WEEK FORTY EIGHT - November 23 to November 29

Thanksgiving was AWESOME. We packed a lot into just a few days. 

Darren read a book, I worked on an advent calendar for Emily, and Elizabeth worked on an art project.  We played "Ticket to Ride" and watched movies.  We went swimming. We explored the Lodge.  We baked cookies.  One of my favorite events was Ice-Skating. This was Juliana's first time and the kids third or fourth time.  Juliana was a TROOPER. She went from holding onto Darren for dear life to getting around the rink on her own. She did a great job!
The ice-rink is at the Park City Mountain Resort and it is just small and quaint and charming.  We spent HOURS there while the turkey cooked. It was a beautiful day in the mountains.

Our Thanksgiving dinner had all the traditional fare.  We started out with cheeseballs and 7 layer dip while watching the parade and football.  Ice-skating made us hungry for a full dinner.  There were so many dishes whose recipes are from people I love and admire such as my Aunt Genie's strawberry layered jello, my Aunt Joyce's yam and apple bake, and Kristy DeMille's butterhorn rolls.  We of course had turkey and my mom's delicious real mashed potatoes plus stuffing and peas and etc.  For dessert we had peach pie, razzleberry pie, apple pie, and oreo pie.

The best part of the day was getting an email from Emily. I hadn't realized her P-Day would be on Thursday rather than Monday this week.  It was great to finally hear from her.  She got my paper bag turkey and added the comment, "Seriously Mom you are so cool".  HA that made my day and made the burnt fingers entirely worth it.

We got home Friday in time to go tree hunting with Crowthers.  On the way up the mountain we listened to a new CD of Christmas music I purchased. It had a lot of popular artists on it, which actually ended up being kinda weird.  Lady Gaga added a new verse to Frosty the snowman and it was a bit disturbing. HA HA.   

Brian led the way and he took us high enough into the mountains that there was actually some snow. The kids went sledding while Darren and I found two tall, skinny, beautiful trees.   After our annual grilled hotdog  lunch, the kids headed down the mountain to see how far they could get before we came in the truck. We loaded up and shot guns for a bit and then headed down. We were so surprised to find they had cruised to the bottom of the mountain! I don't know how they sledded that far that fast, and it's probably better I don't know. HA.  Good times.


FULL LAYOUT

LEFT SIDE

RIGHT SIDE

Supplies:

 Paper and cards: Autumn Joy by Lori Whitlock

Templates:  Project Life Template K by Becky Higgins and Project Life Template E by Becky Higgins.

WEEK FORTY SEVEN - November 16 to November 22

Ever since I can remember, my Grandparents had a time-share in Park City.  I have many fond childhood memories of staying for lovely extended vacations with my immediate family in addition to an assortment of cousins. I remember running the halls, swimming in the pool, playing games, and enjoying Park City in general.   

I remember being there for my 8th birthday as well as the birth of my sister, Ashlee.   I remember eating popcorn and apples with my Grandpa Baggs.  I remember my Grandma Baggs quilting.   More recently,  I have memories of staying there the January our house was being built and enjoying a long weekend with our friends the Crowthers.

When my Grandparents passed away, my Uncle took over the Park City week. My parents acquired another of the time-shares they had owned in St George.  My parents have always been more than generous with sharing their time share.  

A few years ago we spent Thanksgiving in Park City.  It was before my Grandpa Baggs had passed away. We had a fantastic time swimming and ice-skating and going to the Olympic Park.  It was seriously so much fun ( except for Darren who had to deal with driving in a blizzard and the car breaking down and etc etc).  
When I found out that we would be having Juliana stay with us, I asked my mother if there was any way she could trade some of her time-share banked weeks for Park City at Thanksgiving for us.   I really wanted to share Park City with Juliana and have a great Thanksgiving together. 

My poor mother searched and searched over and over again for literally MONTHS. She found a few rooms in the main lodge but I wanted the newest phase as it has three bedrooms. I was quite demanding and probably very annoying.  She continually watched the trade boards for us, and late in October was able to get the unit I wanted for the dates I wanted.  She was able to trade one of her banked weeks for it, but then also paid out some money, (so mom.... I never offered to pay for it..... let me know if you want me to!)

The rental goes from Friday to Friday. My parents were able to stay the entire week. During that time they went to church, went to Aunt Robyn's for a sibling party, and did a lot of Christmas shopping. We came up Friday night and stayed for Saturday, and then came back the next Tuesday and stayed through Friday. You will read about it on the next post but let me tell you as a sneak preview that it was such as great time that even Darren who had a sour taste in his mouth from the last time we stayed commented that he wished now we would have bought the other time-share week of Grandpa Bagg's when it was available.

