Wow it's been almost four months since I wrote last. Lots has happened. I got to spend a month with all seven of my kids In Florida. Dakota had a little girl named Anastasia Kaylee. She is such a cutie. So I am now a grandmom ( or Nonna as she is going to call me). I miss her very much. I love modern technology cause I get pictures everyday and get to talk to her a couple time a weeks. I'm not working putting magazines in the stores anymore so I can pay attention more to my kids homeschooling and other activities. The kids have been doing tons of fun things. Montana got her drivers liscense and also helped a local photographer do a photo shoot for kids who have cancer and their families. This weekend is church prom. The kids are excited. They get to get dressed up and dance and have dinner.They have a great time. We are enjoying Spring and celebrating it by opening all the windows in the house. Hopefully soon I will get some pictures up and show some of the projects I've been working on. Hoping to write again real soon. Taking time to smell the roses, Lori

Happyy Happy New Year!!!!!!

Happy New Year to all!!!!!! The end of 2011 was a crazy one at our house. We had my daughter and son-in-law come up before Christmas and stay until lastnight. It was great. We did alot of things that they used to do as kids and some fun stuff that they have never done before. We even had a baby shower in the midst of all the craziness. That's right for those of you who don't know Dakota is having a baby in March. That's right my husband and I will be Granparents.

We started the New year off by going to Philly for the Mummers Parade. We had a blast. It is now January 5th and we are starting to back to normal. I have many hopes and dreams for the up coming year. I don't do New Years resolutions because I never keep them. I set goals, attainable ones at that. Some are as simple as making sure I'm out of pjs everyday to more elabrate ones such as having all Christmas done and wrapped by Dec 1st. Things in between are getting craft projects done (which I did get some done on time this year), finish reading the Book Of Mormon before summer ( which we are almost there), enjoying my children and the time we spend together, date nights with my husband, writing on my blog more often and many more. Every goal has small steps to work toward and If it doesn't get done it's not a big deal. One of my goals this year is also to get more people to follow my blog and to blog more fun things. So invite your friends to follow me.
Happy New Year's to all.

GooseBumps ( not the books)

Going over this last week with the anniversary of 9 11 I have had many goosebump moments.
                                                    My story of that fateful day......
It started out as a normal day at the Manapat house. Waking up, getting the kids ready for school , making lunches ect. I dropped off a few of the kids to school and then headed home to clean and do the daily routine with the rest of the kids. My friend Michelle called me and asked if I saw what happened. I told her no and she said turn the tv on now. I did and what I saw changed my whole day. The first plane had hit the one tower and they were showing it over again. I hung up the phone and was glued to the tv. All of a sudden the next plane hit I was in awe. They were talking terrorist and what is going to happen next. As I watched the events unfold before my eyes Tim called to let me know he was ok. Then the next plane hit. As I watched I had goosebumps of sadness and held my children close. I didn't know what was going to happen next so I went to school to go pick up my kids that I had dropped off earlier. I'm so glad I did. Living in New Jersey and being so close to all the action who knew where they were gonna hit next. I wanted my family near. My children were scared because noone at the school was telling them what had happened, because they didn't want to scare the kids. Personally I think keeping them in the dark is more scarier but what do I know. We got home safe and I turned on the tv and showed my kids what had happened. We watched the towers get hit, fall and saw people jump out of windows. We saw confusion everywhere around us, New York, Penn, and Washington DC. Goosebumps of sadness was all I felt . I had to explain what was going on and why someone would do this. My kids understood and were sad but they were happy that I explained and showed them what was going on. The next few days and weeks were so strange. It was weird that the streets and skies were so quiet. I keep my kids home the next day and all they wanted to do is go and help. This gave me goosebumps that my kids could feel the Spirit of compassion and service in the midst of disaster and confusion. Every year since then I kept my kids home from school on 9 11. We would remember and spend the day as a family being thankful that our family and friends were safe and praying for those who had lost. It has been 10 years now and I still get goosebumps of sadness when I hear the stories of survivors and watching the unfoldings of that day all over again. I also remember how I got goosebumps of joy as America pulled together and helped in any way they could. On Saturday September 10, 2011 my husband and I and my brother and sister-in-law did a motor cycle run in Penn to The Garden of Reflection. It was an amazing site as over 300 motor cycles showed our support by riding through this beautiful state to the Garden. The Reflecting Garden was Beautiful. I felt goosebumps again as we stood there and signed the wall and read some of the names. The next day we spent the day as a family remembering and just being happy that we were together. The Manapat Family will never forget that day 10 years ago, buy reflecting every September 11th,and by supporting our military in any and every way possible. I have goosebumps as I am writing this.

