"Who Did I Sit By at the 9th Grade Basketball Game?" Contest!

Okay, so I'm at my son's 9th Grade basketball game last Wednesday and I kept looking over at the man sitting next me thinking that I knew him. I asked Steve if he knew who he was, and he said "No" and "He's cheering for the other team." I was pretty sure he was the father of a boy I knew really well but I couldn't figure it out. Then I convinced myself he was in the scrapbook industry. Finally at half time I asked what his last name was telling him that I knew him from somewhere. When he said the name, I about fell off my chair. My friend came and took a photo of the two of us together (this was the third attempt and this is a phone picture).



Can you guess whose father this is?? Post your answer by midnight (Wed. night) and you could win one of five of these fabulous recipe book kits from American Crafts. (The first person to get it right will automatically win.)They are one of my favorite kits ever.

Here is how you could decorate the front:




Here are some of the pages inside:




I gave the Grandma one to my mom and she wrote her favorite recipes inside. What an amazing keepsake--recipes in her own handwriting!

It would also be a super cute "Christmas Cookies" recipe book.

Make it a great week.

Lisa B.

I Am Grateful!

My heart is full of gratitude this week as the big day of thanks is approaching.

I am grateful for 50 wild and crazy friends who celebrated Twilight with me and my pal, Stephanie Ashton (she is a great party organizer).

We had a life-sized cutout of Edward to greet everyone outside before they entered the Twilight Zone. Sage and her friend, Paris, were so cute about dressing in black and white (including a "T" on their foreheads for Twilight).



The food was out of this world. This is only a little portion of it. Everyone was so creative with the black, white and red food they brought.

This was the chocolate fountain and we dipped pears, apples, strawberries, Oreos and brownies in the red chocolate. Notice the tea lights inside the apples. Too much fun!



And the trivia games were amazing. Great job, Steph!

I am grateful for a wonderful stepdaughter, Stefyn, and her two sisters who came to spend their Thanksgiving break with us (all the way from Lousiana). We all vacation together, celebrate the holidays together, and love one another. Stefyn is just a dream come true--the perfect daughter. We have adopted Paityn and Devyn into our family--just love them. And my husband's ex-wife, Tina, is pretty terrific too.



I am grateful we were able to hear Jason Hall's motivational speech at a local elementary school (see photo above). He is married to Kolette Hall, a name I'm sure you've heard in the scrapbook industry. He broke his neck while jumping off a cliff at Lake Powell and is paralyzed from the waist down with limited use of his hands. Go here to find out more about this powerful man.

I am grateful for a terrific guy. My hubby and I celebrated 19 years of marriage yesterday. All our kids lit candles around our room, wrote beautiful notes and gave us non-alcoholic bubbly and flowers to help celebrate.

Last but not least, I am grateful for YOU and the notes of hope, encouragement and support you continually leave me and the other readers. I'd love to meet each one of you some day.

Hope you're having some rest and relaxation this week.

Sincerely,

Lisa B.

P.S. You'll never guess who I sat next to tonight at my son's basketball (9th grade) game? Stay tuned for a contest next week!

It's Finally Here! The Premiere of Twilight!

If you haven't read this book yet, you must RUN to the nearest bookstore and get it. It's beautifully written, will keep you on the edge of your seat and is the best love story I've ever read. Plus, the author, Stephenie Meyer, is from my alma mater, BYU, in Provo, Utah.

Okay--so tonight is the movie premiere of Twilight and my friend and I rented out half of a movie theater and invited neighbors and friends to a big shindig beforehand.



The big party begins at 9:30 p.m. at my house. Everyone will dress in black, white and red, we'll eat black, white and red food and play Twilight trivia games. (The focal point of the food will be a chocolate fountain with cascading red chocolate!) We'll sip on apple beer (yes--it's non-alcoholic), listen to the Twilight soundtrack and have a little boutique where Twilight memorabilia can be purchased. There will be red and black balloons and red cored apples with tea lights everywhere. Can you tell I'm super, duper excited!! The movie starts at the stroke of midnight and I'm letting two of my kids go. (Brecken and Kade are Twilight fans.) There's one condition--they still have to go to school tomorrow!

How funny is this. My niece, Heather, and her friend, Gregory, got the night off at work to come to the party. Well, they showed up last night--all decked out in their black and red gear. I gave them some apple cider, had a good laugh, then sent them on their way! Hope they can get work off tonight so they can come to the real party!



