My parents are awesome!

My parents are awesome! For Christmas we got the present of food storage. Might sound silly to some but to me it is one of the best things they could get us. They told us that because they love us they want to make sure we always have food. Going to the cannery is an expense that is not always easy or fun to save up for but definitely something that we need and should have. So thank you Mom and Dad--I think this is the best gift! Plus spending a day with everyone at the cannery was really fun (and funny) and we got to go to lunch afterwards--yummy. It is not often that we get to be with just the adults. It was a great morning/afternoon. Our friend, Debbie, watched our kids plus Seth and Christina's. She is amazing and went the extra mile for all of us. Some favorite memories of canning were Matthew being so set on efficiency that he would put the labels on the cans while they were still spinning. Also Bruce saying "Are you kidding me? No more oatmeal please!" (see picture below). And my Dad's face when it came time to pay (also see picture below). Our cars were FULL! I think the workers there thought we were crazy. And usually when it comes to getting all the Thorup's together we are a little crazy and I love it!

Early Bird Pricing

Early bird pricing for the digital scrapbook retreat in April is ending on the 15th of January (just 2 more days)! I don't want any of you to miss out if you want to come and cheaper is always better. So this is just a friendly reminder for those of you on the edge of signing up. Go to www.digitalscrapbookmemories.com for all the info. Can you tell I am so super duper excited for the retreat?! I am! Bruce doesn't think I will know what to do with myself because there will be so many girls to talk to up there. I think I am as much or more about the social side of the retreat as the actual learning part. So get signed up and let me know if you need help with registration or housing!!!

Go Digital Scrapbooking!!!

My sister April owns a company called Digital Scrapbook Memories. If you are interested in learning how to digital scrapbook then this is the place to go! She is having a lot of fun contests with the Olympics as well as a Digital Retreat in April. I use my Photoshop knowledge for lots of things besides just scrapbooking, including fixing photos, making posters for church, creating invitations, etc. If you want to know more just ask me or visit her website to enter a chance to win free CD's or a retreat package! Of course as her sister I may appear bias but I really do believe that her products and classes are exceptional and I feel so lucky that she is my very talented sister that I get to glean from!!!

A gift to myself

I decided (as of this moment) that I am giving myself a gift.  The gift is the release from feeling the need to catch up on my journal (Bruce has been telling me this for months).  I was keeping my family journal in another program and was overwhelmed trying to play catch up because ever since I got pregnant I have lapsed most phases of my life including my journal.  But as of now I will just move forward.  Oh the sweet feeling of relief this gift brings.  It actually brings back to joy of journaling again.  There are a few entries I have already written that I will include so that they have a home.  Here is one of them.  It was written on  one of those rare nights when the kids go to bed and instead of being overwhelmed and overly tired I am struck by how sweet my kids are and how incredibly lucky I am.

I Love My Kids!

Written December 9, 2009 (Pictures are from our trip to the zoo in November 2009)

I love my kids. That is no secret. But tonight I have such an increase of love and thankfulness for my sweeties.

Jonny was an absolute angel today. Twice he did secret services for me. First I told him that we needed to put the timer on for 15 minutes and clean. But then I sat down and when he asked about cleaning I said "Oh, let's have a rest first. I am tired." So he said "Mom, stay here I will be right back." I heard him go downstairs and start to clean up the play food that spilled. It was the sweetest little act of service he has ever done for me and I was quite surprised that he thought to do that. Then later I said to Jonny "I am going to vacuum so what if you go upstairs with Autumn and watch cartoons so she won't be scared." (Autumn does not like the vacuum at all!) Jonny then said "Mom, will you get the vacuum out and plug it in and then you can go upstairs and have a rest with Autumn." He said this in a way where he was trying to be sneaky so I didn't know what he was going to do. It was so funny and so cute how he thought he was fooling me. So I plugged in the vacuum and went upstairs. A couple of minutes later I heard him vacuuming (remember he is only 4 so I think that is pretty impressive!). Bruce came home while Jonny was vacuuming and Jonny said "Dad, don't tell Mom what I am doing--it's a secret." So when I came down I acted so surprised to see the living room vacuumed. It really melted my heart. He had the biggest smile on his face and he even had wound up the cord on the vacuum. Can he be more of a sweetie? Jonny then said (and this makes me laugh) "Now I know Santa will bring me all the toys I want." But then he told me that more important than Santa knowing what he did was that Jesus did. What an amazing, amazing boy! And as if that wasn't enough to make me the happiest mom in the world, tonight when when were saying our family prayers we always say what we are thankful for and Jonny said "I am thankful that Jesus sent you to be my mom!" How blessed am I?! I am overwhelmed with love.

