Life on the Hill

p 365 January finished

2010-01-31T22:03:00.000-08:00

Loved playing with Kaylie and watching her frost cupcakes, she is growing and changing like crazy! BareRoot Trees are in at the nursery which means SPRING is almost here!

This was a really great end to a busy month!

Well 31 days into 2010 and so far so good in keeping up! Now to see how I do as the Spring Season blooms into full gear :)

P 365 Jan 17-23

2010-01-27T07:31:00.000-08:00

I have decided that if I plan on keeping up I have to keep my layouts very simple. This seems to be working for me :) We actually went to another movie, WOW we are on a roll! lol Our usual Wednesday night routine of shopping at Costco for the week and remembering Sammy Boy, we will all miss him.

Kaylie in creative mode with Mrs Potato head and being my helper/taster making cupcakes. Plus a bit of snow after all our crazy wind and the HUGE dent it put in our big cold frame!!

Credits - Everything Weeds and Wildflowers

P 365 2010 Version

2010-01-19T06:31:00.000-08:00

This is the 1st few layouts for 2010 P365 The View from the deck, I think I will do a title page each month to show the changes in Seasons, January the theme is Fog or Wind. Seems like we either have crazy hurricane wind or are fogged in.

Spending time with Friends, Laurie and her family for Breakfast on the 1st and Wine tasting with David and Julie on the 2nd :)

The movie Avatar, simply put was AMAZING we actually saw it for the 1st time with Rocky and Barb in Bend. We loved it so much we decided to see it again with David and Julie.

Kaylie weekend, love the time we get to spend with that little monkey!

I finally gave Dad is Birthday present, almost 2 weeks later! lol

Finally some play time with Amber!

Credits on the layouts Everything by Weeds and Wildflowers except for the acrylic circle and that is Haynay designs.

TOTALLY FABULOUS!

2009-12-19T09:01:00.000-08:00

Oh MY GOSH! This stuff is soooo good! Cinnamon pecan Carmel corn and it is soooo good! Super easy and pretty quick to make.

The recipe is from Our Best Bites which is one of my new favorite sites!!

Just one of the Christmas Goodies I am working on :)

December

2009-12-05T09:01:00.000-08:00

Kaylie is totally into Tinkerbell, she tunes everything else out while watching this (for a minute or two anyway!) Lol As you can see we started getting out some Christmas decorations. It was so much fun this year to have the Little Missy as my helper! She LOVES Papa's footstool and it helps keep her from sitting any closer to the TV!

Here it is December and I am just now posting things from October! lol I just can't seem to keep up with everything, Oh well, at least I am enjoying each day :)

Tutu Girl

2009-10-28T20:18:00.001-07:00

I am finally getting the photos of Kaylie in her little Red Tutu and yes she loves it! lol Check out the red boots! lol

I made her a tutu to go with her Tinker Bell costume and I will post those after halloween!

Cool Clock

2009-10-28T07:05:00.000-07:00

Once in a while I run across something I think is just FUN and this clock fits the picture :)

Grass

2009-10-14T16:09:00.000-07:00

Most of you know just how much I have been missing green grass at home! You would think with the big field I would be ok without grass but NO WAY I just have to have some grass. It is coming in nicely and Paul has a new mower so come Spring we will be all set!

Harvest Fair

2009-10-03T06:55:00.000-07:00

Fun times at the Harvest Fair last weekend with the little missy!

Things Kaylie likes right now

Reading a book to herself

Getting Mail

Going for a Quad Ride

Picking tomatoes

Giving Fleeta Hay - 'I want to give 'my Fleeta' some hay, she's my friend'

Doing anything with Auntie Amber, she LOVES her Auntie

Helping Nami Bake in the Kitchen, but really it's 'licking' the beaters she is after! lol

We are going to make a Tu Tu this weekend so be watching for photos. :)

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!!

Happy Birthday Ryan!

2009-09-16T14:19:00.000-07:00

Just a quick note to tell Ryan Happy Birthday. Ryan is my nephew my marriage (Ashley's hubby) and a great young man :)

Are they not just the cutest!

New York again

2009-09-16T05:47:00.000-07:00

I am playing with my SmugMug Gallery to see how easy it is to put photos on my blog. Flickr is easy to blog from but I really like the SmugMug gallery. I only have 5 days left to decide! YIKES lol

This is a photo from our New York trip, I had to take this photo after watching Project Runway and America's Next Top Model! lol

4-Wheelin'

2009-09-06T16:43:00.000-07:00

This is what happens when your Daughter and her quad meet up with a surprise razorback at the dunes! YIKES yes she rolled but this and the goose-egg on her noggin were all she ended up with. And yes I will say PRAISE GOD! :)

Look at the lines she ended up with across her eye. Very interesting don't ya think.

Thanks Amber for being a good sport and letting your Mama take photos of 'THE EYE'

Las Vegas 2009

2009-09-04T08:49:00.001-07:00

IMG_6817
Originally uploaded by Brooke - in Oregon

The evening view from our hotel

New York Fun

2009-08-24T06:16:00.001-07:00

Just popping in to say Hi for a minute! This was a dinner cruise we took while we were in New Jersey. Oh MY GOSH, it was a WONDERFUL evening and I HIGHLY recommend it to anyone who is headed to the Big Apple. The cruise line is the Bateaux and this made for a perfect evening! Glass top boat so the views were spectacular no matter where you were setting!!

Rarely do John (Paul's brother) Cynthia (our Sister-in-Law), Paul and I ever get our picture taken together. It was nice to have some time to enjoy each other's company!A Group of us who see each other once or twice a year so it is always nice to catch-up!

It was a warm but overcast evening so it was really hard to get a clear photo of our Lady Liberty

The Brooklyn Bridge, my brother has always called me Brooklyn so it was fun to see this bridge!

Getting close to the bridge was amazing, especially to think of the craftsmanship that went into building it!

LOVED this tugboat! I played a little with some actions to give it a more aged look.

This is looking backwards and it is not the Brooklyn Bridge but I am not quite sure which one it was.

WOW this was just spectacular to see, the Empire State Building at night with the light reflecting off the clouds! AMAZING

Ok, so I admit I totally got tears in my eyes when they played God Bless America as we stopped to pay tribute to our history here. WOW it was really something!

I did not get a really great shot of our boat, but this sort of shows you just how small it was. This trip was truly a trip to remember.

Swim Suit Cutie Pie

2009-08-08T07:45:00.000-07:00

I sing 'She wore a itsy bitsy teeny weeny PINK polka dot Bikini' to her every time she puts on her swim suit, she thinks it is pretty funny! Credits:
Most everything by Sue Cummings
Photo Mask - Color Blocks - Background Paper - Flowers
Stamp by Fei Fei's Stuff
Date stamp - Jen Wilson
Font - Brown Bear Funk

We are taking off for a business trip so once again I will be MIA. Thanks for the prayers for my eye, so far it is still the same and I am spending very little time on the computer. No scrapping which is driving me CRAZY. I did this layout way before my eye started acting up.

We are looking forward to the trips this month but good grief I would be nice to have them spaced out a bit further apart! :) We stay home most of the time and then August hits and Ka-BOOM! lol Oh well it is always fun to see new things and to reconnect with old friend! - Later Gators!!

Jessica Sprague's Class Day 3

2009-08-05T08:10:00.000-07:00

More fun with Jessica's class, sure am glad I can go back and do it 'after the fact'! lol I LOVE this shot of Kaylie 'Driving' the tractor, they are barely moving but she is turning the wheel so she is driving. She is in the 'watch me' stage now so I kept hearing watch me drive the tractor Nami!!

Auntie Amber reading to Kaylie, who you can tell just woke up from her nap(Kaylie that is lol)

Kaylie running around like a crazy girl!

Jessica Sprague's Class Day 1

2009-07-23T06:00:00.000-07:00

I LOVE taking classes from Jessica Sprague, it is soooo nice to be able to log in and watch the video whenever it is CONVENIENT to ME! lol Here is the photo I used for the 1st class, a fun one of Amber and Kaylie at the Bear Creek Park

Before: After:

Lots of fun playing for the start of the class!

Swing or Winging!

2009-07-21T06:00:00.000-07:00

Kaylie has just been LOVING her swing or Wing as she calls it, Come on Nami, come with me to Wing. :) More Fun From Sue Cummings at Oscraps!

I also want to wish my Good Friend Julie a Happy Birthday today! :)

flowers

2009-07-20T10:45:00.000-07:00

WOW it has been forever since I have posted and silly me, I thought I posted these, I actually have a couple of things I forgot to post that have just been sitting in my Ready to Publish file! lol

I put these up in the Ladies Bathroom at work, I love how Sue's designs make creating something fun so FLIPPING EASY!

Credits Everything by Sue Cummings!

Sue Cummings Simply Perfect at Oscraps

Red Boots

2009-05-14T06:35:00.000-07:00

Thank Heavens for these super cute QP's from Weeds and Wildflowers!! Sorry to be mia for so long but we have been (thank Heavens) SUPER SUPER busy at the Nursery. Plus my co-worker fell and broke her ankle so JR and I are adding her job to our already busy schedule. But again I say THANK HEAVENS we are busy, we really didn't know what to expect this year with the economy so we are very happy, tired but happy!

We had a HUGE Mother's Day weekend Sale, we open at 9 and had people there waiting at 7:45! YIKES lol. Plus we did Kids Club that Saturday and had kids planting a flower and painting pots for their moms. Memorial Weekend is the next big sale, this is a Kaylie weekend so it is a Play weekend for 'Namie'. WHEW
I just love the outfits Kaylie Picks out, she always grabs her RED COWBOY BOOTS to go with her dresses and I figure this is a time she can pull it off! lol She is trying to be patient sitting on the stairs waiting to go to Church but you can tell she is READY! lol

Thanks for stopping by, I plan on doing some blog hopping this weekend!

Kaylie, Auntie and the BMW!

2009-05-03T14:43:00.001-07:00

I hope everyone enjoyed their {inter}National Scrapbook Weekend. I did a little shopping but that was about it for me. I did enjoy this QP by Weeds and Wildflowers, just fit this photo I took of my girls :) This is what Kaylie looks like when she is falling asleep for a nap! lol Yep she is really in there :) she is such a good nap taker, usually falling asleep within 10-15 minutes and sleeping 2-3 hours!This is 1/2 way thru when she realizes she is HOT! What is it about the sweet innocence of a child sleeping that just melts your heart?

