And on to the next phase!

So...I took my instructor test today and got a 96% ohhhhh yaaaaaaaa!!!!!! I am a big kid now!!! finally on to the stage in life that I get to do what I have been training to do and it feels so good. Maxine, my boss and awesome friend, took me down and then we went out to lunch. It was so great.. I am grateful for such awesome support. All the other instructors and some of the girls text me and gave support and some of my friends too.. loved it.. thank you everyone!!!

My family is really excited too and I can't wait to tell Bug! It is a great feeling..

so..with that news, I got a quote today from Golden Nuggets that I thought was appropriate for the day and wanted to share it too:

"Sometimes we want to have growth without challenges and to develop strength without any struggle. But growth cannot come by taking the easy way. We clearly understand that an athlete who resists rigorous training will never become a world-class athlete. We must be careful that we don’t resent the very things that help us put on the divine nature."

Tia Ko Be
me

Out with the bad...

So, I have decided to deactivate my facebook account due to some negative enviroment that is pulling me down lately. I will just keep posting on my blog for those that want to follow along in my eventful life..haha..it is a more controlled enviroment and hopefully will help me to stay more positive.
The last year and a half has been a big growing time in my life with Bug on his mission, Savana becoming a mommy to two wonderful little boys and me starting a career and Kacee choosing a different life than we had hoped for her. I have learned a lot and also learned that I am not as strong as I thought I was in certain areas of my life. Family has always been such an important part of my life and I guess that the evil one knows that is the place he can hurt me the most. They have always taught me in my church that the world will try to break the family to succeed and I didn't think that when Bug left on his mission that this would be the area that we are challenged the most, but, it has been and still is being challenged more than I ever thought possible. I hope that we will survive the test and become stronger and that all of us will be able to say we won the fight. Each day comes with different challenges and some days are better than others..my hope is that I can say each day I tried my best and did what I thought was best for my family and that I survived. Some days I do better than others.
Tia Ko Be
me

Scrapbook, color and hanging out

I did a scrapbook page for Bug today.. turned out pretty good.
I also colored Kacee's hair, purple again, this week..haha
Hung out with Kassi cus she is sick today and caught up on laundry..oh the life.

photos from Bug

I worked for Stacey at school today and will have Saturday off..BONUS!! can't complain about a weekend off...
We have been trying to learn some fun new things to help expand from the every day things and I am excited to try a few out.
This last week we did hair wraps (they were fun) and we did a fundraiser event at the college in Logan with haircuts, steps and braids. I really had a good time watching everyone. The students are so awesome.

I set up a makeup class with MAC for the first of next month and I can't wait for it. I love makeup!! haha need to do a few more before and afters.

Got some fun pics today from Bug that I thought I would share as well.. enjoy.

Wow it is March

It has been so busy the last few weeks with all the final details of the MST tradeshow and now that it is successfully done we are trying to get back to a routine around here. I haven't had a day off of work since Feb 20th and starting to really be burned out with the days... but, it was so much fun for the tradeshow and I met and learned so much from the BEST in the industry.
I am forever grateful for the opportunity and now ready to improve my skills as a teacher and designer. Lots to learn and many many things to practice to achieve the skills I need.. Here we go!!!
Watch me now I am going to soar!!! (I hope..hehe)
Tia Ko Be

Another page for Bug's mission album

I did another layout today with some fun new things I got from scrapbookgraphics.com today. This is a picture of him right before he headed to Mahajanga in November for the transfer. He was so excited, but, sad at the same time for leaving such a wonderful ward and group.
Tia Ko Be
mom

change is good

MOST of the time that is.. haha
We are definately growing at our little school and with it we are making some adjustments which are going to be so great. I am so excited to be able to start teaching more and with this adjustment will be able to actually do it more and more.. benefit the students and definately benefit the atmosphere along with some instruction that will help everyone involved more and more. I love that I have a boss that is so open for options and has the best intentions for her staff and students. That is a quality that not many owners can say they have.

