Windy.

They say that it's windy for two straight months in Cheyenne, Wyoming. I can see why "they" say that.

The wind was so strong that it was blowing my parent's patio chair in a circle.

Don't mind my brother in the background, he was trying to set up a new game and didn't realize how loud he was talking.

Let me know if the video doesn't work...

Shutterfly

Ever hear of Shutterfly? I did, but I thought it was a waste since I love to scrapbook. Boy was I wrong!

Erin got a code that gave a free 8x8 photo book from Shutterfly and she gave it to me. It was the perfect way to document our trip to New York. Check it:

front

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first page

There are a total of 27 pages. Here are just a few:

Day 36 & 37: Costumes and Irons

It's pretty late and I should be sleeping to prepare for lots of ironing and work tomorrow to help Cari with her wedding on Friday, but I finally got to a computer today. I spent some time over the last few days at my brother Rob's house uploading 80 or so photos to a new Flickr account I created so I could easily blog about them, but I never had a chance to blog about them. I wanted to spend as much time as I could with my family and Adam before I dropped Adam off at the airport and left for Cari's house today.

Instead of posting about previous days and photos I just want to talk about today.

After I dropped Adam off at the airport today I stopped by Mask Costumes, a costume store and rental in Salt Lake City. Cari's wedding is themed Steampunk and I had been trying for about a week now to find pieces that would fit the genre but would be cheap. I wasn't having much luck. Mask Costumes is a fabulous place. I walked in and told the ladies behind the counter I needed Steampunk things and I was immediately directed to two locations in the store that had accessories that were exactly Steampunk. I asked if they had any clothing and she directed me upstairs.

There was one woman upstairs with rows and rows of costume clothing. She asked me questions as far as if I liked to dress up and such and I said "I don't really know how to answer any of your questions, I'm bad at things like this. I don't know much about Steampunk so I'm kind of just trusting you to hook me up." I think she was a little timid at first but I think in the end loved being able to do what she thought was best. I tried on a lot of different items - different tops, corsets, hats, gloves, chokers... I didn't have to say much of anything and I think the outfit turned out fabulous. I loved the level of service I got. I spent probably 45 minutes with Holly (I believe that was her name) with pure one-on-one time. She also asked to take a picture for their Facebook. I was able to snap a few shots of myself in the mirror while she was looking for a hat.

Photo is missing boots, top hat & goggles, cane, gloves and choker.

She came back upstairs with some awesome goggles that I ended up purchasing.

When I got to Cari's, Gary wasn't there but the door was unlocked. I walked in and found Cari's nieces, Remy and Evelyn (I don't know how they're spelt) in the backyard. Cari's brother-in-law Lincoln came out and we chatted for a good bit before they went back inside. It was good to catch up!

Gary came home after I left to go to Wal Mart to kill time and I was able to watch The Other Guys, a movie I started watching last week but wasn't able to finish. When Cari came home from work she had me start ironing the cloth napkins.

Part of my job for tomorrow to finish.

What I've finished so far! Just need to fold and put into boxes for transport.

Another project for tomorrow or the next day - more ironing. This project is going to turn out ADORABLE.

I also hope to create an awesome Nerf gun. Gary is awesome at these. He takes a gun that looks like it should for kids:

And makes it into something that doesn't look anything like the original product:

These are two different models of Nerf guns (it's late and I'm not sure anymore that's what they're called. Nerf guns?). I will have to purchase the more expensive one, the one that's not painted, because the bottom one requires you to have moderate hand strength to shoot, of which I have none.

I miss my husband already but I think the last half of this trip will go by fast with so much to do. I'm excited for this fun wedding!

Day 33, 34, 35: Grandma Jean Goodell

I've been up since 5:30 this morning, when the sun got up. I don't want to wake anyone up so I'm on Adams iPhone waiting for it to be a decent time. Sorry for the typos, it s hard to type on this phone super accurately and I keep hitting the "done" button.

We got in early Thursday morning and I had such a hard time sleeping I only got 2 hours of sleep and didn't get any on the plane. We tried to nap when we got to my parent's house but with so many people it was nearly impossible and I think made us more grumpy. We went to PF Chang's for dinner and I took photos that I will upload when I get to a computer. My dad paid for every one of us. Adam got their hot and sour soup and neither one of us liked it. I got the egg drop soup because Ive had it before and knew I liked it. Adam tried it and really liked it too. I got crab wontons which were absolutely delectable... Adam tried a bite for the sole reason being he was starving. I knew he wouldn't like it, it doesn't have anything he would like... He despises all types of seafood and I was shocked he tried it! I wasn't shocked he hated it and chased it with a full glass of water. For the main entree I got sesame chicken (my favorite!) and Adam got Pepper Steak which he devoured. He's never really eaten Chinese food before and I was proud that he was able to find something he absolutely loved. Their mini desserts are fabulous and everyone let each other have a bite. Drew had carrot cake, mark had chocolate cake (this was my favorite), Adam had apple pie and I had red velvet cake. Ok I guess when I mean "everyone" I just mean the few on my end of the table. We also shared/tried each others main courses. Mark had Ginger chicken I think, it was really good. I don't remember what anyone else had except for Amy at the other end of the table. Her Kung Pao Chicken was really dry and tasteless.

