Announcing our new niece!!!

We are so happy to welcome our new little niece, Chloe Grace to our family! My husband's sister, Nickie and her husband, along with our other niece Lexi welcomed a healthy baby girl last Friday EARLY in the morning!!! We all waited on pins and needles for the phone call saying that mommy and baby were safe and sound!

She is so tiny and precious in this car seat!!! It hardly seems possible that either of my children were ever this small (actually smaller!!!)

We are so excited to meet her one day as they live far away in Philadelphia!!! ***HUGS and KISSES*** From Uncle Chris, Auntie Hannah and cousins Brady and Livy!!!!

Trip to Utah...keep scrolling more posts!

I feel like I am always trying to catch up from a week or two before instead of posting our experiences right away...better late than never!

Two weeks ago we went down to Utah to visit family in Provo and some friends in Pleasant Grove. My Aunt Teresa and Uncle Paul were in town from Kansas visiting their kids, my cousins, Chaz and Tara along with their spouses (Desi and Kevin). It was only my second time meeting Desi and my first time meeting Kevin so it was nice to have some family time even though it went by really fast!

We were able to hike "Y Mountain" on Saturday and have a nice picnic in Provo Canyon after church on Sunday, then we had to head back home!

Hiking the "Y"

Precious picture!!!

* * *

(This is before Chris' back started hurting, by the time we got closer to the top he was in a lot of pain, and two weeks later he still is...he went to the chiropractor and he said that his bones are out of alignment pinching a nerve- the cost of parenthood, poor guy!)

This was when we first started out- the parking lot is at a pretty high elevation but we have 11 switchbacks to go to get to the top!

* * *

L-R: Tara and her husband, Kevin, Desi, Hannah, Chris, Olivia, Brady and Aunt Teresa.

"Uncle Trout" aka my Uncle Paul Willnauer

* * *

The views were gorgeous!!!

and of course I had to do a little nature photography:

We made it to the top of the Y!!!! We had a picnic and then Chris, Olivia, Brady and I headed back down the mountain while everyone else decided to be crazy and hike to the top of the mountain (the Y is pretty much the halfway point!!!)

* * *

On the way down Chris' back was hurting so much and he was carrying Olivia so he just booked it down as fast as he could. It didn't help that we were wearing sandles and Brady was wearing his crocs (I forgot to pack sneakers). Poor Brady's legs started hurting about 3/4 of the way down and he just kept crying that his legs and knees hurt so bad! I felt terrible and tried to distract him any way that I could while we tried to get down the mountain.

* * *

Here are some wild flowers that he picked while we searched for all of the different kinds:

Brady resting his legs on a bench at one of the switchbacks. From this point down I carried him the rest of the way (about 4 switchbacks). I was also carrying a backpack full of junk and my feet were killing me from the descent in sandals!

Happy that we're almost to the bottom and that mommy is going to carry him the rest of the way! We survived and I'm glad that we did it but never again will we hike without proper footwear!!!

* * *

After our hike we had just enough time to stop at the BYU Creamery and get some ice cream! I got a lemon/lime frozen yogurt beacuse I was feeling all healthy after such a hike!

Brady shared with me and Olivia and Chris shared a cookie dough shake. Very yummy!

* * *

After eating ice cream and cooling down we had to hurry back to Chaz' and take showers and get dressed to meet up with a guy who had served his mission in my branch when I was in high school. His name is Glendon and he and his family were so nice to have us over for the evening. We talked for hours while the kids played (their little girl, Mauri is Brady's age and they got along great!) We ate some Cafe Rio, cookies and ice cream and had a lot of fun catching up and remembering the "old days" by looking through his mission albums!

Brady and Mauri chilled while watching a movie with their own popcorn!

My cousin Chaz did a great job of entertaining the kids!

Brady loved him and wanted to do everything with him!

* * *

Chaz tried to get all of Brady's energy out so he'd sleep on the way home. they wrestled for about an hour and then Chaz calmed him by doing a little "Zen Yoga!"

Unfortunately neither the wrestling or calming had any effect on Brady and he was awake and quite the royal pain the whole trip home! Ah, road trips...so much fun =)

Our Happy 4th of July!!! Sun Valley style!!!

Chris' parents spend every 4th of July up in Sun Valley so we went up for the day and were treated to a wonderful day with them. It all started out with a delicious breakfast put on by the Cub Scouts every year. From there we went just down the road to the antique tent sales and spent the better part of the morning there finding little treasures. I found a cute little covered wagon model to put in the kid's room (cowboy/cowgirl theme) and a blue enamelware cup for their play stove.

Then Brady rode back with Grandpa on his tandem bike (8 miles!!!) to the campsite. While we waited for them to get back to the campsite I saw these gorgeous horses alongside the road and just had to take pictures!!!




We were going to go ice skating at the famous Sun Valley Lodge but a rainstorm came in and ruined the ice! Darn it! Maybe this fall!!!

We had a wonderful dinner at the Sun Valley Golf Club and Brady got to put on the practice green! He could have stayed there for hours, he was right in his glory!!!

Sun Valley Golf Club:

We got a pretty descent shot of our family for the 4th of July.

(I made Livy's outfit, isn't it cute??)

Grandma Jones and Mom Graf enjoying the sunshine in the club's diningroom! We couldn't have had a prettier view with the mountains and the course right in front of us!

My meal was grilled lamb kebabs over a greek salad with grilled pitas and dill taziki yogurt- it was delicious!!! I'm pretty sure this was the first time I had lamb too!

Other meals we had were steamed mussels in a white wine sauce, grilled tostadas, slider burgers, kobe beef burgers and sweet potato fries! All so good!!!

This picture cracks me up!!! Chris was trying to get Olivia to give him a kiss and she msacked him instead!!! Funny girl!!

* * *

I snuck outside while we were waiting for dinner and took some pictures:

Brady had so much fun golfing that he didn't want to leave!!!

