"Our Little Family"

I'm trying, trying, trying to do more blogging for records sake. When I read posts from years past, I just love it. I forgot so many moments happened and just get so excited to read about them again and look at the old pictures. Anyway, here we go. Two posts in one week...wow!

Spirit of Boise Balloon Glow 

So this totally is a pet peeve of mine. When people use the phrase "our little family" in any type of sentence of reference it just bugs. I've thought about this many times and even talked to Mindy about it the other day. When I think of little family (which the phrase bugs in any use of it), I think of a mom and dad and one small child. But when I see people using the phrase often, they have like 3+ kids and they are all like 4 and older. Now that drives me nuts. There is no little in any sense of the word when it comes to their family. Their kids are by no means little and their family sure is not little. I don't even think two kids counts as little. That makes 4 people total. It just drives me nuts. When I see it mentioned, I just think "Here we go again...". People just need to stop using it. Period.

The month of September brought more Paparazzi fun. I did a huge women's expo in town and boy was it insane! The entire thing was our target market so it was nutso but so much fun! I can't wait to do that one again. The very next day we headed to Vegas as a family for the 1st ever Paparazzi Convention. We had to make it there by Sunday because I was a special guest to the Leadership Dinner. We stayed Saturday night at my aunts house in St. George. I just love those cousins. I so wish we all lived closer. There would never be a dull moment for sure. Sunday we headed to Vegas. Checked into the hotel and I got ready. Okay, so those casinos are ridiculous. Really not a fan. We stayed at the Rio and honestly I did not find anything really fun about that city expect for a ton of people and chaos. That's just how I felt. The hotel was so smoky gross. Pretty bad when your two year old is coughing because it's nasty. I'm pretty sure that for most people, it's all fun.

The Leadership Dinner was SO fun! My very tippy top upline invited me as her guest and boy was I thrilled. I got a fancy invitation ahead of time and everything. Then days before I got to Vegas, she let me know that we were riding in a limo to dinner! How fun is that. Plus we didn't have to figure out how to get to the restaurant and/or pay for a taxi. When we got there for the limo, we assumed everyone got a limo ride. We were wrong. She is one of the top 5 consultants in the company thus got the limo ride. Woohoo! It was so fun and I already knew some of the people in the limo so it made it even better. Dinner was at Fogo de Chao, one of those super fancy Brazilian restaurants. It was even spendier than the one here in Boise and I thought that one was expensive. We ate and ate and ate and ate some more. We got to order whatever we wanted, even dessert that was so beautiful. I am so bad at pictures, so I don't have any sadly. We got a Paparazzi ring at our place setting and mine has not been released since the very beginning of the company, so that was fun. Rachel and I had a blast. If we lived closer, I can totally see us being closer friends. We laughed and had a great time.

All ready for the night. I actually put makeup on. You can't really tell and yes this is a big deal for me. Obviously I don't put enough on to look like a drag queen in real life but pretty good in pictures.

When you rounded the corner, you saw this. All of the consultants that have ranked Director and above. It was pretty fun.

This was on the floor at the very start of the corner. It was huge and exciting! Along the windows in the background you can see the huge banners that were put up for Paparazzi.

There I am! I'm a Premier Director! I counted, there were about 90 consultants that have reached this rank out of about 9000 worldwide. I was pretty darn proud of myself after I saw this display.

Rachel Kirby, the one I went to the Leadership Dinner with. I love her!

The founders, Misty Kirby, Trent Kirby, Ryan Reeves, and Chani Reeves. The two ladies are sisters.

My boys had a lot of fun. They got to get a lot of dad time in because I was gone for something or another. He wore them out pretty good. Sunday night they went and visited Jeff's friend that he hadn't seen in about 12 years. Monday they swam all day and Tuesday they went hiking to Red Rock Canyon Interpretive Center. Gunnar was excited to tell me all of the cool things that they saw from that. Don't let this fool you. Brecken never, ever slept in his own bed. That stinker slept in ours and he is the WORST sleeper with people. It was aweful! Wednesday we left and stopped by the Las Vegas Temple before heading back to Utah.

