Friday, July 10, 2009

The return of the delay fish....

SO! I'm still alive! Just had the crazy busiest few months of my life i think. So here's what's been going on.

1- My sister got married! YAY JESSICA!!! Her wedding was so beautiful! This is were the busy part comes in. I made 6 trip up north in the 2 months leading up to my sisters wedding entailing: I was matron of honor, 2 Bridal Fairs in Provo to help with wedding decisions, trip up for engagement photo shoot, trip up for Bridal Portrait shoot, 2 Bridal showers (one in STG on up there), 2 bridesmaids dress fittings for alterations, designing and printing a LOT of invitatons, editing and printing engagement and bridal portraits, creating floral arrangements for table centerpieces, designing and printing a custom mini scrapbook/ guestbook, scanning old pictures and creating a DVD slideshow of the bride and groom, getting a flower girl outfit for Kaitlyn, making matching hair bows for the flower girls, making jessie a hair bow for the luncheon, making a music CD for the wedding ceremony, actually getting to the wedding with husband and 2 children alive and dressed for the occasion.

I think that's about it... give or take a few projects or so. It may seem like a lot, but it was worth it for my sis! :) Here's a few pics from the invites, showers and bridals. Wedding pics (which we hired someone to do because i was in the line) should be coming shortly.



Nextly, Alex and I celbrated our 4 year anniversary in June. We had tickets to go see Footloose out at Tuachan, which was FABULOUS. I just can't believe we've been together for 4 years! It seems like our wedding was just yesterday, but I guess time flies when your having fun right?

Alex is really lucky then way things worked out for him holiday wise. First he gets fathers day, which I made him breakfast in bed, and Kaitlyn colored him a card. Then he gets our anniversary, followed by his birthday. All 3 of these holidays fall within about 2 weeks of eachother. Not to mention that the day after his birthday is the 4th of July, which bring fireworks and all that excitement. Lucky dog. Anywho, we celebrated Alex's birthday, then the fourth of July, which was super fun. We go watch the big fireworks in town from Alex's grandparents who live in town so we get a GREAT view from thier front yard. Here's a few pics from that.




Things are staying pretty busy around here, but we're doing really well. I'm going to try to blog more often because of just some of the funny little things that happen in my life. i want to try to post them on here not only for you all to read, but for myself as a way of remembering. It's getting pretty late, and I'm super tired. So for now, enjoy and see you soon!

Saturday, May 2, 2009

Wedding plans and Easter

Firstly, i apologize for not posting for the entire month of April! It was a very busy month! NOW!

HAPPY NATIONAL SCRAPBOOK DAY!!!

I am very happy to say I am celebrating this event all day long! As part of my celebration, I am updating my blog, because it is a form of scrapbooking to me because it's archiving photos and memories! I am going to be out and about around some of the scrapbook stores today with all the free scrap parties i can go to and freebies if your in the store! :) No I'm not going to be shopping, because heaven knows I don't need anymore scrapbook supplies right now! And if I get any digital scrapbooking done, which I plan to later this evening, I will post those to my blog here for all to see!

SO! Here's what's been going on lately!

As I said in my last post, I took a trip up north to see my sister Jessie's graduation from hair school about a month ago, and I did a photo shoot of her model she had to do as part of the graduation. I'll just pick out one of the favorites as too not overpower you with all the pictures that will be in this post. So she styled her hair and did her make-up to go with a "Vogue" theme of the graduation. And as an added note, Jessie and MADE the hat! Way cute huh! FABULOUS!


Here's jessie and chad after the graduation! Way to go sis!

So after the graduation we went to go get some dinner with Chad's family, then went back to the hotel. Then after a little bit of sitting there, Jessie calls and asks if she can come visit us at the hotel. She her and Chad show up and *SPARKLE SPARKLE*!!!


My sister is engaged (congrats little sis), and I am helping with all the wedding plans! SO! 3 trips to South Jordan, 2 Bridal Fairs, and 1 engagement portrait session later, here i am! Haven't finished editing the engagements yet because I just took them like a week ago and have been crazy busy since, so when I'm done, I'll put a few up! :)

Next topic... We had Easter!


