promised pictures to make up for the sermon...

This is Ainsley earlier this afternoon. She is actually starting to like toys! FUN!!!

These are my girls earlier today! I can't believe how big they are getting. Ainsley is trying to pull herself into a sitting position all the time now.

Hannah with her new drum from the little neighbor boy! Excuse the wild hair, she hates sleeping with a ponytail in and she had just woken up from her nap.

Gonna quote some scripture here...

this has been a really stressful week for me. i am completely exhausted and i am just worn out. I have been trying to scrapbook a little to alleviate some stress, but that hasn't worked. My pages all look the same, blah blah blah... I tried to read a book, but all of the tough emotional issues in the book were glossed over and *happy ending!*. Okay, how often does that happen? Anyway... I was sitting in bed, trying to get Hannah to be quiet so that we could read our couple of scripture verses for the night so that we could say our family prayers and go to sleep. I was reading from Alma 37 in The Book of Mormon. Okay, can I just say how much I LOVE Alma?! I used to dread reading it because it was so long, but I really have come to love it! And I just love these verses. I really want to incorporate these things more fully into my life. I'm gonna interject my 2 cents in where I feel appropriate! and if you don't like it, TOUGH! Don't read it then! :)

38 And now, my son, I have somewhat to say concerning
the thing which our fathers call a ball, or director—or our
fathers called it ^aLiahona, which is, being interpreted,
a compass; and the Lord prepared it.

39 And behold, there cannot any man work after the
manner of so curious a workmanship. And behold, it was
prepared to show unto our fathers the course
which they should travel in the wilderness.
(My words now: The Lord gave them a compass to show them where they should go. And it was definitely from the Lord, because it wasn't even possible for such a thing to be made by man.)

40 And it did work for them according to their ^afaith
in God; therefore, if they had faith to believe that God
could cause that those spindles should point the way
they should go, behold, it was done; therefore they had
this miracle, and also many other miracles wrought
by the power of God, day by day.
(More of my words: So, it was like with Moses and the serpent. The people had to have faith and simply look at the serpent and they could be healed. The Nephites had to have faith that the compass would tell them where to go. They were seeing miracles every day.)

41 Nevertheless, because those miracles were
worked by ^asmall means it did show unto them marvelous
works. They were ^bslothful, and forgot to exercise their
faith and diligence and then those marvelous works
ceased, and they did not progress in their journey;
(My turn again: They saw miracles everyday and they became common. Kind of like when a new piece of technology is unveiled. They are rare and are so cool. Then everyone gets one and it's not such a big deal anymore. Well, in this case, when the faith stopped, the miracles stopped. They could no longer progress in their journey because the compass didn't work.)

42 Therefore, they tarried in the wilderness, or did ^anot
travel a direct course, and were afflicted with hunger
and thirst, because of their transgressions.
(Me again: They were stuck wandering around and suffering and lost because they lacked the faith to fix the problem. How could they lose their faith and not humble themselves when they knew that the compass was the only thing capable of getting them moving again? It's so simple! Just be faithful!)

43 And now, my son, I would that ye should understand
that these things are not without a ^ashadow; for as our fathers
were slothful to give heed to this compass (now these things
were temporal) they did not prosper; even so it
is with things which are spiritual.
(Here it comes.... I LOVE Alma!)

44 For behold, it is as easy to give heed to the ^aword of
Christ, which will point to you a straight course to eternal
bliss, as it was for our fathers to give heed to this compass,
which would point unto them a straight course to the promised land.

45 And now I say, is there not a ^atype in this thing? For just
as surely as this director did bring our fathers, by following
its course, to the promised land, shall the words of Christ,
if we follow their course, carry us beyond this
vale of sorrow into a far better land of promise.
(Isn't that beautiful??? It is so easy! Just like the Nephites were directed where to go, and the Israelites were healed by looking at the serpent, if we follow the teachings of Christ, we will be pointed on a straight course to eternal BLISS! I love that word! If we follow the words of Christ and believe them and act on them, the words of Christ will get us through this life and all of our sorrows and we can have eternal bliss!)

46 O my son, do not let us be ^aslothful because of the
^beasiness of the ^cway; for so was it with our fathers;
for so was it prepared for them, that if they would ^dlook
they might ^elive; even so it is with us. The way is prepared,
and if we will look we may live forever.
(It's so simple, really! Follow the teachings of Christ and you will be happy. So, then why don't we do it? It's easy to read this and think that I will do better. It's so simple! And that is why Alma is cautioning us. It's so simple that we take it for granted. Everything is going great and wonderful so we start to let go of our faith and let go of the things that were once so important to us. Things like our scripture study and prayers. Things like going to church and serving others. We have to continually work and exercise our faith if we want to be happy. It is simple, it's just not easy.)


Anyway, that's my sermon for the evening. Those scriptures just made a really big impact on me tonight. I hope I haven't run anyone off, but oh well! It's my blog-a-roo and they can always check back another night. I don't make apologies for my faith and my beliefs.

