West of Zion: Inspiration at 30 cents a Pound

As those of you who follow this blog know, I love to scrapbook. It is an easy way for me to feel creative, crafty and productive in one fell swoop, with the added benefit that my children also find enjoyment from the results. It has been a way for me to meet some incredible people and has cemented my belief that it is a small world after all.

As you also know, I have a lot of scrapbooking to catch up on. If you only look at the time Rick and I have been together, that's 26 years. For Christmas I did put together an 8x8 scrapbook for each child with some of my favorite pictures of each. (Christmas (Scrapbook Project) Wrap-up). I also did one for Rick and I that had our childhoods up to our wedding. The single book each of my older children received paled in comparison with the multiple 8x10 volumes they used to posses before our fire.

I know that these books mean a lot to each child, but the whole process for me was one not only one of creating something meaningful for my children, but of remembering all that was lost. I had tried earlier to work on an album from the past, and again, even though the children were excited to see it, for me it was emotionally draining and I don't think I would have been able to do it if I hadn't been with my scrapbooking support group.

So my projects lately have been current photos: last summer's trip to Montana, swim meets, hiking in Bryce and the Grand Canyon. All were post-fire activities. This fulfilled my need to create, but did not stir emotional turmoil.

Lately though, those boxes of pictures have been weighing heavy on my mind. Every time I turned around it seemed I was being reminded that pictures stored on a computer or in a box did no good in helping us remember the good times. Why take the picture and do nothing with it? Also, how ungrateful was I being to all those who looked through their own albums and computers to find pictures of my family for me to help replace what was lost, if I then just left them in a box?

Just like any other project that you dread, I was able to find multiple reasons to delay doing what I knew I needed to do. And like any other project that is put off, the idea of the project made the whole thing seem too overwhelming to even start. But then came a casual post on Facebook from our sweet Nataly. She posted that she had been able to find "stinking adorable" scrapbook paper for $1 a pound. Somehow, this post finagled in to me driving to Cedar City, taking Nataly and Cari to lunch, and then we hit the scrapbook store. And we had so much fun!!!

Four hours later, I had thirty pounds of coordinated paper and diecuts for $10, since, BONUS!, the price had been reduced to 30 cents a pound and I was also able to pick up many other super kits that normally range from $50 to $60 a piece for only $10 each. Since it was a warehouse sale, we were literally in the back of the store looking through shipping boxes galore. Every time we would turn around we would see something new. Most important, we laughed and laughed and laughed.

Now I was inspired!! So Friday, I sorted paper and then I pulled out my pictures. I spent the rest of the day on Friday and few hours each Saturday and Sunday putting pictures to paper and then into an album. I have now covered the years 1986 to 1992. I need to get through 1993 so that Wil is born before Nataly comes home to check out the results of our shopping expedition.

Scrapbooking these pictures has been fun because not only am I remembering the good times the pictures illustrate, but I also remember the fun we had finding a specific piece of paper or diecut. Here are some of the layouts I have completed:

Rick leaving on his mission. I was working on redoing his mission album when our house burned. But by looking at these pictures, is it any wonder I waited for him? He is so cute.

This is what is left of our wedding album. Glad my father-in-law had these. Hopefully more will turn up eventually. What do I think when I look at these? Boy we were young!!!

Rick's Grandpa Jones died the day after we returned from our honeymoon. He was such a kind and steadfast man. He was a chemist, so it makes me wonder if Hunter doesn't come by that naturally.