Kelly Times Two

I designed this program late last night, a last-minute program for a church friend who runs a little drama class that was in crisis mode, overwhelmed with too many tasks to complete before her event. She asked Kelly to play the piano for her performance today, and the kids and I went too. Christopher took two friends with him, Kimberly from his class at school, and Jordan, from his Primary class, and they had a blast and got along well together. Aaron and Jamie's backyard wedding reception was our third event to attend today. He's 6'9" tall. She's about 5'4" tall. The got married in the Denver temple two weeks ago. He and his day used to be our home teachers and they live in our neighborhood. Aaron looked so happy and so handsome. Jamie is very sweet. I actually ran into them at a local sandwich shop, Rudino's, a few days ago. They attend BYU Idaho. Aaron has plenty of school ahead of him. He wants to be an optometrist. Jen and Lindsey came from the...

On Easter, Mark and Monica's family joined us for an impromptu dinner after church and we got a bit more acquainted with their family. Mark, a professional musician, mentioned that he teaches guitar lessons, then Christopher looked directly at me with a big smile on my face and didn't even have to say what he was hoping for. On Monday, after piano lessons, Kelly surprised Christopher with a brand new Fender electric guitar and amp, and what ever else one might need to take guitar lessons. Today on the way to Mark's for his very first lesson, I asked Christopher how he was feeling. He said, "I have butterflies in my stomach." Mark spent most of the lesson introducing Christopher to his new instrument, telling him what everything is called, and how it all works. He taught him how to play an A chord too. Christopher has done very well with piano and will continue with both lessons. You never know when you might have a future rock star in your family! (I should know!)...

Some of you may not realize that I have ANOTHER BLOG , but it's true! I recently started it as the title "And Everything Nice," and it had the web address of http://mylittlehobby.blogspot.com then today, I renamed it to My Little Hobby, to streamline it with the web address and gave it a new look. Thanks for checking it out, and please tell your friends who have been stalking my site too. I get tickled pink when hearing from anyone on my new blog! It keeps the creativity flowing.

This heartfelt article just arrived from my Aunt Jessie, my mother's eighty-something-year-old sister, following a recent telephone call that I had made to her, asking about our family history. I had come across a portion of this article when doing some research, and called to get more details from Aunt Jessie. She told me that it was sent to her, and asked if I'd like to have a copy of it. This beautiful tribute was about my great grandmother, Mary Elizabeth Gable Jackson, who was born in 1851. It is hard to fathom, but she was born 156 years ago! What an amazing woman she must have been and I'm thankful that someone took the time to write this. I hope that this letter, written by the daughter of my grandpa Jay Jackson's only sister, Julia, can put life into perspective for you a bit more clearly, as it has for me. And in no coincidence, my mother was named for this Aunt Julia. (Today is my mother's birthday, and that is a coincidence.) I Remember Grandma...

Yeah, I'm so excited that my sweet, little pregnant buddy, Sierra, started a blog. Sierra is so dang cute (takes after her mom, Sue) and so is her little girl, Abby. Way to go, Sierra ! During a Sunday School class in February, Abby was poking her head through the chairs and I was so glad to have had my camera with me and snapped this precious image. She is such a pretty little girl and her mommy always dresses her so nicely.

Yum, yum, yum! Tasty home-made smoothies for the theater kids. Lindsey has been working on a group project for her theater class for the past couple of weekends and yesterday the students were back at our house filming and editing again. I concocted some refreshing strawberry-banana-pineapple-raspberry-peach smoothies for a snack and they all loved it and were impressed with the umbrella straws that Christopher garnished the drinks with. Vinny asked me if he could leave a tip and I told him to just try to get an "A" on the project. What a fun time they seemed to have had. I have yet to see their work and am holding out to view the final project. Kelly has helped them with some of the photoshop work and editing.

As I've seen many of my friends' cute kids posing in the bluebonnets this spring, showcasing our unique state flower, I decided to take my kids out for our annual photo op. It happened yesterday after piano lessons. It was just before dusk, and I contemplated on whether or not we would have enough light remaining--the kids were leaning toward NOT going. But I insisted, thinking that it might never get done because I've been toying with the idea for at least two weeks. As we finally got settled into a cute little shot, I snapped it, then saw that unpleasant little message on my camera, "no memory card." I had left it in my computer! Oh well. The kids were relieved and we headed home. When we pulled into the driveway, I asked them to just wait a moment before going inside, for me to take their picture in front of our flowers. Here's a little pose of Lindsey and Christopher in front of our house yesterday, with the colorful pansies in full bloom. I hope that we c...

