• A lot of you have wondered what we are doing.  Since we sold our home in September, we have been living with kind family members.  Let me tell you how we got here.

    In August, while our house was still on the market, we were looking at existing homes and had a hard time finding one that fit our needs.  In fact, we couldn’t find anything we liked better than what we were trying to sell (bigger, not better).

    Our house had been looked at so many times I lost count and we had no offers since the first one that fell through and I was discouraged.  We would pray and fast and knew we were supposed to be selling our home.  On a Friday in August, I was so discouraged.  Why were we supposed to sell if we couldn’t find a house to purchase and we couldn’t sell ours?  I was tired of cleaning, our kids were tired of me cleaning and school was getting ready to start.  So I fasted and prayed.  I prayed a lot.  I told my Heavenly Father that I was willing to do what he wanted, but that I was apparently so dense that I couldn’t hear what he was saying.  I asked him to help me to HEAR.

    Later that day, I was searching the local MLS and noticed a really cute brand new home.  It was more expensive than we wanted to spend, but not much, so I visited the builders website and found out that they had a lot of other plans that were less expensive.  I called to get information and before I knew it, we had an appointment to “explore” building as an option.

    In the meeting with the agent for the builder, we found that we could afford to build – in Draper!  The problem is that the house we would build would be only slightly bigger than the one we were selling.  And, the lot would be the same size.  That didn’t make sense to me.  BUT, if we were willing to look at two other communities they were building in, we could build the plans we like. 

    I KNEW I didn’t want to build in the one that was farther away – no way (sorry my friends who live there)!  But, maybe the closer community.  Keep in mind, this was the same day that I said I needed help to see.  We decided that it didn’t hurt us to drive by those communities and look (the only pain we felt were the protests we heard from the back seat – wink).

    We drove through the first community and as nice as it was, we didn’t feel like it was right so we decided to drive to the other one (the one I knew I didn’t want to live in), and it was so beautiful!  It was after the model home had closed, so we called the agent and scheduled an appointment for the next day.  We got a community map and found a lot.  I could see the boys playing there and they could see it too.  It was the first place that we all agreed upon and we all knew right away that it was right.

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    We emailed the agent to reserve the lot and made it official with a contract the next week.  The week after that our house was under contract and, well, you know the rest.  I’m glad I finally listened and put aside my feelings of “I don’t want to live there”.

    Fast forward to November 9 (today) – we are almost ready to sign off on the plans.  

    Our builder is Candlelight homes – we are so pleased with them.  Check out their facebook page.  You’ll love the pictures of the model homes AND their multiple-award winning Parade Home.  Even if you aren’t in the market for a home, check out their photo albums – there are a lot of great dĂ©cor ideas.

    Hey, while you are there, tell them I sent you to look at their page!

    I can’t wait to share this journey with you!

    2011_10_02_0022 4x6_web2011_10_02_0015 4x6_web2011_10_02_0008_4x6

  • I had the privilege of teaching at Teresa Collins’ Inspiration Unlimited.  Can I just tell you what a fabulous time I had.  It was just what I needed.

    On Wednesday morning (the day after we signed the closing papers on our home) I met my friend, Layle, and we drove to Las Vegas.  It was about Beaver (2 1/2 hours from my home) and I exhaled.  It felt so good!  The house was packed, Bryan just needed to clean it the next day, my kits were prepped and ready, I was psyched to share the weekend with 275 fabulous ladies who love scrapbooking… and I exhaled.  I let all the stress out.  It’s funny.  Even today when I think about September, my heart starts racing.  And, I am thankful for all the helping hands who made it possible for us to accomplish it.

    Layle and I got to the hotel just in time to check in, freshen up and meet the group for dinner.  You could feel the excitement.

    The next day, I slept in until 8 and got 9 hours of sleep – amazing!  We helped set up the store (but, let’s be honest – Ginger and crew didn’t really need us), brought in my class kits and I counted and counted to check and double check that they were all there.

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    We had a meet and greet and everyone was so nice to me.  They oohed and aaahed at my projects and I was pumped to teach the next day.

    I woke up bright and early and ready to teach.  I thought that getting to my class an hour early was plenty of time, but as I arrived, I swear the entire class was there waiting to enter the room and get started.  I got to kick off the event for my first class – I just wanted to start their experience off with a bang!  It was a hit! 

    2011 09 23_0006

    The students were so amazingly kind and I fed off their energy.  By the end of the day I had taught three classes and met so many great ladies!

    The last day I was Joey with Bazzill’s assistant.  I volunteered to help her in class a few months before and I am so glad I did.  I was able to make the rounds and talk with so many of the amazing ladies and I wouldn’t have had the chance to do that if I hadn’t helped Joey.

