to you

gigi-pa

Grandpa Gene (or Great Grandpa Gene to Kapria & Mila) came to visit in October. I was so glad that Kapria and Mila got to see him! I was lucky to be able to mostly grow up near my grandparents, so I developed a close relationship with them. It has made me sad that they live so far away and we don't get to see them as often. I want my kids to know how awesome they are!

I remember as a kid I would get so excited to go to Grandma and Grandpa's house and spend the night. Grandpa always had life savers in his pockets and would share them with us. It was especially great when he would give you the end of the package, because then you'd get 3 or 4. Wowee.
I remember Grandma always ate breakfast with us. She taught me not to drink out of the bowl but to use my spoon to drink the rest of the milk (sorry, Grandma, that one didn't stick very well). I remember she would brush her teeth before eating breakfast, and I always thought that was so weird. But now then once I got to college, or was it in high school?, I love minty fresh breath, so I brush my teeth first thing every morning, and usually a few other times during the day, too. I totally get why she did it! (So that one did stick, Grandma :)

Anyway, I was grateful that the girls were able to get to know Grandpa a little bit. He even spoiled all the great grandkids by getting each of them a toy. Kapria got her first Barbie, and Mila got her first doll!

Thanks for coming to visit, Grandpa. And we definitely missed you, Grandma. I hope we can see you soon! Love you!

11.15.2009

supposed to...again

I’m really good at putting things off. Like tonight, when I was supposed to be working on the board report. Instead I started this blog.

I’m working on several other designs, but I don’t know how quickly I can get them up. I’m in the process of finishing the board report (yes, I’m going to start it right now!), as well as organizing our house, cleaning out the storage shed, and folding the heaps of clean laundry that have been sitting in my office for ahem…er…a month now.

Side note: Does anyone else live out of the laundry pile? I mean the CLEAN one. It is so depressing when we wear the entire clean laundry pile without it ever having been folded. I like the feeling of putting away the last folded item. But I can’t make myself take the time to sit and fold. No wonder moms make their kids do this task. I will definitely be having mine help with it. Maybe then we’ll actually have non-wrinkled underwear.

pay [love] forward recipients

Tonya, Mariah, Ashley, and Steph - you all get a prezzie from me! Since the four of you signed up, I couldn't very well exclude one person now, could I? And I'm excited to give you a gift.

So, you might be wondering What Is It?

My present to you:

I'd like to make each of you a custom digital Christmas card!

I put it together, you review, we finalize, then I email you the file. You can print it whenever, wherever, however you choose.

I hope this is something you'll like. Email me at sharishthoughts@gmail.com with your email address, your thoughts on what you want it to look like, and the photos you want included. If you already have plans for your Christmas cards, then I'm happy to do birthday cards, an invitation of some sort, a baby announcement - whatever you choose. I'll be setting up a blog and/or etsy shop shortly, so you can see the designs I have or email me with ideas of what you'd like.

Happy Pay It Forward, everyone! Now go forward the love on through your blog :)

(Steph - I know you have your own digital design business, so I will plan on making you something else. ((I've already got something in mind.)) Unless you're feeling too swamped and would like me to do it anyway :)

grandma bea

Beatrice C. Schwoch
12.11.33 - 11.08.08

I miss you.

But I know you

are happy

seeing new

things,

seeing old things

you didn't remember,

seeing people

you did remember

and loved.

To read about my Grandma Bea, click here and here.

And see my mom's beautiful post by clicking here.

blooming button at bijou market

If you're in Provo this weekend, you've got to check out this lovely event:



My talented sister Nicole will be selling these fabulous items:



I love these hats. All 4 of us have one...and we still have to buy more because Trav and I can't pick just one each. Hooray for hats! (At least there's one good reason to have winter.)

If you can't make it on Saturday, but must have a hat (and admit it...you must!), then click HERE to head on over to Nicole's etsy shop.

PS. These make for awesome gifts. And they are so darling on babies.
See:

pay [love] forward

You've probably heard of the blog version of Pay It Forward, but have you participated? I never have, so I was excited to sign up on my my mom's blog.



Here's how it works:

1. I will make a little something for the first three people who commment on this post. It will be a surprise and it will arrive on your doorstep when you least expect it.
   
   NOTE: I'm changing my rules up a bit. You'll have until the end of this week (SUNDAY NOV 8th at midnight) to leave a comment on this post. When you do, I'll enter you into a random drawing. Three people will be picked from the random drawing to win my handmades.
   
   
2. I will have 365 to days to complete and send your gift.
   
   NOTE: I'm planning to have it done before Thanksgiving, if possible. :)
   
   So what's the catch? To recieve a hand made prezzie from me, you have to play too. This means YOU pledge to send a little handmade something to three readers of your blog (see rule #4). It can be anything your heart desires to do, so long as it's handmade.
   
   
3. You must have a blog, facebook, or whever online account.
   
   
4. After signing up, you must post about your Pay It Forward on your blog (facebook, or whatever the rest of those places are called) to keep the fun going and display the pay it forward button.

So comment away. And I mean it! I have been seriously neglected by comment-love lately, and I'm feeling it. My sister, my mom, my sister-in-law, and my lovely Mariah are the only ones who talk to me on a regular basis. While I love them dearly and couldn't survive without those four, I want to hear from more of you! All of you! And no excuses. You are talented. You can give. And you have a whole year to come up with something. FUN!!

PS. I think what I'm making is pretty cool, if I do say so myself. And I do.


PSS. My handmades, cool as they are, are not as fabulous as my mom's. Whatever she makes will be A-Mazing. She is giving something away to the first five commenters on her post, and she still has TWO SPOTS OPEN! Can you believe it?! So hurry over and check out her blog by clicking HERE. You'd be lucky to get something from mi mamacita. Seriously. Want a sneak peak at what her talents include? I can't gaurantee you'll get something like this, but just so you know what you could be missing, look at this:

Wow.

halloween fun

Every other year our ward does trunk-or-treating in the church parking lot. It's the perfect kind of activity for toddlers since we get to walk, but not too much.

Since Shawn & Abby are in the same ward as us, we figured we'd make it a family activity, so we invited Nicole, Jeff & kids and Chels, Rob & kids. We were bummed that Chelsea and Rob were out of town. But we still had a fun night.

First was the ward chili & pie bakeoff. I'm not sure if they actually have taste testers award winners or what. I think really everyone just eats. We brought apple pie. I wish I could say I made it. I did bake it...but it was a frozen Marie Callender's Dutch Apple Pie. Deeee-licious. Nicole made the same pie (I think our family ate a whole one by ourselves!), and Abby made chili. Trav has issues with eating food at ward functions, so we stuck with the family-made chili, and we were glad. It was so yummy!

After dinner we headed outside for trunk-or-treating. The kids wandered from car to car for a little bit, but as soon as they were done they wanted to get in the back of the van to play. They loved it. Sitting back there reminded me of family camping trips where we would ride in the back of the van all sprawled out on the floor, then hang out there playing cards and other games at night. So fun.

Once we got home and the kids went to bed, Shawn & Abby came over and we watched Hocus Pocus. I love happy halloween movies rather than scary, evil, creepy ones. We laughed a lot, and that was perfect.

Thanks for a great Halloween night, everyone. We love living by you and getting to celebrate fun times together.

Oh - and don't you just love Shawn & Abby's costumes? Next year maybe I can convince Trav to dress up with me. I just didn't have the energy to do it by myself. The girls looked cute, though.

funny girl

favorite faces: october: kapria

favorite face: october: mila