we only have 12 days to the tradeshow!!! oooh my am I excited!
Tia Ko Be
me

Happy Birthday Kassi

It's Kassi's birthday today.. 12 years old.. wow..what a blessing she is.. Happy Birthday to my mum too..I miss you mum.
Tia Ko Be
me

Layouts for Bug

I started to scrapbook today again. Another one of my goals this year was to start scrapbooking for the love of scrapbooking and I am rusty for sure.. This layout took me literally hours to do. I had to reload pse4 and definately need to find some shadows so that I feel the elements have the dimension they need.
This one is simple but, it is done with love.

Happiness is Mahajanga Sunsets.
Tia Ko Be
mom

For Bug

Every Day...
Tia Ko Be
mum

MST Tradeshow

22 MORE DAYS....ARE YOU READY??

Make-up play day

I am just adding a little more to my portfoloio this weekend. I saw a tutorial from Misschievous that I have been wanting to try out and this is what I came up with. Kassi is a great sport about me constantly trying out new ideas.. she is still young and loves hanging out with her mommy..so that is a plus.

I used nyx white pencil, mac eyeliner and eyeshadows, nyx eyeshadows and bh cosmetic pallet to create the look.

It was fun but harder than I thought it would be to do the blending and I need to practice more on it..watch for progress.

Tia Ko Be

me

New Photos to share

I have a couple of things to share today. First is a full face "zombie" that I did at school on Saturday. It follows the same as the scar I uploaded earlier in the week but, is a full face. I thought it turned out good but, it is a bit darker and next time I will use a lighter blending makeup. Not bad for my first time though and I am excited that I have accomplished another goal I had for the year.

The next photo is of Kacee and a makeup I did on her this morning. I used the Urban Decay naked pallet. I really like this pallet for every day makeup and neutrals. Kacee is a rockstar for letting me play since she "hates" makeup!! hehe thanks Kacee.

I will add all of them to my slide as well.. Love Mondays!!

Tia Ko Be

me

A friend's blog..

Some good friends of ours that we loved hanging out with in Sanpete county.. All girls in there family and all fabulous with an amazing mom and dad. This is where I learned to scrapbook and learned so much from..both crafty and life experiences...

Hi Sheri, Dani and family!!

They have a blog that I started a follow on today and thought I would share it. If you like crafts, photography, recipe or just love watching a family that is amazing go check it out!!

House full of handmades

Taught at School today

I have been trying to learn things with makeup this year as one of my goals and wanted to learn how to do stage makeup.. This is a creation I did and taught the girls at school how to do today. It is just a patch but, will be doing a full zombie face on Josh this weekend.

Tell me what you think...

Kassi in Young Womens..

My little baby girl is growing up and tonight was introduced into the Young Women's program.. I had to write a little get to know you about her and decided it would be a good post for today as it sums up most of my thoughts for her today..

Tia Ko Be Pooka!!

On February 15th, 1999 a little angel was born in a province called Hung Yen in Vietnam to a very special woman name Leigh. She named her little angel Mai and then lovingly gave her to the care of an orphanage for adoption.

Two weeks later a picture was sent to our family with her paperwork to get things started to bring her home. Before we saw her picture we had gone through a series of events:

For about 5 years I had a dream that would be consistent and reoccur quite often. In the dream Savana and Kacee would be standing together and a little girl with big brown eyes and long dar hair would peek around their legs and smile. She was shy and cautious but obviously loved her two "sisters".

I shared the dream with my husband one day and to our surprise discovered that he was having the same dream as I was. We started looking at adoption shortly after. Different times for several years we would get close to picking up a child or for some reason or another be told that we couldn't have a particular child.