Yesterday was a slow day of nothing but passed so fast. We played games, ate leftovers from the night before, went to Hobby Lobby and found some African Violets. The violets were the only request my grandma had that was hard to fulfill. She wanted a bouquet of them wrapped in a handkerchief when she is buried. Luckily they are right in season but no florists had any and my sisters called every number in the phone book. Better yet when we went to Hobby Lobby we couldn't find fake ones either. Adam and I tried to find an employee that worked in that department that could help us look for them. We ended up going to the register and were told she was out to lunch. I asked if there was anyone that could help us. The lady asked what we were looking for and she said she grows them in her garden so she could certainly help us look. When we told her what it was for she became really determined and even suggested we come pick some out of her garden! In the end she suggested we try Lowe's or Home Depot. Adam called Lowe's right up (literally down the street - you walk outside the doors of Hobby Lobby and you see the Lowe's sign) and they had some! How perfect was that!

Late-ish last night my brother Scott and his family arrived. They drove from Denver and his wife Amy brought all the flowers for the funeral today since she has a wholeseller's license for doing wedding flowers. When they arrived, my brother Coray was moving his car so Scott could back up into the driveway for easy unload of the flowers. He wasn't paying attention, turned too quickly out of the driveway, and demolished the brick mailbox at the end of the driveway and put a pretty good dent in his brand new (2011!) Ford. I felt so bad for him. I'll take pictures today after the funeral.

The first night we arrived here we stayed with my parents. They have limited space and we got kicked out of the bed (not really kicked out, we knew we only had the bed for one night) to let Scott and Amy have it while they are here. With so many people at my parents house and our sanity running thin, we asked my brother Rob and his wife Ann if we could bum a ride with them up to Bountiful to sleep in their spare bedroom like we have been doing for he past two Christmases. I think that was an awesome choice, I get a little bit of sleep which makes me less cranky which makes everyone happy. Adam and I definitely aren't used to a loud house and it's ridiculous how much noise we can't handle. It also helps with shower limitations... I think there are 10 people at my parents this morning that have to share 2 showers. It would've been 12 with us there.

The viewing is at 9:30. We plan to arrive at 10 or so. I don't have any waterproof mascara so I hope I can hamper my emotions today. Grandma had a lot of jewelry and my mom is having every girl and woman take a piece or pieces that they want. I took a broken, gold butterfly brooch/pin, a Target ring my mom bought her for this coming up mothers day that of course she never received, a single pearly earring (it had no partner) and a red clutch. Also a hankie, everyone gets a hankie. I'll wear her green gemstone ring that I blogged about earlier this week and her clutch today.

It's taken me two hours to type this entry on this iPhone. I'm hungry and my wrists hurt!! And I'm sick of hitting the "done" button when I'm obviously not done!! I'll post 100 pictures when I can.

More

I already posted today but I'll be out of town for a while and I don't know I'll be able to update regularly. Plus I have some really lame photos I want to share.

My grandma passed away on Easter Sunday and her funeral is this Saturday in Utah. Adam and I were able to get plane tickets and we are blessed to have a mother that loves us and will be able to help us with some of the cost. Last minute flights are super expensive - we ended up spending $1000 on just the two of us. And we got crappy flight times. Our flight leaves tomorrow in Milwaukee at 6 in the morning. Milwaukee is an hour and a half away, meaning we probably don't get to sleep tonight.

Adam's work allows him 8 hours of bereavement time for her passing but he still doesn't have much PTO. He will be coming back to town on Monday and I will be able to stay until next Saturday, after my good friend Cari's wedding. They got engaged several months ago and I think I was one of the first to know (what a fab friend). I swore I was going to be there and I put in a PTO request and made sure it was approved. And then I got fired and I couldn't afford a plane ticket. How bittersweet that my grandma passed so close to the wedding and her funeral is just 6 days prior. I told Cari I will be 100% at her disposal as long as she gives me a couch to sleep on. Gary, her soon-to-be husband, will be taking the week off work to help clean and get her mom's house ready and I get to tag along to help! She has a fabulous site and you all should at least click on it to see the awesome picture on the front page: here. She's having a steampunk themed wedding. I won't be able to afford to dress up but she said there will be props I can steal. I'm so excited!!

