It Has Almost Been A Year!

Happy New Year. One of my resolutions is to write on this blog more frequently. I have been gone from this blog for almost a year. My life is so busy that my blog simply became just one more thing to do. The latest news is that we took the 4 younger kids to California/Disney. Taylor is 17 so we decided he could stay home at our Bishop's house instead of coming to California with us because he had the leading role in the school musical and could not miss 10 days of practice. Tricia is almost 20 and is working and living with friends. Her school goals are coming along. She has been talking about going to a school in Boston to become a Mercedes mechanic. She is so good with her hands and smart so we'll see if that develops. Her long dream of being a Surgeon is not very practical unless she goes into the Military. She also talks about doing that. Being a teenager isn't always easy. I will keep this short and sweet so I will ease back into blogging slowly. To make things simple I will list the what the kids are doing at the bottom of this entry. Happy New Year!
Tricia: 20, Working at Office Depot, thinking about school, living with a friend.
Taylor:17, Singing, in tons of plays and musicals, working at Jamba Juice, saving for his mission
Alex:15, Driving with a permit, wrestles, loves hanging around pretty girls, President of his Teacher's Quorum
Hailey: 14, President of the Miamades class at church, plays basketball, likes to have movie night with her girlfriends
Chandler: 11, He can't wait to be a deacon, Power Tumbler for Utah gymnastics assoc.,loves spanish at his Charter prep school
Adelaide: 10, Loves dancing, doing her hair, playing with her puppy, cleaning her room, loves spending time with her Dad

Happy Spring!

I have sat down several times to post this blog and have been interrupted every time so I am not leaving until I get this done today. So far I have only received Jackie G's address so please look below to see if you were a winner in my blog drawing. I want to make sure everyone gets their stuff. I tried coordinating the kids outfits for Easter and then tried to take a few pictures...none of them turned out very well. This picture was taken on Easter outside of our house at it was very sunny. These are a few cards I have made lately. I love the new making memories baby line. The elephants are so cute. thanks for stopping by to have a peek.

Here Are The Winners...

It took my along time to finally post I am fighting a lot of joint pain with having Lupus. I looked at every page and I was so impressed by all of your favorite creations. I have adopted the Donna Downey saying, "You are perfect just the way you create." With that being said, I decided to randomly pick out names from a hat. I have picked 3 names and here they are: Anne Thompson, Jackie G, and Norma Kennedy. Please send me your addresses so I can mail you a ton of fun goodies! Thanks so much for all of your sweet comments. I made this fun little banner with the new line from Pink Paislee. I am loving the spring weather and I am about to go sit in the sunshine.

Who Wants Free Product?

I am so excited to be giving away a lot of scrapbooking goodies. I have won a bunch of prizes lately from Hambly, and Scrapbook Gourmet and so I thought I would give back to all of the blog readers out there...my friends...you! As you can see from the previous post, I cleaned up my scrapbook room. I have a lot of duplicates and things I am not going to use in the near future. So here is how you win: I want to see your favorite layout, card, altered project, or anything you have created. It can be anything as long as you made it. Leave a comment on my blog that links me to a picture, or you can e-mail a picture of it instead. I will then pick several winners next Tuesday. I have so much more to give out besides what is photographed. Happy Linking. I really look forward to seeing your favorite things that you have created. If you would rathere e-mail me your entry my e-mail is: jennihaywood@yahoo.com
I will be looking for your posts. Have a super day and thanks again for all of the sweet comments.

My Scrapbook Room!

So here are some pictures of my room. It is not all the way done by any means but it is getting there. I just bought the shelf and baskets a few days ago. I still have so much stuff that I have to go through still. My favorite thing in the room are my dress forms and the green rack that holds all of my stamps. In the baskets I put all of my letters in one, all of my rubons in one, I have a basket just of Heidi Swapp and a basket with Hambly and 7gypsies mixed together. I have WAY TOO MUCH patterned paper. I have 4 cropper hoppers filled and one is only Basic Grey... my favorite. Soooo I am going to have a give away sometime this weekend so check back for an update for a chance to win some fun goodies. I am so excited to get rid of a lot of my stuff...to make room for new stuff. LOL! :D! Thank you so much for all of the sweet comments. I have been to all of your blogs and I am so impressed by everything you have created. WOW! I am still working on my daughter's shabby chic room. I took some pictures but now I have added a bunch of new stuff so I have to wait to take some more pictures. Tomorrow I am going to show you my newly decorated bathroom. Thanks again for coming by! Remember to check back if you want to win some goodies.