Freedom, Food, Friend, Family

The letter F has so many good words I could use, but I chose these few because they are the most important to me.
FOOD-  Well quite frankly we NEED food. We can't live a healthy life without it. I love food, all kinds. I love the change of the food with the change of the seasons. Right now we are enjoying the summer bounty of tomatoes, corn on the cob, watermelon, cucumbers, cantalope and peaches. I love peaches. In fact I was feeling nostalgic last week and put on the apron my grandmother made for me years ago, used the bowl she used to make her pie crust in, I used the same recipe as Grandmom did and I even went to the same place we used to buy the peaches. Lots of good memories.

FREEDOM- I love my country. I love that we can do what we want  and go where we want. I love the fact that I can ride on the motorcycle with my husband and go where ever the road takes us. We can be free to speak our minds to move about our great big country to explore and meet many new people. My children don't have to live in fear because we have a great military that sacrifice so much to keep us free and safe. 

FRIENDS- These are people we love and have many many memories with. Some are close and some far.  We have shared so much and love each and everyone of our friends. So many memories I can't just share one because they all are special.

FAMILY- This one is the most important word to me EVER. I love my family each and every one of them. From aunts to cousins to nephews and so on and so on. So  many many memories from baking pies and goodies with my Grandmom to making pies and goodies with my children, family vacations, holiday traditions and just the everyday normal stuff. Everything I do is for my Family.

So I think I covered the letter F as you can see. All four of these words all go together because they all have to do with my family and all of these words bring back many memories.

I am looking forward to many more memories of freedom, food, friends and families.

I Am Back

I have been so busy with life and work that I haven't had time to do much of anything else. But I AM BACK!!!!!
I am gonna finish doing my ABC postings and add some others as well.
FYI -------- I got my Etsy shop up and running. So far I only have two things up but it's at least started.  My shop is called BoozBoutique and I am getting excited and wanting to get more up soon. 
My family has also been working on a website to keep up on all the cool projects we are working on.  Check us out at www.TyBoo89.webs.com          You can see our published books, other crafts we have made, and links we enjoy. We are also on Facebook Check us out. Please share us with your friends and family.
                                                     LOOK WHAT I'VE BEEN MAKING..........

                                                     COMPACT BABY CHANGING PAD

   CHANGING PAD OPEN VIEW (ACTUALLY HAVE THIS ON TO SELL)

         FABRIC RAG LIGHTS

             HALLOWEEN FABRIC RAG LIGHTS

    RETRO HAIR BARRETTES (HAVE DIFFERENT COLORS OF THESE TOO)

EGGS, EGGS and more EGGS

It's that time of year... Egg season (and wabbit season). How many ways can you eat eggs? I think one day I'm going to sit down and count. I love eggs, all kinds. Everywhere you look there are eggs, chocolate, hard boiled, colored, hand painted, paper, plastic, ect. When I see all the colored eggs it makes me smile. I think of all the Easter eggs I have dyed for my kids over the years. The look on their faces when they could go and find them, priceless. I think we need to have a giant egg hunt for adults. I always enjoyed hunting for the eggs and I know the kid in me now would be so happy to go on an Easter egg hunt. I keep telling my husband and kids, wouldn't it be cool to have chickens and a chicken coop out back, then we could have eggs anytime we want. Unfortunately they aren't buying it. I don't think my development would allow it anyway :(  As many eggs as we go through in a week, and how high the prices are getting in the stores having our own chickens would be so worth it. Back to eggs because today is the letter E and chicken does not start with E,(but it does have an E in it). Sunday is Easter and even though my kids are a little older I still dye eggs for them and they go out and find them and some help the younger ones to find the hard to find ones. I love Easter and what it means to my family. Not just the Easter bunny, eggs and candy, but the traditions that remind us of why we celebrate it. I am grateful for The Atonement and The Resurrection and the importance of it in my life.   I am so happy that I am sealed to my family for all time and Eternity (oh look another E word). I love you guys. Happy Easter!

Disney

I am a big fan of everything Disney. I am not as obsessed as some but I do love it. There have been alot of happy memories for me through Disney. From the time Walt Disney World opened when I was a kid I  have gone tons of times. I have been there with many family members and friends over the years. There have been many changes since I was kid but the feeling was always the same. It was the one place on earth I felt safe, happy and inspired. I wanted to draw and paint cells for them when I was a teenager. When I got married we would go as a family to Disney and my kids and myself knew every song and every word to every Disney movie that was out. When driving to Florida we would listen to Disney movie music and all would sing along. My kids would even act out the movie as they watched it. Many special times my husband, my kids and I have had there. As they have gotten older a few of my kids do not like Disney (hard to believe I know). And with money tight we can't go to often. But the memories are there of fun, happy times before they started to grow up. We still sing the songs and say the lines from the movies from time to time and make new memories that way. No matter what I know when we are at the Magic Kingdom we are together as a family with no outside distractions. It is just us and a plan to be together and enjoy that moment at that time because at anytime it could be gone. So thank you Walter A. Disney for making a place my family can be together, eat, have fun, dream and make lasting memories.