Project 365 Week 9

2009-04-24T07:25:00.000-07:00

Here is my next installment of P365. I LOVE Crystal Wilkerson's style with these kits. So fun to work with :) Mostly pictures of the little Missy as she is a HUGE part of our lives :) But some of the everyday ordinary stuff to.

It has been crazy busy (thank heavens) at work even though we have gone from almost 90 degrees to around 30 last night. Oh the poor orchards have all the wind machines going and it is supposed to get a little cooler tonight. Let's pray their crops are all safe.

I hope everyone has a great weekend, I know a group of my friends are doing their Retreat weekend and they will have fun for sure!

We are going to Amber and Lance's house tonight to celebrate Lance's Big 30 birthday and to see their new wood floors. I have already taken a peek at them and they are BEAUTIFUL, they also got a new couch so their front room will look so different!

Credits are:

Crystal Wilkerson's P365 April Kit, she packs in so many fun details!!

Everything except:

Kayla Lamoreaux - Date elements

KsharonK Designs - Journaling note book paper

Project 365 Week 8

2009-04-20T20:15:00.000-07:00

Today is my 'baby's' birthday, he turns 27 today. WOW how in the heck did that happen??? We did a huge party last night so tonight was sort of quiet, we were all a bit pooped I think :)
Here is my next installment of the P365.

Credits are:

The Lily Pad Kit from February The Digi Files

Everything except:

Kayla Lamoreaux - Date elements

Weeds & Wildflowers - Journaling strip Shape

Sue Cummings Quick Pages

2009-04-16T19:46:00.000-07:00

Sometimes you just need a quick page to help you catch-up or to get the mojo flowing again or maybe just because some Quick pages are freaking AWESOME! lol

Anyone who reads my blog knows that Oscraps is my favorite shop, there are more designers I like all in one place there. Yes I have some all time favorite designers that are not at the 'O' but definitely lots of my fav's are there. :)

All of these quick pages are by Sue Cummings who is one of the most generous designers I have ever had the pleasure of running across.

Besides I love getting some good scrapping time it!!! :)

Credits are:

Sue Cummings - Quick page 21 - 22 and 23 and Happy thoughts Wordart

TaylorMade - Heart, flowerlines and Wordart Beautiful

Fei Fei's Stuff - Lace

Easter Morning

2009-04-15T06:05:00.000-07:00

I have so many Easter Photos I figured I had better start posting :)
This was our Early Morning Easter Bunny! She was Excited all day
It didn't take any time at all for her to get the whole hunting for Easter Egg thing.
Our morning service, we were so happy we didn't get rained on! I love this banner, it makes me smile every time I see it.

P365 week 6

2009-04-08T13:20:00.000-07:00

I am still plugging along trying to get the layouts finished, but I am keeping up with the photos. WHEW!! I think I need some of Ann's layouts to catch me up, her P365 layouts are really FABULOUS!

Going to go scrapping with Amber and some of the Gang in Grants Pass on Saturday to celebrate Laura's Birthday! Should be a SUPER fun day and I am sooo looking forward to it :)

Credits are:

Little Buckaroos - Shabby Miss Jenn

Date labels and circles Kayla Lamoreaux

Template - Moriginals

Background paper - Gina Huff Weeds and Wildflowers

Beautiful BedHead

2009-04-02T06:15:00.000-07:00

Oh my where did this chubby little girl go? I love watching her grow but it makes me sad to see this cute little face and know she is now longer this little chubby one. But it's all good cause we have so much fun with new adventures and many others yet to come! :)

Credits are:

Flergs - Dusk till Dawn & Chasing Ryan Alpha
Font Hurricane
Date stamps by Little Footprints

MOOSH Grandpa!

2009-03-31T09:15:00.000-07:00

Kaylie came up with the word Moosh, it is her word for smash. So when they all piled on Grandpa she kept saying MOOSH G'mpa, all the while we are laughing so hard we can hardly breathe! lol
Yes this photo is clear back from Christmas :) lol

Credits are:
TaylorMade Template
TaylorMade word art
Gina Cabrera paper

Kaylie's Tree summer of 2008

2009-03-27T06:10:00.000-07:00

I was so happy to find this photo. :) I planned on taking a photo of Kaylie each year with her tree but last year something always seemed to get in the way and I thought I had missed the opportunity. I totally forgot I snapped this quick one, (granted not the best photo) but it sure made me smile. If you look REALLY HARD you can see her tree, it is a Mimosa or Silk Tree. Paul chose it for her cause it blooms in July around her birthday and it will be a big beautiful tree someday. Everything by TaylorMade

2009 P365 the beginning!

2009-03-23T07:08:00.000-07:00

I never posted this 1st layout, it was supposed to go in a online digi issue but they ended up not doing the issue so I can post it now :) I think it is going to be really cool to look back at this P365 project in years to come!

So here is the Beginning of my P365 project:

Credits are:

Kayla Lamoreaux - Template and dates

Sue Cummings - Word Art - Paper & Tabbed note

Misty Cato - Your smile makes me smile

Jenn Wilson - Flourish

Katie Hadfield - staple

Christina Renee - French Countryside paper & Stitching

Jenn Caputo - border

KSK Designs - Note paper

Cheesy

2009-03-20T07:35:00.000-07:00

I just loved this set of photos, this is back when she would smile a big cheesy smile for me!

On another sort of sad note, Body Shop is closing the at Home party piece of the business, WOW that was a shockeroo!! It makes me sad because it was such a fun way to get together but not much we can do about it. I do plan on having one last Girls Night Out with the bodyshop on April 15th, I figured that was a good day to have some extra pampering! lol

This is the email from Amber:

Hello,
I am sad to inform you that The Body Shop has announced that April 30, 2009 The Body Shop At Home party-selling business will close. This means that after this date I will no longer be a consultant and your contact to purchase The Body Shop products. I am truly sorry for the disappointment this may cause you. I will continue to book parties until April 30, 2009, so I do hope I will get the opportunity to pamper you, your friends and family one last time.

Thank you so much for your support for myself and The Body Shop At Home™ and I do hope we will get to see each other again soon. While this was a shocking change for me and was very hard to swallow at first, I have taken this opportunity to develop my Diva Designs and have started booking Jewelry Shows. For those of you unaware I make and sell my handmade jewelry. I’d love to share my latest and greatest adventure with you if you are interested!
With very best wishes, Amber Longiotti

She still plans on fixing up her web page but the jewelry pieces are there and they are stunning! Amber is now doing watches too and they are totally fun. She does not have any on the website yet cause they are selling faster than she can make them :)

Layout Credits are:

TaylorMade wordart

Taylor Made InRetrospect Kit

Gina Cabrera Flower & Dragonfly & Cheesy

Shabby Princess buttons and phototurns

Little Footprints- date

Project 365 Week 7 (ya, I am still playing catch-up) lol

2009-03-17T06:38:00.001-07:00

I had a nice quiet weekend where I thought since I was sick I would get a lot of scrapping time in. WELLLLLL I slept away most of my scrapping time! lol I only managed to get this double page layout completed. Man this cold hit me like a ton of bricks and I was totally POOPED OUT!
This kit is by Crystal Wilkerson of 2 Peas in a bucket and look what a fun kit it is!

Kayla Lamoreaux of DigiScrapping 101 used this kit in a great tutorial, she is amazing at sharing tutorials and they are all FREE!!!!

I decided to step down from Teri Mayo's CT, she is a sweet heart and totally understood where I was coming from. I just could not keep up with all the kits she is creating and still have time for scrapping with other kits. So while it was fun and a huge boost to my ego to be chosen, it was a LOT more time consuming than I realized it would be. I started on her CT when things were slower at work too and I was still working from home. Now we are in Full swing and I have very little time to myself, but that is ok cause it means we are busy at work! WHEW lol

Credits are:

Crystal Wilkerson - March P365 kit

Kayla Lamoreaux - Date labels

Sue Cummings - Nature wordart

Fei Fei's stuff - Paint

Sunshine :)

2009-03-08T14:58:00.000-07:00

I love this wild hair child! When she wakes up she has some of the craziest hairstyles. lol You have to give her some time and space before you try to fix it too or you have one cranky kid. Just give her enough time and you have a happy kid. Here she is watching one of her Movies as she slowly wakes up.Credits are:
Monday's Child kit by Tracy Mayo and Stacey Crossley
Wordart by TaylorMade
Overlay by Jenn Wilson

Coupon Alert!

2009-03-03T12:47:00.000-08:00

This is Teri Mayo of Teri's Thing-O-My-Jigs latest Kit and she has a special coupon running right now! The coupon is good thru 3/11 so get it at a 'Steal' while you can! You know I LOVE a good deal :)

Batter Up! is available at the following stores:

Pumpkin Scooping :)

2009-03-02T07:00:00.000-08:00

Here is a layout from our Pumpkin Carving Day, I actually found quite a few layouts I had never posted. Silly me :)

Journaling reads:
EEWWW SICK! Was your 1st reaction to scooping out the pumpkin! You just cracked us up, this was your 1st Pumpkin Carving and you were so much fun! At first you looked at the pumpkin your Daddy had cut open like he was crazy if he thought you were going to stick your hand in that and scoop out the innards! lol But it sure didn’t take long before you were right in the middle of it.

Your Daddy would do the scraping and the you would Scoop out the goo! Just look at the concentration on your face you even have your lip all scrunched up! Each time you came home one of the 1st things you wanted to do was see your ‘bum pk bin’ and light the candle. You truly are such a joy in our lives.

Credits are:
TaylorMade In Retrospect Kit
Sue Cummings Word Art
Natali Designs Brush
Fei Fei's Stuff Crazy Beautiful
Paisley Press Frame

Play Play Play

2009-02-27T06:41:00.000-08:00

Amber and I are trying to finish enough layouts for another Artscow book cause her coupon expires Wednesday! YIKES I have a TON of layouts of Kaylie but they are scattered thru the year with some holes mixed in. So we need to fill in those holes and make 2 books for 2008! I just hope we can finish enough to do at least one 1/2 of the year.

Yes I used another TaylorMade template, I LOVE her style. She is having a CT call and I am thinking about trying for a spot(but I bet she will have a gazillion gals trying out). I like that she does not demand posting on boards cause I am not great at doing that. I love Digiscrapping 101 and that is about the only place I spend any time. I am enjoying being on Teri's CT, she is also one who is not demanding. I think they are both busy gals and understand most of us are busy with life too!

