Found.....

On my camera this morning.

L.O.A.D. giveaway

If you're a scrapbooker, thinking you may want to give the Layout a Day Challenge a try-- here's a chance to win a free spot, by leaving a comment on Tami's blog post today.
Come on-- you know you want to.....we're a nice bunch of ladies, even if we are a little bit obsessed.......

http://bcre8uv.typepad.com/noodle_soup/2009/09/on-creativity.html

Sunday Scrapping

After church Matt and I settled into bed to watch football and snooze. In between games I did some digital scrapping. I don't get the sense of accomplishment from digi layouts that I get from paper scrapping, but I figure I'll get enough paper crafting done starting October first when the L.O.A.D challenge resumes. My goal for this round is to do at least one paper layout a day, to do layouts of every person in this family, and to make at least 10 comments per day in the gallery that supports the activity.

Most of my picks didn't work out for the office pool, I've come from the top to the bottom, but the Cardinals losing helps boost my score. Arizona simply cannot have a good team 2 years in a row, regardless of the sport. I put a lot of points on the expectations that Arizona is pretty much going to lose a ton of games this year and so far, the Colts are lading 21-3.

Bu I digress, I don't know which is worse, me rambling on about scrapbooking, or me trying to talk about football. I think I'll shut up abut both right now.

At least I'm not blogging about how youthful a head full of nasty grey hair looks.

Spoilt

"Spoilt" is the term my family uses for spoiled children, a common theme in this little blog of mine. This weekend we truly have had some very spoilt children.

Friday night the comedian, Jim Gaffigan performed at Kingsbury Hall in downtown Salt Lake City. We decided to just bite the bullet and take all 7 kids to the show. He's a clean comic and the kids already have most of his skits memorized. We had cheap seats in the nosebleed section, but it was a great show and everyone died laughing. Grey and Roe struggled with the show being so late and they both fell asleep, but the rest of us laughed until our sides hurt. It was the first time any of the kids except for Parker have been to a comedy show and they were all excited to do such a grown up activity.

I forgot to bring my camera last night, so no pictures.

Tonight, The Killers are in concert and Parker got 2 tickets for his birthday last July so he and his buddy, Jake were going. Matt and I planned to attend as well, but Matt's not feeling great and I was perfectly happy to stay at home with the little ones. We gave the tickets to Zane and Emma, who were both shocked and super excited. We'll stay home and watch some Mystery Science theater and make ice cream sundaes instead.

This is the first concert for all 3 of the older kids, they have a cell phone and T-shirt money and will have a great night. I didn't really get to go to concerts as a teen- and I am SO not counting The Jets in 9th grade. I'm glad we're able to let our kids do some fun things like this. We can't do it all of the time, but seeing how excited Emma and Zane were about going.......totally worth it.

Next weekend it will be hard labor and gruel for supper, I promise.

Knitting Group

Recently I joined a group of women from the ward in their knitting club. I look at them knitting all those cute socks and can't imagine I'll ever have the patience for something like that, so I sit and crochet while we all gossip and talk. I've been able to complete two receiving blankets I had been meaning to do. I started one of them over a year ago and just never found the time to finish it.
I've only been to knitting group twice, but I can see that it is something I have been needing in my life. I am an extrovert by nature, but I am also a very closed person and I tend to hold my cards pretty close and not include others in a lot of what is going on in my life aside from a few people I trust. I do not wear my heart on my sleeve like I use to when I was young. Too much damage was done and it's not all that safe in Stepfamilyland. I have a close group of internet buddies I confide in and some family members I am open with, but it's difficult for me to reach much further than that.

The knitting group is so nice. They've all been there and back and it's a safe and warm environment. I don't have to be "on" and they're supportive and understanding of one another. I haven't really had a good group of girl friends since high school because I've always felt like my life was just a little too Jerry Springer to burden anyone else with, especially in recent years. It's hard to open up and say "Hi, My name is Chris and this is my family....What's that circling above my head that resembles a rabid vulture? Sigh...... It's just that which I have been asked to endure to the end. If you need me, I'll be in the kitchen with my head in the oven."

