Fun new find

I found this spice rack a few weeks back at Sam's Club. I so love this thing! I've had all my metal embellishments in a plastic fish and tackle thingie bobber that wasn't really working well for me. They kept intermingling and it made me crazy! This way cute rack was $25.00, has 24 adorable little jars and spins around very well even being weighed down by lots of metal embellishments. I think I will make circle labels to cover the spice names on the lids. Just thought I'd share. Don't hold it against me for enabling. :o)

You know you NEED one, don't you?! LOL!

Meet Mr. & Mrs. Brek George

Here's the happy couple! Their wedding was absolutely beautiful! Bishop Reynolds did a very special and touching ceremony. I appreciated his sweet and heartfelt comments and words of wisdom to this young couple. Don't they look amazing together?! The whole day you never saw them without smiles on their faces. By the end of the night they were massaging their cheeks. It was cute! The boys decked out their car with glass chalk, toilet paper and a million balloons. Those pictures are on another camera. I can only post 5 at a time on my blog, so I'm limited to how much I can share. I can't believe I'm a MOTHER IN LAW!!! AHHHHH!!! I promise to NEVER be a MONSTER in law. :o) Brittany loves me! They are so happy together and are very excited to start their new life together.

Reception Hall

Entry and gift area

pretty fake cake
sign in table
the centerpieces

We stayed up pretty late Friday night decorating the cultural hall for the reception. I think it turned out really nice. Chad kept joking around that with the red and black colors they chose that it looked like a meeting for the Mafia. LOL! After the wedding we were abandoned by all of our families and had to take down and clean up the whole thing alone...Alone as in Me, Mark, Kyle, Brittany's parents and her brother and sister. There were other people who cleaned up the kitchen. I'm so thankful for that. Mark and Kyle took all the decorations back and I brought all the gifts home. The entire bed of the truck was packed with presents so I had to make many trips carrying them in the house. My feet hurt so darn bad! They really got a lot of very nice things.

Wedding rehearsal dinner

Here are just a few pictures from the wedding rehearsal dinner. I went to the church on Friday morning and set up everything and then went back home to cook all the food. Once everyone was there it was a packed room. We all had a very nice time visiting with each other and both families getting acquainted. Of course the food was great! ;o) I felt terrible because I was busy cooking until the last moment and had no time to change clothes. You never get a second chance to make a first impression. I hope they all liked me, despite how bad I looked. :o) After the dinner both sides of the families stayed to help decorate the hall for the reception. It only took about 3 hours with the extra help and we so appreciated it. We feel blessed that Brittany comes from a wonderfully sweet family. We are equally blessed for our great family. Thanks to all of you for your willingness to help.

A day of pampering

Yesterday I took Brittany for a day of pampering at the nail salon. I got a fill and a pedicure and she got a new set and her first ever pedicure. She loved it! We discovered that we are both very ticklish on the bottoms of our feet and looked goofy while we giggled through parts of the pedicure. Now that this is done, she is one step closer to being a beautiful bride on Saturday.

My grandbabies growth so far...

Exciting development for my unborn grandchild. Brittany has just hit the 11 week mark and everything is going well. The information below is copied and pasted. It in no way reflects that I think it's a girl, because I know better and I think it's a boy....because that's what George's do. I'll be thrilled either way...just give me healthy!

Size Your baby is about 1 3/4 to 2 1/2 inches long and weighs about a third of an ounce, the size of a peanut.
Development This is a big week for your baby's growth -- she'll double in height. At the end of the week, her head and body will be roughly equal in length. This week also starts an active phase for her-she can turn somersaults, roll over, flex her fingers, hiccup, and stretch. You won't be able to feel her movement for another month and a half. She's floating in lots of amniotic fluid. Her limbs are developing from webbed paddles into arms and legs that have well-defined fingers and toes. Fingernails, toenails, and hair follicles are also beginning to form.

Texas Barns

I was looking at the barn pictures that I took while in Texas hanging on the wall in my scraproom. There is something special about barns to me. They give a warm and fuzzy feeling. Old or new, I just love them and thought I'd share them. These bring back such wonderful memories for me.
I'm still busy working on wedding plans and fighting off this terrible cold. I just put on a breathe right nose strip because apparently I really snore loud with a cold. I thought Mark shouldn't have to suffer too. ;o) See...I am a nice girl!

