Once again I finished my LO for the UDS contest at the very last minute. And once again I have a LO that I otherwise would’ve put off and maybe never done. I knew that I needed to start adding journaling to the pages in Jacob’s album even though I HAVEN’T run out of great lyrics to use. I’m glad this contest gave me the little push I needed. I think this is the first of many LOs with real journaling on them. I found out that I can just write and not worry about how it’s going to sound to someone else reading it (yep, even in a contest) and I decided to not even go back over it and move things around or re-word because I liked something about the fact that it was just what came from the heart. I’m sure I’ll never be as eloquent as Leeandra and some of the many talented journalers in this contest (that probably requires reading more books and poetry and who has time for that) but ya know what, I actually needed MORE than 40% of the page to write all the thoughts and feelings that I really wanted to include in this LO. Who’da thunk?! Maybe I’ll have to conquer my next personal scrapping challenge of doing an actual 2-page LO.

I got to hang with Braelynn and Selah for a few hours last night too and we had so much fun. We walked to the park and Braelynn played for about half an hour which was still not long enough. She kept put 1 finger in the air and say ’1 more time’. Too cute! Of course I got a few pictures so hopefully I’ll do some scrappin’ today. These were just a few of my favorites. :) Had to gussy ‘em up a bit cuz they’re too precious not to add a little doodlin’ and pretty pink flowers. Found these in the tribute kit by Dani Mogstad. LOVE her stuff. :) Off to go play with Kylie over at my mom’s. It’s a gorgeous day so I’ve gotta get outside for awhile. I love Saturdays! :)

Strugglin’ with the UDS contest thing again this week. So far I’ve scrapped one photo that I was completely intimidated by before and one AAM LO that I think I actually captured a little piece of me and recorded it somewhat creatively. So as of now I’ve done 2 pages that had I not moved on to the next round I’d still be so glad that I competed because I ended up with a couple LOs that I really like. Trust me, that’s an accomplishment lately. LOL

So now the challenge for week three is to scrap 3 or more photos in a LO that contains journaling over 40% of the page. That’s almost HALF the page. If you were to look through my gallery the only pages you’ll find with more than 2 or 3 sentences (at MOST) are the LOs where I included an entire songs’ lyrics. You’ll also find that even those short 2 or 3 sentences of journaling found here or there that I really ran out of things to say by the end of the first sentence.

Sooo, I’m trying to decide what sort of LO I could do and come up with enough to say to fill 40% of the page. Maybe if I ‘write’ really really big? But no, I think these judges are pretty sharp, they’ll likely catch on to that. Mom suggested a story about me being the oldest of 4 sisters and one brother. Sorta story of my life. Very sweet mom (and I love that I got all excited about having so many posts on my blog last night and half of them were from my mom). :) But really I’m not feelin’ aNOTHER all-about me page for this contest unless forced to do one. LOL Plus, that would mean rumaging through boxes of photos to find THREE that are usable for a contest LO. Mom knows I spent a fair amount of time searching not all that long ago and really didn’t come up with much. Although I MAY be able to count that gradeschool picture of me with the reflection of my side profile up in the corner as 2 photos rather than one. You know the set-up. Black background, one photo of you looking at the camera and in the upper right corner another photo taken from the side. Very 1983. Pretty sure I saw some hanging on the living room wall in Napolean Dynamite. Anyway, I think that would count for 2. I’ll have to tuck that idea away as a back-up plan. :)

The other idea I had was to do a LO about our Wednesday afternoon lunches with my mom and sisters. It’s been ages since we’ve had one and we’re doing it tomorrow so between some photos that I’ve already taken the last time and maybe taking a few more tomorrow I think I could come up with 3, probably more. I think I might be able to journal enough about that. For some reason though, restaurant photos can be tough to scrap. Not sure I’m up to the challenge given that I haven’t even started and I’ve only got two days left but it’s an option.

And then I’d just purchased the papers to go with an element pack I had of Jen’s from quite awhile back. When I bought these papers I thought they’d be perfect for a baby Jacob LO.  Aside from redoing some of my early Jacob LOs I haven’t done a new page for his album in quite some time and I’ve been really wanting to do more pages with journaling rather than just song lyrics so who knows, maybe this challenge was just the push I needed. I was also listening to the latest Rascal Flatts song the other day on the way home and part of the lyrics seemed perfect at least as a starting point for some journaling. Maybe another little nudge? I dunno. I’ve got a few photos picked out. The one with me looking at the camera I’ve not scrapped because it’s really not a flattering photo of me. Unfortunately for all the photos that we have of Jacob I only have a few of me holding him. So, puffy eyed or not, I know I eventually want to scrap each one to remember as much as possible what it was like to hold him. I hesitate to do a LO about Jacob specifically for a contest for a number of reasons but at the same time, if I come away with a LO for his album that I’m happy with then it sure would make it less disappointing if I didn’t make it through to the next round.

I’m off to bed. Gotta be up early for work in the morning and then lunch with the sisters. I’ll have to remember to take the camera along since I’m still undecided. Tomorrow afternoon I’ll be finishing a wedding album that I’m working on with Nina and then hopefully tomorrow night I can make a decision and get started on a LO.

Happy Wednesday everyone!