Autumn is also one to melt me. It is so hard to ever be mad at her because she is so loving and such a giant of a sweetheart. This morning she woke up at 4:30am and didn't want to go back to sleep!!! She was just wide awake and eager to snuggle me and hug me and kiss me. What is a mom to do? I am not pleasant to be around at 4:30am but Autumn is too much of a sweetie pie to get too upset with. Tonight when I put her to bed I was laying by her and she said "I have a surprise for you mom." I said "What is it?" She then handed me an imaginary box that as I opened she said "It's a hug!" Then she did it again and it was a kiss, then a tickle. How cute is that? Often she will say "I have a secret for you Mom." Then she gets right in my ear and whispers "I love you sooooo much!" I love that little girl more than words can say (even with the 4:30am wake up calls).

Our Pet Spider

We have two different pets. One is fish, the other is a spider. While we love our little fish, I have decided that a spider is a perfect pet. There is no mess, nothing to buy, they seem to live a long time without any food and they dispose of really easy. Plus Jonny is completely entertained by carrying a spider around. We have a mason jar with holes punched in the top that we keep handy for when we see a spider lurking about our house. We catch the spider, put the lid on the jar and Jonny has a new friend for about 2 weeks. I had to laugh this morning when Jonny came in our room with his spider jar in hand to snuggle with us in bed. The picture with only Jonny holding the spider jar is from last July. It is of one of our first pet spiders named Bolt (almost every pet Jonny has is named Bolt). The other picture with Carter and Jonny is with our newest pet spider. I am a nice, nice mom because I had to stand on the bathroom counter and knock the spider into the jar with the risk of it falling on my head. Carter and Jonny were so excited when they found a dead fly in the window sill to add to the jar because we all know that spiders love to eat flies. Interestingly the spider did spin a web around the fly but hasn't eaten him (I am guessing spiders only like fresh food). The pet spider only grosses me out when we are reading books and Jonny insists that the spider wants to read with us and I can see this creepy 8 legged creature crawling by my face.

Happy New Year 2010

Who can believe it is 2010? I was just about to start writing to say what a miraculous New Year it has already been because both kids were in bed by 8pm! Notice I said "were" in bed. Just as I was about to begin writing I hear Autumn yell "Mom! Mommy!" She fell asleep in the car on the way back from Grandma and Grandpa LeBaron's and I guess it was just too much to ask for her to stay asleep. Autumn has what I call "puppy dog eyes" where she just looks at me and I cave. I said "Autumn you need to go to bed." And she looked at me so innocently with those puppy dog eyes and said "Mommy, I just want to be by you." To be honest I was just too intent on doing other things that I caved because I knew if I laid down by her for much longer I would also fall asleep and I had things I wanted to do. So she's up...who is in charge around here anyway?

Our News Year Day was fun consisting of cleaning our fish tank and then a party at Grandma and Grandpa LeBaron's. Okay cleaning the fish tank wasn't exactly fun but doing it together as a family was. The party was fun though. Grandma made all the granddaughters aprons for Christmas with the intent on them wearing them today while they helped get ready for the party. You can imagine that Autumn was lots of help. What a cute little party girl she is. Her job was to help Aunt Janet put the cheese on the tortilla rollups. I love that the kids love to go to Grandpa and Grandma's house and that it is always sad for them to leave because they are having so much fun.

It's Time

It's time! I gave up on my blog about 6 months ago. I was keeping a family journal and just couldn't do both. But ever since I saw my cousin Lora's, blog book she printed I have been dreaming (literally) about blogging and blog books. Lora printed out her blog from a full year. It ended up being 360+ pages of amazing quality pictures and text. She printed it out through http://www.blurb.com/ in case you are interested in checking out what they have to offer. I tried a test book and it was awesome and user friendly! I was so excited to see how it printed (since I was a skeptic of how a blog would print out). I think this will be a much easier way to keep a family journal. Here are just a few tricks she told me about if you want to also print out your blog:



1. I was wondering about keeping certain things private. There is always things that you don't want everyone to read. I learned that you can write a post and save it as a draft instead of publishing it and it will still be pulled into your blog book when you go to print it. So you can have those embarrassing moments preserved without your neighbors reading them.



2. You can add/delete/edit anything before you publish. So you can add more pictures and text later.



3. It took Lora about 8 hours to edit and download her blogbook to print. But that was for a year and 360+ pages and Lora is a perfectionist (which is a compliment to her blog book because it turned out great).



4. It cost about $120 to print an 11x17 book. Lora waited and got a coupons for free shipping and $20 off. That is only about 33 cents a page! And many pages were full bleed pictures. I thought is was an awesome deal.



Needless to say...I am excited to start blogging and print off my own book next year!

Awesome Sale!

Digital Scrapbook Memories has an awesome sale this week. Some CD's that were $25 are only $5 this week! Check it out! www.digitalscrapbookmemories.com

My Boys

I love my boys!

