She loves to Create

absent

yep. that pretty much sums it up. i've been absent. not just on this blog, but mentally as well. life is busy and it sometimes gets so hectic that i neglect to do the things that i love. sounds silly. it's true. i have had the best intentions of posting and even better intentions of keeping up with things like project life. i have failed. horribly. some weeks go by and i don't take a single photo with my camera. if i'm lucky, i can fill in with iphone pics. sometimes i don't take any pics with that either. so lame! i can make all the promises in the world to myself. it doesn't mean i will keep them. again, sad, but so true. it's my life. it's crazy and it's busy. 

right now, we are in baseball mode around here. it's such a hit and miss sport in this beautifully wet state! some games get rained out. some happen. we never know because our weather can change in a blink of an eye! i did manage to bring my camera and take a few photos of riley at his last game. here they are.

nice swing, but a miss. 

he is enjoying playing other positions this year other than catcher. he is still catching, but loves first base!

i am really going to try and keep up a bit more. a lot of times i don't feel like i have much to say. funny. you would think that as busy as we are in this crazy life i would have tons to say. not the case. it has been the time of year of lots of rain. i am one of those people who gets totally depressed when the weather is icky outside. i crave sunshine. i should have been born in hawaii. HA! that would have been awesome! consequently, i sink into my own self and just go through the motions. i know it and that's probably a good thing. i just need to figure out how to get myself out of the rut. seems i manage to snap out of it about the time the suns decides to shine more often. 

 

project life, the first three weeks

as i stated in my last post, i am determined to do/finish project life in 2012! as i sat down today to complete last week, i couldn't help the feeling of excitement i had. i love this! i love how already kelsey has sat down at the table where i have been working on it and has gone through the pages. it makes me wish that i would have started this whole process a lot sooner. i don't want this to completely take the place of all my scrapbooking as i still love completing pages for each of the kids' books, but this will be one that they all go to for memories in years to come!

So, here is week one

the complete two page spread. not great photos, but you get the idea. 

close up of the left side

and the right.

week two, again not a great photo

the left side

and the right.

week three

the left

and the right.

one of my favorite parts of project life, is that i don't feel obligated to fill all the slots with pictures or even journaling. i have included receipts, business cards, a hotel room key sleeve, emails and other ephemera. each space is it's own canvas and i can choose to just throw a photo in the sleeve or i can embellish! love how it all comes together regardless. 

so this is one way i am going to document 2012 for the morgan family and i know i am going to really enjoy it. 

a week in pictures

this year i am doing Becky Higgins Project Life. it is a real challenge for me to remember to take photos. i have no problem with words. i downloaded an app on my iphone called my 365. i'm going to use it to remind myself to take photos. hoping it works for me..ha! so, this is my week in photos. i'll work tomorrow on putting the layout together. 

monday:

last day of the holiday break.

Tuesday:

the sky i woke up to. so beautiful!

Wednesday:

so i am attempting to cook and eat a little healthier. picked this up for inspiration.

thursday:

daily ritual. love my starbucks.

friday:

my baby girl, cheering for basketball. 

saturday:

keepin' up with the workouts. feeling good!

sunday:

the boys, being boys and wrestling. it was a  family lounge day.

looking forward to seeing how this album progresses. i've got a lot of projects on the table this year and i will find the time to enjoy the process!

OLW......time

it is a new year. whew. i love new years! it is fresh. it is a new beginning. i love that. one of the things i look forward to in the new year is choosing my word for the year. in years past, i have chosen live, breathe, enjoy and create. this year, i have chosen time. this word really can have so much meaning, but this is what it is going to mean to me this year.....

time management- i will work to be better at multi tasking and getting through my busy days!

time flies when you are having fun- making the most of my time spent with friends and family!

spending time in the gym. i don't want to have that usual resolution of losing weight. i want to be healthy! i want to start my day with a workout and feel good the rest of the day.

take the time to make good, healthy meals for my family. i really want to find some good recipes for healthy sauces that taste good to go with chicken and fish dishes. 

spend time creating scrapbook pages, cards and decor using supplies on hand. 

take time to work on my jewelry and list on etsy.

be present and in the moment when spending time with my kids and husband!

this is just a few of the meanings of my word for this year for me. to keep it at the front of my mind and to keep working on it, i have signed up for ali edwards "one little word" class at big picture classes. i'm looking forward to taking this class and creating an album from it. i just know, i'm gonna have the TIME of my life! 

