{Karleigh is home}

Karleigh went with her 8th grade STUGO group to San Diego for 4 days and they has a blast. Karleigh LOVES the beach and she LOVES Sea World. That is her dream job - she wants to train killer whales when she grows up. Karleigh is our fish out of water and just continually talks about wanting to be by the ocean. I am grateful she has such a strong group of friends that she went with and she looks forward to 4 more years of STUGO with these girls in High School.

{Graduation Announcements}

Gotta love Memory Mixer - I was able to do Morgan's announements today in about 10 minutes.

{Faith In Christ}

I found this quote in my inbox this morning and it was just a gentle reminder to me not to get so caught up in the world. When I focus on my family and the tasks at hand things seem to be so much better. I have to remind myself the word I choose for 2008 is FOCUS. Now I need to remember to FOCUS

Only when we fix our gaze on the heavenly things do we begin to understand the eternities. Only with the help of Christ can we fully overcome tragedy. It is necessary to develop our faith in Him as the Redeemer of the world. He taught us: “In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world."
--Carlos H. Amado, "Overcoming Adversity", Ensign, Nov. 1989, 29

{Morgan Dawn Paolacci}

I had to go through and find some pictures to submit of Morgan for a Young Women's ceremony next week. Morgan recieved her YOUNG WOMANHOOD RECOGNITION last year and this year will be included in a presentation where they recognize all the girls who have attained the award. Morgan continues to progress everyday. She even spoke in church on Sunday about "Trials". That seemed to be a fitting topic for her to speak on. Well I am off - I have a busy couple of days ahead of me. Karleigh is off to California with her STUGO group. The boys have baseball and I need to overnight some medicine to Marissa becuase it is the end of the school year and she ALWAYS get's sick around finals - I mean ALWAYS. But seeing as though she needs to drive to Seattle on Monday - she needs to be feeling better and so I need to send a box of mom's medicine to her so she is feeling better.

{Upcoming Classes}

Just working on some upcoming classes - here is one that is scheduled for Scrap Happy Sisters on Tuesday, April 29th – 6:30 pm ($40.00)


Call today to reserve your spot . . . . .
Scrap Happy Sisters
6525 West Happy Valley Road
623-376-8257

{She's leaving on a jet plane}

What an honor and privilege it is to be Marissa's mom. Words cannot express how much I love my family. Let me assure you that there are no words to express how awesome it is to have such amazing kids. Here is Marissa and her Eclipse group. These are her friends she worked with last summer and this is the group she is going with to Seattle (minus Derek Gosman - middle front row - he has been her manager-and friend - but in January Derek was in a horrible snow boarding accident that changed his entire life in just a spilt second) I am so thankful for Derek and the example he has set for my daughter and all that he has taught her this last year. I know she (and everyone else) will truly miss him this summer in Seattle. (I think I need to write Derek a note and let him know how much I appreciate him) Marissa has only been able to spend a limited amount of time with Derek since his accident and really misses him. So it was fun for her to arrive at the SLC airport on Thursday night and see that Derek was on her flight to Phoenix, so she got to spend some good quality time with him. He is an amazing guy and we are all praying for a full recovery for him. So back to Marissa - she flew home this weekend so everyone would be able to see her and spend time with her before she left for Seattle. She had to go to the doctor and get up to date on her shots for the Ukraine. She flew back this morning and has finals - today, tomorrow and Wednesday and then Thursday she will be packing up and heading to Provo for training with the International Language Program - this is who Marissa will be traveling with to the Ukraine for fall semester. She has training on Friday and Saturday. Then Sunday morning she will be heading to Seattle. She is carpooling with 3 people. Her friend Jen (the other cute girl in the above picture) will be riding with her and then there is another car that will be following them. More happy news is that Boise is half way between Salt Lake City and Seattle and so they will be stopping at my grandmas house for a break. My grandparents will be so happy to see Marissa !!!! Then she will be off to Seattle for the summer where she will be working as one of the office managers for their group this summer. Then in August she will fly back to Seattle (where I will meet her) and she will board a plane for the Ukraine where she will reside until right before Christmas. She still has 4 months before leaving for the Ukraine and I just sobbed this morning as I drove away from the airport. I miss her so much and I miss spending time with her. I think I am going to have to start a mom and daughter vacation. Where I can spend solid quality time with my girls. Everyone loved having Marissa home. Karleigh stayed home from school on Friday just to spend the day with her and the boys just LOVE their big sister more than anything. They are really kinda sad this morning. In Dylan's exact teenage words "it really sucks that she has to leave" I hate that "s" word and I don't like it used in my home. But in this situation I couldn't agree with him more. I love my daughter. I love my kids. I love being a mom.

