Christmas Stocking - Day 4 progress

I seem to be slowing down, which isn't all that good of a plan. But today was the last day this week I could knock out some Christmas shopping. (Other than some online fun that I'll take care of later.)

Tomorrow Ron has eye surgery, so I will be schlepping back and forth to the hospital, and then making sure he can lay low...so sitting and concentrating on a cross-stitch project isn't going to happen until tomorrow night. I suppose I could work on it while waiting for my patient during surgery and recovery though. :)

So not too exciting of an update tonight.

Oh! How could I forget to mention this? I got to hold the sweetest little tiny of a baby today. Yum! Six days old and the sweetest little girl with a head full of hair. I love that she was blessed to be placed into the cutest family through adoption. Really, her mommy and daddy are such great and deserving parents. Highlight of my day.

Christmas Stocking - Day 3 Progress

Not too good today....and I have yet to touch it!

Yesterday I spent the afternoon finding coordinating clothing for the family picture. We went with dressy; black, fuchsia, and some purple thrown in as well. We'll see how it turns out. The proofs we looked at weren't thrilling....mainly because I did not like the background. I also hope they crop well since there was a bit of extra space on the sides and over our heads....their printed sample pictures they had there were cropped well, so I'm crossing my fingers. That's what I get for doing a fundraiser from a photographer I don't know, I guess?

I'm hoping the temperature goes up a little so I can take the kids somewhere and get some shots of just them. I'm thinking Sundance, since they decorate for the holidays so well, but I also don't want the kids to turn into ice cubes!  I've also decided to tackle another little project that starts with photos, but it thankfully doesn't require clothes or backgrounds....

Obviously, since I'm posting, I survived Zumba. Although, I can attest that I am sure I looked a fool! It reminded me of aerobics with much more of a dance flair....and I'm not a dancer! But it was fun, free, and I'll for sure take advantage of it and go back.

Okay....time to post this, go watch Glee on DVR, and get some more progress done on those angel wings.

Christmas Stocking - Day 2 progress

 

I would love to know what happened to my original day 2 post.....maybe I shouldn't try to manage stuff from my phone, because I'm pretty sure I deleted it accidentally....

Now I can't remember what I said! I think it had something to do with getting some school stuff done, heading out of the house to get clothes for family pictures, and them add in the responsibilities of kids being back in school and doing homework, piano, yada, yada, yada....

How irritating!

For those who commented on the original post, thank you! I love comments. Sorry they went away along with the post. :(

Christmas Stocking - Day 1 Progress

After a lot of stitching yesterday, I made a pretty good dent in the angel's dress. Kudos to Ron for taking charge and letting me stitch away while he did all the parenting duties. Apparently, he really wants me to finish the stocking.

Watched the BYU/Utah game.....nice punt fest for a while. Then some scoring happened. I honestly don't think I've ever seen a game with so many calls that needed reviewing by the refs....and too bad they still couldn't get one of the calls right after the review. Anyone who cares knows the outcome of the game. I personally was nauseated for a while after.

Not sure what I'll be able to get done on the stocking today. Ron is in bed with a migraine. :(

Other newsworthy and not very rad item of the day was waking up to 8" of snow....and it is snowing again now. Jared is highly upset that I'm not taking them sledding.

Poor Neglected Baby

Yes, the above title could refer to my blog which hasn't been posted on for six months (who does that?!)

Oh yeah. Me.

But actually, it is referring to my own baby, Ellie, who still does not have a lovingly cross-stitched Christmas stocking handmade by her mother. Yes, call CPS, my poor almost 5 year old daughter is still waiting for her matching-with-the-rest-of-the-family stocking. I have had all the supplies to make it since the Fall of 2006. I have had great intentions. Of course, I have all sorts of great intentions, but lack a lot of follow through. I blame genetics. ;)

The sad state of Ellie's stocking:

Yes. This year she noticed that she is the only one with a store-bought stocking....turning away in shame from it's matched brothers and sisters...

Then she looked at me with her sad eyes as daddy (thanks daddy...) told her the sad tale of how mommy hasn't made her stocking, then asked the loaded question: "Mommy, will you make me a new Christmas stocking like those?"

Well, duh, who can resist their baby asking a question like that?! So this morning, I got this out:




I've ironed the linen, taped the edges, rolled it to soften it, and as soon as I publish this miraculous blog post, I will begin. I'm actually happy to have something to do to occupy my attention from the BYU/UofU game today.....it'll help prevent a heart attack if it's a close game, or give me a diversion if it isn't.

I'll be posting my progress on this project as my motivation. I now have less than a month to stitch it and turn it into a stocking. My own fault for putting it off. I do work better under pressure.....but still, wish me luck!

My Name is Andrea, and I'm a Mormon

Exciting things are afoot in the missionary efforts of the Mormon Church. As many of you know, Ron works for the Church in the Missionary Dept, and his biggest assignment is Mormon.org. He's been through a number of redesigns in the last 8 years, but the next one is, by far, the most exciting and significant.

I was able to go last week to a seminar for Mormon bloggers....yeah, I only got that invitation by virtue of being someone's wife! But it was fun to be there and see the presentation and the reaction of the people there. Overall: excitement about the new site. Those of us there were asked to go home, and blog about what we learned.