This is a layout from March of 2008, Kaylie had put a bunch of toys in a box and was happily playing with them. It is so much fun to just sit back and watch her play. Her latest thing is getting different outfits out and deciding what to wear! oh heaven help us :) I have to get a few photos of that one next.

Credits are:

TaylorMade - Template

TaylorMade - cutie pie word art

Tracy Ann - Verse Background paper

Sande Krieger - Paint Line

Play font - Base 02

A quick layout for Valentine's Day

2009-02-26T20:11:00.001-08:00

A quick layout for Valentines day! LOVE the frame cluster by Dani Mogstad, wish I could cluster like that!
We had a fun Evening with the little missy, her Daddy got her a 'little Pony' to add to her collection. Her reaction was 'ahhhh tuoote' which is Kaylie talk for Ahhh Cute. :) This was on Thursday because this was not our weekend with Kaylie, so we just celebrated a little early.

Paul and I went out to dinner to a new place for us and it was YUMMY. BBQ the kind your mouth just waters for plus a bonus was the band our neighbor is in just happened to be playing! SCORE!! It was a nice and different evening for us, we rarely go out alone :) and I forgot my camera! :( oh well it was fun and you just have to take my word for it! lol

Credits are:
Taylor made - wordart
Dani Mogstad_valentine cluster
Flergs distressed edges
Kikis Digital cafe freebie - distressed overlay
Polka Dot Plum - journal piece

Project 365 Week 5

2009-02-24T08:01:00.001-08:00

Here I am again trying to catch up! lol I did get some photo books made and hope to be getting them in the mail this week. Plus I have made some QP's for Teri. I have also posted on the Nursery blog so you see I have not really just been sitting on my rear doing nothing :) Credits are:
Most everything from SHABBY PRINCESS's CUDDLEBUG Kit

Staple - Flergs

Date labels and circles Kayla Lamoreaux

funky frame - Lauren Reid

Template - Moriginals

Wordart - Penny Springman

Stitches - Natali Design

Note paper Weeds and Wildflowers

P365 update

2009-02-17T14:14:00.000-08:00

Ya I know SLACKER!! I am just about ready to post all my P365 layouts. As you know our family business is a Landscape Nursery (I say landscape so you know I am not in daycare) :) and this is just starting into our season. Since the fire this past August I am now dealing with new programs or newer versions and it seems to be taking me a LOT longer!! lol

Plus Amber and I just put together 7 photo books so that took a bit of time too, ya excuses, excuses!! hee hee oh well here is my week four with 5 and 6 to follow shortly!

I will have to list the credits when I get on my other computer later this evening!

OH and if you get a chance stop by this blog and say hi! http://valleyviewnursery.blogspot.com/

Ok here are the credits!

Staple Katie Hadfield

Elements Creating Keepsakes

Date Labels and Circles Kayla Lamoreaux

Button Lisa Whitney

Paper Word strips- Word art & Border Weeds & Wildflowers

Zig Zag stitches Shabby miss Jenn

Paint Fei Fei

Starburst stitches Jasmin-Olya

Project 365 Week 3

2009-02-05T06:57:00.001-08:00

I know I am behind on my layouts, not my pictures but getting them in layouts yes! And we are just STARTING into the busy season at WORK! lol

Credits are:

Everything from Teri Mayo's kit Plum crazy in Love an exclusive kit for VIP members at Digital Arts Cafe
Except for

The stitching which is from Teri's Kinda Funky Kit

The Date labels from Kayla Lamoreaux

The Happy Thoughts word art from Sue Cummings

The Staples by Flergs in The Daily Digi January Kit

NICE Surprise!!

2009-02-01T17:55:00.001-08:00

I always check out The Daily Digi, love the tips and Janet Phillips is just one of those gals you enjoy reading about.

I decided to buy the grab bag for January and MAN OH MAN I am glad I did, what a FABULOUS deal. Now I can hardly wait till the February grab bag is ready!

Much to my great surprise and HONOR as I was looking thru the blog, I came across one of MY layouts! WOO HOO put a huge ole smile on my face :) So I figured I had best get it posted here too :)

Credits are:

Sue Cummings Happy Thoughts

Paislee Press - Date

Everything else from the Daily Digi January Grab Bag.

Flergs - Notepaper - Paint - Background paper

Melissa Bennett - Red Frame - Sweetie tag

Shabby Miss Jen - Leaves - Button - Flower - Tag - Lace

Pineapple Plantation - Stitches

Vera Lim - Acrylic Frame - Music overlay

Kinda Funky Kit by Teri Mayo

2009-01-30T06:34:00.000-08:00

I am trying to get all of 2008 scrapped so I can put a book together for Kaylie, here is another Pool layout cause for 2.5 months she was in the pool every day we had her! lol I used Teri Mayo's Kinda Funky kit on this one.

Credits are:

Everything from "Kinda Funky" by Teri's Thing-O-My-Jigs designer Teri Mayo

Teri's shops Pretty Scrappy - Digital Paper Hearts - DigitalArts-Cafe

Except

the butterfly stamp by Karen Russell - Polka Dot Potato

the date stamp - Amber Clegg - ScrapArtist

2009-01-27T21:01:00.000-08:00

This is one I almost forgot to share, Kaylie and Carson. He is my niece's little guy so I think that makes them second cousins? They were pretty dang cute together :)Sue Cummings White Wash Paper
Absolutly Family wordart Sue Cummings
Sweet Childhood_Vicki and Taylortogether_Vicki and TaylorFamily Ties_Vicki and Taylor
fibers Jen Wilson Nostalgia
Cherish Jen Wilson Nostalgia
Staple Flergs rough and tumble
TaylorMade Stitched & Stated Frames

Don't Miss Out On THIS!

2009-01-24T10:31:00.000-08:00

***Edited***
So this was a one time coupon! oops I had no idea they did that, here I was trying to Advertise for them :( I had my book all ready to order and put my code in only to get THIS COUPON HAS ALREADY BEEN USED! Crapola, I did email them but I have not heard anything back. Totally bummed cause now it will be $30. I am checking into doing a ArtsCow book, they offer your 1st one for only $6.99 and I have read from other scrappers that their books are good too. I will post what I find out. - Brooke

Oh you do not want to miss this, especially if you are like me and still have NEVER done a hardback book. I want to and I am GOING to this time cause I can try it for FREE!! Oh ya baby

It says:
Get Started Today at www.ck.shutterfly.com/inspire
To enjoy your special offer:
Sign up for your free Shutterfly account (or sign in if you're already a member)
Upload your photos
Create an 8x8 photo book
Enter promotion code CK47-9FHU-ZNG2-0R777N at checkout to redeem your FREE* photo book offer. Offer expires February 28, 2009

Fine print:

*Offer expires February 28, 2009. Free 8x8 photo book includes initial set of 20 pages. Offer good on all Shutterfly 8x8 photo books with photo cover. All incremental pages will be charged on a per page rate. Premium licensed photo books (including Martha Stewart Photo Books & Adventure Photo Books), as well as leather and padded photo books are not included in this offer. Taxes, shipping and handling charges will apply.

Photo Tag

2009-01-23T15:16:00.000-08:00

My friend Beth sent me a photo challenge, the rules are:

Go to where you store your photos on your computer.

Go to the SIXTH folder and pick the SIXTH photo.

Post that photo on your blog along with a SHORT story about it.

Tag SIX people and leave a comment on their blog or email them letting them know you chose them.

Only this is the 5th photo not the 6th cause I only had 5 photos in my 6th folder! You really DON'T want to know how many folders of photos I have. Thank Heavens for Carbonite :)

Kaylie LOVES to be all snuggled in our bed for her nap. She will fall asleep in a flash as long as she is cozy and can still SEE me or Justin. Who ever is putting her down for her nap just has to sit at the computer where she can have a straight view and she is off to dreamland. Heaven forbid if you should get up before she falls asleep cause you would think the world had come to an end! lol It is a good time for me to catch up on my Digi Scrapping, it is the ONLY time I get on the computer when she is around.

These are the gals I am tagging, have fun and I will be watching for the photos!

1. Amber

2. Laura Plunk

3. Lauren

4. Liv

5. Teri

6. Laura-Dolcepics

2009-01-20T07:44:00.000-08:00

I have the pleasure of creating a couple of layouts with Teri Mayo's new kit 'He Loves Me'. So of course I had to do a layout with Paul and I, especially because my good friend Laura took this photo and I LOVE it. That is not something that happens very often. lol

This layout just sort of came together, I love it when that happens! I also love when a kit has some diverse elements so you can pick and choose different pieces for different looks. What a great kit and what a sweet gal Teri is! Credits are:
Every thing from Teri Mayo's new kit He Loves Me!

Except for
Paint - Fei Fei's Stuff
Fonts:Desperado! - He Loves ME
Bambino - Date
Em - still and 30 years later

Etsy & Amber

2009-01-18T14:15:00.000-08:00

How cool is this! Amber is now selling her jewelry on Etsy, I love it. She only has a few designs loaded now but is working on getting more in her Etsy shop.
Check it out here: Diva Designs
I am really excited for her and a bit impressed even if she is my kiddo :)

Crazy about Rocks

2009-01-17T20:33:00.000-08:00

Kaylie can't seem to walk outside without picking up some rocks. At least now she is not trying to pick up ones that are as big as she is! These photos are from last June and yes I am just now getting them scrapped! lol I have made more layouts in the last 3 months than I have in a LONG time. Feels good to be getting some finished, I really want to do a photo book and also get them printed for Kaylie's Scrapbook. Credits are:
Frame - Sue Cummings & Paper -(layered and recolored)
Wordart - Taylormade
Date Stamp - Lace stamp - Paint Fei Fei's Stuff
Pink heart pin - Gina Cabrera
Brush - Obsidian Dawn
Rock Hunting Font - Rusted Plastic

Project 365 - Crystal Wilkerson's kit

2009-01-13T21:34:00.000-08:00

My 2nd week of Project 365, I will be able to share week one with you soon and I am pretty excited to tell you all about it. But it will have to wait for a few more days!

