Ben Turns 5!

It's official...on Monday, Benjamin turned 5! I can easily recall most all things from his birth. We decided to do a homebirth with him and so everything was so new and exciting! He has brought so much joy and happiness into our family. The little girl next door has the exact same birthday -- in fact they are just 25 minutes apart in age! Isn't that a hoot?! So after Ben got home from preschool, we had some of the kids' mutual friends over for a little luncheon/celebration. Here's a picture of Ben and Dacee :)

Dacee had been talking about how she was going to be going to Red Robin for the people to sing to her and to get a sundae... well, this made Ben think that he *had* to go as well... I had already made dinner so we decided that after we all ate, we'd head over there for some birthday dessert. Ben was so excited to go and was just so cute. After we ordered, he looked over at John and I and said (in Jack Blacks voice from Nacho Libre) " My life if gooooood... it's fantastic" -- it was so hilarious! He loved being the center of attention when the servers brought out his Sundae and sang to him -- so glad such a simple thing could make his birthday brighter. Of course, we did have to have some sort of calamity, right? It's nothing too major, but while we were there, Nathan grabbed my glass and slammed it down against the table breaking it! We left shortly after this happened because we kept finding little shards of glass (and didn't want to risk anyone getting hurt!)... For his birthday, he did recive a few little gifts... a Leap Frog alphabet thing from grandma and grandpa Vogt, a Spiderman motorcycle stunt man from grandma and grandpa carlson, bubble gun blowers from friends and a dragon dude that flies from his brothers. At the beginning of the year, we had a family council where we decided that we were going to save as a family all year long and then go on a cruise at Christmas time. This means that we forego birthday gifts, etc... So, with all the money he recieved, he was able to put over $100 into the Cruise fund - he was SO EXCITED! Although then he kept asking " so, are we going on the cruise on Tuesday?"... we had to explain that our cruise fund only has enough money in it so far for 1 person to go - LOL.. but it is slowly growing :) Well, here's to another year of health and great photo ops for my little guy! :)

Blog challenge #5

Today's challenge is to share a link with everyone that you enjoy visiting... I got to thinking that I don't really frequent too many places besides all of my scrapping sites... but did stumble across this place that'll read your mind. I tried it several times and it worked each time... have NO idea how! but it did! try it... it'll baffle ya.... Click here to be amazed!

Messin' around in Photoshop

So... came across a tutorial on making digital photos look handtinted... and experimented using one of the photos from Nathan's 6 month shoot I did on Thursday... TOTALLY love the outcome! If any of you are interested in the link, it's posted at my scrapblog. Isn't he just too darn C.U.T.E.!?!! I didn't know which one I liked better.. the one with the blue frame or the white one. The blue one definitely shows up better... but can't quite decide if that detracts from the overall photo... hmmmm...Any thoughts????

Happy St. Patty's Day!

Yeah.. so we don't get too much "into" St. Patricks day. I think I was the only one who even wore green today! LOL... John picked up these goodies so he could be decked out at work yesterday (mostly to just be obnoxious!) - and of course the boys thought they were awesome so took turns dressing up. The first time john walked through the door with the whole get-up on I was laughing so hard! Isn't it too fun?!?

ok.. lots to update you all on. So yesterday was the day I finally made good on the promise of taking August and Seth to the RollerDrome. I got mixed up on the times and so once we actually got there, there was only 1 hour left for public skating. So I asked the lady at the front counter if she could give us a discount since we'd only be there for an hour... she did :) she only charged us for 1 admission and then the rollerblade rentals. OK, I hadn't been in skates for I don't know how long, and it took me a bit to get used to! It was actually an enjoyable time. There were only 2 other family's there and so we pretty much had the entire place to ourselves - in fact there was a time when I was literally the only skater! How exhilerating - to be going round and round the rink with the wind blowing your hair and 80's rock music blaring in the background.. ahhhh.. brings back memories! LOL. Acutally I was soooooo worried that I was going to biff it and land hard and hurt myself! I'm happy to report that I did not fall once - ran into the side walls a few times.. but never fell, so I left unsore - which was a plus! Since we didn't get to stay very long we decided to eat out for dinner (just the 3 of us). We decided upon IHOP - the boys were actually campaigning for the chinese buffet... but I *knew* that would be death for my WW plan! So here's a little picture of my boys enjoying the scrumptious stack of buttermilk pancakes! Also -- did you guys know that IHOP has a healthy menu? i sure didn't! They have several items that were 500-600 calories and low in fat... I ended choosing the Garden Spledor (or something like that) that had scrambled eggs made from egg beaters and full of all sorts of vegetables. It also came with 2 pancakes served with sugar free syrup! It was quite tasty. It came to 12 WW points (I still had like 21 points to use by this time... so was doing fine). Anyway... it was fun having a little "date" with my boys!