We ended the evening with some awesome caramel apples and smores. Mom and Dad got the apples at a little candy store called Rocky Mountain Chocky Factory and there were all kinds like heath crunch, pecan, oreo, cheesecake, white chocolate coconut and apple pie (my favorite). We even had our own little portable fire pit to roast smores and keep us warm while we waited for the fireworks!

* * *

And, a "funny" thing happened while we were waiting for the fireworks. We parked at the LDS church parking lot along the side of the road where the field was that we watched the fireworks at. Olivia had fallen asleep and it was cold outside so we decided to let her stay sleeping in the car with the windows cracked. Grandma Jones was staying in their car right next to our so she was watching Olivia and we would check on her every 10-15 minutes. Well, when Chris got up to go check on Livy he noticed that there were 3 police cars parked in front of our car (we were only about 100 feet from the car). So he walked over there and they said that a concerned citizen had called about a baby left unattended in a vehicle...long story short, we explained that Grandma was "watching" her and we were checking in on her and all was fine. Just to make everyone feel better Grandma got in our car and stayed there for the rest of the evening!

* * *

It gave me a little fright that I hadn't thought anything of just leaving Olivia there since the vehicle was locked and in sight and Grandma was right there. I actually am a social worker and worked in child protection for almost a year so it was all really crazy that someone called in on us!

* * *

Oh well, we can laugh about it now!

Catching Up...again! A walk along the Snake River Canyon with Chris' Family:

A few weeks ago we had Mom and Dad Graf and the girls over for Sunday dinner. It was such a beautiful evening that we took a walk at 8 pm even though that's when the kids are usually in bed! It was the perfect time of night with the light from the setting sun making everything seem even more vibrant and vivid than it naturally is. What a gorgeous night!!!

Every time I see Chris with our kids it melts my heart because it's so cute!

I just can't get over how tiny they look next him!

Looking out at the canyon views with Mom and Dad Graf

Views from the first look-out:

I just liked the texture in this clump of ornamental grass

Brady loves "hiding" under this little bridge:

Olivia got the ride of her life with Aunty Chelsae at the "wheel!"

The second look-out is awesome too! It overlooks the Upper Perrine Coulee Falls and has a more majestic view of the bridge. How beautiful! (I know I've already done several posts about the canyon but it's just so awesome I cant get over the fact that I live within walking distance!)

This is the bottom of the lower falls where you can walk underneath the falls

(where Chris proposed, awww!!!)

Livy thought it was very fascinating looking at the waterfall and all of the gushing water splashing on the rocks down at the bottom!

We took the opportunity to take some nice pictures:

My sweet and crazy Sisters in law!!! Shawnae and Chelsae

One pretty handsome couple...

and another pretty darn good-looking one too (if you ask me!)

We finally tired Brady out so Grandpa gave him a piggy-back on the walk home!

The Passing of a Wonderful Young Man...

Clayton David Thomas

July 15 1992-June 28, 2009

I was sadly informed today of the passing of one of the most wonderful young men that I've been blessed to know. Clayton was one of the youth in my branch back "home" in Maine and I was privileged to be able to get to know him as I served in the Young Women's and also as we were good friends with his family.


In fact, this past weekend we went down to Utah intending on attending the reception of his sister's wedding that took place on Friday, June 26th. If we had been able to attend we would have seen Clayton along with his entire family.

After the reception the family went to Clayton's grandparent's cabin to spend their last few days in Utah prior to returning home. It was there that Clayton was exposed and poisoned unknowingly by Carbon Monoxide. He died suddenly on Sunday evening and rescue teams were unable to revive him.

I just can't believe how truly fragile life is and how we need to guard each precious moment. We were driving home from Utah when all of this happened.

I am thankful that I have the gospel of Jesus Christ in my life to give me comfort and understanding. I am thankful that I know that families are forever and that someday the Thomas family will be able to reunite with their son/brother.

From the words of his obituary in the Salt Lake City Tribune:

"Clayton was a cheerful and optimistic young man who absolutely loved life and people. He was kind to all and loved being around his family and friends. He was a natural peacemaker. Clayton was an Eagle Scout and an active member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He had a passion for music - singing, playing piano and drums. He loved being in theater and performed in many high school plays and musicals. He loved sports - playing soccer, running track, wake-boarding and snowboarding. Clayton recently said he loved being busy because it kept him focused on what was important. And what was most important to him was his testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ; he looked forward to serving a full time mission."

He had a smile that could melt anyone's heart and a spirit full of happiness. He may not be able to continue his life here on this earth and serve a mission as he had dreamed but I know that he is now on a mission for the Lord in Heaven.

"Clayton is survived by parents and grandparents as well as four brothers, Tyler, Dallin, Tanner, Aaron, a sister, Whitney Lewis, and her husband Ryan whose marriage took place only the day before this tragedy. Clayton is also survived by many aunts, uncles and cousins who love him dearly. Clayton will always be our gee-whiz, all American boy - we love you Clayton!"


My heart goes out to the Thomases and all of the family and friends. May God be with you and bless you during this terrible tragedy.

New Items on Tag-a-Longs (My site of homemade children and baby items!!!)

I have finally (almost) finished all of my projects!!! I am offering a couple of new items and some new designs for my taggy blankies so feel free to check it out and pass the word along to your friends!!!

Watch for continuing new items and designs!!!

A few examples:

Taggy:

"Eye"-Spy Pillow:

Little Girl's Apron:

P.S. Any "constructive" critism is welcomed...feedback on what you'd like to see, prices, etc.

Some things we are loving about living here...

There are so many things that I am really enjoying about living here!!! One of the things is playgroup!!! The moms and babies/kids get together every day and play at the pool or playground. It's been so much fun for me and my kids! Here's a picture of some of the babies!

