dear bergen jo,

**This is a letter I wrote to Bergen the night my sweet Mother passed away...

Tonight your sweet Grandma Joyce passed away. Tomorrow you will wake up and ask to go to Grandma's but you are to little to understand what's happened and it breaks my heart.

You loved your Grandma dearly and would give her loves and tell her all kinds of stories about everything. Her house was a second home to you with you visiting lots and sleeping on her bed when you were just a tiny baby.

You have dark hair and eyes just like her. She loved you very much and you would often sing to her...
"I looove you, I looove you, I looove you....so much, so much!"

We will miss her very much but I hope you know what a strong example she was of faith and strength she was to all of us. She battled a disease called scleraderma for 19 years and fought to see your mom graduate from high school, get married, graduate college, and give birth to you.

I hope you know and can feel of our Saviors love and the Atonement, for I know Grandma is whole and with family that has gone before her and Jesus.

We'll miss you Grandma, we loove you, we loove you, so much, so much!


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Things are well, different. Everyone tells me things will get easier, however I don't think that's the case. I have caught myself crying over fireworks, yarn, fabric, and just about anything else dealing with Mother's Day. I hope my heart will get stronger, and in the moments I am feeling weak I find myself being caught by so many uplifting, kind, and caring individuals. Words can never express my thanks (and the thanks of my family) for the prayers, cards, gifts, hugs, and other kind actions! Thank you, thank you, thank you.

My Mom

I feel so new to this, naive even. I can't tell how many times I tried to write down in words how I feel, how I've felt. Just on Sunday, we were at Church and someone handed me a piece of paper to write down something about my mother for an upcoming lesson. I sat racking my brain for something to write about my mother and yet I wrote nothing. Later on that night I would learn that my Mother passed away.

And now I need to write something.

My Mom was diagnosed with Scleroderma 19 years ago in June, I was 7. Everything changed, not all at first (at least for me) but eventually we all worked our way through that crippling disease. Her life, our lives, were a steady stream of bad news which we somehow turned into good. An original diagnosis of 5-7 years, turned to 7-10, turned to defying odds. That's how stubborn my Mom was, she fought to see graduations, missionaries return, weddings, and babies being born. She defied odds.

These past few years my sisters' and I have spent our days off during the week taking care of my Mom. I've had several people tell me "Oh, I couldn't do that..." or "How do you do that?" day after day. And I can tell them that I have grown up in the most charitable and giving family that I don't know any different. My Mom who was in extreme amounts of pain on most days, would be the first to ask me how I was feeling before I could even ask her.

My mom was a talented lady and I remembered being so excited when she was making a dress or costume for someone. I would sit beside her and scrounge together all of the scraps of fabric and save them for projects. She even helped me sew curtains for a playhouse that we had in our backyard. Two years ago, starting in October she decided she was going to make blankets for Christmas for all 7 of the married couples in the family. Not only did finish in time, she made one more for my Dad. The next year she made 15 blankets for each of the grandkids, plus other things over the years such as blessing outfits and blankets. I drove her several times to Michael's and enjoy helping her choose colors and patterns.

In all selfishness, I hate that she's gone but I guess it's NO COINCIDENCE that I wrote earlier on Sunday how grateful I am for the Atonement in my life. I have a strong testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

And hey, I like knowing she's in Heaven out of pain, with her Dad and future Grandkids, doing cartwheels and standing in line for the buffet.

I love you Mom.

Easter Egggstravaganza

 Our weekend was a busy one, on Friday we went to our Aunt Tipee's house to dye Easter eggs.

Bergen wasn't really sure about the eggs and what to do with them. She did good for awhile until I caught her drinking the dye and later throwing it up.

This was Bergen on Saturday morning while we were waiting to go to a local grocery store for a scavenger hunt. I attempted a lot of pictures and yet this is the best one, at least I tried! :)

The line for the egg hunt was super long but was worth it when we finally made it to the Easter Bunny. Bergen wasn't afraid of him like I thought she'd be, she just wouldn't take her eyes off of him!

Later we ate at Grandma's and then had an Easter egg hunt. We were all excited that the sun was finally out and spent quite a bit of time in the backyard.

 Bergs and Bells were dancing with their eggs and then per usual, ended it with a big 'best friends ever' hug!

After all the festivities we headed over to Old Main to roll {or throw} our Easter eggs.

Bergen launched 4 of them off before I could even get a picture. She loved rolling eggs so much it has been all she has talked about today!

 The university has some cool places to take pictures so I couldn't help but snap a few of the youngest grandkids.

 Little Gradyman thought the girls were really funny, but would only hold still for a minute before taking off! He is a busy little guy.

 Rounded the other kids up for a quick picture. Funny thing is they all posed themselves and I love how it turned out!

And finally this is Bergen on the way home from Grandma and Grandpa Clark's today...

I think she was exhausted from the busy weekend! Me too!

Hope you had a good Easter too!