I am not a good blogger

I am not a good blogger. I don't do it very often. But seeing as I am here I will post a cute picture. Jonny was dying to go golfing (just like his Dad). So we went mini golfing. He gave Autumn is old Spiderman hat and one of his clubs. He was super excited when he thought he got a hole in one (after about 6 or so practice hits). It was a really fun day. Autumn tries so hard to keep up with her brother.

Our New Pets

Update

I haven't blogged for awhile so again, for Susan, here is a quick update. The kids are so cute these days. Jonathan is a great negotiator that thinks everything should be done his way. Autumn is a sweetheart but with a lot of spunk!! Bruce took me this weekend to St. George for our 6th anniversary. It was so much fun and a great retreat. He kept everything a surprise. We went swimming, horseback riding, rollerblading, to a play at SUU. Plus lots of yummy food and relaxing too. How fun. I am so lucky to be so spoiled!

Dear Susan

Here is a my friend Susan (and her cute Emery). I love Susan! She is such a great friend except for the fact that she is moving!!!! How can you do that to me Susan? I love walking over to your house and visiting. I love Emery coming over to play. I love it when we go walking. I love it when she brings me over food from her husband's deli. Susan is just awesome and so multi talented (seriously talented)!! I love being her friend. She is so good to me. I know she isn't going to move so far away but still anywhere out of walking distance is too far. Sigh! Well...we still get to be roommates at the Digital Scrapbook Memories Convention. I am making her pay up the money now so she can't back out. (:

So if you noticed I haven't blogged in a VERY long time and Susan keep making me laugh with her notes about how long it has been. So this is my tribute to her and my way back into the blogging world. Maybe I shouldn't worry about Susan moving now since she might not be my friend after she reads this because she is too modest for all this attention. Ha! I love you Susan!

Sledding at Uncle Lenny's

Lenny gave Jonathan a sled for Christmas! We went sledding in his backyard! So much fun! Jonathan and Autumn were loving it! Thanks Lenny for a fun day!

Free Tree Anyone?

Does anyone need a Christmas tree? It is 7 1/2 feet tall with lights. We've had it about 6 years and wanted to upgrade. Perfect for anyone needing a free Christmas tree with lights! This is a picture of Christmas morning before the kids were up. But I posted the picture so you could see the tree.

Our new wall...or lack of wall

Here is our new wall...or lack of wall. I love it! It makes the space feel so much more open. I love to be able to see down into the family room. It is so much fun to do something like this to our house. Now we just need to paint. The man in the picture is who we have to thank for this. His name is Jeremy Anderson and if anyone needs a general contractor he is a good one to call! He does really great work!

Christmas Card 2008

Silly me! I even printed out our Christmas cards to send out but never did. I guess there is something to be said for simplifying sometimes. I do wish I had sent it out though. Well here it is sent out by cyberspace. Merry Christmas! We are very excited about Christmas around here and hope that you are too!

Jonny hit a hole in our wall!!!

I told a few people that Jonny was in BIG trouble because he hit a hole in our wall. They would always gasp! Jonny would just laugh! Why is it that destroying something can feel so good? Especially the boys have it in there blood to love to hammer!

The Before and During Shots of Remodeling

So here is our construction project. We are opening up the wall and adding a railing. Jonathan thought it was so cool that we get to have a construction site in our house. We even let Jonathan hit holes in the wall to start the process. I told my nephew, Luke, that I was going to let Jonny hit a hole in the wall with a hammer. He didn't believe me but I said it was true and that if he hurried over he could hit a hole in the wall too. After I said that to him and I heard was the phone drop and Luke running to his mom to say "We have to go to Angie's right NOW!" If Jonathan thought it was fun to hit the wall, Luke thought it was 10 times over the moon cool!

Christmas Cuties and Christmas Lights

Our little cuties. Christmas morning is going to be so much fun this year!!!

Bruce and I got to have 24 hours all to ourselves! Our friend and neighbor, Debbie, took the kids overnight for no other reason than to just be nice. It wasn't our anniversary or anything. So we went downtown and ate at the Roof in the Joseph Smith Building, then toured the lights on Temple Square. It was so fun and festive. The next day we spent the morning wrapping all our presents then went to the temple. It was so much fun as well as productive! I am 95% ready for Christmas. Only a few last little things to do. That feels so good since last year I was kicking myself on Christmas Eve as I was up late finishing things and just wanted to go to bed. So this year I keep my promise to myself to get it done early. Funny note: I found I couldn't sleep in. I still woke up at 6am! went back to sleep and really woke up at 7:30. Those kids of ours have us completely programed. But no complaints from me. It was a fun, fun break! Thanks Debbie!!!!