Finally A Few Pictures!

I finally got my camera to work. I am working on a few things in my daughters Shabby Chic room and those she be done tomorrow or the next day. We are in the process of painting the teenager's room. It looks so cool. I can't wait to show you it! I saw something like this on the 2peas garden and this is my own version. I had so much fun making these projects. For this project I used Hershey nuggets and I covered them with Scenic Route valentine's paper. For the big candy bar I used a Symphony candy bar, took off the wrapper, and covered it in paper, then embellished it. I had a really fun time making these projects. The scrapbook page is from a long time ago but I never added it to my gallery. The picture is small and not the greatest but it is important to me to scrapbook the photos that are important to me. Even if the photo is no the best quality. The picture is of our family and my Mom and Dad in Nauvoo, Illinois in front of the temple. That is such a great memory. Thanks for stopping by. I promise to post more pictures this evening when I get this camera to work. I really appreciate all of the sweet comments!

A Small Teaser!

If you check back tomorrow I will have lots of house pictures and I am going to show pictures of some really cool projects I have been working on also. So check back if you would like to see. Everything is all done but I have to wait until I have some good lighting to take pictures of everything. I guess I will show you a few pictures from the fall time because I don't like posting without pictures.

You Hold The Key To My Heart!

Hi everybody. I just wanted to share with you a quick layout that I made the other night. I have been working on some up coming classes that I am going to be teaching and in the mean time made this layout about Paul. I know that it seems like I post about him all of the time. I just am so happy that he is mine. He really does hold the key to my heart. Everyone say AHHHH! LOL! Hahaha! I have been working on getting my scrapbooking room all decorated and organized. Organized is the key word! I just have so much, (you know that huh Tracy)!
The big news at our house is that Tricia moved back in to our house. Her nanny job came to an end and so it was time she moved back in with us. It has been so awesome to have her back. She is so fun and the kids are so excited. Up until now everyone has had there own room so the big problem has been, where should we put Tricia. We decided that for know she would share with Hailey until she goes to school in the fall at Weber State of Utah State. She may end up living on campus if she goes to Utah State so for now she is sharing a room and it works for now. We have been decorating their room and it is darling. The decor is black and white with hot pink and chandeliers is the theme! You can click on this link to see the bedding they got it is soooo cute! If you click on the title of this posting above, ( You hold the key to my heart) It will take you to the picture of the bedding I bought for them!
We are painting the walls a really pretty gray. I bought a bunch of vintage dress forms also. I will post some pictures when it is all done. I just finished Adelaide's room. I did her room in a Shabby Chic theme. It is the most beautiful room. I will post a picture in a few days. I will also post some pictures of my scrap room when I get it all done. Paul goes on vacation again for 2 weeks starting tomorrow. Do you know what that means? MORE SCRAPPING TIME FOR ME!!! YEAH! When he is on vacation he is so good to me. He pretty much does everything around the house so I can get all of my scrapbooking projects done. YEAH! Have a super weekend. That is about all for me tonight. Check back in a few days becasue I am going to post a bunch of pictures of everything I have done in my house. I will give you a little tour!

Working On Some Projects!

Paul and I have been relaxing a lot this week. He is on vacation for 13 days... so exciting! It has been so nice to just watch movies, go to lunch, playing games with our kids etc... Paul is such an organizer that he has been organizing our bedroom walk in closet. It looks really nice. Everything folded and in its place. I have been starting to decorate for Valentine's Day. It is my favorite Holiday. I have always loved it. Even when I was a child I loved it. My Mom used to get us up on that day and we would have heart pancakes and the breakfast table would have presents wrapped in pink and red tissue paper. We would always get really fun gifts. That was one of the ways she showed us how much she loved us. Paul thinks it is a Holiday that is hard to live up to because of how much I love it. He always pulls of something great. One year he took me on a horse and carriage ride around the city. Every year he surprises me with gifts that I love. I have been making a mini book for my Grandpa's 85th Birthday. This one is one of the pages. I used paint and a lot of inking. It is a picture of Tricia about a year ago. Thanks for stopping by!

I Can't Think Of A Title Today!

I have not posted lately. Have you been as busy as me! I am sure everyone is this time of year. We are off to go see "P.S. I love you". We would be seeing National Treasure but it is my choice this time HAAA HAAAH! Paul and I have such different tastes in movies that we have to take turns. It will be nice to actually sit and relax after all of the hustle and bustle lately. Please let me know how your Christmas Season is going. I would love to know.

Thanks for your support!

