winner!

And random.org has chosen the winner...

Melody Duran!

(email me your address to ashleysbyu {at} yahoo [dot] com)

And since everyone was pretty unanimous on the menu, I'll be selling it for just $2 for the next week!  If you are interested, go ahead and email me your addresses and I'll tell you where to send a check or cash!  You all are awesome!  Thanks for entering!

Giveaway!

That's right...It's time for a vinyl giveaway!  The winner will receive a vinyl cutout as large as 8"x10".  If you haven't already...head over to my website to see existing projects.

To enter, leave a comment telling me which vinyl cutout you would want to win,

or

leave a comment describing a custom picture, jpg image, or words you want in vinyl!

Giveaway will end 5/25, winner announced 5/26.

some Hunger Games eye candy

The Hunger Games!

Oh my goodness, I'm excited.  I think these actors are perfect!

(p.s. come back tomorrow for a sweet giveaway!)

Addictions

Pinterest...I like finding images to store away for future reference.  Plus, I feel like I need to find cool ones to keep up with the crowd, haha.


Amazon.  I have an ever-growing wish list on there.  Prime...you and your free two-day shipping are one of my favorite things in life.

Beckett and his cheek kisses.  Just taught him to kiss on the cheek and I can't get enough!

the end.

(p.s. Jeremy's done with finals after Wednesday.  No school for the summer.  No work on Fridays.  Yes!!!)

fast approaching...

...my 200th post!  I'm thinking about doing a vinyl cutout giveaway.  Stay tuned.  Just three posts away...

My husbee bought me this little beauty for mother's day/our 4th anniversary.  Love!!!  He is such the thoughtful one.

And can I just say that my mind is brimming with ideas!  I need to get myself to Michael's and Joann's stat!  Mom is worried I won't come over to craft/scrapbook anymore, but I still will!  Let's face it, there's been little time for any of that since GG's accident, but hopefully soon.

A little update on GG, She got her brace off on Wednesday and is walking like a champ without her walker!  Her vision is back to normal, and she was told by her doctor to try and get back to living life normally.  Thank you everyone for your prayers.  It has been a long couple of months for my mom (and great aunt for a portion of the time) who cared for her.  The next hurdle is my uncle's pre-trial tomorrow where she has to testify against him (easy part) with him in the courtroom (HARD part!).

Now for some Beckett-isms (this is one random post, I know):

*Loves to run around the house saying he is one of three things:

       -"Fast like Dash!"

       -"Night Fury!"

       -"I space ranger!"

*He is obsessed with shoes/slippers/boots, and is constantly asking/demanding, "Shoes on!"

*Watches (at least) one of the Toy Story trilogy every day.

*Loves new movies, our most recent is Megamind, which he refers to as "Meg-E-mine".

*He's loving swimming again!  Hooray summer!

*He's developed a new super cheesy face when we ask him to smile, different from the last picture I posted.

*He is having disneyland withdrawals...ok maybe that's just me, but I want to buy a pass again soon!

i'm a cry baby

I had some strong feelings last weekend during stake conference, and I thought that on the cusp of another weekend full of events and non-stop-ness that may press on my sanity, now would be as good a time as any to write down my thoughts before I forget them.

First off, our stake merged with the other Escondido stake, which I think is awesome.  We gained a new Stake President who seems full of love and caring for all his new members, and who picked some amazing counselors (I did not see President Moore coming, but duh!  It just makes perfect sense!).  Alex said after conference that she felt that this would be the stake presidency that would see her through her young adulthood, finishing high school, going through the temple, marriage, etc.  I almost lost it again (after crying for nearly two hours straight during conference anyway).  President Haynie had been that for me.

For most of high school I got to know our stake president and his counselors pretty well.  I was really bummed when he moved just a few months before my application for BYU needed to be filled out.  I didn't know how a new stake presidency that I didn't know at all could write the things necessary to help me get into school (silly me).  President McBeth did my interview, and I felt really excited to get to know the new stake presidency more after that.  A few years later I was getting my papers ready for my mission, and I was able to meet with President Haynie, and he said some amazing things and talked to me about the temple...just pure awesome!  He said he felt prompted that I should come home and take out my endowments as quickly as I could once I got my mission call.  About six months later I was back home, endowed, but with a disease that left me unable to serve my mission.  I understood that the Lord had other plans for me and that I should trust His timing, but still felt so lost, confused, and without a purpose in the meantime.  Then I was called to be the temple and family history chair in the single's ward, being one of the few endowed sisters in the ward.  I attended the temple every week, at least once if not more.  Then President Haynie instituted the Nauvoo temple project.  I again felt like my life had a purpose, like I was endowed early to be able to take part in that historic project.  I was so blessed due to President Haynie's wisdom on both accounts.  Let me also add in that he was the main priesthood example and father figure to my husband during his youth in a time when he needed one most, and you'll understand why I was overcome with emotion the entire two hours as I sat and looked at the former stake presidency that had been so instrumental in my young adult life.

I have to tell you (or write it so I remember) the other emotions and messages that I came away with after both sessions.  The gospel, for all intents and purposes already IS in all the nations of the Earth via the internet, and is almost translated into all languages but a few.  In these  emotionally, economically, and spiritually trying times, we must continue to have faith.  The righteous need not fear.  Life is good!  The Lord is mindful of all of us.  The apostles of the church are profoundly grateful for members who read their scriptures, hold family home evening, have family prayers, and magnify their ward callings.  The Lord leads His church thru inspired leaders.  We need to spread the gospel.  WE need to find those whose hearts are ready so that the missionaries can perform their call to TEACH.  The best way to teach our young children the gospel is to read to them the stories and teachings found in the scriptures.

back-to-back crazy weekends

     April and May have been (and will continue to be) just crazy...the weekends that is.  We have been trying to be better at going on dates on the rare weekends that we have time because alone time has been seriously cut back this semester due to Jeremy's school load.  (By the way summer, you're so welcome to come speedily so we can have the return of fun days with our husband/dad.)  Anyhow, this weekend Jeremy was the sweetest and planned a date completely by himself and totally just for me.  Remember how I just finished reading Jane Eyre again and wanted to see the latest version which was only going to be shown at a select few theatres in San Diego?  Well Jeremy got his mom to babysit, took me to TGI Fridays in La Jolla, and then we walked across the parking lot to the movie theatre there to see Jane Eyre!  I enjoyed it, he fell asleep for part of it, but sucked it up for the rest so I could do something I wanted.  Such a good time.  We don't have a picture from our date, but here is one from Kasey's wedding in February that I just got and love!

(gideon photography)

As a side note let me tell you about a sweet deal.  I was leaving a review for our wedding photographer (Abby's also, and taker of the beautiful picture above from Kasey's) for a chance to win a free family shoot with him, and the website I was leaving the review on gives you a free gift if you rate/review 5 wedding vendors that you used.  I found four more on their website that we had used, left some quick reviews, and got a free 20 page 9x7 hardcover book from lulu.com.  It took a few weeks to get my free book code, and their layouts aren't the cutest I've used or seen, but shipping was only $4.49 and the fonts they have are super cute.  If you're interested, go to weddingwire.com and start reviewing!