The new site is beautiful! Vibrant colors, and very inviting. The Church and missionary department have looked at studies, and done focus groups, and each time, they find out that the general non-Mormon population have very skewed perceptions of the Church. All the info they get is from garbage like "Big Love", or perhaps what comes up when they Google "Mormon", most of which is not true, or nice. But when a focus group was given the chance to look through a sample of the new site for a few minutes, their perceptions completely changed, and we were suddenly normal people, who try to do what's right, love our family, and serve others. We actually became something almost appealing, imagine that!

Take a look:

Probably the most awesome part of the site are the "portraits". They have chosen a number of Mormons, some you've heard of, some not, and filmed them in their regular lives, and talked to them about their stories.....their experiences, their conversions, what is important to them, and why they are Mormon. Since Ron has many of these that he has to review, I have seen many of them, and they are wonderful. They show how many different walks of life Mormons come from, and make us much more "normal". ;) Not only will these portraits be available on the new site when it goes live (mid-June), they are also creating advertising using these portraits...banner ads, billboards, etc. At the end of each portrait, the person uses a few sentences to describe themselves, and ends with "I'm a Mormon." That tag-line will also be used in the other advertising.

Here's the most exciting and innovative part of it: beyond the filmed portraits, the Church is also opening the site up to members to help their missionary efforts. They are asking members to create a profile. The profile shares your personal story: who you are, why you are Mormon, how you live your faith, and also asks you to answer a couple questions about our beliefs and how they affect you personally. (When you create your profile, you have to do at least 2 questions, but you can answer more, or come back later and do more after your profile is complete.) You can be as private as you like, although you are identified by your 1st name, and asked to provide a picture. If you want to add social networking links (blog, facebook, twitter), you can do that as well.

They would like 1,000 by the time they launch the site, but would love to have as many members on there as possible. Could you imagine how amazing it would be if there were 500,000?!  (Even if Ron's eyes fail from moderating that many profiles....just kidding, he has some help!)

As Ron is a "moderator" and approving profiles (basically making sure they don't give too much info about themselves, etc.) I've been able to read over his shoulder a little. There are some wonderful profiles coming in. Actually, ALL of them are wonderful. People are joining in and sharing themselves in a collective missionary effort.

So here's my plug: Go to new.mormon.org and create your profile! You use your LDS account to sign in(same way you get into lds.org) and if you need to register for an LDS account, you need your membership number (on your temple recommend or call your ward membership clerk).

I know I'm excited about this.  How can I not be?  There are so many people putting their heart, souls, and many, many, many hours of work into this.  Not only that but this could be revolutionary to missionary work.  Think about being able to reach someone with your words & your testimony, that you may be the reason their heart is softened to learn about the gospel of Jesus Christ. Amazing.

Busy, Busy, Crazy Busy.....

I got a phone call back in March....or maybe the beginning of April....from a Board Member at the younger kids school. (We are at a charter school, so we have a board of mostly founding parents that help run the school.) Anyhoo, she got my name from someone(I really wish I knew who!) that recommended me to be on the Business Partners/Adopt-a-Class Committee. Not only that, she wanted me to Chair the committee.

That threw me. I don't like being in charge...unless it's of my own home and kids, then I'm fine being the boss!

But to be in charge of other things...run meetings, get-togethers, meet deadlines? Eek! I am the Queen of Procrastination. Really, I'm good at it! So to have to meet deadlines and stuff? Stresses me out. I told her I'd be happy to help with the committee, but to let me think on the Chair part and call me back in a couple days. She didn't call back. But two days later I and the rest of the committee received an email announcing me as the new Chair. Help!

I decided to suck it up. I could do it. I have the skills.....just lack the time-management/non-procrastination ones.

Wish me luck. I've already made it through the Appreciation Night, to thank all of this year's sponsors....now we're knee deep in finding sponsors for next year. Hoping our current sponsors want to keep doing it. We have picked up a number of new ones already, and according to the board member I work with, we are already looking better than we ever have at this point.

So that's some of where I've been. It seems like lately, when I get on the computer, I am emailing or updating spreadsheets instead of blogging. Well, that and sorry, but facebook and twitter is a quick way to write and go.

And my apologies to all those I faithfully read for not commenting. I have recently cleaned out my reader and I just did quick reads and no comments....sorry! I'll try to do better.

Love this.....

Spring Break.....

I've been so swamped writing so many darn posts on this blog that I just needed a break...thankfully the kids had some days out of school, so Ron took some days off and we headed south looking for some sun. Oh, and we brought the 4wheelers along too!



This was out in Sand Hollow, south of Hurricane. There was this cool sandstone fin I drove up on, Ron wondering the whole time what I was doing and how I was going to get down. I figured I'd just turn around in a space I saw at the top, but then I looked closely enough and thought I'd just be able to drive down the other side. I asked Ron if he thought I would make it okay, and he said if i did it, he'd video it?! How's that for support?! I'm thinking he was hoping to be able to sell the video of some atv rollover....just kidding! It looked steeper and scarier from the 4wheeler....

Easter is just around the corner!