I am teaching a class next Friday at Daisy Dots and Doodles and this is jus tone of the tags I am teaching. I have 3 other cards that I post also. If any of you are interested in taking this awesome class in Ogden then you can call the store to sign up at: 801-737-9152

Two posts right in a row...

Can you believe that this is the second post in 2 days? I am on a roll. I wanted to post the new layout I just finished because I miss my daughter Tricia so much. I miss her funny giggle and our long talks. I miss her talking about Boys. I mostly miss her interaction with her siblings though. She is such a good sister and she truly misses her brothers and sisters when she is not here.

Where Is The Snow?

I want it to snow so bad. I want to take the kids sledding. I want to build a snowman and then come in to our cozy home and drink hot cider! This is not a typical winter here in Utah. There is usually a lot of snow on the ground by now! I love decorating for the holidays. I love decorating period! We put our tree up today while listening to Christmas music. It just really put me in the holiday spirit. I spent all day getting out my Christmas candles, towels, nativity, lights, ornaments, etc... It was a beautiful day. Taylor has been going in to school at 6:00 a.m. every morning because he is in the Madrigals Choir at school and they have 11 Christmas shows in the month of December. Taylor has really developed his voice. He has really found his niche with singing and performing. He has a voice of a song bird. I am so proud of the way he is doing. I am going to be teaching many card classes in the next few weeks. I am especially excited about teaching at my local scrapbook store. The store is in Ogden and it is called; Daisy Dots and Doodles. It is a lovely store. If you have a few minutes you really should check it out. They carry all of the top name brands and they have excellent prices and service. I love teaching and designing. I just feel so blessed to be able to do what I am doing. I am off to work on some deadlines. I am submitting a whole bunch of cards to Paper Trends Magazine this month. I hope you all enjoy doing your decorating for this season! If you get a chance you should visit Donna Downey's blog. She is truly one of the most inspirational designers. I love her cloth scrapbooks she has been doing lately. Yummy stuff! Here is her blog address: www.donnadowney.typepad.com

Getting Excited For Christmas!

I am teaching a class this Thursday at my house. There will about 20 people there so I decided to teach something pretty easy. This card is the card we are going to make. It should be quick and fun to make. I wish I had a better scanner. All of my cards always look so much better in real life. We had an early Thanksgiving over at my Sister-in-laws house. She is the best cook. It was fun to see Tricia over there also. She is having a really good time living there. I am starting to get in the Christmas Holiday. I am hoping to start putting lights on our house this weekend. I hope it is warm. This is the first Christmas that we will have lights on our house. I am so excited. Our good friends, Shelli Cunningham and her family, will be staying with us for the next few days. They are driving in from Missouri to take their son to the M.T.C. He is going on his mission. I have a lot to do before then so I am going to keep this short.

Halloween Pictures

This Halloween was so much fun. All of the kids were really creative this year. Here are just some of the pictures...

Owen, cards, and more...

We have been busy getting ready for Halloween. My porch is decorated with 20 pumpkins in all differend sizes and we have cornstalks that are from our garden. That is my favorite part. Paul and I are trying to plan a weekend get away to a bed and breakfast. There is a place called the Homestead here in Utah that is breath taking this time of year. It is in Park City and very romantic. We will be married for 7 years in December but it is hard to have an anniversary celebration a week before Christmas so we always celebrate in November. This year will be so fun spending Thanksgiving with Paul's brother and all of our nephew's and nieces. Paul's brother that lives in Seattle has 2 kids at BYU that we get to see often. We love it. We took our little nephew, Owen who is 3, all day to play last week. We took him over to my Mom's because she has such an awesome yard that we can all play in. My parents are not his Grandparents but they totally love him and get a kick out of listening to him. They love to have him over at the house! He is the cutest funniest kid. He is so smart. We took him to the mall to get a pretzel and he saw a bow and some arrows in the window and he said, "look Aunt Jenni at those arrows and that shootie!" His brain is unfiltered and so he sais what he thinks. I think that a bow should be called a shootie now! HA HA HE HE! That is what a bow does, it shoots. Of cours it is a shootie! I love my family.
I keep forgetting to post that Tricia and Hailey chopped off their long hair and they look darling. Tricia looks so much older. I miss her so much since she moved in to my brother-laws to be a nanny for them. She loves it and she is so busy. She is working at Office Depot and nannying and she is also going to start school in January. I am so proud of her. I love how close my girls are. Hailey and Tricia are the best of friends.
I made these cards last night so I thought I would share with you what I have been creating. I have my first class at my house in a few weeks. I am so excited to get back to teaching what I love to do. I am having a big group at my house. I am also creating cards for an amazing decorating and gift store here in Clearfield. They sold 17 of my cards last week. I am getting great feed back. HI to all of my friend in St.Louis! I miss you all so much! I am going to post this without fixing my errors because Paul just walked in with flowers and a gift and I want to go be with him and open my present. He is so thoughtful. He is always surpising me. I have the most thoughtful hubby ever. Goodnight!

