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DesignZ by DeDe

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You are here: Home / Archives for cousin

cousin

Life 2014 | Melanie

My cousin, Melanie Baker suffered for many years with cancer and passed away on January 18, 2014. I was able to go to her funeral on January 23rd with my parents and brother, Cody. It was a celebration of her good life, but of course, we are all sad that she isn’t here on earth with us anymore.

Melanie was so kind and loved everyone. She loved all things Disney and it was a big part of who she was.  I will never forget being with her and the whole Baker Family in 2009, when we went to Disneyland. Melanie planned it for us and it was such a great trip. Even though, she was several years older than me and we actually didn’t get to see that side of the family that often, I still felt a little close to her and I’m so grateful she was my cousin. I’m so happy that she is out of pain and I’m sure she has a great mission in store for her on the other side.Until we meet again, Melanie!

Here’s the layout I did:
melanie_web
I used my Believe in the Magic and a template from Simple Scrapper

Filed Under: Layouts, Life 2014, Personal, Project Life Tagged With: 2014, cancer, cousin, disney, family, funeral, layout, melanie, memories, personal

2012 | Weekend with Mallory

malloryjjThe last week in April, I got a call from my brother.  He had decided to take his wife on a fun little train trip for their anniversary, but they needed someone to take care of little Mallory. Of course, I was delighted to do it for them.  A few days later, Cody and Becki and Mallory spent the night at our house and then in the wee hours the next morning, they left on their adventure.

Having a 2-year-old around the house was an adventure as well, but one that I enjoyed so much. It made me miss having a toddler pretty bad. I enjoyed getting to know Mallory more and we had a great time. 

After getting the kids off to school Friday morning, Mallory and I had the house to ourselves. We watched a bit of tv, ate some breakfast, and ran some errands. And of course we had to hit the park for a little while. Mallory adores swinging on the swings at the park!  We did a little grocery shopping and visited Uncle Joey at work for a bit.  We had lunch and then I got to sing to Mal and we both had a bit of a nap before my kids got home from school.  JJ adores his cousin and he loved coming home and getting to play with her. I swear he is the only one who can make her laugh so hard. I always love to see the special relationship that Mallory has with JJ. We ended up going to the little park in our trailer community for some playing too.  Then of course we had to watch “Meet the Robinsons, ” which I’m pretty sure is Mal’s favorite movie. It was darling to see her giggle and enjoy it. We had Chili for dinner which Mal just gobbled right down.  After getting my kids to bed, it was a bit of an adventure trying to get Mallory to go to sleep.  She was missing her parents pretty bad. I sang to her and we watched part of Meet the Robinsons yet again. We hit a snag, where she kept asking me to sing, “the dog song.” I couldn’t figure it out, so I ended up calling Becki, where I was informed that she was saying “duck” not “dog.” So once we solved that mystery…we sang “5 Little Ducks went out to play” and she calmed right down. I thought she would sleep with me, but for some reason she really didn’t want to sleep in my room, so she ended up sleeping on the air mattress. Once she got to sleep, she slept all night.

On Saturday, we went to the park again and Mallory loved swinging. We came home and had Mac & Cheese for lunch. We played and played and played.  The kids loved playing outside with Mal.  We also finally got Mallory to take a little nap before her Aunt Ashley came over to take her for a little while. I spent some time with my own kids and we had dinner and cleaned up before Mallory came back to us.  After getting my kids showered and off to bed, it was some special one-on-one time for Mallory and I (Joey had gone to a movie with a friend.). This was probably my favorite couple of hours that I had with Mallory the whole weekend. We watched some tv, sang some songs, and I finally felt like we really connected. We started actually having a conversation and giggling and snuggling. She would not go to sleep, but I was enjoying her too much to really make it happen. I was kind of sorry to hear the knock on the door and see Cody and Becki arrive back. I had been having so much fun with my niece. But Mallory was so glad to see her parents and she just wouldn’t let go of them.  It was fun to visit with Cody and Becki for awhile. Joey came home soon after they did, and we all stayed up and talked for awhile, before all heading to bed.

It was such a fun weekend with Mallory!

Filed Under: Life 2012, Personal, Project Life Tagged With: 2012, cousin, kids, mallory, memories, memory, niece, weekend

Life 365 | Week 19

Monday, May 3, 2010
may3Today was my chosen day to do the A DAY IN MY LIFE Challenge, so my notepad and my computer were used all day. It was a crazy day with lots of cleaning, store assistant duties, being with the kids and more. A big highlight of the day for my kids was the great weather outside. They spent the whole afternoon (after school) outside doing lots of things including blowing bubbles. Beth loves the Spring flowers that are popping up!

