Well....I have thought about it....and I am going to make my blog private. Here's the thing.....for some reason it bugs me to not know who is looking at my blog. I have a tracker...but if you just come to my blog from a google search or something...then I have no idea who you are unless you leave a comment. SO....on June 8th, I'm going private...but I still want to be able to have people access my blog...so send me an email or leave me a comment with your email address so that I can send you an invite! :)

Giveaway

My good friend Skye is the "Cloth Diaper Queen"...and if I were ever to use cloth diapers....I'd for SURE have to buy the one that she's giving away on her blog! Go check it out! http://diaperstyle.blogspot.com/

CuTe~cRaFtY

My friend Jill is super crafty+creative and so is her sister Mindy! Check out their blogs and see for yourself! {pst!...I added a link to Mindy's blog "blueyedesign" over in 'sites i like'.}

Cow "tails"

Today was branding day! Branding is a big part of the Flake family heritage. Cowboying is a dying trade...so it's kind of neat to see my kids out doing the same thing (with some of the same equipment probably) that their great-great grandfather...all the way down to their own dad did. Plus...it was a great photo opportunity... and I hate to pass up one of those! I didn't brand a calf...but I did vaccinate one. Weston "rode" a calf. I have a little video clip to post of that later.

I should warn you before you look at the pictures that some of them are down right gross and if you are a big animal rights activist...then you might want to not look at this post at all!

Weston's first time branding a calf...w/the help of dad of course. This is what it looks like after the calf has gone through the shoot. They catch it in the calf table vertically then turn it horizontal to brand, dehorn, earmark (cut a little triangle out of one ear), tag, vaccinate and if necessary castrate. Then they turn it upright and let the calf go.

This is was Kaitlyn spent most of her time doing...collecting ears and sacks. (yes..."nut sacks"...we're sooo proud of her!) Another calf in the table...this was a pretty big one.
Brandon and Weston on Bizness Weston, checking out a cow-pie. I told him it was poop and he said, "gross!"

Tyler (Brandon's brother) was clipping an ear I think...
Kaitlyn branded two calves. Rend helped. Actually it was probably the other way around!
Cousins spectating. (left to right) Trey, Josh, Bryant, Spencer and Adelin
That's all for now folks! :)

Heads up

So...creating a book on blurb.com is a little more time consuming than I thought! I spent half the day (off and on) trying to get BookSmart to 'slurp' my blog! :) ("Slurp" is the term that blurb uses to refer to them going and copying your blog to BookSmart. )

ANYHOW...so...here's a little heads up to any of you that decide to use blurb to create a book out of your blog entires: Make sure that all of your setting on blogger are set to allow anyone to see your blog. If all your settings are not set to make your blog as public as possible, including the setting that enables search engines to find your blog...then blurb wont be able to access your blog and you will ending up wondering what on earth is wrong and spent tons of time trying to figure it out! When you are done 'slurping' your blog to BookSmart you can just go back and change your settings again.

bLuRb

I'm finally gonna do it....I have been saying I will the whole year....

...Last night I went to blurb.com and downloaded "BookSmart" so that I can make a book from all my 2008 blog entries! It's FREE (BookSmart is...the book costs) and it looks like it's going to be FUN!

I love making books! :)

...stay tuned for Kindergarten Graduation pictures!

FYI

Just wanted to share the new Childrens Place 15%OFF Promo Code. It's works on clearance items too & expires on 6/7/09. : X29MK6JA59

Then, head on over to Malt-o-Meal to enter to win a years worth of cereal.

Plus, if you have pictures you need to order or a photo book you'd like to create...go to snapfish.com then use the promo code: SAVETODAY to get $10 off your order of $30 or more. It's good until 5/31/09 I like to order prints from snapfish if they are just going into the photo album...but if they are going on the wall...I use someplace with better quality like shutterfly or Mpix....you can typically find a promo code if you go to naughtycodes.com (thanks Heidi for telling me about that site all those years ago!)

Anyhow...just wanted to share that info with all you other savvy mommas!

Lotsa pictures

Unfortunately, I don't have the patience to figure out why blogger wont let me move my pictures...and I didn't upload them in the correct order....so...oh well....

...These pictures are from off of my old Kodak point and shoot. Kaitlyn likes to use it...and I use it sometimes too.

ANYHOW...here are a few pictures...some are from today....and one is from way back in December!
_________________________________________________

I was able to go with Kaitlyn and her class on their field trip today. We rode the bus to the Taylor fire department. The kids toured an ambulance and a fire truck....then they had fun playing in this BIG red tub! They also got hosed off by the fire truck...but Kaitlyn was too cold to want to take part in that! We went across the street to Freemen park and ate lunch+played for a little bit. Kaitlyn had SO much fun! I did too! I am glad that I have been able to volunteer in her class this year!

