Family Pictures

We are lucky enough to have a very talented photographer (Dawn Sims from Yellow Dandelion Photography) in our ward. The Anderson clan has attempted to gather all 22 of us for a family picture and use her as the photographer but plans never seem to work out as well as we would hope. This week, Dawn and her cute little family are moving to Iowa. They will be missed! Anyways, Dawn contacted me a few weeks back, asking if I could make her some vinyl quotes for the walls in her new home. In exchange she would take some family pictures for us. The last family photo we had taken of us was over three years ago for Logan's grandmother. I am typically one that stays behind the camera because I feel camera's add 50lbs, not just 10lbs (which isn't true, I just don't like seeing myself). Reluctantly I said yes, and I even thought of canceling more than once but I went through with it. The pictures turned out way cute (minus the fact that it was hot, right after a rainstorm, super humid, and the mosquitos were eating me alive). This one is my favorite but below is a small slideshow of some of the photos (there is still some on Dawn's memory card that she forgot to send and are now on their way to Iowa...I will get them soon).

Yay!

I should be getting the books I previously blogged about in the mail today. I am so super excited to see the end results!!! I wish it was 5 o'clock already and I wish I could run home and check the mail. I am trying to be patient but it isn't working. On top of the three books I showed earlier I also made the following book:



I have a generic ABC 123 book I made (the first book I made from scratch, without a template) but when I saw a template for a Gospel ABC book I instantly knew that my future child(ren) needed one. Well, as most of you know by now, the child(ren) part isn't happening or hasn't happened yet, so I kept waiting to make this book. Then I heard that Heritage Makers was no longer making their board books and I still felt like my future child(ren) needed to have one. What a great cute way to start teaching them the gospel at a young age. So, I unpersonalized the book, changed from pictures of future children to pictures of the Savior, removed the names I have picked out for my future children that I put in the book (just hoping and dreaming), and made it as generic as possible so it could be enjoyed by either a boy or girl, young or old, etc. It turned out so well that I have had three other people ask for a copy of the book customized with their family pictures, etc.

Per the USPS website, my packages are out for delivery. So, I am trying to patiently wait for the end of the work day! ...it isn't working very well!

Scrapbooking galore

Three years ago this July, Logan and I went on an amazing trip through Yellowstone and ever since we got back I have been trying and trying to make a scrapbook. I printed pictures, papers, stickers, and tried to lay them all out to make a scrapbook. Finally four months ago I gave up on the idea of ever finishing that scrapbook (which only had maybe three completed pages) and started a scrapbook using Heritage Makers. I finished the book in April and you can see a preview here:

http://www.heritagemakers.com/projectBrowserStandAlone.cfm?projectID=1380383&productId=11&sponsorID=346919



My neice and nephew were both baptized over the past few months (one in March and the other May) and I took it upon myself to make books for them as their baptism gift from me. I realized it was a lot harder than I thought it would be trying to gather information from family members, recording and transcribing the talks given during their baptism, writing down everyone that attended, and taking lots and lots of pictures! I have finally finished both the books and I cannot wait to see the look on my neice and nephew's faces when they get their book.

http://www.heritagemakers.com/projectBrowserStandAlone.cfm?projectID=1795874&productId=5&sponsorID=346919



http://www.heritagemakers.com/projectBrowserStandAlone.cfm?projectID=1797942&productId=5&sponsorID=346919

Backyard Makeover

I have always wanted a nice flower garden with a swing, or hammock, or some type of chairs to make a relaxing retreat in my backyard. I dream of sitting outside reading books, feeling the breeze and sun on my face while the children play in the yard. As of right now I cannot have the children part (except for the dogs and they LOVE the yard) but since we now live in a house, I decided I was ready to start working toward that dream.

This is what our yard looked like shortly after we moved in. It is winter so pardon the dead grass. And the black thing you see is a fire pit.

I started by designing and deciding on where to put the flower beds.

Then I removed all the grass from those areas.Next came the flowers and mulch.

I am lucky enough to work at a construction office and have a large selection of rocks on property. I picked out a few and had someone load them into a truck for me. I think they look pretty good!