This is a good step for me, good for me to reach out and be more open.

We love Big Brothers Big Sisters

Just a couple of pictures of Matt from the Big Brothers Big Sisters event at the Texas Roadhouse in Bountiful.



We had to scoot out early so Matt could make it to scouts, but it was great to see everyone and visit. Matt's been a part of BBBS since he started working at AMEX 3 years ago and he has really enjoyed being part of this team. Next year, he will be the Chairperson for both Big Brothers Big Sisters and Friends of Big Brothers Big Sisters for Salt Lake City. That will mean lots more events to attend and getting to meet a lot more new people, and we're both looking forward to it and honored that they asked Matt to fill this role for the organization.



For any of my Utah readers, every time you donate clothes into the big blue bins around town, the money raised from those donations helps out BBBS so much. If you can't find something you need at the DI, just know that if you make your purchase from Saver's it helps out a good cause, too.

iRomy

Romy loves her some iCarly. iCarly is a relatively annoying kid show on Nickelodeon that Roe just adores. She's got an iCarly stationary set, iCarly books, iCarly DVDs, an iCarly pillow, iCarly shirts, an iCarly lunch box and iCarly shoes. Today, to add to her collection of hot pink insane iCarly fan-dom, I got Romy an iCarly backpack.

Roe jumped up and down squealing with happiness and said to me "You sure have some kids who are spoiled rotten, dontcha, Mom?"

Yes.

Yes, I do.

And that's just how I like my kids.

Silly, smart-mouthed and spoiled. Spoiled rotten.

school pictures

With 7 kids in 6 different schools and communication between the different homes not always a realistic option, we found it frustrating that we never could seem to get school pictures that were even remotely co-ordinated. We found a solution by just taking the kids to a local studio and getting some basic "school" portraits done for the kids each year instead.

It ends up being a lot less money and the backgrounds all are the same. We forgot to get them done last year, but got them taken care of today, before I forgot. Walmart gives the option of not even buying prints, just buying a photo CD and the rights to the pictures. So, for what i would normally spend on 3 picture packages, we were able to get everyone done today and pictures ordered from Costco.
So here they are.....school pictures 2009

Do Not Disturb

Olsons are busy reading for the next 5 days thankyouverymuch.

More Sickies

I am sick, and spent the weekend in bed, I'm still only running at about 50%, the worst of it is over, but I spent today in bed, too.
Roe still has a nasty cough, but she went to school today. Grey is just starting to come down with this and stayed home today and probably will for the next few days.
While in bed gorging myself on re-runs of NCIS & Top Chef I did a few digital layouts.

Coming Soon

L.O.A.D.- October Challenge!

http://knitandpurlgrrl.blogs.com/scraphappy/

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday Dylan, your Auntie Chris and Uncle Matt sure do love you. I can't believe you're already two. Slow down, Punkin.

He loved all of his Diego toys and Sunnie got him a mylar Diego balloon that was as big as he was. He walked around the house taking his helium filled buddy by the hand and every time anyone touched his new toys he screamed MINE!!! like a true 2 year old.

My kitchen is not as messy as it appears, all the food was out for lunch. The upstairs family IS this messy, though.

The kids had fun with cousins, playing outside and eating yummy food.

And Lisa's girl, Rori had fun with everyone and everything. That child cracks me right the heck up. It was good to spend time with everyone and to be with Dyl on his special day.

9-11

Where were you when the world stopped turning, on that September day?

I was home, in our house in Ahwatukee, Arizona just about to take my new baby, Romy to the doctor for her first shots. My mom called and told me to turn on the TV, I told her I was headed out the door, I didn't have time. She told me to just do it- any channel.

Annoyed, I flipped on the TV and stood there, frozen as I watched everything fall apart. I stood there until I had to go and gathered up my pink bundle of Romy and headed to the doctor, listening to the radio, stunned. At the office, all the kids were on one side of the room watching Sesame Street while the adults were huddled up by the front desk, silently listening to the radio. None of us could do anything but stare at each other with fear and shock on our faces.