Next item of business: Ben is learning to ride a 2 wheeler without his training wheels! He inherited August's old bike last year but kept leaving it out after he was done and it kept getting run over! Anyway.. so he has been bike-less for a while. We have another bike (just his size) but no training wheels can fit onto it. So, he made the decision that he'd like to learn to ride it (he kept saying things like how the little neighbor girls wouldn't believe he could ride a 2 wheeler! - LOL)... So, John and him (and of course me with my camera...) spent a little bit of time outside learning a new life skill. He did quite well but was "done" with it after like 20 minutes... he was so proud of himself when he realized that dad had let go and he was riding all by himself. He's still not "good enough" to just be zipping around the cul de sac, but he's off to a great start! I even happened to be video taping the exact time when he was riding solo :)

We spent the day doing our weekly "Super Clean Saturday" - which I might add that they boys absolutley hate! oh well.. their room has to get cleaned at least once a week, right? I also neglected laundry this week so had a B.U.N.C.H. of loads to do today to get caught up! Well.. it's getting late and I need to go get everyone's church clothes all ironed up so they'll be ready for wearing in the morning. I was motivated to do it earlier this evening but our power went out (and was out for a couple of hours - so I entertained myself by watching episodes of Dog the Bounty Hunter on John's Ipod - LOL). Now that the power is back on.. I'm not so motivated for ironing.. hmmph.

Blog Challenge #4

See, I am actually doing my own challenge - LOL
Today's challenge is to answer this question: What do you do when you are all alone and think that no one is watching?
Well... that's easy for me - I dance and sing like I know what I'm doing! I've never been a good dancer (nor felt that comfortable doing it in public for that matter) but when I'm alone.. watch out J.Lo cuz ShandyV is in da house!

A Half Year Has Passed!

(feel free to click on the above image to view it larger)

yes.. it's true - my sweet little Nathan turned the big 6 months today! That is just sooooooo crazy to me! I feel like I just had him yesterday! I look back and see that quite a bit has happened in that time, yet on the other hand... time NEEDS to stand still! He is growing way too fast! I don't remember having that feeling with the other boys... Well, so I *just had to* do a little impromptu photo shoot. The weather was gorgeous here so we ventured outside to take advantage of the natural light. Now, I think I take *OK* pictures but would REALLY LOVE to take a class to improve... I love the whole art aspect of photography and capturing the sweet moments of life... and better photography would just make them that much sweeter! OK... so without further adieu (is that even spelled right? oh well...and I put the pictures at the top of this post.. so chances are you've already looked at them - LOL) here are 3 of the shots I got today. Of course I'll be scrapping a whole LO with my favorites of the photo's but wanted to get these up... I told my mom to check back tonight to see pics of her newest grandson. So here they are. Isn't he just adorable?!! I could just stare into his sweet dark eyes all day!

IT WORKED!

Can't believe I forgot to comment on some of the most exciting news of the week....
So, remember how last Tuesday (after my WW weigh in) I was getting quite discouraged? Well.. I did what the leader suggested... Count my points to make sure that I am getting ALL of what my body needs each day while nursing (with the nursing points and the additional points for exercsing.. I was to eat 36 points a day)... which I found out I WASN'T! so... I upped my eating (and brought in some more fat -- I realized I was on a virtually 'No Fat" diet...) and...
lost 2.8 pounds this week!!! There were several days that I still had so many points left, that I would have peanut butter and crackers or something (just to get my points up).. also we ordered pizza one night (and normally I wouldn't go near it for fear of gaining) and I had 2 slices (which were YUMMY!).. also had a girls night out and went to Fuddruckers and ate deliciously there as well! I guess I HAD been starving my body and it was doing everything it could to hold on to the weight to protect the milk supply. So.. needless to say, I'm doing the EXACT same thing this week - LOL...
so now it's official.. just 12 more pounds till GOAL! I CAN DO THAT!

