2011 No burn blaze

I was on stage rehearsing when my phone rang. It generally never rings at either theater because there are dead zones. I don't bother to turn off the ringer since it never gets a signal but in Farmington we had moved up stairs. It was Scott he said "Don't worry about the fire I am headed home". Well- that is a little unnerving. Where is the fire? I had not heard of any fire. I thought of Anthonys wild fires last year. First I thought at least Aunt Sue is dead so she can't burn. Next I thought good thing our out of town guests left today and the next set arrives tomorrow who will need hotels. Then I thought Oh no! Bella is home. All my photos and crafts and books. Next my mom called to say my cousins had received a evacuation call to be ready to move out. I wanted to be home and make sure all was well and Bella was safe along with a few dozen albums. But we are very lucky to have good weather conditions, great firefighters and experts who had the blaze 100 % contained within 24 hours of out break. The view once I hit the freeway home was impressive. There was a huge oval burning on all sides miles long. It got with in 100s of yards of homes but not one was damaged. No life was lost nor any photos or kitties:) I am really grateful to public servants who are true heroes like firemen and teachers- very unsung underpaid adn much appreciated by me:)

Twiddle Thumbs

There is a new Awesome craft blog I found recently. My friend Angie had two of her friends at our charity event. What talent! The three of them have a neat-o blog. Check it out here http://www.twiddle-thumbs3.blogspot.com/ . Full of inspiration for all kinds of hand crafts.

Fundraising, house hunting, and sparkly Bella

I have a vampire cat. I know this because she sparkles in the sun:) Here is what turned her, no Edward did not drop in. The house is a disaster right now with packing boxes everywhere. Bella and Sue are out of sorts and need constant reassurance that all is well. I could add that Missy requires that as well. Humor goes a long way. Todays laughter comes thanks to my very own vampire sparkly Bella. Yup- my Bella has been glittered. I had plastic shoe box which I use to glitter things in on the bed and I came home to Bella the kitty trying to curl up in it. Her face and body glimmered in the sun light:) She makes me so happy. What a sweet little girl she is. Naughty to the core but friendly and very people oriented. If you are wondering the answer is yes... she is named after Bella Swan Cullen-- but I did not name her. Her aunt Leah named her. I however did not object. Aunt Sue is very excited to be moving so she can get outside and wants to take Bella on a leash for walks. I have tried to tell her kitty cats are not much for walking-- I have not sold her on that one quite yet.

It is time again for our annual Fundraiser for the Utah Down Syndrome Foundation. I am sorry to say we are all full for this year but as soon as we have a date set for 2010 I will let you all know. You can see More about it at charitycrop.blogspot.com. It is a crazy fun 2 days with amazing women raising money for kids effected by Downs right here in our own state:) Companies have been awesome and generous as well as private business owners. Here are a few of the top donors who rock to work with on the food portion which is my forte: Hires Big H, Olive Garden, Johnny Carinos, Fridays, Pei Wei, Einstein Bagels, Paradise Bakery, Papa Johns, Starbucks and that is to name a few:) We have over 100 exciting raffle items and for the silent auction-- homemade aprons, bags, and a brand new cricut:) I love working with Marlene and this is a great cause. More humor in my life comes from my adorable hubby who I have spent hours with laughing. We drive all over looking at houses talking to builders and laughing. It has been like a second honeymoon as just the two of us search out the next House of Riffle. Hilary said to me the other day Scott is like a whole new person. He is laughing again talking up a storm and he even did stand up comedy at a party with me. He had everyone rolling on the floor in tears with his routine- which he ad libbed! I am heading into to busy season with my YW calling but I am enjoying my last weeks of service. I have 6 hours of church tomorrow and 2 meetings but for dinner our cute friends are feeding us so that will be nice to look forward to. I sure will miss our whole Stake but we are ready for new adventures and trust that our path will not be far from the ones we love.

Charity Crop 2009

Save the date for the second annual Get Down With Scrapbooking Charity Crop. The date has been changed! The event will be held Saturday, January 17th, 2009. We will also be adding an additional evening crop on Friday night for any that want to get an early start. The purpose of this project is to raise funds to support the Utah Down Syndrome Foundation while enjoying the historical archiving hobby known as “scrapbooking.” Last year was so much fun and the seats are limited, so check out the site and make plans now to make a difference.