Playgroup

Even Olivia has her own social circle!!! (and these aren't even all of the babies here!) L-R: Olivia, Jace, Maylie, Carter, Finn and Bryce (not pictured: McKay, Grace, Olivia G.)

KIDS L-R: Annie, Brady, Zach, Joshua, Addison
(Kids not pictured: Colin, Cooper, Sam, Erik and Chase)
My friends (MOMS)
L-R: Me, Jenna, Nicole, Tiffany, Valerie, Megan, Candice
(Moms not pictured: Aubrey, Hayley, Jenny, McKenzie, Giselle, and Charlotte)

Brady with Colin and Joshua

The Clubhouse

The clubhouse is AWESOME and boasts an indoor mail area complete with a postal drop-box, soda machine and "black box" DVD rental! There's also an industrial laundry mat (but we have our own washer/dryer in our apartment, a fully-equipped fitness center, a large lobby area with a fireplace and couches, a pool table, bathrooms, and an outdoor BBQ and picnic area!!!

The Pool Table:

Fitness Center:




There's also a really nice pool and spa along with covered areas with fans and chaise lounges and even a small putting green!!! Chris brought Brady to D.I. and bought him his very own putter so they can golf together! It's so cute!

They finally opened the pool and we've been having a blast swimming almost every day!!!

The hot tub is open year round so we've been enjoying that often as well!!

I thought these pictures of Brady were hilarious!!!

SHARK ATTACK!!!!

Even Olivia kicks back and relaxes!!!

Daddy loves coming home from work on hot evenings and taking Brady swimming after dinner!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE our apartment complex!!!

Grocery Shopping

On Father's Day we got a kick out of watching Brady and Olivia "grocery shop" at Grammie and Grandpa Graf's house! Brady said that he had 11 kids and he proceeded to clean out the cupboards!!!

When Olivia saw Brady's full cart she wanted to push that one!!! It was so cute watching them play together and seeing Olivia pushing the cart all over the place (she's walking now!!!!)

What a good Daddy he will be some day!!!

Some Random Pictures

I never did a post about our Memorial Day Weekend Camping "Adventure" but basically what happened was we went camping with my cousin Abe and his family at Thousand Springs resort and there was a "college crew" there that had their music blaring the whole weekend and they were basically having a glorified weekend keg party. Rough language and music, rudeness, fighting, drunken disorderlyness and drunk driving of their boats at 2 a.m. etc. made it so we had to leave the campground and drive 45 mins. home at about 2:30 in the morning. Needless to say we went and got our money back and we're not going camping there ever again!!!



Here's a few pictures from the good moments of the weekend:

Grandpa and Grammie Graf took Brady fishing on the Snake River and then dropped him off at our camp-site. Our site was beautiful and overlooked the Thousand Springs (you can see one of them in the background). Livy was fascinated with the grass and all of the sticks, twigs and leaves!

We went and saw the "Idaho Alligators" which are raised at a local fish farm here. This big guy was obviously dead as he was bloated and covered in flies- pretty nasty!!!

Cafe Rio Opened!!!!

This post is for you Nickie!!! We LOVE Cafe Rio (especially their Pork Barbacoa Salad and their Fire-grilled steak or chicken). I can make a pretty great meal using some mock recipes I got off of the internet but there's nothing like the real thing!!! And what's better than that? Chris often has to do corporate lunches so he gets his frequent diner card punched A LOT which gets me a FREE MEAL!!!! Yay!

Livy thought the tortilla was THE BEST!!!

Another cute pic of Miss Livy eating! No picky eating for her!

My funny loaf of bread (I accidentally doubled the water and flour but not the rest of the ingredients....it still tasted great but it was huge and very very dense!!! It made for some crazy BLT sandwiches for dinner one night that we ended up having to eat with a fork!)

* * *

And last of all...Olivia was sick for about a week and so Big Brother snuggeled with her on the chair while they watched cartoons to make her feel better...can't get cuter than that!

To some GREAT Dads!!!

Happy Father's Day!!!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Chris and I are both so lucky to have wonderful Father's who have truly blessed our lives in many ways!!!

I missed my dad a lot yesterday as we are far apart so I posted this picture of him and Brady from 1 year ago!!!

We went in with Uncle Andrew on a new step-ladder for Grandpa Morgan and Brady helped me make these cards and colored a picture to send to Grandpa in the mail

TO OUR DADDY:

"You're the best in the world!"

(That's what Brady always tells Chris!)

I am also so blessed to have a wonderful husband who is also a good father to his two beautiful children! He is loving and funny and always makes the kids laugh! They love you so much Daddy!

We kicked off our Father's Day weekend with a special Salmon dinner that I made for Chris on Saturday night:

Then on Sunday morning I suprised Chris with breakfast:


(a hot breakfast wouldn't be complete in our house without some
Frank's hot sauce and ketchup!!!)

* * *



After breakfast and cleaning up I gave Chris and Brady haircuts and then we did some quiet activities before getting ready for church. Brady and I made cards while Daddy and Livy rested and Chris went over his lesson (he teaches Elder's Quorum and we both teach Sunbeams!!!)

After church we headed on down to Burley to have dinner and an evening with Chris' family. Chris' Dad, Dan had a wonderful and sentimental time opening his cards and gifts from his kids! It's always touching to see a Dad when he's emotional! It's been really nice being close to Chris' family again even though it's been hard for me to now be apart from my family.

* * *

Dad Graf opening his gifts:


He recieved a special package in the mail from little niece Lexi in Philadelphia (Chris' sister Nickie's daughter) Grandpa got lots of handprint art between the three grandkids!!!







From Mom Graf and Shawnae and Chels he got a grill basket, some cologne and these "sauve" swim shorts!!! He'll be the coolest Grandpa around!




Then Brady gave Grandpa a great big kiss and a picture he colored and his card that he helped make:

I did a combined "Father/Son" gift for Dad and Dan:

the Ultimate Movie-goers Kit including tickets to go see the new Terminator movie (although I accidentally wrote Transformers! LOL!)

