Cricut

Last summer I was introduced to and had fun using my mother-in-laws Cricut. So, I decided I wanted one. On Black Friday I found one on sale. I was very busy and didn't even open the box, until my friend Angie came over this Spring and helped me set it up. Since then, I have had the Cricut out for every occasion. I can pop out a card in ten minutes, or I can sit for hours and make card after card. I am not the most creative women in the McClellan family, but I do my best.

Here is my kitchen during the card making process.

Here are some of my end results.

Making cards is my new favorite past time. I also have used this for school bulletin boards and table decorations. I love my Cricut!!

Spring 2010

It has been a while since I last updated my blog. This Spring has been a time we spent as a family. Here are a few highlights from the last couple months...

Payton graduated from preschool. She loved her time at UNLV preschool. She misses it so much already.

Payton and her teacher, Miss Robbi

The boy to Payton's right is the boy Payton loves. His name is Adam. Adam does not like her though. Tristan likes Payton. He is the boy behind her right shoulder. (She has kissed both boys on the playground at school.)

Payton graduating

My birthday was so fun. The kids picked out these flowers for me. I got my Nook, which I LOVE!! and we spent the day as a family.

We went to the Dolphin Habitat at the Mirage.

The place also has tigers, lions, alpaca, and jaguars.

Here are two of the dolphins

It has been an emotional time for me. Madi has finished her first year of school and Payton starts Kindergarten next year. My kids re growing up!

Madi receiving her certificate from the principle.

My little Madi holding her certificates

This is not all the highlights from my Spring. We were able to go to Phoenix and visit family. When we were there, Greg got really sick. He went to the Urgent Care and found out he had strep throat. After telling the doctor what medicines to prescribe him, he was on a very slow recovery. The next day I was outside with the kids and my in-laws (Greg was on the couch the whole weekend) and Madi slipped and fell on her face, then she immediately rolled into the pool. There was blood EVERYWHERE! My wonderful sister-in-law helped me bring Madi to the ER. She got 4 stitches in her face. That was almost four weeks ago and she still has a red nose, but the scar seems to be healing well.

We thought we would be moving this summer, but we have decided to stick Vegas out for another year or so. Greg is being put on orders to work in the Las Vegas Armory to fill out paperwork for injured soldiers. He will take the GRE soon and apply to the University of Phoenix to get his Masters in Counseling. It is crazy how things end up. I am really happy to be staying and teaching another year at my school. We are grateful for the last three months we were able to spend with Greg.

Easter 2010

On Saturday Greg helped the girls dye these Star Wars eggs while I cleaned the house. They loved it. It is so fun having the girls grow older. They get so excited to do things!
On Sunday morning the girls woke us up, so we went downstairs to see what the Easter Bunny had left us.



The girls loved hunting for the eggs that the Easter Bunny hid. We took the hard boiled eggs and made the Powell Family Easter breakfast, eggs-golden-rod. Mmmmmm.
After breakfast it was time for General Conference. The older I get, the more I enjoy listening to conference!!
Greg helped the girls play conference bingo with their Easter candy.
After conference we had a turkey dinner. I made all the fixings to go with it. What a great way to end Easter day. Life can't get much better then family time, good meals, the spirit that comes from listening to the General Authorities and, my favorite, Candy!

A date with my husband

I don't usually blog about my husband and I going on a date, but it was a big deal for me. It was our first date in over a year. Growing up my parents went on a date every Friday night. Greg and I have never been even close to going every Friday, but with him gone this past year, we were in desperate need of a date. Saturday evening was great fun. We did very manly things. First, we went and saw "Clash of the Titans" at the movie theater. Then, we went to Grind Burger for dinner and last, we went to the Jones vs. Hopkins boxing match. Here are a couple pictures from that night.



Okay now there is something really wrong with 40 year old guys hugging in a ring surrounded by screaming fans and ring girls dressed in very skimpy clothes. Oh well, I guess that is why boxing appeals more to men.

Spring Break 2010

Spring Break started with the girls and I driving to Utah. I drove through my first snow storm safely. We spent Saturday with my Aunt Becky and her family. We had a fun time. Sunday I spent with Emily and Scott. It was such a fun mini trip. We had to rush home on Sunday night because Greg was going to get home at 8 AM on Monday. The military does not believe in knowing anything more then a couple hours before they do something. But, we didn't mind rushing home to see daddy and we spent the week laying low.
We played games, took naps and shopped.