Tuesday, May 4, 2010
may4Yesterday was so exhausting that I needed to have a more laid back day today. I accomplished a few things, but mostly spent the day being lazy and Beth and I completed another puzzle! I love that Beth loves to do puzzles!

Wednesday, May 5, 2010
may5Happy Cinco de Mayo! We had bean, rice, and cheese quesadillas for dinner and it is one of JJ’s favorites, so he was very happy. I decided to cancel my crop for tonight because I just wasn’t ready for it – so we actually spent the day/evening together as a family. We also got word that this afternoon, I became an aunt again. My brother, Toby and his wife Savanna had their second child – a little girl they named Briel Ruth Sorensen. Can’t wait to meet her.

Thursday, May 6, 2010
may6I worked on taking lots of pictures today and getting organized to complete my Photography Hunt Challenge. I didn’t get it quite done, but spent most of the day working on that. More cleaning and working on the computer too. The kids are still enjoying getting to play outside more! Joey was hoping that today would be his last day to have to give himself injections – but after visiting the doctor this morning – our hopes were dashed. He has to do it for 5 more days. We really hope the blood clots clear up soon.

Friday, May 7, 2010
may7It’s been nice to have Joey home all week, but I really feel badly that he has been feeling so awful. The blood clots, gout, and all of his medicines have really got him in pain and feeling down. But his girl can sure cheer him up. She snuggled and played with him in bed for a long while today. Since Joey didn’t have his podcast tonight – we had dessert first and went to Sub-Zero for ice cream and home for dinner tonight.

Saturday, May 8, 2010
may8I slept in awhile today. Joey got Aaron to come over and mow our lawn and then they headed up to Salt Lake City to do his podcast. The kids and I spent the day cleaning, making cookies, and being lazy. I also worked more on my photography hunt challenge – its still not done and I need to finish! The kids were glad to see Joey at the end of the day. I made all of us lay down on the ground to take a fun family photo and I thought it was very cute of the kids as they helped Joey off the floor. 🙂 Joey brought home Mings for him and I for dinner and it was very good.

Sunday, May 9, 2010
may9There’s nothing like the 3am sound of a kid throwing up. Poor JJ got sick all over his bed so we spent time in the shower and cleaning it all up. He slept on the couch with Joey nearby the rest of the night. This morning, I was feeling pretty awful too and Joey is having a rough day, so no church for us today. What a great Mother’s Day huh? We did get our calls into our moms though, so that was good.

For family movie night, we watched An American Tail and since it was all about mice – we had CHEESE Quesadillas for dinner. The kids had fun preparing them!

And here is my weekly layout:
week19I used my MomentZ & Digital 365 to create this layout!

Filed Under: Layouts, Life 365-2010, Personal, Project Life Tagged With: 2010, aunt, bubbles, cinco de mayo, cousin, family, flowers, ice cream, joey, life, medicine, memories, moments, movie night, movies, photography, podcast, puzzle, sick, spring, weather

Life 365 | Week 18

Monday, April 26, 2010
apr26It was finally another nice day and my kids couldn’t wait to play outside after school. They played for a few hours and constantly came in to tell me about things they saw and things they were doing. They were very cute. Beth loves worms and JJ helped her find several worms to put in a container of dirt. They kept coming in to show me their findings. It wasn’t until I went out to call them in for dinner that I found out where they were getting all the worms. JJ was tearing out all the bricks that were in the ground to make a pathway by the shed. After being angry about it for awhile, I finally realized how cute it actually was. JJ was helping his sister find worms. He didn’t realize he was moving stuff that wasn’t supposed to be moved. Silly kids.

Tuesday, April 27, 2010
apr27Tonight was JJ’s Pack Meeting. It was so exciting because he got his first 2 awards in the scouting program. He received his Bobcat badge and his Badminton belt loop. Part of getting the bobcat badge was painting lines on JJ’s cheeks. He wasn’t so sure about that one and really didn’t want me to do it. When he saw one of his scoutmates getting it done – he finally let me paint it on him – but as soon as he got home he washed it off – no paint faces for him!

