Never Say Never!!!

Well everyone knows that I have been a huge scrapbooker for the past 13 years since I was 15 years old. I love touching paper and pictures in my hand. I love going to the store and buying fun supplies. I am so blessed to be able to scrapbook for my job for the last 6 years. Everyone has always asked if I would ever get into digital scrapbooking and my answer had alwasy been "No way." Well never say never! The last 6 weeks I have been in an intense online training class learning Photoshop CS4 which is a complicated, mind turning program that is the most professional editing system on the market. (If you are interested, a great alternative in complexity and price is Photoshop Elements 8) I have learned sooooo many cool things and am shocked at how much I really enjoy digital scrapbooking. There is nothing cooler than laying in bed, watching reality TV, and scrapbooking on your laptop. I thought I would miss "touching" my supplies and having them in my hand. Nope. I feel completely creative and inspired simply by looking at files on my hard drive. I feel like I can express more of my personality in a digital page because I have so much more to work with besides paper, ribbon and brads. The possibilities are simply endless. And come on, I LOVE not having a mess to clean up when I am done with my project! I can't say that I will clean out my scrap room anytime soon because there will always be a use and love for that in my life but for now, I'm going digital! Here are some of my layouts at I completed in my training that I thought I would share!

A Crazy Madsen Halloween

We had a great Halloween, as always! Halloween is my favorite holiday with the Madsen's because we go all out! It's so fun to get everyone all dressed up and have dinner, games and lots of laughs. Here is the costume lineup:

Kelby & Tracy- Ninja & Tooth Fairy

Grandma & Grandpa Mower- Never figured out what they were :)

Paul, Renee & Amberie- Joker, and 70's couple (I was so impressed that Paul did his costume all by himself! He was so freaky!)

Brett, Jenna & Maddox- Mermaid, Football player & turtle

And we were a Greek God & Goddess with our little skeletons :)

Before the party, we went trick or treating in our neighborhood. It's always a blast and it is so fun to see all of your friends all dressed up. We have the perfect neighborhood for Halloween!

Colt & his BFF, Tyler Norris. How lucky to be best friends with your next door neighbor?!

Troy-Boy

The neighbors who went around the neighborhood together.

Troy's Pumpkin Patche

Earlier in the spring, I decided to plant some pumpkins and gourds on the side of our house. And since I had never done this before, I planted to packs of seeds thinking we'd get a few pumpkins. Well, the patch took over the side of the yard and needless to say, we had plenty of pumpkins! Troy kept begging all summer to do a lemonade stand (which I didn't want to bother doing) so I told him all summer he could have a pumpkin stand. The day was finally here and we had a successful sale! Troy made $60 which went in his savings account. He was so excited!

Love his handwriting, his envelope to hold his millions

And since I was in charge, everything had to be labeled and organized :)

Neighbor kids wanting to help...Troy told him from the start that he was not paying them to help him! LOL!

September Catch-Up

I don't know where the month of September went! I have been so busy I don't think I have had time to catch up with any of my "fun" stuff, including my blog. Here is what we have been up to.

I have 2 boys in school! And one of them is my Big Boy :) Kevin has 8 classes left to get his Bachelors degree in Business Management and we have always put it off for one reason or another. We finally decided to put it a priority and he is in night school. It's been an easy transition since the little boys are old enough not to drive me TOO crazy by myself two nights a week. I am so proud of Kev for doing something for himself and finishing a goal that he has had for a looong time. He is doing the Utah State University extension here in Ephraim which he does all of his classes by satellite. Troy is in preschool for a THIRD year (love those summer birthdays) and Colt just wants to wear his backpack everywhere he goes :)

Troy is my big 5 year old! We decided to hold him back a year since so he will be the oldest in his class. It was a hard decision since now almost all of his friends are in school and he's at home. But we are trying to make lots of new friends with the boys that he will be in school with by having lots of play dates. His favorite time of the day is by far 3pm when the neighbors all get home from school. We have 10 kids between the 3 houses at the end of our culda-sac. They all have a blast together. Of course, Colt had to be in the pics too.

