The first annual Hersny Awards

In past years Matt and I have included our personal picks for best album and best movie of the past year in our Christmas card newsletter. Now, two years have past without a list and some of you are a little fired up about it. And so I give you the very first "Hernsy" Awards.

Best Album:
Regina Spektor Begin To Hope


Best Film:
Juno


Best new kids TV show:
Yo Gabba Gabba


Best Children's Album:
The Quiet Ones Make Some Noise


Best Food Discovery:
Onion Empanadas at the Argentine Corner Clearfield, Utah


Most humiliating debut album cover:
Blake Lewis


Most disappointing film:
Spiderman 3


Best Matt Moments:


- Received the Utah Regional Leadership in Education for Neuro-developmental Disabilities Scholarship
- Began final year of school.

Best Emilie Moments:


- Finding the courage to take a stand against a lifelong injustice.
- Being published in scrapbooking magazines 28 times

Best Ella Moments:


- Learning to ride a bike (with training wheels)
- Starting art classes

Best Evangeline Moments:

- Being born
- Discovering a love for carrots.

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What I have learned in 2007

01. The truth really DOES set you free.

02. Good girlfriends are a must in life.

03. Faith is one of the most important parts of religion.

04. It is okay to bask in the things that make you happy.

05. My little family makes me blissful.

06. Standing up for what is right is more important than being liked.

07. I am always going to love food, it will never be easy, but I can do it!

08. Your view of the world is a reflection of what you are inside.

09. I love quiet.

10. I am stronger than I thought I could be.

2007 was the best, and hardest, year of my life.

It was the year I took a stand, the year I found amazing female friendships, the year I surrounded myself with uplifting and amazing people, the year I found myself, the year I said goodbye to old demons and unhealthy relationships, the year I spoke my truth, the year I found PEACE for the first time in my life.

And next year is going to be even better!

Now it's your turn to share some life wisdom. What did you learn in 2007?

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What's it like in the Big House, Mickey?

After a morning filled with frustration that my new photo printer is not working I heard the welcome sound of our mail slot opening and closing upstairs. After all of the day's battles, maybe there would be something fun in the mail for me. I ran upstairs like a school-girl. In the mail was the following letter... (click on letter to zoom)



Yes, after a perfect driving record since the age of 17, last month I received a ticket for rolling through a stop sign. I tried to pay it right away, but they said I had to wait for 5 days after receiving the ticket to pay. And then I forgot about it.

And now the Constable is after me. By the way, since when did Ogden, Utah become Jolly 'ol England? Are we referring to COPS as Constables now? My favorite part is when it says, You can then be advised as to what arrangements can be made without having to be placed in jail. Umm...seriously, I just rolled through a stop sign. There was a definite pause involved.

And now to the best part. Whoever can tell me what this post title is from first (without googling it) gets a prize. And also my respect.
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Christmas Morning Report

Christmas Morning 2007 : Clearfield, Utah

We had a nice. lazy morning. We all snuggled into Mommy and Daddy's King Size bed for 30 minutes. It was heavenly and probably the last chance we will ever have since next Christmas Ella will certainly be on to the whole "awaiting presents" thing. Then we marched into the living room and attacked the stockings. Ella doesn't disappoint on the animated facial expressions...


Eva was only semi-interested in the gifts and very interested in the wrapping paper...


And here are the girls enjoying their presents...

It was a magical Christmas!
Each of us got amazing gifts and had so much fun!

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It's a Christmas Miracle!

I logged into my scrapbook.com account today and there was a Private Message waiting for me that said the following...

CONGRATS! You're the winner of the $20 gallery shopping spree for December 20th!

They just draw names at random each day in December of people who upload layouts and I WON! Crazy FUN!

And exactly 2 minutes after receiving the coupon code I placed my order. It consisted of almost entirely American Crafts papers from their Metropolitan collection. Have you seen it? It is amazing! I have included my favorite paper from the collection here for you to see.

Speaking of amazing! I have my hands on all of Tinkering Ink's new collections for the upcoming Winter CHA (the largest scrapbooking trade show) and they are just incredible. It just gets better and better. I can't wait until I am able to share some sneak peeks with you! But for now...you will just have to trust me. They're gorgeous!