7 points to get you updated!

Hi all my faithful readers -- sorry there are SO many days that you come here see what new excitement has been going on in the Vogt household just to find it - unchanged! well, surprise! I'm posting today :) LOL
alright.. everyday, there's something that happens that I think would be fun to post here... but then there never seems to be enough hours in the day! So... let's go down the lists...

(1) First of all.. today is Nathan's half birthday! that's right.. he's a big 6 months old (as of 5:52am)! I can't believe it! I'm planning on doing a photo shoot later today and will come back to post the cutest one (at least that's my intention! - LOL)

(2) I have been busily creating new goodies to build up my inventory in the new store that will be opening May 1st. I've also been perusing some of the digi blogs and have pointed 2 designers (that I think are awesome) in the direction of Designer-Bytes (that's the name of the store) and am excited to report that both of them applied, were offered a position and I know for sure one has accepted (and am hoping the second one does too!).

(3) Benjamin had a cute saying on Tuesday when we met John for lunch. I just did a LO on it this morning (it's posted at my scrapblog or you can click on the "see my scrapbook gallery" link on the right which will take you to it - if you're interested... which I'm sure you are, right??? - also after typing all of that.. it would been just as fast to insert the pic here! hehehhe) ANYWAY... here's the journaling from it (which gives the jist of the story)
"On the way to my Weight Watchers meeting this week, Benjamin asked if we could meet daddy for lunch afterwards. Sounded like a great idea to me, so I called him and we set up to meet at 12:30 to have a picnic lunch at his office.
Benjamin, Nathan and I arrive and we pull out all of our goodies and begin eating. Dad had left to heat up the Clam Chowder soup and while he was gone, a SGT who has an office next to daddy, walked in. I didn’t thinkanything of this, but then I heard Benjamin say (somewhat under his breath) “I’m a Vogt Boy”. I asked what he had just said and he again repeated “I’m a Vogt Boy!” It was then he explained that he wanted that SGT to know...that his dad was the boss! This totally cracked me up anddad and I sure had a good laugh about it when he returned.Ben, I guess you’re kinda proud of your dad, huh?"
Isn't that hilarious! It was so funny! The SGT didn't hear him, but to think that he was so proud that he was a Vogt boy and knew what that meant! - LOL

(4) I've taken over the blog challenge for Corinna at Scrapgal... Yesterdays assignment was to tell about a fad that we just HAD to be a part of... still thinking on that one.. but will come back to it. Promise.

(5) I am in DESPERATE need of a haircut! It's also time to recolor... so need to get an appointment.

(6) I have been recruited to take the boys to the ROllerDrome tonight - hooray for me! (yes, done in a sarcastic tone..)

(7) ok.. guess that's it.. I really hate not having a picture for this post.. oh yeah, I was going to come back to post a pic of sweet Nathan's 6 month photo shoot (after I do it - LOL)

Blog Challenges 1 & 2

ok.. so my good friend, Corinna, over at Scrapgal is doing a blog challenge. On MWF she posts a new challenge for us. I still need to do #1, but #2 is to list 10 things that make me happy... so here goes:
1) a Clean house
2) boys playing NICELY together
3) surprises in the mail
4) phone calls from John throughout the day
5) getting lost in a good book
6) girls night out with friends
7) when I stop and really think "I'm the mom to 4 awesome boys!"
8) getting a great hair cut and color
9) getting Nathan up from his naps
10) reading the scriptures and having spiritual discussions as a family

ok.. well, since I'm already here.. may as well do #1 so then I feel "caught up" - LOL
We are to finish this sentence: I think....
I think that I'm going to accept a position at a upcomming new site to sell my digital kits. I got an email on Saturday evening extending the invitation and after carefully considering it, I've decided to go for it. I had originally planned on just selling from my Scrapblog because I didn't want any deadlines, schedules or commisions taken out... Well, this new site addressed both of those - each designer gets 30 shopping cart slots to do whatever we want with. There are no deadlines or contracts and we design at our own pace AND there are NO commissions to be paid (just the fee that paypal takes out -- which I've already been doing since that's how I'm set up for payments via my blog). So, it looks like a total win win for me... The sites date to launch is May 1st which means I'll want to have several new kits and goodies available by then AND have my own CT (creative team) in place by then. I'm kind of nervous about that part... putting a call out for a CT -- what if no one wants to design for me and no one responds! Aacck! for some reason that really scares me! Alright, guess that's it for now... I'll keep you all updated on this new adventure!

