New Year's Eve & Resolutions

I thought I'd make one last post before the new year. I've been thinking a lot about the past year, the good times and the bad. I have also been very thoughtful about my resolutions this year and I have come up with three. Three seems to be my magic/lucky number (as well as my OCD number). So here they are:

1.GET ORGANIZED! I have gotten a bit of a head start on this one. I stumbled upon my friend Joy's blog. If you don't know Joy, she is famous for being the organizational guru in our ward. Her tips are fabulous! I have been taking her up on some of her challenges. I need to make my life a bit easier by getting organized. Here are some of my baby steps:
















Credits for binder: Shabby Miss Jen Rock Star paper, Tangie Baxter alpha, K. Pertiet ribbon, Something Blue Studios frame, Shappy Princess Tag, fonts-Pea Stacey's Doodle & Pea Jane


Check out her blog Just Organize Yourself. She's doing a give away for the New Year.Lots of good stuff there!


#2 Lose the last of that baby fat. Jack is 16 months now. Enough said!


#3 Do everything I can to support (not find) my husband a new job. He still has his pre-Bachelor's degree job and he has a bit of a wait to get the call for the fire academy. I've had a poopy attitude about this predicament lately and a bit resentful towards him and it's unfair. Those who know me know that I try to solve everything myself and I try not to depend on others. I think the big guy upstairs may be trying to teach me something. I need to have a little bit more faith that Heavenly Father will open the door for Damian when the time is right and that will allow me to be home more with the kids.


I've just realized that I've got a bunch of party poopers tonight. The kids fell asleep in the front room while watching The Disney Channel and Damian is in the lazyboy with the baby. Oh well, I'll just give them a little kiss at midnight :0) In just a few minutes it will be a new year, a fresh start. I hope to find joy in the journey of 2009. I hope the same for you also.

It's Naptime!!!!!

Honestly, I am a bit weirded out by all the quiet. Jack continues to improve and is starting to get his appetite back. He crashed out allowing me to do a layout and to blog. Here is the layout I just finished! I think I am done with it.






















Credits: Shabby Miss Jen grungee and trashed paper, Brittish Designs hang in there clips, Something Blue Studios frame, K.Pertiet ledger frame 1, Shieshido.biz Damask and swirl brushes, fonts-Pea Stacy Doodle & Orlando

I wanted to share a few projects that I had made before Christmas. I just got so crazy busy that I didn't get around to posting! Last Monday a few friends from work came over and we hand dipped large pretzels and rods to give as gifts. They turned out gorgeous, and of course yummy!
















We then decorated Sonic drink carriers, added the chocolate pretzels to one side of the carrier and a bottle of Martinelli's to the other side. These made the perfect neighbor/friends/family gifts! Must give credit to my fabulous digi friend Kari for the idea of decorating the Sonic drink carriers. I added a few ribbons, clear tinsel to the bottom of the carrier, and digi scapped the label on the side and printed it out onto photo paper. Credits for digi supplies used: M. DeCrow and Britt-ish Designs Very Merry Collab Kit, Tangie Baxter alphabet.























Have a Happy Tuesday!

I finally, after what seems like forever, got to DIGI SCRAP TODAY!!!!!

All of my photography sessions were edited as planned this last weekend (Hallelujah!). I had also hoped to have a clean house, but that didn't work out. A girl has got her priorities and it obviously isn't a clean house today. Today was all about digital scrapbooking (and helping Jack to feel better). I think the last time I made a layout was October. YIKES! So, because it was mom's day off (in a way) it was fend for yourself day for the bigger kiddies. The boys are pro's at Eggo Waffles and Hot Pockets. I love that they can be independant!!!!!! I hardly saw them anyway. Liv was in Barbie heaven again and the boys were playing Wii Fit and Raving Rabids. I was talking with Kiahna today while scrapping and she was pestering me to post these. TADA!

This layout was inspired by a tutorial over at Taylor Made Designs























Credits:Fei-Fei's different strokes, Seishido.biz brushes, BB watercolor brushes, K. Pertiet vintage text paper, J. Wilson trees in a blizzard paper, J. Sprague grunge frame, E. Merritt paper blocks, Miss Mint painted overlay, fonts- Times & Times Again, One Fell Swoop






















Credits: Golden Girls @ Scrap Matters Tinsel Town paper and elements, Tangie Baxter alphabet, J. Sprague grunge frame, font-Pea Sarah Quick























This layout is a full blown hijack (I mean scraplift) of bcnatty's layout over at Scrap Matters. The only original thing about the layout is the picture. Fastest layout ever...5 minutes (woohoo!)Credits:Golden Girls glitter border, MDeCrow and Brittish Designs Very Merry alpha and element, font-Pea Sarah Quick

Hey, guess what I am doing tomorrow? That's right, digi scrapping, again, but with a bit of housekeeping squeezed in. I think Kiahna and I are doing the speed scrap over at Scrap Matters because it's vacation and we can :0) TTFN!