So this Tuesday night they are all going to come up to our place and us girl's are going to have a "Girl's Night In" while the guys have a "Guy's Night Out!"

* * *

I also gave Chris some new shirts and a belt for work as he was DESPERATELY in need of these!!! All of his white shirts had small rips in either the elbows or armpits!!! He was down to only three white shirts and they also all had some pen stains in the pockets (no more twisty pens!) He wears his shirts out fast since he wears them everyday and often helps out his car preps with prepping the cars before rental.

4 new white shirts, a reversable belt and 2 new blue shirts

(a new color he can wear at work!!! YAY!!!)

We love our Dads everywhere!!! (and our Grandpas and Papas too!!!)

Thanks for being such wonderful men that we can look up to and love!!!

Catching up...scroll down to see several new posts

Back in May we went on a picnic to Shoshone Falls with some of our new friends, the Wells in our ward/apartment complex. It's been really fun getting to know new people and I hope Nicole doesn't get sick of me because she sees me everyday (several times a day!)

We were lucky to catch the falls still full, although they were so full a few weeks before that you could hardly see the falls because of all of the mist!


Brady and Annie are really cute friends and Brady tells me that Annie is his girlfriend! They hold hands and give eachother hugs and kisses (on the cheeks) but they also fight like an old married couple!

Ryan and Chris have "bonded" because they are both sport's fanatics...I guess that's all that really matters in a man's world!

And just a funny little thing...the first time Olivia saw Ryan she looked up at him with the most confused look on her face and started crying. I think she thought that he was Chris and was wondering why he wasn't talking to her or picking her up! Ryan and Chris are both the same height with dark brown/black hair and Ryan was wearing a suit (which Chris wears everyday for work).

The Wells Family:

Nicole, Annie and Ryan

I caught this funny picture when they were telling a story!

Annie with her precious chocolatey pudding smile!!!

The Snake River Canyon

Some beautiful spring blossoms

Brady and Annie held hands all around the park and had lots of fun blowing dandelions!

Miss Livy

10 MONTHS!!!!

Olivia is growing by leaps and bounds!!!

Just recently she has become quite the adventurous type and I find her in all sorts of places...

This is her favorite hide-out (under the table and chairs)

I think she likes it so much because she eats all of the crumbs under the table (YUCK!)

There's nothing better than sitting IN the toy box!!!

I tried to get her out of there several times thinking that all of those pokey toys wouldn't feel good on her tush but she insisted on climbing back in! So then I put the lid on the box and...

Then she got ON the toy box!!!

And ON the Lego box...

And IN the Lego box!!!

And this was the latest adventure- I guess I have a climber on my hands!!!

Climbing UP the bunkbed ladder!!!

(yeah, that got taken down quick, fast and in a hurry!)

May I remind you....she's only 10 months!!!!

Other than being a little dare devil Olivia is also a sweetie pie and I can always get the biggest smiles out of her!

She has the cutest teeth (5 in all!) and the biggest "blueberry eyes!"

Here she is happy to go for our daily walk!

These are some cute pics that my friend, Aubrey took of Olivia with her new Nikon D60

(yeah, I'm coveting!!!)

These pictures crack me up because this is Olivia's new scowly face!!!

(I used to make the same face...but I won't tell you how old I was!..well, sometimes I still do!)

She's a big girl who has:

• taken 4 steps (and tries to walk all of the time)
• holds her own bottle
• loves to swim around with mommy in the pool
• loves to take tubbies
• can say Mamma, Dadda, ice, stop, and ball
• shrieks and laughs when ever she's happy
• loves playing chase with big brother Brady
• eats any all all food given to her (yeah, maybe she won't be a picky eater!)
• melts everyone's heart!!!

Here she is sleeping on the floor with her hand in the honey pot that daddy had just given her to play with!!!

She loves to crawl on the grass and explore!!! Brady hated the feeling of grass when he was a baby so he would never crawl around on it. I can't get Olivia to sit still when we're outside...she has too much to discover!!!

And she loves to swing!!!

Bye-bye cute girl!!!

Brady - 4 1/2

My Brady Boy has grown up quite a bit since we've moved back to Idaho:

• has his own friends who he LOVES to play with
• goes to preschool
• has his own bedroom (he shared wil Livy) and a bunk bed
• knows how to dress himself completely, including buttons and zippers
• washes himself in the tub
• clears his food and dishes from off of the table and puts them in the sink
• takes his dirty laundry to the laundry room
• helps mommy by playing with his little sister and being a great big brother!

He also has quite the imagination and is always creating "inventions" and making odd use of his toys- I walked into the livingroom and found poor Mike (from Monster's Inc.) handcuffed to the entertainment center! I guess he was in time out!!!

Give Brady anything unusual to play with and he's a happy camper!



Buttons and miscellaneous JUNK can keep him busy for hours!! In fact, he has a TREASURE COLLECTION of odds and ends that he finds ANYWHERE and EVERYHWHERE!!! Some of these little treasures include erasers, flowers (that are now dead), beads, buttons, scraps of paper, the little x's that are used in tiling projects (he's found them all over the place in the apartment complex) etc.

He keeps all of these treasures in a "special drawer" in his room which I periodically sort through and dispose of without his knowledge!!!

We went shopping yesterday and any little piece of trash (I'm not kidding!) he wanted to stuff in his pocket and take home!!!

Brady LOVES to watch cooking shows with me and we usually watch 1 or 2 a day whenever I'm rocking Olivia to sleep for her nap. We watch Robin Miller's "Quick Fix Meals" and his favorite is Guy Fieri of "Guy's Big Bite." Whenever I'm cooking dinner Brady is always asking me if I'm using the "Olivey Oil because that's Guy's favorite!"

He likes to help me cook whenever he can- and as you can see he often gets very anxious to lick the spoon!