I was asked recently why Organize Plan Create choose UDSF. You can read all about Marlene's why on the site and as for me... my sister Michelle has a beautiful daughter, her only daughter named Heather. Heather was born with Down Syndrome. This did anything but making our family feel down. My sister has been an amazing mother and Heather has brought unbelievable joy and lessons to our family and any who know her. SO when Marlene said she wanted the USDF I was thrilled! This is s photo from 2005 taken in Norway at Epcot.

KI Memories Paper:)

I have paper that I just love and one of the lines I adore is KI Memories. Here is a link to an album I made using it! Family Reunion Album Here are a few pages from it:) "Last summer I forced my hubby's family to have a big reunion. It is the second time I have done this and I LOVE IT! I wanted to make an album to remember each person. I used some fun KI Memories paper and went to town. I love the bright colors. The main photo is stitched to the page and a 4 x 6 card with personal info slides in behind it. That way I remember birthdays, favorite foods, children and anything else I want to keep for each family member. It is a mini album 9 by 9 in size."- OPC

4 by 6 photos hanging around?

If you have printed out tons of 4 by 6 photos and do not know what to do with them you could take on the Sept. Challenge Marlene and I did. We each made up 10 sketches using 4 by 6 photos and then used what we had on hand. You can see the results here. I got lots done of the cute kids form over the years. Yes in this layout I spelled awesome wrong. I am not a good speller or rather I am not an awseome speller:)

Challenges

First post of many more is up about the weekly challenges. I think this very first challenge is atleast a chance to write a list of projects you want to finish or start. I love that there are no scrapbook police. My cousin Megan shared a great way she does photos of her children ad the growing up years. She has a box of photos she opens with her kids and they recall the fun times the photos jog. It is all about the memories being enjoyed. I am really behind with most of my stuff. I did finish 2006 but all the other years of my life are sketchy. No worries just enjoying the creating and recollection. Let us know how it is going. I am hoping to finish up some loose ends on some layouts I have started and an album missing a page or two. Lovies, Missy

Here is the link if you have not visited any of the OPC sites yet... http://opcchallenges.blogspot.com/

Bye Bye Beki

Hip hip hooray for Beki. She will be awesome with the girls and I will get to know the girls in her ward are being looked after and loved and lead by an awesome lady. It is like the saying “Don’t be sad it is over, celebrate that it happened”. I celebrate my friendship with Beki! How sweet it is to have fun, kind friends. I think Beki is just the best and I will still get to see her more often because of PTA and the fact that she is still with YW. She is special. So are Emily and Sue. We are very different but have a wonderful time together. I am making her an album. I’ll put in some photos of it. I got the idea from Marlene who made one for me as a gift when I started to fly again in faithJ Another plus is I was released. For 5 minutes. I felt the weight of the calling lift. I felt a freedom, then I looked at the stand where all these YW I love were crying and pouting at me. I wanted to reach out and hug each of them. SO a gladly stood as my name was read as counselor. I received a beautiful blessing full of wonderful promises and a warm feeling of love surrounding me. I also get the blessing of serving with Candice our new sec. who is a good dear friend. Candice and I have had a long history of serving together. We used to go to scary parts of town and help the less fortunate together and boy did I get spooked but she was just great and kept me from freaking out. She did pint out I would not have made the best missionary because I took things too personal. It is hard to do when the person behind the door drops to the floor and army crawls away and it is a glass door which you can see every bit of it. Candice is so good that way. I have missed serving with her but thanks to good old change here we are together again. Change is not at the top of my all time favorites; but it happens and it usually brings good things- so BYE BYE Beki. She is now serving at a ward level in YW still but I won’t get to sit by her and I won't have reinforcements when I get picked on. Or maybe I should word it …I won’t have a partner in crime to tease back with. Emily gave a sweet prayer reminding me to trust Gods plan and be supportive. We have had almost every ward change over in leadership with YW so you would think I would roll with the punches. I am excited to get to know new buddies. PITY party now officially over.