{CKC MESA & MARISSA}

Well I am headed to CKC Mesa for the next couple of days so if you have time to drop by the convention I will be teaching the Rusty Pickle classes and so please come by and say "HI". Morgan is going along with and she will be camping out in the hotel room down the road. Don't think I am ready to leave her completely on her own yet. The other exciting part is guess who will be holding down the fort ????? Marissa !!!! She is coming home for a few days. We will have her till Monday morning. So excited - love that girl so much. SO proud of her. She is just amazing !!!!! Well gotta get a few hours of sleep - I'll be back Monday and report the exciting events of the weekend.

{Totally Addicted to Preserving & ENJOYING our Memories}

Okay so you know how we have talked about just getting our pictures into albums and not keeping all the photos you haven't had a chance to scrapbook locked away in a closet in photo boxes. If you need to be inspired and refreshed go {HERE}
Well, I know this is going to be a process, but can I just tell you my kids are loving it. I am organizing my albums Chronologically (so speak - I am not anal and so it will be in somewhat of a progressive order) and the nice thing about the WE R MEMORY KEEPERS 3 RING BINDERS is that I can re-arrange pages so easily when I need to. I have also begun to incorporate all sizes into my 12x12 albums. (8 1/2 x 11 and 8x8) I am so loving this and I think this is my system that is here to stay. I am confident that I have chosen albums that will be around forever because WE R MEMORY KEEPERS who was originally HILLAR albums have been around longer than I have. My kids are loving re-living all the memories. We can spend and entire evening just looking at photos. Friends come over and they all enjoy looking at photos. And now I can really enjoy scrapbooking the important ones and I don't have any guilt about not being able to scrap them all. I have found a very happy place and I think I like it.

{Better Days}

So since Morgan seemed to do being a little better, I decided that a good distraction from her foot/leg would be to pick up our cute little kiddos for the afternoon. It was perfect - she played with them for hours and was completely distracted from her leg. The baby is getting so big - he loved to play ball. Anything that had to do with a ball would keep him happy. Gotta love my MEMORY MIXER. I am going with that all philosophy that I used to balk at "simple is done". Uploaded my photos this morning, stuck them on a page, added some journaling and waaa laaa - I will call it done - happy day !!!!!
So I am home today (car is in the shop) and so I am kinda stranded (it's kinda nice) and I am working on my classes (should be cleaning my house, but you know how that goes) Anywhoo - have a fabulous day.

{Happy Birthday to my Lil Bro}

Today is Jason's 36th Birthday!!!! How blessed I am to have him for a brother. He is amazing and so incredibly talented. The Lord has blessed him with some amazing gifts. I can remember growing up he was the sweetest brother a girl could ask for. Just always so thoughtful of other people. My friends would always say we want to marry your little brother. He is the best husband, father, brother, son. He can do anything. Build anything. Fix anything. He has been blessed with so many talents. Happy Birthday Jas !!!!!

{Cool Picture of Marissa on the Beach}

That's it - just a totally cool picture of my totally cool daughter walking on the beach !!!! I love her so much she is going to come home for the weekend on April 17th - Yipeeeeeee!!!!!!

{Monday Mania}

Thought I would post some happy pictures. I worked on these while Morgan was in physical therapy today. That is the beauty of digital scrap booking with Memory Mixer. All I need is my laptop and I can scrapbook anywhere I want.

{Monday. Monday}

What a wonderful conference weekend, so inspired from all the words of inspiration we heard. So touched to witness such a historic conference. What an amazing opportunity to sustain a new Prophet. But kinda sad becuase Sister Susan Tanner was released as the Young Womens General President, oh how I love listening to her words of inspiration. Such an amazing woman. Sister Elaine Dalton was called to serve as the new Young Womens General President. She too is an amazing woman and I look forward to watching and learning from her example over the next couple of years. I love General Conference. It usually is the prelude to my trip to Utah for Women's Conference. I am so torn as to what to do this year. I LOVE womens conference. I have attended for the past 10 years. I love being spiritually fed. It definitely fills my cup and gives me a re-newed strength. I am just worried about leaving Morgan, we are progressing slowly but surely, but still have so many things we are working through. I guess this is something I take to my Heavenly Father in prayer and hope to be inspired to what is the right thing to do at this time in my life.

Well, it definitely is a Monday morning around the Paolacci house this morning. Dylan went to bed not feeling well and would still be lying in his bed not feeling well at all. I don't know what it is - but whatever it is I hope he can sleep it off and feel better soon - I hate it when my kids are sick. Karleigh had an awesome basketball tournament on Saturday (despite her shin splints) Her team won a medal. Now comes the tough part, she will most likely be chosen to be on the All Star team, but the reality is - she needs to tell her coach her season is over. We have left it completely up to Karleigh, but we know and she knows that her shin splints will only get worse if she keeps playing. What a tough place to be. She loves basketball and has been looking forward to this all year. But one of her PE coaches pulled her aside the other day and explained to her that it won't get any better until she stops playing basketball. She encouraged her to rest and save her energy(and legs) for summer basketball camp. We will see what she does. She is 14, kinda thinks she is invincible. I will let you know if mom needs to step in this afternoon.