What kind of creative fun are you having this weekend? Another friend is having a "fairy best" party for her daughter who's turning six. Remember to celebrate--even the smallest of things. And, if you're an Edward Cullen fan (the vampire in Twilight), drop me a line!

Sincerely,

Lisa B.

Lucky!!!!

This is our family's beautiful cat, Lucky. We accidentally stole her from our next-door neighbors two years ago. It was a freezing cold night in December and I was working in my scrapbook room. At 1:00 a.m. I heard a tiny kitten's frantic meowing at my window. I told my husband and minutes later he brought in a little kitty--not more than a few weeks old. Steve lovingly made the cat a bed and warmed up some milk. I couldn't believe my eyes--Steve has claimed to not really like cats our entire married life so this was very touching for me to witness.

We all fell in love with this cat. We named her Lucky because she was lucky we saved her from the storm, our family was lucky to have such a nice kitty grace our home and I was lucky to see this tender side of Steve. We asked around the neighborhood but nobody seemed to be missing a cat. Six weeks later we found out she was our next-door neighbor's cat. (We'd asked everyone but had failed to ask the Spence family!) Our girls were devastated to find out Lucky had another home. I took her over to her rightful owners (leaving two bawling kids at home). Karen was so relieved to know where the cat was. They'd only had her for a week when she disappeared. She also was so gracious and said, "As long as Lucky catches the mice at my house you can feed and take care of her at your house."

Lucky has been a wonderful cat. She's gentle, cuddly and has a great demeanor. She takes turns sleeping with Brecken or Sage each night. My only complaint about her is the white hair she sheds--it drives me crazy!

Last Saturday night, I was hanging out with Laura, a friend from out of town. We decided to head to the store and as I was backing up I thought I ran over something in the driveway (it was pitch dark). I heard kind of a cracking sound but thought it was just my imagination. I stopped to get the mail and was back in the driver's seat when I looked at my driveway and went into hysterical fits. Laura and I saw something black and white that had been flattened and I just knew it was our precious cat. Steve was out of town with Brecken so I couldn't call him. I didn't want my kids to come out of the house and see what had happened. So Laura and I ran to another neighbors house--she was crying and I was sobbing really, really loud. It's a horrible feeling to think you've been the cause of taking an animal's life. Cherie and her family were so kind. Her husband, brother-in-law, daughter and niece along with Laura grabbed bags and shovels and ran down to clean up. They left me and Cherie on the front porch--I was still hysterically bawling while Cherie was trying to comfort me. When they got to the driveway, there was only a smashed newspaper that was wrapped in a black and white plastic bag. Inside the bag were free samples of shampoo and conditioner (thus the cracking sound). One of our neighbor's looked puzzled and asked Laura, "Where's the cat?" Laura just took off running toward me yelling, "It was a newspaper, not the cat." I couldn't believe it!!! Relief!!! Embarrassment!!! I started laughing and bawling at the same time. With the guys standing there with their empty bags in hand, Laura said, "Look's like the cat's out of the bag!"

I can't quit petting and holding Lucky. Suddenly the white hairs don't seem to matter. I am thanking my lucky stars that I was so blessed and she's alive. What a great reminder that life is precious. Also, that I am surrounded by wonderful people.

Thanks to the Janiec family and cute Laura for getting me through this experience!

Okay--quite the story, huh?! What are you grateful for today?? Please share!

Sincerely,

Lisa B.

And the animal is . . .

A great big moose!!! If you've never seen one of these before, you're missing out. They are HUGE and it's quite surprising when you see one.

Here are the winners of our Christmas card kit:

Lindsay T. (CA)
Tiffany (CP, OR)
Jen (2:27 p.m.)
Shannon (5:21 p.m.)
Scrapgirl in NJ
Pam (7:18 p.m.)

Congratulations to the winners. Contact vgrothe@ckmedia.com and give Vivian your name and snail mail address. And, I got quite a kick out of some of the other answers!

Hey--check out Kerri Bradford's blog. She's having a super fun contest with her new Graphically Speaking Cricut cartridge. (Yes--she is the creator of it.). LOVE this cartridge. It has to be on the top of your Christmas list. You'll use it over and over again.

Have a great Thursday.

Lisa B.

Christmas Card Contest!

Wow--It's been a whirlwind the past few weeks. Both boys lost their final football games. Kade's team got to the first round of the state championship but unfortunately didn't pull it off. Collin's team lost the championship game by one point on Saturday night. They were ahead the entire game and two minutes to go the other team made a touchdown and a two-point conversion. It was a nail biter!

