Can't Wait

Wade is coming home for a visit. We can't wait to see him. After his surgeries yesterday he loaded his car and drove from Tucson to Albuquerque and will drive 15 hours today so we can see him! We are so excited. His next program, in Waterloo, Iowa, is only 2 hours away so we will get to see him every weekend - AND, they gave him this first week off, so he will be home with us all week! (Can't you hear the Mo-Tab singing Hallelujah in the background right now? I can!) Gage keeps asking if Wade is home yet. I am pretty happy too. Did I mention that we are excited?

I know I haven't been good at posting since I've been home, but I've been trying to keep the boys busy and catching up scrapbooking. I did 3 more layouts yesterday and now I'm totally inspired to maybe [maybe] finish all of 2007 before we move. I am in the month of August so it might happen. I thought this picture was funny. I usually let the boys color or play with play-dough on half the table while I scrapbook on the other half. Noah saw some pictures of his cousin Keegan and couldn't resist. He climbed right up on the table and took them all.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Some pages and other stuff...

Since I've been home and Wade isn't here I've been spending some of my free time catching up on my scrapbooks. The boys have been so excited to be home they have been playing really well on their own and letting me work. It's been great. I got 3 layouts done yesterday alone! I've also been playing around with a few digital pages. I printed these at Costco for $2.99 a page. Not too shabby since I got all the elements free on Shabby Princess. I think I'll make my 2008, 12 album all digital. (See my 12 album idea, here.)

Below is a picture of pages - the top 3 pages are real paper pages. The bottom 4 pages are digital. Paper is still my favorite, but digital is nice for certain projects. (I bought photoshop elements yesterday - very excited!)

Gage's cousin Daesha collects bugs - and lots of them. So when we got home from Utah Gage couldn't wait to catch one himself. This is his first centipede that is a HE, but named Brooklyn?! He took it to story time to show off (story time was about bugs) and then he brought it home. I told him we needed to release the bug so he could go back and live in his home - which he did. Then Noah smashed the poor bugs head off. They both thought it was rather funny.

Just to make Wade smile - this last picture is what I found yesterday when I heard a lot of giggling coming from the living room.

Yesterday when I was feeling a little bit sad for myself that Wade was gone I was in the car taking the kids to the mall. In the parking lot in the condo's across the street from our complex I saw a man in his army uniform hugging a woman and kissing her. I am not sure if he was leaving or coming home but it really made me thankful for what I have. I might not have my husband right now but he is not overseas. He's not getting shot at or trying to stay safe each day of his life. We both know he will come home and not ever be "deployed" again. He is in a safe VA hospital each day clipping nails, helping with surgery, doing injections or other things he considers "fun stuff." I am so thankful for men and women who make this sacrifice for me. They are amazing.

Utah - Week 5

Our last week in Utah was jammed-packed!

1. We headed to the dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point with Chandra, Daesha and Keegan. Poor Gage was so scared of all the dinosaur bones?!? He loved all the activities, but for some reason bones are just plain scary to him. What a goof ball. And apparently Noah didn't want to know what he would be in weight as a dino.

2. Finished my 3 quilts. See previous posts.


3. Did some more scrapbook shopping. I love Utah for this reason! I am so addicted to these kits that I found and I couldn't wait to get back here to put them together. Yesterday during snack time (so about 20 minutes) I put this page together! I know I just posted about digital, and I am going to dab in it a bit, but I still really love the art and feel of real paper scrapbooking. One of the stores I frequented is also online HERE. I would have finished a few more last night but I ran of adhesive. Argh!

4. Hung out with some of our great friends from the U of U, the Haws. They just had their fourth kid - the most adorable newborn baby girl, Amelia. Their kids are the best and cutest kids you have ever seen and I was so sad that I forgot my camera that day. Gage had a blast running around with little Ben, who is only a week older than him.