This picture was taken at the Mother's Day Luau that the kindergartners put on every year!

This is a shot from Kaitlyn. I just had to include it because we were shopping at Home Depot together...that's me, totally lost...not knowing what sprinkler part Brandon needed out of the bazillion available!...Thank goodness for cell phones+the Internet. He was able to just go online to the Home Depot website and explain what he needed to me over the phone!

This is another shot Kaitlyn took. We were heading north on Main St. I love letting her use my camera (the little one) and being able to see things from her perspective!

This is an older picture! I was packing to go to Texas and Addie wanted to come too!

Me and my sweet kindergarten girl @ the luau! I can't believe she's going to be in 1st grade!

My parents+my Grandpa Newbold came up to visit the weekend after my B-day. We love having them over!

The kindergartners put on the CUTEST Christmas program last year. I couldn't remember if I had posted any pictures of it...so since this one was on the camera still...I decided to throw it on the blog too!

Only 3 more days off school! This last week of school is BUSY...and I only have one child in school! This week Kaitlyn has a field trip (that was today), a "parent enrichment day" tomorrow(not sure what goes on there besides parents being in charge of different booths or something like that), then Thursday is track and field day (we're gonna have to go see how she does in that!), then Friday morning is Kindergarten graduation and Friday night Jayze and Louis graduate from High School. My parents are coming up for the weekend...so we have LOTS of things to look forward to! A bunch of Brandon's siblings are coming up to brand calves...so things are gonna be busy...but fun (I hope)!

I better go see if the girls are asleep! I am BEAT! It feels like it should be at least Thursday already!

Good night you all!

PS~CS2

Yesterday, Brandon installed photoshop! I have been having fun with it.....gotten frustrated with it.....and have a bazillion questions like: how to you burn the edges? vignette? sponge? add color to a black and white? add text?????? I think I need to enroll in a class. I DO have an instructional DVD that someone loaned me...who knows where I put it though! Anyhow! It's getting late, and I have already blogged more in the last few days than I usually do in a week....but I am going to share some pictures anyways! These are just a few from mine and Kaitlyn's date Thursday night. We got dinner (Mc'D Happy Meal for her...El Cupidos burrito for me)...then went and bought her cotton candy because she's been DYING for some lately (and I always tell her "no") then we went to the play ground at her school so that she could show me all her "tricks" on the monkey bars! I love that she wanted to go there. Remember how I took pictures of her there at the beginning of the school year...and now it's the end! SO anyhow...I'll be quiet and just show you the pictures...not that they are anything to shout about....but they are my first photoshoped images!

This first one used to be pretty shadowy...

It was sunny...so I tried to get some sunflare shots....need to work on that...but I love the star the sun made in this B&W one.

I should have shown "before" and "after"s...oh well....

...going to bed...good night!

Guess what!?

I'm pregnant!


(NOT!!!!)

...But my sister in law Kim is! Hooray!!!! I can't believe my little brother is going to be a daddy! Their baby is due on January 11th 2009!

Congratulations Kim and Eric! Love ya!

Geez...I have been blogging a lot lately!

So! I just finished taking my nephew's senior pics+ordering announcements. He graduates this Friday! Louis is a great kid! It was so fun to hang out with him today! Thanks Louis! :)

This is the photo that we ended up using on his announcement.

OH!...and some of you know my little story about painting my front door red....well guess what!? I finished it today! It only took me 18 months! :) LOL!...okay....I guess I will tell you the short version of my "painting the front door red" story. We got a new front door before Weston was born. When he was 5 weeks old, I decided to paint it red....long story short...Addie got into the paint and painted herself, the front porch, house and van! I gave up and didn't get the guts to try again until today! I am SO happy to have it finished!

Brandon took Weston out to Black Canyon Lake last night for the Father's and Sons outing. They didn't spend the night there...but the girls and I still had enough time to have a girls night! We rented "Hotel For Dog" (it was a cute movie...better than I thought it would be...), went to Dollar Tree and stocked up on candy, ate dinner at Pizza Hut, came home and rode bikes, got ready for bed then watched our movie and PIGGED OUT on candy and pop corn. It was fun....but I am having a junk food hang over this morning! I feel sick....but it was worth it! :)

Weston and Brandon had fun too. Weston threw rocks into the lake, and ran around with some of the "older" (3 year old) boys! He roasted a hot dog then dropped it in the dirt, threw pine cones and rocks and tripped on a log and got a fat lip and a skinned up chin. They got home around 10 p.m. and Weston was ZONKED! He smelt like camp fire, so I gave him a bath and he went straight to bed! That kid is SUCH a boy! He loves rocks, dirt, bugs, throwing things and spitting!