This FABULOUS kit was given to me by Crystal Wilkerson of 2 peas in a bucket, LOVE these colors and I am a sucker for a kit with Orange. It comes with templates too so this was a SUPER easy layout to put together! Crystal gave it to us over at Digi Scrapbooking 101, she wanted some people to use it and help her get her name out there before it went into her store. Just another WONDERFUL benefit of belonging to the Digi Scrapbooking 101 site :)

I decided to keep my journaling font the same thru this entire project and to keep the Week of and the Date all in the same font so that it will flow a little. Other than that I don't plan on keeping it uniform. Just like a scrapbook with different layouts. I think I might get bored with it if I could not change things. But I might find it is more than what I can keep up with and then I will re-think my plan! lol

Journaling page 1:
Thursday - Little miss space cadet totally zoning out while watching her Veggie Tales or Care Bears movie. Her tricycle is a little big for her but it certainly doesn't seem to slow her down!

Friday - Kaylie loves her Farm - Set we got her for Christmas, especially when she can get Grandpa and Daddy to play with her. She calls it Farm - Set, not Farmset, two separate words with a definite pause in the middle. I think that is what Paul called it the 1st time they played with it and that just stuck with her.

Saturday - Check out how Kaylie is STYLIN’ here! Jeans and a thermal shirt cause it is January and cold, then add a Hawaiian lei and her snow hat to top it off. She was quite proud of this ensemble and I have to say she looks pretty stinking cute in whatever she wears as long as there is a grin to go with it!

Journaling page 2:

Sunday - Progress on our Slate, Paul got the entry and under the stairs all set in the thin set today. He also cut enough slate for the kick-plate from the landing to the entry and for the ledge along the stairs. This is going to be so nice to have finished. Yes the window sills will also all be slate covered too. WOO HOO!

Monday - Our Stair Protector. This was our Christmas gift from Rocky and Barb this year. Isn't it adorable, they said it was supposed to go out on the deck but I think it is just pretty darn cute right here on our stairs. Totally makes me think it looks like it is keeping all the booger- bears from coming upstairs at night! lol

Tuesday - Kaylie doing her best impression of her Daddy! She loves it when she gets a hold of his dirty old hat and his sunglasses. The glasses will only stay on if they go on OVER the hat, otherwise she will walk around with her finger on the nose piece of the glasses.

Wednesday - Meet Robbie our Roomba robot vacuum! Oh my I love this little black cleaning demon. This was our Christmas present from Paul folks this year and what a WONDERFUL gift it was. He comes on every day at 10 am and cleans like crazy. Seems almost spooky but hey who am I to question technology!

credits are:
365 kit by Crystal Wilkerson - paper - flowers - template - buttons - borders - stitches
Sue Cummings - Label - Paint - Wordart
Flergs - bling brads
Kayla Lamoreaux - Founder of Digi Scrapbooking 101 - Date circles and labels

Fonts:
DJB JENB2 - Darcy Baldwin -Sweet Shoppe Designs
CK Becky Higgins - Creating Keepsakes
Downcome - Da Font

SO FLIRTY!

2009-01-12T20:40:00.000-08:00

Jess Gordon's new kit So FLIRTY at Sunshine studios! I love this kit, here is the layout I did with it. I am really enjoying doing layouts of 'regular' life :) I love working with Jess, she is just such a sweetie! I made a candy bar wrapper from her kit and she is giving it away on her blog as a freebie. Can you believe that I actually made a FREEBIE lol! Go to Jess's blog and pick it up if youare interested HERE

Credits are:

Jess Gordon - Christmas Heart: White stamp(recolored) - Pink glitter stamp (recolored) - Staple - Metal heart button
Jess Gordon - Curled edges - Scrapbook Ideas
Sue Cummings - Word Art - Oscraps

Monique - cardboard

2009-01-11T06:50:00.000-08:00

Snow we had a while back. I don't think I will ever tire of our view! We lived in town for so long just praying to find a place out of town. Yep Prayer answered :)

This was another layout done on our New Years trip. I was trying to use different colors than I seem to always reach for. I like blue but it is not a color I tend to scrap with so this was me trying to break out a bit! lol

Sue Cummings paint from her 'Happy Today' Series (recolored)
Sue Cummings paper color wash (recolored)
Jen Wilson flourish and Month title
Font - Porcelain Free at Da Font
Paul Grand's - Free Overlay - Scratches Inverted

Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend!

Duck Duck Goose

2009-01-08T14:36:00.000-08:00

We got this duckbill on our trip to New Jersey 2 summers ago. This past summer I pulled it out for Kaylie and we were all surprised that she could get it to 'honk' because you really have to blow on it HARD. I don't know who laughs harder, Kaylie when she 'honks' or the rest of us cause she is laughing at her big accomplishment!

Journaling reads:

You love to ‘honk’on this Duck bill, it makes you laugh almost every time. Which is total entertainment for us!

Credits are:

Background Paper & Frame paper - Sue Cummings - Nantucket - Oscraps

Happy Thoughts - Sue Cummings - My Chalkboard

Journaling element - Jen Wilson - Journaling Pieces

Heart Brush - Taylormade - from the heart - Oscraps

Paper strips, July & 2008 word art, Ink Cluster, Stitches - Taylormade & Fei Fei_In Retrospect kit - Oscraps

Glitter Alpha - Misty Cato

Font - Tall Paul free at Da Font

Christmas Wreath

2009-01-07T09:07:00.000-08:00

Here is a layout I did in the truck yesterday on our trip up and back to woodburn. Paul needed to pick up some trees for the Nursery so I decided to ride along! Gotta just love digi, that was the quickest 10 hour trip ever! lol I did another one of Kaylie, not a Christmas one though cause like a dummy I didn't bring those pictures. I will try and get it posted tomorrow or the next day.

Credits
Back ground Paper - Sue Cummings - Whitewash - white and dirty @ Oscraps
Paper strips & ric rak - Sue Cummings - Simply Quick Christmas kit @ Oscraps
Acrylic Flair - Sue Cummings - Christmas Buttons @ Oscraps
Celebrate Christmas wordart - Sue Cummings - Happy Thoughts {today} @ My Chalkboard
Beautiful wordart - Elizabeth Quinata - Beautiful Mess
Staple - Flergs - Rough and tumble @ Scrapbook Graphics
Stamp - Shandy Vogt - Vintage Floral
Journaling font - DJB Jenb2 Darcy Baldwin
Date font - Times New Yorker from Da Font

We are getting the shower door installed in our master bathroom so we can finally take showers in it! WOO HOO that was our Christmas present to each other this year.

This is a picture of Paul working on it cause I forgot to take one right before the installer got here!

Yes Paul has done all the tiling in the entire house, this weekend he is going to work on getting our stairs tiled. He got all the backer board down last weekend so on to the tile now.

WOO HOO here it is! Isn't it LOVELY! :)

Traditions

2009-01-05T10:30:00.001-08:00

This is another layout I made during our New Year's mini Vacation over at my Brother and SIL's place. Gotta Love digi, to be able to scrap while still enjoying all the conversation and fun!

Kaylie got such a kick out of 'helping' Grami decorate. I love how so many ornaments are all clustered right where she wanted them! lol Plus do you see the little half squat she is doing? I guess she was to TALL and needed to get a little closer! ha ha

Credits are:

Sue Cummings - Holiday Tradition word art with snowflake

Sue Cummings - 2008 Christmas photos tag

Julie - Large Tradition word art

Nicole Young - Background paper & frame paper (Note these designs are at 200ppi)

Darcy Baldwin - Font - DJB Jen2

Christmas layout Challenge

2009-01-01T20:51:00.000-08:00

I did this layout for a Challenge on Sue Cummings site, but I am a bit late for the challenge. Oh well at least I got a layout finished :) I love Sue's style and as you know I always appreciate a bit of a push to get layouts finished! lol Credits: Everything from Sue Cummings
Store
Blog

Austynn Faith

2008-12-23T06:58:00.000-08:00

Miss Austynn Faith came into our world on November 7th. She is my niece Cristin's 2nd child and such a cutie. Look at all that HAIR, my kids never had hair like that but Cristin sure did. Funny how seeing new babies makes you think back to your own and the other babies you have known. Fun little flash backs :) I love how bundled up she is in this, it just cracked me up! Auntie Amber enjoying some cuddles

Love the eye contact, just precious!
Great Grandpa, or in our case Papa is getting such a kick out of the little Missy letting us know she is ready to be fed!

Wishing each and everyone a Very Merry Christmas

and a Blessed New Year!

My two Beautiful Girls!

2008-12-17T12:08:00.000-08:00

Laura came over last night to take some family photos for us (Thank you GF!)
I absolutely LOVE this one of Amber and Kaylie. I will post more as I get them all spiffed up :)

This is the 1st time I have blended a overlay over a photo like this, pretty fun! Is everyone shocked out of their seats because I blogged THREE DAYS IN A ROW!! :)

Overlay by Carla Phillips

Snow

2008-12-15T21:19:00.001-08:00

Some photos off my deck this morning, if I didn't have such a cute little Granddaughter I would use one of these for my Christmas Card! lol

Frames by Karen Russell at Polka Dot Potato

Actions on Photos by Totally Rad Actions

Christmas Party and Ornament Exchange

2008-12-14T20:59:00.000-08:00

Here is our Beautiful Hostess AKA Domestic Goddess

and once you have seen her

home you know she totally deserves that title!Laura with her ummm 'shit eating grin' all night, but that is a story for another day.

Good friends from No Bare Pages and new ones too!Of course my cute Daughter AmberCheck out Audrey with her new sassy hair!Crazies in the Kitchen, of course Robin is in the middle of that! lolThe feast, we had another table for the desserts and a counter for the drinks tooI have soooo been wanting to do one of these and this just pushed me over the edge! Is this not a stunning canvas, hence the name Domestic Goddess!
Last but not least Shadow, he is such a sweet wonderful dog!

What a fun evening at Janie's house! Thanks so much for opening your home for the party and what a beautiful home you have. Next time I know to plan to be at your house all NIGHT! lol

Christmas Traditions

2008-12-11T15:02:00.000-08:00

Amanda Taylor's new kit is in the store! Yee Haw :) I will be back after I go exercise with Amber (yes where she is trying to KILL ME lol) to post details!

So here's the scoop! Amanda (Taylormade designs) is having a great challenge on her blog,

she has a awesome posting gift if you make a layout and link it in your post! Most of you

know I love Amanda's creative style and you also know when I find something I love

I like to let everyone know! Woo Hoo

Here is my take on her challenge. Traditions, Teddy bears and Berries!