 

the holidays!

i'm not gonna lie. i LOVE the holidays. i love thanksgiving and christmas. i love how they make me feel. the warmth of the season. the merriment. i know a lot of people who stress out (occasionally that's me) and do not enjoy the holidays at all. for me, i look forward to it. kelsey and i are both holiday music junkies. it's what will be playing in my car from now until they stop playing it! :) 

thanksgiving is just a few days away and thanks to my new oven, i'm looking forward to cooking that turkey!

yes, i have finally purchased a new oven and it will be here between noon and four! Ha! i love it when they give you a huge window cause they think you have all day to sit around on your butt waiting for them. i don't think last years turkey turned out too bad, but i am looking forward to even cooking. no more half cooked foods. yay!

not so bad. good have been a little more browned. can't wait for stuffing! my absolute fav!

this year we will be down one child. kelsey is headed to bend with friends. as much as i'll miss her, i think she's lucky to have been invited. i left the decision of if she wanted to go up to her. i know she has mixed feelings. in the end, i'm sure she will have a great time. 

we are getting ready for the Turkey Tourney around here. it starts the day after thanksgiving and goes till sunday. lots to do to put on an event like this. i am in charge of raffle baskets again this year. putting them together, gathering up from other families. making tags for them all. so fun to see what has been put together. we have lots of great things this year. we are still not sure if riley will be playing in the tournament this weekend. he is still healing from his concussion. he goes to see the specialist today. we are hoping for good news. 

anyway, lots on my plate. lots of projects on my mind too. wanting to get started on my december daily real soon. i hate waiting till the last minute. right now, i'm off to the gym to test out the indoor pool. i hate swimming indoors. i love everything about swimming outside. we'll see how it goes. i'm hoping i'm just as hooked as i was this summer. we'll see. i sure do miss being toned, ha! 

procrastination at its best!

seriously can't believe i have not sat down to write since september. worse still, i haven't even taken very many pictures over the last few months. since i last posted, the kids have had a great start to school. all three of them are doing well. kelsey has been cheering for football and that season has finally ended. up next for her: basketball. at least they get a bit of a break till then. 

the boys are well into their hockey seasons. wyatt's team has a full schedule and is gone a lot. riles team, not so much. really, with the exception of a few games here and there, they are only participating in tournaments. makes for a light season for him. wyatt and i take off on thursday for canada. he has a tournament in surrey, bc. looking forward to seeing how he plays against these canadian kids. it's been a while for him. 

it's a good thing rileys team has taken it easy, because the boy suffered his second concussion a few weeks ago. that's two in a month and a half. we have kept him out of hockey now for over two weeks. he's been headache free for a while, but better safe than sorry. he'll go back either the end of the week or beginning of next. 

we have been sick around here lately. lots of cold symptoms. kelsey stayed home from school today with a bug. poor girl was up at 4am throwing up. no fun. 

i took my (every three year) trip to maui with my friend sharon the 28th of september and we came home october 7th. that was amazing! so glad we do that. the weather was beautiful the whole time! here is a beautiful sunset pic

man, i could never get sick of seeing that. i fantasize about living there and watching the sun set every night. what heaven! sharon and i actually went out to moose's quite a few times. we made sure to make it there on both dollar drink nights. happy girls!

love the tans. too bad mine has already faded, no thanks to our lovely oregon weather. :( i really need to up and move my family to phoenix. oh how happy i would be to live in a dryer, warmer climate year round! 

anyhoo, i could go on forever with all that's happened over the last few months, but who has the time? maybe my new years resolution will be to get better about posting on this darned thing. we shall see!

big day today!!!

it is a big day today in our house. first, i sent kelsey off to her first day of high school! sigh! can't believe she is a freshman. she was so excited and so ready! 

then, i sent the youngest boy off with the neighborhood girls to his first day of middle school. he too was really excited to be starting a new school! so cute!

