Thanksgiving and More

We are in Kanab, Utah spending Thanksgiving with Adam's family this year. We had a wonderful day! I spent most of Thanksgiving day cooking with my mother-in-law Inez and sister-in-law Jessica, while Adam, Jarrett, and Kent played with the new Wii Kent bought. It was literally played from sun up to even after sun down. Adam's grandma White joined us for dinner and we had a great day. I posted the recipes of the food I prepared on my other blog. Click HERE to get them!

I don't know what it is about the "Chemical Agent" they say is in Turkey, but I think I believe it. Bryson and I took a two hour nap after dinner! That is probably the longest that boy has ever slept in the afternoon in his life. Thanksgiving evening, after the kids went to bed, we played domino's. Adam's family is known for cards and playing games.

We went to St. George today to pick up a piece to my new desk (pictures coming soon) and even got to do a little Christmas shopping! Inez took Bryson so Adam and I could go and come back quickly, plus we weren't sure if Bryson would fit after putting the desk in our car, and we were right!

Going backwards with our update ... Last weekend (Nov 21-23) we took a quick trip up to Orem to see my family and attend the Coldplay concert. Marney (my sister) and Erik (her husband) got some tickets to the concert as well and came with us. We had GREAT seats and just loved the concert. I have wanted to see Coldplay for YEARS and it was everything I expected and more. Some of the highlights were: they came to the back of the arena and played literally 50 feet from us. Adam was so excited that they played his favorite song "The Scientist". They also played all of my favorite hits, and I may have found a new hit at the concert, the single "Lovers in Japan". During this song they let millions of crate paper butterflies go through the air! It was amazing and we were so glad we made the 6 hour trek to be there.

Visiting with my family was short and sweet, but it was great to see them. The pictures below were some of my favorite from the weekend. Adam got to wash the car at the house because the weather was beautiful, Grandma and Grandpa got some SERIOUS bonding time with Bryson, Bryson got to see his cousin Addy ... even though I don't know if she is quite sure about Bryson. If you ask me, it looks like Bryson will be her ALTOGETHER too happy cousin that always picks on her :) We even dressed Bryson in his BYU shirt for the Utah vs. BYU game but the Coug's didn't come through this year. Luckily we didn't get to watch because we were headed to the concert!

Here is one of my favorites that I got with my new camera of my niece Addy. Isn't she adorable?

Other than that, we have been SO overly busy that we can barely manage. I headed to a convention in Seattle on the 13th,(Click HERE for more pictures and details), Bryson started crawling while I was gone, and Adam seems to be working around the clock. Between Scouts, YW in excellence, traveling, playing, holidays, and getting ready for a photo shoot of my office on Tuesday, (Creating Keepsakes is highlighting my workspace in the April Issue) I think both Adam and I might have a breakdown. Did I mention, BRYSON IS CRAWLING! I think it is a blessing and a curse in the same sentence! He is such a good boy though, I should never complain. He did however find Grandma Dudley's Christmas tree. Makes me wonder if I should even put mine up this year!

We are so excited for the holidays to come. I love this time of year to focus on everything I am grateful for and everything I have been blessed with. I couldn't ask for a better husband, baby boy, and life. We are grateful for you and all you have brought to us and our family! Hope you had a great Thanksgiving!

Halloween Weekend Highlights

What a great weekend we had!

First, Bryson's second tooth finally broke through. We finally have been getting sleep again!

Halloween was so much fun this year. We actually had a kid to dress up! Bryson was a Turtle and Adam and I decided to be ninja's. (Sorry for the double photo from my other blog). Every time we got in the car to go and visit a friend to "Trick or Treat" he would cry, but as soon as he saw people and they started commenting about him, he perked up and batted those long eye lashes. This kid just loves to be around people.




On top of Halloween, we also went to a Halloween party that my friend Kelly had at her house. It was the same type of soup party we had at our house last year, but her home had much more room, so we held it at her house this year! It was loads of fun!