Oh my gosh I need TISSUES. Who else watched the Grey’s Anatomy Season Finale tonight? WOW! I really don’t think I’ve every been sucked into a show quite like this. I’m such a girl. Seriously. The whole last 15 minutes of the show I was wiping away tears. To me they’ve done an incredible job building the characters of this show. The story lines, the characters, the soundtrack – amazing. That’s just impressive that a tv show can have that kind of emotional effect. Can’t wait for season 3 to start!

Yep, that’s right, I made it through the 2nd round of eliminations. Ironically I was most nervous about it because I hadn’t really journaled as much as most the other LOs in the contest and the next challenge has to be 40% JOURNALING. Oy vay! Just when I thought a ‘real me’ LO was tough. We also have to use 3 or more photos. At first I was thinking I could do the LO that I’ve been getting pictures of me for about my ‘style’ (if you can call it that) of wearing long sleeve shirts with a t-shirt over them. I have like 5 of these t-shirt/shirt combinations and it seems like that’s all I wear lately (for casual attire). Anyway, I could probably journal a fair amount about my style (or lack thereof) but the thing is they talked about this challenge being about a ‘story’ and I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t make it through the next round of cuts trying to pass off my crazy wardrobe as a ‘story’. I’m just not sure what I can journal THAT much about and find 3 photos to go with it. This one is definitely gonna be a toughy.

In other exciting news: Chris from American Idol is talking with the band Fuel about becoming their new lead singer. So I thought for a day I’d do sortof a rockin’ theme for my videos. A little heavier than I usually put on my blog so to appease Dino & the 66% of you who’d rather not have the music start automatically I’ve changed the ‘autoplay’ option to false so you’ll have to press the play button. I’ve been a Fuel fan ever since seeing them in concert with my friend Cheryl probably 6 years ago now. It’s the first time I gained an appreciation for some of the heavier rock music. I have a pretty diverse love for music but before seeing Fuel live I probably would’ve put hard rock right at the bottom with rap and opera. So anyway, I’m excited about the possibility of buying Fuels new album and hearing Chris as the lead singer and I’d definitely go see them in concert again. :)

Hope everyone had a great mother’s day.

I could not ask for a better mom. She’s always been there for us and raised 5 kids to be well-adjusted (well mostly) adults. I used to worry that with such a big family I’d just have more people to worry about. Greater odds that someone close to me would deal with a major illness, addiction, bad relationships, being involved in a car accident… I’m really not a major worrier but logically in such a big family the possibility of such heartaches has gotta be higher. The truth is, even the toughest thing we’ve gone through as a family only made us stronger. I am so blessed to be part of this family my mom has raised and I’m so proud of the mom’s that my sisters have become. Each one has a slightly different style of parenting but I think they’re all doing an incredible job and I hope they know how amazing I think they are.

I have also been blessed to have some friends who I think are pretty amazing moms. My friend Jill who is raising some of the most beautiful kids on the planet. I know the idea of going from a family of 3 kids to 4 was an overwhelming surprise but she couldn’t be more in love with each of them. Even her ‘night out’ with me each week is a conscious decision to be the best mom she can be when she’s home. She has a great example of what a mom should be in her own mom, who was like a 2nd mom to me all through grade school. I don’t think she reads my blog but maybe Jill will tell her happy mother’s day for me & thank her for raising such an amazing & loyal friend.

I don’t even know where to begin with all the amazing moms I’ve met online. All of you I’ve met through scrapbooking so first of all I think you’re doing something incredibly important in preserving your family’s childhood memories. That already makes you a pretty great mom in my book. ;) I have the utmost respect for the amount of patience and energy you all have in raising kids, some through very trying times and I know from talking with many of you that you love your kids more than life itself.

I hope all of you have a relaxing mother’s day enjoying your families and doing the things that make you happy. :)

My mom should be back from Florida today so I’ll be wandering over probably after nap time (which I’m sure she’ll be needing after a week of fun on the beach with half the grandkids surrounding her). I’ll be trying to finish up a wedding album I’m doing with Nina this evening and then at 9:30 I’ll be in the chatroom at digiscrappin.biz hoping to see my name on the list of 100 going through to the next round in the ultimate digi-scrappers contest. Once again I finished my LO and posted it just in the nick of time. I can’t post it here until the contest is over but you can CLICK HERE to see it over in the contest gallery. Wish me luck!

Happy Mother’s Day moms.

I’ve had a couple happy surprises in my mail the past few days. Gotta love that. First I got a mixed cd from Leeandra with great songs by Jessica Andrews, Superchick, Casting Crowns, Nichole Nordeman – we have so much the same taste in music. I love every song. And with it she sent the little note on the right. Thank you Leeandra. You’re the best! And then last night I got the mail and there’s a card from my friend Jill. For those of you who don’t know, Jill and I get together once a week almost without fail. I value her friendship so much. She’s been my closest friend through good and bad times and I know without a doubt that she’ll always be there for me. I’m not even a mom and each year she sends me a card for mother’s day anyway. How incredibly thoughtful is that?!

And I found two more great music artists the other night. Ari Hest and Dave Barnes, who happens to have a very cool website that totally looks like a scrapbook. Both have sortof a blue-sy laid back sound. As Lauren said, perfect road trip music. Definitely worth checking out especially since we don’t have Chris to listen to on AI the next few weeks. :(