So THANK YOU mom and dad for letting me share my childhood memories with my children. I love you so much for it.



LEFT PAGE

RIGHT PAGE
 

Paper: Autumn Joy by Lori Whitlock
Cards:  Autumn Joy by Lori Whitlock and Fall Is In the Air by Lori Whitlock
Template: LEFT is Project Life Template B.  Right is Project Life Template K

TWIRP 2014

I was going through pictures to finish up the year when I noticed I had not said anything about TWIRP.The dance was held November 14th. As I had already completed the layout for the week, I decided to add an insert to my book.

I had to look up "TWIRP" online to see what it even meant.  It is an acronym for "THE WOMAN IS REQUIRED to PAY".  HA HA I did not know this.  It makes sense as it is a girls choice dance.   

I was hoping for more pictures from one or more of the kid's cell phones but never could get anything out of anyone so I just used what I had.  The beauty of Project Life is that I can "switch" it out later, both digitally and/or physically.

Here is the insert for the week of November 9-15th for TWIRP:

INSERT FRONT

INSERT - BACK

Items used:
Template G - Project Life by Becky Higgins
All cards except the "ADMIT ONE" card - Project Life AZURE edition by Becky Higgins
The Admit One card is part of the Project Life CUT & PASTE mini-kit by Becky Higgins

WEEK FORTY SIX - November 9 to November 15

WEEK FORTY FIVE - November 2 to November 8

COMPLETE LAYOUT

LAYOUT LEFT

LAYOUT RIGHT

WEEK FORTY FOUR - October 26 to November 1

This week was crazy. By the time it was over we were all wiped out.

Sunday morning we went to church at the earliest ward we could find (9:00 a.m.) and then after Sacrament meeting we changed clothes and headed out of town. 

We figured since it was the week of Halloween, this was a perfect time to visit GOBLIN Valley (HA HA).

We took our time winding up the mountain.  To get to Goblin Valley you get to also drive through Capitol Reef National Park. We stopped at a few viewpoints as well as the Visitor Center. We decided to go visit the Pioneer store there on site.  When we walked into the tiny room, we smelled the most glorious smell.... fresh made fruit pies.  We ended up buying three mini pies, mini cups of icecream, and a cinnamon roll for my weird child that doesn't like fruit pie.

We drove to the apple orchard and spread out our blanket under the trees. You can pick and eat as many apples as you want, but if you take any with you then you pay a price per pound. While I made sandwiches the kids climbed the ladders into the trees and used the picking poles provided to get some apples down.  The apples were obviously as fresh as they come and were delicious.

We hadn't even planned to stop at the apple orchard but this ended up being our favorite part of the day.  It was so BEAUTIFUL sitting under the golden trees. The air was warm.  It was quiet and peaceful. It smelled like apples and trees and grass (and pie!) We ate fresh apple, peach, and berry pies made from fruit grown right on site.  We were joined by a herd of deer who came right by us to eat apples.  It was like time had frozen and for just a moment we were happy under trees.

It was so magical that the kids didn't even want to keep going. But of course I made them (see the previous posts about Bryce Canyon ha ha).

We got to Goblin Valley about an hour before dark which was PERFECT.  I love the hoodoos and the dips and valleys. We climbed a mountain or two, found some crazy formations, and watched the sun go down in a glorious sunset that you can only find in the desert.

It was a good thing that we were so rested after our day touring the National Park and Goblin Valley as the rest of the week was mayhem. We had Halloween parties and Halloween performances and our annual Spooky dinner.  Our friends daughter was staying with us for the week so we had the extra fun of one of our favorite people living with us.  We hosted the drill team dinner. We carved pumpkins and went trick or treating and ate lots of candy.

It was a good week. 

REGULAR LAYOUT 


REGULAR LAYOUT - LEFT

REGULAR LAYOUT - RIGHT

HALLOWEEN INSERT (FRONT AND BACK... these will not actually be NEXT to each other)

CAPITOL REEF NATIONAL PARK - full layout

CAPITOL REEF NATIONAL PARK - LEFT

CAPITOL REEF NATIONAL PARK - RIGHT 

CAPITOL REEF 8x10 insert front
CAPITOL REEF 8x10 insert back

WEEK FORTY THREE - October 19 to October 25

WEEK FORTY TWO - October 12 through October 18

With being sick and off work yesterday and it being Veteran's Day today, I finally have had a minute to catch up on the last month of Project Life.
It is hard to believe that the end of the year is creeping up and I'm still caught up with my scrapbooking. This is the beauty of the "Project Life" system.