Brady is a thirsty boy too- he is ALWAYS drinking TONS of water!!! (Good job!!!) I think he must be a camel or something! One day we were driving and he was really thristy but had already drank all of his water in his water bottle. Well, I had this gallon of water in the back seat so I let him have at it!!! (CHUG, CHUG, CHUG!!!)

He's a GREAT BOY with LOADS of energy!!!

As many of you know, Chris and I though about opening our own Home Furniture and Decor Consignment store a few months ago but decided that with two young kids and minimal funds now would not be a wise time...maybe someday....

I began a blog siting all of the decor that I'd accumulate and was able to sell several things online that way. There is actually a new decor and home-made craft store opening here in Twin Falls so I was able to finally clean out our bedroom and consign all of the rest of the decor- so that blog is no longer in existance!

On to NEW things!

A friend of mine here in Twin Falls is an educational consultant with Usborne Books and we began talking about it one day, I hosted a home show for her and then decided that I liked the business opportunity and how it was so different from other direct marketing companies that I'd heard of or been a part of before.

I loved the books immediately because they are so well-made and fun for kids (and their parents) to read. They have a huge variety of books and subjects that Brady loves like cowboys, pirates, sticker books, dual readers, and game books full of things that kids have to find within the pages. There are also encyclopedias with links to the internet and even homeschool curiculums. No suprise that their books are so good- Usborne is the #1 Educational Book Company in the World!!!

Here are some other reasons why I like Usborne:

• Work with schools doing book fairs, events, daycares, preschools etc.
• We have a Grant Matching program for schools who are able to get grants for books we can match that grant up to 50% (and there is no limit!)
• We have a Reach for the Stars Reading Program and incentives to help promote literacy among children
• There are NO monthly minimums that I, as a consultant, have to meet
• There are no yearly membership fees; only a one-time consultant kit which I got over $400 in books for only $89 plus tax and shipping!!!
• You get to build your own personal library as you earn FREE books and 1/2 price books
• You get to build a sustainable business that will eventually allow you to be paid for the work that others on your team do as well as your own!
• Money in your pocket! I earn 25% in commission on all orders, 17% on fairs; and the comission grows as your business grows!

I am beginning my business with Usborne and was able to do a 2-day booth at the Western Days fair here in Twin with my friend, Nicole. We were able to book several home shows each and get lots of contacts and I'm excited to get involved and begin building my business.

For anyone who is interested in more information please email me: h.m.graf@hotmail.com

or you can visit my website: http://www.myusbornelibrary.com/

Because I am a new Educational Consultant I have a special 12-week incentive period (mine ends July 31) which allows me to:

• offer DOUBLE FREE BOOKS to hostesses
• I can offer 2 people the start-up consultant kit, a value of over $350 for only $99.50

CONGRATULATIONS GRADUATE 2009!!!!

Here's our GORGEOUS graduate!!!!

Shawnae Graf

One of Chris' younger sisters graduated on May 20, 2009 and we had the privilege of attending the ceremonies (without kids!!!) It was nice to be able to be there to support her and all of her hard work!!! (More pictures to come another time....)

singing the National Anthem

Returning after receiving her diploma

Once graduation was completed the graduating class threw confetti and sprayed silly string everywhere!!! It created quite the mess....

Coming home for the first time as a graduate!!! YEAH!!!!

We PARTIED out at Chris' parents house after with his mom, dad, sisters, Grandma Jones, and his Aunt Brenda and Uncle Mike. We all ate pizza, ice cream and chocolate cake until we pretty much couldn't move (that didn't help my effort to lose weight at all!!!)

Then we suprised Shawnae with some gifts...

This was a group gift from me and my sister-in-laws Nickie (who couldn't be there as she lives in PHILLY but we know you were there in heart) and also Chelsae

We got her all of her bedding and towels for college...

Some beautiful new towels in her favorite colors

and I made these pillows to match the bedding we bought

Finally...our Anniversary meanderings...

We began our weekend by dropping the kids off at Chris' folks house and then going out to eat to the Chinese Buffet down the road (I know, lame lame lame...anyhow we shouldn't have bothered because the food all tasted the same and totally wasn't worth it. Oh well, you live and learn!)

Then we headed back to Twin Falls and grabbed some of Chris' favorite snack (Peanut Butter M&Ms at Target) along with some pillows and some other snacks from our house and headed over to the DRIVE-IN!!!! Chris and I hadn't been to a drive-in since one of our first dates so that was a lot of fun! We played good old SKIP-BO while we waited for the movies to begin. First we saw WOLVERINE and then 12 ROUNDS, both great shows!!!

The next day:

After a leisurely morning of sleeping in (and being suprised with breakfast in bed by Chris) we decided to get in the car and start driving! Our first stop was in the countryside outside of Wendell, Idaho (about a 20-30 minute drive from our house)

BOX CANYON PRESERVE:

When we got there (after missing the parking lot and turning around)

we followed a mile long path down through fields...

tumbleweeds...yup, we're still in Idaho!

as you can see it looks pretty boring....

and then we saw this:

For those of you who may have trouble reading this sign it says:

DANGEROUS CANYON RIM

USE EXTREME CAUTION

PARENTS PLEASE CONTROL YOUR CHILDREN

Chris and I got a good laugh out of that and then after walking a few

more yards we came upon this:

That's a canyon....out of the middle of nowhere...and it's a long way to the bottom! I was reminded that Chris is deathly afraid of heights as he wouldn't even go near the edge and freaked out every time I stepped an inch closer to take a picture!!!


The blue water is natural hot springs and the reason why it's so clear is because the water bubbles up from underneath the ground (they are called blue hidden springs)

The water was so pretty and made such a beautiful noise- it was hard to believe that just seconds before we'd been strolling down an old dirt road

And then, back to the sagebrush for our walk back to the road...