We are loving my parents being here even more after the big remodel is done. It was a crappy summer having workers there allllll the time but it was worth it. All that is left is painting/carpeting my parents bedroom but Mom hasn't decided what to do yet so it's on hold. The house looks amazing and I am so glad it's done before all of the holidays! Colt loves helping Cookie cook in her new kitchen. My mom is so patient with the boys, its so fun seeing the three of them get so close now that they are here. Here they are making a fresh peach cobbler.

Last but not least, we have had a fun soccer season. Actually I hate soccer with a passion and couldn't help but giggle when Troy said he didn't like soccer and I had to drag him to his games. We are a baseball/football family and the only reason I put him in soccer was to get him running and getting some exercise. We had a cute team but I am happy to say there will be no more soccer for Troy :) Bring on the coach-pitch baseball next spring!

Must Try Recipe!

I don't know about you but I am ALWAYS trying new recipes...looking for that ONE that can be written in pen in my favorite recipes book. Well, I have found one. And those who I have already shared the recipe with feel the same! "It's a keeper" as we say in our house...opposed to "It's a chucker". This pasta dish has an amazing flavor, the marinade is the key ingredient...you have to try it!!! Let me know what you think!

GARLIC CHICKEN FARFALLE

16 oz. Farfalle (bowtie) pasta

1 c. half and half

3-4 chicken breasts (boneless, skinless)

2 to 3 cloves garlic, crushed

2 teaspoons pepper

1/2 c. butter

1 lb. bacon, crumbled**

1/2 c. shredded Parmesan cheese

1 (12 oz) Lawrys Baja Chipotle with lime juice marinade.

**I like to cook bacon in the oven (400 degrees). Way less messy. And it's crispy every time. Time varies, so you just have to watch it. I think it's usually around 23-27 minutes. Allow to cool and then crumble.

[ directions ]

Crock pot chicken and 1/2 bottle of marinade on low for 6 hours. Pull marinated chicken out of the juices, allow to cool a little bit, and shred (I pull it apart). Set this aside. About a half-hour before serving, boil the pasta. In a small saucepan, melt butter, add garlic, half & half, pepper, and parmesan cheese. Whisk together on low heat for 3-4 minutes. In a large bowl, pour over cooked, drained pasta, add chicken & bacon and stir through. Sprinkle a little bit more shredded parmesan cheese on top.

Life is a....

Well yours may not be, but I definitely feel like mine is one right now. The last month has been in itself, a lot of ups and downs for me. For a lot of reasons, reasons I am not going to get into, I just never know what is going to hit me next. Don't get me wrong, I am SO BLESSED and the trials that I have right now are still very minor compared to what other people are going through right now. I just sometimes wonder when life can be "normal" again for me and especially for my friend, Amberly, who is having some health concerns. Can't we go back to the beginning of the summer when all we were worried about was which day to go to the pool and planning play dates and library story hour? Why do we have to deal with "real life adult problems". We are too young for this crap. I am too young to have "bumps" in my marriage and she is too young to have scary, scary health problems. All I know is that my faith will get me through anything life gives me. Thats all I can hang on to. And I feel much better when I am taking care of those around me. So everyone, when I demand to take your kids or to bring you dinner for some reason, just let me. It's more for me than it is for you. I love all ya'll :)

Addicted to.....

Fabric Flower Broaches.....can't you tell? (see below)

Another reason why I don't need anymore kids...can you imagine this girl with her own girl???? Ahhh, my hubby would be robbing banks probably :) Can't wait to wear these on my jackets this fall, my JCrew Jackie O Sweaters & maybe even on my hats :) We'll see how adventurous I get :)

Going to add a clip also to the backs. I cut the flowers with my Sizzix Big Shot (favorite crafting tool ever simple because of all of the materials it will cut.) Love them!