In 1998 Kacee, my 2nd daughter started having a dream about a little baby sister. She would continually tell us that it was time to go and get our little angle. One day, frustarted because of her persistance I told her that obviously she needed to pray about it because we had done everyting we could to get her here. Kacee's reply to me was "Mom, no, it is your turn to pray, I have."

About a week later a friend of mine called to tell me of an experience she had in the temple that she had felt impressed to share with me. I called Focus on Children the next month, which was January 1999. What should or normally takes about a year of paperwork and preparation through the government, to everyone's surprise was completed in about 3 weeks. On April 14th 1999 my husband and I were in a hotel room in Hanoii Vietnam anxiously waiting for someone to bring us our little angel. She came to us through a translator, her care giver and a wet nurse that had been hired to feed her on the way to the hotel. Wrapped in a frail worn out blanket, a hand sewn bonnet and a new bright yellow outfit a very tiny and weak baby girl with big dark brown eyes was carefully placed in the arms of her daddy for the very first time.

As we layed her on the bed she looked up and smiled the most adorable smile I felt that I had ever seen. The caregiver started to speak to us and was translated to that is the first time she has ever smiled and be careful with her as she is very weak.

Kassandra Elizabeth Mai Madsen was born on February 15th, 1999. She was named after my mum, Sandra, her sister Kacee starts her name and her middle name of Elizabeth is from her great grandma Elizabeth or "Beth" Cutler. Her given name of Mai is also shared as a middle name in honour of her birth mom.

She was born at 8 lbs. 8 oz but lost 4 pounds due to lack of nutrition in her first 2 months of life. Though she had a rough start, we know she was blessed and protected by the angels in those short 2 months.

Kassi is the youngest of 5 siblings and an aunt to 3 boys (1 being older than her) and 1 girl who is one of her best friends.

She loves to shop, play basketball and dance. She is very artistic and loves to read and text her freinds constantly. She is a constant model for her mom and sister while they are going to cosmetology school and is excited for her first runway show the end of this month.

Kassi loves the color blue, loves eggrolls and fried rice. Although she is tormented by her brothers she is definately stronger for it. Kassi took the challenge a couple of years ago to develop a "six pack" and currently does about 200 push ups each night and over 100 situps. She is also diligently working on her "spiritual sixpack" of reading the Book of Mormon, a goal given to her by her oldest brother Bug.

Kassi is dedicated, loving and a true friend to those she is friends with. She is shy until you get to know her and then watch out, she is loud and crazy and a ton of fun to be around.

Kassi is very excited to start Young Women's next month and even though her big brother doesn't want her to grow up she is and ready to be a Young Women with Values and share in these experiences.

We love you, Pooka, and hope that you have as much fun in Young Womens as we did.

Tia Ko Be

mom

365+ days

And now we are on the downhill of the mountain.. 367 days ago Bug left for his mission...1 year, 2 days and 10 hours later....wow...this has been one long year but, so happy that he is there teaching the gospel to those who need him.

A son leaves his family for 2 years so that other families can be together forever..

I love ya Bug

Tia Ko Be

me

MANDRAKISAY NY FIANIKAVIANTSIKA

MST Tradeshow

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuM86UP4XOs We have been working on these photos for the tradeshow the last couple of weeks and today they became our first You Tube Video!!! whohooohooooo!!! We are soo close to the tradeshow and it is going to be so much fun!
Come and join us on Feb 28th and March 1st. The Runway show will be our closing on March 1st and the students are working hard for a fabulous presentation!!

I want to Live

I have always been a fan of John Denver and love his music. It speaks from my heart when I hear the words of some of his songs. This one is one of my favorites and shared to my son, Bug, from his dad in an email this week.
Tia Ko Be
T

Photo for the day

So, today I decided to share a photo I took last night after Savana text me to look at the sunset. I love that she takes time to check out the most beautiful things and reminds me to look at them too..

What a great end of the day!

Sunset 1/10/11

The next photo is one of Josh actually doing homework.. haha this happens very rarely so I had to document it!!