Well so sorry I only got through an update of half my kiddos - it's time to go wake the boys up for school. And then Morgan and I are off to therapy for the morning.

{ALL YOU ARIZONA GALS}

Join me for the BEAT THE HEAT SHOP HOP !!!! The perfect excuse to visit your favorite scrapbooks stores, enter to really cool contests and win some fantabulous prizes. Check out the link {HERE}.

General Conference

I love conference weekend. Since I was a little girl it has always been a weekend of renewal for me. Watching General Conference is priority in my life and by listening carefully and following the teachings that are given my life has been blessed. I try so hard to make my home peaceful and enjoy spending this special time with my family. It is an opportunity for us to listen to messages of inspiration and guidance that will be delivered by the Fist Presidency, members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and other General Authorities and general officers of the church. This confernece we will be sustaining a new prophet, President Thomas S. Monson. This has only happened 15 times in church history. I have a testimony that he is called of God. I am anxious to listen and follow the guidance of our new prophet. There are so many different options available to view General Conference. The only time I have actually had the opportunity to attend General Conference in Salt Lake was when I was 18 with my friend Angie. I can still remember what an awesome weekend that was. Marissa has had many opportunities to attend general conference since she lives in Utah. But really, I just enjoy sitting in my family room with my family gathered round and watching it on TV. There is ALWAYS a message just for me in each and every conference talk.

Here are some links for more conference information if you are interested in watching, listening or reading.

178th Annual General Conference

Conference Materials

Broadcast Schedule

{FESTIVAL OF COLORS}

So Marissa sent me these pictures the other day and I said "What the heck are you guys up to" and then she began to explain to me about the "FESTIVAL OF COLORS". I just attributed it to my free spirited daughter and then I started to read about it and I must say if I was in Spanish Fork, Utah on March 29 I would have loved to have joined in on the fun. Below is an article from Deseret Morning News

By Lauralee RiddleDeseret Morning News
Published: Sunday, March 30, 2008 1:35 a.m. MDT

Fusion of colors exploded on the east side of the majestic white Krishna Temple in Spanish Fork Saturday evening as thousands celebrated the Festival of Colors, one of the most important Hindu holidays of the year.

To rejoice in the coming of spring and the victory of good over evil, natives of India, Hindus, Utah County residents and BYU students chucked bags of purple, green, pink, yellow, blue and silver chalk at each other.

"It was really intense," said Cristine Vallone, who moved to Provo nine months ago. "You couldn't breathe at all, but it was really fun though. It was just a blinding mess of color."

For 15 minutes the crowd was lost in a pink-tinged cloud after people began to toss colors.
The throwing of the colors "is to signify that people are the same," said Marish Bansal, a native of India. "Nobody is bigger or smaller. We are all children of God."

This symbolism of unity takes place after burning the effigy of an evil demoness, which represents the victory of good over evil. The religious meaning of the festival runs deep for Hindus.

The festival "is a very big part of the religion," said Rajnikant Shalma, a Hindu from India. "It's good for friendship. Even if you are enemies on that day you are friends."

Shalma has been in the U.S. for seven months and is studying to get his Ph.D. in electrical and computer engineering at BYU. In his native Jaipur, Shalma said he and his friends would gather and go to their neighbors' houses to put color on them but said he likes "the idea of everyone gathering at the temple" for the celebration.

Inside the upper room of the temple the religious side of the festival is more visible. On the south wall stands a miniature temple carved of wood with statues of Hindu gods inside. There members of the faith worship, bowing their heads and placing red paint on the center of their foreheads.

Heather Yates and husband David joined in the worship, although Yates said they didn't totally understand the meaning of it. "I think it's really beautiful," Yates, a BYU student, said. "They were just worshipping at the shrine and you could tell it was really important for them. I think it is awesome that they are so open in allowing people to worship with them."

Another important expression of worship at the festival is dancing. An Indian woman with her hair plaited in a long tight braid moves deftly across the stage. She steps carefully with red-painted feet in time to the chiming of the music. Her red-tinged fingers flair fanlike and move swiftly to take another shape.

Dancer Puja Allepalli's movements are a prayer to God Krishna asking him to extend his mercy to his worshippers. Allepalli is a native of India, who lives in Denver, and has been dancing since she was 4. This is her first year at the festival of colors in Spanish Fork.

"I was so excited to be here because in Denver there are not any holy celebrations," Allepalli said. "This is just like being back in India; people with color all over their faces and people rejoicing in the true spirit."

I am so proud of my daughter and all the other thousands of BYU students who joined in the celebration of friendship and good over evil on this day. There is another link to the Daily Herald and there is actually a video you can watch {HERE}