5. Said sad goodbyes to good friends and all our family.

~~~

Now we just have one week left until Wade gets back to Iowa! We all can't wait. I'll have to keep us really busy this week so it goes fast. To start that off, I found this pattern in a scrapbook magazine when I got home yesterday and Gage just had to make them. They are perfect for the Fourth of July. Just cut and decorate your stars, then cut from the bottom of one to the middle, then from the top of one to the middle and place them together! FUN!

home

We made it home yesterday. Our house didn't flood if any of you were wondering...I did see some of the flood damage from the airplane - as much as I could see between Gage and Noah's heads that were pressed to the windows most of the flights. The boys are awesome travelers and very excited to see all their toys and their room when we got home.



I thought I would post how to make those easy quilts. If you click on the image it will enlarge and hopefully you can read the easy instructions. My favorite so far out of all of them is this last one with the polk-o-dots. I love it so much I might not give it to my friend Stephanie, I might just have to save it for myself someday.

Also, one of my last nights in Utah I went to a Creative Memories Digital scrapbook party. I know a lot of my blogging friends digital scrapbook. Do you all use photoshop? I am really tempted to buy photoshop now - has anyone used the other software from Creative Memories? It seems a lot more user friendly, but I think I would be able to do a lot more with photoshop. I made this page with publisher this morning.

Blankets and Sprinklers

It's finally warmed up here and we can play in the sprinkler in the backyard. My niece Charlotte walked down and joined us for an afternoon. I let the kids take a few pictures of me and near the end I tried to set the timer and get a picture of all of us - it went off before we ran! Since Wade complained I never post pictures that include myself, I have to post them anyway.

Also, here are the two quilts I've finished. It's a pattern called Vintage Baby and leaves the edges of the squares raw and frayed. This worked well since the pieces I had of Gage's blanket were so worn they were frayed and torn in places anyway. I am not sure I am crazy about the colors, but I had to go with the parts of his blankie and I didn't want it all pastel. My sister in law Karen made Gage this blanket and he has been attached to it since infancy. He now has the part of C (the name of the blanket) that he holds in his hand and cuddles with and this quilt.

I like the colors and pattern on Noah's quilt more because I could start from scratch and pick it all out. I still have one more girl quilt in the works - it's green and pink polk-o-dots. I am going to give it to my best friend Stephanie if her 3rd baby is a girl - she's having the baby next week, I can't wait!

Utah - Week 4

For journaling purposes again - here are a few things we were up to last week.

1. Played with Anne-Marie, Brooklyn and Mason on the dairy farm. Gage hasn't stopped talking about what a great trip that was! (post is below).
2. Story time again
3. Browsing scrapbook stores with my sister in law Chandra and her friend Kim. We found some great finds and I got some really cute kits on Saturday at a special half-off sale! I can't wait to work on them! And of course, you have to reward the kiddo's for being good in craft stores with ice-cream cones!




4. Made some of the freezer meals I blogged about for my sister in law that's husband has been having health problems. So far, they have loved the ones they've tried! Hopefully everyone is getting their emails too when you ask for them, let me know if I've forgot to send you one.
5. Attended a free medieval art festival at the Art Museum at BYU. We went with my sister and her family - Gage and a fun time learning some dance moves and paining!




6. Worked some more on Gage's special quilt and finished one for Noah. I promise I will post pictures (Kim Y.). They are super easy.
7. Ate some yummy Swedish Pancakes (crepes) at my sisters house. Her kids had never had them and it's a specialty that Wade's family always makes (he served his mission in Sweden). I think they were a hit - one of the boys ate 12!

For Our Daddy!

Happy Father's Day to our favorite Dad! We love you lots and miss you, Wade. Hopefully this makes you smile!



(listen close at the beginning - Noah says "cheese" for the camera!)



This last one is the total out-take of the first song - but it makes me laugh so hard, I hope Wade enjoys our wacky boys!

10 meals

I had to type of the 10 freeze meals that I made with my friend last week (see post below). (I only had a paper copy and wanted an electronic copy) So if anyone is interested in the list or the recipes please email me at wadeanddebbi@gmail.com and I will send you the document. I really think that this is a good way to store some meals for your family or to give to others, and they seem to be pretty economical as well. Below is the menu.

Chicken and Broccoli Bake
Chicken and Rice
Tetrazini Chicken
Chicken Noodle Soup
Sour Cream Enchiladas
Quick Taco Pie
Enchilada Pie
