and that's what you missed ooonnnn GLEE!

Anybody been scrapping lately? I love this pic of Sarah and it just makes me so sad that she is growing up so quickly!This pic of me and my sister CRACKS me up! I did this layout for the Scrapping the Music Challenge. I think it turned out really fun! I used December Studio Calico's Orchestra kit. Have I mentioned how much I LOVE Studio Calico?
A Must See

Do you watch it? Do you LOVE it? Oh my goodness, every week it just gets better and better. I though last weeks was SO real and touching when the "no baby" secret came out. Matthew Morrison (Will Schuester) did an AMAZING job with that scene. SO real!

This weeks episode was the finale until APRIL and everything about it made me smile. You HAVE to watch it. April can't come soon enough!

I am so happy everyone in our house is FLU FREE and feeling 100%. John never got sick thank goodness cause he was a GODSEND when I was sick. Love him!

During all of that sick time we managed to get our holiday pics done. My friend Kelly Noel did a wonderful job as usual. Here are a few of my favs!

My sister and her family and us

me and my sis

Sarah with her cute cousins Aidan and Emma

Sarah - isn't she cute??

me and my LOML

us :)

There are so many more awesome ones :)

Enjoy your week!

Life.. it's precious.

In Memory Of Julia

Tragically last year, my friends Jackie and Bob lost their 18 month old daughter Julia. Her cause of death was never discovered therefore putting it in the category of SUDC (Sudden Unexplained Death in Children).This weekend I was part of an amazing event honoring Julia's life. Jackie, Bob her family, friends and my (and her) Mom's Group organized a 5K race and 1 mile family fun walk called Julia's Run for a Reason to raise funds for SUDC. The amount of people that came out to support the cause was overwhelming. 352 registered racer/walker - WOW! We raised over $15,000 for the SUDC. The race went off without a hic-up. It was just wonderful to be a part of such an amazing event honoring a wonderful little angel and her family. Here is Sarah with her metal she won for being one of the first 60 kids to cross the 1 mile finish line. She was so proud!

Let's talk about Scrapbooking. First off, as you know I am the guest designer at Scrapping the Music this Month. I Love this weeks song! You are the Best Thing by Ray Lamontagne . HOW FUN! Here is the LO I created

Guess what the man in the Brown truck delivered to me on Friday?? My October Studio Calico Kit. I have been swooning over it so excited to dig in and get started! Here is the first LO I created using it also for the BASB challenge this week!. I am in LOVE with this month's kit. I think the craft envelopes are my FAV!

Time keep on slipping....

I mean really, where does it go??? I have been super DUPER busy lately. My husband just got back from a "guy's" hiking trip in North Carolina. He encountered 12 black Bears! Whoa! Scary if you ask me! He hiking to the top of Gregory Bald and said that it was a difficult hike.. the hardest he's done. He had fun.. I am most envious of the beautiful weather he got to experience. high 60's during the day. low 40s at night. For me, I was still in HOT Florida :(

A few weeks ago 16 of my Mom's Group friends and I rented a House on Anna Maria Island for 3 nights. I had so much fun! I can't remember the last time that I laughed that much. You know, cramp in the side, cheek hurt kind of laugh. It was something I REALLY needed!

In scrappy news, The layout on my last post of John and I titled You and Me made it into the Scrapping the Music Hall of Fame! I was SO excited. Then I got a message from Mary at Scrapping the Music that they wanted me to be their Guest Designer for October! I said yes of course and WAS tickled pink to have been asked! I can't wait to show you the LO's I make inspired by song Lyrics throughout the month! WOO HOO!!

Here are some layouts I have made in the last few weeks.. mostly using the Studio Calico Sept Kit Cotillion. What a great kit and I have LOVED using it! The first one was for THIS Studio Calico Blog Challenge.

If it's free its for me!

Last week was a wonderful week of FREE entertainment! It was super fantastic!

First off I won tickets to see Disney Princess on Ice - a 4 pack. Since I was already headed to my monthly Pokeno game, my lovely husband took Sarah. Her friend Gabriella and mom used our other 2 tickets. The girls had fun watching the princesses. at least that is what I hear since DH forgot the camera in the car - UG

The best freebie (for me anyways) was one ticket to Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure. That's Chrissy, Faith, Laura, me and Kelly. They send one every year.. one per household...

Lots of my other friends got the free ticket also. We decided to have a ladies day at Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure. No kids, no husbands, just us. No strings attached. We went on Sunday and man oh man was it a jolly good time! There we NO lines at either park and we were able to enjoy both parks without pushing a stroller, stopping to pee 1000 times or be responsible for anyone else but ourselves. It was Wonderful! We rode the coasters, stopped for a sweet treat, ate lunch at Margaritaville. I think my fav rides were the Hulk and the Mummy.

And back home by 6:30pm. It was a dream day!

Since my last post I got my Studio Calico September Kit Cotillion and been having a great time playing with it! Here are some layouts I have made using the kit. The first layout was for the Scrapping the Music challenge. Hope everyone is doing well! Have a great day!

A new day

It has been a rough few days. As we try to dig our way out of this pit of unanswered questions, the hardest part for us is the not knowing why. 4 years of trying to grow our family – 3 IUIs, 2 IVF’s, and lots of trying naturally and still no baby. John and I are both reproductively healthy. UGG.

Let me start by saying that I am a FIRM believer that everything happens for a reason and that God only gives us as much as we can handle. But man – it sure is HARD when our plan and God’s plan aren’t the same. I am just not sure what to make of this whole thing.

Here are answers to some questions you are asking.

• Will you have to have a DNC? – I doubt it, I haven’t starting bleeding yet and I was only 5 weeks so my body should take care of it on its own.
• Do they know what happened? No – we have no answers – and probably won’t ever get any.
• Will you do IVF again? Yes we will try once more in January.
• What about adoption? I would LOVE to adopt but we are BLESSED that insurance covers 90% of our infertility treatments (up to 3 IVFs) and ZERO for adoption. So we are going to exaust all fertility treatment options before moving on to adoption. But YES, we will research adoption if we are unsuccessful in January.
• How did Sarah take the news? She was SOOOOOOO sweet. When they Dr office called with the bad news… I was A MESS, crying hysterically. She asked me what was wrong and I told her the baby died. She was gone for a few minutes and came back with a drawing of me holding a baby. I said “Sarah, there is no baby” she said “ I know mommy but it is what you always wished for” She was sad with me and kept saying she wanted a brother or sister. All day I couldn’t stop hugging her. She told me she loved me all the way to the top of her heart. I love that girl
• How is John? He doesn’t know what to think. Angry there are no answers. Just wants to figure out the next steps. Really wants a sibling for Sarah and a another child for us to love. We are just supporting each other through this.

We are so THANKFUL and know how overwhelmingly blessed we are so have Sarah. She brings us so much happiness (and headaches – LOL) and I never knew you could love someone so much. So through all of this we do not lose site in that. There is so much to be grateful for!

Since we are talking about Sarah, look at there cute pics I took of her the other day! They make me smile. I created this Layout for this week’s Scrapping the music challenge.

Thanks everyone, for everything!