Sunday, March 31, 2013

Kyle Turns 26

On Friday, the 29th, we celebrated Kyle's 26th birthday.  I am so thankful for his life and that he chose to be a part of mine.  At first, he was supposed to be gone on his birthday, but he isn't leaving till the 7th now.  To start off his birthday, he had to do the PFT (Physical Fitness Test) at 0600 where he had to run 3 miles in 18:00 minutes, do 20 pull-ups, and 100 sit ups.  Not the most fun way to start your birthday, but I surprised him with coffee and homemade lemon poppyseed muffins with a lemon glaze, when he got home.  


These are delicious and I found them on Pinterest! Click here for the recipe!

After breakfast Kyle headed to work, but luckily it was "Aloha Friday", so he got off at 1400! :)  He did not tell anyone it was his birthday because he embarrassed his Gunny on his birthday with cupcakes and having his troops sing happy birthday, so the last thing he wanted was for that to happen.  BUT...his Gunny saw on Facebook that it was Kyle's birthday, so he did the SAME thing to Kyle :)

Here is Kyle with Gunny Shaw holding his cupcake getting ready to hear his Marines sing happy birthday to him :)

Once he got home, we did our little birthday together. 

Kyle being surprised at the the blue ray I got him!

He'd been wanting this movie for a long time and kept quoting it the last month :)

Kyle also LOVES outdoor games, so I bought him Ladder Golf!  We will definitely get good use outta this game! 

I made him take a picture with me on the self timer :)

By dessert, he wasn't in the mood for pictures, so I got a picture of his Funfetti Cake I made, his favorite :)

At the end of the day, it was a low-key birthday.  We ended up watching The Other Guys, ate burritos for dinner, and relaxed.  Kyle isn't one to make a huge deal out of birthdays, so this was perfect for him. :)  


Monday, March 25, 2013

Project Life

So, some of you may have listened to my rave reviews and possible obsession with a memory keeping system called Project Life.  Becky Higgins is the creator of this new-age of scrapbooking.  I remember growing up and making scrapbook pages with my mom and my sister, but it would take me hours to complete an entire page.  I would have to get my creative juices flowing, which could sometimes take up to an hour.  In the summer of 2011, I started creating traditional scrapbook pages for our honeymoon, but I think to this day I only completed 2 spreads because I could not figure out what colors, stickers, cut outs, and pictures to use.  Then, I was introduced to Project Life.  It is, without a doubt, the ONLY way I will scrapbook for the rest of my life.  It is for a traditional scrapbooker to the person who keeps all their photos on their computers or in boxes.  All you you need is the following:


That's it!  Can you believe it?!  Sometimes I still don't believe it's that simple.  No need to worry about being creative because Becky provides you with SEVEN different color options! You can choose whichever fits your personality!  You simply place your pictures into the photo pocket pages along with the journaling cards, begin to journal and you're set!  BUT, if you want to be creative, nothing is holding you back.  Isn't that great?!  You can add stickers and embellishments and MORE!  I truly believe this is the most effective way to document your life.  It is quick, easy, and something that a college student, wife, or mother could fit into their busy schedule.

This can be done by events in life, like a family vacation, birthday, anniversary, or sports teams.  The way I addressed my very first Project Life album for the year of 2012 was by week, whether I took 7 photos in one day or 7 photos each day of the week.  This is what makes this project so great, it is up to the person creating it.  Do it however it works for you.  Becky created this to be simple, easy, and way to capture the everyday moments that may pass us by if we don't take a moment to document it.  This could be from a daily chore like dishes, or where you eat breakfast everyday, or where your family leaves their shoes (which may or may not drive you crazy)...these are the moments that last.  We don't always want posed photos (even though I use a lot of those), but Becky has gotten me to think more about the everyday, like the grass in our backyard that desperately needs to be mowed or putting the camera on a timer and capturing Kyle and I sitting in OUR spots on the couch catching up on our favorite TV shows.  These are moments that I want to capture and remember and show our children what our life was like before we had them.

I am so passionate about Project Life that I have already gotten my mom, my sister, and three friends on the bandwagon and I hope to get some more of you out there to document your lives! I sat down in January and looked through my two 12x12 albums that were full of our memories from 2012 and I was SO proud of what I had accomplished and even Kyle said to me, "I am really glad you doing this because I would have forgot about most of these things that happened."

I am going to show you a few snapshots of my 2012 album to give you glimpse into what a finished album looks like.  I used the Clementine Edition and LOVED the colors!

   Here is my title page.  Becky provides you with designated cards for each 4x6 and 3x4 slot, which makes it super simple to create a title page.  I added a picture of us, along with some stickers for our name and the year. 

Here is one of my first pages and Project Life at it's simplest.  I put in a title card on the top left and put the dates of this week.  If I were not doing it by weeks I could title it by event like, "Birthday Party".  I also put in 6 journaling cards to write about each picture and 1 pretty filler card.  I slipped in the pictures and then journaled and here you go.  This took me about five minutes to complete.  As you see I took everyday pictures.  Bottom left I had given blood,  to the right of that was a new Bible study I was starting along with my bible, the top was a picture of a piece of paper that showed where we were on the housing list for a base house.  These aren't necessarily "pretty" pictures, but they were what was happening in our lives. 