Meatloaf
Hamburger Noodle Bake

It’s In There Supper

Farm Trip

Today we went on a trip to visit the Hibshmans! They have officially graduated law school and moved from Iowa to Utah now. It will be a really sad day when we return to our house and they don't live across the street from us. Since Anne-Marie's family is in the dairy farm business the kids had a BLAST! The four hours in the car were totally worth the farm experience, tractor ride, and few trains and rocket ships.

Gage and Brooklyn got to ride on the tractor and cut the hay with Brooklyn's Grandpa Ken.

The baby cows were a hit too - they were so darn cute!

Everyone got a ride on the big yellow tractor with Anne-Mari in the drivers seat! That has got to take talent!

The we headed out to see the Golden Spike State Park.

We then headed out to the company (ATK) that builds rockets.

Thanks Anne-Marie for the great day! It was such a fun time!

Utah - Week 3

For journaling purposes, here is our past week (sorry no pictures!).

1. Added some normalcy to our lives and went to story time at the library with my sister's kids. Gage was in heaven.

2. Saw Stomp - I was laughing so hard my face hurt - see posts below.

3. Helped my best friend, Stephanie prepare meals for when she has her 3rd baby (hopefully this week!). She found this great packet that had 10 freezer meal recipes, had the list of everything you need to buy by section at the grocery store and then how to prepare, freeze and then cook them all. It took us 3 hours and we made all ten meals. I was totally impressed and had to copy the packet so I can try it myself!

4. Went to lunch with 3 of the 5 roommates I lived with in Orem when I first moved to Utah. There were 4 adults and 6 kids! We had a great time chatting and eating yummy food.

5. Finished Twilight, New Moon and halfway through with Eclipse. I love re-reading this series. It's made me really excited for August.

6. Almost done with a quilt I'm making for Gage out of his old blanket that has been falling apart for years. It's a project I started in Iowa but never got time to sew, so I brought it with me. I hope to have it done in the next few days...the only problem is that I might have to make one for Noah now!

7. Surivived our first week alone without Wade. I think Monday was just that...a Monday. They were really good the rest of the week. The kids really like seeing Wade (and themselves) on the webcam every night when we say goodnight to each other. One week down!

Picture

This is why I love my sister in law Chandra! She totally found the picture of the Stomp - Jacob Black guy for me that I posted about earlier this week. Seriously, I am in the middle of re-reading New Moon and just finished the paragraph that describes Jacob after he cuts his hair yesterday. This is exactly what I picture.

Ok, enough Twilight, I promise I will try to post about something else the next time I post!

team shirts

Yes, a little over the top, but these iron-ons were free with the special edition of Eclipse that my sister picked up to re-read. She reluctantly let me put them on the back for us...and I even let her wear the team Jacob shirt for the picture!

Stomp

Our Row: Pam, Ed, Ashley, Shay, Judy, Me, Chandra, Robyn, Josh, Hunter, Kent, Betty

Last night I got to go see Stomp with the family! We couldn't take pictures of the show, but I got a picture of the 12 of us before it started. It was an amazing show. They make music and dance with crazy ordinary objects - brooms, basketballs, paper bags, match boxes, garbage cans, street signs, sticks, kitchen sinks - anything! I was laughing so hard I was in tears.

I have to admit that my favorite part of the show was watching the Jacob Black look a-like (Chandra knows who I am talking about!). He was awesome and hot. (Wade is going to give me so much crap for posting this!) I tried to find his cast picture so I could prove exactly how much he looked like Jacob to me, but I couldn't find it this morning. It doesn't help my fascination that I'm re-reading Eclipse right now.

I recommend the show to anyone! I was only sad that Wade couldn't be there to watch it with us. I know he would have loved it and we will get to see it together some day!

Here is a little preview video of what we saw. Enjoy!

Two Days Down...

Two days down, 120 to go. Till Wade is back with our family for good, that is. Yesterday wasn't too bad. I had to laugh because after I put the boys to "bed" I sat down with a good book (I am re-reading the Twilight series) some chocolate and a caffeine-free Dr. Pepper for a little relaxation. I opened my first Dove chocolate and read the wrapper, laughing the whole time. It said "Today is a bubble bath day."

Both boys were screaming for their Daddy in the other room.

I should not complain. We have many blessings. My husband is not in Iraq getting shot at. He is safe and in this country. He is doing something that will help our family a million times over. He is providing a future for our boys. However, today, was not so good. I should never attempt busy shopping places like Ikea or crazy Walmart with them in toe, but what other options do I have?! 2 hours to bedtime.

120 days to go.