I've been so unbelievably exhausted recently... since Sunday. Probably from a lot of stress - hearing about it on Sunday, then trying to deal with anxiety when I don't know when or where it's going to be so I can't plan until I know, and then I know and I have to plan and try to find a flight that won't make us go bankrupt. Oye vey. Oh, and the time of month may have a factor in that too.

On happier news, I checked our bank account this morning and found our federal refund is pending to hit our bank account tomorrow! I really don't like getting big refunds but we figured it was better to overpay last year than to underpay... we weren't sure with getting married and buying a house how much we would really owe. It turned out to be a huge blessing for us. With all my medical problems and two surgeries late last year we had a lot of medical bills that were taking a long time to pay off. With this refund we'll be able to completely pay all my medical bills and still have a little money left over. This is especially exciting because Adam and I made an agreement a few months ago that we'd do something special when they were paid off - something I'll actually blog about when we do it.

My camera is now charged and I uploaded the photos from yesterday and found out how really sleep deprived I am.

I would like to know why cameras have ONE object in front of it and it even has a little box it puts around the object before you snap the photo, but then when you click the button the BACKGROUND is in focus? I love this camera except up-close photos are NEVER in focus! So Merry Freaking Christmas - you get blurry photos.

This is the ring I posted about yesterday. I was 18 when my mom and my aunt Kathy went out to Gering, Nebraska to visit my grandma. We were sitting in Sacrament Meeting (like Mass for Mormons) and I was sitting next to my grandma. She was wearing this ring and I told her I thought it was beautiful. She took it off her finger and put it on mine and said "it's yours." I started to say no to be polite, but a lady nearby was watching and whispered to my mom "you make her take that ring!" So I did. And I love it.

Yesterday I did and didn't get much done. As I said yesterday, I get distracted easily when in that spare room. I went in there to finish the wedding card for Cari and in the middle of it I put some stuff on the wall:

Distraction #1
Does anyone else have a hard time putting things on walls? I just feel like there's a certain place to put things and I don't know the formula so if I put it on the wall it's going to look tacky and out of place. What's wrong with me?

Distraction #2
See like this. I love the "dream" and I love the butterfly. I wanted it in a place I would always see it, but doesn't it look awkward here?

Distraction #3
Last week I was looking for a product that would easily make circles. I knew of die cuts but they were so expensive. I was tracing objects and cutting by hand but that was getting tedious and puts a lot of strain on my wrists. I found a product called Fiskar's Ultra ShapeXpress. I bought it and a $5 circle template card thing. I can't stop making circles now - it's so fun!

Distraction #4
Buttons. I was looking at every single button in my stash. Why? I don't know. Because they're interesting?

Distraction #5
I found this next to the Ultra ShapeXpress templates for $5. I love the look of flowers on projects but spending a dollar per flower for the fancy, pre-made ones I can't justify. I thought I'd give it a try since it was cheap.

This is the template I chose - you trace the design, cut where it says to cut and fold where it says to fold. You make however many it tells you to make, in this case 3. On the left is what it came out looking. Maybe it would've been better on plain paper but I had scraps I wanted to use.

Another view. I'm not too impressed with this one. I'll have to play around with the other templates. What do you think?

This wasn't part of my distraction, but I wanted to share my story about it. I was watching a free video/lesson on stamping techniques on one of my favorite websites ever, Two Peas in a Bucket. The lady was using a technique I use all the time, embossing, but in the video she had her embossing powders in plastic containers. Ingenious! The powders come in a tiny plastic jar thing and you sprinkle like half of the container on your project but then you dump 95% of the powder off and have to get it back into the tiny jar. It gets messy. This way you just spoon the powder onto your project and can easily dump it back into the container. No mess!

I used this embossing powder (clear) for part of the card, the only part I'll show you today:

I used a new stamp I got from Hobby Lobby in the clearance section. Originally $10 and I think I got it for $3?

I got distracted again when I decided it was time to write my sentiment inside the card. I went to the computer and didn't get done for two hours. I probably worked on the card for a good 20 minutes, the rest was messing around.

Today I had to stop by Walmart to pick up some beloved travel size items. Gotta love the stupid 3 ounce rule. In the travel item section I found this thing and I loved it.

Closed. What is it?

Open. Ok, a mirror, cool, but what's on the right?

BAM! A brush! Super awesome!

I blame a picture of these different colored bottles on my lack of sleep.

Does anyone have any victorian-era/steampunk stuff I can borrow? I need it for May 6th and can have it back to you the next day. Anything like:

• Parasol
• Gloves
• Hats with plumage
• Fans
• Lace
• Ruffles
• Bustled skirts
• Brooches

Hat and hairpiece