(Did you think you were going to get to see pictures of my family opening their Christmas presents? LOL! Sorry Mom, maybe tomorrow!)

Thankful Thursday:

1. Working in a field I am passionate about.

2. Evangeline's smiles.

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The JAMMIE Countdown

Yes....I got them sewn today during the girls' naps...just in time for Christmas Eve.

The girls are slumbering peacefully in their new jammies right now,
But earlier tonight, this was the scene...

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Holiday Hiatus

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!
We hope the light of Christ touches your hearts this holiday season.

We love you!
The Ahern Family : Matt, Emilie, Chicken & Fifi

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This & That: Christmas Edition

The Ward (Church) Choir concert was today. I am the director of the choir and I prayed and prayed that we would sing well and that everything would work out so that our performance would touch the hearts of those who listened. And it went so perfectly I could not have asked for anything more. There was a particularly fabulous talk about Joseph that was very touching. He is so little spoken of in the bible, but was certainly pivotal in being the earthly guardian of Jesus. I feel the concert was a success and beyond my expectations. Hooray!

I bought these fun tins at JoAnns yesterday on a crazy sale. I love them stacked in our living room. There were also square versions (more about those later in this post).

And to echo the love of the Cricut machine and its versatility, I received a wonderful gift from my friend, Maci, today. These little wooden blocks with vinyl lettering on them. The vinyl letters were cut using Maci's Cricut. Cricut...will you marry me? Ella and I set these out in our front room today and I returned 10 minutes later to find them stacked up to build a tall building. Maybe a higher resting place for these blocks in the future to protect them from Toddler hands. LOL!

We made our first, but certainly not last, batch of holiday Peanut Brittle today. Sadly, it is all being given away! Don't worry...more batches will bless our lives soon! It turned out great and I did get to sneak some tastes. We packaged the brittle in cellophane bags, tied with a large bow and stuffed them into the square version of our new JoAnns tins. Christmas gifts for Maci, the Meeses and my in-laws.

FYI: Still haven't started sewing the kids Christmas Eve jammies. 24 hours to get those done! Ahhhhhhhhhhh!

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Betcha Didn't Know....

how great the Cricut cutting system is.

Well, you may think you know, but you may not know the full extent. We have these stockings and I have always wanted to put our names on them, but how? Regular fabric sewn on? Should I free-hand the letters with paint? Stencils? And how would I get anything to adhere to the fuzzy surface?

Then, today I was in JoAnns and saw some sheets of fuzzy white iron on paper. You were supposed to use scissors to cut out patterns or letters and then iron it onto fabric for a fuzzy look. I bought some and hoped to find a way to make it work.

When I returned home...a breakthrough...I would see if the Cricut would cut through the layers of plastic, fuzzy fabric, and adhesive. And guess what? It did. Just like it was cardstock. And here are the results. Fabulosity at it's best! Someday I will hand sew some cute glass beads around the edges of the letters, but that's a project for another year!

I think we can all guess what this discovery means...homemade t-shirts with funny phrases for EVERYBODY!

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Old Friends + New Fun

We met up with my old friends from College today. Since graduating and being accepted to dental school, Rob and Angie have moved from Utah to Virginia and recently from Virginia to Missouri for Orthodontics School. This means we get to see them about once every 1-2 years, but when we do it is always such fun and we fall into old conversations like no time has passed at all. Rob loved my story about a cyst I had removed from my gums. The exciting conversations never end when you're an Orthodontist in training!

We met up with them in Salt Lake City at the LDS Church History Museum which had a fun children's exhibit and, more importantly, had free admission. Our friends have two adorable boys (one to marry each of our girls) and there boys are so good natured. They played with Ella well. However, the adults did get in trouble for sneaking in food. I also accidentally said a curse word while there. Some children might be traumatized.

These are my favorite pictures from today. Colden looked up at this tree so intently. The children were supposed to place different pieces of fruit on the tree. Ella and Colden both loved this one and spent quite a bit of time at this tree.

We are planning on visiting our friends again on the 27th of this month because 2 hours just wasn't enough!