There are still some plants that need to be placed, so excuse the containers in the pictures, but you get the general idea. I think it makes a huge difference and didn't take that much work. We have enjoyed relaxing in the yard while the boys play. And we are excited about, and look forward to having barbeques with friends and family, and spending time in our beautiful backyard.

Kelsey's Kreations

I have recently become an open book of creativity and have created more things. With a mostly failed attempt in the hooter hider business I can't believe I am actually looking into selling something else. That would just be stupid, right?

Since I have become so into reading recently with things at work slowing down, allowing me to more time to read (and my husband stealing my cheap bookmark because he didn't have one), I decided I would make my own bookmark, or what I like to call book thong!!! And it turned out so cute I made myself a second one. I posted pictures on facebook of my book thongs and instantly got someone who was interested in purchasing two, YAHOO!!! Then a week later, five more sold. I also gave some to my family members hoping they would pass the word along and enjoy them at the same time. So I am selling them already, but I am so hesitant to go any further and get excited about selling them just to have the whole thing flop in a month. For those of you who don't know my husband lost his job in January. We have been trying to get by on my salary, which isn't enough to pay the bills but we have managed to get by. He finally got a job but it is only part time on weekends and still not enough money. Selling these could help with the income, but supplies cost so I don't want to get in to it and have stock sitting in my closet (I still have hooter hiders sitting in my closet waiting to be purchased) and lose that money. So I am asking my loyal followers (all 2 of you) your opinion. I thought about coming up with something about "Kelsey's Kreations" or "Kelsey's Krafty Kreations" and selling Book Thongs and Hooter Hiders, and anything else I come up with in the next little bit but I am seriously torn. So... sell or hobby? Try to promote, push the products, post, website, sell, etc., or just do it because I like them, if they sell they sell. What do you think?

Decorated???

I had a request to put up some pictures of the house decorated so here they are. Sorry for the mess, I took the pictures before making sure everything was cleaned and put away....but you get the idea!

Living room...
View from the kitchen.

Kitchen...

Office...
These are the bookshelves Logan made.
They are not finished being decorated but you get the idea.

Master Suite...

(Calling it a "suite" makes me feel super special!)

(The boys really wanted to be in the pictures!)

Guest bath...

Guest Room...

This is my work in progress room. Chelsey, the home owner, made it into a nursery before they moved and I decided it would be our nursery when we one day get a baby. I already have my nursery stuff picked out and will be a jungle theme (thus the stuffed animals). I am trying to incorporate jungle into an adult guest room so that it can easily be changed to a nursery in case we don't have a lot of notice about an adoptive baby, but I am struggling a bit on it. So, this is just thrown together for now.


There is your sneak peak into our new place. If you would like to see more, come on over!!! We LOVE having guests and visitors!

Long over due

Many people have wanted to ask but have yet to do so, except for the occasional few. I guess this post is at least a month over due. I have kept everyone waiting long enough. We did not get the baby as the mother decided to keep him, which is wonderful and great that she chose to do so. We are now trying to finish our home study and get all of our paperwork completed and then we wait for our special little one.

In the mean time, while waiting to be chosen to raise a beautiful baby I have managed to keep myself fairly busy. With work, school and a busy church calling I typically stay pretty busy but I decided to take on more, not necessarily all my choice though. Early to mid November we were presented an opportunity to help out some friends, and help ourselves at the same time, by renting their home that they have been unable to sell. So within a matter of a few days, we packed and moved into OUR FIRST HOME. I know, technically it is not "our home" but I can still dream.



I have been busy unpacking and decorating, which everyone knows I love to do (the decorating part, not the unpacking part). Logan has decided that his new favorite store is Lowe's, sorry Best Buy. He has purchsed new tools and made a workbench for the garage. Then he made me a new bookshelf for our office. I am telling you, this man has talent, and I am not saying that just because he is my husband...although it helps! ;-) I like my bookshelf so much Logan is letting me help him make a second one to go next to it.

The second one is getting stained tonight so I should have up pictures of the completed, decorated and in use bookshelves very soon!

I apologize for keeping the adoption news a suspense. Life is busy and hectic but that is one thing I will not keep to myself. When we get a baby, I will shout it to the world!!!