Time is flying by

For some reason tonight while I was watching my kids play ring around the rosie together they all looked so big to me. It is crazy to me how fast the time has flown by. Sophie kept stealing things the kids had then would look back to make sure they knew she had it then run as fast as her tiny little legs would go. She is such a silly little girl. I don't want to forget the little things they do and say .... which is one of the reasons I blog. One of my goals for next year is to take a picture of something everyday. And my friend suggested taking a picture of myself with one of my kids on a weekly basis. I'm sure there will be lots of random and crazy pictures - but 2010 will be a year to remember.

A Good Book

Last night I finished the book "The Hunger Games" and can I just say it was so great! I loved it. It was a quick read and the characters were awesome. I can't wait for the second book in the series to come out in a few weeks.

Also, I got my blog book yesterday and I am so happy with how it turned out. These aren't the best pictures...but I had to use my phone to take them because my special blogging camera battery is dead.





I used blurb to make my book and I will use them again. The book cost me $67 total (I found a free shipping coupon online which saved me all the shipping costs). I decided that I want to do my blog into journals in 1 year increments so this is my 2008 book.

So here is what I did. I went to blurb's website and downloaded their booksmart software onto my computer. Then I imported my blog. One thing I did wrong at this point was the order I got my entries - mine came in newest to oldest. Then I made a journal cover and back to my book using the same basic image and title that I have on my blog right now. Then the real work started. I went through every page and found a layout that fit it better, cropped and zoomed images, changed font sizes, took out everything at the bottom (like my email address) and only left the date/time stamp from my blog. I combined smaller entries onto single pages (see the left side of the image above) in order to cut down on the number of pages. I made sure that if a spread was 2 pages long that it was laid out together rather than having to turn the page. Initially I was putting the date/time stamp in the footer so I had to go back after about 75 pages and put that back in the body and change all my footers to only have the page number. I re-read almost every entry to make sure they made sense, removed things that didn't really matter (like the Twilight trailer), and occasionally had to slim down the picture descriptions to fit in the space provided. Once I was happy with all of the layouts I was previewing my book and I didn't like the way it flowed with newest to oldest so I spent a few hours changing the order (I couldn't find a way to do this automatically and had to do it 3-4 pages at a time). Then I had to go back and make sure that all my double spread layouts were still grouped together. After that I ran a spell check and did a final preview of my site. They recommend that you print it out and look at it but I really didn't want to waste 260 pages so I placed my order. It took about 2 weeks to print and mail. One thing I wish I would have done differently is to order it with the Hardcover image wrap instead of the dust cover. I'm sure the dust cover will be ripped and ruined faster than I want. Other than that I'm extremely happy with how it turned out.

Last night Mark came over for dinner and I had just opened my book so I ask him if he wanted to know what he missed out on while he was gone and handed him my book jokingly. It made me so happy that as he was looking through it he kept stopping and reading and reading and reading. My kids love it and every time they see a page with their picture on it want me to read them the story. This is why I love keeping a journal and now my blog. I want my family to remember their lives and especially to know how much I love them.

Now I need to be better about keeping my blog updated so that 2008 has just as many great stories and pictures as 2007.

More Blogging

I spent a lot of time the last few weeks organizing and finishing my 2008 blog book. I am so excited to get it...it's on order! When I was going through all of my posts I realized how much more I blogged last year than this year. I wrote down lots of simple things and made it a point to write down all the small things that matter to me. I am committed to blog more so that this years journal has just as many memories. I can't wait to get my book. My kids are going to love it. They love reading my blog and hearing fun stories about themselves.

Just a few things

This weekend I went on a great bike ride with Traci up Southfork Canyon. After the ride I quickly threw my bike on the rack and headed home. About a half mile down the road I noticed my bike wasn't in my rear view mirror....oh no! I of course didn't think and just freaked out so I flipped a u-turn and busted back up the road....then I realized that my bike wouldn't have fallen off but would be dragging behind me so I quickly pulled over. I'm pretty sure I did more damage in my freak out. The good news is that only my handlebars were damaged and I think that with some new tape it will be usable until next year. I don't want to spend the extra money on the parts this year since I'm not riding much due to marathon training. It almost made me cry - my bike is my favorite possession.

