married. The fat on Mommy is just her big poofy dress."
I love my sweetheart of a daughter!

P.S. For those of you who don't have blogger logins or whatever, I've changed my setting so anyone can leave comments!

All done!

2009-04-27T16:59:00.003-06:00

Here are the rest of the pages for my Cali trip...yay! I'm actually done with a scrapbooking project!

Next pages of Cali Trip

2009-04-25T00:49:00.003-06:00

I finished these just a few minutes ago...and this template with the circles was tricky. But I did it! Yay for me!

Trip to California

2009-04-23T15:42:00.005-06:00

Rather than post all the hundreds of pictures that I took (as well as my sister-in-law, Emily) I am posting the pages I digitally scrapbooked. I learned how to use free templates and once I actually figured it out, it was super easy! I took 2 days learning how and doing the 2 pg filmstrip layout and I have done 2 pages today in an hour or so. (And I bet if you weren't as picky as I was about choosing and editing pictures it would be WAY faster!) I will post more as I finish them...

Kristyn and Penny, note how crooked most of my pictures are. Be proud. (even if most pages were from a template)

Thanks again to Emily, for inviting me to tag along, and especially Emily's friend Melanie for letting us stay at her house and disrupt her sleep! (Ellie was sick, tired and homesick the entire time...there was a lot of screaming!)
It was super fun!!!

Here they are...

2009-03-31T21:39:00.003-06:00

Here are the much anticipated (at least by me) pages of our recent camping trip with friends. I am so glad I didn't know how long I would spend on these pages when I started. I would have been way too overwhelmed. I haven't quite decided on the order I will put them in my scrapbook...tell me what you think!

Just Chillin'

2009-03-27T13:53:00.003-06:00

Liberty Park in February

2009-03-23T14:48:00.004-06:00

Another attempt at digital scrapbooking! Only took me 3 hours. I'm not sure how time saving this digital way is...but it's a LOT less messy!

First timer here...

2009-03-19T14:44:00.003-06:00

So I tried my hand at digital scrapbooking today, even though I had personally sworn not to until my paper scrapbooking supplies were gone or low (aka when I'm 60). Of course, I don't really like the result, but next time I will spend more time and I will get better.

Special thanks to Emily Aldrich for the awesome tips on her blog!

Finally!

2009-02-23T15:13:00.012-07:00

Finally the weather has been looking up and finally we went on a family walk. Walks were a big part of my growing-up years and I wish we did it more. I love just spending time together outside, strolling along. Our family is full of people watchers. We love to see different people and notice things. On this particular walk I saw a 30-40ish year old man with a mullet and a cane. Also, we saw a very shaggy, hairy dog with fur about 1 1/2 ft long...and lots of it!
And finally.....I have had photoshop for a long time and I've hardly touched it. I finally figured out the camera RAW part of photoshop and LOVE it! I'm new to editing... and I get impatient...

Chaz and his tricks...

Arrrg!

These guys were very skilled. They were doing all sorts of tricks on picnic tables and playground stuff. Very fun to watch.

I was so glad the girls got to have some daddy time. Chaz isn't around that much...busy guy!

Sweet Sunshine

2009-02-21T23:32:00.003-07:00

Rocks are YUMMY.

Ahhh...the sweet memories of doing crazy things as kids...

Happy 5th Birthday Wynn

2009-02-21T23:25:00.003-07:00

I can't believe Wynn is already 5 years old. I love her so much. Every day I thank my Heavenly Father for sending me such a sweet little girl. We are so blessed to have her in our family.

We didn't do anything fancy, just cake and ice cream with some family.

It's up to you

2009-02-16T13:25:00.000-07:00

I have my photography blog that maybe, hopefully, sometime in the future, prospective clients will be looking at. It's just too much pressure to decide which pictures to post on it. That and I'm pretty critical of my pictures. So I'm leaving it up to you, whomever you may be, to decide which to post on my hopefully more-proffesional-looking blog. Thanks for looking!

Here's an update of what is going on in our life...

My sister Marla came down from Alaska to visit. We took a road trip to visit our sister Penny in Moab. It was crazy with all the little kids, half of them sick. I loved seeing them play together and get to know each other better. I was reminded of my childhood and playing with all my nieces and nephews, running rampant. It was fun to see the next (sort of) generation doing the same!

I got a new Nikon D90!!! I have been saving for years now and we finally paid off our debts and had enough for me to get it! It is so beautiful. This is Wynn's new camera sick pose. Preschool has brought a lot of illness with it. Ellie has been well all of 3 days in the last 4 months. Lucky her. :(

My new camera prompted me to actually take the girls out of the house in this yucky weather... We went over to Liberty Park for a walk and to feed the ducks. It is so nice to live so close to the park!

Chaz got to take our new camera for a test run when he went to see his brother Colton wrestle at State championships! Go Colton! Woot!

With all the gross weather lately (seems almost constant since I got my camera...no pretty pictures) I've been taking a lot of random pictures of things inside our apartment and out our window. These I took when it was snowing...

We had a great Valentines day, complete with roses, heart-shaped pancakes, balloons, fun with family and friends, and chinese food.

Our friends and neighbors took us to the Desert Star playhouse (playmill?) on V-Day. Way fun!