Funny how things you love and do every year are often very different than

the next person's traditions. For us above all putting Christ 1st and

remembering the birth of our Lord is always number one! :)As you know it is RARE for me to do a layout that is not centered around KAYLIE! lol

Credits are:

Most of the layout is done using Shine On kit by Amanda Taylor
All papers - most elements and word art

Holiday traditions word art by Paislee Press
Journaling brush by Jessica Sprague
Date brush by Jilly Bean Designs
Postmarked Holiday brush by Katie Pertiet

Asante Craft Fair

2008-12-01T19:25:00.001-08:00

If you are in the area and looking for a craft fair with some amazing bargains come by the

'Asante Craft Fair' December 1st from 7am to 4pm in the carpenter rooms and

yes it is open to the public. This is Amber's table from last year, she has

fabulous hand made jewelry - some cute cards and

some warm and cozy crocheted scarves.

I will be sitting with her tomorrow to keep her company so come by and see us!See ya there!

Ps Kaylie's latest 'Kaylie-ism' instead of telling me she is hungry she goes to the fridge

and says 'eating'. I ask her if she is hungry and I get a big YES! lol

she cracks me up :)

Big Girl Panties! lol

2008-11-24T09:59:00.001-08:00

Jess Gordon has just opened shop over at Sunshine Studio Scraps. I answered her one kit CT call and was lucky enough to get to play with her new Christmas Kit 'Christmas Heart'. This is what she said helped to inspire her kit:

"Let us remember that the Christmas heart is a giving heart, a wide open heart that thinks of others first. The birth of the baby Jesus stands as the most significant event in all history, because it has meant the pouring into a sick world the healing medicine of love which has transformed all manner of hearts for almost two thousand years... Underneath all the bulging bundles is this beating Christmas heart." -- George Matthew Adams

Oh my gosh how wonderful is that! Totally puts the focus right back where it should be.

Besides being a fabulously talented Digi Designer,

Jess is an amazingly open, sharing

Christian Woman who I am proud to know.

This layout has been bouncing around in my head since the last weekend we had Kaylie. I just love each new milestone she reaches in her little life, this one was to cute not to share.

Credits - Everything from Jess Gordon's Christmas Heart kit

Here is a Card I made from Jess's kit too.

A Smile is a whisper of a Laugh, Free word art by Katie Pertiet over at Designer Digitals.

- Thanks Jess for letting me play!

Awards!

2008-11-23T20:50:00.000-08:00

I received this award from both my long time friend Beth and my new friend Liv, aren't they totally sweet for giving this to me! Sure put a smile on my face to be considered 'Creative' :) The rules are I have to list 6 things that make me Happy and 6 other bloggers to give this award to!

1. Living where we are free and can openly worship God
2. Being married to my Bestest Friend
3. Having my kids live close and having lots of Family near by
4. Crafting and hanging out with my daughter Amber
5. Watching Kaylie Sue grow
6. Having friends,who are far away in miles but close thanks to the good ole WWW!!!

It is hard to only choose 6 people to pass this on to!
Amanda of Taylor Made - who creates fabulous kits and shares wonderful Tutorials
Laura - Hybrid Crafter Extraordinaire
Amber - the Queen of Beads and so much more :)
Natali Designs - Creator of 'the perfect' Word Art
Sueli Colbert - Talented maker of Photoshop Stamps that are so Great!
Kayla Lamoreux - Wearer of oh so Many hats and Creator of The Digital Scrapbooking 101 site!

The Body Shop and Happy Feet!

2008-11-20T07:08:00.000-08:00

Oh my gosh I had a blast last night! Thank you so much to everyone who took time out of

their busy lives to come and play with us :) Here we are with our feet all nice and smooth,

yep we got some HAPPY FEET! lolCynthia won the door prize but the photo I took of her is all blurry, so ya just have to use your imagination and know she was a happy camper! lol

Marna won the drawing so she is picking out her prize, isn't she just a cutie
Pam was a neighbor when we lived in Ashland, we have been friends for over 20 years.
She is one of those truly sweet zany people that you just love having in your life.
That is Maria with her, she is a foreign exchange student who is staying with
Pam's family this year. This is Hannah who is Pam's Daughter, I have (of course) known Hannah since she was born.

It has been fun to have a friend who has a younger child. Pam's boys are the same age as

my kids so when Hannah came onto the scene our kids were a lot older.

Pam says Hannah keeps her young :)
Isn't she a knock out, I think Pam needs to get a SHOT GUN! lol

Well, that was a part of our fun evening, I didn't take any photos of the food
or the Margarita's but we had PLENTY of both! :)
I didn't get a picture of Amber at work and I should have,
guess I was enjoying my margarita to much to take enough photos!
Edited to add:
If you are wanting to order any Body Shop Products just click on
the green logo at the top right it will take you right to Amber's website.
They are having some AMAZING Deals right now, just in time for Christmas!!

2008-11-14T12:58:00.000-08:00

For those of you who can't quite tell, Kaylie is a Giraffe :)

Finally getting another layout posted. Figured I had best get these posted before THANKSGIVING! lol Kaylie had a blast on Halloween, even though we didn't get quite as much time with her as we thought we were going to. We all still had fun, watching her. Took her to a few houses, Auntie Amber's house was the 1st stop cause she didn't want to miss out on all the fun and came along with us :) Then we went out to the Table Rock Christian Fellowship for a super fun carnival. It was a great 'safe' and FUN place to hang out.

Journaling Reads:

You made such a CUTE little Giraffe with your little padded tummy and bottom. We only stopped and trick or treated at a few houses and then went to the party out at Table Rock Christian Fellowship. You were having the time of your life! Daddy, Auntie Amber, Grandpa & Grami all went just to be with YOU!

Credits:

Scrapmuss template 03

Misty Mareda - Pumpkin pie paper a freebie from last year

Gina Cabrera - Extreme Grunge paper pack Dark Black

sue cummings_absolutely.positively. tricksandtreats-halloween word art

Fei fei crazy beautiful Stamp (Which I seem to be loving a LOT) from her FREE LAYERED QUICK PAGE

Pumpkin Carving!

2008-11-10T07:54:00.000-08:00

I just love the concentration she puts into things! Check out the messy left hand, while she is not a prissy little girl and can get dirty with the best of them. She really does not like 'stuff' on her hands! lol

Paul and I had a great weekend at the coast, it was the 1st day he has taken off since our Oktoberfest the beginning of October, so yes it was a much needed break! Friday afternoon and evening were really nice, we walked to dinner,I had a thin sweater for a jacket and I was totally comfortable. We woke up to rain on Saturday but since we were really just relaxing and we had a great view of the ocean, we really didn't mind. We did some milling around and even watched some MOVIES! lol Most of you know that Amber is a consultant for 'The Body Shop' (products that I LOVE). She actually became a consultant after having so many parties. She decided since she loved the product and so do I she might as well just go for it! lol I am having a Girls Night Out party here at the house on Wednesday and want everyone to feel welcome to come! If you need to order anything she can have it sent to you no problem and there are some AMAZING specials for Christmas right now. I have a link to her site at the top right corner of my blog or just click HERE to be taken to her site.

The pumpkin carving layout is a free Layered Quick Page from Fei Fei over at Oscraps. A layered quick page is so much more fabulous than a png file cause it is so easy to make it your own! I loved it but wanted the word art to be more relevant to my layout so I totally lifted her idea and made my own!

It is a png file with no background and you are welcome to it if you can find it useful :) Just click on the wordart to go to 4Shared. Can you believe I am actually sharing something FREE! lol If you have any problems just leave me a comment, I really don't know what I am doing with 4shared! :)

Credits on the layout:
Fei Fei: Oscraps - FREE Template 'Some Stuff'
Fei Fei and Taylor Made: kit 'In Retrospect'

Have a Great week and I hope to see you Wednesday night!

2008-11-08T09:42:00.000-08:00

October flew by and I was once again a rotten blogger! I will try to do better this month, seems like the only time I get any scrapping done anymore is when we go on a trip and I have my laptop in the car! We headed to the coast for the weekend for our belated anniversary trip. We just could not seem to get away in September so this was a perfect time to escape.
I LOVE this page, all I did was slip my photo in and put the date on it. HOW FABULOUS is that! I am working on some other ones of Kaylie carving pumpkins and in her costume, so hopefully I will have something fun to post in a day or so!
Credits
You can get this Fabulous quick page too
Julie Scraps

Fall Fun

2008-10-28T10:41:00.001-07:00

It has already been over a week since I posted and I have no idea where the time is going!

Dang it lol

Maybe it is getting sucked in by Photoshop while I play with photos.Credits are:

Angela Barton - Flexible Features BW Frame Sweet Shoppe Designs
Karen Russell - Grunge Frame Polka Dot Potato

Pumpkin Patch Quick Post

2008-10-20T07:22:00.001-07:00

Seven Oaks Pumpkin Patch

Getting Kaylie to hold still long enough for me to take a picture of her was a major feat! lol She was going from one spot to the other like crazy. Lots of fun to watch her have fun :) There were kids waiting for a turn on the tractor so she had about 30 seconds on it. Kaylie would really rather play with the other kids more than she wants to play with things. I was glad to have this shot even if it is not the best, sort of shows how she was on the go! lol
I will post some of the pony ride, goat petting and carving pumpkins later.

Right now I have to get ready before the little Missy wakes up!

Kaylie talk for Pumpkin - Bumpk bin

Water - Wet - FEET!

2008-10-18T05:35:00.000-07:00

No photos of the pumpkin patch yet so here is a coast layout from my play weekend of scrapping with Amber! Journaling Reads:

As we got closer to the coast I told you we would go down to the Beach

so you could put your feet in the water and get wet.

All we kept hearing from you was WATER - WET - FEET!

You were more than READY to play in the water

Credits:
Heather Landry: Template (her tou says Elemental Scraps but I think she has moved stores)
LaurasKathi: Gabs kit - Funky Playground Designs
Traci Murphy: Taking Notes - Funky Playground Designs
Nicole Young: Grungy Pup Alpha - Digital Scrapbook Place
Lori Barnhurst: Instantly Shabby Overlays - Little Dreamer Designs

Enjoy every moment

2008-10-17T05:30:00.000-07:00

I took this photo Tuesday afternoon when the wind had started to blow. Kaylie was loving the beautiful afternoon and the fresh air! We are going to go to the Pumpkin Patch this weekend so you know there will be lots of photos to follow. Carving pumpkins this weekend too, we will see which pumpkin Kaylie finally decides on. We were gone last week so it has been 12 days since Paul and I have seen Kaylie, she looks like she grew 3 inches! lol Funny how quickly they change at this age. She is now calling herself Kaylie but instead of Kay Lee like we say it with the emphasis on Kay she says Kayleeeee with the emphasis on the eeeee so totally cute. Journaling Reads:

You are so proud of the pumpkins we grew, you are sure having a hard time deciding which one is yours! Such a windy day, your hair is flying all over the place :) but you don’t care as long as you can play OUTSIDE!