Tax time!

woohooo!!! you know that feeling you have hanging over your head when you know you need to do something? ummm.. like your taxes? well, I've been feeling that the past several weeks. We had a hold up on getting Nathan's SS# and so that was our excuse up until February (when we FINALLY got it!)... but since then, I've wanted to spend my *free* time designing or playing with the boys... not doing taxes. Well, I realized I would probably feel more creative and productive if I just got them done so that nagging feeling would go away. Truthfully it only took like an hour and the end result was WELL WORTH IT! I was so excited to see the final number. It will actually be the highest return we have ever recieved (and in the past, I've felt that we've gotten a good return!)... so I'm pretty happy right now!

Look at my little Bronco boys! Aren't they too cute! Of course everyone in the family has BSU gear, and today Ben and Nathan decided to sport theirs (I guess it would be more accurate to say that "I decided" since I'm the one that got them dressed - heheheh)... Anyway, Ben has been dying to take have a picture of just he and nathan taken, so thought this would be a good opportunity. yes, I know I'm biased... but they are just soooooo adorable! I'm glad that Ben has taken to his place as "big brother" so well (since he was the baby of the family for 4.5 years). He had a little rough spot for about 3-4 weeks but ever since then, he is really protective of Nathan and is always so excited to show him off. He has asked on several occassions if he can take Nathan to school when it is his "share day".

All boys are in bed... John's up in Seattle for a few days and I'm thinking I might go scrap. oh, speaking of scrapbooking... there was a challenge at Scrapgal.com to get inspiration from a product packaging found in your pantry... Oddly enough I decided on using this 2000 flushes box and ended up with this:

77 degrees!

yep... that's what the thermostat in the house read today! I just about took a picture of it! C.R.A.Z.Y. stuff I tell ya! Spring and summer will be here before we know it! It was so beautiful that the 3 older boys spent most of the afternoon outside playing. It was nice not having them couped up in the house!

I had my Weight Watchers meeting today -- a little discouraged. I have been stuck at a plateau (fluctuating up and down with the same 3 pounds - UGH!!) for 4 months! Yes, you read that right, F.O.U.R.! I exercise 6 days a week for 45 minutes and follow the CORE plan religiously. I've lost 50 pounds in about a 6 months time period but have been STUCK since November and am getting discouraged. Well, my leader thinks it's becuase I'm nursing and my body wants to protect the milk supply. Makes sense to me... since I have heard that from several sources. With my exercising and nursing, etc... we figured I *should* be eating 36 points a day! Since I do CORE and don't count points I have no idea how close to that I eat and so it was quite possible that I haven't been eating enough and my body thinks it can't let go of the fat... so today wa my first time to count up all the points for my day... come dinner time, I still had 20 POINTS left! so, I'm thinking maybe I haven't been eating enough.. I'm going to keep track for this week and beef up my eating to see if that helps. John, always looking on the bright side of things, said to me this evening after my rant about the whole "plateau" thing... he says "well, if you're going to be stuck at a plateau.. .what a GREAT place you are at to be stuck at!"... it made me feel happy :)

ok.. enough about that... sorry for the rambling! Let's see... the boys all spent the night with Grandma last weekend.. here's a picture of them with her. Of course, she spoiled them all and they returned home will new Tamagotchi's! Which my boys all think are so cool - LOL... alright, it's quite late.. so better get..

Seth's 1st Layout

This is Seth's entry (in his own words):

This is my first digital scrapbooking layout that I did for mommy time and I want to remember this so maybe if I have a girl I could teach her how to scrapbook and I also want to remember my very first digital scrapbooking layout. That's all I want to say. Goodnight, I am going to bed now.

Snowmen in March

Our weather has been quite crazy here all week. Each morning there will be snow on the ground but pretty much be melted away before mid morning... well, today it snowed off and on for the majority of the day. When August and Seth got home from school, it was snowing BIG HUGE flakes! They ran right through the house to the backyard to go jumping on the tramp! Then they decided to make snowmen. Here are their creations. Benjamin has been itching to make a snowman for ages! Every time there's snow on the ground, he asks if he can make a snowman. usually I have to tell him "no" but today was different. He really wanted me to come out and help him so after I fed Nathan, I put on my coat, hat and gloves and went out. He just wanted me to show him how to get a snowball started for the base and he said "ok, you can go back in now"... the next thing I know, he's at the door excited to tell show me his snowman that he literally made entirely by himself! I am so proud of him! He was super excited as well! He asked if I'd take a picture of him with his new buddy... (I even got one where he was kissing the snowman! isn't that a hoot!?).

