BzzAgent: Elmer's Crafters'

I am excited about the latest BzzCampaign I got into over at BzzAgent.com. I get to receive poduct of coupons for product from Elmers and Xacto and then reveiw it and share my opinion with friends and family. They have a new line specifically for crafting and scrapbooking, which you know is right up my alley! I look forward to receiving my BzzKit and getting started on this campaign!

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Seasonal Swaperoos

In the Spring, I joined a fun group called Seasonal Swaperoos and love swapping throughout the year. I've met some wonderful women whom I've become friends with. Won't you join us? Click on the button to learn more.

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April 2010 Recap

Ruby's first ponytail - 4/1/2010

I adore this picture...I'm wearing her in the sling and she is enjoying the full-service treatment!

Papago Park-4/2/2010
My cute friend Jenny invited the kids and me to hang out with her and her family at Papago Park for an Easter Egg hunt and picnic. I'd never been, so it was lots of fun and the weather was awesome. Carter even found the "golden egg" with money in it! I didn't get a lot of pictures, but here are a few of the kids hanging out.

Hugo is one of Carter's favorite buddies.
Carter and Lacy had fun rolling eggs down the hill.

Acacia came too. She's a fabulous babysitter and a sweetheart!
Bunny Day and General Conference - 4/3/2010
It was the tradition in my family growing up to celebrate "Bunny Day" on the Saturday before Easter every year. The Easter Bunny brings us treats on Saturday so that we can focus on Jesus and the resurrection on Easter Sunday.

Carter especially loved his Transformer's coloring book.
I think Ruby liked her stuffed bunny.

Shane made Carter's favorite: star-shaped "egg-in-a-holes" sprinkled with cheese.
It was LDS General Conference weekend the same weekend as Easter, so we enjoyed snuggling and hanging out together all weekend watching conference. Growing up, my siblings and I made "nests" of blankets and pillows from which we watched the conference each Spring and Fall. Shane tried to show Carter how to build a proper nest and CJ had fun with it...until it was time to clean up and put it all away of course.
We took a walk between sessions.

Brad's Mission Call! - 4/6/2010
If you read the blog regularly (or know us personally at all), you know we have a very close relationship with Shane's Uncle Joe and Aunt Claudia. They live just a few blocks away and have been so wonderful to us since we arrived in AZ four years ago. Carter and Ruby know them as Nana and Grandpa. Carter said Nana before Momma, I'm pretty sure.

Anyhow, Bradley (Joe and Claudia's son) received his LDS mission call to the Chile Santiago North mission. We are so excited for him! He will be a hard-working, wonderful missionary. I found out a few days after he got his call that his mission president will be Presidente May, who was in my stake in Valencia growing up, and then moved to UT around the time my parents did. Elder Hilton will be in great hands there with Presidente and Hermana May! Brad graduates from high school at the end of May and reports to the Missionary Training Center on June 16th. Brad's mission call was especially exciting for the family because Brad is the youngest child, only boy, and will be only one to serve a full-time mission (as a young adult anyway) of his siblings.
Here is Elder Hilton with his proud parents.

Fun side note: The map in the background was posted after Brad's papers were turned in and the wait for his call began. The colored markers were guesses from friends and family of where Brad's call would be to. Joe, Brad's dad, noticed nobody had guessed Chile just a couple of days before the call was opened and tagged it as his guess.

Ruby is eight months old - 4/18/2010
Shane already posted a bunch of eight month pictures, but I wanted to include this one in the April recap to note that she was not only standing, but taking steps at eight months. I was not encouraging this. I absolutely blame her father...and I have witnesses.
Oh, but I do have to say she melts me. {swoon}

Rocker, Parties, & Prom - 4/24/2010
Carter for some reason has a love for rock and roll. He often asks us to "rock" with him. We've scored some sweet band equipment from yard sales and a clearance sale and now we have three toy guitars and a toy microphone with karaoke machine. We jam a lot. Fast forward to cute Cambria's dress-up birthday party. We gave Carter all his dress-up options (Spiderman, pirate, etc.) and he chose rocker. Love these pictures Shane took before the party.

{Notice cliche "Mom" tattoo I drew on his right shoulder and scorpion tattoo dad gave him on his left forearm.}

Carter and Ruby went with Shane to a second friend's party that afternoon while I had the pleasure of taking pictures of Brad and his darling date, Allison, before their prom. I had so much fun with them. Thanks you two!


Lastly, I spent most of April working furiously in every spare moment to prepare for the opening of my etsy shop, Ruby Jane Boutique, and Boutique in the Barn (which was May 1st). The boutique was a lot of fun and although the shop only has one listing so far, it will have many more items listed soon!

Thanks for all your support everyone!

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December Wrap-up

Okay, so obviously the craziness that was December sent us spiraling into oblivion. Obviously. But we've returned! Never fear! Usually if we get behind, we go back and catch up with each post dated chronologically, but we'rs so far behind that this time we're just gonna post December catch-up in one lump of a post so we can move on with the New Year. Here goes!

I spent a good part of the first half of December creating hats, flower clips, and hair bows to sell at my cute friend Jenny's Boutique in the Barn. I didn't do incredibly well at the boutique, considering what I put into it, but I had lots of fun. I have a lot left over to sell, so coming soon, I will be opening my own etsy.com shop called Ruby Jane Boutique. Thanks to Cynthia at The Design Loft, I have a logo and everything. :)

I was pleasantly surprised to see this sweet picture hiding in the December file. Then I remembered Shane took it while Ruby slept on my shoulder and my heart swelled with LOVE!

Isn't she magnificent?