Here is an insert from when I visited Oregon in February 2012.  Kyle was in California for training, but he was able to come up to visit for 48 hours.  In this layout, I had cut down some pictures to place in the 3x4 slots and I also put a movie poster in from a movie the girls saw.  I also added in some 5x7 plastics for pictures I wanted bigger from our family photo.  Now, if you look up at the top left with Megan and Greg and you see a little QR code (I'll show you exactly what that means a little later).

Here is a layout where I included another movie poster, a picture of me making muddy buddies for Kyle's homecoming, along with gas prices. 

Here is the same layout with the 5x7 showing the back picture. 

This is a layout showing Design G.  I like this design because it includes vertical pictures with the horizontal.  This is when Dad was visiting and we went to watch his favorite comic book into a movie, "The Avengers", I had a Flat Stanley, and I introduced Dad to the HBO show Game of Thrones. 


Since Kyle is gone a lot for the field or on ship (like above), I encourage beg him to take pictures.  I want out album to consist of his life when he's gone too, not just mine.  He has done a good job so far, but I need to kindly remind him. A lot. :) But, I really want him to journal about his pictures, since I wasn't there.  As you can see, he still hasn't journaled from RIMPAC in July, but I WILL get him to! :)

Here is an example of a layout with all of my pictures from the same day.  This was my birthday, so I included pictures of me and my girlfriends at dinner because Kyle was away.  

This layout includes the monthly divider that says "August", which I LOVE! This is another everyday life layout.  Pictures of a text message with Kyle, my work, news about the Colorado shooting (I am still trying to figure out how I want to write about that), and my morning routine (coffee and work clothes).

This layout includes our vacation in Las Vegas.  I included a picture of the weather on the left.  This also has Design H which is another favorite. 

Same layout, but with Design H flipped to other side. The right side is Design D with 4 vertical 4x6 slots.

This layout is from when my family visited us in August.  I did not need much journaling for this layout, so I only used 2 journaling cards and then cut down pictures to fit in the rest of the slots.  Design F is shown on the right. 

This layout I cut up some pictures to fit into multiple slots.  The main thing I want you to look at is the picture of Tyler and Katrina in front of the waterfall.  There is that QR code again :)  First, I upload my videos to YouTube.  Then, I copy the link for the video I want, go to this website, which is a QR code generator, and paste it in the link area.  It will create my code for me. Then, I copy the code, paste it in a Word Document and I can resize it to make it small, medium, or big.  

So, here is the AMAZING, AWESOMENESS of the QR code!


This is another basic layout.  No inserts, just Design A.  I like to include screen shots from my iPhone, like the news (left side) and what my home screen (right side) looks likes.  

This layout was not complete with journaling when I had taken the pictures, but I wanted to include popular TV shows that Kyle and I enjoy watching.  

Another basic layout of when I flew home in November.  I also included a picture of a football game that Kyle had taken.  On the far right 3x4 I included a picture of a book that I finished reading. 

Here is my layout from the last week in December.  On the bottom left I included The Durant's famous streudel recipe that I baked for the first time!  I also included in a 3x4 a screen shot from FaceTime with my family, which I am in love with! Along with my pictures, I like to include pictures that I get texted to me from family, like the picture on the right side of Macie and Lexi, my nieces. 

So, there you have it!  A glimpse into my 2012 Project Life.  I truly hope that you feel motivated to begin documenting your life.  As you can tell from my layouts, some weeks I did very simple layouts and some I did extra inserts to add more.  Do as much or as little as you like, the only goal is to get your pictures off your computer and into an album!

Along with everyday life albums, Becky also created Baby editions, childhood editions, and there will be new editions coming out in May! Click here to see her products.  BUT...right now, TODAY, March 25, she is selling two different kits on HSN!  You can go to HSN and purchase your kits which come with the binder, the core, kit, 60 pages of plastic photo pages, and monthly dividers for only around $50! That's basically half off! Here are the editions below.


The Jade Edition.  Click here to buy on HSN.

The Blush Edition.  Click here to buy on HSN.

There is about 6 hours left to purchase at this price and I'm not sure when they will sell out, there have already been 16,700 sold!  So go buy yours, friends and family!

I bought the Jade Edition for next year and so did my mom and sister!  Go buy yours! If you don't buy today, Project Life is sold only from Amazon and great prices year round, but this price you can't beat!

Keep checking back for updates on my album for this year!

