Tanner turns 4 months!!

I can't believe my Litter Tanner is 4 months old now!!!
He is the sweetest little munchkin ever!!!

He is so funny!! Everything ALWAYS goes in his mouth. Today it's the teddy bear's foot!! I love this picture!!

Christian and Angel are having a blast with him!! This was their family photo taken a few weeks ago. They are such a beautiful family!

Thanks for looking!!!

Busy busy busy!!! It's a good thing...

sometimes!LOL
Okay so I've been running around like a chicken with his head cut off but what's new??? I'm always like that. I think people would think there was something wrong if I wasn't busy.
If you have read my entries before this you know that we have a grandbaby. He's three months already!! (He is the cutest thing ever!!) Angel is getting married so we've been planning a wedding and I've been doing some traveling.
I'm getting ready to teach at three awesome stores back east!!!
Scrapbook Island, Wholly Scraps , and Ink about it. My friend Rocio is coming with me!! She is such a doll and I know we are going to have a blast!!
I'll be there the first week of November. This weekend I'm going to a scrapbook retreat where I'll be kitting for all the classes!!!! I hope to have everything done by then. CRAZY!!!
I haven't been scrapping much because I've been "creating" for classes I'm teaching.
I just came back from Memory Trends!! I had such a great time with Donna and Pattie!!! We laughed a ton!!! Donna is such a hoot!! I also had a great time with my awesome friends from Maine, Angela and Jenn!!!!
Let's see what else...
Sierra is doing so great in Kindergarden!! She LOVES it!!! Jeremy is doing good in school too!! He's in Jr. high now. He has a new cell phone and thinks he's so cool using it! He calls me a lot!LOL
I have other fun things coming up but I can't say yet!! Stay tuned!!!
Here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure!!! LOL




Hugs
Suzy West

a girl, a boy, a wedding!!!

Anyone miss me? LOL I know, I know I have totally neglected my blog. I've been just slightly busy. with what you say??? planning a wedding!!
Angel and Christian are getting married!! We are so excited!! So here's the scoop:
The big day is on May 19th, 2007. That is 7 months away.
We were going to have a fun backyard wedding with some friends and family.
Well grandma and grandpa said no to that. LOL They want it to be "perfect for their princess!" So now it's gone from having it in the back yard to a beautiful place called the Century house in Fremont. What was going to be buffet has now turned into a sit down beautiful meal servers and all.
So now we are busy looking for a dj and a photographer.
It's been pretty exciting!! Angel and Christian are so excited!!
So that's the scoop!!!
Hugs
Suzy

My crazy life!!!

So for the last 2-3 weeks we have had craziness here in the West family home.
Sassy, our dog had to seizures with in a week. Last Friday was the first time he had a seizure. We thought that he had eaten something or maybe he was stung by something because the vet said his tongue was swollen and he couldn't breathe. They gave him a benadril and some steroids. He came home loopy and afraid. He just laid around. On Sunday he had the same thing happen. We took him to the vet again and this time they said they felt that he had epilepsy. For three days he did nothing but lay there. We would call him and he wouldn't respond. We fed him with a dropper. It was scary!! He is finally better and we hope he stays this way.

Angel has had many complications since she had Tanner. He is over 2 months old and she is still hasn't recooperated. She was in the hospital with in 2 weeks of having Tanner with a severe Kidney infection. She was very anemic, and had other infections. She's had other complications since then. The latest? Kidney stones and a fisure!! Poor girl has been in a lot of pain!!

Another problem is my poor daddy. He decided a few years ago he wanted to get braces. Okay, that's cool. Your over 60 you want braces. okay. So what's the problem? To make his smile perfect they told him they were going to need to break his jaw because he had an over bite. They were also going to need to wire his mouth shut to make it set that way. I told him that I felt he shouldn't do this because his jaw had been set for over 60 years. It could be very painful and there could be a ton of complications. Well guess what? there were!!! The day he had both upper and lower jaws broken and his mouth wired shut he was in so much pain that he ended up back in the hospital. he was in the hospital three different times that week. Once because of the pain, another time because he couldn't breathe, and the last, and my favorite...instead of taking a tylenol he accidentally took morphin! He was rushed to emergency where I had the great pleasure of seeing him high as a kite!LOL My dad has never ever been drunk or has never done any kind of drugs so that was a pretty site. My high as a kite daddy, with his mouth wired shut, in his pajamas and robe. Yeah, that was nice!LOL

So at the same time, my little Sierra started kindergarden, Jeremy started Jr. High, and Angel is finishing up her senior year at home.