I am addicted to Taylor Made templates and Natali Design word art (as if you can't tell) I love it when designers create things that make my life easier and when their products sort of SING TO ME! lol. I am in the process of going thru the tutorials Amanda (Taylor Made) has on her blog. I love learning how to make the most of my layouts :)

The date up in the corner is by Misty Cato who is such a sweet sweet gal. She puts up some fabulous tutorials on her blog!

Credits:

Taylor Made Designs: Frame and heart brushes
Foxy Designs: Paper
Natali Designs: Word Art
Misty Cato: Month Labels 2008
Font: SS Play
Totally Rad Action: Yin Yang on Photo

Moments Captured

2008-10-15T05:46:00.000-07:00

I am REALLY LOVING these templates by TaylorMade. They are so simple to add your own touch to and they have that Artsy look I can not achieve on my own. LOVE IT :)

I also really really like these great word art packages by Natali Designs. Such a great way to add a fabulous flair to a page!

Journaling reads:
You could not get enough of running back & forth on the Beach. You would run up & get a rock or a shell then run right back to Grandpa & I to show us what your treasure was. It was one of those Sunny but still brisk days at the beach and you were having the time of your life. We had so much fun just watching you to see what you wanted to do next.

Credits:
Taylor Made: 'Sketch 2' Oscraps
Natali Designs: 'Playing with Word Art Vol 2' Scrapbook Graphics
KSharonKDesigns: Kraft Paper freebie from her blog
Amber Clegg: 'Date it' Scrapbook Artist
Erin Keith: 'Journal this' Elemental Scraps

New FREE Class! Stories in Hand

2008-10-14T05:36:00.000-07:00

Oh I am excited about 'Stories in Hand', I need all the help I can get

when it comes to the 'stories' of what ever event I am scrapping.

Besides did you see it is FREE! WOWZERS

So check it out and join me in a class, sounds fun!!

Sweet Innocence

2008-10-12T20:35:00.001-07:00

Scrapbooked with Amber this weekend and finally got a couple of layouts finished!

WOO HOOJournaling reads:

You are such a joy to watch grow, We love to just sit back and watch you explore your world! Here you are sitting on Grami’s quad turning the handle and trying to figure out if you can

‘make it go’! Love the total concentration on your sweet little face. Before we know it you

will be driving us around! (Just kidding on the part where she will be driving us

around, it will be YEARS before she is driving!) lol

Credits:

Taylor Made: Sketch 3
Jennifer Barrette: Simply - Retro Paper
Katie Pertiet: Postmarked New Years 2008 Stamp

A little DIRT never HURT!

2008-10-06T20:21:00.001-07:00

This is what Kaylie's clothes looked like after a day out planting trees with Grandpa! Daddy was out there supervising but since he has a BIG OWIE he is not allowed to do anything. I of course was on hand too, someone has to be there to take the photos! lolKaylie thinks she is the tractor driver! She is such a good girl, while she would really rather be in Grandpa's lap all the time on the tractor. I told her he can't work the handles and hold her but he would let her ride with him back to the top when we were done. Now I did have to remind her a few times but she never thru a fit, she is so good when you explain things to her. (well unless she is to tired and then LOOK OUT) LOL She thinks she is the tractor driver on this one too! But she just gets to sit and pretend on this one. I am sure she will be out driving it one day but not anytime to soon. In the mean time she can sit here and 'drive' as much as she wants :)
Look at that dirty little hand, just made me chuckle when I saw these little fingers!
Now you can see why she is so dirty, she thought she needed to inspect each and every hole.

Plus we have a big dirt pile up by the tomatoes, which is just perfect for digging in.
So now you know how we spend a beautiful afternoon at Aspen Ridge :)

Sweet Sweet Friend

2008-09-29T18:03:00.000-07:00

I love this photo of Valerie that Laura took at Route 5 last year. It shows a little bit of the twinkle and spark she had. We spent one evening setting out on my deck way past dark sipping 'Mikes' and solving the worlds problems. She will be missed by so many people.

We are all saddened today by the loss of a dear friend. Valerie suffered a major seizure yesterday, she taken to Providence and put on life support, she was taken off life support this afternoon. Such a shock, I just can't believe it. Prayers for Lindsay and the family.

Where is Kaylie??

2008-09-25T20:11:00.001-07:00

I know it is hard to see her here you have to look really hard because she is hiding so well! lol You know metal tomato cages are great camouflage! hee heeYou need to really search again to find her in this photo because she is really hidden well.

This just totally cracks me up. :)
The 'Hiding' game started when Justin, Kaylie and I were playing chase and hiding from each other. I said something about going and hiding, she thought it was hilarious when Justin would come search for her. Now it is Hide-Hide-Hide all the time, but I think we just might need to work on her choice of hiding places!

Sunrise

2008-09-24T21:22:00.000-07:00

I didn't get Kaylie's 'Hiding' photos uploaded off my camera so here are some

Sunrise photos from September 18th. Yes the day of our Anniversary!

I think because we are still having so much smoke it

completely turned the sky into fire,

ya know where there is smoke there is FIRE! lol

Hopefully I will catch a bit of time tomorrow to get the photos off my camera,

but tomorrow is a 'Kaylie' day so I don't know how much extra time I will have.

I pretty much spend every moment I can with the little miss :)

Oh and I picked up a couple of ADORABLE Halloween costumes,

yes I said a couple cause I could not decide which one!

Our Anniversary 31 Great Years!!

2008-09-23T16:17:00.001-07:00

Dinner at Callahan's is sort of a tradition here in the Valley. One of those places you can go in a formal or in shorts and be fine, how that works I don't know, I just know it works. This was our 1st time back after they re-opened, It burned completely down last year and it took some time to re-build. Mostly I think the time was taken up by getting permits but in the long run they have done a great job. Very similar to the old lodge but yet quite different.
I had to laugh at our picture, we sort of have a deer in the headlights look! I ran totally rad action Yin/Yang on this to darken the background. I love those actions and the fact that Doug has tutorials on his website on how to use them!

One little bit of Mushy, I have to say I LOVE this man :)

Ken Hart sang wonderfully, soft and nice background.

Not to loud but loud enough that you could understand the words.

He sang a song to us about doing all over again and still

choosing each other.

I actually got a little choked up

Had to take a picture of the sign, just makes me smile to see it all bright again!

Tomorrow, Kaylie's new 'Hiding' skills! lol

Our Coast Trip & Kaylie at the Beach (Finally)!

2008-09-20T10:31:00.001-07:00

Here are a tiny few of the HUGE amount of photos I took on our Coast Weekend. Our 1st time with Kaylie at the beach and she had a BLAST!Starting out the trip with a good nap is always a great way to fuel up!

Because she hit the beach at FULL SPEED! She was totally hilarious, she simply could not decide which way to RUN! it was a beautiful day, shorts and sweatshirts with lots of sun and no wind!

She kept us hopping with her running around like a little crazy person. You can't see him but Paul is just to the right of her in this photo. The ocean is nothing to mess around with, we kept pretty close tabs on her.

She found a ummm 'beautiful' rock which of course we had to bring home! lol

Grandpa is showing her what is inside a shell, or what was left of something inside a shell. As you can see she thinks it is quite fascinating! Or at least for those 3 seconds she stood still.

She loved putting her feet in the water, but not the water coming up her legs. She is so darn short that it didn't take much for her to end up wet.

Is there anything in the world more joyous than a child's smile? Oh if we could all just keep that level of joy and not let the worries of the day to day grind get to us.

I think this is the last shot we got before that sneaker wave got us all wet!

I used Karen Russell brushes on all my photos. You can pick them up at Polka Dot Potato

and I used Totally Rad Actions, I can't seem to get along with out them anymore! lol

That's it for now, I really need to get out on the tractor and start mowing. We are wanting to get the entire place mowed one last time for the year! - Later Gaters

Tagged

2008-09-16T06:44:00.000-07:00

Amber Tagged me after Trisha Tagged her so here are some random things about us.

4 random things about my husband:
This is the hardest thing for me to come up with.

He is the hardest working Man I have ever known

When he gets really tickled I have to laugh cause he is laughing so hard

He is probably neater than I am

I am surprised at just how much he is enjoying Kaylie, I mean I knew he would love her but he is really enjoying having her around

4 movies that I would/could watch more than once:

(Ok, I have to say I am NOT a fan of watching movies over and over)
Grease - the original (saw this one so many times when Amber was still home)
Pretty Woman

4 tv shows I watch: I really don't watch much TV

24 I am soooo excited to finally see a new season coming!!
Privileged (new one that looks fun)
American Idol
Ghost Whisperer

4 places that I have been:
Germany (we visited Amber when she lived in Germany for a year)
Italy
France

Prague

4 people who email me regularly:
Amber (my daughter)
Renee

Jenn

Laura

4 favorite foods:
Mexican - Probably my favorite food!

Thai - but not to hot

Berry cobbler with vanilla ice cream! YUMMMM (does that count as 2)

4 places I would like to visit:
Sweden - Where my FIL's family came from

Australia - To see some good friends

The East coast in the Fall

Lots of places in Europe

4 things I am looking forward to in the coming year:

Getting a new office and getting settled in since ours burnt down

Putting in some GREEN around the house

Weekend get-away's with Paul

Some fun Girls/Scrapbook/Craft/Spa days with Amber and friends

Maybe Amber planning to start a family? :) lol

OOPS that was 5!

Ok I can't post without a photo so here is a photo of our Watermelon from our Garden. This puppy weighted 23.5 lbs!!

It was pretty dang tasty too lol

Stunned by fire

2008-08-26T22:02:00.001-07:00

Wow this is one of those things that is 'Never going to happen to you' Well it did, my Father-in-law and Mother-in-law lost their home in a fire this morning. They are both fine, PRAISE GOD!!! Everything else is just stuff. This is what we saw from our house this morning, it was actually much darker when we 1st saw it, but this was after we were there and came back to our house to pick up some stuff. Such a shock! We were having our coffee at about 5:15 when Paul spotted the fire and firetrucks in the vicinity of my in-laws home. Man we have never gotten dressed and out the door so quickly!