Along the way I decided to take some pictures of the old pivots in the fields. I really love photography and especially capturing graphic images that you don't see by just looking at an object normally. I try to capture with the lens the details of what actually makes something what it is...what I wouldn't give for a Nikon D60!!! (hint, hint!?!?)

Since I'm a COWGIRL WANNABE and a JOHN DEERE fan

I thought these pics came out pretty cool...

And then we went to BUHL....

(all I could think of was "Buehler, Buehler..." when the teacher from "Ferris Buehler's Day Off" was taking attendance!)

Along the way I made some friends and they let me take their picture...

Once we got to BUHL there wasn't much to see and not many options for lunch and since Chris was "STARVING" he ate at Arctic Circle while I tried some Mexican Food from Senor Habaneros (I should have had the burger and fries!)

...

From there we drove WAY out into the "Williwacks" as we say in Maine...just to see the "Famous" BALANCE ROCK

There "she" is in "all her glory" sitting alongside some old forgotten

highway in the MIDDLE OF NO WHERE!

They hardly had a sign marking her existence!

Reportedly this beauty "balances" on a width of only 3 feet...something like that....

... another trek and up the hill we went...I told Chris that I was going to go to the top and have him take a picture of me standing beneath it- he couldn't let me show him and his fear of heights up so he made the daring climb of death to have his picture taken as well (it only took him a half hour sliding down on his bum and holding on for dear life to get down!)

.

I made it down in about 5 seconds!

Chris facing "the enemy" as he prepared to climb to the top

I occupied myself with picture snapping while he made his arduous climb

And here he is, at the "Top"...I feel okay that I'm slightly teasing him about his fear of heights and his wussy attempt to face his fear because he has tortured me over the last 7 years by making me watch scary movies with him (I have an over-active imagination, which paired with scary movies doesn't mix well with me when I often wake up during the night and can't sleep...)

...Anyways, I climbed to the top next and took a picture of "the view"

That's me, under the rock...I was hoping for a close-up but I guess I wasn't specific enough

when I asked Chris to click a picture...

After we got back down to the car we drove into a little park down the road that has some picnic areas. I almost killed myself while scaling a smooth-faced rock just to get this pic

On the way back into "civilization" we passed by this AWESOMELY PERFECT VINTAGE FORDand Chris was nice enough to oblige and pull over so I could spend the next 15 minutes walking around someone's front yard clicking pictures.

Here's some of the coolest ones...

This wheel was actually on the back left wheel of the truck!

The truck had obviously been "patched up a little" since the front half was FORD and the back half was an INTERNATIONAL truck bed...I've always wanted a INTERNATIONAL SCOUT (and a VW BUS!!!)

As we drove out of BUHL towards the HAGERMAN Valley we were followed by a beautiful wide rainbow (this was the best shot I could get as we were going about 65 mph)

THOUSAND SPINGS, HAGERMAN:

Back before this area of the Snake River had a power plant which has diverted a lot of the natural springs there were literally thousands of springs that spouted out of the rock walls of the canyon. Today there are still several large springs cascading down the rock:

We drove all around Hagerman and saw some pretty reservoirs and a few interesting sights.

Hagerman is actually the site where they discovered the "Hagerman Horse" which is in the Smithsonian-

We also went to Devil's Washbasin to see this waterfall that is unfortunately hidden from view along the highway because the Interstate goes right over it (wouldn't you think that they could have moved the road over a few hundred feet?!)

Because the river is so narrow between the canyon walls right here is creates a lot of force when the water is finally squeezed down through the waterfall (hence the name Devil's Washbasin)

We ended our wonderful weekend together by eating some delicious "steak nuggets" (small pieces of very tender and juicy steak) at The Montana Steakhouse right around the corner from where we live. The food was delicious but they really should hire a different interior decorator!

...

Then we went home and TRIED to rent a nice sappy love story to watch but couldn't find anything from the "Black Box" in our lobby so we ended up watching the Will Smith movie, "SEVEN POUNDS" which was good but SLOW and somewhat DEPRESSING!

Oh well, off to bed for another wonderful night's rest and a morning of sleeping in!!!

...

(Thanks mom and dad Graf for watching the kiddos!!!)

The Daily Musings of Brady Graf

BRADY: (said randomly when on a walk) "Mommy, if you put lettuce in my chocolate cake that would be disgusting! Eck!"


BRADY: (on the same walk, and also randomly) "I don't want to go on this long walk anymore!)
MOMMY: "Well, mommy needs to burn more calories so I can lose weight so we have to go on this walk!"
BRADY: "Well, I'll keep my calories then!"


BRADY: "Mommy, do you have a baby in your tummy?"
MOMMY: "No, why do you ask?"
BRADY: "Because your tummy is fat like it has a baby!"
MOMMY: "Well, that's not a very nice things to say" (and thinking to myself...."I need to go on even longer walks!")


OLIVIA: "bjbjsjahuryhuhkjnmnvfj...hehe"
(I thought I'd throw that in there because she is very observant, smiley and happy. When Brady and I are talking she laughs at everything Brady says!"

BOTH my sites....PRICES DROPPED!!!

Hey everyone-

I wanted to let you know that I dropped a bunch of the prices at my site:

Little Treasures

and I lowered my Taggy Blankies from $22 to $18 and also now offer custom matching/co-ordinating burp cloths in a pack of 4 for $12!!! Shipping is flat rate $3

So if you're having a baby or need a great baby gift check out my site:

TaG-a-LoNgS

Also...be watching for my post about my ETSY shop (still in the process)

PLEASE tell all of your friends and link to my blog- just a SAHM trying to make something on the side!!!! (and let me know if you have any side "pursuits" for sale so I can tell all my friends!)

6 Years...

Chris and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary on May 2nd. We had a nice relaxing weekend staying at home and were so thankful to Chris' parents for watching the kids for the weekend! It was so strange to be at home without them but we caught up on some "Zzzzz's" and got to "explore" southeast Idaho a little. (More about that in the next post!)