This year's soups were: Taco Soup, Cream of Broccoli, Pasta Fazool, & Chicken Enchilada. We also had a ton of treats, and yummy breadsticks!

On Saturday we woke up and headed to Kanab to help our sister-in-law Milka roof her house. We got to see the annual Balloon Regatta before we left. They do this every year in Page and have TONS of hot air balloons. Bryson loved it!



Last but not least, Bryson got to hang out with his cousin Kason in Kanab. They are only two weeks apart! We enjoyed spending the day with Adam's family and taking a break from Page.

Hope you had a great weekend too!

Time flies when your having fun!

Hey guys! We have been so busy, and sad to say haven't taken too many pictures! I am waiting to get my new camera ANY DAY! ... then there will be more pictures than you probably want to look at!

Seeing this picture makes you understand why I need a new camera! This is Bryson on Pin's and needles WAITING for BYU to get their rear in gear and actually give us a good football game. TOO bad they never followed through!

My parents came to visit the weekend of Oct 10-12. We didn't do too much other than visit Adam's job site. I think my parents were quite shocked of how modern the resort it. It is VERY different, but cool and unique in it's own crazy way. Adam has been going to work at 5 am and getting home at 6 pm every day! This schedule might kill him, either that or make more grey hairs grow :)

Bryson and I drove home with my parents to Orem so I could work for a week and they could hang out with their only grandchild that lives outside of Utah county. I went to Park City Wednesday night for a convention and ran SMACK DAB into Theron Anderson and Josh Gibbons. They are sales reps for Quickutz, who was putting on the convention. It was great to reminisce about high school. Some people just never change! They are as hilarious and awesome as they were in high school. I slept overnight, went to the outlet malls ... man I miss that, and headed home Wed. night after teaching classes. (check out my personal blog for more info!)

Thursday we had HUGE news! BRYSON CUT HIS FIRST TOOTH! YEAH!!!!! Now we are just waiting for tooth #2. Mommy and daddy are REALLY ready for a good night sleep again.

Thursday I had my first CK Photoshoot for the magazine. It looks like my first Article will come out January 2008!

Adam joined us Thursday night. We enjoyed the day together in Salt Lake all day Friday doing lots of activities such as: seeing our Life Insurance agent, going to Pine needles, going to Ikea & Cabellas (Bryson's favorite) and even eating at our favorite Asian diner ... Pei Wei's! Adam joined my dad and brother at Riverside Country Club to do a little golfing on Saturday, while me, Bryson, and my mom went shopping!

After a week of being away I was ready to be back in my little house and some sort of schedule again, but as we were getting ready to pull away to go home, both of my parents were in tears, having to watch us go! MAN is it hard to live away and not get to watch Bryson grow. We sure are excited to someday go back to Utah.

This week hasn't had too much to report on. We do have the fall festival this weekend in Page, so I will be sure to post AND take pictures! Until then ... have a good one!

What we have been up to!

Last weekend we went with our friends Brock and Krista to an awesome restaurant we haven't tried. It tends to be on the higher priced restaurants in Page, and who wants to spend more money when you have Fiesta Mexicana (Okay, that is Adam's philosophy ... Mandy believes differently and can barely choke down Fiesta Mexicana anymore).

It is called "The Point Restaurant" at Antelope Point Marina on Lake Powell. It is a floating restaurant and so you have to take a golf cart down to the Marina and they drop you off. We had the Prime Rib and it was SO good! The service wasn't great but it's because it is the off season. COME BACK TOURISTS!!!!!!


Bryson came with and we even dressed him in his new outfit ... Doesn't he just look like a little man! He was such a good boy and behaved the entire time!

On Saturday we went down to the Lake for the annual Scout Cardboard boat races. WHAT A RIOT! These boys get into this kind of thing big time! Adam however "helped" by driving around the Wave runner to make sure no boys drowned. We then went out to Adam's job site. It is coming along, but there are lots of hold ups because it is so remote! We are just looking forward to the finished product!



