I texted back (I’m quite the texter, you know!), “We’re going out on a date. Why?”

We waited a few minutes, then I texted again, “Hello? What’s going on?”

Sara finally replied, “It’s Stella’s dance recital, and I forgot to tell you. Oops.”

“When and where?” we sent back.

Well, the recital happened to be just a few blocks away from where we were originally heading, so we made a last-minute change in our date plans and went to a dance recital instead. We arrived just as the performance began . . . perfect timing.

The recital was only an hour long, and at the end, Stella received a little plastic trophy with her name engraved on it. Her first trophy EVER! She was jumping up and down with excitement. We were so glad we’d been a part of it.

Afterwards, her very thoughtful Grandpa asked Stella if she’d like to join us on our date. Of course! She even got to choose where she wanted to eat. So we had a tasty little dinner at Wendy’s (Stella wanted a Frosty), and we made some wonderful memories that I know we’ll treasure—and I hope Stella will too!

Of course, the most exciting thing I do is spend time with our new babies. I tell each girl when they have a baby that I’m completely theirs for a week; because Shanna had twins, I told her she could have me for two!

So the Bridegan family has been a priority for me. I haven’t spent as much time there as I had expected, because Jared is between quarters at school, so he’s home quite a bit. But when they call, I go!

The problem is that I’m so excited to get my cuddles and change diapers and hold babies that I forget to take pictures; I know you’re probably all anxious to see pictures of these cuties! I’ll try to remember to take a picture of a proud grandma holding her newest grandchildren, but in the meantime, Shanna has posted some photos on her blog, so check them out!

Shalae also had her monthly stamping class, which was a huge hit! People loved the project, a patriotic banner that was just complicated enough to take a little time but just easy enough that everybody could do it. I’m proud of Shalae and her commitment to this class, and I’m enjoying the experience we’re sharing of having regular events. I do love to visit with our friends, stamp together, and have a great excuse for a night out with the neighborhood (and beyond!) girls.

And there are lots of meetings, lots of decisions, lots of other small important but not very interesting things going on. What matters most, I guess, is that I’m enjoying almost all of it!

I hope you’re enjoying what you’re doing too!

Megan hosted it (we’ll take turns each week), so she got to choose the place and the menu. She invited us to her house, and she treated us to some delicious homemade Mexican food. We all told her she’d set the bar way too high, and we made sure everyone knew not to expect such delicious food every week!

The company, however, will be wonderful every week! It was fun to get together, and I’m already looking forward to next week. We know that not everyone will make it every week, but we’re going to plan it every week and have fun with whoever shows up.

Many of the grandchildren came this week, which meant that the lunch wasn’t quite as long and leisurely as it might have been otherwise. But that’s OK. Some weeks it will just be the girls, other weeks children will be welcome. Regardless, every week we’ll enjoy good food and great company!

And the good food and great company didn’t end there! Today Sterling finished his last class, and we had to celebrate tonight! While he still has his final clinic on Saturday and the state exams on Monday, this was certainly a milestone. So we ate at Tsunami tonight, a great little Japanese restaurant. It was the perfect ending to a fun day—I’m looking forward to celebrating the rest of his school milestones in the coming days!

Throughout today, as I listened to inspirational radio stations and talks, and went to church, and visited with all our girls and their families, I came away with one overriding feeling—If we’re doing our best, we’re good enough.

I know that our children, our husbands, our loved ones, our Father in Heaven. . all they need from us is our determination to do our best. And our best doesn’t mean we’re perfect, or that we don’t make mistakes. It just means we keep on trying and don’t give up.

My hope for each of you today is that you just love yourselves for who you are!

We’ve had new additions to the Gardner family! They actually arrived almost three weeks ago, but Shanna and Jared wanted to wait to make the announcement until they were all home together as a family. That happened today, so for the next several days, you know where my focus will be—on little Liam and Abigail!

For starters, I was more than a little disappointed that Sterling wouldn’t be going with me on this trip—it’s the first incentive trip he’s ever missed! So I knew going into it I would be missing him. On top of that, I wasn’t certain how much time I’d be spending with our girls who went; some were taking their children, some weren’t, and I didn’t want them to have to worry about dragging Grandma along. Finally, because it was a land-based incentive trip, I didn’t think I’d be seeing as much of the demonstrators as I see on a cruise, so I was bummed about that as well. So I packed a lot of work and decided I’d make the most of my time sitting in the hotel or by the pool and get caught up.

Well, I’m happy to report that, while I didn’t get nearly as much work done as I’d expected, I had much more fun than I expected!

I went to the parks almost every day with at last one of the girls; it was fun to spend some time at Disney with family! Although I didn’t end up riding a lot of rides, seeing It’s a Small World and the Peter Pan ride through the eyes of Kona and Makai was wonderful, and simply walking around with some of the kids was thoroughly enjoyable.

And I got to see lots of demonstrators, along with their family and friends, as well as our home office family members. We had breakfast together every morning, and while it was come-and-go, I enjoyed chatting with these amazing people and meeting those who had come with them on the trip.