On Wednesday we went to the Shark Reef. We have been many times, but the girls love to go.
Madi loved sharing everything that she learned about the animals.
Payton heard Madi repeat sentences, so she would repeat single words about what she would hear. "Mom teeth, I heard about teeth."
Then we were able to see Greg's closing ceremony. Now Greg is actually easy to spot. Do you see the two guys against the black wall in the way back? Greg is the one on the right. Really, he is. He was a medic on duty. Two guys fainted and he helped carry the guys away and behind the black screen. Go Greg! Oh and the speaker in the bottom right corner is none other then our wonderful Jim Gibbons. :')
The girls loved waving at daddy.
What a great time to be back as a family.

On Thursday we ventured out to the Adventure Dome. I had received four free all day passes. It was fun for the girls. I went on one ride and was sick for the rest of the time. I sat with my head between my knees while Greg brought the girls on all of the rides.

Friday we went and got our family picture taken. It was fun. Then we had some friends over for dinner and dancing. I love Just dance for the Wii.


Today we are relaxing by watching conference. Tonight I get to go on a date with my husband. I can't wait!!

Look Who's Home!

We are so excited to have daddy home again. The girls want Greg to hold them constantly. In fact I will walk into a room and Greg will have picked up one of the girls and they are just hugging. I am so grateful for his safety and willingness to serve our country.

Ben Ten Birthday party!

My beautiful daughter Madison had a birthday this week. On her birthday we woke up and I made her eggs and Pillsbury cinnamon rolls. At school I surprised her with a balloon, Burger King, and cupcakes for her class. She did not tell me what she wanted for her birthday, so we went to Toys'R'us and she picked out a Ben Ten car and a Hello Kitty game for her DS. Then we went to Chuck-E-Cheese. It was a day filled with fun for Madi. Then on Saturday we had her birthday party with friends. She wanted a Ben Ten theme. (If you do not know who Ben Ten is, don't feel bad. It is a show on Cartoon Network about a boy who can turn into ten different aliens. These aliens help him to rid bad aliens from our planet. Oh and he turns into these aliens because of a watch called the omnitrix). The party was a lot of fun. Instead of buying a themed cake, I decided to make one. This is my attempt to make the omnitrix.
Does it look like a watch?
Each of the kids got an alien mask to wear. Here is Madi explaining the rules to the first game.
Here are the kids in the line to play shoot the aliens.
We had a launcher that the kids shot the paper aliens with.
Of course the cute little kids were content to sit and watch
Then we all headed into the kitchen to eat pizza.
Thanks to Megan M. for picking up the pizza for me. You are a life saver.
Little Cesears pizza and bread sticks, Yum!
The second game we played was pin the tail on the donkey. I really wanted to play pin the omnitrix on Ben Ten, but I could not find a Ben Ten poster anywhere. I am not kidding I went to 5 different stores looking for one. Oh well, the good old fashion donkey works great too!
The kids could not wait to open the presents...
They all had a good time helping Madison...
I think all of the presents were opened in less then 3 minutes.
She loved everything she got!
After the whirl wind of presents, we put icing on sugar cookies to look like omnitrixes (do you see a recurring theme here?!)
They used green and black icing.
My beautiful Madi!
My beautiful Payton!
Madi concentrating very hard.
Landon content to just eat the cookie and play with the balloons.
I helped with the black frosting. I guess the clean freak in me did not want black icing all over my table! :0)
Megan with her cookie!
Then we hit a pinata. We picked a shark because, well, I'm not sure what goes through Madi's head. I guess because there were no Ben Ten pinatas and sharks are the next best thing?!
Madi hit first.

Then we went from littlest to biggest.
Everyone got one turn, then Madi broke it. It was perfect.All the kids ran to grab the candy.
Then we sang and ate birthday cake.
Happy Birthday Madison!
We were going to play nusical chairs with the theme song to Ben Ten, but I completely forgot. The party was so much fun and exhausting. I am so grateful for all my friends who helped me out since Greg was not here to help. Megan D. who showed up early to help me finish last minute things. Tara who brought her camera (mine is broken) and took all the pictures for me. Kim who helped me clean up, and Megan M. for getting the pizza. I could not have done it without everyone. I am blessed to have such great, wonderful, awesome friends.

To end this super long post, I wanted to tell each of you how much I love my daughter Madison. She is a great person. She is very intelligent. She remembers everything that she hears. It is scary how much she remembers. She is progressing like a great 6 year old. She is very helpful. Her new favorite thing to do for me is clean the dishes. She is such a loving sister. She is very talkative and will ask you a hundred questions, because she has to know about everything. I am the luckiest mom in the world. I have the most wonderful kids. I can't wait to see how they grow up. Well, I better stop the post. It's bed time for my girls. Good night!