    To end the conference, we had the opportunity to listen to Jill Strasberg’s amazing story.  Jill doesn’t live too far from me, but I had never met her or heard her story.  I am so glad I did.  I laughed, I cried and I left even more grateful for the life I have.

    2011_09_24_IU2011_Teachers

    I want thank Teresa and Ginger for asking me to teach, Layle, Joey & Janet and the fabulous ladies who attended.  You have touched my heart.  This is an experience I will always cherish.  And… it’s what I needed.  Amber

    Hugs!

  • Guess what fun thing I get to do on Halloween? I get to spend an hour crafting with a darling class of first graders. I’ve been thinking of all sort of fun kids crafts, but the problem with them is that they aren’t as much fun for me (kind of sounds silly, right). But, crafts should be fun for all involved, right?

    The other dilemma is time. The kids will be split into 4 groups and each group will only have 15 minutes to finish the project. I thought the best project will be on that is precut and just needs to be assembled. It’s also fun if the kids can express their creativity and don’t have to make them all the same. It would also be fun to have the project be something they can put in their rooms or add to the rest of the home décor.

    Enter the “Spooky Mobile”. I’ve been wanting to create a mobile for Good Things Utah for a while, but was leaning MUCH more girly (I’ll still do it later). Then I thought how cute would it be to have bats, pumpkins, withes and more hanging from a hoop.

    Halloween Mobile

    Because I love, love, love Kraft for Halloween projects, I used Kraft Funday – Everyday Fun for my project. The rustic, white washed feel of the blacks and whites on the Kraft add a fun elements to the project. The embellishments are super cute and make adding the finishing touched easy!

    Halloween Mobile_Bat

    Halloween Mobile_GhostHalloween Mobile_Haunted House

    Halloween Mobile_PumpkinHalloween Mobile_Spider Web.

    As you can see, I put a little more detail on these than the kids will be able to in the time allotted. The 3-D pumpkin will be flat and cut out, and they won’t be able to sew, but I think they should have a fun time.

    To download the instructions, click here: Download 2011_10_25 Spooky Mobile

    We will add the video from the segment in the afternoon when it is ready. It's ready:Amber

  • As I said in the post before, we got home from California on Sunday night.  Monday morning, we started packing up our house.  The call we got while at LEGOLAND was to let us know that the closing on our house would be moved up 8 days.  That meant we had 8 days until we closed, 9 days until I left to teach at Inspiration Unlimited and 10 days until we officially had to be out of house.  We were in a hurry!

    Lucky for us, we have so many wonderful friends and family members who pitched in and helped.  We had someone over almost every minute of every day and there is no way we could have done it without them!  Even the kids pitched in!

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    We started loading stuff into the storage unit on Tuesday.  At first I was worried it wouldn’t be large enough and then I worried it was too large.

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    And, then I worried it wouldn’t be large enough

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    but then it was alright.

    photo4 (it’s even more full now)

    We had everything out by the next Tuesday, the day we closed on the house. 

    I left to teach at Inspiration Unlimited on Wednesday morning.  Thanks to a few of my family members and sweet friends, I was able to get my kits ready and was well prepared for IU2011.  I had this feeling before we left for California that I needed to have my kits as ready as possible before we left.  I’m so glad I listened to that prompting.

    My Mother-in-Law and sweet Sisters-in-Law came over on Thursday to help Bryan clean the house.  We wanted it to be as clean as possible for the new owners.  Bryan and the boys met them and the boys said they would take care of the house.

    I got a call Thursday night as they were pulling away from the house for the last time.  All three of them were crying.  It was so hard to not be there with them.  I had said my goodbyes to the house before I left.  It was a good house and we love it!

    Bryan let the boys take pics before they left.  Here are a few of the shots they took:

    IMG_2876IMG_2992IMG_2880IMG_2950IMG_2961IMG_2898IMG_2921IMG_2981IMG_2926IMG_2970IMG_2976IMG_2888

    photo (2)(last picture at the house)

    With that, we were on to our next adventure as a family.  What an adventure!  We are grateful for the almost 12 years we spent in that house.  For our friends and neighbors and the wonderful memories we had there.

    And, yes, the boys checked the rear-view mirror for Buzz and Woody!Amber

  • September seemed to fly by in a blur.  It felt like our family ran a race that is just barely starting to end.  We are moved out and starting to adjust to our new living arrangements.

    We are getting a place for everything and getting a routine down – something that has been hard to have during the selling process.  Funny thing, though: The boys seem to have forgotten that we are going to ask them to go to bed and take a bath – every night.  It’s not that we are being mean, but that we love them that we ask them this.  Aren’t we just the meanest parents EVER!?  It’s going to settle down and be okay, I know it.