By far, part of what makes this season wonderful is connecting with distant family and old friends. Is anything better than chatting, laughing and sharing life experiences? I just adore these friends and their cute little boys. I am so glad we had a chance to visit and maybe someday we'll get free braces for our kids out of them. Okay...not really free...but could we get a discount?

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What you CAN'T measure

My blog is worth $14,678.04.
How much is your blog worth?

I found this on my friend, Emily's, blog. The title is How Much is your Blog Worth? This was an odd question to me and even before I entered in my html address to see the number I had an epiphany that my blog is priceless to me.

We began this blog when Ella was born and in the NICU. It became a line of communication between our concerned extended family and our little baby. The blog posts I wrote during that time were raw, real and emotional and I am so glad I have them. When I look back now, Ella's time in the NICU was brief and she is now healthy. But back then, as I wrote, I was filled with fear that our baby would not make it. Those 19 days were the longest of my life and I wasn't sure that she would be okay.

And now I use this blog to keep track of what matters to me. The big events and the small moments that make up my life. And to have that record of who I was and how I felt at a certain moment in time is truly....priceless. So you can keep your $14,678.04 because I am happy.

Wait...could I have the $14,678.04 anyway?

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Winners, Heritage Layouts + Furry Friends

Okay! It's time to announce the winners of the Be Merry Mix! My Mom emailed me and asked to be entered into the drawing. How funny! Ummm...you can just HAVE one Mom! You gave birth to me, I think I can float you a Christmas CD.

I used a random number generator to choose these winners.
(I decided to give away 5....I'm feeling Jolly!)

LoveStrong, Emily, Missy, Stacey, Becky

Congrats! Please email me your names and mailing addresses!

Here's a recent digital layout I did of a heritage photo. Don't know why, but I am heavily loving scrapping heritage photos in a modern way lately. This is my Grandmother on holiday by the sea with 2 of her sisters.



Ella has recently taken to sleeping with an arsenal of stuffed animals. I got her ready for bed last night and had to take a picture. I could barely see her face! But, you know, you gotta have friends! Last week we were driving by a Sam's club and she said "Look, there's Sams!" I was so surprised and I turned to her and jokingly said, "Ella! Did you teach yourself how to read? Are you some kind of secret Child Prodigy?" to which she replied, "No. I am just a Princess."

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Christmas Checklist

I am mailing out the Christmas cards today. Whew! That's a load off! Just a few addresses to update and I'll be finished.

The Stake Choir concert was last night and it went off so well. Another item checked off of the list.

The neighbor gifts for my church friends were made and delivered last week. Ella and I dipped pretzels and chocolate sticks and packaged them with hot chocolate packets. We hand stamps little ornament labels. These stamps are SO cute. They are from Cat's Life Press. Find them here (#654F).



Last week was the Relief Society Christmas Party which I made 100 handouts for. Some of you wanted to see the finished handouts so here they are. Each one was given with a small bag of M&M's.


Here's how I made them...

1. Cut each piece of holiday patterned paper into 6x6" square and then adhered a piece of regular white paper, leaving a few inches of patterned paper on the edges.

2. Printed the poem onto vellum (by World Win). Then I cut the vellum edges with scalloped scissors (Fiskars "clouds").

3. Adhered vellum over white paper.

4. Put brads into a large block of styrofoam. Using white ink or paint and a small "m" stamp (EK Success) I stamped each brad and let dry. Then I sprayed stamped brads with clear gloss coat. let dry completely in a very well ventilated area.

Still have the girls pajamas to sew and the Christmas candy to make. YUM! But at least the never-ending "to do" list is getting accomplished.

The holidays ScrapFaith challenge is up! We scrapped our Holiday Celebrations, whether it was Hanukkah, Christmas or Kwanzaa. We had the amazing Kim Kesti as a Guest Artist and we had such amazing projects from the team. You must go and check it out! Here is my layout about our feelings on Santa. If you're a hard-core Santa Lover just turn away from the screen.


Journaling Reads: Sorry Santa. We don’t focus on you at Christmas time. During this season we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, the central figure in our lives and He represents the magic of the season. He was the ultimate example of giving, charity, love, compassion and joy. We give gifts to our children to symbolize the gifts given to the Christ child from the 3 Wise Men. We teach our children to give to others and serve as Christ did. So, sorry Big Guy, but there is no place for you in our holiday festivities. We are not meanies or spoil sports, we just want to teach our children the TRUE reason for this Season.