Brittany's Bridal Shower

Here are a few pictures from Brittany's bridal shower last night. She got so many cute fun things. Her adorable Aunts threw the shower for her and they did a wonderful job. Mark and I got her 2 necklaces, perfume, a cookbook and I made her the framed layout with a few of their engagement photo's that I took. From other guests she got sexy nighties, pajamas, towels, a handmade quilt, bedding, perfume, kitchen things, gift cards, and the way cute robe with Mrs. George on the back. She loved and appreciated everything she got. The hit of the night was the delicious chocolate fountain. I brought home a plate of dipped strawberries and a plate of dipped cream puffs for the family. I think the fountain put everyone in their chocolate happy place! :o)

Happy Birthday Kyle!

HAPPY SWEET 16th BIRTHDAY KYLE!
AKA- blue eyed bomber..from his picture you can see why he has that nick name. He really does have beautiful eyes. I understand that sweet 16 is really a girl thing, but this boy is a sweetheart, so I used it anyways.
We celebrated his birthday on Saturday at a cool lazer tag place with his brothers and 4 of his friends. I'm still going to make him a cake today. He requested a devils food yummy chocolate. Since nobody is home there won't be anyone around to see me lick the mixing bowl. We got him a red and white fender squier electric guitar with and amp for his present. He has been begging for that one for a long while. In fact, that is how I was woken up this morning. I must really love that boy! :o)
I'm out of here. I'm still pretty darn sick, but I have friends coming over to scrapbook, and it's still a mess around here, so I best get myself busy!
P.S. Mark and I had a great valentines day. We went to Tia Rosa's (the BEST mexican food on the planet!) for an early dinner (because we're too old to fight the crowds) and went shopping for some clothes for the cruise. Some things have to go back because they don't fit. Plus he got some some beautiful jewelry. I think I need to get myself a jewelry box.

Going cruising!!!

AHHHHH! It's so beautiful to behold! The Royal Caribbean Monarch of the Sea. Just 21 more days until we board for our 20th anniversary cruise. It's the first time for both of us and we couldn't be more excited! (and a teeny bit scared) We are going with 2 other couples. Mark's brother Rodney and his wife Cam, and Mark cousin Brandon and his wife Jennifer. We are leaving from Los Angeles, going to San Diego, Catalina Island, Ensenada Mexico, then back up to LA. It's a 4 night 5 day trip. I'm sure it will be a trip to remember with tons of photo's to scrapbook. Here's to hoping our stateroom is not in the puke zone. We pray that we come home to unharmed children and standing house. Brek and Brittany will be in charge of the gang and plenty of family checking in all the time. It will be eventful for all.

Happy Valentines Day!

Here are the cute, yet simple valentine treats we put together for the boys teachers, the principal and a couple of my friends. The buckets are from the $1 spot in Target and so are the cute bears. In the bottom there are hersheys hugs and kisses, a cute note pad, pen, cinnamon heart altoids, and a caramello....yummm!!!
Hope you all have a wonderful, sweet, romantic valentines. I just hope to get over this cold quick so I can spend some time with my sweetheart! :o)

Life in the nut house

Did I lie??? I told you I lived in a real nut house! This was our nightmare family photo secession where the lighting was terrible and the boys were even worse. I finally gave up and went to my room for the night and tried again the following night with promises from all involved that there WOULD BE COOPERATION! I did get a few good shots, so I'm happy to capture this group of nuts at this time in their lives. (notice I still scrap the bad pictures too)

Brittany's wedding dress

Yesterday we were on a mission to find a wedding dress. (we, as in me, Brek, Brittany, her mom Alison and her sister Jessica. Here is the dress Brittany found at Dillard's yesterday after MUCH looking through a couple of malls and bridal shops. Do you know how hard it is to find a dress within a budget and next to no notice? We got this one for a mere $200. She likes a very simple design with a corset top and no beading. It looks very slimming and beautiful on, but I wasn't real happy with the barely off white color since their wedding colors are white, black and red. I should have taken my camera so I could get a picture of her wearing it, but I'll get plenty of those at the wedding. We also got Brek's tux rented, so in all, it was a successful yet very tiring day. To give you an idea just how long we were out, we ate lunch AND dinner in two different mall food courts.

It's just a sticker...