Get Down With Scrapbooking Event recap

Yippee! Guess how much Marlene raised for the Utah Down Syndrome Foundation? Over 700.00. I have been sick but I could not miss this special day. We had really fun and creative women and one boy who got tons done and raised money for a great cause. There were awesome make and takes and place settings and handouts and idea albums and food. Marlene's cute mom got me blankets from her car and I napped on the sofa at the club house as the meds the doctors had given me for my breathing treatment made me woozy. Marlene has the funnest family and we laughed, her aunts are like a comedy routine. Marlene is truly an amazing woman and I am so proud of all she did to make it a success. I can't wait until next years:)

Miners Club 2007

I am back from my week away from real life. It was a strange week. Usually I feel totally relaxed when I return and refreshed. This time was way more stressful. I think I may have over estimated what I could get done to my perfection standards. I LOVED being with my friends. I loved the fall seasons and watching it snow. I loved not have computer access or even phone access. I enjoyed playing a few games. We didn't watch movies or TV like we usually do I think we were kind of in a weird zone of MUST WORK. I missed my hunter hubby who got his limit on pheasant and a few ducks. I even did OK when my buddies ate my favorite camels. I did have 2 melt downs one where I swore off scrapbooking for good the other where I cried about Anth and Salina. The I decided I couldn't let Scott win by my quiting scrapbooking. He would love for me to give it all up-- so I had to push forward. If he gave up the guns I would consider it but hey like that will ever happen- hee hee. The first night cutie Kelsie came up. She asked if I would watch Disney with her and she could sit on my lap. How do I say no when I know that by next year she won't want to cuddle anymore and perhaps not want to watch kids shows with me either. Sniff sniff. Marlene says it is great they are growing up and it will be way fun to have them older. So I asked Kelsie if when she was older if she would still want to hang out with us. She shrugged her shoulders- yep-- I have a feeling we will be dumped. It may have something to do with her perfectionist mom who hardly let her help make her own album. I know Mom is rolling her eyes as she reads this-- however the albums turned out darling. I told Kelise if she really wants to ever scrapbook on her own she will have to sneak a few scraps and do it when mom is gone. She got a goofy smile and took a scrap from the garbage:) But her moms work is a work of art so when she is an old lady she will love to look back on this awesome work her mom calls simple which is far from simple. I call it precise and clean. We had a few visitors during the week. Jen brought up baby Mia! WHat a cutie. Sarah came up and was totally tired and got nothing done. Marlene says I should have warned her we don't' really get things done on this trip but I objected to that because in the past when we were not burned out before arriving we use to get stuff done. Marlene still got lots done as did Jody. Cute Marj was a multi visit buddy. She brought fun games. I also got one on one time with Marlene and then with Jody which is always rare and a treat. I love these ladies. (We missed Leah and Krista)

His and Hers

I laugh out loud when I watched Scott prepare for the hunt because it reminded me of me preparing for the scrapbook. We both get excited, we both over pack, we both call our friends and ask "are you bringing this?" or "should I bring this?" I think Scott loves it more than I do but there are some funny things that are similar- yet I don't kill birds- just trees to make patterned paper and embellishments:) Scott has the dogs on him and I have the kids on me. Rich and he plan and plan and Marlene and I plan and plan. We both research, we both get on our friends early to get the planning on. We are different but have some of the sames- I like that.

Thanks Marlene

Each year I go an a girls get away. Sometimes it is more than once:) I love to go over hunting season since Scott is mentally check out and focused on bullets and bulls eyes and regulations. Since Aunt Sue was sick then me I was not even close to being prepared for my trip. I had given up accomplishing anything until Marlene saved the day or my trip. She is totally opposite than me in the "how our minds run" department. I think that is what makes M&M great-- that we are so different. Sometimes we wonder if we are both speaking English-- yet when we get the clear picture in focus we are on the same path just on different routes in different vehicles:) I love that she has made me see the light at the end of the tunnel. She will be getting done like 50 2 page layouts. She really takes advantage of the time away from the kids to get down to business. All the of the girls have kids so juggling is an art they have perfected. We will be having a blast- words can't quite describe the fun. Bring on the laughs. I am hoping to be feeling much better by the time we go. OH- I also want to tell the world that I love winkflash... http://www.winkflash.com/. You can store unlimited numbers of photos on their site for free. Plus if you have family spread out then they can share photos with you and you can share with them and no more sending CD or begging for prints:) You can give permissions to just a certain set of people or no people or a public view for some folders. They have been running a .06 per print sale:) I have also enjoyed the quality. Yipee. I will be putting all my photos on and all my layouts. http://scottandmissy.winkflash.com/