I think I'm gonna post a picture or two in a minute. We'll see... All this faith talk has me sleepy!
If you want to read more, you can do that here

layout

this is from a couple of weeks ago! the template and kit are by AMY BLESER, I am a Guest Creative Team Member for her for the month of August! YEA!!!
credits:
Amy Bleser's Starting Blocks III at Scrapbook-Bytes, altered to fit 8.5x11 layout
Amy Bleser's A Song In My Heart at Scrapbook-Bytes
PSCS2
Fonts: Highland Perk

some yummy dinners... go me!

I have cooked for the last two nights in a row. Tuesday night was pasta night! For my parents I made whole-wheat cheese tortellini with a light marinara sauce with fresh garlic, onions, artichoke hearts, bacon and olives with fire-roasted pepper flavoring. I can't eat the bacon or olives or cheese, so I had spaghetti with artichokes in fire roasted pepper marinara sauce! Delicious! I love artichoke hearts! Last night was mexican night. So, I made what basically ended up as chicken soft tacos with black beans and fruit. They were pretty good. Tonight is leftover night! So, I made myself some chicken and black bean nachos with soy cheese from Trader Joe's. WOW! Love them! It has been nice cooking real food again, rather than just what Thomas and I usually eat. I have so many food allergies and Thomas is a picky eater. We just end up eating the same foods over and over again. I am cooking all weekend, but I have no idea what I am going to end up making. It's just for me and Shelby and the kids this weekend as everyone else has plans! Tom & Ang may come over on Saturday, unless she has the baby before then. I've been craving some hamburgers on the grill, so maybe I'll make Tom use the grill. Those things scare me. And I think we are going to have chicken pita sandwiches on Monday night. So now I just have to come up with something for Friday and Sunday. Shouldn't be too difficult. anyway... enough from me for one day! no one reads this stuff anyway, y'all just want to see pictures of my kids. well, i am too lazy to go all the way to the third floor to get my camera, so you'll just have to wait! maybe i'll post them tonight after the kids go to sleep.

inspired

I felt the need for a bit of a change in my blog, so I took a cue from my sister-in-law, Leslie, and just did some re-decorating! Cleaned up some links... Enjoy!

Little Drummer Girl...

I think I may have a permanent headache! The cute little neighbor kid brought over one of his old drums for Hannah to play with! He painted it with big flowers and put her name on it. He even made a stand out of some wood scraps and painted those, too. What a sweet kid!!! His intentions are good. And Hannah LOVES this drum. She started playing at 7:30 this morning... I had to make her eat dinner last night and breakfast again this morning. My dad wore his IPOD earbuds all night last night. I thought he was listening to his music, but now I'm wondering if he was just hoping it would drown out the drumming... Ainsley slept through it yesterday, but today she seems to be waking up with every hit. :::sigh::: I took lots of pictures of her drumming, but I haven't put them on the computer yet. I am trying to back up my hard drive and organize some things right now. I have a 120 gb hard drive and it's almost full. I haven't backed up in over 2 months! So, I borrowed some DVDs from my dad and I am backing up like crazy!

So, here is a little friendly reminder.... BACK UP YOUR HARD DRIVE!

Oh, Leslie....

Happy Birthday to you!!!!!!

my cute babies

Hannah & Mommy after church on Sunday

this is hannah on her sunday walk with grandma and poppa.
she actually fell asleep like that!

my cute little girl in the bathtub!

this is Ainsley's favorite way to hang out these days!
she actually had her foot in her mouth at one point!

today...

the wind in my hair... the sun in my face... man! i miss driving a convertible! I had to drop Ainsley's prescription off this afternoon to be filled. So, I got both kiddos to sleep and took off in my mom's little Mini. It's 88 degrees outside and sunny with just a touch of humidity in the air. PERFECT for zipping around Downers Grove with the top down and Dr. Pepper in my hand. Oops! Did I say Dr. Pepper? I meant a bottle of water, fortified with lots of vitamins and healthy stuff. eek! I'm caught. I got a Dr. Pepper today. I have just been under so much stress lately. And with these crazy storms blowing in every afternoon, I have a terrible sinus headache! Dr. Pepper and Sudafed seem to be a great team at knocking out the pain. I am still losing weight pretty steadily. I have lost about 20 lbs since I got to Illinois. I have about 20 to 30 lbs to go. If you see a picture of me from above the waist, I look great, well at least in reference to my weight. But then you see the rest of me and wonder how someone who can wear a small shirt has to wear XL pants! :) It has nothing to do with me sitting in front of my computer scrapbooking and drinking Dr. Pepper, I promise! :)

Well... I am going to go try to actually get some scrapping work done. One of the designers I work with is coming out with a bunch of new stuff over the next few weeks! And I have a Guest CT opportunity coming up in August. I am so excited about that one! :) The scrapbooking actually really helps with the stress and anxiety right now. I am probably going to a crop at church on Friday night. The girls here at my parents' church are so sweet. They don't even know me at all and they really don't know my parents, but they have welcomed us here with open arms. They make sure that I know about Scrapbook night and PlayGroup. We haven't made it to PlayGroup yet but I think we are going to go next week. Okay... really going now!