Well, I finally went in to the Dr's tonight and got it confirmed that I do, indeed, have an ear infection :( I'm just wanting some of this pressure to be released from my ear! So I'm on some antibiotics and will hopefully feel more normal soon.

Happy Monday!

Hi all! Today has been great! John is on a 4 day pass so we've been enjoying some fun family time together. Today he labeled "MOM'S DAY OFF" and so basically I've done whatever I've wanted all day while he has taken care of the boys. So I worked out this morning... lounged around the house... of course scrapbooked and took a super long shower to just relax! It was great! Here's a picture we took last night after spending the evening having some wonderful spiritual disucssions with the boys and watching "Church Ball" together. I remember reading the scriptures as a family, looking around at the living room full of all these little boys and thinking how blessed I am! Life is GOOD! Enjoy this wacky pic from us :)

scrapping news...

ok.. so for those of you who frequent my SVdesigns site this will be a repeat... but I was so excited about this new technique I learned tonight that I'd thought I'd post my results here... isn't this look fantastic!? I created it in PSE4 and think this will make a great background to an uncomming layout! thanks for taking a peek! Ok.. I'm editing this to show the LO I just finished up using this fun "overlayed" technique.

Pokemon battles and such...

Wow... here it is Friday already and I see that I haven't kept everyone updated throughout the week! Well, August and Seth have been reenacting Pokemon battles (what esle is new, though??) They have taken it to the next level where August will be playing a Pokemon game on his Gameboy and Seth will reenact that pokemon's move that August (aka: the trainer) calls out. It is so hilarious! For instance, August will cry out "I choose you ________" and Seth jumps up and gets in a fighting stance. Then august will say "Leaf attack" and Seth will start waving his arms like he is a leaf pokemon! It is so fun to watch! Here is a picture of him getting ready to battle! Doesn't he have just the cutest face ever!?

Sadly, he's home sick today from school. So I guess no battles for him today! Truthfully, I haven't felt the best the past several days either... I've had a dull headache and sore throat since Wednesday. Oh, and Nathan has been the most ill out of us all. I took him to the Dr.'s on monday just to make sure he didn't have any fluid in his chest.... we got the good news that it was just a head cold. He had infections in both of his little eyes and his nose was like a faucet (yet stuffed at the same time so he couldn't breathe :( talk about a few sad days! Here's a pathetic little pic of him - the sad thing is that he hadn't even been crying, his eyes were just red like that all week! He didn't sleep very well for about 2 days but has since been catching up and sleeping quite a bit.

The other 2 soldiers from John's unit were burried this week. One on Tuesday and one is actually this morning. Still so sad for everyone involved.

Creativity

If you're a frequent guest here at my blog, you'll remember how my boys have like 5 days off from school! On Saturday we were at the park at they each made mud sculptures. Yes, you read correctly... MUD SCULPTURES! Then they somehow talked me into bringing them home to harden so that they could paint them. Lucky me, tonight was the night they were hard enough to paint! Anyway, by the time they were finished, paint was everywhere! But they had fun and were able to express a little creativity. Here's a shot of the aftermath!

John's First LO

Ok.. so for fun, I posted a challenge at Scrapgal to have your DH or SO create a LO and post it... John actually took me up on it and came up with this. The "rules" were that your Dh's can consult with you but they had to actually create it all by themselves. I think it turned out quite fabulous! Don't you??

Here's his journaling:

While on our Fiesta Bowl trip, we stopped off at Vegas on the first night which also happened to be New Years Eve. We hit the strip around 7:00 pm and by 9:00 pm, both Dad and Bill had had it. Brent and I went back to the hotel with them to get some warmer clothes and then headed back out. Come on! How many times are you going to get to spend New Years Eve on the Las Vegas Strip? Besides, how much trouble could two good Mormon boys get into, right? The night went well and the whole strip was closed down to traffic. It was one big party in the streets. Brent and I estimated that there were probably close to 200,000 people out on the strip. Despite the numbers and the obvious inebriation of most of the people, the crowd was still pretty mellow and just happy. As the time grew closer to midnight, I spotted this guy and his gleaming GRILL. The white boy from Idaho in me knew that I immediately had to get a picture with him. He was cool and posed ,while Brent snapped the pic. Everyone always knew I was down and now I had the proof, yo!