Last but not least, YEP got set apart as YW president this week ... The girls are EXTRA special, but I am extremely overwhelmed. We told them we may only be here another year at the most, but they still wanted to call me. SO if anyone has great ideas, please feel free to pass them along!
Hope you are all well!

PS ... I do update my new blog more frequently, so for all you complainers ... come on over. I will post different things on this blog, including more of the creativity side of what I do each day!

http://mandydouglass.blogspot.com

A New BLOG has come!

Yes it is true, find out all about it here!
As of September 7, Our DOUGLASS BASICS blog will go private and will only be accessible with permission from Adam and Mandy. If you have not emailed me your email address and would like access, please comment and I will be sure to add ya! Feel free to check both blogs, as there will be different information on both.

LONG TIME COMING!

WOW ... haven't updated in a while! Here is the lo-down!

So I promised some pictures of when I won Scrapbooker of the Year. Here are some pictures of me and the check, signing my first autograph, meeting the finalists who are the most incredible girls ever! I am so honored to have met each one of them! Oh and I lucked out to see both of the previous winners, CD and Liz. I had met them both before but it was so great to see them again! Thanks to everyone involved in this award! It has been an amazing experience all ready!


I received the award on August 6th and the remainder of the weekend was spent taking classes at CKU. While I was at CKU my parents tended Bryson. They loved being with him, since he is the only grandchild that has ever moved out of Utah County. Here are some pictures of him taking a bath in the kitchen sink! I love the center picture ... it's caption would be "Grandma and Poppie, what in the world are you doing?"

We have been doing better at being more consistent with the solid stuff. Bryson's favorites are carrots! He usually has carrots from head to toe by the time we are finished feeding him and frequently helps my hand so the spoon goes into his mouth faster!

Aunt Tiffany also gave Bryson her exersaucer! It have become Brysons favorite thing to do, and helps keep mommy sane so she can work during the day! Thanks aunt "fiffy!"

Next, Adam and I celebrated on August 20th our 3rd anniversary! WOW how time flies! We drove to St. George and dropped Bryson off at Grandma Douglass' house in Kanab on the way. We went to Cafe Rio that night, saw the movie Batman, and stayed at a new hotel in Hurricane. The following morning we went to the temple, ran some errands, ate at Chili's and drove back to Kanab. It was nice to get away without Bryson and remember why we still love each other as much as we do! He is the greatest husband and daddy in the world and I am so lucky to have him.

We have spent some considerable time on the Lake with our friends the Hansens, Ricks, and Rassmusens. Between tubing, skiing, and wakeboarding, we have spent more weekends sore and tired than well! Thats what comes with sacrificing relaxation for fun!

Last but not least, we took a quick trip to Orem for Labor Day to see the family. Friday the girls went to Swiss days, while daddy took Bryson to lunch with his friend. Adam got a break in the afternoon when I got home from Midway and went to Cabellas! That night we went to Shootz chinese restaurant with the fam. Saturday we spent on the Utah Lake with the fam again, and followed up with some Brick Oven that night! ummm ... good ol' fashioned goodness!


Sunday was church and a little relaxation! It was my parents 42nd Wedding Anniversary! WAY TO GO MA AND PA!


And last but not least was pictures on Labor Day at target! Aren't they cute!

Online-Radio Show

I did an interview with an online radio show called Scrapbook Diva's today! Click the link below and scroll down to today's show to listen!
http://www.divacraftlounge.com/

I will post more picts soon from CKU

IT'S OFFICIAL!!!

I WON! I AM THE SCRAPBOOKER OF THE YEAR 2008!
Here is a picture from tonight. I will keep you posted on more details as they come!

Jana's Wedding

So I forgot to include that I stayed at my parents house for a week after the fourth so that I could attend Jana's wedding on the 12th of July. Bryson and I had a great week, going to lunch with high school friends, and spending time with Grandma and Grandpa. I probably did more shopping than I should have, but sure did have a great week.