Cousins Camp

It is so much fun having my Mommy and Daddy living so close! I just can't believe it still! My mom has been planning on doing "Cousins Camp" when the grandkids turned 5 for as long as I can remember. This was our first year and she did it with my Aunt Barbara and my cousin Emily's 2 boys, Hayden and Tyson. These 3 boys are just best little buddies. I love it. The 2 brave grandmas headed up to Oakley, UT to my aunts cabin for 3 days of Bug fun :) Bugs were the theme this year and they had a blast as you can tell with all of the crafts. The grandmas went above and beyond. Their highlight was heading to Park City for a day (since they forgot the fishing poles) and doing the Alpine Slide and the grandmas both did the zip line down the mountain. How cool are these grandmas?? :) Love you, Cookie!

Happy 5th Birthday, Troy!

Guess who wanted a Halloween dress up Birthday party in August? You guessed it. My child :) We had a fun birthday party with 10 of his best friends. We have to limit the number these days cause the kid just has WAY too many friends, never a bad thing except when it comes to birthday party invitations. I can't believe I have been a mommy for 5 years, some days it feels like 50! But I wouldn't trade my little skeletons for anything. Happy Birthday, Troy Boy!

The Creepy Crew

Oh why oh why, face in the cake....

The Butterfly Project

I love when we can use our crafting skills towards a good cause. The Butterfly Project is a cause that brings tears to my eyes. The Holocaust Museum of Houston is collecting 1.5 million handmade butterflies to represent each of the 1,500,000 innocent children who were killed during the Holocaust. I think the display will be a beautiful & powerful tribute to those little ones who never had a chance to grow up. If you are interested in contributing to this display, please note the butterflies:

- should not be larger than 8x10

- should be 2D in any medium (fun foam, cardstock, etc)

- should not have glitter (you know how messy that is!)

- should not have food products (cereal, marshmallows, candy, etc)

Please contact me if you have made some butterflies & would like to send them with mine. I will be mailing a box on September 16th. This could be a great project for you & your kids on a rainy day this summer.If you want to learn more about the Holocaust Museum, check out http://www.hmh.org/. There is a beautiful poem on the website called The Butterfly written by Pavel Friedman who died in Aushchwitz in 1944.

For detailed submission instructions see: http://www.hmh.org/minisite/butterfly/index.html

Lucky Girl

I am heading into my busy, crazy time of year for work! I have 3 trips in the next 3 months for DCWV. Next week I will be heading to Orlando for 6 days:

Mid August I will be in Scottsdale, AZ for 4 days by MYSELF!!!!

And in September I make my annual 4 day trip to Mall of America in Minneapolis, MN:

I feel so blessed to have a job that I love and even more blessed to have a job that lets us travel in style. Always the best restaurants and hotels, and they always pick up the massive bill. And a big "thank you" in advance to my wonderful parents and friends who are helping me with the boys. Man, I am a LUCKY GIRL!!!

My Little Cowboys

If you ask Troy what he did at the Rodeo, this is his response..."I rode a sheep, I got a trophy, I caught a pig." and he says it in the most monotone voice ever! If only every rodeo were this eventful for the Madsen family! We went to the Mt. Pleasant Rodeo on July 3rd and had a blast. Troy participated in the Muttin' Bustin' and held on tight to his sheep! We were all impressed at how long he held on. He got "4th Place" and got a trophy. (A family friend had it made for him. Troy was impressed that it had "Troy Boy engraved in it") Then at the last minute my mom paid to have him do the Greased Pig Race. It was so funny to see all of these little kids chase a tiny pig! Troy jumped on it a couple times before actually catching him. It was so exciting! I am hoping that Troy is Kev's little sports boy and that Colt will maybe be my little cowboy. We will see!

Cowboy Troy

Cowboy Colt

A perfect night for a rodeo

Checking out the competition

High fiving Daddy

Running after the greased pig

Caught it

Now what?

My cute boys

Cousin Caden Willardson

The rodeo clown flirting with Stacey...I have never laughed so hard in my life. She was so embarrassed it was hilarious!