Romy got her shots and I went home and watched the television. I cried out loud when the towers fell and sat on the floor and sobbed.

Zane was in kindergarten and came home on the bus. I asked him how his day was and he said it was weird. His teacher told him the kids were safe, but that something bad had happened to America and that everyone's mom and dad would probably be very upset, but they needed to know that nobody was upset at them. I hugged my little boy and said a silent prayer of thanks to his teacher. Back to the family room, back to the screen I could not stop watching. When Parker came home he was scared. I turned the Tv off, I didn't want the kids to see it and we went in the back yard to talk and to play. We lived under the flight path of Sky Harbor Airport and I noticed the skies were silent. We talked about the fact that they were safe and why some people hate America. My visiting teacher called to see if I knew anyone in NYC and if everyone was okay. We were all okay, everyone I loved in NYC was accounted for.

I didn't go out and buy a flag. I didn't buy a gun. I didn't eat freedom fries. I talked openly about what I thought, about what I believe and about free agency to my children. We talked about differences between cultures and how even when people believe very different things, it matters so much that we allow others to believe different things. That you have to know what you believe and be secure enough in those beliefs that you don't feel anger when someone else doesn't view the world the way you do. We talked about Joseph Smith, about Gandhi and Sir Francis of Assisi. We talked about being an example and being the change we want to have happen in the world and how an eye for an eye makes for a world of blind men.

And we ate ice cream and snuggled and jumped on the trampoline. We played Nintendo and I bought the newspapers and People Magazine and Time and put them in a box that I couldn't face for nearly 5 years.

That's where I was when the world stopped turning. And where I was going when it started back up again.

Sickie Chickie

Yesterday I had grand plans to have some great 9-9-09 post with 9 pictures of my exciting day. Unfortunately, I spent the day folding laundry and as interesting as it may be to look at pictures of mismatched socks and the frozen pizza we had for dinner, I decided to spare my few readers.

I did get this great shot of Grey doing his daily "Happy Spin" at the end of a school day. He's a cute kid, even if he is a goofball.

Romy has come down sick, really sick. She has a fever and a nasty cough. I hope she feels better soon. She looked up at me today and said "Mom, I like it when you say I'm a sickie chickie." Poor thing. Feel better soon, little one.

More Digitals

The bottom one was a scraplift from a layout by Barb Wong at the Ella Blog, her's was paper and much cuter, but I loved the color scheme and basic design.

The struggle with digital layouts that I have is that I don't like when they look obviously digital but I am a complete spaz when it comes to shading and edge effects. I can't get them to look "real." I'm a simple scrapper who likes a clean look, but when I do digital, it's difficult to really embellish a layout without it having pixel overkill. I haven't quite mastered some of the more advanced techniques for digital, and I'm just too lazy to learn more. My digital layouts tend to look too plain, or too busy. I haven't quite found my niche in digital design.

Digitals

7 Things

7 Things you already knew about me:

1. I am not a morning, afternoon or night person. I am ridiculously lazy. My dream job includes being in a coma.

2. I find the use of big words to describe little thoughts to be vexatious.

3. While there are only a handful of things I would do for a Klondike bar, the list is a mile long for what I'd do for a good neck rub.

4. Nearly every morning since high school I have had a diet soda for breakfast. Sometimes four.

5. I love to play Nintendo and have been lucky enough to be able to always have the latest system. I've learned that games based on movies are almost always completely lame. I get motion sick playing Zelda and Mario these days which is a big bummer.

6. My least favorite household chore is all of them.

7. I am in love with my husband to an obnoxious (vexatious, even) degree. I think he is the hottest, funniest, nicest guy around and can't believe he fell in love with a slug like me. He's so totally worth it. No regrets on marrying Matt whatsoever. I only wish we'd have met when we were 20.