This temple reminded us a lot of the Boise temple in design over all. We were able to walk completely around it and see the pretty landscaping.

If you don't get pictures the first time around, Brecken is pretty much done after the first shot. I just look tired and ready to head home.

We love palm trees! So neat how you can see this one trimmed up.

We wanted to make it as close to Salt Lake as we could because we figured this was a great opportunity to stay stop at Temple Square. We just never get to Utah. So we stayed with my cousin Jessica and her family. Our boys met Emma in St. George when they were there. They were SO excited to see Emma!

Taking pictures of two two-year olds is nearly impossible.

They were copying Gunnar in the background.

You can tell we stayed in a girl house. We love goofing off with girly things.

Jeff had to stop at Cabela's. They had a lot of dead animals.

On top of the Conference Center. We've never been on top. We realized that every time we tried it was winter or raining and they won't let anyone up there for safety reasons.

We had a lot of fun on our quick trip to Vegas. We made Gunnar go to school the very next day and we got back late the day before. I just had too. He had the entire week off for Fall Break and just missed almost a week. It was fun to get away and I couldn't imagine leaving my family behind.

Wow! Has it really been that long since I last posted. I find life so interesting. When Gunnar was a toddler, I found blogging and blogged all of the time. It was fairly new then and not widely known. I had friends and family all over blogging and that was the way that we stayed connected. I didn't want to miss the day to day happens of what was going on with Gunnar and I didn't want to miss that of the blogs I followed. Then Facebook came around and it seems like everyone uses that as a "journal" of sorts to share their happenings which is a total shame because, really to me, it is not...I'm trying to think of the right word...archival or long term memory keeping. That just sounds funny, but hopefully you know what I mean. I've come to realize that there is a time and season for everything. My season right now is 2 busy kiddos (poor Brecken hardly exists in our family), running a business and being a wife and mom (and all that entails). Holiday time is so busy with Paparazzi that I even had to put my Etsy shop on a long term vacation right now so that I could survive. Holiday time is also my busiest time for my shop as well but something had to go if I was going to keep my sanity and be successful so the one with long term benefits won out. I was sad. I did shed and internal tear for that decision but I know that it was the right one. All of this is much like blogging. There is a time and a season and the every day or several times a month posts are of the past right now. It sure nags at my mind all of the time how I need to get on here but I do what I can do. Finally I just sat down. Cami and Brecken has destroyed my house, thankfully they are napping (they are awesome nappers and buddies), I have apple pie filling that has been staring me down to be canned for days, I need to make Paparazzi phone calls, heck, I'm still in my jammies (I deemed this jammy day much earlier today)...the list can go on and on. But I just needed to sit down and start this.

He insisted on wearing his bike helmet to do this. We were laughing so hard!

And we did it over and over again. After a couple of tries, this boy was seriously getting the hang of it.  He knew to put his hands out for balance and everything. He will be ready to board in no time.

The mastermind behind this. The purple thing is the base to a Little Tikes Zebra that rocks when hooked onto it or rolls around when off of it. 

Our boys are daredevils. Straight up crazy, fearless little things. The fun we have some nights can be completely random and unplanned. It is interesting listening to mother's of girls talk about the differences of boys and girls (Heidi-haha). She did not realize how crazy boys were until we hung out all day on her day off a while ago to go Halloween costume shopping. I was standing around the JoAnn's cutting table f.o.r.e.v.e.r. (no joke like an hour) waiting for my number called so she decided to take Cami and Brecken around the store to keep them occupied. She eventually wondered back laughing because she did not truly realize how busy Brecken is. With Cami she can tell her that she is going to far and she can't be seen. Cami sticks around. Oh not Brecken. He looks right at you and walks the other way. Then you get to chase him down. He is just so busy. Gunnar and Brecken are both that way. They just are. Boys and girls are just so different. Maybe my boy and her girl are just so different. Who knows. I hope she has a boy one day...and I am just glad that Brecken and Cami have a buddy in each other.