This is the TINY window they crawled out of. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE learn from this and check your smoke alarms & your escape route TODAY! My FIL is 82 and my MIL is 76 and I am AMAZED they could crawl out thru this little opening!! THANK YOU LORD!
They heard an explosion and my FIL thought something had fallen on the roof, he headed out of their bedroom and saw the glow of the fire and the smoke so he quickly went back into the bedroom and shut the door. The firefighters said tires make a huge explosion so that is probably what woke them up. Thank Heavens the car was in the carport.

The furthest window to the left of the ladder is where my office used to be. So besides this being my in-laws home it is also the main office of our business. Oh my gosh, what a mess and once again I am Praising God for all he as done for us. I think the insurance is going to be ok and we did not loose all the computer data. My Sil has been working on recovering hard drives and our Daughter spent the day helping out.

It is going to be a LONG road from here to get everything back in order and to get everything running full speed at our business, but it just could have been a very different story. Thank you LORD seems to be my mantra today. Please check your smoke detectors and your escape route!

Huge Pink Birthday Horse!

2008-08-26T06:30:00.000-07:00

Love these photos of Kaylie, she pets her huge pink horse, kisses it on the nose and says nice. She is a pretty quiet kid most of the time, only once in a while jabbering up a storm! More FUN with FLERGS!!

Credits
Studio Flergs @ scrapbookgraphics.com

Flergs Kit Kaylee's Kaleidoscope: paper - Ribbon - Wire - Charm - Flowers

Flergs Kit Deacon's Closet: Tag

Flergs Grab Bag - Fairy Wings: Butterfly - Girly Swirl - Boy stitches

Flergs Photo Curl Action

Weeds & Wildflowers: Word-art

Chere Nordstrand: Clearly Hearts Alpha

Fonts: Smudgers & SBC Love Mom

Cute enough to Kiss!

2008-08-25T07:26:00.000-07:00

This one is done with more fun stuff from Flergs kits. I used both Chasing Ryan and Denim Blues. I have to say this one just went together so QUICKLY, I think I did this in under 2 hours and if you know me that is WAY-WAY-WAY fast for me!! lol
Can you believe it 2 layouts in less than a week! WOW are you all shocked!!! lol

Credits everything Studio Flergs @ scrapbookgraphics.com

Chasing Ryan:

Bracket - Frame - Glitter Splat - Flower & Button - Paper for strips

Denim Blues:

Background Paper - Stitches - Star - Staples

Fonts:

Marcelle Script

BeanTown

2 Peas Scrapbook

Charles S.

Girls Night Out and Margaritas!

2008-08-24T14:23:00.000-07:00

A few of my dearest local friends came over Wednesday evening for a girls night with Margaritas and we had a great time. I really did a lousy job of getting pictures though! Laura would have gotten some great ones for me but her battery died. Started out the evening with light but it sure got dark quickly, we had a bit of wind but it was still a beautiful evening. I think we ended up with 12 of us and my margarita's turned out pretty dang good for my 1st try! lol
Amber brought all her Body Shop Goodies over to display for everyone to play with, everyone knows I am a HUGE Body Shop fan!
Ok, this last one just cracks me up, I totally took Amber off guard in this photo but it is pretty darn close to the look I used to get from her when she was about High School Age! Sort of the 'Oh MOM' look! lol Sure am glad we are past the Parent/Child stage and are now on to the FRIEND stage! :) Love you Kiddo
Thanks to everyone who came and made it a great evening! To those who missed the fun, hope you can make it next time!! Also sure do hope a certain someone gets that private jet soon so they can pop in from time to time! lol

OH and my Margarita Recipe:
1 can of Limeade then use that can to add
1 can of Beer (I used Corona cause that is what Paul drinks)
1 can of Tequila
1 can of Water (cause they would knock you off your feet otherwise)
Salt the rims of your glasses and pour the mixture over ice - YUM

Good thing these are just a once in a while thing at my house cause they were really pretty tasty!

Flerg's Guest CT for August

2008-08-19T20:00:00.000-07:00

I am a Guest CT for Flergs for the Month of August and yes this is the 1st layout I am posting, I am almost as slow Digi scrapping as I was with Paper scrapping. I LOVE Flergs (Megan) style and have since before she ever started selling her fabulous goodies :) So I feel more than honored to be able to say I was on her CT for a month.

I love to watch Paul interact with Kaylie, while Justin and I are always playing and entertaining her, Paul just quietly plays with Kaylie. Sometimes I think it is a welcomed break from the shenanigans Justin and I are always pulling! lol

Since it is the middle of August and this is my 1st layout it might be part of the reason that I was not chosen for a full time spot on Flergs CT. Ha ha
I love that she gives you the option to use her shadows or not to. For me it just makes things so much easier, which in turn makes it much more fun :) Plus she includes a screen shot of how to set your shadows like she does, totally cool if you ask me!

Credits everything by Flergs

Deacon's Closet: paper

Rough & Tumble: Staple

Kaylee's Kaleidoscope: Button, Flower and Tag

Chocolate Berry - Bling & Frame

Denim Blues: Tile Letters
What Dreams May Come: border
Font: Rebecca

I won!! WOO HOO

2008-08-14T05:59:00.000-07:00

You might have noticed the big blue blinking circle over to the right, well it was more than worth it to figure out how to put that on my blog cause I won!! WOO HOO I entered Kayla's (The Legacy Lady) giveaway and her daughter drew out my name!! (what a great kid) :)

This is in the mail and zipping to my house as I type!

I am so excited to get this, mini albums are so fun and you feel such a sense of 'accomplishment' when you finish one. - Thanks again Kayla!!

4 Daughters Irish Pub

2008-08-13T10:00:00.000-07:00

We had a great evening a couple of weeks ago at 4 Daughters Irish Pub downtown Medford. Good food and Great entertainment, I am not a huge Jazz fan but I do like this sort of rock Jazz. The group is called Razzamojazz and our friend and neighbor David Bolen is the drummer. He was playing with legendary Sax man Brandon Fields and it was awesome!

Had to shoot this one fast cause I sort of snuck in behind the gal who was taking photos! lol and the piano player said his knees were killing him :)

I love doing things like this that are way out of our normal 'box' and totally enjoying them.

Longwood Gardens

2008-08-08T08:01:00.000-07:00

This is where we spent the day yesterday. Beautiful old gardens that are extremely well tended. This is the Bell Tower and I am ever so grateful that we were not to close when they chimed cause can I say LOUD! OH MY GOSH I think it might have given me a Heart Attack! lol They do a fountain show about every two hours, it was sort of erie. Kind of looked like a ghost, I think in the evening it would be even more so. ha ha You all already know what a chicken I am! :) But it was outstanding
My cute honey-pie, this conservatory was HUGE with so many different rooms which all held different types of plants. But it was a bit humid inside in places.
These are so beautiful, I love the mottled patterns, they put a black dye in the water to hide the pots so it looks more pleasing to the eye and it cuts down on the algae too.
I love these big platters, they are grown from seed every year! We sat at the table on Wednesday morning with a gal from Tilley's Nursery who actually goes on expeditions to look for new species of water plants. They have found a new one and have not even named it yet as they are in the process of negotiation with the Brazilian Government. Pretty interesting to listen to her talk and see her passion for water plants!
It was a great day, we rented a car and didn't even make a wrong turn! Now to get to the airport and head home today :) My new shoes were wonderful to walk in, I have been bragging on this brand J-41 which is from the Jeep company!! Funny I know! When my strap broke yesterday at the garden I did not feel like bragging anymore! We will see how they are at customer service when I get home!!! I purchased them at Macy's but this was an easier link for the photo :) Cute and Comfy, now that is my kind of shoe. More than I usually pay for a shoe but I knew I was going to be walking a LOT and needed good support.

Ok we are headed out - Chat at ya when I get home!

My favorite thing from the vendor fair

2008-08-07T05:50:00.000-07:00

For me the #1 thing I want in a glove is COMFORT then the second thing needs to be durability. A HUGE added BONUS is if the glove is actually a NICE LOOKING glove. We have been carrying this glove for about a year and it is a FABULOUS glove! (Sorry for the blurry photo) They just keep making it better and better, now it is being made out of RECYCLED bottles! How crazy is that, the fabric is now even better. It is stronger and softer, what more can you ask for??? Love that this company is so innovative with the design, content and COLORS!

So how stinking cute are these!! We have wanted to carry a kids glove for quite a while now but so many of the kids gloves are made for one size only. Usually with LONG skinny fingers that would almost fit a small lady. West County now has 2 sizes one for a 3-5 year old and one for a 6-8 year old. This is probably the only pair of gloves a child would ever need cause they will last so well they can be passed down to the little brother or sister. I am so dang tickled!!! Ya they are about a $20 pair of gloves but how much better to spend that once on a good pair verses $7 3 or 4 times on a crappy pair? WOW can you tell I am HAPPY! :)

We are headed to Longwood Gardens today and need to rent a car to get there so wish us luck! lol

Tour Day

2008-08-06T14:45:00.001-07:00

The tour was great, I won't bore you with the details but it is always good to see what other Nurseries are doing that we might be able to implement into our Nursery! This is Oranges and Lemons Gaillardia or Blanket-flower, sometimes I wonder about who in the heck comes up with the names for these flowers! This bee was really working for his nectar.
This one is a Sunrise series Echinacea or Coneflower. Not the best photo of this flower but I was enjoying watching the bee and I LOVE coneflowers! Two of my favorite flowers are coneflowers and gaillardia, long blooming easy growers so what more can you ask for??
Lunch was FABULOUS provided by Conrad Pyle which is a big grower out here in the East. Thank heavens we had a shade cloth because it was pretty darn hot.
This is a close up of what was sitting on each of our place settings. How nice is this! I love it.

We ended the day with a dinner and visiting with some great people, lots of good times with some great business discussions mixed in. A long day for us West coast people who are still trying to adjust to the time change! I don't think it was this hard for me when we went to Europe to adjust to the different time. :) But then I was not drinking wine or coffee and kaula for the last 2 hours of the day. lol

A good day all in all, I will post some great stuff from the show in the morning before we head out to Longwood Gardens, well that is if I don't oversleep!