Photo effects courtesy of Lisa at http://littlelovables.blogspot.com/ THANK YOU!!!!!!!

7 things you maybe didn't know about me

1. I do NOT come from pioneer stock. My ancestors were latter day converts to the Mormon church. My great grandma on my mother's side was the earliest member of the church. I come from a line of women who endured a tremendous amount of adversity and suffering, but with each generation, that load gets lighter.

2. My best recipes are the ones I invent on the spot. My latest to die for invention are blueberry cream cheese surprise cupcakes.

3.I'm secretly kind of competitive. I only recently realized this when we started playing Settlers of Catan and I get mad when someone robs me, like, honestly mad. Don't freaking block my resources and rob me or I will cut you.

4. I think everyone would benefit from braces. Orthodontists love me.

5. I hate helping my kids with their homework. I feel like I'm being punished. Add to it the whining from the kid and I want to stab my brain out with a stick. I often defer this parenting task to Matt because the longer I am playing the role of Homework Police, the greater the chances are that someone is going to hear me swear.

6. When I was little girl my Grandma Savoy told me if I was afraid of robbers at night I should sleep with a knife under my pillow. From the age of 8 through young adulthood I slept with a butter knife under my pillow. It never dawned on my that she meant a sharp knife to protect myself with, I thought butter knives had some sort of Louisiana Voodoo power to ward of bad dreams.

7. When faced with a 'fight or flight" choice, as a child always chose fight, as an adult I always choose flight. I'm not going to waste my time or energy fighting with pretty much anyone. If you can't behave yourself, I'm going to get myself gone. And when I leave, I leave for good.

And on that upbeat note, I suppose I should tackle that mountain of laundry I am avoiding. Or I could watch Law and Order and crack another Diet Pepsi.....

Sunday, Greyson Style

About 4 months ago, after what was a horrible school year that included me getting a phone call nearly every day for the final 2 months- Greyson was diagnosed with Autism. He's very high functioning on the spectrum, leaning most towards Asperger's but it still hit really hard when he was diagnosed. There had always been signs, but I pretty much lived in a world where kids who acted up simply had crummy parents and with every meltdown, I just reminded myself that I was the world's worst mother because my child struggled so much.

I'd asked the schools for help and to test him and they all said he was just a problem child. He has never hurt anyone or tried to, he is very sensitive, but he can't handle a chaotic environment and when he gets too much stimulation he shuts down. The world doesn't really stop turning just because you can't handle it, so Grey has meltdowns where he covers his head and makes more noise than his environment, in an attempt to block it all out. Last year it all came to a point where I didn't care how bad of a mother people thought I was, I needed help. I took him to a doctor who diagnosed him immediately and told me why.

Since then, Matt and I have started to educate ourselves about this and are pretty frustrated that things that were clear signs of autism, were labeled as bad behavior from schools who were too lazy or run by megalomaniacs who thought they could bully the autism out of him. The diagnosis was overwhelming at first, but we had all summer to let it sink in and a new school to start fresh with this year.

He's going to the local school, and I have been humbled and touched by the level of support and help we have been given already this year. Grey has a team and a plan and out of the 10 days he has attended so far, only 3 had meltdowns and there was a team there to help him calm down and get back on track. Last year it was every single day and he never really recovered from them. I knew Grey was in a better place when one of the teachers said "Grey has a right to a good education here, it is our job to help you and support Greyson and make sure he enjoys school and he has the opportunity to learn, just like every other kid." They showed compassion when I had only met hostility and blame before. They understood and saw my child as a person, a person with feelings who just couldn't quite figure out the code to crack in order to thrive in the school environment.

We're at the base of a very high mountain. We're new to this, just beginning and learning as we go. But never before have we had so much support.

Church today was hard for Grey. When he's having a rough day he tends to melt down in sacrament meeting, he doesn't get loud but he lays under the pews and sulks as he covers his head with his coat, or a book to try and escape. Today was one of those days and that's okay. We're already having way more good days than bad days.

