feed my craving.

Most of my friends and family know that I love to make crafts! Well, since moving out here, I've gone on a major fast from crafting! In Logan, I was always either making, dreaming about, or looking at crafts. I loved to treat myself with delicious eye candy at On The Avenue and Sugar & Spice, which are wonderful crafty stores with tons of ideas just waiting to be re-created! I also miss my major supply stores- Michaels and Home Depot! So I was online yesterday and was having so much fun looking at other people's crafts that I had to share them as well as some of my own.

{the rest are mine}



I am going to start crafting again... I just need to be more creative with the resources that i DO have...like my giant bin of fabric and my sewing machine.So watch out, world, I am back. Oh, and if you have any crafts I should know about, email me a pic at tristiemangus@hotmail.com .

Published Author!

I never read hunting magazines (even though we have hundreds in our house), but I am very excited about this month's issue of King's Hunting Illustrated because my husband wrote an article that is published in there! I am super proud of him!

merry tree

I am so excited to have a tree up finally. We were going to cut one in the mountains, but scheduling and snow prevented that. So we bought one (a real one) at one of the grocery stores here in town. My kids asked, "Why are we buying a tree at Stewarts? Mom hates that store." Ok, so I mention casually ONE time that I think Stewarts is kind of dumpy, and I can NEVER live it down with my kids. Every time we pass it, they say, "There's Stewarts Market. It is the dumpiest place in Roosevelt." So watch what you say in front of your kids. Back to the tree...

We had a wonderful time decorating the tree. The kids wanted the colored lights this year. And we put every ornament on. So not matching, so not coordinated, but so beautiful! I love it. Some day I will do a gorgeous theme-y tree (maybe-I am kind of cheap so I will have to find the ornaments on clearance after Christmas), but I love every tree and all decorations so it always turns out so great. As a side note, I would love to meet the person who designed the layout of our apartment and ask them what they were thinking. Our front room had no room to put the tree, so we moved the chair and put the tree in its place. Now...where to put the chair? In the spare bedroom, no. Thanks to the genius who decided to put the closet right next to the door making the doorway a bottle neck, there was no way of getting the chair into the bedroom. On the back porch? No. In the dumpster. Maybe. Ok, how about the bathroom. Yes. That is the only room in the house where the chair would fit. Who designs a bathroom with all that wasted space? And who needs a bathroom that big anyway. Leave all the space in the most used rooms--kitchen and family room, duh! So we have a giant chair in our bathroom, and a beautiful Christmas tree in our family room. Hooray.

Get To Know You- Christmas Style

I got this emailed to me so I filled it out and I'm just posting it instead of filling up everyone's inboxes. I am also not going to tag anyone, but if you want to post your own answers, please do!

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? paper
2. Real tree or artificial? we usually cut a real one every year but i love both
3. When do you put up the tree? usually the first of december (even though we don't spend Christmas at home, I think a tree is a must for this season! I feel sad when people don't have one or choose not to put one up.)
4. When do you take the tree down? after new years day
5. Do you like eggnog? kind of. it is definitely a once a year thing for me.
6. Favorite gift received as a child? blue Muppet Babies keyboard from Santa, tons of homemade barbie clothes from my mom.
7. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes. a few. and i want more of them.
8. Hardest person to buy for? my brother-in law, Matt
9. Easiest person to buy for? My kids. And me.
10. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? underwear when I was 10. (I cried when i opened it)
11. Mail or email Christmas cards? mail. I love getting cards in the mail, especially ones with a family picture, hint!
12. Favorite Christmas movie? A Christmas Story, Miracle on 34th, Rudolph, Frosty, almost all.
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? when I see good ideas, good deals, or know what people want. I started in the spring this year.
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? not that i can remember, but i don't think it is wrong. If someone else will enjoy it more, why not?
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? gingerbread boys and girls cookies, pumpkin pie, Ham.
16. Clear lights or colored on the tree? clear, but i love all lights
17. Favorite Christmas song? Sleigh Ride, Joy to the World, Carol of the Bells, Songs from Handel's Messiah, Blue Christmas (by Elvis) every Christmas song!
18. Travel for Christmas or stay home? usually go to parents or in-laws...I'm excited to stay home soon! Maybe next year?
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? hel-LO? who can't? Thanks to the song.
20. Angel on the treetop or a star? star. The angels I've seen are sort of freiky looking and belong in the Halloween section. And the pretty ones are too pretty for all my fun mis-match ornaments.
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? morning, Preslie gets Christmas Eve to herself (its her birthday)...except I might do jammies this year before bed on the Eve.
22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? Goes by too quickly, buisnesses all trying to cash in on the Holiday.
23. What I love most about Christmas? The reminder, the feeling of giving and Christlike love, lights, family, surprises, decorations, excitement of children, songs, pretty much everything.

elf on the bus

As the bus pulled up out front this afternoon, I looked at the kids getting off and saw one with a Santa hat on.
Then I remembered that Preslie had taken our Santa hat for show-and-tell today.

daddysitting

Thanks for keeping an eye on him for me, bud.

my little project

Whoa...Christmas is coming --fast. I was just thinking about what I was doing a year ago. Working out at 6 am, making a Christmas activity chain, gingerbread houses, Christmas cards, b-day invitations, party favors, sewing a princess gown for my daughter's b-day, cookies, carmel apples, etc. I was so busy last December, it was awesome. I loved doing all the fun holiday projects and having my hands so busy.

This year, my hands are just as busy but in a totally different way. Yes, I will probably do a lot of the Christmas-y stuff like bake and decorate. But I won't be sewing a princess gown (sorry Pres). Sometimes I think it is easy for moms with very young kids to get frustrated that they are not getting a lot done. I've felt that way before lots of times. But I think one of the best things about having a baby 3rd time around is the realization that all that stuff is just stuff. It has taken me this long to realize that holding and feeding and playing with my baby is accomplishing quite a lot. I am helping nurture this little person physically, mentally, and emotionally. He is learning to trust me. He is learning to smile. He knows he is safe. He knows I will change him and make him comfortable if he cries. That is huge. But it is not something I can cross off of a to do list. For task-oriented people, being a mom can be hard. I am thankful that I am starting to "get it". It isn't easy all the time. And the fact that the baby slept a six hour stretch last night makes things so much more clear today (amazing how that happens!). So thank you, baby Mack for sleeping so well and for coming to teach me what being a mom is all about.