5 months

This will be a quick post... I'm so tired my eyes are burning! BUT... since today is my baby's 5 month mark I thought I'd put up a little pic of him. Look how much he's changed over the months! I think it's always fun to see a chronological scan of growth like this. (you can click on this image to see it larger).
onto other news: All of the boys are home from school until NEXT WEDNESDAY! so we'll have to see if we can't plan something fun to do on at least one of the days. When I tucked them into bed tonight I told them that they'd better sleep in. That's when August (my 10 year old) said "oh no! I want to get up early and play video games and watch cartoons!"... I guess he's already got his agenda planned - LOL
Ok, really...I'm off to bed now. Until later --

Valentines Prep...

so yesterday my second oldest ds was home from school sick and Martha Stewart living came on and they were showing some different "quick" valentine ideas. They shared this one where you take a pic of your child and put in on a 2x3 card and fold that in half to become the "topper" to a little bag filled with candy. I thought - I CAN DO THAT! and that would be so cute. So when my other ds got home from school I asked them both if they'd like those type of valentines this year to pass out and they both thought that'd be pretty cool (yes, I STILL hadn't gotten any boxed ones yet - eeeks!)... anyway, so after they're in bed, I make some up in photoshop and they were adorable! -- as you can see from this first photo. Well... when they get up this morning, they see the printed out cards on the kitchen table and I hear them talking about how they are going to be SOOOOO EMBARRASSED by these Valentines day Cards! LOL But then Seth says - but mom worked so hard on them, I'm just going to pass them out anyway - even though I'm going to be so embarrassed! (what a good son he is :) -- Well, they didn't actually take all that long so I decided once they got home, we'd work on some nes ones that they'd actually like, which not surprisingly, turned out to be POKEMON ones! (of course, Ben didn't care and thought his looked cool with his picture on them!). So for 3 hours after school, we designed, printed, labeled and stapled these valentines together. They are so excited to hand these out and keep talking about how COOL they are. I DID talk them into handing one of the pictured ones to their teachers. We'll also use those ones for grandparents, etc... So here are the *new* and *not embarrassing* Valentine's!

Milestone

Another Monday is coming to a close... it's nearing midnight and I still haven't seen John yet. Poor guy, he's got to be exhausted! I'm sure this is how most of this week will be until after the funerals are over with. I'm just glad he's safe and not off in Iraq - so I will gladly take these late nights.

On to other news... Nathan learned a new trick today! He rolled over! I was snuggling with Benjamin on the couch and I happened to look down on the floor where Nathan was playing and saw that he was on his stomach - when I had placed him on his back! I hurried and grabbed the camera (certain that he wouldn't do it again) but he did! He'll turn 5 months old on Thursday. Here's the video (just click the little arrow on the screen - it usually takes 2 clicks). It's mainly for grandma and grandpa to see - but feel free to watch it as well (just ignore my voice in the background - LOL :)

Latest LO

Hi all! John rolled in close to 2am last night and... found me scrapping! hehehe.

Anyway, this up for a challenge at scrapgal.com. Click HERE for the credits.

Enjoy and I'm sure I'll be back later!

Shootin' Hoops

It wasn't too cold outside today so we took advantage of it and played outside for a bit. Seth was at his *real* basketball game (grandma Vogt took him) and the other boys and I played some H-O-R-S-E here at the house. Of course yours truly won! LOL

Benjamin wanted to make a basket soooo bad and August kept coaching him and giving him tips and FINALLY he made a basket. He was just so proud of himself. It also made me feel so happy to see August helping out his little brother. Here are a couple of shots I got during our play time.

Too Cute!

Just look at those eyes! I love how Nathan's eyes always have a little sparkle to them! I'm hoping to scrap this picture for a challenge at scrapgal.com (the challenge is to scrap an up-close picture). I had originally wanted this to be in color because his coat is a very vibrant red which I thought would be striking on a LO... but... you see the pacifier in his mouth? Well, what you can't see in this BW photo is that it is P.I.N.K.! It was the only one I could find (of course purchased before he was born - in the chance he was a girl)... anyway, so I really had no choice but to change it to B&W. After getting it *just the way I wanted* in photoshop, I think I prefer it without the distraction of color.... so enjoy the little pic of my cutie!