I was looking for pictures and realized that I didn't even post that Gunnar headed off to 1st grade this year. He was pretty excited, I was over the top excited and Brecken was lost for about an hour before he realized that he wouldn't have to battle his brother throughout the day. Brecken was just so thrilled that he knew where Gunnar's school was and that he gets to see the school bus on most days. I think Gunnar likes the idea of school and then it gets old really quickly. He is super smart little kid, but would rather be doing other things. Jeff likes to say that he is a whole lot like him in  that area. I'm glad, because I was not like them as a student. We've had our fair share of challenges this year, and we are still battling them. I am just hoping one of these days, things click and he enjoys school and acts like he should there.

I convinced him to let me drive him to school. Not really sure why I wanted to. I just did. Remember last year he rode the bus to school on the first day as a Kindergartner. Man that boy is a brave one.

Our boys are just so different. They don't always play nicely, or get along. Not at all...part of that comes from the 3.5-4 year age gap, some of that comes from just being siblings more specifically brothers. I read on one of the ecard things you see on Facebook or Pinterest one day that having your first child makes you a parent, having your second child makes you a referee, and having three or more makes you a bouncer. I totally feel like that! I am always breaking up their two problems with each other. They can have their sweet moments too. The more I look at them, the more I think they look quite different. They have different eye shapes and face shapes, their hair color and style is different (Brecken has these large curls), Brecken is just stalkier and can tan like nobody else. He is our true beach bum with his tan skin, blond hair and totally laid back, slower personality. He is busy for sure but just so Hawaiian. He takes after my side of the family for sure. My aunt said that they used to call my dad the White Hawaiian. She said Brecken is the white Hawaiian. I had to laugh at that. 

Brecken was obsessed with this necklace and wouldn't take it off. It just solidified his Hawaiian ancestry in him.

Going totally cool style on me...

So what has kept me from updating my blog and keeping me busy in my free time. Paparazzi for sure! The end of summer was the most insane time of year for me other than the holiday season. I had 3 local fairs within a months time. It was intense to say the least. The first fair that I did was a very local, small county fair nearby for 4 days. So small and the big highlight was a rodeo. There were literally less than 10 vendors and boy were the days so incredibly long and hot! The weather was well over 100 those days for whatever reason. It was miserable with a few fun moments. It was so incredibly unorganized too which made it hard to be there. But they had the best people watching. Jeff did come out and visit with the boys which helped. 

Owyhee County Fair-this was the smallest amount of inventory I have ever had at an event. It was so weird and I was a little worried.

Canyon County Fair done with 3 of us all together-it was fun!

A short week or so later I did the Canyon County Fair for 4 days with 2 other team members. It was so much fun. The days were just right, it was indoors (however the air conditioning broke the first day and it was miserable. People were telling us that the sheep barn was cooler then here...nice). This was our first run with a larger 10x20 booth. Now that we have that set up down, we can replicate it over and over again. I think I also liked the fact that I was about 3 minutes away from my house. It was awesome. The first night I got home, Jeff asked if I left early. Nope, I just got home that fast! This fair also has concerts with fairly big names every single night. Buy a ticket into the fair and you get into the concert for free. Love it! I was able to take the boys around one of the days that I didn't have to work. It was fun! Perk to having a mom that goes to all of these things. They are always visiting me or I take them. Jeff also took them so they went twice!

I'm not sure where my picture went for the last fair, but it was the Western Idaho Fair, our big state fair. It is 10 days and very long. Thankfully 4 of us went in together. I worked 5 days and we always had two people there which helped pass the time. During this time Gunnar started school which made things even more interesting. Why the big fair is even during the time all the schools start is beyond me. It leaves all of the older people coming out during the day, making for some slow days. With all of this going on, I was SO exhausted. I felt like I pretty much shut down for a time. I received so much help with my kiddos. I really appreciate my family, friends and Jeff for sure. September did not provide any slow moments either but that has to be for another day.

