Stamping, Stamping, Stamping

Guess what I did this weekend??? It has been raining pretty much non-stop and the roof did not leak (woo hoo!! Thanks hubby!!!!) And for some reason, rain and stamping just seem to go together. There's nothing better than a rainy day, a cup of hot chocolate and some stamping projects.

Gail came over on Saturday and we worked on some projects for our workshops/crops this month. We had so much fun. It was totally a team effort. One of us would add an element and then pass the card to the other one to add something else.

Here's the "Love" card we created

And our adorable Serendipity clips! (Mine is on the left, Gail's is on the right. I like her flowers better!!)

Tamale Day

Every year I look forward to going to my Dad's house to help my Step-Mom and Step-Sisters make tamales. Since I'm such a messy tamale maker, I have to wear an apron. Somehow I get masa everywhere. The past couple of years I have thought it would be fun to make "tamale" aprons. Usually I come up with the brilliant idea while we are making the tamales, or as I'm walking out the door to go.

This year I thought of it earlier. In fact I even tried to sucker my step-mom into helping me make them, but she didn't take the hint.

About a week or so later, I actually bought some cute Christmas fabric and a pattern. Then I got busy.

The day before I told my friend Gail that I had thought about making the aprons and had even bought the fabric. Being the good friend that she is, she said "You have to do it!"

Ok, ok.... so I got busy and I made four aprons. I stayed up until midnight and then finished them up in the morning...1 hour before I had to be at Dad's house and I am soooo glad I did it. I'll need to make a few more next year. Four doesn't even begin to outfit everyone who stops by to help, but it was a start....

Here are the completed aprons.

After we were done, they adorned the wall in the kitchen.

Not everyone helps with the tamales, there are always other fun projects around to do. Cassie, Lucy and Leah made the gingerbread houses. They turned out sooo cute!

Steadfast

Hubby was home for 6 glorious days and I was off from work, so I ignored everything and just did family stuff. We shopped and ate and got projects done and pretended we were a normal family for a few days. It was really nice to have so much time together. It's the most consecutive time we have spent together in 1.5 years. Of course that made it even harder to say goodbye this morning.

Now it's time to get back to work and get back to my "normal" schedule. I was so preoccupied that I didn't even think about my New Year Resolutions!! I have a couple in mind and I'm planning to ruminate and think about a few others over the next day or two.... but I did decide on my word for the year - Steadfast.

I'm borrowing it from the 2008 church theme for our youth. "Be steadfast and immovable, always abounding in good works" (Mosiah 5:15).

I know the things I need to do and accomplish and I've made good strides in implementing things that will make life go more smoothly. My problem is that I'll be really focused for a while and then let things slip, then I refocus, then let things slip. This year I want to be steadfast. I want to be steadfast in my exercise and eating habits, steadfast in maintaining peace and organization in my home, steadfast in performing my church callings and steadfast in my responsibilities at work. To me steadfast implies strength of resolve. I do not plan to be so unwavering that I can't allow for life's little surprises, but I want to be strong and steady in the choices that I make each day.