In addition, I saw demonstrators at every park we visited, in the elevators at the hotel, and just walking along the Boardwalk.

We also had two formal Stampin’ Up! events, and of course, I spent as much time as I could with demonstrators at those events. During our Share Night on Wednesday we handed out new catalogs—that was an unexpected surprise for those in attendance, and it was so fun to see them all looking through the new catalog! Judging from their reactions, I think we’re in for another great year of Stampin’ Up! product and creativity!

And our closing event on Thursday night was fabulous! We enjoyed dinner and entertainment on the Indiana Jones stage at Hollywood Studios. There was music, a DJ, belly dancing, great food, and a wonderful atmosphere.

We even granted a few wishes, something that seems to happen frequently at Disney. Earlier in the week we’d told demonstrators that we wanted to grant a few wishes, and we invited them to post their wishes on a wall in the hospitality room. Wishes could be product related or donation related.

On Thursday, we announced the wish winners. I won’t list them all here, but I will say I wish we could have granted all the wishes. . . and I’m grateful that we could help out where we did!

So many demonstrators, along with their guests, came up and thanked us for such a great week!

And I have to admit, it was an enjoyable week. I loved seeing grown-ups act like kids. . . Disney has a way of doing that to us! And I loved seeing parents and grandparents and children spending valuable time together and creating memories that I know will last a lifetime! I’m so thrilled that Stampin’ Up! can be part of making that possible. . .

And now I’m thrilled to be back home. I did miss Sterling and the children and grandchildren who didn’t go, so I’m looking forward to spending time with them!

Thanks to all those who made the trip possible, as well as all those who went. It was a wonderful week!

I’ve enjoyed seeing how excited everyone has been for this trip. It’s our second land-based trip, and it’s definitely a popular family destination. I won’t be blogging this week (except for my monthly Creative Challenge, of course), but I’ll share after I get back home!

I smiled this week when Sterling created a little countdown calendar, showing his last days of class, last three clinics, and the due dates of all his final papers and exams. This is a man who hasn’t used a planner in years and who has a smartphone but never enters a single appointment in it. He has a small pile of reminder cards on his dresser with doctor and dentist appointments, but that’s about the extent of what he does to keep track of his calendar.

When he crossed off the first day of the calendar with a big “X,” I saw a little look of satisfaction and anticipation on his face. You can tell he’s pretty darn excited about school ending!

And then I realized that I was pretty excited about that big “X” myself! I must be looking forward to his school ending too! It’s been a long seven months, and I’ve missed having my sweetheart around. I’m definitely proud of what he’s doing, but I have to admit that it will be great when he’s done with school. I think that countdown calendar is as much for me as it is for him!

I saw a book the other day, The Art of the Handwritten Note by Margaret Shepherd. I have a personal goal to try to do better at letting people know I appreciate them, and writing notes is a great way to do that, so I picked up the book.

I enjoyed reading it! It talked about the etiquette of writing notes, the content of different types of notes, and even the types of inks and papers available. One thing the book mentioned is that it’s important to establish a habit of writing notes, and part of that is making sure you have stationery readily available.

I totally got that—there have been so many times I’ve thought about writing a note to someone but didn’t follow through because I didn’t have a card or note handy.

So I’ve been thinking about this lately. Stampin’ Up! doesn’t carry stationery, so I’ve been trying to be creative with my supplies and make some fun stationery that I could always have on hand. I knew what I wanted—a simple, eclectic, urban look and feel. I thought about doing something with our Crumb Cake Card Stock, but then I was talking to a friend (also a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator), who suggested I try to create something from the packing paper that comes in our Stampin’ Up! orders.

I looked at it, and it’s perfect! It’s actually perforated at 8-1/2 inches, so I just cut it at 5-1/2 inches. I stamped my monogram in the bottom right hand corner, and I have exactly what I was looking for! If I’m writing a longer note, I can write on an entire sheet; if I’m writing a shorter note, I can just fold the sheet over to create a note card.

Of course, I had to have a cool envelope too! So I took apart one of our Stampin’ Up! envelopes and made a template, then created several different envelopes from our Designer Series Paper! The notes and envelopes look great together, and I have very affordable, environmentally friendly stationery that I can carry around all the time, so I can follow through when I get a “write a note” impression!

In the morning, I had a board meeting at Thanksgiving Point (I’ve talked about this amazing place before!), and in the afternoon we had plans with some of the kids to visit the annual Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point. The Browns and the Douglasses came (the other girls were out of town), and we strolled through the gardens and enjoyed the beautiful flowers.

Most of us have done the Tulip Festival before, so we knew what a treat was in store, but Sterling came for the first time—it was great to have him with us!

Last year, we had had a chilly spring, so the tulips were still beautiful but not quite as plentiful, plus we had to wear jackets and sweaters. This year, we wore layers (just in case) but were peeling them off! And the tulips were out in incredible numbers! There’s still more flowers to come. . . but it was a gorgeous afternoon—and I loved spending it with some of my favorite people!

These pictures don’t do it justice, but it’s taste of it! And here’s the website, which has even more gorgeous photos!