Oh No! Another Teenager!

12/13/2009 12:00:00 AM by Diana
We were invited over to the Anderson's pad to help Chase celebrate his rite of passage, turning 13. As with most birthdays lately, I've been known to throw together a bit of this 'n that and whip up a fun t-shirt for that "suspecting" person. I did not disappoint. Chase was anticipating one and he got one.

But first, here's a peek at the card I made, all the while snickering.
 This pic was taken at Halloween time when the Anderson's tradition is to smash their faces right into the pumpkin guts. Quoted straight from their blog, "Chase had stipulations this year... My shower cap!! He would only participate in our silly Halloween tradition if his beautiful hair (his words)would not suffer from the pumpkin juices. Almost a teenager, can't you tell?"



I'm glad he wasn't offended by the Little Miss Muffet card and instead LOVED it!

Here's the t-shirt design:


And here's the lovely group of friends and family that helped Chase celebrate. Monica took this shot:


And I took this one. Notice how tired of smiling Chase is. Not the case for Bri-Fri(directly under the "A" on the wall) and Dawson (the dog):

Happy 13th Birthday Chase!!!
Thanks for inviting us to your party.
We love you!
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Playing Around With PSE 7

12/12/2009 11:45:00 PM by Diana
My latest photo edits using Photoshop Elements 7:
                                             Before:                                         

After:


Before:

 After:


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Best Christmas Decoration

12/10/2009 02:40:00 PM by Diana
I had to share this great decoration with all of you that my friend emailed me:


“Good news is that I truly out did myself this year with my Christmas decorations.  The bad news is that I had to take him down after two days.  I had more people come screaming up to my house than ever.  Great stories.  But two things made me take it down.
First, the cops advised me that it would cause traffic accidents as they almost wrecked when they drove by.
Second, a 55 year old lady grabbed the 75 pound ladder almost killed herself putting it against my house and didn’t realize that it was fake until she climbed to the top (she was not happy).  By the way, she was one of the many people who attempted to do that.  My yard couldn’t take it either.  I have more than a few tire tracks where people literally drove up my yard.”
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Merry Thempsgiving!

12/09/2009 03:44:00 PM by Diana
Okay, I couldn't help it with the title post. Since my brother and his family moved away last June I had to somehow include them in our festivities. Thus, the title.
This year our Thanksgiving crowd was a bit smaller compared to years past. It was simply us and Duncan and Kaitlyn. And Pops, of course, who we love and adore and hope that one of these days he'll be able to make it up the stairs again. We divided up the menu between our families and had quite a feast! We decided to do less-traditional as far as making a whole turkey and try out a turkey breast roast, which was still quite delish. The Gardner boys requested ham and the rest was our usual: stuffing (my dad's famous recipe), mashed potatoes & gravy, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes (which I used to never eat but since Kaitlyn has made them, they're amazing!), rolls, cream cheese stuffed celery, cranberry sauce, veggies tray and deviled eggs. And for the drink, sparkling white grape juice.
Here's some of our little helpers getting the stuffing ready:

and setting the table:

 
 and the yummies:



 
Dig in! (Steve really was a happy camper. This was actually a two-part photo so he got cropped right down the middle. Notice the floating bowl of rolls below Duncan.)


Oh yes, and can't forget dessert. We had pumpkin and apple pie ala mode:

Now for some before/after shots. You won't believe your eyes!
Apollo before:

and after (okay, I may have tickled him a little make him push out his tummy):

Sascha before:

and after:

Sarah would NOT take part in this, so here's me before (I know I'm crazy to be showing my belly:

and after:

Kaitlyn before (tiny little thing 8-))

and after:

Duncan before:

and after:


Afterwards we had a contest to see who could make the craziest faces. You decide:

I feel so blessed to have such amazing family and friends with whom I can act like a fool around and they still love me. I'm so blessed to know that through and through they will always be there for me.
You know who you are!!! I Love You!!!
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Couples Temple Trip & Shama's Open House

12/09/2009 02:43:00 PM by Diana
Playing "catch-up" again. Nothing fancy here, just the facts. So back in November, the amazing Kaitlyn threw together a couples temple trip. She and my younger bro, the Anderson's and us. It's great because she's always prepared with new names for us to do the work for. So while we were there we bumped into several people that we knew. Some from our old Poulsbo ward and some from our present Brownsville ward. One of the couples in our ward was to be sealed later that day. It was great seeing and congratulating them.