Coloring some easter eggs at grandmas house!



Kylie's first Easter! Look how cute she looks in her dress!


Kaitlyn got some "Pet Shop" stuff in her Easter "basket"(it was kind of a jewelery box)


Then we went up to the Gifford Easter party at Alex's grandpas feed lot.

Kaitlyn with Grandpa Dean


She is a little obsessive about the chickens up there...

So that's kinda whats been going on. and i'll have some more goodness to add later today (don't judge me if i dont!)



Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Quick update

I haven't posted anything in a while so I thought it best to give you a quick update on how we've been. Alex has been working away on some really exciting deals, so we'll see how that works out. Kaitlyn is getting really smart! She's pretty much got her ABC's down, and is starting to learn some of the sounds each letter makes. She also has been more into the mommy taking care of baby thing by dragging this little " Fur Real Friends" baby panda everywhere and feeding it and rocking it to sleep. And she discovered her cousins "littlest pet shop" toys and is getting into playing pretend with a few we've got for her.
Kylie's first tooth popped in yesterday! It's the bottom front left tooth. It's just a tiny white line right now, but that sucker is sharp if she bites ya! Also, she can almost sit up on her own. She's a good roller, but just can't quite get the balance to sit on her own yet.
As for me, most of you know I've been crazy sick with what I thought was mono, which tests said it wasn't,, but still never managed to get a diagnosis. Luckily it's mostly gone now, besides a sore throat and earache. On a happier note, I'm super excited to take a trip up north to see my sister this Friday. And blessed day, I get to go without my kids!!! Ha ha! Not that I don't love them, but I have yet to take a trip without them since kylie was born. I'm going with my parents to watch jessies graduation an staying a night and my awesome alex is staying home with the girls. I'll take some pics and letcha know how it went! As for right now... I'm taking a nap!

Friday, March 20, 2009

X marks the spot!

Jumping on the train with Katria and Chilly...

"X" marks the things I have done during my lifetime:

(X) Been to Canada
(X) Been to Mexico
(X) Been to Florida
(X) Been to Hawaii
(X) Gone on a blind date
(X) Skipped school
(O) Watched someone die
(X) Been on a plane (don't remind me... it makes me sick!)
(O) Been on a helicopter
(X) Been lost (always...)
(X) Been an extra in a film (I'm counting TV with Ray. We were so pro!)
(X) Been to a TV show taping
(O) Visited Washington, DC
(O) Traveled by San Francisco trolley
(O) Traveled to Europe
(O) Traveled to Asia
(O) Went to the top of the World Trade Center
(O) Been to Notre Dame (Cathedral)
(O) Been to Jamaica
(X) Swam in the ocean
(X) Cried yourself to sleep
(X) Played cops and robbers
(X) Recently colored with crayons
(X) Skipped a final exam
(X) Sang Karaoke
(X) Watched the birth of a child
(X) Paid for a meal with coins only
(O) Been to the top of the St. Louis Arch
(X) Done something you told yourself you wouldn't
(X) Made prank phone calls
(O) Been down Bourbon Street in New Orleans
(X) Laughed until some kind of beverage came out of your nose
(X) Caught a snowflake on your tongue
(X) Danced in the rain
(X) Written a letter to Santa Claus
(X) Been kissed under the mistletoe
(X) Watched the sunrise with someone
(X) Blown bubbles
(X) Gone ice-skating
(X) Gone to the movies in 2009
(O) Been deep sea fishing
(O) Driven across the United States
(O) Been in a hot air balloon
(O) Been sky diving
(O) Gone snowmobiling
(O) Lived in more than one country
(X) Lay down outside at night and admired the stars while listening to the crickets
(X) Seen a falling star and made a wish
(O) Seen the Old Faithful Geyser
(O) Seen the Statue of Liberty
(O) Gone to the top of Seattle Space Needle
(X) Been on a cruise
(X) Traveled by train
(O) Traveled by motorcycle
(X) Been horse back riding
(3/4 of an X)Been to Disneyland, Disney World, and Japan's Disneyland (no japan)
(X) Been pulled over by a police officer (6 times with NO tickets!)
(O) Gotten a ticket
(X) Truly believe in the power of prayer
(X) Been in a rain forest (Artificial ones and the rainforest cafe!)
(X) Seen whales in the ocean (made me sea sick!)
(O) Been to Niagara Falls
(O) Ridden on an elephant
(O) Swam with dolphins
(O) Been to the Olympics
(O) Sat on a jury (I bailed on jury duty! don't tell!)
(X) Learned to juggle
(O) Walked on the Great Wall of China
(O) Saw a glacier
(O) Been spinnaker flying
(X) Been water-skiing
(O) Been snow-skiing
(O) Been to Westminster Abbey
(O) Been to the Louvre
(O) Swam in the Mediterranean
(X) Been to a Major League Baseball game
(O) Been to a National Football League game
(O) Been to a Professional Soccer game