I am so thankful for what I have. I have a great husband, two great boys, even a great dog (thankfully he does not dig or bark-he's a good boy). We have more than we need and then some. We are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints with a knowledge that families are forever and the most basic and central unit of the church. Knowing this makes getting through the little day to day trials that much easier.

A Rundown of Life

Life is one crazy thing after another and this last month was no exception. We celebrated America's Birthday as well as Brecken's 2nd birthday on the same day this month. Paparazzi Accessories has kept me busy and then just plain life and kids keep the days moving quickly.

I was called up to jury duty this month. I had the ability to postpone it for 3 months but then when I looked at the calendar, it will messed with the Paparazzi crazy schedule of the holidays. That was a no go, so July here we come. In the county that I live in, we  report for an entire month. It was so long and I am glad that I am officially over with that. I had to call in after 5pm every single day to see if a selection was scheduled for the next day. Mid month, my number was actually called and I reported the next day. The entire process was so interesting. The trial was a criminal one and the defendant was right there in the room. I had no idea it was like that. There were lots of us, but what they did was call 12 random numbers to sit in the juror box and then call another 35 random numbers to be in the active juror selection process. The others were just extras in the peanut gallery for the time being. I was not initially called into any of the positions. As the process went on and people were excused for one legitimate reason or another (people try really hard to get out of being on a jury), I was called into a jury position and got to sit on the jury stand for extended questioning with all of the others from both the prosecution and defense. The trial was going to be held the next day and was scheduled to be over and done with that one day. I was really hoping I would have been picked. I had the time the next day and would have loved to see how it works from that perspective. The defendant was accused of sexual battery on a minor under the age of 18. From what I gathered, the girl was around 16 or 17 years old. It would have been interesting. This entire month, I was so nervous about jury duty and when it would strike because I have been scheduled to have a Paparazzi booth with two other team members of mine at the county fair in town. I would have felt so bad if they had to take on the bulk of the work because I was tied up in some trial. I have a feeling I would have been able to plead my case to the judge given that the fair is something that I have committed and paid for months in advance. I made my last phone call into the jury commission today with no trial scheduled for tomorrow and it feels so good. Next month I have two fairs to do and don't have the time to worry about jury selection.

So on to the fair. The county fair here is 4 days long with set up the day before. There were 3 of us going in together to make it happen. We split up everything 3 ways...inventory, contacts, money, and schedule.  It took us 5 hours to set up and 3.5 hours to tear down. We had a little over 1500 items here.  It was a lot of fun and a lot of work. Worth it though. Thursday afternoon I took the kiddos around the fair before I had to work at night. Friday Jeff came with the boys and had more fun. I'm just glad that is over and look forward to setting up for the next 4 day fair and then preparing for a 10 day state fair! After that September keeps moving forward with a couple events, a vacation, not to mention Gunnar is in full school mode at this point. Then the rest of the year gets fun busy with the holidays and Paparazzi. I always forget that I really am a working mom. The best part is that I get to pick my own schedule and decide when I want to work for the most part. Best job ever! Wanna join my team? Let me know... haha

 My kids are nutso. Brecken is full on 2 year old. Gunnar didn't go through his naughty stage until he was about 3. He was an awesome, calm two year old. Brecken not so much. Part of it is that he has to constantly defend himself against Gunnar and picks up on so many of the not so great things Gunnar teaches him. Brecken really is a fun little guy and really his tantrums are hilarious because he is just a 2 year old. He is mostly happy, seriously hilarious, incredibly laid back...like Hawaiian style laid back, he tans with the best of us, is still a solid little guy, LOVES music, is such a great eater and loves his cousin "caw" (Cami). Like really loves her, like asks about her everyday and wakes up so happy on the days that I watch her each week. Oh, and he loves babies. Anybody's baby. Just loves them. He is also scared of the neighbors lawnmower when they are mowing. He is not a fan of many people like his doctor or the dentist, which stinks because it makes those visits miserable. He is still my cuddly boy but very busy.