cleaning up the old blog-a-roo

so you may notice things changing a bit and links moving. a LOT of designers have moved stores. I had non-family on my family list and family on my friends list. and most of it is no longer in alphabetical order! eek! the blog chaos is making me crazy! I am going to try to make a new header, too. you know, since i've had two children for over three months now and there are only pictures of one of them! you'd think i would have gotten to it sooner!

and coming soon to the cardall "household" a work from home business for meredith that i am actually capable and qualified to do! :) scanning photos and preserving them to disks AND most fun of all a SCRAP 4 HIRE business! That's right, scrapbooking for other people! I'm trying to get stuff together for my website. Looking for a website, check out mybenson.com
Kendra is awesome and she will be helping me with my site! Poor girl doesn't know what she has gotten herself into! If you do contact her, be sure to tell her that I sent you!

and now i am going to go to sleep... and for the record, I only had one Mr.Pibb today and it was a fountain drink so it really doesn't count, right? :) i NEED one right now.

WOOHOO!!!!

Okay, did I mention that I got accepted on to Jenna Nelson's Creative Team (LittleBird Designs). She sells at ScrapDish and DragonFlaireStudios. Jenna also has a couple of really cool challenges that she hosts at DragonFlaire. Be sure to check them out!

AND, then just yesterday, I posted a comment on a thread at DigiShopTalk about if I could be on a store CT, what stores would I choose? Well, I listed four or five stores and one of those stores contacted me about being on their CT!!! I'm not going to say which one until I get my first assignment and layout done (this weekend sometime!). Needless to say, I am soooo excited! Now if I could just get ChristinaRenee to pick me up... :) I'd be in digiscrap HEAVEN!

And that is about all I have for today...

another layout

this is the afghan that my granny's friend, renee, made for ainsley. this is an old layout that i did forever ago and never posted. i'm trying to get caught up and clean out my computer.

credits:
Digital Tag Team Summer Groove Kit
pscs2
fonts: ck handprint, dj fancy

another layout

okay, so i may have done it again. i took 42 pictures of hannah with her sparklers on the 4th of july! i had to scrap all of them, too! love these pictures and this scrapbook kit is adorable! love the handkerchief paper!

credits:
Maria LaFrance's BBQ kit at DigiScrapDivas & Digital Freebies
PSCS2
fonts: McGarey

layout

this is from our trip to Tennessee. Hannah enjoyed hitting SpongeBob, maybe a bit too much!
i know the layout looks really busy, but what else am i supposed to do with 22 pictures of kids hitting a pinata??? and they were all too cute not to scrap and I really don't need 12 pages of it. It's a 2 pager...
credits:
SaraAmarie's Have A Blast Kit as SweetShoppeDesigns
paper tear by christine smith
PSCS2
fonts: Larger Mime

Ainsley LAUGHED!

Oh my goodness! It was soooo cute! I was just standing over her making faces trying to get her to stop crying and she looked at me and laughed! I had to wait to tell Thomas before I could post here. I wish I had captured it on video or something. It was so darn cute! anyway...

moment of silence, please...

I am drinking the very last Dr. Pepper in the house. I love it! I used to be a Coke only drinker. Then when I was pregnant, Coke made me sick. So I tried Pepsi and started drinking it. Then when I got to Chicago, I decided to branch out because I was tired of Pepsi. I am addicted to Dr. Pepper! LOVE IT! But, since soda is expensive and really not good for me, it will not be replaced! :::sigh:::

layout with SCRAPQUICKART

these are a couple of pages that i created using ScrapQuickArt quickpages.
LOVE these pages! I actually did these a couple of months ago but keep forgetting to post!

these pictures are from february.

these are photos from january of this year...

mango-a-go-go layout

this layout is dedicated to hannah & grandma & mango-a-go-go jamba juices!

credits:
SaraAmarie's Desirable Disasters- Glitter N Doodles at SweetShoppeDesigns
SaraAmarie's Waves of Felt
flower, wood frame and wood brad from SaraAmarie's Natalie kit at SweetShoppeDesigns
music notes by Designs by Leora, Web Challenge Freebie at DesignerDigitals
pscs2
fonts: teen light

another new layout

the pictures are from friday night... hannah loves to ballet dance!
credits:
Jenna Nelson's Pixie Dust Overlays at ScrapDish and DragonFlaire Studios
Jenna Nelson's Baby Bee Good - Paper Pack at ScrapDish and DragonFlaire Studios
Jenna Nelson's Baby Bee Good - The Elements at ScrapDish and DragonFlaire Studios
PSCS2
fonts: LainieDaySH

one more

this is zoey (on the left) and ainsley! love these babies!
credits:
SaraAmarie's Office Pretties: Solids at SweetShoppeDesigns
SaraAmarie's Office Pretties: Graph at SweetShoppeDesigns
SaraAmarie's Pop Pop Bubble Wrap Nekkid at SweetShoppeDesigns
gingham flower & red ribbon from SaraAmarie's Summer Picnic Kit at SweetShoppeDesigns
dotted border from SaraAmarie's I'm Impressed at SweetShoppeDesigns
SaraAmarie's Twill Dates at SweetShoppeDesigns
pscs2
fonts: segoe script