APH Conference, come and gone

For weeks I have been creating posters for the Association of Personal Historians' big conference this last weekend in Salt Lake. You  may be saying, "What is the APH?" This is an association of people that have set out to preserve the life stories and family histories of people all over the world. What a cool experience to be among other people who share my passion. 

As many of you know, I have been trying to start my own business: Stories You Share. I interviewed my Grandma once before she passed away. Since then I have thought of about a million questions that I will have to wait until the next life to ask her. And it can't be recorded on Earth. I want to save other people from having that experience. 

I now have a few new ideas for products that I hope to come out with this year. So, stay posted for details on those soon. As of right now, here are some pictures of the things I have been able to create.

I actually didn't make this. These were the cool tote bags we got at conference.

Copies of the Memory books that I have created.

The book in the middle is one that I created for a project at school, but it has a lot of good examples of what I do.

Pages from my book: An Open Book. I helped design these pages with another girl. I also wrote and edited many of the pieces:

This picture is part of my grandma's book. It is out of order.

Here is the book I helped create for my father-in-law's 60th birthday. The memories were written by his wife, children, and grandchildren. They were collected by my sister-in-law, Thelma, and then I organized them in the book (after Thelma put them in chronological order):

These are pictures of my Grandmother's book. I just barely picked this up from the press three days ago. It represents 2 years of work. It is a relief to have the finished product finally:

Just so you know, not all the books have to have a red cover, I just thought it was nice, so that's what we got for these last two.

Here are a couple of the 16 posters that I designed and had printed for the conference:



Thank you APH for all the inspiration that you have given me. I finally feel like I know where to start and am excited for next year's conference when I will have new products to share with other members, and with the general public.

Halloween Sandy

Last post today, I promise.

The Fans (a few of them)

The Boy's Fan Club supports The Boy in every sport he participates in. If you would like to join, please leave a comment with all your information and we will meet to determine if you can join and be posted on everything concerning The Boy.  Thank you for your interest.

Jared, Sera, Melanee, Ammon waiting for the game to start, all decked out in our orange.

Grandma is a faithful member of The Boy's Fan Club.

The fearless leader of The Boy's Fan Club, Dad.

Join us for all the fun and excitement.

Let's Hear it for The Boy

Last weekend Ammon, Sera (my sister), and I traveled 26 hours in 3 days to see one of my favorite people, The Boy. Why would someone travel that much in 3 days you ask? The answer, is to see a football game. Though the outcome of the game wasn't exactly what we had hoped for, Nick played the most incredible game. If you want to know what a stud my brother is, just take a look here: Nick's Video. You only have to watch the countdown. This was played on a TV station in Idaho.

And for your viewing pleasure, I thought I'd include some of my favorite pictures of The Boy.

Merry Christmas

Track Stars

Shooting with the family (not to be confused with shooting the family).

Preparation for my wedding reception.

A rare photo in which Nick is actually smiling.

Last year's basketball picture. Just for the record, Nick is currently about 50 pounds (or more) heavier than he was when this pictures was taken. He is officially huge.

Another rare smile, with Mom at Bird's graduation.

Nick showing off his guns, and grandpa's truck, and the dogs?

Powder Puff Nick's freshman year.

Stay tuned for pictures of The Boy's fan club. Coming as soon as I can find my cord to plug in my camera...

Boy, we love you and think you are awesome! Thanks for letting me come and wreck your game. Good luck with the rest of the season.

Clever but not

I often spend way too much time reading other people's blogs. I am constantly amazed by how creative everyone gets. I'm especially impressed with your backgrounds, where do you get those? I'm still a template girl. I also struggle to come up with fun stories that are amusing. For whatever reason being clever has always eluded me.
That being said, I have nothing clever of myself to write, but can vouch for my husband who happens to be more clever than several people combined. (Warning, I should be sleeping and I'm not.)
As many of you know, I have done several sleep studies in the last few months. They discovered that I didn't just have insomnia, but I actually have sleep apnea (which surprised us all since I'm not overweight and don't snore). I had to go in and sleep hooked up to a CPAP machine. It basically covers your entire nose and blows air at you. This is a little weird when you try to breath out, because there is resistance there. What is even worse is that when you open your mouth, all the air rushing up your nose rushes out your mouth leaving you to feel like you are suffocating. It is fabulous.
I thought that this last study, hooked up to this machine, was less than helpful. I didn't really sleep after all. But, that wasn't the conclusion the doctors have come to. So, I am being assigned a little machine of my own to take home. Something about the whole thing seems terribly disturbing, but at this point I'll give it a shot.
So, I asked Ammon how he felt about the machine. He sort of asked what I meant. I said, "well, it's not very sexy or anything like that."
"What? sleeping next to Darth Vader?"
Yes, sleeping next to Darth Vader. I asked again later in the evening to find out if he really was going to be okay with having a loud breathing machine hooked to me every night. I don't want the sounds and things to keep him awake. The dear man looked me straight in the eyes and said, "oh no, it's great, I love Star Wars."
Great.

The Garrison Kids

Life and Stuff

Since it has a been awhile since I got up my courage to write, I thought I'd update everyone. Life is good. Ammon is going to school and is super super busy. Sandy is crazy. I am trying everything in my power to keep her busy, not bored, and tired. Her new thing is that she likes to dig. Unfortunately I don't want her to dig, especially to dig on the fence. She has decided that she loves the 4 chihuahuas that live next door and she wants to hang out. So, she is digging a hole for them to get into our yard. I'm working on putting a stop to that.
Speaking of working, I have finally gotten a job. It took forever, but I have it. I am working as a receptionist for a physical therapy office. It's just part time, but it works out perfect for me. I have really enjoyed the social aspect. And, I will admit it, I like to file. So, there you have it.
Anyway, that's the update. We are getting really excited to see my brother play some football here on the 17th. It will be only the second time in his football career that Ammon and I have been able to watch him play. So, that should be fun, other than the 12 hour drive.
Big Gulps huh? Well, catch ya later.