One morning I was in the office doing something and Brecken walked in with a full bowl of rice Chex. I thought Gunnar got them for him and thought he new not to put so many in there. Lots of minutes went by and eventually I went into the dining room and found a huge mess! Brecken got up on the table, got the box down himself, ripped open the packaging and filled the bowl himself. He was so proud and I was not a fan of the mess. However, I was SO glad that he decided not to try and pour milk in that bowl himself. We just love this boy to pieces.

Gunnar on the other hand is seriously a miserable 6 year old most days. He is driving me crazy and summer can not get over soon enough. He needs school and something to keep him completely occupied. He is in this stage where he is bossy and does mean things to Brecken for no reason at all. He gets so bent out of shape so quickly. He tests boundaries like the best of them. He is still a very funny kid and can be really sweet but the other Gunnar usually takes over. He is in a stinker stage and I am so over it. Thankfully, I have friends that have 6 year olds too and they are working through the exact same stuff we are.  So we swap stories and pretty much laugh at it all.

It's getting late, I am tired and still recovering from the fair and hungry. Looking at those Chex on the table are making me hungry for them...

Running A Marathon...

(this was all written a few weeks ago and I am just now posting it)

...or so it seems right now. At this very moment, Brecken is in his crib. Just woke up from a nap...or maybe he never really fell asleep. I have no idea. One thing that I do know is that he is BANGING his body...head...arms...I have no idea, against the side of the crib. Like super hard. And it is so loud! And every time he does he yells, "ooowww!". BANG, "ooowww!" BANG. Really child!? That child falls so much and bumps into these more than we can count, that it rarely phases him when he gets hurt. And if it does phase him, he is over it pretty quickly.

Back to the rest of my life. I feel like I am running a mini marathon without a break. I am getting exhausted and trying to figure out how to balance work, family, church stuff, hobbies. I have to regularly remind myself that I am a working person now.

(I did a wedding show at the beginning of the month)

Paparazzi Accessories is very much a job for me. Granted I am blessed to be able to stay home with my kids and set my own schedule, it is still a business. On top of that, I continue to get orders through my Etsy store. Right when I think I may be a little caught up, another order comes in. I've considered taking a break from it, but I love it and the orders really are sporadic and random. I thought with Paparazzi, my schedule would lighten up a little the first part of the year. Boy was I wrong and I am okay with that. In order to be where I want to be, I knew that I needed to push this hard and work hard at it the first year or so. I have been blessed and

surrounded by the best hostesses, event planners, team members and guests. I have gotten fantastic support from so many people. Right now I have 6 people on my direct team with 8 total in my downline. I have open house after open house scheduled. It never really stopped after the holidays for me. No I don't have 4-5 per week like I did before but consistently 2 per week with events thrown in there. I love it! My team is fantastic!! I love all of my girls! I am in the process of team up with a friend and team member to create a professional brochure for our Paparazzi business. It helps that one is a photographer and the other a graphic designer. I am also excited to have secured several big events in the Treasure Valley. I am going to be a part of two Cinco

de Mayo events, Taste of Home and Women's Expo, the Canyon County Fair and the Western Idaho Fair this year. These are not even the winter ones I plan on being a part of again. It's amazing all of the things that I can be a part of as I have searched them out. I am so happy that Paparazzi is a part of my life. Oh ya, and I put together my website. You should check it out. I am pretty proud of it. It is Jewelry Just My Style. I think I figured out the other day why I wake up tired and can't wake up earlier any more in the mornings. I pretty much go to bed thinking of Paparazzi or just things that I need to do. And then I think it all seriously finds its way into my dreams. Then I wake up facing the day head on. It never heads.