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9 months of Bliss

9 months of Evangeline.

She is so easy and good natured.
She rolls everywhere, but refuses to crawl.
She says Mama, Dada and Ba-ba.
She has a funny halo of red curls in the morning.
She is always quick to smile, especially at her big sister.
She loves carrots. She hates green beans.
She always rocks to a musical beat. Yeah. She's got the rhythm.
She loves to snuggle.
She is amazing.

I am honored to be her mother.


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Get ready to...

Pee Your PANTS!

I was so fortunate as to catch a small segment on a TV show tonight featuring

SUGAR BUSH, The Superstar Squirrel

This crazy woman acquired a baby squirrel as a pet and now custom sews costumes for this poor animal and takes its photo in front of different decorative backgrounds.

Having a hard time picturing it? Well here ya go....

As Her Royal Highness, the Nutchess of Cornwall





As Disney's Snow White





And finally and painfully as The Blushing Bride



Matt and I laughed until our stomachs hurt.
Just what I needed to relieve some Holiday stress.

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Be Merry + A Give Away!!

Be Merry is the name of our ultimate Christmas music mix.
It's truly fabulous. Here's the set list...

1. It Came Upon a Midnight Clear - Sixpence None the Richer
2. That's What Christmas Means to Me - Stevie Wonder
3. I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm - Billie Holiday
4. Christmas Song - John Lennon
5. Little St. Nick - Beach Boys
6. Winter Wonderland - Liz Phair
7. Song for a Winter's Night - Sarah McLachlan
8. Christmas - Dave Matthews Band
9. Hallelujah - Barenaked Ladies
10. Let It Snow - Harry Connick Jr.
11. Merry Christmas Baby - Hanson
12. Jingle Bells - Ella Fitzgerald
13. Soulful Christmas - James Brown
14. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen - BNL/Sarah McLachlan
15. Donde Esta Santa Claus - Guster
16. Christmas Island - Bob Atcher
17. Rudolph - Jack Johnson
18. All I Want - My Chemical Romance
19. O Holy Night - Tracy Chapman
20. Christmas Day - Dido
21. River - Rachel Yamagata
22. All That I Want - The Weepies
23. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas - James Taylor
24. Silent Night - Sinead O'Connor

Yes...24 tracks of pure holiday amgic.

And now for the fun part! Leaves a comment on this post between now and Sunday, December 16th and we will print out the names and randomly draw three winners to receive their very own copy of our Be Merry mix. And yes, I will ship it to anywhere in the world.

**Also, to answer a question, the star ornament (pictured in the header above) was bought at JoAnns and they had four different words: Joy, Hope, Love and Faith. it is silver, even though it appears gold in this photo.

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Immersed in a sea of Holiday Preparation.

A day to blog about this and that and random things that make up my life right now. I thought I would share a photo with Santa from my childhood. Clearly, I was not willing to go up there on my own! Look how cute my Mom is....even after having 6 kids! Circa 1979.

CHRISTMAS PHOTO retakes were yesterday with much better results. They are printed and stuffed into their cards and ready for addressing. All I have to do is write a braggy family newsletter and they are ready to send off.

FINISHING UP hand making handouts for our church Christmas party. This entails me hand stamping and shellacking 80 red brads. OY!

SEWING the girls Christmas Eve pajamas today. I have made this pattern a gazillion times before so it should only take a few hours to sew both sets. Also trying to finish up some hand made Christmas gifts for family and friends.

WAITING FOR my free stamps from Inque Boutique to arrive. When I made their HM Design Team I got to choose free stamps. They should get here today and if I have time (yeah right) I want to get to play with them. I also won a gallery contest this week for stamping cards and got to choose $50 worth of free stamps. YAY! Check out the winning card here.

EXCITED ABOUT this Christmas present from me to myself. Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld. I have been wanting this book for ages and I saw it in WalMart yesterday. I have to say I am incredulous about a chocolate cake made with beet juice, but I'll give it a try and let you know!

**Tomorrow I will share the set list of our family's Christmas Mix CD. Just in time for you to download and burn your own. See you then!

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