Wednesday, April 28, 2010
apr28A big fan of Bill Watterson (Calvin and Hobbes), Joey wanted our kids to be attached to their stuffed animals. In trying to encourage this, he would ask Beth if she would let him borrow her stuffed tiger (which he had bought for her at the Hogle Zoo and named “Sasha”) at night. This has quickly got out of control as now Beth has to have someone watching Sasha anytime she’s away from the house, and has asked Joey to take Sasha to work with him several times. Joey’s co-workers have got quite the kick out of seeing Sasha’s head popping out of his backpack and attending his meetings. Sasha is Daddy’s “helper” and Beth’s comfort! I’m not sure what we would do if we lost Sasha – let’s hope that it never happens!

Thursday, April 29, 2010
apr29I have some great visiting teachers. I have been so swamped getting ready for NSD and other things that I haven’t had a chance to have them come over this month. They dropped by some yummy banana bread that the kids and I snacked on all day. They really are very sweet.

Friday, April 30, 2010
apr30Joey had an early appointment with his Rheumatologist. It was in Sandy so he was just going to stay up there and work at Pete’s house, but his leg was all swollen in a way that it shouldn’t be, so they decided he needed an ultrasound. They could only find one hospital that could do it today and that was the Timpanogos Hospital here in Orem, so he came back home. At 3pm, he left to go get his ultrasound, with the plan to leave from the hospital to go do his podcast. The kids came home from school, we had snack and playtime and about 5pm, we left to go pickup my cousin, Heather who was in town for the BYU Womens conference. I hadn’t seen her in a year and was very happy to have some time to visit with her. We haven’t actually been close in proximity ever, but I feel like we have kept a pretty good relationship through the years between emailing, and recently through Facebook/blogs. She’s a wonderful person and I’m so glad I had a chance to catch up with her. We picked Heather up and went to Hogi Yogi’s where we had yummy sandwiches and yogurt. Amidst the visiting and handling my wound-up kids, I missed several calls from Joey. Finally JJ interrupted my visiting with Heather and said, “Mom, you’re phone is ringing.” I missed the call again, only to find out that I had missed several calls. I called Joey back and it was now close to 6:30pm and I expected Joey to be in Salt Lake City. But no, he was still at the hospital where he had just been informed that he had 18 blood clots in his leg and 1 in his lung. It was so shocking to hear and especially over the phone where I couldn’t be with Joey. Joey informed me that he was going to go do the podcast now and then we would talk later. So fortunately, I stayed calm – finished visiting with Heather and then dropped her back off at the BYU dorms before heading home. After the kids went to bed, I did research on blood clots, worked on final preparations for NSD, and had a freak out before Joey finally arrived home and we were able to talk. A huge day.

Saturday, May 1, 2010
may1Another crazy day. Joey and I slept in a little bit and then he headed off to the pharmacy to get his medications. Unfortunately, he had a hard time finding a pharmacy with the right stuff – and so when my NSD crop started – he still wasn’t home. The crop went well – even though the kids had a rough time, so I was trying to do my crop and handle the kids at the same time. We made it through and finally Joey got home. Joey’s doing pretty well, but the worst thing is having to give himself injections in the stomach for 5 days. The needle doesn’t really bother him – but the medicine is really hurting him. I just pray that this medicine will help and that we can get the blood clots to go away.

Sunday, May 2, 2010
may2We stayed home from church today. But our home teachers came over and was able to give Joey a blessing and I pray that it will help him through the next several days.

For our Family Movie Night, we watched The Sound of Music and made mexican haystacks for our “hills are alive.” The kids enjoyed it, even though it was quite the stretch to make the movie and dinner match this week!

And here is my weekly layout:
week18I used my Renewal & Digital 365 to create this layout!

Filed Under: Layouts, Life 365-2010, Personal, Project Life Tagged With: 2010, banana bread, blood clots, cousin, daddy, dinner, family, food, heather, home teachers, life, medication, memories, moments, movie night, movies, sasha, scouts, sick, stuffed animals, worms

Project 365 | Week 43

Monday, October 19, 2009
oct19We got JJ’s school pictures back today. I always debate whether or not to purchase the school pictures because they are expensive and I don’t ever use all the prints. But it’s a school memory that I hate to miss out on so I always do it. This time they had a digital copy available – YAY! And really so far, JJ’s school pictures have been great – he’s always smiling – so it’s all good! This one will be a memory of his crooked tooth that I hope we can get fixed soon!