Hope you all have a good SATURDAY!!! :)

I have just been thinking. It's a funny thing having a blog as a journal. I know we've all gone back and read pages from our journal and felt SO silly for ever thinking "that" let alone writing it down...and we contemplate tearing the page out or maybe burning the journal all together...get rid of the evidence that we're not perfect...

...that's kindda how I feel about blogging...sometimes I go back and read something (like crying about a messed up mixer) and then I feel SO silly and just KNOW that people are thinking that I am crazy...and you know what...sometimes I wonder if I am. But, I know THIS...it's how I felt...and other people have cried over sillier things, I am sure, and maybe reading that I cry over silly things sometimes made them feel better. I don't know.

Well...the point of blogging about this isn't for me to try to convince you that I am not nuts...that's still to be debated...it's this: don't be afraid to let people see YOU. Same thing goes for me not feeling like I fit in here in Snowflake...I just gotta be me...even when I don't feel like it's enough.

Phew....

After a therapeutic phone call from Angela (thank you SO much for calling and talking to me...call me back if you wanna!) I decided to call Kitchen Aid.

I didn't want to tell the lady the "whole" story...but it turns out that she needed to hear what happened...and guess what? They're sending me a new attachment...FREE of charge! (it will take up to 6 weeks...but at least I'll have a wire whisk!) FYI...don't leave your mixer unattended while it's still plugged in and never store your mixer with an attachment on it. LESSON LEARNED! I just sometimes wish that I didn't have to figure out things "the hard way" so much! :)

Thanks for listening to me vent. Not like you had a choice... :)

I am feeling much better now that I have talked to Angie, read your comments and listened to the calm and soothing "hold" music...curtousy (sp?) of Kitchen Aid!

"There is no such thing as the perfect mother...We just do the best we can with the help of the Lord, and who knows, these children who are struggling to be free may someday rise up and call us blessed."~Marjorie Pay Hinckley

I am really just SO ticked off right now. My new Kitchen Aid has been ruined before I even got a chance to use it. Seriously?! AHHHH!!!! I am in tears because getting the Kitchen Aid was the ONLY good part of my Mother's Day...besides the nap I was able to sneak in. My Mother's Day sucked (pardon my language).......my kids fought, cried, and basically made me feel like the worst mother on the face of the earth...and now...THIS! So...this is how it happened. I got home from helping in Kaitlyn's class...Brandon was thankfully able to come home and watch the kids so that I could...he's SO busy at work, so that was a blessing. When he was leaving I asked him, "What am I supposed to do all day today?" I am sick of cleaning my house just to have it messed up again...and I have been to WalMart already...and you can only go to the park so many times! Honestly...I AM BORED! Someone once told me that if you're bored it means that you are a boring person...I beg to differ! I am bored because I LIVE IN SNOWFLAKE and I don't sew, knit, crochet, play a sport competitively enough, sing, dance, can my own food, bake bread, ride a horse or like poking cows with hot irons.......basically what it comes down to is this...I dont' fit in (but that's no new revelation) ...But anyways... back to what I was saying.........I was bored so I was going to have the kids bake cookies with me (it's not like I don't TRY to find things to do)....I plugged in the kitchen aid... then went to help Kaitlyn with something and I heard this terrible noise! I realized that Addie had turned on the mixer, so I unplugged it real quick. I looked inside and the other beaters that go with the mixer were in the bowl and the wire beater that was attached to the mixer was all mangled. I am sure it's replaceable..maybe even under warranty...I don't know...I am just so frustrated because now I have to go figure out how to fix it and it happened at a bad time because I was already feeling down about things.

Anyways...I just needed to vent....

Only 10 more DAYS of school until Kaitlyn's summer vacation starts!!!! YAY! :)

Here are a few pictures from the past little while!


Weston is now sleeping in a "big boy" bed! So far, so good! Right now he's looking at this picture with me and he's saying, "Baby!? Elmo!?" Oh...now he's wanting a paci since he saw one in the picture! He's trying to lift me off the chair to go get it for him! Too funny!
Kaitlyn's dance recital was this past Friday night. She wasn't too thrilled with the costume...but I think she looks super cute! She and her class danced to the "Bugle Boy Boogie Woogie!"

I just had to show you our china hutch! Such a steal of a deal! Thank you Magic Marker for helping me fill in the scratches!

Weston was walking around the house like this the other day and I thought it was too cute to not take a picture of...plus it'll be great for black mail when he is older!

This is me and my niece Marley when she was just two days old! Such a sweetie!

And this is my other new niece Mary Belle! I think she was about a week old here. I love those cheeks!

Well...it feels good to get some pictures on here! :)