Get Down With Scrapbooking Event

Registration is open! We are really proud of Marlene and Karson and how they are behind this event to give back and support the Utah Down Syndrome Foundation. Invite your friends and see you there.
http://marlenekini2.googlepages.com/home

You can also learn more at...
http://www.charitycrop.blogspot.com/

Get Down with Scrapbooking Charity Crop

Saturday, January 19, 2008

10:00 AM – 11:00 PM

Jefferson Place Clubhouse

9200 S. 700 W. – Sandy, UT

Cost: $25.00 per person

($35.00 after November 15, 2007)

This includes: All day crop and Make-and-Takes.
There will also be two classes offered

(no extra charge) for those that are interested.

Behind the Camera – How to Get Better Photos taught

by Marlene Kinikini @ 11:00 AM
and
Family History Scrapbooking

taught by Missy Riffle @ 2:00 PM

The event will also include a raffle.

Lunch and dinner can be added at registration for an additional charge.

Space will be limited, so sign-up early!

All proceeds from this event will benefit

the Utah Down Syndrome Foundation.

Reunion 2007 photos taken by Marlene

The first photo is from our wedding of Grandma and Grandpa. They both looked awesome that day.

I love this wonderful group photo. It is hard to get a good one of everyone. Marlene is awesome:) I'm sad it is over. I loved being in Park City with all of them. This is all of Scott's mom side's family. We had a few people not there (Richard & McKenzie), and a few more who made brief a appearance (Brian, Andrew, Mary, hubby and new baby). Scott's family- ROCK!!! I am making an album with a 2 page layout for each family member and little fun tidbits about the lives of each member of the family. It is really turning out cute. I am using my old KI Memories paper, with a 5 x 7 black and white photo. It is hard for me to not use color as I LOVE color. But the paper and accents are very colorful so I think the BW adds some depth and focus. I'll post them up when I'm done:)

Cards

I have been making cards over the last little bit. One was for Seminary Graduation, one for a homecoming, and several as cahllenges. If you like a fun challenge go to Marlene's scrapbook blog and she has a weekly one. The sho card was for that. Inside it is "Grab your crazy socks and Kick up your heels-- it's Birthday Time!" I love the little gems. But the cupcake card Marlene made is the cutest card I have ever seen. I made one cute free hand (which all mine are free hand I can't do the die cut thing) of a phone. I gave it to one of my young women who is very ill. The set of greena nd yellow are form my challenge to myself to set a timer and use only old stuff on hand. I love how simple they are and that they are colored outside yet white inside.

Card Swap

The last time I had to make cards for swap was almost a year ago. Marlene wanted to get ahead with the baby coming so she made some ahead. I thought great idea and made a year worth. We hand make 20 of the same card every other month and then swap. So it was once again time to create. I snuck in sometime while packing and here are a few I came up with. They all use glitter. It is the first set I have done using glitter... messy but fun! Mine are never as cute as Marlenes. I do have fun though. I decided on the 4 square SEI. My fav was the heart flowers.