It's been a crazy month for me!LOL I'm thinking I need a vacation. LOL

Thanks for listening to my crazy stories!!

Hugs
Suzy

Thank you from Sierra

Hi there gals! I would like to thank you for all your wonderful replies to Sierra. She has me read them to her all the time since we posted here.

She would like to say something so I'm going to type:

I would like to say thank you for writing all of these things about Diamond, me, and mommy. I love you too!
Sierra

Diamond, The little princess????

Once upon a time there was a little dog who was very lonely because she didn't have a mommy or a daddy. She was abandoned and wanted a home and a family to love her. One day Sierra's mommy was traveling and saw in a window a little puppy who looked very sad. Sierra's mommy went in and asked the little puppy, "what's wrong? Why are you sad?" the puppy replied, "I'm sad because I don't have a mommy or a daddy and I am all alone." Sierra's mommy said, "Would you like to come home with me? My daughter Sierra would like a dog and I think you would be perfect!" The little puppy was so happy!!! That night Mommy gave Sierra her surprise. Sierra fell in love with the puppy and they lived happily ever after!!!!

This is Diamond, our dog

I swear I'm not really crazy!! I was sitting here ready to blog about something and Sierra said, "mommy, why haven't you blogged about Diamond yet?" Well that sentence had me spleechless for a few minutes. First because I didn't even know that she knew what a blog was. Second, why would I blog about her stuffed animal?

Okay so bare with me but my darling five year old really feels that Diamond is a part of our family. I purchased Diamond on one of my trips(as you read in our really cool story) a year ago and they have been together ever since.

Diamond went through a couple of different changes in the beginning and then she decided Diamond was the perfect name. How did she know? Because Diamond told her.

Diamond goes EVERYWHERE with us!! He does EVERYTHING with Sierra. Sierra wants me to tell you the following:

Diamond sleeps with Sierra.

Diamond has taken a lot of photos with Sierra.

Sierra puts hats on Diamond. She looks really cute!

Diamond takes showers with Sierra and she dries her hair.

"I love Diamond! I play in the back yard with her. She is a good listener." She is my little princess!"

The gals from Scenic Route...

were so sweet to come and visit us at the garage. We had such a great time!!! There were about 20 of us. We hung out and had a contest. Two girls won a bag full of Scenic Route items. So much fun!
After the meet and greet many of us (including the SR team) went to Chevy's and hung out there til' they closed!! We laughed a ton!!
Thanks gals for coming to visit! It was a blast!!

Hugs
Suzy West

His smile makes me happy!!!

Tanner has an amazing smile that makes everyone else smile!!! I took these a little while ago!! He's so cute!!!

What do you do when your daughter vaccumes up the dog????

So what do you do when your five year old says she wants to "help"?

You say, "Yes!" right?

So I think to myself...what chore can I give Sierra that she can't hurt herself?

I don't want her doing dishes, doing anything with a spray bottle, and the bathroom is to much. So we got a new mini vaccume. Doesn't way much so it's perfect for her. Well not so perfect for Sassy!!

Take a look at what Sierra accidentally did to our poor dog (who at this moment is hiding underneath the table.)

She was vaccuming and who knows how but she managed to get Sassy vaccumed up. POOR DOG!!!

Sassy trying to escape.

Sassy putting her head down from embarrasment.

Sassy deciding to go to sleep because she figures the vaccume is here to stay.

Yeah, so Sierra is dusting now. LOL

I scrap...sometimes

I remember the good ol' days when I use to scrap a ton!!! Now a days I scrap every one in a while. I love when I get assignments because that means I HAVE to scrap!! It forces me to get my stuff out and do something. I go crazy at first because I don't know what I'm doing and then I get some mojo going and I complete pages/projects that I'm happy with.