On a fun note, Brecken turned 18 months last month and entered nursery at church. Boy were we both so excited for him. Boy was he not excited at all. I teach a primary class that shares a wall with his nursery. I could hear him for the first 10 minutes crying. Honestly I felt bad for the teachers, not really him. I knew he would survive and love it. This last Sunday was probably the first time that he actually walked in there on his own and didn't care if I turned around and walked out. I was so proud if him. He is my sensitive child. He loves to cuddle, he loves to be near. Quite the opposite of Gunnar. Don't get me wrong, he still has his wild streaks, is outgoing, and totally daring. But when it comes to new situations, he is so quiet and shy.

Speaking of new situations. Heidi and Ren have been taking Cami to the library story time on Thursday. I always forget. They took Brecken for the morning while I had a Paparazzi meeting a couple of weeks ago and he would not leave Ren's lap. This last Thursday I remembered the library and showed up. Heidi and Cami did too. He was fine and dandy in the hall until we got to the meeting room doors and he flipped! He cried on and off the first half of storytime. He would not leave my lap and push himself deeper into my lap when I suggested he get off and play. I think I am going to be taking him more often. He needs the socialization.

Brecken has a best buddy and her name is Cami. Oh man, he loves his cousin! Those two are hilarious together. They get SO excited when they see each other. The other day, I have never witnesses so many kisses and hugs between two people as I did between them. It was pretty cute!

I have been off the coupon bandwagon for a little while now. I think starting Paparazzi right before the mix of the holidays and my Etsy shop always explodes with action during that time too, coupons have taken a backseat. Hopefully not anymore. This last week I was able to take advantage of two awesome deals without any additional coupons. I was SO excited! The first one was at Albertsons. Thankfully Heidi told me about it. For 3 days, Albertsons canned vegetables, canned tomatoes, canned beans and canned broth (these were the ones that I was interested in anyways) were all $.39 each. That is seriously the cheapest I have seen any of those in a really long time. Remember, this was without additional coupons. Well, it was with an in store coupon but they just had those at the registers. I spent $50 and got 120 cans total of canned tomatoes, both chicken and beef broth, corn and black beans. I was excited! I just realized about a week ago that I was on my last couple of cans of corn. I have been out of beans and broth for a long time now and I have been saving this one token can of tomatoes. Why...I have no idea. One of those mental things where I wouldn't use it.

My other awesome find was at Walmart. I was running through the store like mad getting a few things on my list when I ran into someone that is actually interested in signing up with Paparazzi. She works there but was off at the moment so I started chatting with her. She proceeded to tell me that Walmart was matching the Fred Meyers ad of 70% off the lowest clearanced price for clothes. So I was able to find Gunnar 6 pairs of jeans, 4 pair of uniform pants for next year, pack of underwear, long sleeved shirt/pant set, pajamas for Christmas this year, and a red polo for school next year. I spend $40 total! I was SO excited! I could not believe it. Little boys go through pants like crazy. Let's just say he will have lots of shorts for the summer with the amount of pants and holes in the knees he has.

Halloween 2011

A few days before Halloween, I signed up to be a vendor at a Trunk or Treat So People Can Eat event. A big local coupon blogger in our area and a community college teamed up to collect canned food for the food bank as admission and provide lots of vendors handing out candy and information along with food vendors, emergency vehicles/personnel there and kids inflatables. While I manned my trunk, Jeff took the kids around. It was SO much fun and the weather wasn't too bad. A little cold but doable.
Gunnar wanted to be a mechanic. I found these super cute overalls at Savers with the half price colored tag on it in his size. He loves them and uses them a lot when he goes over to Grandpa's to help him work on things. Sadly they are getting too small and hard to find. Brecken was a frog. Same costume Gunnar wore at this age. They look quite different in the same costume.

Amazingly, I had several people call me for Paparazzi open houses from this event. It was free to be in and worth it. I had a great time and so did the boys. I will definitely be there next year.

