National Stamping Month Specials and Play Dates

I looked all over the Lodge at Fish Lake for a T-shirt to bring home that said, "I went to Fish Lake and all I caught was this cold," but for some reason they didn't have one. We had a great time camping this past week (and even got a date night courtesy of the parents, for which I am eternally grateful) despite getting sick, and the cold held off until the end of the trip, at least. We had the kids' time out of school scaled down to the bare minimum, but then ended up taking another day with the cold!

There are plenty of things to cheer about in September, though. Here's a rundown of what's in store:

1. Play Dates
It's the return of the 5 Buck Layout, the cheapest date there is! 

This month you can make this beautiful layout featuring Avonlea papers and stamps. Buy just the kit for only $5 or get the Avonlea Workshop on the Go and take home the stamps, accessories, paper and more to make another 4 pages, cards, or countless other projects, like this My Creations Bracket Frame, which would be an awesome handmade gift for someone you love (HINT: Grandparents always love to receive pictures). Sign up below! For more information about how Play Dates work and the loot, er.. Rewards you can reap, check out the sidebar on the right under "Play Dates".

Saturday, Sept. 15 @ 10 am - 12 pm Avonlea 5 Buck Layout

Saturday, Sept. 15 @ 7 pm - 9 pm Avonlea 5 Buck Layout

Monday, Sept. 17 @ 10 am - 12 pm Avonlea 5 Buck Layout

Monday, Sept. 24 @ 10 am - 1 pm Avonlea My Creations Bracket Frame, $15

Saturday, Sept 29 @ 7pm - 10 pm Avonlea My Creations Bracket Frame, $15

2. National Stamping Month
This campaign is in full swing until September 30th and you can take advantage of this great double stamp set for only $5 with your qualifying purchase. 

Read more about this, here. (Did you know Studio J orders can count towards your Home Gathering totals for Hostess Rewards? Ask me how!)

3. Stamp of the Month

Fall Favorites 

set of 11

Available September 1–30, 2012

Get the Stamp of the Month set for just $5 (S1209A) when you place an order of $50 or more in products. Jump-start the fun by ordering the items from the list below to create this artwork! You’ll find helpful assembly tips at my website under Promotions.

Moonlight Paper Packet

($9.95, X7161B, Autumn/Winter 2012

Idea Book p. 56)

Autumn Terracotta Exclusive Inks® Marker Set($5.95, Z2427, p. 9)

Honey Exclusive Inks® Marker Set($5.95, Z2415, p. 9)

Olive Exclusive Inks® Marker Set($5.95, Z2425, p. 9)

Burlap Ribbon

($7.95, Z1760, p. 124)

Brads Metal Assortment

($4.95, Z1366, p. 127)

Cricut® Artiste Collection($99, Z1790, p. 15)

See you in the craft room soon!

Warm wishes,

Morton Family Update

It's been kind of hectic the past two weeks and we're only just starting August! I've been out of the office for a week, so thanks for staying patient and let me catch you up on our comings and goings.

I started the Week In The Life project July 25th and spent a week chronicling my daily life with photos and words. I was able to finish 5 out of the 8 layouts (7 days plus an intro and footer page) in Studio J, then had to set it aside to catch up on housework (booooring!) I hope to finish these this week and get them ordered for the album. I've still got supplies waiting to arrive, but I'm very excited to see this completed! Stay tuned.

The housework I mentioned above involved packing the two older children for a week-long camping vacation with Grandma and Grandpa Garrett in Fish Lake. A whole lotta laundry got done so we had stuff to take and stuff to wear when we got home (and spent more time catching up more laundry..) The kids left a few days before Brandon, Garrett and I headed up and we had a great time 4-wheeling on our favorite trails and seeing tons of deer. Brook decided she liked s'mores (finally, ONE kid likes them) and Brandon got to take his truck on a pretty tough trail out to Crater Lake. We had fun chronicling that for his trailblazer blog.

After such a nice vacation it was tough to come back to reality and I started a new shift this week as a result of our recent shift-bid change. We're working 12 hour days right now (3 plus a 4hr) and I can tell you it wasn't a popular topic at the dinner table a few months ago when we found out we would be changing from 5 eights. The plus side? Pretty much 4 days off that will ROCK! The bad? Three full days lost every week where I see very little of my family each night before we all go to bed. Think breakfast, lunch and dinner at work and in the winter you go to work in the dark and go home in the dark. I'm just about to end my first week and the adjustment is slow, but we'll make the best of it for the next few months.

Baby [insert name here... No REALLY.] is doing well. We are 25 1/2 weeks pregnant and things are going really well. Our little guy is very healthy so far and we're grateful for the blessings we have received with this very unexpected pregnancy. We have yet to pick a name (PLEASE send me your suggestions- we have a running list that has yet to narrow significantly) and this bothers me that we haven't named him yet. I like to connect through the name during pregnancy so it's frustrating to just call him Baby all the time. However, it does provide some comic relief as some people insist on calling him a different name every time they see us! "How is baby Stryker? When will we meet baby Conner?" (The funniest, most far-fetched so far is baby Jalepeno.)

We hope your past few weeks have been going well!

Warm wishes,

and the Mortons

Just got back..

..from Fish Lake for the week. I attempted to update from my phone (which I am just learning how to do..) but there was no Internet coverage there. Epic Failure!

So that said, I'll get to the point! We had a great time on vacation. The leaves were beautiful - couldn't have picked a better time to go! We had sooo much fun four-wheeling, getting dirty and sitting around a stinky campfire roasting marshmallows. Of course, my kids are the ONLY ones I know who don't like roasting marshmallows or s'mores! Weird! I'm not sure where they came from some days.

Here are some of the pictures we took. I'll be posting pictures of stamp camp tomorrow, too, while I get plugged back into city life. Stay tuned!

Fish Lake from the middle overlook on Mytogee Rd.

Mytogee Road. This runs up the mountain on the east side of Fish Lake. It's our second favorite trail to ride.

We had some beautiful sunsets due to the fire just outside of Fillmore. This was seen from our camp.

On the road to Hancock Flat, out favorite road! The pictures just don't do the scenery justice, but the forest seemed to be on fire with the changing of the leaves.

Hancock Flat

We had lunch up on Hancock Flat in a sheep camp. There are usually several hundred head of sheep up here this time of year, but thankfully they were already down this year!

Plenty of wildlife! This was about a half mile out of camp on our way home from an afternoon ride. One doe and 2 fawns. Daddy Buck was nowhere to be found. The rifle hunt was due to open in a few days, so he must have been practicing!

How old does an aspen get? The scarred date on this one is 1937. You can clearly see the resemblance to the cottonwoods here, as they get older. I have never seen an aspen tree this old where the bark has changed like this!

Backlit aspen up on the trail to Hancock Flats.

Hancock Flats

Hancock Flats

Mytogee Road.

Moi!

The End