I went on a scrapping retreat with some of my girlfriends. I had to teach one class while I was there and the rest of the time I spent it cropping. There were times that I didn't know what I was doing but when I got my groove on I started completing pages. Here are some that I did. I'm happy with the outcome.

Can he get any cuter???

I've had so many people ask me for pictures of Tanner. I can't believe I haven't updated my blog with new pictures lately so here are two of them.

I took these today. Isn't he a cutie????

Who wants to MEET the owners of Scenic Route this Thursday???

I am so excited to have the owners and Layle Koncar(lead designer) for Scenic Route Papers here. They are such awesome gals!!!!

I'm doing a meet and greet this week. Because of space and time we are only allowing 10 girls here. (sorry wish we could do more).

Anyways, if you would like a chance to meet these gals POST HERE. Include your name and a way to get a hold of you (email is great).

We will put your names in a drawing tomorrow. If your name is chosen we will contact you and give you all the 411.

Thanks and good luck!!

Hugs

Suzy

95% of the time

Sierra is such a sweetheart...95% of the time!!! She says the nicest things, she likes to give hugs, and gives the best eskimo kisses! Most of the time her personality fits this picture below. The other 5%....

Drama queen!!!

For example...yesterday...at Target...
She found one of her favorite areas...The $1.00 section. She grabbed a couple of items and asked if she could have them. I said, "Yes, if you behave! If you don't you can't buy those!" We were at Target for all of 10 minutes and the entire time she was running around and not listening so when it was check out time...guess what happened....I said "NO!" So that is when picture #2 look came out!! She started having attitude and then came the crying and screaming!

It was not a happy moment for Sierra and mommy! I went home looking like picture #2 too. I'm glad that she's like that only 5% of the time!!!!

A great find!!!!

Today I was at Target(my favorite place) looking for items for my scrapping get-a-way. I found this clamp/tray in the container section.

Guess for how much? $5.99!!! I love it!! I wanted something for my drink so I don't accidentally spill on my or someone else's drink. This is big enough for a drink and more!!!

The clamp comes off so you can attach it to the tray horizontal or vertically!!

Thanks May!!! YOU ROCK GIRL!!!!

Today we had May Flaum over at the garage. (Check out what she has to say about the event)She came over to teach a wonderful class using Fiskars, Heidi Grace, and Cloud 9 products.

MAY ROCKS!!!!

I'm going to New York and to Jackson, ca!!

I have a really busy few weeks!!!!

I'm headed to New York to teach at Creative Gatherings!! One of my most favorite stores ever!!! They are in a little town called Goshen. I'll be teaching Canvas Concepts classes. So excited!!! I will also be spending some time with Amy Goldstein. She is the owner of Pink Martini!! We plan on spending some time in New York city!! I can't wait!!!!

When I get back, I'll be home for ONE day and then I'm off to spend the weekend with a whole bunch of my gal pals at the Jackson Gotta Crop weekend. I'm teaching one class and then spending the rest of the time scrapping and hanging out with everyone!!!!

Hugs, Suzy West

Tanner--1 month

I can't believe Tanner is a month old. He actually turned a month while I was away at CHA. I took these pictures yesterday of him.
He is so stinkin' cute!!!!

We took him to his one month appointment and he now weighs 8lbs 2 oz.

He is 21 inches long

He's just growing and growing.

He smiles a ton!! Especially if you sing to him. We are in love with our little Tanner!!

Ranger Rocks!!!! NEW Dauber paints!!!!

These are the new Ranger Dauber Acrylic Paints!! I had the pleasure of being one of the designers that got to teach with these paints during CHA!! I absolutely fell in love with the product!!! Here's how they work.

They are so awesome! They come in 36 colors!!!

No more paper plates and paint brushes!!

You just push down until the paint comes out.

And paint paint paint away!!! Love it!!

Had a blast at CHA!!!!!