It got pretty cold (for Arizona) in December. We actually put our sweatshirt hoodies on. ;)
Oh my cute, right??

In December, all four of our parents came to visit and to meet baby Ruby for the first time. Here's Grandpa Russ with the kiddos:

We already shared one picture of Ruby in her white dress on her blessing day, but we can't get enough of her. :)

We all love Carter's birth momma (and Ruby's too, or course)!

Carter in his new r house shirt.

This is Ashley. And Ruby, this blog's personal diva.

I met Ashley on my fourth birthday, I believe. That was the day my family moved from Utah to California and onto the same street as Ashley's family lived. She was two years old at the time. :) She quickly became my bestie/BFF. :) We liked playing dress up a lot. Bonus picture: Me, Tawny, Ashley sometime in the 80's

We were pretty much attached at the hip for the next 15 years until my family moved back to Utah and I went to BYU. One a year later, she came to BYU too, and then we even shared the same major and took classes together.
LOVE her to pieces.

Ashley gave me the best gift ever and came to visit and to be here for Ruby's sealing and blessing. Carter adores her for sure. Ashley is a Kindergarten teacher. I wish she could be his teacher when he starts Kindergarten in a couple of years. He would be in love! It made me so happy and comfortable having her here. We even got to have a girls night out shopping and eating! (Thanks Shane!) I love how she and I can always pick right up where we left off, no matter how long it's been. And I also love to listen to her stories, especially the ones about boys! ;)

This isn't the greatest picture, but it's the only one we've got. This was Christmas Eve dinner over at Joe and Claudia's. Thanks to Jon and Monica, we enjoyed yet another gourmet fabulous Dec. 24th dinner. Beautiful presentation and yum, yum, yummy food!

And best of all, we got to see Santa and "Mrs. Santa Claus" (as Carter called her) after dinner on Christmas Eve!
We can't believe December came and went so quickly! Same goes for 2009.
We wish you all the happiest New Year for 2010!

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We're still here!

We did not disappear. We are doing well and marching forward as we enter busy, busy December. December holds a lot of excitement for our little family. We've been really swamped getting ready for this:The boutique will not only have lots of cute stuff to buy, it will be featuring local adoptive families as vendors in support of adoption! Hooray for adoption, hooray for Christmas and hooray for cute things and great gifts! ;) We hope we'll see all of you locals there!

Stay tuned for photos/posts of Thanksgiving, etc.

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Mama’s Holiday Wish List Meme

TodaysMama and Provo Craft are giving away a sleighful of gifts this holiday season and to enter I’m sharing this meme with you.

1. What 5 items are on your holiday wish list this year?
(This is hard because we don't really buy gifts for Christmas. Last year we only spent $20 or $25 each I think, and the two years before that we went to Mexico, so we bought each other stocking stuffers only.)

• Music by Lenka, Ingrid Michaelson and others
  
• Dream Item: An iPod maybe...
  
• Another pair of jeans (I only have one pair right now)
  
• Another Dream Item: A double jogging stroller (Shane really wants this too)
  
• Yet Another dream item: A sewing machine (I have always wanted one!)
  

2. What is your favorite handmade gift you have received?

• My sister Marci has made me several handmade things and I love her gifts SO much. Right now I especially love the patchwork framed in Ruby's room that Marci made me. I think it was for Christmas a few years back, but it could have been for my birthday.
  

3. What handmade gift have you always wanted to tackle?

• I have been trying for a few years to gather all the favorite family recipes, make them and photograph them, and get them into a cookbook for my siblings and friends. This year I am actually making something (for a few people on our list) that I have always wanted to learn how to. I can't tell you about them yet though because it's a surprise for the recipients!
  

4. What was the best Christmas gift you received as a child?

• I remember being pretty stoked about my red Barbie Ferrari.
  

5. What items are on your kid’s wish list this year?

• CJ: Transformers that really transform (Bumblebee specifically)
  
• CJ: Toy Guitar
• RJ: Diapers, wipes, formula, and toys!
  

6. What is your favorite holiday food?

• Traditional foods my family ate every Christmas include clam chowder, homemade rolls, Danish pastries, and shortbread cookies.
  

7. What will you be hand-crafting for the holidays?

• Like I said before, it's a secret! Check back to see pictures after the recipients have gotten them. I will say this -- I am sewing them.
  

8. What is your favorite holiday movie?

• Christmas Story is a classic -- "You'll shoot your eye out!"
• I also love all the cheesy ABC Family Christmas movies on every night in December.
  

9. Favorite holiday song?

• Love almost all of them, but I never tire of hearing O Holy Night.
  

10. Favorite holiday pastime?

• Hanging out with family and friends, driving around to see Christmas lights, eating yummy food and warming up by the fire with warm beverages.
  

To enter to win all these cool prizes below simply answer the questions in this meme, make sure to post links back to TodaysMama.com and Provo Craft (use this link: http://bit.ly/4ikY3c ) and tag your friends!

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Ruby doll

My thoughtful new friend Andrea (who also happens to have taken pictures of Ruby recently for our birth announcement) made Ruby an adorable little stuffed doll from an online pattern actually called "Ruby doll" and we love it! You can see Andrea's Ruby doll creation here. It inspired me to want to make a small herd of them so that Ruby will have playmates for the original Ruby doll when she gets older. It was my first sewing project in a long time and since my sewing exposure is limited and I have no machine, I made my first Ruby doll by hand. I am pleased to introduce you to my first Ruby doll...for my Ruby. Thanks for looking!

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Still Scrappin'

As much as Megan would love for Carter to grow up to be a creative genius like his mom, I think at this point he's just in it for the free reign of the tape.

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