This picture of Christopher and me is overlooking the wide open farms at the Colorado and Kansas border along Interstate 70. This was taken on our return from spring break on St. Patrick's Day. Kelly was snoozing in the car when the kids and I stopped for the photo. Here's my snow bunny Lindsey with me on a fun run over spring break in Colorado. It was a fantastic warm day and the snow could not have been more perfect. For the past few weeks, I have been attending the Marriage and Family Relations Sunday School class at church, but unfortunately, have missed about half the lessons due to traveling or illness. Today, I was so glad to be there for the lesson on motherhood. It was such a wonderful lesson that I enjoyed, just hearing the review of what I should be doing to be a better mom. The lesson included a previous address from President Ezra Taft Benson to mothers, where he spoke of how our God-given role is so vital to ourselves and to our families. A child needs a mother m...

When you're self employed, as I am, and don't like math, this time of year is the worse. My husband usually does our taxes, but he asks me to get all my records together so that he can do the rest. I build up such anxiety over this every year and it's so stupid. Every year after it's done, as close to April 15 as possible, I vow to do better. I just cannot stand doing this. I can think of a million other things that I'd rather be doing. So I do. Two days ago, my darling husband declared Saturday to be our "get the taxes done" day. And he repeatedly asked me to have everything together by Saturday. It bugged me that he told me five times that he wanted me to get it all together and I told him I understood what he was asking. Making sure I know what he is requesting does not equal me getting it done. I could either stay up all night and work on it or...let's see....organize my office? Do laundry? Alphabetize my stamp sets? Hmmm. Or I c...

Frequently I surf the web and subscribe to feeds for card ideas. I am reluctant to leave comments on other paper crafting blogs, because I don't want it to be associated with my identity to this blog, with my little personal stories, my family pics, etc. So I started a fun new blog where I can show off my cards and leave it basically unpersonalized, other than from an artistic point of view. I'll have a link to it from here, but I will not have a link from there back to my "everyday" blog. After searching for availability, the name for the hyperlink will be My Little Hobby , but I wanted a different blog title. I looked through the SU catalog and spotted a stamp set that's not exactly my style, but I like the name of it. It's called " And Everything Nice ." So check it out if you'd like, and feel free to leave comments on it any time. I'm excited about it!

Wow! I just had the best lunch EVER today. My neighbor, Adele, took me to lunch at the Castle Hill Cafe and we ordered the exact same thing, (copied from the menu): Sage Crusted Pork Tenderloin with Gingersnap Gravy, Dried Peach Chutney, and Jalapeno -Cheddar Tamale - $ 11.95 Sage crusted pork tenderloin in a gravy made from caramelized onions, garlic, and gingersnap cookies with a smoked jalapeno puree. Served with creamy mashed potatoes, a dried peach chutney, jalapeno-cheddar tamale and sautéed green beans. All the flavors blended so well and everything complimented the other foods on the plate. It was awesome. I highly recommend this place, and this menu choice specifically. Thanks, Adele. What a treat!

Last night/tonight, depending on what time zone you're in, several friends came over to my casa to make cards and it was fun, as always. This was just an indulgent card (above) that I made for myself, but not for card camp. I also enjoyed lunch out today (Tuesday...it's after midnight so it is documented here as Wednesday as I add this post) at the hip Galaxy Cafe on West Lynn for our monthly Lunch Bunch group and was happy to meet a new friend, Cheryl, from our ward at church.

This "Crab & Company" set is such a fun new design and I love using the googlie eyes for an added dimension. (Kathy designed this card, by the way.) I'll have both a pink and a blue marker to color the baby's layette in the hue of your choice for this card below. We have not made baby cards lately and since there are several pregnant women in these parts, I'm sure this card will get used quickly. Lindsay made a special request for a wedding card, so I promise to do one for next month (so be here, Lindsay Ü). The image below is from the "Very Punny" set with the words "crib notes" included, if you prefer that to "yeah baby." This new Easter set "Glorious Gift" is elegant (as opposed to the usual whimsical Easter cards I have made). I've stamped the scripture onto a piece of vellum with it overlaying a piece of whisper white paper, where the floral design is stamped. The sentiment inside is perfect too, "Celebra...

Me, Becki, Aimee, and Carol (last year in Salt Lake City) Becki, Aimee, and Carol This photo of fresh flowers in a springtime arrangement was taken last year during General Conference weekend from Temple Square in the foyer of the building where the Joseph Smith movie is shown. I went out there a year ago to a reunion with my former mission companion, Carol, who lives here in Austin, while our mission president and wife, Marvin and Sandy van Dam, were home briefly from Russia, where he works for the Church. It was so fun to go there with Carol (and met up with my dear friends Becki and Aimee) and stay downtown at Little America and attend a session of conference in the conference center. This year was just as much fun, as I stayed home the entire weekend, relaxing with the family and just watching movies and all four sessions of conference from Saturday to Sunday. In the meantime, Lindsey and I watched four movies, starting on Friday night. (Kelly and Christopher joined us for one...