I don't even know where to start!!!! CHA was such a wonderful experience for me!! Michelle, Nichole, and I flew in on Tuesday night. That night was the craziest night EVER!!!!
We arrive in Chicago around midnight. We get out and it was hot and super humid!!! OMG!!! We thought we were going to melt. We call for the shuttle to get us. The lady says, "sure, he'll be right there!" Time starts flying and we are seeing less and less people until there is noone but us!LOL Michelle went to call and returns. They told her that "shuttle service had stopped for the night!" Ummmm they advertise free 24 hour shuttle service?LOL so I call and talk to the lady and she says the driver came by and saw noone and left. We can get a cab and they will pay for it!! OMG unless the shuttle became the invisible shuttle noone came for us. We saw nothing but each other!LOL
Okay so we finally get to the hotel and go to the room and can't believe it's so small!!! You could barely move in there!!It looked like the room for the munchkin people in the Wizard of Oz!LOL Even the beds were smaller than normal!!! Michelle and Nichole shared a bed and it was funny because they couldn't move at all!! Michelle who is just a tad taller than me had her feet hanging off the bed!LOL We started laughing!!!LOL by 3am we didn't know if we should just stay up or if we should try to sleep!!! So we called for a roll a-way bed. They brought it up and we almost pee'd our pants. You could see the springs from within the mattress!LOL
We finally fell asleep!! The next morning we go down stairs to eat breakfast and they tell us that they have stopped breakfast already...it was 10am? Okay. They also didn't do lunch and they had no food during the weekends!!! OMG!!!! I will never stay at the hotel again!!! I don't want to put the hotel's name on here. It rhymes with bourtlard!LOL We booked a room at the Doubletree as we left the Bourtyard hotel!!!LOL

Okay on to better news....I taught a class at one of the most amazing stores ever!!!! Windy City Scrapbooking!!! What can I say???? It's awesome!!! The girls there are terrific!!! Christine...YOU GO GIRL!!! Susan thanks for everything!! You are so great! Al girl!!!! You are the bomb!!!! Love ya love ya!! Thanks to everyone that took my class!!!! I had a blast with you all!!!! Here are some pictures from the class!!!

Group shot of my class!!! Hey there girls!!!!

This is part of their classroom!!!

Some of the gals at Windy City that created their all about me book.

Can't wait to see you all again!!!!

I didn't get a chance to get my camera out during cha. I'm so glad I got some with the following gals!!

Christine and I!!! Hey there girlie!! You are so awesome!!!

Samantha..what can I say...I love ya girl!!!!


Leah!!! You are by far one of the sweetest gals I have ever met!! Love ya!

A group shot of Christine, Samantha, and Shauntee!!! Hey girls!!

So those are all the photos!!! I didnt' get a chance to take a picture of the new book at Design Originals. They said it is doing great!! YEAH!!!!

I am so excited....We got another book deal!!!! It was an idea that popped into my head during our flight. I couldn't wait to find my publisher to pitch the idea. She loved it!!! We will start working on it asap!!!

Our Canvas Concepts booth was so fun!!! Thank you Nichole and Michelle for doing such a great job!!!! Donna, love ya girl!!!! It's always fun to hang out with you!!!! Thank you to everyone that stopped by our booth!!! It was a pleasure to see and/or meet you!!!!

Hugs, Suzy West

So Excited to be going to CHA!!!

This week we are leaving for CHA!! I am so excited!! The three of us have prepped the class I'm teaching for 110 people. I thought we would be done in 1 hour...ummmm not!! We started around 7pm and ended at MIDNIGHT!! Exhausting but atleast my class is totally prepped!!

We've gone shopping for clothes and shoes!! You would think I was going to be in a beauty pageant with the amount of stuff I've purchased. Ridiculous!!LOL

I'm prepping for my class at Windy City Scrapbooking. So fun!!! I'm teaching this class: All About Me Class I was so bummed because I sent my project weeks ago and it never made it to the store. Luckily we still got a great turn out! I'm creating another piece to take with me.

I'm thrilled about a lot of fun projects the girls have created!! We are using a ton of fun sizes. We are introducing some fun items!!

So everyone attending CHA will have to come check out our booth!!

In case you didn't know what we look like here are our mug shots(LOL). Please come say hello to us:

Suzy West (me)

Michelle Tornay

Nichole Pereira