5 girls and a boy, off to middle school...

and riley and cassidy will be walking buddies this year. it's the first year of middle school for the both of these two cuties!

not to make light of the two youngest moving onto new schools, but by far the best part of the day today was this boy taking an important test! the oldest went in this morning and took the written portion of his license test. he passed! he then waited to be called for the drivers portion. he had to go through all the light tests and what not with his examiner. he had a sweet lady who loved jeeps!

she waited patiently while he read the "before you take your drive test" pamphlet.

and then they were off. i was a nervous wreck! i know he's a good driver and that he was ready, but still, i am a mom. it's my job to worry and be nervous for him! they returned about 15 minutes later!

the smiles say it all! HE PASSED! so proud of this boy. back inside we went to get the pic taken!

so now he has his temporary license until the real deal comes in the mail. whew! what a big day. 

i can hardly believe that the boy literally just drove off without me in the jeep. off to get lunch with friends and go school clothes shopping by himself! where does the time go? how am i old enough to have a licensed driver in the house? time flies! 

and wyatt....if you read this, i couldn't be more proud of you son! great job!!!

coming home!

words can not describe how much i miss this man! jeff has been out of town now for almost three weeks! i have seen him a total of less than 12 hours in that time frame! i'm so over it!!! jeff has been in phoenix for work and then went to kitimat, Canada for more work. he was supposed to be home when we got home from nevada, but that didn't work out. we get one week with him before he heads back up to Canada, this time for pleasure. his annual fishing trip to Ole's Hakai Pass is at the end of next week. at least that is a trip that is stress free and fun for him.

they say absence makes the heart grow fonder. i say it makes the heart get pissed when it misses it's spouse! 

welcome home tonight babe! we love you and have missed you terribly!!!

week in the life-day 7

day 7 did not lead to a whole lot of photos. it was spent more with visiting family and getting laundry done. packing for myself and the kids is always a chore. trying to make sure we don't forget anything(which we did) is not easy! So, here it is. our last day....

we met uncle bob, aunt sheri, aunt chris and her fiance kent for brunch at fandango. the kids always love their brunch and believe me when i say riley gets my money's worth! :)

riley took time off the darned ps3 to love on his nonny! we love her so!

kelsey hung out and played on her computer.

and wyatt enjoyed a rare moment when he actually got possession of the controller!

tootie lounged around. i know she could sense that we were leaving.

riley noticed too and made sure to give her lots of love!

i checked the flight status A LOT to see if they were making up any time. no such luck!

uncle bob and aunt sheri came over to say their goodbyes. 

and with our goodbyes said, we took off, watching my mama wave as we left. :( at least we know the goodbye is not for long. she will be coming to stay with us for a few weeks in the beginning of september. i know she is hoping for good weather so we will be able to spend some time by the pool. 

when we got checked in, through security and to our gate, this is what greeted us. as if we didn't already know. and this is my kids reaction as they finally started boarding....

happy to finally be boarding and going home. delays at the airport suck! 

so i just finished uploading all of my photos to scrapbookpictures.com. can't wait for them to arrive in the mail. in the meantime, i can get my title page and journaling done while i am waiting on them. i'll probably finish the album by the end of the week and will post photos when it's done. 

i will most likely be repeating this process some time in the fall or winter since jeff was working up in Canada and was not here to be a part of it. i like the idea of doing it during a different season in the same year. 

 

week in the life-day 6

 
this is what i came outside to saturday morning. i know they are kinda a pest around here, but i think they are kind of cute!

 

 
tootie got a bath! she was really good!

 
i took the two kidlets bowling while mom stayed at home and wyatt sat out cause his shoulder hurt.

 
yep, she picked that one up!

 
when the kidlets are happy, mama is happy.

 
and this one is always happy when he's eating!

 
and then we came home for a bbq of amazing ribs! mama did really good!

 
uncle bob thought they totally sucked! can't you tell? :)

after our wonderful dinner, we headed out to put in a few dollars in the machines and try and win some money. :) i got this, but was playing nickels. darn it!

 
we then came home and settled in for the night. this has been a great week visiting with my mama. hard to believe it's almost over!