We’ve been here for three years now and have grown to enjoy this place we call home. We’ve made friends, found fun activities for the kids and come to love the slow pace of this fairly small and quiet town. We’re surrounded by incredible rugged mountains and our sunsets are unbelievable. As much as we like it we knew that we probably wouldn’t stay here for good as we would very much like to move closer to our families back east. We thought that it would be on our own terms though…..

As with many companies in the US right now my husband’s place of employment will be laying people off next week. There may even be more at the beginning of next year. There is so much uncertainty about what we would do, where would we go and how would we make ends meet. Long story short, my husband and I know that whatever happens we will make it work. We have no choice, but to make it work for us and our family. Sure things would be different and a bit unsettled if he were to be laid off, but it’s not necessarily a bad experience or even a good one, it’s just another experience and we’ll work through it.

We do our best to live moment to moment and plan when needed, but to worry about an unknown is a waste of our precious time. So when my husband arrives home this evening we’ll laugh, cook dinner, play with the kids and enjoy each other’s company. We don’t know exactly where we’ll be in a few months, but it will be what it will be and we’ll enjoy the ride!

ANNA from The Noble Gnome!

Anna is a fellow Etsian whose work I greatly admire. She has a lovely blog and two amazing Etsy shops which you can find here and here .

Check them out, you won’t be disappointed!

I have been meaning to do a giveaway for so long now and I thought Labor Day weekend would be as good a time as any!

What is up for grabs? Well, I am going to give away this beautiful Spectrolite necklace to the lucky winner! Spectrolite is a beautiful material mined in Finland which has an amazing schiller and iridescence. The chain is oxidized sterling silver and measures 18″ in length.

How to enter:

Visit my Etsy shop and leave a comment back here telling me what your favorite item is.

For an extra entry tweet about the giveaway and leave me a comment with the link.

The giveaway will end Monday the 7th at 9:00 MST. The winner will be chosen by random.org and I will notify the winner through email.

I am so excited to have been contacted by one of my favorite fellow Etsians, Kim (slinkymalinki) to be a part of ‘Etsy Project Embrace’! Etsy, to me, is more than a platform for me to sell my jewelry. It is a loving, vibrant and helpful community where I am able to meet new and incredibly talented artists that share my enthusiasm for ‘all things handmade’.

This project has been started in support of Laura. She is a lovely and creative Etsian who has been diagnosed with ovarian cancer. This is what Laura wrote on Sunday July 5th….

******I believe that you must play the hand you’re dealt. Six weeks ago, I was diagnosed with stage 3 Ovarian Cancer. My mom died from the same. I am a huge believer in eating right, exercising, and getting regular checkups. I’ve done all those things, yet, I have cancer. WOW. That’s a life-changing situation, for sure. I just turned 46 …. (a very very young 46!) Strangely, I feel blessed. Most everyday of these 6 weeks, I’ve had a smile on my face. I’m going to play the hand I’ve been dealt in the best and most positive way I know how. I’m so fortunate my boys are older, they drive, they can do laundry and help around the house. There will always be some people in this world who have it better and some who have it worse. That’s just life.

I’ve been an Etsy addict since around this time last year, when I started doing treasuries. My sister Jenn, of jennreese7 and my niece Kelly, of SweetnessJewelry, are also crazy about Etsy. The one thing I’ve learned in the past year is that Etsy has made it a point to have their competing sellers be friends through promoting each other in the treasuries. That sounds kind of funny, but, on the quest to have the “coveted” FP, we create treasuries, we comment on other treasuries, we “convo” people all over the world to congratulate them on their successes, and we make friends. Aren’t we supposed to be competing for sales?? Well, maybe some things are just more important than sales. From the moment I had a diagnosis, while still in the hospital, my Etsy friends were first on the scene – building treasuries just for me, wishing me well, offering advice, sending gifts, and a few have gone so far as to donate proceeds to the American Cancer Society in my
honor!! Just to remind you………these are people ….I’VE NEVER MET! They have completely gone out of their way to be a friend or try to put a smile on my face. I now even talk to some of them on the phone! Now, I’m not talking 2 or 3 friends, I’m talking like 30 or 40! Some people just have checked my profile and offer words of encouragement! The first day that we learned about my chemo and all the ‘ins and outs’, the ‘goods and bads’, etc., my husband went online to search for support groups. He said to me that night, “I will never do that again, I was so depressed that I had to get off the computer” I said, in reply, “I don’t need support groups, I all need are my friends on Etsy”! They lift me up on a daily basis.