Afterwards our tummies were growling so we headed on over to the Claim Jumper in Tukwila:






If you haven't been there yet, I HIGHLY recommend it! I've been there twice now and have yet to be unamazed (if that's even a word). The prices are decent and the food portions are x's 10. Okay, exaggeration, but you get the idea. In fact, the Anderson's bought a slice of the "Chocolate Motherlode Cake." A twenty-two year tradition. Six decadent layers of chocolate fudge cake topped with walnuts. Featured on the Food Network as one of America's "Top 5 Most Decadent Desserts" 9.95. There were six of us and it was more than enough for everyone to have a piece of their own. See for yourself:

We were bummed that the Holcombs couldn't be with us. Their son had a championship football game in Port Angeles that very day. We even planned the temple trip in advance for that day at the request of the Holcombs. Obviously they didn't know football would get in the way. We'll catch you guys next time!

Later on that evening I attended my friend Shama's Grand Opening (click here to view her amazing website):

 Her studio is beautiful! And the food was amazing! Yes, stuffed my face again. It was okay though because I still lost weight that week. To view more about the evening go to Monica's blog HERE.
I LOVE Shama's office. Her hubby John is trying it out for her:

And Brian A. was the bearer of good news every 1/2 hour with door prizes to give away (gift cards). He could have pulled a string or two and made sure I was one of THOSE people. Sheesh! JK...
Love you Bri-Fri:


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And the Answer Is...

12/06/2009 11:57:00 PM by Diana
In regards to the picture trivia from my previous post, HERE ARE THE ANSWERS! I know you couldn't wait to hear who everyone was.

1. LaRoo (LaRee) H.
***Little story here... we were shopping the after-Halloween bargains and found the cutest little gnome costume for Apollo. We opened it up (there was a snap to close it back up) to see how big it looked since it was a 2T and had to try on the fun little hat and beard. It was hilarious that it actually fit our heads! Couldn't you picture Apollo wearing this? So cute!!! I didn't end up getting it though because there were some markings on the shirt and they wouldn't discount it further. Dang. I have to admit that it was quite hilarious when an older employee walked past us with a look of disgust on her face as we were putting the costume nicely back into the package. No harm done.


2. Chrixtian F.
***My nephew is now 16, but way back when he was in kindergarten this is exactly what he looked like. I couldn't believe my eyes! They stole his picture and didn't give him any royalties! I'm going to have to report this to the authorities. This was also while we were doing the after-Halloween shopping.


3.Brian A.
***He texted this pic to everyone claiming he was picking up some meds for someone and was afraid of getting the swine flu. Silly Bri-Fri...


4.Kaleb C.
***We were attending a football game and Apollo (in the background) insisted upon NOT wearing his hat and mittens even though it felt like it was in the twenties. I actually put them on him three different times. Kaleb tried showing him how fun it was to wear them but it was a no-go. Thanks for trying Kaleb!


5. Monica A. (this one was a toughie)
***Trying on masks at the SuperMall after a girls only temple trip. She was tempted but didn't end up buying...


6. Yeah, yeah... easy target. It's me. Had to give you at least one freebie...


7. Sascha
***Chrixtian actually texted this to me a couple of months ago. It was taken over a year ago at Duncan and Kaitlyn's wedding in SLC. Sascha had been watching too many Thumb movies and started to morph into one.


8. LaRoo (again)
***I told her she better cut down on the makeup a little because she might be mistaken for one of those street walkers...


9. Bri-Fri (again)
***Luke, I am your father!


Did anybody get them all right? Probably only one person, and that's ME!

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Name That Person

11/26/2009 11:45:00 PM by Diana
Kind of like "name that tune," but it's "name that person."
Leave a comment with your answers:

1.



2.


 3.


4.



5.


6.


7.


8.


9.


Whoever can get all the answers right gets a free ride to view my blog. Oh wait... it's free already. Dang! I guess just viewing my blog is reward enough.
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I'm Thankful For...

11/24/2009 09:20:00 PM by Diana
Wordle: Gratitude
Click on the picture to view larger.
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