P.S. We had a great time at church today, with a great lesson on a general conference talk from the dear Prophet President Monson. I am thankful for the Atonement and feel blessed to have it in my life. :)

SYTYC Scraps ONLY - Bloomin' Yo-Yo Skirt Tutorial

Many of you guessed and voted that the Bloomin' Yo-Yo Skirt was mine! 

I am stoked to have made it in SYTYC this long, I seriously feel like a small fish in the ocean when it comes to this crafting contest. 

So thanks again for everyone voting!

My husband was excited about this craft because I have laundry baskets full of fabric scraps, and well let's say I put a huge dent in it with this project!

For my SYTYC scraps project I made a Bloomin' Yo-Yo Skirt!

 I have always been obsessed with the fabric yo-yo's because they are so simply and fun. Make about 60 of them, add them to a high-waisted skirt, and you have one cute skirt for all ages!

You can also jump for joy because with the Bloomin' Yo-Yo skirt the outfit possibilities are endless!

TUTORIAL

I used my favorite high-waisted skirt tutorial found via Anna Maria Horner (love her!) only I replaced the band with a thick elastic.

I used a dinner plate to draw my cirlces and made my Yo-Yo's, since I am pregnant and therefore lazy...I will send you to tutorial for Yo-Yo's from the equally fabulous Heather Bailey. **Tip you can lay several layers of fabric on top of each other and cute about 6 circles out at a time**

{I know this challenge was scraps and let's face it, some scraps aren't as big as plates, so let's get crazy and I will tell you I pieced several fabrics together to achieve plate-sized status.}

I made about 60 yo-yo's and started in the back along  the bottom and worked my way around the skirt sewing them on an inch from their tops. For the second rows and beyond, I alternated the  yo-yo's between the spaces of the row below and covered 1/2 of the below yo-yo's.

For the top row I used a salad plate and hand sewed each of the yo-yo's on to give the skirt a polished look.

Now you just need a cute model, like my Brinlee Joy and you are ready for Spring. I just wish Logan and I were on the same page!!!! Sheesh!

P.S. This was my cute photo assistant Brooklyn... she was a really good help, when she wasn't skiing down the hill or jumping off the steps! ;)

You may recognize her from my shop or the model from my purse last week...Thanks Brook & Brin!

Our Life in Polaroids

These are just a few of the billions of pictures we take using Photobooth. 

I used a cool Polariod App on my computer found HERE. 

I highly recommend it.

Scraps ONLY @ SYTYC

Go on and vote for this weeks Scraps Only project. I have to admit I have been dreaming about this one for awhile and it's fun to have made it and finally able to show it off!

GO ON AND VOTE, HOPEFULLY FOR ME! :)

SYTYC Knock Off - Summer Garden Bag

 Like most of us, I drool over all the items that Anthropolgie has to offer, minus the price.

So for my knock-off craft, I decided to take a purses of theirs that I have been wanting, and give it a summery twist.

And at a fraction of the cost, I would like to introduce to you my Summer Garden Bag.

 This bag is made out of a houndstooth suiting material (found on clearance at Wal-Mart) and adorned with brightly colored garden felt flowers.

This bag is lined with a heavy green stripped material from IKEA and has an extra pocket for all of your important items.

I am a BIG BAG girl so I made the bag a little bigger so I could hold all of my Summer essentials. Can't wait to show this bag off well into Summer!


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I'm a little bummed my cute summer bag didn't do as well as I hoped!! I am getting around to the tutorial but I have been not been feeling great lately (verge of a cold, who knows?)

But I will hopefully get it out soon!  Thanks to everyone who did vote for me, I sure love this bag and can't wait to use it! :)

Lemon Baby!

 

This week my baby is the size of a Lemon, and it seems fitting that this baby is sucking all of the life out of me! Don't get me wrong I'm not sick or anything. I am just tired as all get out! Maybe it has a little something to do with the toddler I am chasing around...

Also fitting for this Lemon-y week is my current love of all things Yellow.

I bought this bedding for Bergen's new bed. However, true to my pregnant self / brain I forgot to order the bed! So when the bedding came today I got curious to where the bed had ended up?? Well it appears you have to order something for them to deliver it to your house, who knew?!

Also, I have been dreaming about dressing baby-to-be. It really needs a cheesy name, don't you think?  I can't think of any, well at least until we know the gender of the baby. Which is driving me nuts, but that's another story right?


Anyways, I really like this onesie, don't you?

I am also drooling over this couch (which is just one of many).

Mostly because I would love to have a tiny baby's picture taken on it all snuggled up and half naked.

Don't judge me, you know it would be super cute.

Plus, it's yellow!

Don't even get me started on this fabric. I have been dreaming about chevron's ever since Paula Prass debuted her Summer Soiree line.

I almost bought ten yards of this today, but I could only image what that would do to my poor Don. You see my closet of fabric is already overflowing.

