John's Cards

While laying in bed one night I suddenly had the idea to make John a deck of cards using family pictures. He had just sent out an email asking for pictures to take with him when he deployed and I thought it would be a fun way to give him lots of family pictures. It only took me nine months to finish. Sorry for the long wait John.

My first step was to find a cool deck of Marine cards. This deck was perfect. I also gave John a regular deck which has all of the ranks on the cards.


Here are pictures of the final finished project.

Over several months I collected pictures from emails, Picassa Albums and Blogs. After collecting and sifting through them I cropped, edited and finally printed them.

While Erika was at my house she was a huge help! It was her idea to put the red on black and black on red and she helped me cut and paste all of the center pieces.

With that done I was able to cut and place all of the pictures, and finally laminate and cut the cards.

It was a quite the undertaking and so much fun! John says he loves it. I only wish I could have given it to him in person to see if the big tough Marine cried. I would have liked it if he cried.

Book Group

I had a great time at Book Group...and I didn't even read the book. It was a small group; only four of us. I am usually the odd man out because everyone else knows each other very well and I don't really get to know them. So with the small group I got to know the others a bit better.

We also talked about the book a bit more than we usually do. I really enjoyed the tidbits they picked out to talk about and it made me want to read the book.

I am on a new kick...Audiobooks. It's so great! I can't find time to read a book, but I can get so much done and enjoy a book all at the same time.

Mittens

I have looked and looked for some winter mittens for Max and just couldn't find what I wanted. So, I asked my sister-in-law to make Max a pair. She is extremely talented and she whipped up a pair in no time. They are so cute and soft and fit perfectly. Thanks Lauren!

Shots

Two weeks in a row I forget Max's appointment for shots. I finally got him in for his next shot. I really need to stay on top of these things.

* Notes: DTAP right leg. No bruising, woke up several times crying, cranky and jumpy. Also, woke up gagging on something.

Shopping & What Not To Wear

Last weekend Kimber and Mom came to Utah for a birthday getaway. We decided to spend Saturday shopping and to prepare ourselves we watched several episodes of TLC's "What Not To Wear." A show that takes someone who is desperately in need of help in the fashion area and gives them $5000 to spend on a new wardrobe...with the stipulations that the stylists, Stacy & Clinton get to tell them everything that is wrong with their clothes, throw away everything in their current wardrobe and give them rules to shop by. They can be kind be harsh, but are really trying to get the point across that what the person is doing is not flattering. And the rules are meant to help flatter whatever body shape you currently have, not one you wish, hope or plan to have.

Anyway, after brushing up on our rules for how to dress, we headed out for our own shopping excursion. Since no one gave us $5000 to spend we were excited to see that Mervyns was having a going out of business sale with everything 30% to 70% off. After lunch at Rumbies to refuel we went to Dress Barn. Despite the name they really do have great clothes and also always have clearance racks. We all managed to find some great peices.

I have made fun of the woman on the show who are so emotional and have such a hard time with the shopping. But I can understand a little more...it was fun but also frustrating and emotional. Frustrating to try on thing after thing after thing and not find something, but then so fun when something fit and looked great. I have really been hating everything that I wear and everything I feel about my appearance is negativity. And I am tired of that. So, time to change. I got rid of the worst things in my closet and now have a few great things in my closet. And the rest of the clothes are somewhere in between. But for the times when I want to look my best and feel really cute I now have a great outfit.

It was a fun and exhausting day. Thanks Mom & Kimber!

IT'S DONE

The project that I have been working on for John is finally finished, packaged and mailed!

James said to me, "Didn't you start this before Max was born?" I did.

Once upon a time, nine months ago, a little girl, I mean, a large pregnant women, was unable to sleep (shocker) and while staring at the ceiling (oh, wait, I couldn't lay on my back), while starting at the wall of my bedroom, I suddenly had a great idea for a gift for John. Today I finally finished it!

It's coming at ya John! Hope you like it.

* Pictures and details to come after he has received it.

Max's Pillow

I went in to check on Max and found him using his dog for a pillow.