 

Tuesday, October 20, 2009
oct20Today was Joey’s 33rd birthday. He didn’t really want to celebrate it though – so I didn’t even make a cake. I had made some Eclair pie though so he got that and he blew a candle out with his fingertips. LOL My parents and brothers came up to stay at my house tonight and I made dinner. It was fun to hang out and just be with them! Cody and Becki came over too – so it was great!

 

Wednesday, October 21, 2009
oct21I got to spend time with my family today. Beth skipped school and went with me and my parents to Lane and Colby’s State Cross Country Meet. It was really fun to see my brother and my nephew run in the same race. They did amazing and it was so awesome to see them cross the finish line – Colby just a few steps ahead of Lane. They both made it in the top 10 so they got some great medals and their team placed 5th – not too shabby for not having a team even come to state in several years. After the race we went to dinner with my sister’s family and my parents and brothers before they all headed home.

 

Thursday, October 22, 2009
oct22I spent a lot of time doing some design work today and almost finished up my VillanZ Kit. But I didn’t get a photo today and actually I really wanted to share a couple of cute photos of Beth and Whitnee from yesterday. Beth loves her cousin Whitnee SO MUCH and Whitnee is really good to play with Beth even though she is 2 years older. It was so fun to see them play at Sugarhouse Park as we waited for Lane and Colby’s race to begin. These girls are so cute!

 

Friday, October 23, 2009
oct23Today was Beth’s field trip to the Pumpkin Patch with her preschool. I was so glad that I could go with her. It was fun to get to know her classmates and their parents a little bit better. We went through a corn maze, played on some awesome slides (including Beth’s favorite slide where you went down in a burlap potato bag!), petted some animals, went on a hayride, and got to pick a small pumpkin to take home! Beth had so much fun!

Since Beth went to the PUMPKIN PATCH we decided to do something fun with JJ today too – so while Joey was gone doing his podcast, we had a “P” night. After dinner we got in our PAJAMAS, watched PETE’S Dragon, and had a snack of POPTARTS and POPCORN!

 

Saturday, October 24, 2009
oct24JJ finally got a haircut today – it’s been needing it for a long while – I really think he looks good with short hair. We also got a little grocery shopping done. Joey had the opportunity to go to the BYU vs TCU Football game. BYU lost badly, but I think Joey still had a good time-he says that somehow watching TCU is going to help our Utes team do better against them. 🙂 While Joey was gone to the game – we took the 2 little pumpkins that Beth got from the pumpkin patch and created a little Halloween Decoration with some things I had on hand. We put some beads on a string and wrapped it around and created a little spider and ghost to go on top. I think it turned out cute!

 

Sunday, October 25, 2009
oct25I sang with the choir in church today – I am really glad that I have the opportunity to sing again. It’s a wonderful outlet and so fun. We also had home teachers come over for a visit and we got our temple recommends renewed.

I love seeing Joey with the kids – especially at bedtime. He has such a fun routine with them – including choosing the stuffed animal that they each get to sleep with for the night. Tonight as we had scriptures and prayers at their bedsides – I just couldn’t help but pull out the camera and get a few shots of Joey and his little girl!

Filed Under: Life 365-2009, Personal, Project Life Tagged With: 2009, bedtime, birthday, cousin, cross country, daddy, family, memories, pumpkin, school pictures

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I'm a wife, a mom, a blogger, a lover of crafting, and a graphic designer. I believe in living life to the fullest, sharing your heart and talents to enrich the lives of others, and then telling your story to leave as a legacy for those that come after you.



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Recipe ThursdayZ | Chickey Pasta

This week’s recipe  |  CHICKEY PASTA A delicious pasta dish that is light and yummy! The chicken pieces are heaven – in fact, you could just make the chicken and use as homemade chicken nuggets! Chickey Pasta Save Recipe Print Recipe My Recipes My Lists My Calendar Ingredients2 lb boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into[Read More…]

DeDe Smith

I am DeDe Smith of DesignZ by DeDe and I’m the proud creator of the TearZ, ScatterZ, and many more collections! I am a Digital Scrapbook Designer. I specialize on creating digital kits that help customers scrapbook the special moments in their lives. I hope that you can use my products to share your story[Read More…]

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I am so thankful that I started writing some of my memories down about this trip on the blog, because I think there is a lot I could have missed! I’m so thankful to not forget these stories! I didn’t write everything down, so from now on this album might not be as detailed, but[Read More…]

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