But who says a girl can't keep dreaming in Yellow chevrons?

Stripes are just as cool as chevrons, especially in Yellow with the Blue accents!

Let's face it with my ever-expanding belly, this might be the most realistic item I can add to my Summer wardrobe.

Will this bag make me look fat? ha ha!

**I found all of this gorgeous eye candy, minus the bedding, on Pinterest. Sorry to keep making plugs but it's where I am posting all of my favorites. 

I just happened to notice my trend and thought I would share it! :) Hope you enjoyed it!

Knock Off Crafts

Knock off crafts are up over at SYTYC, go on a vote...

I really hope I make it because my craft for next week is super cool. 

So go on and vote, I need all the help I can get!!!!!!!

SYTYC Thrift - Old Schoolhouse Chalkboard {Tutorial}

Growing up I always wanted to be a teacher and would've loved more than anything to have a chalkboard. 

So I used a window pane that was found at a thrift store and turned it into an Old School House Chalkboard, perfect for any "little teacher".

The old glass in the window was replaced with wood and then painted it with chalkboard paint. 

 

I had picked up some side walk chalk at the dollar store and school was in session!

With a chalkboard like this, your 'little teacher' will give you an A+!

TUTORIAL / BEHIND THE SCENES

I started with an old window pane from a thrift store. I got so excited to use chalkboard paint that I forgot to take better before pictures.

With the help of my cute husband Don, we made the chalkboard stand upright.

Truth be told we really wanted to add another bar in between the posts but our drill died! So just so it's known for more stability we will be adding the extra post soon.

Next I painted the posts white and then distressed them to match the antiqued look of the window pane.

Finally, I painted the chalkboard. After a few hours of drying the chalkboard was good to go and just in time for Spring Break with the kids I babysit! We played school a lot and even a few games of pictionary!

P.S. Don't you think I had the cutest model ever? He was all too excited to dress up and play teacher for the afternoon!! Thanks Haiders!

Pinteresting Day #1

Here are couple of my favorite pins from my Pinterest board "This is what dreams are made of."

Right now, I am dreaming about wearing this necklace, getting my toes glittered, packing my bags and heading somewhere far enough away that I can read a good book (or two)!

Isn't that a good dream for a snowy day?

I think so.

{Do you Pinterest? If so, I'd love to check your boards out...you can follow me too if you'd like!)

Bergalish 2 Yr Pictures {a & g photography}

I had been planning to take Bergen's 2 Yr old pictures ever since I saw one of these cute balloons over at Oh Happy Day.

I finally found the best one here, and then had to wait for semi-warm weather to arrive.

Once we had a glimmer of sunshine on a Saturday and we were good to go! Only ONE problem, Bergen was completely afraid of the balloon!!!!!

She screamed and ran away several times, the wouldn't even look at it at other times.

It was a bit windy and so the even though the balloon was tied down it would blow back and forth, finally I remembered I had some clear packing tape in my care {who doesn't carry packing tape with them?}.

Once the balloon was securely taped to the wall the pictures finally went a lot more smoothly.

I honestly love all of my pictures that Ashley from a & g photography takes and these are no exceptions (view more of them here).

It also helps that I have one of the cutest models there is!!! Absolutely love her.

Thirfty Crafts

The THRIFTY CRAFTS are up over at SYTYC... go on and vote! Hopefully you pick mine! :)

SYTYC Dollar Store - Summertime String Lanterns {Tutorial}

We spend a lot of time during the summer on our patio. The patio is an add-on with a neat tin roof and wooden enclosure, but when the natural light is gone it can be very, very dark.

For the Dollar Store challenge I wanted to come up with something that would be stylish during the day and provide some light at the night time, so we can enjoy our patio even more.

So I came up with some Summertime String Lanterns!!

So I went to the Dollar Store to pick up the supplies, suprisingly enough, it cost less than $5.00! 

**Warning: making String Lanterns will make you wish it was Summer in your neck of the woods. I wish it was!

TUTORIAL:

Dollar Store Items Needed:
- Elmer's or white school glue (2)
- Balloons
- Thin String
- Gold Paint (optional)
- Clear Spray Paint (optional)

 Blow up balloons and roll the string into a big ball {this will allow for easy wrapping of the balloons}.

Dump the glue into a big mixing bowl.

 Add desired color of paint or leave alone to let the color of the string show.

 You will want to work on a tarp or I just put everything into my sink. Dip the string in the glue and wrap around the balloon.

{It's a little hard in the beginning but the more you wrap, the easier it is to get the hang of it!}

Once balloons are wrapped hang in a dry, warm area over  night.

I popped the balloons in the morning but still let them dry a few more hours before hanging them.

Because I wanted the lanterns to be outdoorsy, I would recommend spraying them with a clear craft or spray paint.

I then hung up the lanterns and then threaded some old Christmas lights into the balloons.


Now, just wait for the warm weather to hit your area and you are good to go! :)