Here's to the last six years!!!

No "Love at FIRST sight!"
We met at BYU-Idaho in our sophmore year. My roommate and I had been friends the previous year and were eager to go to church and "check out" the guys in our Ward. We were a little dissapointed when we got there because we soon realized that there were only a handful of guys that were Returned Missionaries! We saw Chris and his roommate, Ryan walk in and Michelle (my roommate) and I both called "dibs" on Ryan! Michelle, said "No way!" That I should "Take the tall guy" (referring to Chris), but I said "He's way too tall!!!" So then we joked around a bit more and figured that we were just destined to go on missions...

Encounter #2: Later that evening...we got split up into Family Home Evening Groups within our Ward and believe it or not we got paired with Chris' apartment! (There were many apartments so this was a pretty lucky draw!) I talked to Chris that night breifly as we made plans as a group to go have a bonfire the following evening at the sand dunes...

Encounter #3: In the Smith Building on Monday afternoon...I saw Chris as we were walking through the hallway. I smiled and said hi as he walked by (figuring that he's remember me from talking with him the night before). He just looked at me and kept walking...I thought, "Jerk!" So I went home and proceeded to tell my roommate Michelle how I wasn't going to FHE that night because our guys were a bunch of jerks anyways! She tried to convince me to go but I decided to just go to the opening prayer at our neighbors house and then stay home and do homework...

Encounter #4: Opening prayer for FHE: (This is when Chris "claims" he first saw me and felt "Love at FIRST sight!" Hahahahaha...anyhow, we had prayer and as I was going to the door to go home Chris turned around and asked if I wanted to drive with them. I thought, "Well, okay, at least he can't be that much of a jerk if he's being so nice...well as they say...the rest is HISTORY!!! Chris and I talked the entire night and never left eachother's side. He roasted me marshmallows, I told him all about Maine and he asked me out for the following evening!

Our First date was dinner and a movie and he successfully held my hand and a kiss!!! After that we were together every day after school and whenever he wasn't working or we weren't studying! It was a whirlwind "romance" as we got engaged only after 5 weeks of dating!!! It seems so crazy and incredible now but at the time it felt like I'd known him forever and that everything just settled into place. We did have some tough, confusing emotions through it all but we survived a 6 1/2 month engagement and here we are now!!!

Our First (and last!) Dance- Homecoming 2002- after only 1 week of dating...

Being crazy one afternoon...I think maybe we were bored?! Chris put my clothes on and I put on his!!! He barely squeezed into mine and his were falling off of me!!! Those pants that Chris is wearing came all the way down to my ankles!!!



Then comes marriage...

May 2nd, 2003 Logan Temple

And many good times since...

Rodizio's Chuhascarria

1st Anniversary

On our FIRST anniversary we went down to Logan for Chris' sister, Nickie's wedding (They got married 1 year and 1 week after we did!) and we had a wonderful time with them. Not only that but we also came back with the most memorable anniversary present that we opened 9 months later...our little Brady boy!!!

SECOND anniversary -trip to Montana to hike, eat out and of course visit family

THIRD anniversary- early trip to San Antonio and then during driving cross-country to Maine!!!

FOURTH anniversary- Philadelphia to visit Nick and Nickie and plenty of walks along the beach

FIFTH anniversary- expecting Baby #2, our sweet Olivia- we went to a new Brazlian chuhascarria and on a "cruise" to the Isle of Shoals with Chris company- really it was a nice boat ride into the bay with a dinner and we got to stay in a hotel for the weekend!

SIXTH anniversary- stayed home and relaxed!!!

What's happend during 6 years?

• We both graduated with our Bachelor's from BYU-Idaho
• We've held a total of 13 jobs between the two of us
• Moved 10 times, but lived in 4 cities!!!
• 2 cross-country moves (with kids!)
• owned 4 cars
• had 2 kids
• gained AND LOST ...and gained a lot of weight!
• been to 19 states
• held 10 callings between the two of us
• had lots of UPS, DOWNS and ALL AROUNDS and come through it all stronger, happier and still holding hands!!!

Love you Babe!

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

Finally....pictures of our new apartment!!!

I've been having a lot of fun decorating my apartment with things I've found here and there and things I've been making. I'll show the kid's room first because this is the room that I'm most proud of!!! I think their room turned out so cute for a little boy and girl to share!!!

The Kid's Room:

It hasn't changed too much since I posted pictures when we were living in Boise and it was just Brady's cowboy room.

The biggest changes are that I had to make all of Olivia's bedding and include her in the room by making it somewhat "girly."

My mom gave me the three stars above the window and at first I didn't know where I was going to put them so I was just holding them and walking around my house aimlessly looking at places where they might look good.

When I walked into the kid's room it just clicked that they would be so perfect up there and I think they totally bring the look together! (Thanks Mom!)

As you walk into the room this picture is the first thing that you see. My mom found the frame and the sign at D.I. (yeah, we heart D.I.!) She also took this cute picture of the kids and I made this matte, if you will, with a red bandana and hot-glued it to the frame.

Rustic and cute for $1.50!

As you look to the left these pictures are hanging on the wall in

the empty space before Olivia's crib.

I've been wanting to make some sihlouettes of the kids for quite some time now and got an idea off of a cute blog the other day to use scrap-book paper and embellishments. I thought it would be a cute way of making the room both of theirs.

I've tried putting little touches here and there that include Olivia and make it her room too!

I found these frames at where else, the D.I. for $1.50 a piece
and I already had all of the other materials.

To hang the pictures I just stapled some bandana strips onto the backs of the frames.

The sihlouettes themselves were very easy to make. I just took a picture of each of my kid's profiles (the hardest part!). I had Brady look up slightly so his sihlouette is looking up at Olivia's and for Olivia I was just lucky to get her to sit still and look in the right direction!!!