    Two blog posts ago, I mentioned a fun surprise we had in store for the boys.  I wanted to share it with you!

    On Tuesday, September 6, the boys were sent on a scavenger hunt around our house.

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    Clue #1: You’re going to need this in order to watch some fun movies while driving in the car.

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    Clue #2: Han and Chewie flew this stalwart ship.  You’ll find the Lego version in Neal’s room.

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    Clue #3: It’s been passed down from dad to son, brought from California to Utah.

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    Clue #4: Go to the place where we show our true colors to our neighbors.

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    They’ve realized what the scavenger hunt means – and that we are leaving in 12 hours!  It was time to pack!

    2011_09_06_0033 2011_09_06_0037

    We drove the next day and spent Thursday at LEGOLAND.  They loved the rides and, being HUGE Lego fans, LOVED the Star Wars Miniland!

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    We were at LEGOLAND when the power went out in Southern California & Arizona and had to leave the park early. LEGOLAND was so good to us and gave us free tickets to come back another time. I was very impressed with their customer service. While on the way back to the hotel room, we got a call from our agent that completely changed our game plan (more on that later).

    The next day, we enjoyed Disneyland!  We had a great time and Riley was thrilled because he was tall enough to ride ALL the rides this time.  The last time we went, he cried when he was told that he couldn’t ride Splash Mountain – so it was the FIRST ride he wanted to go on!  We went on it TWICE and got completely soaked!

    2011_09_09_0001 image

    Both boys are now Jedi’s:

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    We played from 9 am until 10 pm and earned our sleep that night:

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    We ended our trip with the Utah/USC football game.  Even though they lost, our Utes gave a valiant effort and we enjoyed the game!

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    We had a great time and hated to go home.  But we needed to if we weren’t going to sell our home furnished!  (smile)

    This is the second time we’ve surprised them with a trip to AmberDisneyland.  I LOVE it!

  • Each Halloween, I get more and more excited about decorations.  It’s probably the excitement that comes with planning class parties and picking out costumes for out cute boys.  They always make things more exciting.  As usual, I want to decorate for the holiday, but still keep with the same, classic feel of my home.

    A couple of years ago, a friend of mine, Layle, created a butterfly specimen project.  Since then, I have seen a lot of projects like it, but, it was the first one I had seen and I’ve always loved that project (she’s so good).  When I was thinking of a fun Halloween project, it popped in my head and I knew that I had to put my own, unique, “batty”, twist on it:

    Bat Specimen

    I had a lot of fun coming up with the names for my bats.  (Tamara Jensen came to the rescue with a few of them)  I have even created a bat for each of my boys.  I like to include my loved ones in each of my projects.  This was a fun way to do that without including photos.  Although, you could include photos if you want!

    Bat Specimen_acrobatBat Specimen_baseball batBat Specimen_friut batBat Specimen_preppy batBat Specimen_batty batBat Specimen_ding batBat Specimen_Sunshine batBat Specimen_sweet stuff batBat Specimen_Seeing Stars BatBat Specimen_darkwing batBat Specimen_batting a thousandBat Specimen_bling bat

    As usual, I have included instructions and photos here:  Download 2011_09_14_MME_Bat Specimen

    When the segment is online, I will up load it here for those of you who were unable to watch it live.

    I Have a couple of projects to get done, but I need to share the boys’ surprise, our move and the next step with you – so stay tuned! Amber

    I hope you have a wonderful day!

     

  • Hello!  Yes, I am still alive.  I wanted to pop in and let you know I am still here.

    Between the boys being home for summer vacation, a crazy busy summer work schedule and dropping everything at a moment’s notice to clean the house for a showing so many times… I have neglected this blog like never before.

    I hope you will forgive me because I have some wonderful news!  Our house is under contract (again)!  It’s been two weeks already and things are going well.  We only have a few weeks left in our beautiful home.  And, boy, do we have an adventure ahead of us!

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    The nice thing is that the new owners are thrilled about our home and will love it as much as we have! 

    It’s comforting to know this because, YES, I was the lady crying in the door aisle at my Home Depot last Saturday because I have to leave two of the three antique doors in the basement.  Such a tragedy – I know.  It’s a good thing I have such a “can-do” attitude!  *wink*

    I will update you on so many happenings and a fun surprise for the boys, but for now, after 6 hours of work on my Inspiration AmberUnlimited kits, I am off to work on the My Mind’s Eye newsletter that you will receive in your “inbox” soon.