Surviving Christmas 2008

Sigh!!! We made it through the night, Jack's fever was under control by the morning, but he woke up with a nasty cough and booger nose. We tried our best to have a nice night. After last night's blog post, we gave the boys their new jammies. Olivia fell asleep early as did Jack. We got Liv's jammies on her as she slept and we had to wait until Jack's fever was down before he could wear his new jammies. Damian made a big pot of soup (it was yummy!) while I held a very fussy baby.


I think Damian and I got to bed by 2:00 am and of course the big boys had us up at 6:30 am...OUCH! I was so over fancy packages this year. No bows, wrote on packages with a sharpie pen, poor wrapping. So unlike me! The kids didn't seem to care.

Santa was very good to the children this year! Their lists weren't long (thankfully). Jared asked for Lego sets and a DS game. Nick wanted anything Backugan and a DS game. Santa brought them Raving Rabids for the Wii along with a Wii fit board. It's the game you can play with your butt. We all had fun playing it later in the evening. It's awesome and I had a blast playing it (sorry no pics of me playing it with my butt!). Grandma got them the new Star Wars Clone Wars game for the Wii along with the light saber attachment for their Wii-motes.




















Olivia was in Barbie heaven! Santa brought her six Barbies (none of them skanky, don't get me started on that), a Barbie Diamond Castle princess dress (that I cannot get off of her), and girly doo-dads(like make-up and bows).




















Grandma made her day by getting her the much coveted Barbie Diamond Castle. This was her reaction:




















Priceless!

She also got the Barbie Diamond Castle singing Barbie. Can I give it back Santa??? I am so sick of hearing those retarded lyrics and my daughter singing them over and over. Keeping my fingers crossed those batteries die soon!

My brother sent the kids some very cool gifts (thanks Uncle Mike!) The coolest was Elmo Live for Jack. We had fun watching him play with it! Santa also brought him Yo Gabba Gabba toys. We love this stupid show so much because of it's effect on Jack!! We affectionately call it baby crack as Jack is mesmerized by it. We've DVR'd every episode. So you could imagine his reaction to some of the toys. In fact Olivia loved them as well as was often found stealing these toys away from Jack.





















My mom and her Dan drove down from the mountain and were going to stay for dinner. I was cooking a huge dinner to rival the one I had cooked for Thanksgiving. My mom gets a call from her friend that there was snow falling and they'd better get back home before the roads close. I packed up the food that I had finished cooking and sent them on their way. By the time dinner was done, Jack and Olivia were asleep. I myself was so exhausted that I made the decision to eat dinner in front of the TV. We hardly saw the boys anyway and their number one priorty was to get back to their toys. This definitely was a unique Christmas for us! Hectic, exhausting, and memorable. We survived Christmas!!! So today, I will make feeble attempts to recover mentally and physically, get my house clean, and edit a few more sessions so I can do nothing next week but fun stuff (like digi-scrap) before crawling back to work on the 5th. Hoping your Christmas was special as well!!

Christmas Eve

So we start our morning running over to the mall to see Santa. I normally like to go sooner, but we were too crazy busy. Lesson to be learned: Don't ever go see Santa on Christmas Eve! The mall wasn't too terrible, but the line to see Santa was. We had to wait over an hour. That was not easy for Jack. Fortunately there was a Wetzel's Pretzels next to Santa. So my big boys had to run over (under a watchful eye) to get pretzels and such to keep Jack happy. Man, when those pretzels and soda were gone... YIKES! Olivia and the boys were great and were super helpful, but Jack was just CRABBY.

I think Santa's helpers work too hard to try to get kids to stop crying or look at the camera. Most normal people realize that these pictures will suck. What we treasure is the moment. You can't stop the the tantrum or the freak out once it starts. I love it, I think when little ones freak upon sitting on Santa's lap that it is AWESOME! The line could also go faster also if everyone embraced this sentiment. Mall Santa was awesome!! He deserves employee of the month!

Here is our Santa picture. Sure, the quality of it is crappy and the price for the pics and CD was ridiculous, but this moment was PRICELESS!!
Every family needs a picture like this:


So over to Macy's we go for a fabulous new pair of black boots!! Thanks to my Sugar Momma!! She said she wanted to buy me a pair for Christmas. So I went ahead and bought them. I hate to admit that they were out of the price range given. I called her after my purchase and she was feelin' the Christmas Spirit and said she'd cover them. YAY! I got the last pair in my size. Just keeping my fingers crossed they don't give me blisters. I thought it was hysterical that while I was trying on shoes and Jack was still having the fit that Santa started, Olivia rips off both her socks and shoes and begins trying on shoes as well. I just let her, I was over getting my kids to comply at this point. She did pitch a fit when I refused to buy her an $80.00 pair of Calvin Klein pink flats with a flower on them (quite cute might I add). I had to lie to her and tell her maybe Santa would bring them tonight. She says in her sweet voice "for me?" Let's hope she forgets by tomorrow morning.