Friday was Pioneer Day and work was slow so I left a little early and took the kids to the pool. We had so much fun swimming and playing in the water for a few hours. I saw a girl from the gym who had her first baby a few weeks after Sophie and she was wearing a bikini showing off her 6 pack. I got so self conscious. I don't know why I can' just be happy with how my body looks in my late 30's and after 4 babies. Not that I had rock hard abs before I had babies :) I swear it is so hard to just accept my body how it is and be happy and not compare myself to others.

Poor Sophie is not sleeping well right now. I hope it's just her little teeth finally coming in. She hasn't been falling asleep fast and she has been waking up in the night. I sure hope as soon as her second tooth breaks we'll get a break from this and she'll start sleeping again. It might be time to move to 1 nap soon too.

I finished my 2008 blog book last week. I am very excited about how it turned out. It's over 260 pages so I know it will cost me quite a few bucks...but it is such a great family journal. My kids absolutely love reading about themselves and hearing stories and seeing pictures. I'm excited that all my time on here as well as the time it took to make my book perfect are paying off.

Life is good!

What I've been doing ....

And NOT doing.

I HAVE NOT been: blogging, exercising, waking up in the morning, or even to the grocery store for the last 3 weeks.

I HAVE been: sleeping, in the minivan with my kids way too much, playing rock band, and eating too much fast food and gas station food (sick) while on the road with my kids.

As of right now I'm changing my ways I will be back to myself! So get ready for some serious blog catch up....I have lots to post.

Blogging...

There are so many questions and opinions on if blogging is good or bad. Like almost everything I believe it can be either. I did a search on lds.org and found this article and I really liked it. Also, yesterday in church a letter from the First Presidency was read and they talked about mormon.org and how this site is for people who aren't LDS but want to know more.

For me, blogging can be a waste of time sometimes. But it is also a way for me to record the little things my family does (I keep paper journals for more private things). I take so many more pictures of my kids and write down their silly conversations. I use blogging to show how much I love my family and my friends and my life. What I need to do a little more on my blog now is share my testimony.

Because I know God lives and I know Christ gave his life for me. I know I can be with my amazing husband and family for all eternity.

Free Stuff

I found this blog from one of my friends Alice and her stuff is so cute. So I want to win it. If you go to her blog and leave a comment you're entered to win - if you say you came from my blog I'm also entered.

Sound like fun?

Thanks for your support!!

Happy Anniversary to Me

My blog is officially 1 year old. I can't believe I've been blogging for a year already. This Christmas I am going to buy myself a present and print this baby out for a journal. So if any of you have successfully printed yours into a book let me know where you did it.

A few fun stats on my blog:
My profile has been viewed: 422 times
I have had 228 absolute unique visitors and 1153 visits
I'm not sure how RSS readers work with google analytics though....

I love blogging and plan to keep this going for many more years to come!

My New Blog

I've decided to start another blog to track my fitness. I am slightly obsessive about working out - not that I have to workout but in the fact that I LOVE to track what I'm doing and I love to do programs for different goals. Just ask Heidi, I always have my "plan" and my "notebook". I just love the feeling of checking off what I've done and then looking back to see what I've accomplished. So, instead of doing it all on paper I'm going to blog it. I'm in desperate need of motivation these next few months and I'm hoping this will keep me moving and I'll need it to get all the baby weight off too! Hopefully when Heidi's life calms down she'll join in as the nutritional expert and give tips and help do plans if people want them.

I'd love to see what you all are doing for fitness and swap stories to keep us all motivated!

*this picture is from the turkey trot last year and was Claire's first race!

Are you Addicted?

I saw this quiz on Alice's blog so I thought I'd give it a shot...not too bad considering I work in the web industry I do have to keep up with trends (at least that's how I keep from feeling guilty about it).

67%How Addicted to Blogging Are You?