New Do

I've been tempted to cut my hair short for awhile. Every time I cut my hair I chicken out. This time it's the shortest I've cut it in years ... It's not as short as my "goal hair cut" but I thought that I'd ease Joe into it a bit more. :) He likes the longer hair. Here's my NEW DO :: Short and Spunky.

I'll bake my cake and eat it too!

There is one thing that I can remember that was consistent from birthday to birthday growing up. That was our birthday cakes. My mom would go to great lengths to make sure that our cake was perfect and she did a very VERY good job at it. One common theme from year to year was that they all were decorated with small toys. I don't really know why this is significant or why I remember it so much. I just remember the excitement of blowing out the candles looking at what was soon to be your new toy ... as soon as the frosting was licked off of the feet of course.

As I type this, my hands smell of sweet frosting and I am excited and honored that it is my turn to pass on my sweet mom's cake tradition to my family. I am not trained in "the art of cake decorating" like my mom was. She worked for a bakery until I was born and was quite skilled. In the future, I'd LOVE to take a class or two on cake decorating skills. BUT for now, my kids get my novice approach to cake decorating. For one of my first cakes, I am quite pleased with the outcome!

I look forward to tomorrow when Jace will gather with his family to celebrate his birthday. I also am looking forward to watching him thoroughly enjoy my hard work ... even if all he really notices or cares for is to satisfy his sweet tooth!

My baby is one!!

7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, HE'S ONE??

Oh how the last year has flown! Today we start celebrating Jace's Birthday week! I realize, as

more kids come, and as our financial situation changes, celebrating a birthday week will become difficult. I'm determined to make it work.

This is Jace's special week! He woke up this morning to a nice hot pancake breakfast. When we walked into the kitchen ... there sitting on his high chair was his first birthday week gift. A simple gift, but he LOVES it!! He loves to put the small cups in the big cups and even has been able to match the shape with the whole a time or two!

This week we have a lot planned: breakfast every morning (something we are not good at!) a party on Saturday (I promise to post!) and mom and dad ALL to himself on Tuesday.

Happy Birthday week baby Jace. I love you!

Happy Anniversary ...

Today is my 7 year Stampin' Up! Anniversary. Thinking back at my very first workshop ... I am so grateful at the prompting I got to be a part of such a wonderful company. I was watching the demonstrator make these cute, simple, cards and I just thought that I could do this! Initially I thought that I would just host a workshop, but something deep down made me realize that I needed to BE a part of this company. My little business grew quite well while I was finishing my schooling up in Logan. When I moved to Salt Lake, my career focus changed as I entered a new phase of my life as a middle school math teacher. I am grateful for the flexibility that Stampin' Up! has provided as my focus has changed along the journey. There was a time, shortly after buying the home that i'm currently living in, that I was literally HOURS away from being dropped and that same prompting jolted me into staying active. Since that moment, nearly 4 years ago, I have enjoyed my hobby of stamping. Making a few extra bucks here or there (which went "right back into my business" ... let's be honest ... I'm addicted to this!) has been fun and nothing really has happened. Then my life changed again. I got pregnant.

I always imagined that it would be a difficult decision -- staying home or going back to work -- I LOVE my job teaching. I love the rigor of the math. I love working with teenagers. I love looking into someone's eyes of a kid who has hated math his/her whole life and FINALLY for the first time in 7-9 + years GETS IT! I hated math until you ... it makes my day! Leaving this ... tough call. I have a hand, however small it may be, in shaping someone else's life. Not an easy thing to give up. SO when friends tell me that as soon as I have kids of my own ... that it's not going to be THAT hard of a choice, I didn't believe them.

This last year has been one of the toughest of my life. For several reasons. 1) I have an ADORABLE (perfect) little boy at home. What if I miss him crawling, or his first step. It's hard that my sitter knows his day time schedule and I ... really ... don't. 2) Let's just say that education isn't the "happiest" place to be right now. 3) I know it's my last year.

I have made the decision to stay home with my son. To be a Stampin' Up! demonstrator full time. I feel like both times that I received that little prompting inside it was because it was preparing me for this time in my life. I am so grateful for a wonderful company that will give me the opportunity to do everything I want to in my life. YES I will miss teaching, but really I am going to continue to teach ... I'm just going to be teaching creativity and stamping rather than complex algebra .... an easy trade in for what and who I want to be.

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy my website!!
Happy Stamping!
JEN

Invited

I thought I'd show off the birthday invitations that are going out to my family tomorrow! I used Stampin' Up!'s My Digital Studio to make them. I'm proud of how they turned out.