Next stop was Costco to pick up some pictures for Kiahna and for a few grocery items for tomorrow's feast. Jack was getting crabbier and unless he was eating samples or the cart was moving, he was fussing.I thought he was just sleepy. Little did I know that he was beginning to get sick. By the time we get home, Jack had a 101 degree fever. "Not tonight!" (or tomorrow) was my thought. I quickly give him Tylenol. His fever spiked at 103 degrees. SOOOOOOO, my perfect fantasy of Christmas Eve this year is shot. After talking to the advice nurse, piggy backing Advil with the Tylenol, and giving Jack a bath, we were able to get his temperature down. So now, he sleeps. Tonight, while I hide in the bedroom wrapping gifts, the big kids will make their gingerbread house and open their new jammies. I am also hoping to make a big pot of soup to freeze if poor little Jack can handle it. My Christmas wish now is that we don't end up in the ER or at urgent care. I know that despite my poor little guy being sick, our Christmas will be magical and memorable. Just not what I had planned. Have a Merry Christmas from our family to yours!!!!

I'm Going Live!!!!

Finally!! The launch of my photography site is scheduled for tonight or tomorrow. I am giving you a backdoor entrance to check it out. I'd love to hear what you think!!! There are a few tweeks to be made, but all in all it's ready to go.
Here is the link: http://www.jenwolffphotography.com
You will come to a white page with text. Click on the link "Sadie". This will take you into the site.
Friends and Family, thank you for all of your support and encouragement(and business). This was not a planned adventure, but one I am excited for! FYI, I am not quitting my day job. I am only shooting on the side. Oh happy day!

Photo for the Day

Hell-o friends!! Olivia decided she would model for me today. We tried on tons of outfits and took pics around the house. Here is my favorite pic from today. I think she is finally overcoming the "I refuse to look at the camera" stage.

Decking the Halls

It seems that this year we are late in doing lots of things. Getting to church on time has been difficult, sleeping in late, and let's not forget decorating for Christmas. Hell-o! There's like ten days until Christmas!!!! Total slackers! Well, at least in my book we are late in decorating. It's our family tradition to get started the day after Thanksgiving, but I've been so crazy busy with my latest and greatest adventure (you know that photography thingy I'm doing) that decking the halls was just going to have to wait...until tonight. A perfect family home evening activity!

The lights were up about a week ago, Yay Damian!!!!























Tonight, Jared played Christmas carols on the piano as we trimmed the tree, clothing was optional.




















Olivia kidnapped our nutcracker along with the (in my Ricky Bobby voice)"Sweet Baby Jesus" from our nativity. I am sure they are now somewhere amongst her "nekked" Barbies.I think I see Joseph in her hands as well in this picture. Look out Ken!





















We finished the tree.






















Some of us (Jack) attempted to demolish the tree. Hmmm...I better move all the favorite and lethal ornaments up high!





















This is the look I'd get after saying "No! Don't touch!" Who could resist this face?





















Where am I?? Oh yeah, behind the camera. Where else would I be? I really should make more of an effort to be on the other side. I may need to prove to my offspring that I really was present!

I thought you should know I LOVE my new camera (the Canon 50D purchased with money from a wedding I shot. Kind of had to buy it for this wedding, needed a back-up.)!!! I enjoyed playing with it in little light and exploring ISO at 3200.Five stars and two thumbs up! Did I mention I LOVE my new camera?





















So I can finally say Christmas is in full swing at the Wolff residence! Woohoo!

Jared's Band Concert

Jared is in band this year and is absolutely loving it! He chose to play the sax (just like his daddy). He is really good, and I'm not just saying that because he is my kid! Tonight was his Holiday Band Concert. All I can say is WOW! The kids were awesome!!! We have an amazing band teacher at our school. We stayed for the entire concert and listened to the middle school kids as well. They have an impressive steel drum and mallet band that will knock your socks off! Olivia was totally into it and the highlight of the evening for her was Rudolph dancing down the aisle of the auditorium. Grandpa didn't think he was going to make it and surprised Jared by attending with video camera in hand. That made Jared's evening! We are very proud of Jared and how hard he works every night practicing. Here are a few pics. They aren't great. Shooting in an auditorium with crappy lighting is a new experience for me.