Since Chad has finally gotten his drivers license back he has taken over my suburban. It is absolutely making me crazy! He keeps his own key to it in his room and he always has a "need" to go somewhere...anywhere. Last night Mark discovered that Chad had removed my yellow scrapbooking moms logo that helped me find my suburban in a sea of suburban's in a crowded parking lot and replaced it with a small DC shoes logo. I am so mad at this point and decide to have a conversation with him about it at 3:30 in the morning to remind him just who's vehicle it is...MINE!!!! He tells me "it's just a sticker and you shouldn't have stickers on your car anyways" He did not just say this! I come back with the whole "IT'S MINE" again and tell him "then why did you replace it with one of your stickers?" I'm thinking he should have just been honest and said kids at school are making fun of me for driving around with a scrapbooking logo. I couldn't fall back to sleep for a long time because the words "it's just a sticker" kept racing through my head, making me mad all over again....GRRRRR!!!!! Teenagers are so hard! :o/

Jaron and Adrienne

I love this layout of my nephew and niece. (Jaron and Adrienne) I love the photographs, the very cute kids, the design, the whole ball of wax. With having 5 boys I never get to photograph or scrapbook little girls, so it was extra fun for me. I gave this layout to my sister in law as a gift. She loves it too. Maybe one day I can scrapbook in PINK! :o)

Cole's cake

Here is Cole's cake for the "futuristic" cake contest at the cub scout blue and gold banquet. I also inclued a couple of pictures of is friends cakes. Cole did everything on his own. I was there to give instruction, like told him how to set the oven, how to measure the water and oil, etc, but he did it. He went with a "robots" theme from the movie. I think it turned out pretty cute! Mark had asked me what time the banquet started, but I wasn't sure so I read the invitation and it said 6:00. It was 3:30 at the time. I read on further and it said we were to bring salsa fo the dinner. OH MY GOSH! I had just come home from the store and had to pick up the big kids from school at 3:55 so I ran to a grocery store quick on the way to get them...came home and made salsa while Cole was working on his cake. I'm sure you're probably wondering why I didn't just buy a jar, but the over achiever that I am can't do the nasty jar stuff so homemade it is. I'm so glad I read that before going or we wouldn't have had any salsa for our flying saucer dinner. (that is like a tostada but with a fried flour tortilla with all the fixins) It was a fun night for Cole, but I'm glad to be done with it. One more thing off my to-do list! :o)

Pretty flowers

I had to share these very pretty flowers I got from Mark yesterday. I love them...especially the gerber daisies. They are just so pretty! I've got LOTS to do today so I better be getting to it.

Gotta have my pepsi!

Pepsi...I can't say enough good things about it. I just love it! It's my one true vice. I know that drinking it makes it difficult to lose weight, but I need it. If I was forced to give it up, I would be mean and ugly to all those around me. I don't think anyone should have to suffer, so I compromised and I don't go down to QT and fill up my mondo 52 ounce mug all the time. I drink it sparingly now. Those of you who haven't given vanilla pepsi a try yet, you must do it. I was a skeptic at first, but now I'm hooked! I love them both...but no diet crap for me. Give it to me straight up please...full of flavor and caffeine. I truly love my beloved PEPSI!

My handsome boys!

I love these pictures of my boys. They are all growing up so darn fast! I spent a little time on a Sunday afternoon in December taking pictures of my boys as well as all their cousins on my side of the family. It was for a Christmas gift for my parents. (a huge hit, by the way) Surprisingly is was far less painful than a few years back when we attempted this. I recall bad words flying out of the mouths of the mom's as their children were badly misbehaving....which is probably why we waited so long to do it again. :o) I can't help but to think back and laugh about that awful day. It's funny WAY after the fact. So glad this phot secession went much smoother. This layout was created using my most favorite brand of paper...chatterbox! I can't get enough of that stuff!

Wedding plans

This is my oldest son Brek with Brittany...the girl he will be marrying in a few short weeks. They look so cute together. I have spent the past few weeks hand making 200 invitations for the reception. They FINALLY went in the mail yesterday. It was such a huge relief to shove them through the slit at the post office and to be done with that part. There is still so much left to do, but I'm feeling better about things now. Mark made reservations for their honeymoon at the Majestic Mountain Inn in Payson today. We love that place! I also got my dress today. I'm going to have to continue to exercise really hard so that I will look semi-good in the dress. The other day I was talking to a cute, almost 6 year old girl and she said to me "Jolene...you look like you're pregnant, but I know you're not. You just ate too much!" UGGGGG!!!! As you can imagine, I was crushed, but I also know that it is so true. I decided right there and then that I was going to do something about the way I look. It's going to take some time, but I have a renued committment. The wedding plans will all come together and I will make sure it is a beautiful and memorable experience for them. I can't believe I have a son getting married...sniff..sniff....Here is what the invitation looks like. It's simple, but still nice.