P.S. I do not make any money from this, I am just passionate about getting people to document their lives!  I do wish this was a direct home business though because I have already hooked a ton of ladies and I would be making a great profit! :)



Friday, March 22, 2013

The Great Northwest

Kyle and I arrived back to the island a little over a week ago from our 10 day trip home to Oregon. Other than Kyle being home in February 2012 for a total of less than 36 hours, he hadn't been home since before we left for TBS in Virginia back in March 2011.  So, this vacation home was much needed for him.  We also took 3 days to fly down to Sacramento with Larry, Kyle's dad, who was also partaking in some business.  Kyle and I are looking for options in case we decide to get out of the Marine Corps.  Many things come into play...he doesn't really want to, I want him to, he needs to get selected to Captain or he can't stay in...so only time will tell and we're praying God clearly shows us the way.  In Sacramento, Kyle went on a ride along with Sacramento Police Department and we looked around Davis to get a feel for the neighborhood.  After our time there and in Oregon, Kyle said, "It really is nice being near friends and family" when referring to Oregon. :)

The night we flew in we stayed at Kyle's sister, Darcy, and her husband, Josh's new house.  Then the very next morning Kyle asked them to take him to the gun store.  So this was the VERY first thing Kyle did one our first full day in Oregon.  I believe our gun collection is complete now...well, I hope :)

After our first day in Oregon we flew down to Sacramento and look what plane we got to fly on.  Kyle was a tad bit excited!

We spent our day walking around downtown and historic Sacramento.  It was a BEAUTIFUL day!

When Kyle was on his ride along from 3pm to midnight, Larry and I went to a King's game with some people he knew from work.  

Reunited with my niece, Lexi! :)

When we got back from California, we went down to Springfield to spend the night with Megan, Greg, and Alexis.  This was Kyle's first time meeting Alexis! This night we went out to pizza with the Olaen's, my moms side of the family.   

I love being with them! I cannot get enough of Lexi :)

Seriously?! SO STINKING CUTE!

Here are Kyle's two little nieces, Macie (18 months) and Lexi (5 months), along with his brother-in-law, Greg.

Since the whole family was together, Mom set up family pictures, but this was a little photo shoot of our own.  Here are Tyler, Katrina, and Macie, who had a poor little tummy ache :(

Here's Grandma, Lexi, and Grandpa! :)

Uncle Kyle and his niece, Alexis! I'm glad he's getting more and more comfortable with babies :)

We also got to meet up with my best friend from college, Amanda, and her husband, Juan, and sweet kids, Sofia and Jakoby.  I lived with Amanda and Juan when we were finishing up college and they had recently gotten married.  We also lived together for the first 8 months of Sofi's life! Kyle would visit a lot since we were engaged and that was she was his first real experience with a baby and she had colic.  Poor thing! And when I say poor thing you can take that as Sof AND Kyle! :)  The last time I saw Amanda was 2 years ago when she was days away from giving birth to Koby! It was on our drive to Virginia we swung by her place in Hermiston to say one last goodbye.  We definitely need to see each other sooner next time!

 I also got to go on a nice little 4 mile walk with my mom and the dogs in Colton.  I really do miss the scenery! 

I got to see my great childhood friend, Jess! Kyle and I went to dinner with her and her fiancĂ©, Joel, then we got frozen yogurt and indulged in the season finale of The Bachelor! Kyle was a real trooper to hang in there during the 3 hour show! Boy, I love him :)  

Jess, Stephanie (her roommate and friend from high school), and Joel made The Bachelor into a Fantasy game, like Fantasy Football.  It. Was. AWESOME!  I think I will have to do this in the future with friends and maybe that will get Kyle interested in the whole season ;)

Our last night at my parents, my mom and dad gave Kyle his birthday presents early.  He got an OSU pint glass and a Benny the Beaver pillow pet! Macie had a U of O pillow pet and Kyle was playing with her and trying to get her to play with the beaver one instead of the duck, but every time he got close she refused and would push it away! I think my dad trained her ;)

Kyle and his dad with the dogs, Stella and Hattie, in the Durant's newly landscaped yard!

Before getting dropped off at the airport, we went to breakfast with Rhonda and Darcy.  A great little send off :)

AMAZING view when we were landing back in Honolulu!


Finally, a little news from Hawaii:

A day before we flew to Oregon, Kyle's platoon was in the field for exercises.  Their last day there they invited a few spouses and girlfriends to DRIVE the tracs (aka Amphibious Assault Vehicles)!!!  So, I got to drive the 20 ton vehicle!  Of course, I was the first one to drive it, I was nervous as heck, and Kyle told me to put in "3rd" gear, but he never told me to change gears while driving.  I was so nervous I didn't want to break anything or crash, but then he told me after I could have switched gears to go faster.  Well, there better be a next time then! :)

A few days after we arrived back on island, the USO was putting on a free meet and greet with three actors from the TV show Sons of Anarchy.  It is about a motorcycle gang.  I didn't think it would be my cup of tea, but Kyle got me hooked on the show when we were dating and I've loved it ever since! Kyle had duty the day before, so he was exhausted and decided to pass, but my friend, Mandee, and I decided to go.  It was a blast!  We only got about three minutes with them to say hello, get a picture, and get their autographs, but I loved it!  I LOVE meeting celebrities and I am in love with pop culture (thanks to my father)!  I was star struck by them, I couldn't imagine meeting someone like Ryan Gosling.  Oh my! :)



P.S.  We didn't just hang out with my friends...Kyle hung out with his old college roommates, including Greg, and some other friends, BUT he is not a picture taker like I am.  I try and Try and TRY to encourage him and he really does try, but he "forgot" to get a roommate picture. ;)