Christmas Card

No, I am not missing, just in front of my computer editing photos, making Christmas cards. and ordering photos for families. I have been busy and I am truly thankful to have a little side business to supplement our family's income.
Hop on over to my photography blog to see what I have been up to. There is a link on the side bar. Keep an eye open for the launch of my website. I am excited to share it with you!
Anywho, I thought I'd share our family Christmas card for my digi friends, lurkers, and friends that I do not have addresses for. Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a great day! I stayed in my jammies all day! Damian and Nick went to our ward's turkey bowl and had left before I woke up. I hear they had an absolute blast. They came home all dirty and stinky. Bluck! Damian and I started cooking some of our dishes last night so that all we had to do was heat. Boy, does that help to make things less stressful! I love that my husband enjoys cooking with me! I think in his next life, he'll be an Iron Chef! He is such a Food Network junky! We watched the Jon and Kate Plus 8 Marathon as we cooked. My mom was off gallivanting with her new boyfriend and opted out of dinner with us this year. My dad went to visit my grandma who isn't doing well. So it was just our little family and a big fat turkey! It was nice to not be stressed out today! I must say, we had an amazing dinner!!! The menu this year included:

Turkey(of course)
Smashed Potatoes and Gravy
Sweet Potatoes
Chef Salad
Broccoli Salad
Funeral Potatoes
Stuffing
Green Bean Casserole
Yeast Rolls
Martinelli's in fancy glasses






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Olivia could not get over drinking from a fancy glass, toasting, and constantly clinking her glass to daddy's while squealing "Cheers". For dessert, we had chocolate pumpkin pie. Well, there goes the 20 pounds of post baby fat I've lost since June! To my friends, family, and lurkers: I hope you had an amazing day! There is much to be thankful for! Hugs!

Here's my Two Cents!

Date Night! Woohoo! My dad came over to play with the kids and Damian and I went to see Twilight. If you haven't seen the movie but plan to, DO NOT READ THIS POST! I don't want to spoil it for you. I realize a movie can never be as good as a book, however there were times that I thought "This is so corny!". Never did I once think that when I read the books!!!!

I still liked it. Weird huh? I'd still tell people to go see it. I'll still buy the DVD when it comes out being the "Twi-hard" that I am. Can you imagine what people would think who have never read the books? The movie just didn't do the book justice. Here are some thoughts:

Totally bought into the movie version of Edward, Bella, Alice, Esme, and Emmett. James, Victoria, and Laurent's characters were cast well also!

Can't say the same for Rosalie, I did not picture her as a "fake blond" with an ample booty (not that that is bad, just not Rosalie). My vision of her was more angelic, and as a natural blond. Someone you wouldn't expect to be kick ass.

The only thing I couldn't get past about Carlisle was the fake blond hair as well, otherwise the actor did well. I almost would have bought more into him if the movie left out he was blond and let him be a brunette. It left out other tidbits.

Don't ya think Jasper looked like Edward Scissorhands?

Wasn't Bella's room yellow?

I wanted more kissing!! I was robbed! But boy was their first kiss Grrrr!!

Edward was HOT!!! Smokin! He could bite me anyday!

I don't think the movie did Bella and Edward's relationship justice.I felt as though it only skimmed the surface of some of the important stuff. It didn't suck me in as the book did.

Bella cooking dinner nightly for Charlie was important to their relationship. It shows how Bella felt she needed to take care of her dad. Important!

The high school boys acting like two-year olds in every scene they were in was overdone. Even when Jacob's dad and Bella's dad started goofing around outside bugged. CORNY!

What was the deal with the field trip? Compost tea and don't drink it? Corny, corny, corny!

The movie seemed rushed. The timeline was not established well. Their relationship grew over a significant amount of time. It felt like days not months. You can't get that sort of relationship in days.

So for the director's producers of the series, here is my two cents because I know they read my blog:

Follow the Harry Potter Plan for turning a movie into a book. It'll have to be longer, get a different director for the second movie, and give the author of the novel more power in the movie making process if not the final OK (I am assuming that Stephenie didn't get much say).

More kissing!!! More contact!!! Don't have the target audience be 14 year old LDS girls. Totally appropriate movie for them. I needed it to be more racy! Shoot for the 18-25 year old demographic. The younger kids have seen worse. Bella and Edward were tempted to go all the way in the book. The movie didn't sell that as much as it should have. I wanted to be inspired to go home and attack my hubby! Sorry, TMI!

I'll probably go see it again with notebook in hand. I am feeling the need to fact check.

All of the ingredients were there for an AMAZING movie. The producers, director, and screenwriter just didn't let it cook long enough.

I fully expect the second movie to wow! me. We loyal readers/fans deserve it. I cringe at the thought of the moviemakers not finishing the series for us because of poor reviews.What do you think?

New Session up on Photography Blog

I think I've said this before, everyone loves the shack. Really, I have other locations!!! I've got an upcoming session at a park and downtown. The White's fell in love with this location. Who am I to argue? I was super excited to catch a sun flare at this session!!! Hop on over to my other blog and watch their slide show.
jenwolff.blogspot.com