The Outtakes

Ah, yes ... the annual holiday picture tradition. To keep the pain as minimal as possible, my family met at a local park so each family group could get their pictures taken at once. I don't want to put the photos on here and ruin the fun you'll have opening our card (ha!), so here are the Guthries', Rodney's and my brother, Joseph's outtakes ...

Thanksgiving

In the craziness that has been our lives lately with moves, birthdays, anniversaries, jobs, kids, and holidays, we did manage to slow down for a few hours to stuff our faces with the traditional Thanksgiving feast. My Mom cooked an awesome meal and anything left over was quickly claimed, wrapped and taken home. Happy Turkey Day to all!

Additional Birthday Crop Photos!

Thanks to my friend, Michelle, I have some more crop photos to share. There is Michi and nan withme and my yummy cakes, layout winners Michelle and Jacqui and the two J's, Julie and Judy. Enjoy!

Sixth Anniversary

Rodney and I celebrated our sixth wedding anniversary Nov. 18. We have both been so exhausted from the move (and a bit broke from the move), so we just went to dinner at Outback Steakhouse and to see the movie, "Borat." We both laughed heartily, but after all the fantastic reviews, I guess we expected more. But it was fun to be able to just talk together without any distractions. As for gifts, I got a lovely bouquet of red roses and Rodney got a small scrapbook with pictures of us in it.

A Crop (and Lunch!) with Lisa Bearnson

Local Scrapbook Store Timeless Treasures sponsored Creating Keepsakes Magazine founder Lisa Bearnson's visit to the OC this weekend. For anyone reading this who does not know who Lisa is, she is the Julia Roberts of the scrapbooking world. She started CK, which is the leading magazine in the industry. Nan and I sign up two months ago for the crop with her. You had to call in to register and the 50 seats filled up in 10 minutes! There was also a page design contest - Lisa herself was going to pick the winning layouts and those scrapbookers would get to have lunch with her on Saturday. The theme was "What Matters Most" and Nan did a great prison-themed page of her family, showing all the personality traits they were "wanted" for. It's a layout I'll be scraplifting soon. I had designed my layout with big pictures of my three boys. At the crop, the winners of the contest were announced. I was SO surprised when Lisa chose my layout! "My Boys" is now on display at Timeless until Dec. 23. Lunch with Lisa was at Wood Ranch in Rancho Santa Margarita and there were about 12 of us in attendance. I didn't get to talk with Lisa very much, as I was at the opposite end of the table, but she had some great stories that really let us see inside her personality. Thanks goes to both Lisa and Timeless.

Will Loves His New Room

There's not much else to say. Will is very proud of his new room and is very excited to have a desk where he can color and play with his stickers any time he wants to. Now, if we could just get him to pick up his toys and put them in the right places before he goes to bed ...

An Ivory Bad Hair Day

Daddy saw white soap in the bath and figured it was Xan's. Ivory, of course, is not Dove. Dove has moistuizers in it, a.k.a conditioner, and helps calm Xan's unruly hair. Not this time. This is Xan's hair the morning after Daddy washed it - nothing but the crib mattress touched it.

Birthday Crop!

I took it upon myself to throw me a 30th Birthday Crop at Angels Scrapbook Garden from 9 a.m. to midnight Nov. 11. After all, if I had left it up to Rodney to throw me a crop party, it would probably be in a corn field. (Get it? Crop? Ha ha) Any hoo ... Here are some of the photos, from Nan and Michi. Some of the photos on Nan's camera were really blurry. Most of the rest are here. 16 people cropped for 15 hours, with a raffle prize every half hour - 30 prizes for 30 years! Plus, we had contests. Here are the winners:

Scrapbook Trivia: Michelle
Scrapbook Scavenger Hunt:
1st Place Team: Michelle, Mitzi and Julie S.
2nd Place Team: Michi, Paul and Nan
Page Contest Winners:
1st: Michelle (what a winner!)
2nd: Nan
3rd: Jacqui
Most pages finished: Nan, with 33!

The grandmas and boys stopped by to say hi while we were there, and both Michi and Nan brought cakes - both from Ralphs, and they were SO yummy! I just wish my mind hadn't been on the move so I could have focused on scrapbooking more. But there's always next year ... Thanks to everyone for making my day so special!

Moving Day!

Actually, it was more like a Moving Two Weeks and an Unpacking Eternity, but we managed to get packed and our stuff transported to our new digs. Rodney had the help of my friend Nan's husband, Peter, in making a gate for a dog run, putting in a new side garage door, water spigot for the refrigerator ice maker and new door locks. Rodney is especially proud of the new gate. Grandma Peggy flew in Friday night, Nov. 10, to help watch the boys for the weekend. I think she needed an excuse to see them anyway. Rodney had six buddies from base and my Dad helping him with the physical move on Saturday. I, of course, had my birthday crop, so I only heard that it all went as well as could be expected. My big day was Sunday, when I tried to unpack enough so we could all (Peggy, Xan, Will Rodney and I) stay at the new house Sunday night. Will loves his new room, Xan is enjoying his attempt at pulling every cord he can in the house and Rodney and I are running ourselves ragged trying to get the house in order and still maintain the daily schedule of activities.

Babies, babies, babies

Will and Xan would like to announce two new cousins: Uncle Joe and Aunt Gina are expecting, the baby is due the first week of July. Also, Rodney's cousins Amy and Richie Williams had their third daughter on Nov. 8. Hannah Lynn's two older sisters are Kara, 4, (Will's best buddy) and Lauren, who just turned 2 on Nov. 6. And I thought my two boys' birthdays were close together! Congratulations, guys!

Marine Corps Ball

This was the first Marine Corps Ball Rodney and I had been to since 2002, so despite all the planning needed to be done for the move, we went as planned. It was at the San Diego Mariott in the Gas Lamp District. The ceremony was short, the food was good and we had a good time, a better time than I expected.

A (Short) Happy Halloween!

Pirate pals Will and Xan headed out to Trick or Treat at 6 p.m. and by 6:45 p.m. we were "done" and back in the house. Xan had fallen asleep in the stroller after the first 10 houses and Will had had enough after about 20 minutes ("How many more houses? 3? 6?"). But they did get quite a few compliments on their costumes and Will had more than enough candy.
Earlier in the day, Grandpa Mark went to their costume parade at preschool. Will refused to smile and Xan was crying in the crib they wheeled out, but they looked cute anyway. Daddy picked the boys up and Will was so excited when he got home because he and "his baby" had won best costumes. Before I could get too excited, Rodney let me know that "everyone won best costume." Ah, yes, celebrating mediocrity once again!

Pumpkin Carving

Will got to carve a pumpkin this year - with Dad's help, of course. I made a skull design in another to go with the boys' pirate costume theme. I used these electronic tea lights I got at JoAnn's Fabrics and they worked very well. Xan had a great time testing out the new feels and tastes pumpkin that carving presents.