Other stuff besides football (which has been dominating our lives since July). Sage and I attempted to dip carmel apples (with a layer of white chocolate and crushed graham crackers). It was fun and they actually turned out pretty good.



Both my parents celebrated their birthdays. All my sisters were in town and so we planned a special night at their house complete with dinner and an evening of singing hymns and playing our instruments (I play the flute, Debbie the cello, Carolyn violin and Becky plays the piano). We were all moved to tears--we used to do this as a family when we were young. Really a special memory.



Hey--we have a lucky Golden Ticket winner. I get to spend the day with Deneen Cook from Manteca, Ca! I called her last week and she was really excited. She wins all sorts of things including an all expense paid trip to Utah (she's bringing a friend).



I had a friend from Japan, Cathy Piehl, come stay for a few days. I met her at CKU Japan and we became instant friends. She teaches scrapbooking classes in Japan. My family loved having her here and she made an authentic curry meal for us. We drove over the famous Alpine Loop near Robert Redford's home at Sundance and we were almost the only ones driving on the mountain. You'll never guess what we bumped in to. One hint--some type of animal!



So here's the scoop. Guess what type of animal Cathy and I saw and if you're right, you will get the chance to win the amazing Becky Higgins Christmas Card Kit. I'll give six away. Oh--and if you're first to get it right, you automatically win!






This kit includes:

30 greeting cards in three gorgeous designs and an awesome presentation!
30 sheets of letterhead
21 gift cards
15 thank you cards (with designer envelopes)
24 CD card holders and mailers
30 chipboard gift tags
2 sheets of stick-on gift tags
plus, epoxies, transparencies, rub-ons and other fun goodies!

This kit is too good to be true. To find out more about it, go here.

Have a great week and be sure to guess!

Lisa B.

P.S. Thanks for all your support with the letters to Connor. He was deeply touched.

P.S.S. Be sure to guess by Wed. midnight (November 12th). I'll post a winner on Thursday.

Please Read This. It Might Change Your Life!

A little over a week ago, Stacy Julian and I had the amazing opportunity of going to Missoula, Montana where we honored our friend, Tracy Corneil, who suddenly passed away in April.



Tracy (along with her best friend, Gina) was the owner of one of the best stores I've ever visited--The Scrapbook Hideaway. I went to an event Tracy and Gina put on a few years ago and fell in love with the people and area. Tracy and I remained good friends ever since. I loved her enthusiasm for life and belief that every person needed to leave their own legacy through scrapbooks.

Tracy left behind a doting husband and two adorable children--Connor (13) and Riley (10).



During these past few hard months, the scrapbooks Tracy created for her family and the loving words she wrote (often in her own handwriting) are helping them pull through. Connor also made a beautiful scrapbook honoring his mother's life.

With Connor's consent, I want to share a few pages with you. I read it to the class at the event and everyone was deeply moved and in tears. I think we can all learn a valuable lessons from his insightful words.



Here are his first two pages:





Here are his poignant words on the next two pages:

"Change is part of life. It is the healthy family that learns to adapt to change that prepares each member for the quickly changing world. Live life to the fullest because you don't know when you will have to fly away. Time with family is worth more than money so spend it wisely. Mom, I wish we could spend on more day with you. You will forever be in our hearts. Your parents are you best friends and that won't change. No matter what.

Change is life. What happens happens, so move forward but don't forget what happened. We have to live with change. It is what make us stronger."





Notice how Connor found an old check and ripped Tracy's signature off the bottom. Love this simple yet powerful touch.

Never let a day pass by without hugging your loved ones and telling them you love them. Take time to write in your own handwriting your feelings about those you love. Choose right now to be happy with your life so you can have happy memories to remember forever in your scrapbooks.

Thanks for sharing, Connor. And thanks, Gina, Tabatha, and all the employees at Scrapbook Hideaway for the memorable weekend. (And thanks for the comfy bed, Carrie Heaphy!)

By the way, Stacy gave a powerful presentation around her book Photo Freedom. I got so excited about photo storage and scrapbooking in a non-chronological way. If you haven't picked it up yet, RUN to your nearest scrapbook store. Or, you can buy it here.

Have a great Tuesday (voting day!). And don't forget to give your loved ones a squeeze.

Lisa B.

P.S. If you get a chance, leave a note for Connor. He left a message and is reading these comments. He's very touched.