I kinda really dislike this!

First off, thanks for all of your input on the privacy issue. I have decided today that for now I will stay public and just kind of be smart about the info I post and go with my gut feelings. If you haven't weighed in and would like to about the privacy issue, please feel free to post your opinion.

Now, let me explain the title of this post. I really enjoy playing with my photoshop and last year I was a little obsessed with making Christmas cards. I made some for a few of you, and a couple people have asked me if I was going to do it again. Okay, on to the title of the post. . . I don't really dislike making the Christmas cards, I actually like it, but I really dislike coming across as somebody that is trying to sale something to my friends. So, I am only posting this because a few people have asked about it, not because I am trying to get any body's "business." I really don't consider myself "good" at this, and I am by no means a professional. So please forgive this post and if you feel the need, continue to browse through my more thought provoking and informational entries. I don't know if this made a bit of sense to a soul out there!

Last years designs can still be seen at

http://kaydeem.tripod.com/christmas_cards

Here are a couple I have designed this year

Playing it safe, or living in fear???

Okay, so my mom has been going on and on about all of these horror stories about blogs and psycho creeps that use the blogs for evil. Since then I have been having an inner-self battle about whether or not to go private. Here is how my battle plays out.

Pros:

It is private therefore I have control over who is learning many details about my children and their day-to-day activities.

I don't have to worry about all of those psycho creeps out there who spend their lives fighting for the wrong team (the adversary's team) and may do something to wrong my innocent children.

Cons:

I really don't want to live my life in fear.

I don't mind people, even if I don't know them, reading about our day-to-day activities, (as long as they are not the aforementioned psycho creeps).

I want to continue to believe that the world is more good than evil.

Conclusion:

I really don't ever want to do anything that puts my children's lives or well being in danger, especially if doing so can be avoided. But for some strange reason I am still torn. Please, leave your input!!!

PS Any of you who are going private or have already done so, I would love to be added, my email address is kaydeem@yahoo.com

Here are some cute pictures of my kiddos. They have nothing with this post, but they are quite pleasant none-the-less :).

Tanner and his Luke-Made Pirate outfit, apparently Mommy's Headband + Super Tanner Cape= Pretty Awesome Pirate

Luke's Pirate costume always consists of his favorite red hat and dracula cape!

I love Her!

Cutest little fan at the Juab Football Game!

McCain and Obama

This was Halloween . . . and various other activities

Okay, so most of you know that we are total Disneyland fanatics, but we usually say that we go so often because the kids love it so much. Well that's not the case this time. Launey and I went to a timeshare presentation in Midway a few months ago and scored two free plane tickets to LA and a free hotel room for two nights in Anaheim. So, we packed up our things, dropped the kids off at their grandparents' house and flew to sunny California. And yes, it was sunny. In fact one day it was 98 degrees, at the end of October! We had a great time and we really appreciated our parents for watching our adorable kids while we took some time to reconnect. . . . with mickey of course!

Launey loving the Disney Sweets!

The two of us on the infamous Splash Mountain


I found a load of treasure!



Launey got locked up for it :(




I am not sure where this picture is but it is somewhere in the happiest place on earth.





We scored some free mickey ears, yes I know we look like geeks.

Launey apparently very frightened as we waited in line for Indiana Jones

How cute is this Jack-o-Lantern!

Okay, on to the children. These pictures are actually from our annual Ivers Family Halloween Bash which took place about a week or so before Halloween. I have actual Halloween pictures but the are on my memory card, in my camera, in the car. So, these will have to due.




Brielle was the cutest little ballerina ever!

Tanner was SUPER TANNER. He didn't want to be anything for Halloween except "just Tanner" but we got him to amp it up a little bit.

Luke was totally in his element dressed as a zombie, check out the zombie pose!

One more picture of my tiny dancer. Please ignore the messy shirt, it got that way from a variety of Halloween activities.

Yee Haw, we went to Hee Haws!

Okay, so every year since Luke was a baby, Halloween time has marked a few special occasions, one being our family outing to Hee Haws. We absolutely Love Love Love Halloween and everything that accompanies it. We try to budget a little extra money every fall so that we can take advantage of all of the wonderful Halloween activities life has to offer. This year we got to go with my cute brother and his adorable wife, Karson and Linzy. We did the corn maze, poked the giant pig, shot cobs of corn out of air guns, jumped on hay, and slid down many exciting slides. We had a great time and I highly reccomend the outing to everybody.

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FOOD FABULOUS FOOD (storage)

Hi all! Ok, we hear over and over that we need to get our year supply of food storage right? Well, I know that it is important and I completely agree with the necessity of it, but in the past I think I have done it all wrong. For example, just recently I ran out of flour on a nice Sunday afternoon. I then remembered that I had a #10 can full of flour that I had canned when I lived in Logan oh about three plus years ago (it was with you Paula and Emily D.). So I went downstairs to retrieve my stored food and to my dismay nearly every single item I canned that day had expired. Now luckily I have come to find out that if it doesn't taste, smell, or look bad it is still okay to eat, so I have been using the flour anyway. Well, that little experience got me thinking of how easy it is just to waste money on food storage. So I decided that I wanted to learn how to put it to use. In my experience, if I use my food storage supply to actualy cook with, then replace the item I use with a new can, it helps me rotate my food storage, and gives me a better idea of what items my family actually use.
To make a long and painful introduction short, I have been blogging about food storage recipes, and I would love for you guys to link to my site, if it's not too much to ask. You see, I am not a master chef in any sense of the word so I would love to get ideas and input from all of you. So if you would like to link to it the address is http://cookmyfoodstorage.blogspot.com. I would love to get your tips and pointers about anything to do with food storage and I will publish them on my site. For instance, Lynsey I just read your post about the frozen corn and strawberry jam so if you would like to give instructions on the process along with some of your cute pictures, email me and I will put it up.
Thank you soo much for your help and support! Happy Blogging!

