Happy Halloween 2009

Now do you see why it is called Rudy Family Rukus?? Hope you all have a very safe and Happy Halloween!

Flashback Friday

HALLOWEEN

Halloween 2004 this was one of my favorite costumes ever.  It took a real collaborative effort.  The hat was from the Gene Autry Museum,  the bandana from who knows when, my mom had to send me the guns from Utah because you couldn't buy real looking guns where we lived.  The pants carhartts from my sweet brother. Join in on Flashback Friday see my friend at Vaugh Family Chaos and link up; I just did!

In Leu of....

So we have been terribly sick here and between the unpleasantries (that I will not expand upon here) I have not done any of the cool posts I was going to do this week.  We made these great little spiders that even my husband liked and I wanted to post them and we were going to make cool little pumpkin cake pops inspired by the great Bakerella and that has all gone to the way-side due to my affliction GRRR!  So instead I decided to tell you all about a few of our favorite books.

The first is "Love You Forever" by Robert Munsch.  My friend Zina gave this to me before my first baby was born.  I read it and thought what is the big deal? Then he was born.  To this day I can't read it without sobbing.  It really is a great book you can order it here.

The next three are kid favorites "A Frog Thing", "Ellison the Elephant", and "Leo the Lightning Bug" all by Eric Drachman. I love them because they come with an audio CD read by the author so you really get his take on the story and also I don't have to read (oh did I say that out loud?).  And the kids love it because they can do it all by themselves. These were all gifts from my mom to the kids for holidays. You can order those here .

 

Anyway hope you will take this in leu of what I REALLY wanted to post this week.  Oh just in case; no one paid me to say these things, no one asked me to say these things and I did not receive anything for doing this post.  I just really like these books and thought I would tell you so.

Yes they are!

Question of the day well actually question of my life time as a mother....
"Are they all yours by birth?"  Um yes, yes they are.
 I think they look like me don't you?  Thanks to my friend Peter Loosli for the great photo.
I am linking up with Really Are you Serious today for her Mommy and me Monday.  This is an older post so if you want to see what we are up to today click here.

All About Me....

I don't love this photo but another little know fact about me is that people in masks or costumes really scare me.  This was no exception!

A few little known.... or maybe well known facts about me.

1.  I grew up in a really small town
2.  I went on the deer hunt every year from age 14 on...but I have no idea how many deer I have gotten??
3.  I almost lost it last week when my dad fell off his horse
4.  I have NEVER been accused of being SHY
5.  The only candy I eat is chocolate and not very often.
6.  I am not easily offended
7.  But I do get fired up a lot about a lot of different issues and I go on and on and on about it (just ask my hubby)
8.  I miss my job in  California A LOT (I miss the idea of it mostly)
9.  Despite what I may say I love my life
10. I want to be skinny but I hate that it takes a lot of work
11. I hate being sick but I love to take care of sick people (WEIRD I know)
12. I love when I make people laugh
13. I love to laugh and I think my husband is hilarious that is why we get along so well
14. I sometimes cry at football games ( I don't get it either)
15. I am laughing right now about #14
16. I am cynical and sarcastic (yes I actually know this about myself)
17. I think it is a shame that some people don't immunize their kids (the nurse in me thinks this)
18. I think this list is getting too long!

Hope you enjoyed learning a little more about me.  I have tried to put more of ME in my scrap-booking and I wanted to do that with my blog as well.  I guess we will see how it goes??

Flashback Friday

I can barely remember those two people!  But they sure look happy!  Who knew it would only get better?

Wordless Wednesday..Self Dressing Toddler Alert!

Need I say more???  Go visit 5Minutes4Mom for more Wordless Wednesday posts and link up!

Any suggestions for blog posts??  What would you like to know?  Leave a comment and let me know!  Thanks.

I heart Faces Week 41~ Pink Week

In 2006 Our family did the Susan G. Komen Race for a Cure in SLC.  It was one of the coolest things I have ever done.  We raced with team "Hooray For Boobies"  I unfortunately have no pictures from that day but here is a festive picture of Katie sporting her pink "princess attire"!

"not me" Monday!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

I would not let my 2 and 5 year olds make their own PB&J no not this OCD mom.  Not me!

And I certainly wouldn't let them lick off the knife and then stick it back in the jar NO not me.  And of course I would not take pictures to prove all of this!

Tailgate Rudy Rukus Style

When the game is out of town this is how we tailgate.  And it wasn't too bad!  Go Utes!  Oh and we'll take the 18th rank thanks BCS for thinking of us two years in a row.

A Quick Poll

So I have been reading a LOT lately about how dark backgrounds with light text are difficult to read for many blog readers.  So I changed my blog.  I am not sure that I LOVE it but if you would leave a comment and let me know if this is a little friendlier to your eyes I would appreciate the feedback.  Thanks!

Don't worry about offending me I can take corrective criticism I am asking for it here. 

Post edit:
So I took your advice and lightened up the grey.  I tried white background and it just wasn't as calming to me.  So hope you all like my new look.  Thanks for the input I appreciate it!

Some Blog LOVE!

The lovely Laura from I am the Glue bestowed this award on me.

This is her button.  Go check her out.  I love blogging awards!  Thanks Laura.  I promise to pass it on this coming week!

Fall Beauty

It was a beautiful day yesterday.  And we really enjoyed it!  Thank you Fall for being so lovely.