The wedding was SO beautiful and I loved everything they chose. First was a dinner the night before in Salem. You couldn't ask for a more beautiful setting. Next, was the Sealing on Saturday morning. It was one of the most spiritual weddings I have ever been to and I learned so much. Last, was the reception. I was planning on finding a ride home to Page with someone, but Adam couldn't stand another day without me and Bryson, so he came up to tend Bryson during the dinner and Sealing and he came to reception with me in Alpine. Here are some of a few pictures from the Wedding. CONGRATULATIONS Brad and Jana, and thanks for including us on your perfect weekend!

Vacation!

It seems that Adam and I think this vacation stuff is lots of fun. Here is a look back on our two weeks out of town. (It really has taken me an entire week to finally get this posted! Its a long one so take a deep breath!)

On June 28th, Adam and I left for a family reunion with the Douglass side. We spent a few days in Kanab, waiting for the family to arrive, and then headed to a Cabin about 30 minutes north of Kanab, in Glendale, Utah. To my dismay, my sweet little camera of four years finally bit the dust. Luckily Adam has a camera for work and we have two brothers that have SWEET RIG cameras, so we got some great picts. Here is a lo-down of some really fun activities we did!
The Cabin had a really SWEET, but REALLY COLD pond. It didn't stop us! The boys spent time finding ridiculous ways of jumping in, and also great ways of sinking the "paddle boat".

Next in pond fun was fishing ... they aren't big enough to feed the fam, but we did have fun relaxing, catching and releasing the little guys!

Their was also an AWESOME zip line that flew across the pond. We spent a lot of our days going down and trying to see who could do the sweetest drops off into the pond.

We even took turns taking rides in Seans new canoe!

The kids had as much fun as the adults, having a treasure hunt,swinging on swings, and playing in the dirt. The big kids "husbands" even brought paint ball guns and came back to the cabin with many battle wounds.



Inside the cabin we spent time making good food, playing games, and even continuing on with our family tradition of dressing up each other with newspaper. The girls chose the theme of the wizard of oz, and so me, Kalie, and Inez were dressed as the scarecrow, the tin man, and dorothy. The boys usually aren't as appropriate, so adam would only let me post the picture of him from the head up. Silly guys!

The remainder of the week was spent relaxing and enjoying each other's company.


And last but not least, Bryson got to finally be with the two other cousins that were born within a few weeks of him. If you ask me ... I smell trouble!

I am sad we couldn't post all of the pictures, because there were HUNDREDS, but hopefully this will give you a small glimpse into our trip. Thanks Mika and Inez for all of your hard work in preparing this fabulous week!



Next was the fourth of july with my family. We headed up on the 3rd of July. As you can see, we don't think this kid of ours is getting enough nourishment, so we thought we should start with some solid foods!

(No, but really, if he wasn't acting interested, we wouldn't worry about it, but seeing that he stole Adam's coke from him, we thought it must be time!)
The fourth of July we spent with the Dudley's. My parents always put on a pancake breakfast our annual 4th of July breakfast.

Then we all got ready and grandma and grandpa watched the two newborns (Bryson and Addy) while we spent the afternoon at Utah lake.

My oldest Sister Tammy talked all of us Dudley girls into jumping on the tube and taking a stroll behind the boat. That was one fun scene, four mommies, 8 white legs, lauging so hard we could hardly breath. (I even think a few of us peed our pants!) It was great times to say the least!

We ended the day with take out from Cafe rio at Tiff and Devins. Devin got a new Harley! Adam and Bryson took a little stroll.

The fourth ended with a grand finally dudley family firework show. It sure was an eventful Week.
On Saturday morning, Christina Homlik called and was getting a few girls together for a quick breakfast. I haven't seen Michelle Brady and Sarah Asay in years and it was so great to get to know Jana's new fionce. Thanks for an amazing breakfast Christina and Paul!

Last but not least ... and definitely most important ... My nephew Justin was baptized! After the baptism, since everyone was there anyway ... they blessed Addy, and to finish it up, it was Jackson's birthday! It was a great day!