It is Sunday. Tomorrow morning, I will leave my house at 7:30 am for my first round of chemo. I will have an IV drip for about 6 hours and be home around 5:00 pm. I will do that again on Tuesday, then again on Wednesday. then again on the following Monday. I look forward to 8 months of that chemo schedule, followed by another year of some form of maintenance chemo.

There are 4 things I know for sure:
1. I am a Christian and I believe God has a plan for me.
2. I believe in myself to do the very best I can do and try to help others in the process by getting my story out there.
3. I have the most wonderful and supportive husband, family and friends.
4. Logging onto Etsy everyday and hearing from my friends will keep this smile on my face, no matter what I am going through. ******

So, to support this beautiful woman there are several Etsians (including myself) that will be donating a percentage of profit on selected items that sell in their shop to the American Cancer Society. To find items that are available simply enter etsyprojectembrace in the search box on Etsy. Here are a few that are included in this fantastic project…..

Lauraslocumpainted

Sigmosaics

Sharonclancydesigns

ThePeachTree

maclancy

MonicaJ

Monarchdancer

Incredible hand made items by loving and amazing people! Remember these are only a handful of the artists involved in ‘Etsy Project Embrace’ so head on over to Etsy and have a look around.

Love to all!

I’m so thrilled and honored that Jackie from Etsy Item of the Day has chosen my turquoise bracelet as her ‘item of the day’! Her blog is full of fabulous Etsy finds and I encourage you to follow her great blog and her fun tweets!

Thank you so much, Jackie! You’ve made my day!

Big Dave’s Big Gift is a charity that I heard about through Janna. She is a fellow Etsian, jewelry designer and a lovely, kind person. She is working with David’s family to create a beautiful line of Cancer Awareness jewelry of which all proceeds will be donated to the David Turner Lymphoma Foundation. Janna contacted me to see if I might be able to help out with hand stamping some sterling silver charms with the words ‘faith’, ‘hope’ and ‘love’. I was delighted and honored that she asked me to be involved and I have since been a mad stamping woman!

Once Janna has worked her magic and created her lovely jewelry I’ll be sure to let you know. She does have a few available right now which can be found here.

Here is David’s Story

David Christopher Turner was diagnosed with Stage IV lymphoma in 2008. He originally created the David Turner Lymphoma Foundation to raise money for a stem cell transplant. Unfortunately his body had not responded to chemo therapy well enough for him to receive the transplant.

If he couldn’t receive one, David partnered with the American Cancer Society (http://www.cancer.org) to form a program in his honor to raise enough money for people to receive stem cell transplants on behalf of the American Cancer Society and the David Turner Lymphoma Foundation. He worked non-stop to set up the foundation and implement his fundraising ideas until the very last day. At just 26 years of age, David passed away on Saturday, June 6, 2009. His mom, Suzanne Turner, will continue David’s vision. Cancer-themed items, including my jewelry, will be available at http://bigdavesbiggift.org/ soon. In the mean time, please visit the website to learn more about the organization’s mission and share David’s story.

I’ve been tagged by my friend Kim, otherwise known as slinkymalinkicat . Thank you Kim!

I’ve been Tagged

What is your current obsession?
Learning how to take better photographs. It drives me crazy that I cannot get my photos to look the way I want or expect them to!

What is your weirdest obsession?
My love for artichokes! I would eat them morning, noon and night if they weren’t so expensive and if they were always in season!

What are you wearing today?
Still in PJ’s and next will be my bathing suit as I have a Mommy and me swim class with my daughter this morning.

What’s for dinner?
Wow, I don’t normally think that far in advance when it comes to cooking!

What is your favourite book?
Anything factual to do with England in medieval times.

What’s the last thing you bought?
A lovely clutch from Ira!

What are you listening to right now?
My fingers hitting the keyboard. Amazingly the kids are still sleeping even though it’s 6:45am now!

What is your favourite ice-cream flavour?
Plain old chocolate does it for me.

What do you think of the person who tagged you?
I think Kim is a very hard working, passionate, creative, helpful and kind person!