  • With two rugged and handsome young men in my house, there is not a lot of pink being used around here.  I’m not really a “pink” girl myself.  However, I’ve been dying to play with the new Lost & Found 2 – Blush collection.  Maybe it’s because the pink is darker or that spectacular splash of Kraft.  I don’t know.  Whatever it is, I’ve been searching for an excuse to design with it.

    While trying to narrow down the project for this month’s Good Things Utah segment, I ran across the Princess Party cartridge from Provo Craft that I thought was so cute but, again, I haven’t had a chance to use it.

    Then I thought about how amazing the glittered goodness would look for a Princess party (or around here, a Personal Progress party)!  And how easy the embellishments would make personalizing the project.  And… voila!

    Princess Party

    Cute Décor: Vertical or horizontal crown banner

    Princess Party_banner

    Party Hats:

    Princess Party_party hats

    Cake Décor or party hats:

    Princess Party_Cake decor

    and Party Favors:

    Princess Party_Slipper1 Princess Party_Slipper2 Princess Party_Crown Box1

    All ready for that pretty princess in your life!  I have included a supply sheet with pictures Amberincluded.  Download 2011_08_24_MME

    I will also add the video of the segment when it is ready this afternoon.

  • Today on the Inspiration Unlimited Blog, they revealed the sneak peek of the class I am teaching to 275 fabulous ladies (in 3 classes) on Friday, September 23.  My class is called…"These Little Moments".  I will teach TWO 2-page layouts which feature My Mind’s Eye Lost & Found 2 – Sunshine and Rosy. 

    Fortunately, this event sold out last year.  I will have a few extra kits in the shop at the event.  If you have a friend going, be sure to have them pick you up a kit!

    Amber's Possibilities_Sneak Peek 1
    These Little Moments – Amber’s layout class

    Trims, glitter and Amber’s can-do spirit – oh, my!  What a great combination.  Welcome to a world where a “mistake” is just another opportunity to learn.  One of Amber’s talents is creating a relaxing, comfortable class environment.

    While creating TWO gorgeous 2-page layouts you’ll have a wonderful time playing with different ways to “trim” your pages with gorgeous trims.  You’ll learn to give yourself permission to cut (and use) your favorite patterned papers.  After all, how can you resist the glittered goodness of My Mind’s Eye’s Lost and Found collection?

  • Welcome to the 2nd Year Blog Birthday My Mind’s Eye blog hop! My name is Amber Packer and this is your FIRST "hop"!

    As I am sitting her typing, the boys are asleep, my husband is with the youth in our Stake (church) on a Pioneer Trek and I hear something wonderful… silence!  I haven’t heard that (silence) for a while.  It feels good.  I am extremely blessed and have been busy with CHA and other MME projects, baseball, swimming lessons, house showings, other obligations and even a short family vacation.

    Through it all has been the question of the house situation.  We have pulled out of the house we were going to get in Daybreak and thought we were going to pull our home off the market, but before we could pull if off the market, we had two more showings and they have certainly picked up.

    So, our home is still for sale, but I’m so confused.  We DO feel that we need to live close to our parents so that when the time comes that they need it (in the far distant future), we are available to assist them.  That’s why we pulled out of the Daybreak house.  My DREAM is that we will be live in the right home for our family.  The home that will provide the best experiences and friends for our boys.  Whether that is our current home or another home near by, I’m not sure.  What I do know is that we are happy here, that WE make the house our home and we will be happy wherever we are. 

    I guess I’m just starting to get impatient with not knowing.  I need to hold on to the dream a little longer and trust that what is in store is exactly what we need. 

    That being said, I’d like to share a layout I created for the My Mind’s Eye catalog encouraging Neal to DREAM big…

    Lost & Found2_Dream Big_4

    Featured Collection: Lost & Found 2 – Breeze; Photo Credit: Haylee Bean Photography

    Don’t’ forget my secret word: Dream

     

    Your next "hop" will be to the fabulous

    Anam Stubbington’s blog.

    I hope you will take the time to comment on each blog you visit on your way through the blog hop.  Remember to leave a comment on the My Mind’s Eye blog and email all the secret words to amber@mymindseye.com (that’s me) to be eligible for the biggest prize of the entire year from My Mind’s Eye!

    If you came to visit me (thank you!) and haven’t been participating in the hop… take a minute and hop over to the My Mind’s Eye blog so you can play with us!

    I hope you enjoyed your stop here.  Look around.  I hope you'll findAmber value in what I have written.

    p.s. Tell anyone you know who is looking for a cute, affordable house in a great part of Sandy!

    Also, I have not heard from the winners of the Creative Spaces giveaway.  Please email me if you are the winner.