Then I uploaded the pictures onto my camera from my picture card and copied them to a Word Document where I opened the picture toolbar and made the picture into a black and white outline and cropped the picture to elimate printing extra ink that wasn't necessary to print.

Then I just printed and cut out around the sihlouette, leaving space so I could do a detailed cut. I then put the sihlouette on the paper that I wanted to use and cut through both papers at the same time along the sihlouette to get the outline. Easy!!!

(TIP: when taking the picture have their profile fill up your screen,leaving as little around the edges as possible. Then when you're editing the picture you can make it whatever size you'd like)

Olivia's picture has a red polka-dot background but for some reason it looks pink in this picture (must be the flash).

Underneath their sihlouette I put the words that describe what their name means.

Brady's bed:




Olivia's Bed:

I feel really proud of myself for making Olivia's bedding!!! I didn't know if I could actually pull it off but I decided to do it and just winged it and it came out so adorable!!! I wanted to make it really nice so that when the next little boy "GRAFFER" decides to come along he can use it(since he will share a room with Brady, and hopefully Olivia will have a girly room!)

Here's what I did: I bought 2 denim curtain panels from the D.I. for $2.00!!! They already had the ties on the top so I instantly knew that I wanted to cover Olivia's bumper with them. I then bought some really cute dark brown material with white swiss polka dots (really small polka dots on them). The denim is on the outside and the brown is on the inside.

I also used the denim remnants to make a box-pleated skirt for around the crib. All of this cost me $11, which I think is really awesome because I'd been pricing out bumpers and crib skirts for weeks and the cheapest ones I could find that were cute would have come to a total of over $36.00!!!

Plus, it feels really great when you know that you made something all by yourself!

For the two pillows: I took 2 blue bandanas (yup, from D.I., a quarter a piece and sewed the edges and then covered a pillow form and tied the corners together. The other pillow I slip-covered one of my old couch pillows with some faux-cowhide fur.

I used one of Brady's top sheets as her crib sheet and just tucked it under
the matress using "hospital corners."

This is Olivia's mobile and I'm really proud of this too!!! I had the vision in my head and I think it came out cute (just don't look too close!!!)

I had bought her a mobile for her other room so I just looked at how they constructed it and then winged it again. It was actually pretty easy and I used up some of my remnants so it was FREE!!!

I still need to make Olivia some of her name letters that I'll hang over her crib. That's my last project for their room and then I'm done!

Eventually I'd like to make them a retro kitchen to go along with the vintage stove that I inherited from my Great-grandmother.

Here's the miscellanous parts of their room:

Brady's Nightstand:

I made the lampshade (still need to add some fringe to the bottom),found the stacking star boxes at a yard sale for $4 and I've had the frame since I was a teen. I'm going to change the picture out eventually.

Brady's "library:"

Where he also displays his super cool Teepee tents that I got at a used children's store in Maine for $2.00!!!

He also likes his football goal posts that he found with Daddy at D.I. for 50 cents!!!

Olivia's Dresser:

We use her changing table as a dresser and a place to store diapers and wet ones. Above the dresser we keep the baby books and on the hanging shelf (which one of my brother's made) hangs Brady's cowboy hat, his Quarter collection, and his nature box.

Onto to the rest of the house!!!!

The Livingroom:

This is basically the first thing you see as you walk into our apartment(but from an angle as the door is to the left of this).

This small wall seperates the diningroom from the kitchen and the other half of the room is the livingroom.

I made these curtains and the ones in the background on our "buffet tables" to hide books and our DVD collection. It was really easy and I just attached them with spring rods, which are adjustable to the space.

I also re-made these livingroom curtains by using leftover material to add to the bottom and top of the curtain panels I already had.

I made the large pillow, got the smaller tan one from D.I. for $1 and the other two red ones from Wal-Mart on sale for $9.99 each(they're silk so that was a good deal!)

We have a small balcony off of the livingroom with sliding glass doors. It's nice because we can see the Perinne Bridge from our apartment. I'm planning on having some herbs, tomatoes and flowers out there this summer.

Now we just have to figure out what to do with all of our strollers!!! We have the bike trailer in the diningroom, the double jogger in the entryway and the single stoller on the balcony along with Chris' bike! I'm going to be getting a bike soon too...we may just have to get a storage unit here in our complex!

The Kitchen:

I really love our little kitchen. It's really cute and has just enough space for right now-keeping me happy until I can have a nice big kitchen with tons of counter and cupboard space someday!

The Diningroom:

Our trusty table made another cross-country move with us! I picked up these two pressboard paintings at a yard sale, total: $20! (great deal considering they still had the $30 tags on them from Home Goods!)

This is a little "vingette," if you will that I composed of yard sale finds and
clearance items at Wal-Mart!!! Total cost was $18 for EVERYTHING!!!

The Hallway:

I am still in progress with finishing my family gallery in the hallway
(I have some pictures ordered and still need a few more frames...)but I love how this came out! I have pictures from our childhood, our wedding,our seperate families and our little family.

Most of the pictures are in sepia tone but there are a few in color too,which I think makes it have some interest.

Our Bedroom:

I really love our bedroom because it's big and bright and ALL OURS!!! It's so nice having a room to ourselves again and not having children in with us! It has really helped me to sleep better at night.

We also have an AWESOME walk-in-closet and vanity/dressing area which I really love too!

This is our brand-new bed!!! Isn't it lovely? I LOVE having a REAL bed for the first time!!!!

I set up our bench underneath of the windows and found these two matching
brand-new POTTERY BARN pillow slipcovers at D.I. for $2.00!!!

The Bathroom:

I took some western-style pictures that I had collected from calendars and my personal photography (cactus, Idaho wheat, Joshua trees etc.)and framed them using bamboo placemats as the background. I got all 4 placemats in a package at Target for $1...not bad for some interesting art!!!