Life Is Precious

I have been reading a blog called the Nie Nie Dialogues. I am sure that many of you have heard of this blog and may know what I am referring to, but if you don't, I strongly encourage you to check it out. I am not even going to try to paraphrase because I am sure that I would do the whole thing a severe injustice. However, I do want to share this. . . . life is precious. I know that I don't say it, show it, or realize it enough. I truly am so thankful for every moment that I get to spend with my wild and crazy children and my knight in shining armor.
I love Luke's obsession with coloring and drawing. I love how he uses big words even when he doesn't know what they mean. I love that he comes up to me often with a big hug and an "I love you mom" (He really does that!). I love how "devastated" he seems when he reports to me that he was "a little wild" in preschool. I love his big brown eyes and his eyelashes that go on for days. I love that he knows that when he is scared or when he has lost something, he can turn to his Heavenly Father in prayer and his problem will be solved. I love his faith and his knowledge. I love how much he loves cars and his desire to know every little thing about every little aspect of them. I love that he worships his daddy. He is a good boy and I am so thankful for everyday that I get to have the opportunity to be his mother. I love you big guy!
I love Tanner's cute little chipmunk voice and his lisp that accompanies it. I love that he calls Launey "Da" because he is too lazy to say dad. I love that when we try to teach him how to pedal on his bike he is far to content simply ringing the bell to even give pedalling a go. I love his adorable smile. He truly has the sweetest smile in the world! I love his intensity (some people would call it his temper, but I think intensity describes it better). I love his towers made from soup cans. I love that he is constantly telling us that Wow Wow Wubbzy is his favorite. I love that he feels that it is necessary to remind us multiple times throughout the day that "I Tanner, I 2 and a half!" I love his wild hair and that he has to jump or run everywhere he goes. I love that he wants to be just like his big brother, and I love his big bear hugs. I love you little guy!
I love Brielle's wrinkled nose. She makes the funniest faces! I love that she laughs out loud when I smile at her. I love how she is so content to entertain herself with a flip flop and a little car. I love how it feels to hold her. I love love love rocking her to sleep when she wakes up at night (even though I really don't like getting out of bed to do it). I love it when she snuggles. I love to see how happy she is when she gets in the "tubbies." I love all of the pink and the flowers and the absolute sweetness that seems to surround her. I love how she waves. I love how her smile melts Launey's heart. I love her slobbery kisses. I love you my tiniest princess.
I love my husband! He is my prince. He is my sanity and my rock. He is my source of optimism. He is the father of my children. He keeps my life exciting. He is my eternal companion. I love how he respects me. I love that he treats me like his princess. I am not complete without him. I love you Mr. Ivers!
I am so thankful for Stephanie, and her sister Courntey's blogs. Because of them when Tanner refused to take his nap today, I hugged him and I held him. I didn't scold him and scare him into bed by threatening to take away his little blankie if he didn't sleep. I just loved him. It is also because of their blogs that I realized at about 10 o'clock last night that I hadn't given Luke a real true "you are so loved" type of hug all day. I had given him a quick kiss when I sent him off to preschool, but I am pretty sure that is all. So, because their blogs really got me thinking about what was important in life, at 10 o'clock at night, long after my kids had been tucked in tight, I hugged him tight, and I told him how much I adored and loved him. Life is precious. I am thankful for everyday I have to live it!

Happy Fall!

I am going to have to admit that I have been suffering from a severe case of blog burnout. I don't know why but I would think about posting on a daily basis, but I could just never bring myself to do it. I think the problem may be that I can never seem to simply post a message, I always feel like I have to change the background, design a header, change the font color, then post on Luke's Colorful World. My computer is painfully slow, so the whole process tends to take the entire morning. Finally today, Brielle decided to take an unprecedented morning nap and the boys have been drawing for hours, so I am finally doing it, I am POSTING!

We took the kids to the petting zoo at Thanksgiving point a while ago, so some of the pictures will be from that exciting adventure. That day marked a major milestone in little Ellie's life, she had her first pony tail! Not the tail of an actual pony found at the petting zoo, rather I gathered every tiny little whispy baby hair I could find on top of her little head and stuck an elastic around it. So, while you are gazing upon the lovely photos of our petting zoo adventure, take time to notice the cutest, and tiniest, pony tail in the world.

The kids loved the petting zoo. They could have stayed there for hours! It was a fun little outing and it was quite inexpensive too. That is always a plus! Tanner said the his pony's name was, Tanner Horse. What a coincidence that Tanner boy just happened to ride on Tanner Horse. And yes, I did let Luke wear the dreaded red cowboy hat! It had been tucked away under his bed for a couple of months, but "luckily" he found it and he hasn't taken it off since. I resigned to the fact that I need to choose my battles, so the red hat is a permanent fixture in our lives! At the end of the adventure Tanner grabbed my hand and said "it's a good day mom," and it was.

The aftermath of the ponytail