I did two layouts for this week... one for the normal "stuff" and one for our day trip to Bryce Canyon National Park.

It was UEA for most of the state but not for us... Grandpa and Grandma Sheffer came through on their way to Otter Creek for their annual fishing trip. Nathan and Darren went and camped with them Friday night. Nathan pulled in some whoppers Saturday morning. My mother is really good to me... she knows I don't love the smell of fish in the house.  She takes the fish and cooks them up and invites Nathan over to eat and celebrate his catch.

Our day at Bryce was a great day. We took the kids out of school and enjoyed a quiet day in the Park.  Darren had got some money from Grandpa and Grandpa Taylor for his birthday, and he used it to renew our annual Parks pass. With Juliana here we plan to get a lot of use out of it.

After stopping at the Visitors Center we drove to the end of the Park and worked out way back. The day was so beautiful and crisp.  At one point we all just held really still and listened hard and guess what we heard?? NOTHING!!  It was so amazing.  No cars... no planes... no people......  not even the sound of our own breathing as we held it in and rejoiced in the ultimate solitude.

We stopped at nearly every viewpoint and took a few small trails. By the end of the day the kids were all grouchy and were not excited about seeing one more thing. HA!  I know you are supposed to stop while it's still fun (so they want more) but I blew past that point by about sixty minutes I think.

We plan to go back again in the winter when the snow is on the fins.  BEAUTIFUL.

Regular layout combined:

Regular layout LEFT SIDE:
 

 Regular layout -LEFT

BRYCE CANYON -FULL LAYOUT 

BRYCE CANYON - LEFT

 BRYCE CANYON - RIGHT SIDE

SEPTEMBER PHOTOS

I finally got our September photos all updated to FLICKR.

If you would like to see more than what is posted on each weekly scrapbook layout, just cut and paste the following line into your browser:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/98000721@N06/sets/72157648246635877

My internet is slow so I have to wait a few second for each picture to fill in and become sharp. Otherwise it just seems like every photo is blurry. HA!

WEEK FORTY ONE - October 5 to October 11

Supplies used:
Cards - Project Life KRAFT edition by Becky Higgins
Background papers - Lori Whitlock Fall Is In the Air collection

WEEK FORTY - September 28 - October 04

 

Supplies:  Lori Whitlock's "Fall Is In the Air" collection

Week THIRTY NINE - September 21 to September 27

Supplies:
Background papers and cards: Project Life "HONEY" edition
Overlays: Project Life "Just Add Color" edition photo overlays

WEEK THIRTY EIGHT - September 14th to September 20th

You get a prize if you noticed I skipped week thirtyseven.... those pictures will come later as I work through what we took on our trip.  Between my phone, my DSLR, my underwater camera that I use more for convenience due to it's size, and Darren's camera I have some work to do.

I don't really love how this set turned out but I can tell you I don't hate it enough to do anything about it.
HA!
 

The background paper and most of the cards are Project Life CLEMENTINE. I recolored a few items.

Week THIRTY SIX - August 31 to September 6

Life is starting to get back to normal at the Sheffer house.  It is funny how being gone just 8 or 9 days can throw life into an uproar.

Grandma and Grandpa took great care of the kids and the laundry and the yard and the house so at least I had a huge head-start on the rest of my life. It took me clear until yesterday morning (6 days after getting home) to finally get my suitcases emptied entirely and put away.  The laundry was nearly done but then our boxes of dirty laundry arrived via USPS (a story for another post!) and now I'm working on those.  I got our pictures downloaded today and did a quick weeding out but nothing is edited yet.  

Anyway, I thought I would spend a quiet, rainy Sunday afternoon working on week thirty six.  I just  couldn't weed the pictures down, so there are two layouts for this week, with one of them focusing on homecoming.

Enjoy!

LAYOUT ONE (REGULAR WEEK)
FULL LAYOUT


LEFT:

RIGHT:

Supplies:
Background papers and cards: Project Life "CORAL" edition


LAYOUT TWO (HOMECOMING)
FULL LAYOUT

LEFT:


RIGHT:

Background papers: Project Life "TURQUOISE" edition
Cards: Project Life "HONEY" edition
Overlay: Project Life "JUST ADD COLOR" edition