Notebooks

I've been wanting to make these cute notebooks that I saw online made out of simple 99cent composition books and mod podge. I love mod podge!! We're celebrating three of Adam's nieces birthday's this weekend (Alexis, Emilie & Kate), so I thought these would make cute gifts. (And inexpensive!) I already had all the scrapbook paper, embellishments, etc. so all I had to buy were the composition books. I thought they turned out pretty cute, so I wanted to share:

I covered the backs too...

I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!! We'll be celebrating with Adam's entire family (parents/siblings) so I'll be sure to take my camera with me so I'll have something fun to blog about this weekend!

Busy time of year!!

I know, I know...I've been sparse on the blogosphere lately. I swear I've been so busy lately! It's a busy time of year. Not to mention we're looking at purchasing a home and it's kind of taking over our lives for now. I think I want to be on that HGTV show 'Property Virgins' where they present you with three houses that fill all your wants and needs within your price range and bada-bing-bada-boom, you're a homeowner. I wonder if they're auditioning right now...

So I started meeting up with some girlfriends in my ward for a once a month card club where ... you guessed it ... we make cards. This was my second month doing it and it's so fun!! This month we did Christmas tags (although I ended up doing a card...and another girl did a candy bag). Check out our handy work:

I think this one is my favorite. Who doesn't love a little glitter and bling?
By the way, Santa, if you're reading this post, I'd like one of THESE for Christmas. Thanks.

Oh, and I avoided the weekend madness and waited until tonight to go see Twilight. I have avoided reading any reviews on it, so I hope I like it!

Great Article

I generally try not to get political here on my blog, but today I was sent an article that I really liked and thought I would share. I am sure by now that most of you have heard of the Proposition 8 in CA that passed with this most recent election, thus not allowing same-sex couple marriages to be recognized as a marriage. There are many people upset with this decision and are placing blame on religious groups, especially the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (aka the Mormons) saying that their rights are being taken away.

I think that this article sums everything up very nicely in a few sentences:

"Government intrusion on religion is what's at stake. What's at risk in this fight is not the civil rights of homosexuals. What's at risk is religious freedom for every American. That and the not-so-small problem of undermining what has been for centuries the very foundation of society."

The article is a little longer so I am not going to post it on my blog, however please feel free to read it here:

http://www.onenewsnow.com/Perspectives/Default.aspx?id=323704.

You many not agree with me, however this is an issue that I feel is important to me, especially now that I have a child. I certainly do not want the government dictating what must be taught to my child as "correct" morals and principles. As a parent, that is my job, and I take great pride in having the right to raise up my children with the morals I teach them...not the government. That is a freedom I enjoy as being a citizen of this great country.

Holiday Traditions

Now that I have my own cute little family, I really want to start incorporating our own family traditions during the holiday season. Rocklin will be almost a year at Christmas, so he will not yet understand the reason for the celebration and presents and such, but I want to start now while he's young with some of our very own family traditions. Something my child(ren) can look forward to year after year.

I remember growing up and always reading the Christmas story in Luke 2 on Christmas Eve and getting to open one present (sometimes two...depending on how convincing we could be). Then Santa would come that night and we'd get to open the rest of our gifts the next morning. I also remember the year our family bought some gifts for less fortunate friends of ours and left a big bag of presents on their doorstep and ran so they would be surprised.

What kind of traditions do you have in your family now? What is your favorite holiday tradition memory you have of growing up?

And since no post is complete without a picture, he's the latest of little man modeling his new Christmas gear (minus his pants):

Weekend

We had a fun and busy weekend! Saturday was Katie's MS Walk at the Phoenix Zoo. We got up really early and bundled up because it was chilly!! We walked 5 miles through the zoo. Sadly, I only have a couple pictures from the walk. And check out Adam - he's recently lost just over 30 lbs. Looking good Adam B!!

Daddy and Rock staying warm

Rocklin and his cute cousin Gracie

On a completely different subject...somehow I either lost my credit card or someone stole it. I called to cancel it last week, but didn't get online to check to see if there were any charges until tonight (Stupid me...not sure why I waited so long...I think I was afraid of what I might find). Anyway, someone spent over $100 on it at a local grocery store...good thing I canceled it! But sheesh, that ticks me off!!

Boo-Ya

OK, I know this is totally dorky of me to post, but I'm so proud of myself that I just had to. Those of you who like to save a dollar here and there will appreciate this.

Today I went to two grocery stores and ran up a total retail bill of $113.45. Between store sales and a triple coupon promotion, I was able to save $93.30!!!

I spent a TOTAL of $20.15 on all this:

And if you're wondering, yes, I did pull all the food out and stack it on my coffee table for this photo op. And if you're also wondering, yes, I probably do have too much time on my hands. Is it OK to admit I'm becoming a self-proclaimed coupon queen?

(Oh yeah, and a shout out to Brittany, who left me all her coupons when she moved to UT! Thanks again Brittany!!)

The Great Outdoors

I think Mother Nature finally got the memo that it's November! The weather is starting to get nice here; a much needed reminder that living in Arizona is awesome this time of year. Rocklin and I were getting a little cooped up in the apartment today so I decided some fresh air would do us good. We went outside to the little kiddie play area at our apartment and I put Rocklin in the baby swing. The first time I put him in it, he had a total death grip on the chains, but today he just kicked back and enjoyed it. And do notice the go-to hands behind the head position. :)

Also, Rock has started to pull himself up on things - coffee table, large toys, etc. You can tell he's so proud of himself...

UN-Happy Halloween

Last night as we were getting ready to go to a friend's for a Halloween get together, Rocklin put something in his mouth. When we went to get it out, he had already started choking on it. (Not exactly sure what it is, although when I put my finger in his mouth to try and get it out, it felt like plastic). Rocklin started choking and gasping for air, so needless to say we were freaking out!! Our poor baby couldn't breathe so Adam gave him the baby version of the Heimlich maneuver and hitting his back to try and get the object to come out. He threw up, but still the object did not come out so we ended up rushing him to the ER since he was struggling to breathe. When we got to the ER they saw us right away and did an x-ray to see if they could see if something was stuck in his esophagus. We think he must have ended up swallowing whatever it was he was choking on because he started breathing on his own and by the time we were waiting on the doctor, Rocklin was his happy little self.

Needless to say this wasn't the SCARY Halloween we were hoping for!! Poor little guy didn't even get to wear his dinosaur costume, although I think he's secretly happy about that. I took some pictures with my phone in the waiting room so I could document Rocklin's first Halloween experience.

Adam entertained Rock by blowing up a plastic glove balloon.

As you can tell, little Rock man loved the balloon.

Mommy and Rock (and also a shot of my new haircut/color).

Daddy and Rock chillin. Whenever you feed Rocklin, he likes to grab and squeeze the skin on your neck like he's doing to Adam here...It hurts!!

I had to capture this moment because Rocklin NEVER holds his own bottle. He likes for us to feed him, but Adam got him to hold his own bottle for a bit. Yahoooo!! Let's hope he keeps it up.

This is just a random picture, but I like he's beautiful hair in it!