We always head to the court house on Halloween to trick or treat. We go from department to department for candy. The areas are all decorated and we have a lot of fun. Plus Jeff knows several people over there so they love to see what the boys look like.I can't wait until one day Heidi doesn't have to work a lot or Cami is old enough to walk on her own with Brecken and I can take her with us. She would love it.

Jeff always dresses up every year and the last couple of years have been pretty extreme. The ladies hardly recognize him. This year he must have looked too normal because the reaction wasn't as big.
That night, we headed out with our friend's the Sartell's sans Jared. April and Paige joined us and we had a lot of fun. We went further than we thought we ever would. We went to so many houses and the kids kept going and going. Paige and Gunnar are super buddies. They are about a year and a half apart but adore each other. They are always talking about how each other is their best friend. If one day 20 years down the road, they decided to reconnect and get married. We would be thrilled. We love these guys. It's always awesome when you can find those friends that you connect with. It's doubly awesome that they literally live 3 minutes around the corner, we go to church together, our kids are close in age, Jeff and Jared work together and also serve the Young Men's in church together and we just plain love doing stuff with them all of the time. We are blessed to have them in our lives. Oh yes, and Gunnar's costume is different. He wanted to be a safari person...or bug collector or...whatever he wanted to be. Gone are the days that I get to pick out that perfect costume for him.

Oh Boy...

Where have I been. I feel like I am reuniting with a long lost friend. I looked at the date on my last post and couldn't believe it had been that long since I last posted. It makes me sad but then at the same time I know how busy I have been.

This is the all time busiest time of year for me with my Etsy advent calendars and Paparazzi Jewelry business. It is nuts. I always get a huge influx of calendar orders right before December 1st and then a few that trickle in after because people just flat out forgot or didn't think of them early. So at this very moment, I have 4 that I need to complete. It is a lot of fun to do and I love other's reactions to them. However, I received two wedding album orders at the beginning of the craziness. It really messed with my groove. It made things all off to start. Hopefully I get caught up with very few coming in this next week and things will mellow out.

However I don't anticipate life slowing down because of Paparazzi. It is also the busiest time of year right now. Things are insane. People are after Christmas gifts and stocking stuffers. This business has been so fun and so easy. Easy because I don't have to convince anyone to like it and buy it. It literally sells itself. This last week I had two open houses with me intentionally not scheduling anything on Saturday because of a family tradition at the Caldwell night parade. But next week, I have 6 open houses!! Two of them being on the same day. Craziness...and then next week I have 4 with two being on the same day. Then the week before Christmas it just dies. Nobody wants to venture into the full week before Christmas so far.

I have had tons of fun doing this and the compensation/commission plan is pretty great too. One of my favorite things is that I have 3 fantastic ladies signed up under me with a potential in the works! They are so fun to work with and I love bouncing ideas off of each other. One of my consultants had been one for 12 days when she had her first person sign up under her. That is insane! She was a little surprised herself. We have had a lot of fun and can't wait to see what the new year brings for us. Want to check out more of what I am talking about? Visit my Facebook page. Like it while you are there because I love to do giveaways!

My kids keep me busy too. Gunnar is in full day kindergarten but twice a week I watch Cami too. Since she is only 3.5 months younger than Brecken, they keep busy. One walks and and the other crawls. They can get into about anything but love to play together so they keep each other company. It's quite nice.

We are half way up for Christmas. The tree has been up for days but not decorated. The first night we ran out of time and Gunnar really needed to be in bed for school the next day. The next day we attempted it but Gunnar was wild and naughty so we called quits on it and sent him to bed early. The poor tree has been sitting there ever since. I don't know if it is me or what, but the older I get the more I really don't want to put up so many random decorations. Last year I really paired it down and stuck with the things that I love. Simple and easy. Right now I am on the hunt for a dog Christmas stocking holder in bronze. I am to the point that I will probably just get a random normal one to go with our others. We are done shopping. It's finished. Right down to the dog's Christmas. Now I just need to finish one more sibling gift and wrap, wrap, wrap. I'm happy about that.

