December Daily Album

I'm so excited, I finally got creative (and brave) and decided to try to make my own "December Daily" album. After looking on Etsy for one, I decided I should just try to do it on my own. I'm so happy with the result and now I am totally motivated to participate in the December Daily project.

Here is the cover...

Here is the inside cover...

Here is the first page...

I cut scrapbook paper into 6" x 8.5" sizes and then printed the day and some journaling lines on the back white side. I will journal on the white side and put pictures or other memorabilia on the pattern side. I might also add some other fun papers in it. I hole punched three holes in each sheet and put the album together with binder rings.

Here is another page...

On this one I added a red envelope. I can put receipts or ticket stubs inside the envelopes.

And here is the last page...

A friend got me this stamp with my initials on it. I love it and haven't been able to use it much.

And the back of the album...

I say it's not so bad for my first handmade album. And now I'm super excited about recording all of our fun activities in December.

I got most of my supplies at Hobby Lobby. And all the Christmas stuff I got was half off!

Praying vs. Worrying

Ok, so today's message at church was just what I needed to hear. (Especially after my last post.) I obviously haven't had the best attitude about things lately and besides being a disappointment to my Savior, that isn't the kind of example I want to be to Hunter and Violet. Today's message at church today was about worrying vs. praying. I have been worrying and stressing instead of praying and releasing it all to God. I don't know why I do this because obviously there is nothing I can do to change things right now. Here are the notes that really touched me today...

PUSH = Pray Until Something Happens
"When we know Christ, not as a doctrine or a theory, but as Savior and Friend in our daily experience, we gain a confidence in Him which brings peace to our hearts. Jesus Christ does not thus become some magical wand which causes all our troubles to disappear. Rather, He enables us to face them with quietness, a calmness and confidence which make it possible to find a solution." -Ralph L. Keiper

I have been pushing God away and angry since we moved here. I don't know why, all God has done my whole life is blessed me. Why would I push him away? I need to come back to him and pray and talk to him about everything. He will take care of me, I know this.

And a hymn the pastor put in the notes was good too....

Sweet hour of prayer, sweet hour of prayer,

that calls me from a world of care,

And bids me at my Father's throne

make all my wants and wishes known;

In seasons of distress and grief

my soul has often found relief,

And oft escape the tempter's snare,

by thy return, sweet hour of prayer.

Beware, venting taking place...

I have a lot to be thankful for so I try not to complain, but the honest truth is, I HATE living in El Paso. Yeah, I said hate. Strong word but I really don't like living here. El Paso is part of Texas, but there is nothing Texas about this city. There are no cowboys walking around saying "y'all". Instead it's is a city full of people speaking Spanish, Chihuahua license plates, and spanish music blaring. And our little white family sticks out like a sore thumb here. Our kids are always the only blondes in their class, at school, at church, on the tball team, we just look like we don't belong. Cost of living is cheap? No. Groceries are so expensive here. The price of steak is outrageous. There is one "normal" grocery store here, Albertsons. Other than that my two options are Target and Walmart. It's just so weird for me to grocery shop at Target. There is no actual butcher counter so who knows where it comes from, how long it's been packaged, etc. Gas is cheap but I realized it's because they start with 86 grade. My car recommends 87 or higher. Isn't it unusual for the gas to start at 86? And is the town friendly? No. Our neighbors haven't said 2 words to us. Our trash man yelled at my father-in-law when we first moved in for putting too much trash out. People don't make small talk here, at the park or in line at a store. Just in the week I was visiting back at home I had more people be friendly and make small talk in that week then in the last 5 months of living here. Maybe it's because I don't speak Spanish. And they speak Spanish right in front of you even if they know you don't speak Spanish. In the hallways of Hunter's school all of the parents speak Spanish. The traffic here is horrible and the drivers are crazy! The city is ugly. Its desert and they don't try to make it look any different. Brian works just as many hours if not more than his old job that made double the pay and way more benefits, including vacation time. He technically has ZERO vacation time. I have no friends here, no family here, and I can't wait for the opportunity to move out of this town!!!! So when you ask me how I like it here, and I say, "I'm getting use to it." I really mean, I'm doing the best I can to survive here and not be miserable.

That being said, I really am thankful for how much God has blessed us. We have two wonderful, healthy, smart, beautiful, happy children. I have a great husband who strives to be the best husband, father and employee he can be. We have never gone a day without a meal or a roof over our heads. God provided this job in El Paso just when we needed it and were absolutely desperate. He had a reason for bringing us here. I do love the house we are renting. The school Hunter is attending seems to be a great school and he is learning so much. He has great teachers. I will just be happy to begin a new chapter of our lives somewhere else, just about anywhere else, when the time is right.

Memory Keeping

If you know me, you know I LOVE to take pictures. I also feel it's very important to share all those photos and memories. I share them on social sites but I also make books out of them. For the last few years I've used Shutterfly for this. I love their photo books. I can get them on sale and it is very affordable considering I didn't have to print any photos, buy an album and all of the scrapbooking papers and goodies, glue, etc. Plus I love that the kids or anyone for that matter can't take a photo out of the book and forget to return it. It will always stay in it's original form just the way I made it. And I can still be creative by using digital scrapbooking products that I can reuse over and over. I love Designer Digitals for this and Photoshop for putting it all together. Here is our 2010 book.

One thing I miss being able to do with the digital books is insert memorabilia like ticket stubs, postcards, receipts, etc. I lack creative ideas and time for putting layouts together on paper. One page could take me hours and I still wouldn't like it. However, I recently found Project Life. It is scrapbooking made simple! Photo pocket pages, cute journaling cards, and your photos. So simple yet it still looks cute and you can spend as little or as much time as you want on a page. It can be as simple as placing a few photos on a page and adding some words to the journal cards about the pictures or you can go all out. I love it! I've decided to do this for 2012. I probably will only do it for one year though because another reason why I love the Shutterfly photo books is because they are so easy to store and display. I always get the 8x8 book and it takes so little space. But, I think it will be fun to do something different next year and be able to include a little more.  This is Hunter's first year in school and our 10th year of marriage. It will be a good year to document a little more a little differently.

I can't wait for my grown kids to look back at their lives as children and remember all of the good memories and fun times we had as a family just loving each other and the everyday routine of life with little ones. Take your photos off of your camera and computer and make something for your kids to see when they are grown! :)