Close To My Heart Workshop Projects

These are some scrapbooking projects I am working on and we did them at our monthly workshop club.  If you love it and want to order it for yourself click here to shop on my site 24/7.

I used Twitterpated Level II paper packet, Chocolate Ribbon Rounds, My Acrylix Hello There stamp set, and our exclusive inks in Chocolate, Sorbet, and Sweet Leaf.  I also used liquid glass, Dimensional Elements in Organic, natural hemp, and brads basic assortment.  I think they all turned out so cute.

This last layout is from the Grace Workshop we will be making this next month at club.  If you want to order it click here and then click on Workshops on the Go for more info.  If you live locally and want to come to my workshop leave me a comment or send me an email.

I heart Faces Week 40~ "Excited"

Kayton loves to swing.  She was so "excited"!  I couldn't help capturing this moment!

"not me" Monday!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

I am not wishing I was doing this right now.  I am not wishing it were still summer.

I am NOT wanting it to still be warm enough for these types of activities.

And I am certainly not sitting in front of the computer blogging when I should be doing about 1 million other things right now.

Good Friends

I have a LOVELY friend.  Her name is Jane.  She just helped me make my blog even better!  If you like it you should go to her blog and tell her so. 

I've been Blogged!

Many of you know that I have access to some really great photographers.  We get pictures A LOT.  I figure you can never have too many great photos of the people you love especially when you know two fabulous photographers.  So if you would like to see some GREAT photos of my kids and one of me please go visit my friend Pete on his blog here . Leave him a comment and let him know what you think!
Thanks Pete they turned out wonderful!!

Flashback Friday

Jeff and Dalton circa 2/2003. Dalton walked over while I was posting this and asked "Hey who is that cute baby?" I just looked at him and smiled and then he said "Is that me?" I replied "Yes" and then he giggled. Here he is now looking all grown up.

A New Blog Friend

First of all I must mention the BlogFrog again because you all know how much I LOVE them. Because of BlogFrog I have made a new bloggie friend and she made me that cool little "siggy" at the bottom of my post. She found my blog through BlogFrog and left a comment and so I visited her blog "The Butler Family" and saw her "siggy" and commented about it and then she generously offered to make one for me. How cool is that! So wanting to give her proper credit and also needing a blog post for today I asked her a few questions about herself and now I want to tell all of you about her!

She started blogging in 2008 for personal use to keep a journal of her family but more recently wanted to expand her blog and share with others. So she joined up with BlogFrog (woohoo)!!!

She is a SAHM (stay at home mom) to three beautiful girls. Something unique about her are her artsy talents. She enjoys scrapbooking ( a woman after my own heart), artwork (pictures below), and making "siggy's" and blog headers.

This is some of her artwork it is called "Pointallism" she uses pens and dots as the fill ins. Isn't it great!

Go over to her blog and say hello! Thanks again for the great new "siggy"!!

Watch Oprah Today!!

See a little preview here and watch Oprah today NieNie is going to be on there!

Wordless Wednesday..Life with Girls is Fun!

My silly girls. Nothing else to say. If you want to do Wordless Wednesday click here to see what others are doing today and link up.

How I've Been Saving a Bundle

Those of you who know me know I coupon shop. I am not embarrassed about this; in fact I usually bring it up in almost every conversation I have. I save a LOT of money doing it. I started over a year ago and my family has enjoyed huge savings on our grocery/Walmart/Target/Sam's Club shopping bill. We also enjoy a HUGE food storage that is not limited to just food. We have everything from toothpaste to soap to pasta and sauce. (Just a warning to the crazy's it is well guarded and password protected, if you get my drift!)

Anyway I did this post right after I went to the class. All the info is included to get started. Anyone locally interested in getting started or for a refresher course I spoke with Stacy last night and said she would be happy to host a gathering on how to get going. (She will come to your home and teach you how)

We spend about half what we did previously on all consumable items. I always know what is on sale and even if I don't use coupons on my trip to the store I ALWAYS buy sale items. Today for example I got boneless chicken breasts, bacon, milk, eggs and cheese ALL on sale, items we use all the time but don't realize how expensive they really are. Once you get your food storage then you can menu plan from your supply. It saves time and money you should give it a try.

Go here and enter code g84csg to get an idea of how it works. Any questions leave a comment or go to my BlogFrog forum here to participate in a more interactive discussion.

Photo Fun

This is the coolest thing ever. This picture is old but not as old as it looks go here to check it out. It is called Rollip and you can make your photos look really cool!

Happy Birthday Dad (belated of course)!

Sorry Dad didn't mean to neglect you! Hope you had a great day. We were thinking of you.

Love this picture of Katie and my Dad. They have such a sweet bond. Thanks for all you do and the example you are to all of us Dad we love you!!

BlogFrog Guess What's new???

I am SO excited the BlogFrog just announced something new today! They started a premium features membership that you can try for two weeks for FREE! They offer great features like advertising your blog on the widgets (like you have seen mine on some of the widgets on your blogs), you will be featured on the BlogFrog home page AND on top of that you get great blogging tips and stats on what YOUR readers like to read about.

Who doesn't want to be a better blogger?? I know I do. You should check it out here. At least for the first two weeks.

Just FYI they don't charge you for the membership until after the two weeks is up