April 2007

A few of my creations for April have been...
Designing the Hall closet
3 gift albums
(Al, Marj and Ilene)
3 flyer's
2 handouts
25 cards for invites and YW birthdays
YW camp magnets & posters
finished bathroom
almost did centerpieces

Yipee!

http://www.marlenekinikiniscrapbooks.blogspot.com/ Yes before you do a single other thing you must see the cute layout that Marlene has on her scrapbook blog. I'm so excited to see her work online:) She is amazing-- I'm not related so I can say that. Talk about talent. Here is a small sample right from her site. Don't take my word for it go and check out her 3 blogs:)

http://marlenekinikiniphotography.blogspot.com/

http://marlenekinikini.blogspot.com/


http://marlenekinikiniscrapbooks.blogspot.com

Don't get any fancy ideas that you will win her over as your best friend, so she makes you one of kind originals. (I know our friend Jody is thinking of this as I type this.) Her kids are adorable and you can see recent photos of them on her photo site. ENJOY!!!
For you Conference watchers... it would be fun to hear about your ah-has. ENJOY that too!!!

Loves of my life... Family History

I have been blogging about the loves of my life. There are many loves of my life. I even made an album of the top 20. I am including them here but I wish you could see how cute the pages turned out. This is one of the photos that surfaced when I stared family history. It is my dad and one of my older siblings. The other photo is my great uncle and second cousin in Germany. Her name is Astrid and she came to America for a visit recently. I love family and I love history so I don't know why I didn't get started sooner.

Family History: Have you heard of the super bug? The one that is difficult to kick? Yup, it got me. I use to think it was not for me. I was a people person. I thought it better for… You know the type—comfortable shoe wearing paper lovers. I was wrong. They are not just names, they are people. Real people who are so grateful to be found. I think of the lives they lived, the work they had, the trails and heartaches. I ponder on the dreams they had or if they ever fancied me in the future reflecting on them. What words of advice would they share? What could I learn from their hindsight? I have a soft spot for the ones with no children because who is looking for them? I enjoy mysteries, and these are real life ones. Like a giant puzzle of dates and names, revealing more of how I am, what I’m made of, and where I came from. It shows the importance of journals and record keeping. Often I will be tracing a line and look over at the clock to see it is 4:00 am. There are numerous helps available that were not there even ten years ago. Most of my family lines I can trace back to the 1500’s. Aunt Susan has taught me a great deal. She is a wiz at all of it. I love looking at all the old flies and photos. Journals are a fabulous source of information and fun. The best part is that Priesthood power can seal our families to God, forever. My trials here aren’t as hard to bear, when I reflect on eternity. It’s a compass reading for my actions. Am I on course for forever family? The separation and sting of death is swallowed up in the resurrection a free gift to all. The spirit of Elijah, turning the hearts of the children to their fathers, enriches the prospect of forever. I know Jesus Christ will heal all wounds so families will want to be together. Family History helps me be a better person for with out them I am not saved and with me they are not. Each time I do a name I feel like I am making a friend on the other side. It is rewarding and humbling to know we all have the best family history direct to God, we are his children. I would love to get my degree in family history. To be a detective linking families is a joy. I would love to be able to time travel and see my family when they were young. I loved to be friends with my mom and grandma and see how they kept house and what the challenges they faced were like. I would enjoy journeying to the places I am from. It is so nice to belong. Just this year I took Scharrier names to the Temple. As I researched the names there were all kinds of weird and wonderful coincidences. For example my great grandmother testimony surfaced in New York, I ran into people who knew my dead ancestors that I had never met. There are so many blessings waiting. It is indescribable to feel the pull from the other side from family members. I’ve found when doing family names the learning is tenfold. It is coming at you so fast it is hard to keep up. I think it is awesome that the second most visited sites are family history. There were many prophesy about the latter days where the world would be filled with the desire to turn our hearts to our ancestors. I like how Present Hinckley tells us to really have a desire to know these people, to not just go through the motions but to take the time to learn about who they were. I think one of the things I love about my church is the emphasis on family and forever. One of my fears is death which is silly because everything my church does testifies that there is life after death and that is began before I came here. The Lords hand is definitely in Family History work.

Christmas cards 2006

This year for the photo for our cards I used photoshop and made this one. It is a reflection of 2006. It starts with Jan. and then goes throughout the year. It includes... St. Louis, Mom's 60th, Hunting, time with Kinikinis, our moms, Anth and Salina, Arbonne, Mungo, Marlene's new camera, my hobby of photoshop, Aunt Sue and Mungo times 2. Can't wait to make 2007's!