It is an uphill climb, but we're not alone and neither is Greyson. We'll figure it out, and until then everyone will be careful not to step on him while he rolls around under the church pews.

Romy's Baptism

Today was Roe's baptism, she's the last of our 7 kids to take the plunge. She was so excited she was bursting out of her skin. When they did the spotlight talks she was shaking with happiness and everyone laughed when the teacher said "When I asked Romy what her favorite place to go in the whole world was, she said The Dollar Tree." Other kids answered Lagoon and Mexico, but Romy loves her some Dollar Tree.

Parker just turned 16 in July and was old enough to baptize her, it was really neat and I was crying through the whole thing. He did a great job and it was nice to have everyone come out to support Romy on her special day. Thanks to those who made the drive up. We enjoyed good food and while Matt napped, Emma and I played Catan with Sunnie & Jason and Lisa & Erik.

I'm super proud of my sweet baby girl. We're now passing through that phase of trying to teach children about the gospel to prepare them to be members of the church, now we are helping guide them as they serve out their lives as examples and missionaries in their own right.

LOL

Just to be clear, for those who don't know our family well, it's Matt with the cancer on his face.

I'm the one with the big butt.

20-Year yearbook pic

Aside from being twice the man I used to be, I am sporting this gem for the 20 year reunion tonight:

The color doesn't do the indignity justice. It's approximately the size and color of this:

Only the biggest nose blemish I've had since--oh wait, EVER. Chris suggested that I tell people I had a cancer biopsy. You know you're getting old when melanoma is less frightening than a massive infected scabbed-up ZIT on your nose.

Even as a 15 year old I didn't look this bad. I am going to put in a pocket protector, get my extra big glasses back on and head on out to the ol' high school tonight.

I better bring extra lunch money.

Bleah

Yeah, I know it's a massive photo cliche, but it's been a slow week.

The school schedule this year is nuts. I have never been a big supporter of the idea that being a good parent means you spend an absurd amount of time in "mom's taxi" toting the kids back and forth to more activities than they will ever appreciate.

But, attending school is not one of those you can take or leave and the kids apparently can't walk 6 miles home and back every day. They'd have made for lousy pioneers. I'm pretty sure Laura Ingalls walked at least 20 miles each way to go to school in Walnut Grove and she only fell in a well once or twice.

Two of the kids attend out of district schools and two of them are just plain whiney, so I drive 4 of the kids to 3 different schools. Each of those schools has a different schedule. Parker has early release every Wednesday, Zane on Thursdays and the little ones have early day every Friday. The boys only get out about 45 minutes within one another, so we typically go over to Barnes & Noble and browse the books and grab some Word of Wisdom approved Starbuck's happiness.

I did the math yesterday and realized, if I keep it up, it's a 20 dollar a week pit stop. Bleah.

Stupid economy.

So this is my farewell picture to what has been the routine since Parker was in 8th grade, from now on, it will be big gulps at 7-11. They're only a buck each, $4 a week, our budget can handle. $20 a week can and should be better spent.

I wonder if browsing through the aisles of beef jerky will be as fun as the historical fiction at B&N.

Have you met Ella?

This week Lain Ehmann and Angie Lucas launched their new publishing company, Ella!!!

The scrapbook industry took a hard hit with the economy, we're all buying less, I'm not even going to the upcoming Expo next weekend. Everyone is feeling the pinch and unfortunately that pinch was felt in some places we all miss terribly. We said goodbye to Simple Scrapbooks, a magazine that fit the style I follow as well as many of my closest cropping cohorts. It showcased clean looks and pages that relied on great design and photographs instead of overly time consuming techniques.

Ella has taken some of the most popular designers from Simple and has given them an outlet here, in their online e-zine and online books. So far, I'm loving it.

If you're a scrapbooker...get your butt over there and support some familiar names and faces, and meet a few new designers that you are sure to fall in love with as well.

http://www.ellapublishing.com/home

Matt and the Squids

Video of Matt and the kidlets on the "old school" playground.

Love this family.