Front Page News

This was the front page of the Idaho Statesman today. John doesn't think that's the best picture of him. I like it. But I know we're always most critical on pictures of ourselves. He said it was much more fun making the front page for being a rowdy BSU fan at the Nevada game! He got home about 1am last night and was back to Gowen at 4:30am. He did stop in at 8:30pm for about 20 minutes to tuck the boys into bed. He thought he'd be home around midnight. We've had several friends call to check on him. I thought that was quite nice. This picture even made the Southern Idaho Press (from the Burley/Albion area). Grandma Edie called me today and said that she was looking at a picture of John in her newspaper.

Nightly Ramblings...

another long day has come to an end. 2 of the boys are spending the night with grandma. the other 2 (August is sick and Nathan being too little to be away) are both in bed. I still haven't heard or seen John. He wasn't sure he'd make it home tonight and if he did it would be quite late. He said that the most aggravating thing was the names getting released prematurely - which has been a nightmare to deal with. He was all over the news on all the local networks with little snipits from the press release. I got several calls afterwards from people telling me they'd seen him on the TV.

On to other musings... I've found a passion for designing. Yes, I know that I have always been designing in some way or another... BUT creating digital elements for scrapbooking has totally got a hold of me! I just *barely* started (like, as in 3 days ago! LOL) but I think I'm pretty good! I've had over 350 downloads of each of my 2 paper packs (and I just uploaded one of them last night!)... Personally... I think my designs are classy and very *realistic*. I haven't been creating layouts since every spare moments (insert: when boys are sleeping or playing X-Box) I immediately start designing another element. Speaking of which... I've got some ideas running through my head so off to start designing - so if you haven't checked out my other blog (where I house all of these "ideas") go check it out. The link is at the upper right hand area (and says "click here for SV_designs -- or something like that). Good night.

Sad Times

Most of you know that John is the Rear Detachment Commander for the 321st EN BN out of Boise. Well, they got very sad news yesterday. 3 of their men were killed and 2 were wounded. He spent most of yesterday notifing the families (something he absolutely didn't like doing).

He did a press conference today and this picture is the picture posted at the Idaho Statesman website (that's probably illegal to link here, huh?? - actually I saved the pic to my computer and then uploaded from there - is that any different?)... anyway all of the TV stations were there and he had to answer all of the questions. I believe it will be airing later today.

He just called me and said that we (the family) probably wouldn't see him very much in the next 4 days. I feel very sad for the families, and the young widow. You can see the sadness in John's eyes in this picture. No, today is not a good day.

Click Here for the whole story that is being released on the Idaho Statesman Homepage.

First Foods

Nathan will be turning 5 months next week (next Thursday to be exact) and it was my plan not to give him any baby food until he was about 6 months old. Well, all o that went out the window today. He was just having a fit while nursing and not really eating, yet he was crying because he was hungry and after a bit, I decided I'd try to give him some baby food. The problem: we didn't have any. Not only that, we don't have a high chair, no bibs, and no baby spoon. Do you think that stopped me? No. I got a little bit of unsweetened applesauce, sat him on my lap and used the smallest spoon I could find. He did amazingly well and gobbled it up! Since August was home from school sick, I had him snap some pictures.

Nathan's New Toy

Here's little Nathan in his new toy. We got this for him at Christmas time but just barely brought it out this week. He LOVES standing and jumping so this was right up his alley! It was definitely a hit in his mind. He was absolutely adorable bouncing around in it.

let's see... he's getting very close to rolling over too. In fact, August says that he saw him roll over this morning but I haven't seen it yet. And who knows... maybe that was with a little "help" from August... but I'm sure it won't be too long until that is his preferred choice of mobility!

Let's GO!

so I have another blog which I thought would house BOTH my daily life happenings as well as my scrap-happenings, but the more I thought about it, I think having them seperate will be better. So here I go... making the first post in the VOGT FAMILY BLOG! I'm sure John will want to put things in as well, but I'm thinking that I will probably be the primary writer. Hooray for you, right? just kidding!