We've experienced no snow yet. It has been lingering in the 40's which is rather warm here this time of year with really windy days but no snow. I am completely 100% fine with it until after all of these open houses. Then it can snow all it wants. So far next week looks clear. Yeah!

Wow! That is a lot of rambling and now I am done. :)

I've Been Hit By The Spotlight

I am a brand new independent consultant for Paparazzi Accessories. This is a super fun business selling super fun things. I am selling necklaces, earrings, bracelets, rings, hair clips and headbands. And the kicker to the entire thing is that nothing is over $5!! Everything is very trendy and extremely fashionable. The company does not even put out a catalog because their styles change quite often.

The company is pretty neat. They are based out of Hurricane Utah. Just down the road from my cousins. It was started by a lady who wanted to make money for her family vacation. So she started attending fairs and events selling jewelry. Three years later it has now gone direct sales and doing great. The best part is that direct sales started January of this year! This company is still at ground zero with growth every where. The opportunity to sell and do well is wide open.

I don't generally get into this stuff. Heck, I don't attend parties. I can not stand those parties where you sit there and play some sort of game or hear some sort of speech about why you need this product. The product is so spendy to start with and you feel guilty having to tell the people you don't want anything as they give you this look of disbelief.

So why would I sign up for something like this. Let me start with how this all happened. I read many crafty type blogs online and one of them mentioned that she just signed up with this company. I have never been interested in something like this but for some reason that day I clicked on the link and became intrigued. The more I looked into it, the more interested I became. I researched and read about it for about 1.5 months before I decided to join. I wanted to go into this with a plan and an idea how I was going to execute it. Right down to how my event booths would look. I wanted to be prepared. For those that really know me, know this is so not out of the norm for me. If I was going to spend lots of money up front on this, I better be prepared. I finally signed up within the last days we were in Hawaii so I would be home to get the huge box. I had great anxiety pushing that submit button but once I did, I felt good about the decision.

So why would I sign up with these guys and not others. The first thing that I really, really liked is that it is a no sales pitch business. The product truly sells itself. I don't have to sit in front of the room and try to convince others why they need to buy it. All of the Open Houses are come and go type events. Nobody feels pressured to sit through a presentation. I love that, plus the jewelry is cute so that helps. Another perk is that you get to take the jewelry home immediately with you. No waiting for it to be shipped. Nice. Another obvious thing is the price. It is so incredibly inexpensive. For $5.50 you can pick up several pieces. I was also drawn to the fact that the company is so new. The opportunity is great.

My sponsor and I are already getting our foot in the door on many events in our areas. She is pretty close to me so we plan on teaming up for the bigger and longer events. Pooling our inventory makes for a greater selection at bigger events. Next week I am already signed up for ArtFaire, Inc. where they expect about 2500-3000 people. I am so excited for that one. And a little nervous as it will be my first booth ever. Jennifer (my sponsor) and I are planning on signing up for Alpine Ponds Haunted Trails where they have fun Halloween things to do for the entire family. We plan on doing just one week. Then the week after that I am signed up for Trunk or Treat So People Can Eat in Nampa. This one is probably my most favorite, it is free as a vendor and sounds like SO much fun for the entire family. The entire event is free with so many things to do. I also love how they are supporting the Idaho Food Bank with a food donation as admission. I love it and am so excited to be a part of it. I can't wait to get into homes and have Open Houses. Those sound like a ton of fun too.

My big 26lb box arrived Monday and honestly I am so overwhelmed with the amount of jewelry and accessories (250 pieces!), I haven't even dove in to sort it all. I have a few friends stopping by this week to get first peek so I better get my rear in gear. I've also been collecting supplies for displays so Jeff can build them. I am so excited for them and yes there will be pictures on here.

I've found some pretty cool things at thrift stores and craigslist to create my displays and event booths. I can't wait to put them into action. Anyway, enough about this. If you are interest in hosting an Open House or would love more information about becoming a consultant, feel free to leave a comment or check out my facebook page.