If you could have a house totally paid for, fully furnished anywhere in the world, where would you like it to be?
Wow, I’m going with either a lovely old cottage in Chalfont St Giles, England or somewhere in Tuscany.

If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour where would you go?
Visit my grandparents in OK.

Which language do you want to learn?
Italian.

Who do you want to meet right now?
Ina May Gaskin

What is your favourite colour?
I love red in every hue!

What is your favourite piece of clothing in your own wardrobe?
A strapless summery denim dress.

What is your favourite magazine?
The only magazine I read is Mothering Magazine.

If you had a £100 now, what would you spend it on?
New clothing, definitely!

Favourite artist/s?
My two children make the most lovely artworks!

Do you admire anyone’s style?
This is Kim’s line – People who remain positive in the face of adversity – and I totally agree!

Describe your personal style?
Well, if we’re talking clothes then, dull! Jeans and t-shirt gal here.

What are you going to do after this?
Get ready for swimming class.

What are your favourite movies?
Robin Hood (Disney)

What is your favourite fruit?
Strawberries

What inspires you?
My adoring family.

What music do you like this week?
Jim Croce.

What is your dream job?
Stay at home mom creating jewelry with her children by her side!

What is stopping you?
Nothing!!

What is your favorite season of the year?
Autumn! I love the coolness that arrives after such a dry and hot summer.

Something about yourself that makes no sense?
My mind plays weird little word games when it gets bored.

The rules:
1. Respond and rework; answer the questions on your blog, replace one question that you dislike with a question of your own invention, add one more question of your own.
2. Tag eight other people.

I am tagging:
Connie (Young and Relentless)

Madeline (My Boy and Me)

Janna (jaC Jewelry)

Toni (Utah Desert Runner)

Hmmm, it seems it has been a while since I last posted. I was so sure I would be able to keep up with the blog, my business and being a mom to two young ones and wife to one darling husband! I guess I was wrong.

I thought I would just give a little update about my life in the past few weeks:

* My kids and I met Connie and her children at the Ogden Nature Center and had a blast. Connie wrote a fabulous post about our little journey through the woods. She is also quite the photographer and snapped this one of me and my little ones…..

One of my favorites ever! What a grand and spectacular world we live in!

* My kids seem to be growing so quickly. It’s almost like they wake up one morning and have grown three inches, learned new words and have acquired new skills instantly! They amaze me to no end! It’s so wonderful to see them loving each other and learning from each other.

*My husband is an avid runner and has entered the Bear Lake Marathon which is only about 2 weeks away. This will be his second marathon and I’m so excited for him. He works so hard training for this, doing his day job and being such an incredible Daddy! Here he is striking a pose while playing water guns with our son….

All in all, things have been fantastic here! I really could not ask for more. Oh and my nearly 2 year old daughter slept through the night for the first time in her own bed this week! Haha, most people think I’m a little crazy for not sleep training her, but it’s just not what is best for us. Some people choose to and, by all means, do it if that is what works best for you. For me though, I love the quiet nursing times in the middle of the night…no distractions, no interruptions, just me and my little girl who is growing oh so quickly.

As for my son, he still likes to fall asleep with his arms wrapped around my neck and it is one of the best parts of my day. It’s one moment when everything is still, quiet and calm. I’m not running around doing dishes, making jewelry, folding clothes, etc. I’m making a lovely and hopefully long lasting memory with him. I’ll miss it so much when he decides he’s too old for that!

If you’ve taken a look at my jewelry you have probably noticed that I am quite passionate about pregnancy, natural childbirth/homebirth and breastfeeding. Much of my jewelry is designed around these topics. Five years ago when I was pregnant with my first I didn’t even know homebirth was an option or that people still breastfed their babies over the age of one.

Well, fast forward 5 years and I’ve now had one hospital birth, a fabulous homebirth, nursed my oldest for 3 years and my 21 month old is still happily nursing! My husband came across a few articles lately that he found interesting and wanted me to share. The first is about the safety of homebirth and the second is about the amazing benefits of breastfeeding (especially extended breastfeeding).

If you are interested in more of these types of topics you should check out Donna’s blog. She is full of fantastic information, statistics and personal experiences!

RUTH! Congratulations Ruth!! I’ll be contacting you soon so you can personalize your new necklace.

Thank you to everyone for coming to check out my blog! I truly appreciate it and hope to see you all back soon.