A Very Happy Day In Court!

Our family is so happy! Yesterday, we had our day in court. Paul was finally able to adopt my four children that were from my first husband that died many years ago. My two youngest children were so young at the time that they don not even remember their biological father. They have known Paul as their Daddy for 7 years now. They have always called Paul Dad and they have always wanted to have his last name. For years the children have told everyone that their last name is Haywood but at school they would go by Carter because the schools had to go by their real name. The first few days of school are always so hard on my kds because they have to explain to the teacher and the other students why they had two last names. We finally hired an attorney to get this finalized. We now have the documentation that sais they are now and forever Haywoods! The kids were so excited. The Judge was so sweet! He had the entire family come up to the stand and introduce themselves. He asked the kids questions about Paul and he asked them how Paul treated them. The kids had sicere and sweet answers. Paul was glowing with pride. My sister in-law, her 2 kids, and my Mom and Dad were there at the court house to be supportive. Tricia, our oldest, got the day off of work so she could be there also. All 8 members of our family were there. The Judge had us come up to the bench so we could take pictures of our entire family with him. After the Judge said that there last name was now Haywood, I looked back at my Mom and Dad and they were both crying! My Mom and Dad have played such a huge role in all of the children's lives. They love Paul as their own son. Tricia and Taylor, my two oldest children from Paul's first marriage, are so close to my parents. My Mom and Dad have always treated them as their own grandchildren. Taylor is especially close to my Dad. It has been so cool to watch them grow so close over the years. Paul is such a wonderful Father! From day one Paul has treated my four children like his own. He has always changed diapers, helped with homework, listened, taught, loved and laughed. Now my children have their Father's name. That means so much to so many people. We are truly blessed.

Some New Eye Candy...

I love days like today where I don't have a whole lot going on and the kids are content just playing games with eachother. Why do I love it so much??? Because I have time to make cards and catch up on my scrapbooking. This is one of the cards that I designed to teach to a group of women at the end of this month. It is very late so off too bed I go. I would love to hear from any of you that read my blog. Come of from lurking because I know you are there. SMILE!!

I'm Back!

I decided I would take a break from cleaning and decorating to post a few cards that I made from the Melibean kit. I just love the things she puts together! She is one talented gal! I hope everyone is doing well! I will write again soon this time...I promise!

Loving Utah and our house!

We are finally moved in and we can just sit back and relax a bit! The moving van came on Sunday and move all of our things in the hose. They also set up all of the tables, appliances, beds etc... That was a huge help because Paul was at work so The kids and I did so much! When it comes to moving into a new house I can't sit or barely sleep until everything is all the way done. I stayed up for 2 nights in a row until 4:00 a.m. undoing boxes because I can't stand to not have things clean neat and organized. I love the feeling of getting all of my pictures hung and all of my kitchen organized just the way I like it. I want to live in this house for a very long time! Paul and I love it so much. It is so perfect. I know you are all so sick of hearing about our house.... it has been the main topic in our lives right now though. This picture is of Alex's room and the basement bathroom. I am going to change out the shower curtain and do things a bit more masculine in there but it is what we have right now and there are other priorities that take precedents. We still need to post some pictures of the basement. Taylor's room looks so awesome. We decorated it in tan corduroy and denim. I have a huge loft that is my scrapbooking room. I have been getting it all decorated and organized. I will post pictures of that also. I need to run, there is a handyman here that we hired to put in some ceiling fans on the top floor. Have an excellent weekend.

And so we wait and wait!

Family is the best!

Last night we went over to my Husband's brother's house. We laughed and had a great time. The kids wrestled with the Uncles. It was fun to just hang out and relax. Later on that night we watched fire works go off in their backyard. There was a park nearby that were lighting them off. I can't tell you how awesome it was to be around Paul's family. Paul's brother is so kind and I love his wife. We get along so well! We weren't able to be around family in Missouri so we are thoroughly enjoying it! Her are some pictures of last night. Can you tell that they are brothers? They look so much alike. We move into our house on Friday. I am so excited!