Friday, March 13, 2009

My Kylie Album!

OKAY! So finally I have an actual scrapbooking type project to post on here! I had some extra time this morning and finished up this little thing i've been working on for a while. It's a little generic, cuz that's all the program will let you do, but it's still cute! SO... enjoy!!

Click to play this Smilebox photobook: Kylie Gifford
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Thursday, March 12, 2009

Activity Days and my kiddies.

Today I got to be in charge of our "Activity Day" activity. They used to call it "Achievement Days" but someone or other changed it. Anyway, I was so excited because we got to do a scrapbooking activity!!! The girls had to do something to pass off in their little progress books they have, so i came up with these little "Count your blessings" mini albums! I cut out some 4x4 tag pages on my cricut and then just got out as much misc. cutsie, 10-11 yr old girly stuff I could find. I was so excited because this is my first time doing an activity since I've been called as a leader and it turned out that they absolutely loved it! They decorated all the little pages and were "awe-struck" by my scrapbook room, which I'm proud to say is incredibly clean and organized, accept for the closet (still getting there). So I have become the really cool leader and we've thought of doing other things like making bows, and even a "glamor shot" activity where they get all fancied up and be super models! I am really excited about this because I get to be involved in a church organization and be able to help all these girls with their "faith in god" award program, but it's really not all that hard to me. Just fun!

In other news, Kylie is starting to inchworm crawl around. She can scoot a few inches on her tummy. She is baby talking a lot more now too which I love! She says "Dadadadada" the most, which is good for me because Alex always thinks it's a cry for "DAD" when she needs something and he jumps right in! HAHA. Kaitlyn in the last week has gotten down about 20 out of 26 letters of the alphabet, both capitol and lower case. The only issue I find she is really struggling with is she keeps confusing the capitol O and an oval shape. so if she see's an O... it's and "Ov".

But I got a few new pics to post so here ya go.

Kylie being her adorable little self!




Kaitlyn LOVES playing with her little kitchen. Her most recent favorite has been having tea parties with me at 3AM.



A family moment..... seems kinda like it belongs on a church ceiling somewhere...




Kaitlyn found this hat at her Great Grandma's house and didn't want to leave without it. She thinks its the most beautiful thing ever. Hey! I think she looks cute!

Friday, March 6, 2009

The kindess of strangers

I feel it very necessary to tell this story of what has just happened. Our family, like most in the country right now, have been struggling finacially, and are pushing through the rough times. We have been kind of at eachothers throats lately because of our stress and as sad as it is to say, struggling spiritually as well. So tonight, Alex, the girls, and I decided to go out to eat even though we really couldn't afford it. We went to cracker barrel because alex thought it sounded good to him, even tho we like never eat there. We had a pretty good meal, and I personally was worried about how much the bill would be. But when the waitress came to bring us our bill, she said "just so you know, the couple that was next to you already took care of your bill." I had only glances at them once while we were eating, it was a little older couple and they had left before we had a chance to thank them. I had never met them and don't know if I'll ever see them again. But it was just a really great gesture that touched my heart. So thank you whoever you are. You have proven to me that 1- god still loves me even if I am having a hard time. 2- that there is hope for mankind even if I Obama is in charge (ha ha) and 3- that no matter what happens, there are still people out there willing to help someone in need, even if they don't know it.