The Kellogg's gang are taking us out to dinner this evening so I had best get moving. - Later Gators :)

Sunrise in Cherry Hill New Jersey

2008-08-05T03:40:00.001-07:00

Here we are in Cherry Hill New Jersey and this is the sunrise out our window of the hotel. This is over the town so I just need to let ya know it is not quite as beautiful a view as this makes it look. I know I am totally spoiled because of the view from home! lol I am sure there are many beautiful views out here, just not from our hotel window! :)

It is 6:45 and we are getting ready to head down to breakfast before we go on the Nursery tours. A little early for us west coasters since it is only 3 stinking 45 in the morning! Oh well we are up and ready for an adventure. I just picked up a new 4GB card for my camera so I should be set!

I love having Internet in the hotel, makes me feel like I am closer to home.

Kaylie talk

2008-08-03T06:05:00.000-07:00

I started this post a couple of months ago because I want to get these words down before I forget.

One of the 1st 'big' words Kaylie learned was Fleeta, she loves Justin's horse and would stand at the window hollering Feeeeaa. She is ALWAYS ready to go take Fleeta a few carrots. :)

Instead of saying yes she says yashhhh, when you ask her 'Can you say' (insert any word you want) 9 times out of 10 she will say Yashhhh instead of the actual word!

She now calls Justin Dadeee instead of DaDa, it is so cute.

Sometimes she will say ha-low instead of hi.

She calls Auntie Amber Ah-mor, but mostly I ask her if she can say Auntie Amber and she says Yashh

She got so excited to see Amber's little dog (who wants NOTHING to do with Kaylie) Morial, she starts patting her leg and calling Morn-yal.

When you say something is ouchie she always wants to kiss it. I was telling her the star thistle has stickers and is owie, so she leans over to give it a kiss! Luckily I caught her quick enough!! I had her lightly touch the sticker to see it was poky but I am not 100% sure she got it!

We are starting to put her in a chair for time out, she will sit there and say no no no no. It makes it hard to not laugh so I usually have to 'work' on something to keep my face turned away. I don't want her to think it is a game but oh my gosh she is so cute!! lol

She started saying love you back to you when you tell her you love her, which is something she hears often! lol I about melted the 1st time I heard it. But she says it like zaaa zoo and not z like zeee but z as in Zia Zia Gabor (Thanks Amber for helping me figure that one out)

When she sees and Airplane she says airpne, sometimes when she sees a big hawk or vulture she will say airpne too! lol

Yellow wildflowers

2008-07-23T06:00:00.000-07:00

The view as I was leaving the house this morning. I have no idea what kind of flowers these are. Ok, I know because we have a nursery I SHOULD know EVERY PLANT, but I don't lol!! I do enjoy their beauty though. I love the little burgundy ring around the center too. God is such an amazing artist.
These also close up at night, such an interesting little beauty that must be tough as nails cause they get no water and we drive our quad over them!

As you can see the smoke is not nearly as bad today! YIPEE
More on our camping trip later

Camping Weekend

2008-07-22T06:00:00.000-07:00

While I was packing up the Motorhome, things were moving along like clockwork until I found 3, let me repeat 3 stinking wasp nests right around the door to the motorhome!

EWWWW....oh my I truly do not like bugs of any kind and really not the kind that stings! I got out the wasp spray and gave them each a good dousing. But I could only do one at a time because the wasps came out a swarming! YIKES I am sure it would have been quite a show to watch as I ran like a crazy woman from the little buggers!

Here we are headed down the road on our Camping weekend, with the view of Mt Thielsen. The sky was so clear and blue it was wonderful to see blue sky again after all the Smoke we have been dealing with in the valley!!

Down a side road past the Diamond Lake turn off , (how's this for a guided tour of our ENTIRE TRIP!)loland there is the sign for Poole Creek Campground. Sorry it is so blurry but moving thru the window that is as good as I could get! lol

The park was almost empty because they had a problem with Algae earlier in the week but had since let some water out of the dam (where the algae was) so it was completely fine. I think people were still worried that it was bad but it was never even a real issue. Lucky for us because we had the pick of the campground.We were thrilled to get site #2 which is our favorite cause you have such a great view of part of the lake.Since they had let some water out it make for nice large sandy beaches too! Here we are just enjoying the sun and the lake, relaxing! WONDERFUL!! I had to merge these two photos since there was nobody to take a photo of us together so don't look to closely! lol Besides I can't believe I am posting a photo of me in my swim suit! YIKES
Ok I am sure that is overload for today, I will post more later! :)

Our Smokey Valley

2008-07-17T06:00:00.000-07:00

This is what our view normally looks like, I took this around the beginning of May. This is what we have been looking at and breathing since the end of June. From all the fires in California, I can't imagine what is must be like to be even closer!

This does not even do it justice, the sun was glowing ORANGE, totally crazy!
I am looking forward to another camping weekend and getting out of the smoke for a bit!

It is finally final

2008-07-15T06:12:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Paul's birthday but we all celebrated it on Sunday evening with dinner and family out on the deck. I will post photos later.

We spent a large chunk of the day in Court again for Justin's divorce and Custody case. Yes it was supposed to be final the beginning of March but his ex decided not to sign the papers. She wanted some changes that were not agreed on during the hearing. But after setting thru the entire morning session, our lawyer had 5 other cases and said she would not be available until 2pm. Even though our lawyer told the other lawyer this, the other lawyer still wanted to put us on the morning schedule. Weird!!

So we rush home to change at lunch time and head to the Nursery for a lunch bbq with the gang for Paul's birthday. Then back home to change back into court clothes and back to the courthouse.

We luckily were the 1st ones on the schedule and it only took maybe 5 minutes. The judge said this should have been brought up in the 1st hearing and he saw no evidence to change anything. So our son is now officially divorced.

WOW this is not something I EVER thought I would be Happy about! 1st I never thought I would be in this spot and 2nd I NEVER thought I would celebrate it. But I am glad to have it over and everything down in writing. WHEW what a LONG drawn out thing.

So Justin will always remember when his divorce was final, on his DAD'S BIRTHDAY!

I could not post without a photo or two of the little cutie! She is such a tough little twerp, one who loves to play in the dirt and yet such a girly girl too!! She LOVES shoes, I mean she LOVES them and jewelry too. She is always asking to put on my shoes and walk around in them.

What is it that takes us from such cute little kid feet, to the ones we end up with! lol I guess it is all the years of WALKING ON THEM ha ha She had my shoes on then she wanted Auntie's shoes next.Auntie is telling her she has to keep her toes together so she can keep her shoes on.Success!! Notice all the shoes in the background, yep she had them all on at one time or another. :)Tomorrow I will post about the smoke in the valley, wow it has been bad and it is supposed to get worse this weekend!

2008 Garden

2008-07-07T06:32:00.000-07:00

Finally I am back! WHEW now to catch up!
Here is Justin rototilling the ground for our corn patch. We really need a bigger tiller but we have so dang many rocks. I figure each year it will be a little bit better. Ok, well we ended up renting a tiller because the little one we have just bounced around on top of the ground! lol Notice how Fleeta is watching Justin, I swear if we let her out she would follow Justin around like a puppy!
I Planted 6 rows of corn so we ended up with 50-60 stalks, I am hoping for better success than last year! Isn't my garden helper a cutie :)
We planted 8 tomatoes this year, crazy I know but I wanted to try some different varieties.a Goliath that Harold Simons gave us
a sweet 100 Cherry tomato
a Sungold cherry tomatoes (these are so sweet they are like Garden Candy)!! I circled the ones that are almost ripe, they really are a golden color and oh so yummy!Heritage tomatoes:
Brandywine, does anyone else think this tomato plant is odd looking? The leaves do not even look like a tomato plant.
Now this is a normal tomato leaf!Black Russian
Purple Cherokee
Green Zebra I don't remember how many peppers total but these are the varieties
Banana Peppers - Serrano - Thai Hot - Habanero - Jalapeno - Cayenne
a couple of pumpkins
3 burp less cucumbers
2 Lemon Cucumbers
3 or 4 Cantaloupe
3 or 4 watermelon
1 Honeydew

1 Delicata Squash because I was talking with a customer who said I would love this squash, so I told him I would plant it and let him know! lol Something is chewing on it and that totally ticks me off! We just sprayed with Dr Earth (all natural) So I hope that will take care of the nibbling. Plus we needed to spray for the cucumber beetles cause they are thick this year.
Edited to Add: To my GREAT disappointment my Delicata Squash turned out to be a zucchini and I DO NOT LIKE ZUCCHINI!! I double checked the label and it says Delicata, so I am hoping this was a freak mistake by the grower and I truly hope no one else got the wrong squash from the nursery!! YIKES bad enough for me to be disappointed but for someone else to, that would be awful. We did plant a bunch in the nursery garden so if anyone else got the wrong squash at least they can have a couple of the right ones!!
I think we should have a BUMPER CROP THIS YEAR !!
This was the corn patch this morning, it is almost up to my waist!
Who is ready for some fresh produce??
Well besides this little muncher, she loves fresh fruit and fresh veggies!

Crazy busy, but it's all good :)

2008-05-11T07:46:00.000-07:00

Sorry to have been MIA for so long, but again I have to say it is Spring and we are in the Nursery business! That pretty much says it all. lol

We are having a huge sale this weekend so yes, we are just Crazy busy!! Everything in the Nurseries are marked 20% off and that is on top of what ever is already on sale. We don't open until 9am, Paul and I got to our farm location at 7:30 yesterday morning, we had people already waiting in the parking lot! Oh my gosh!! I told them they were welcome to shop and load their carts but the staff would not be in until 9. They were quite happy to head out and do their shopping :)

We also did Kids Club with about 20 kiddos, planting up a flower and decorating the pot up for a cute Mother's Day gift. I love working with these kids, they are just so much fun! Hey if anyone knows of a NON TOXIC waterproof glue PLEASE LET ME KNOW! I have been looking for one because of course with the kids I do not want to use anything toxic. Luckily Judy (Carma's Mom) brought Bryson and Trystin and her CAMERA cause Anita and I had our hands full helping the kids. So she said she would pass me the photos, gosh I LOVE DIGITAL CAMERAS!!

I know I owe lots of people blog comments, emails and such. I will try and play catch-up this week. I got a sweet email from Laura just checking in on me since she had not heard anything out of me for a bit. (thanks Laura) :)

Ok, gotta get moving but I will leave you with a Photo of Justin and Kaylie. She is talking more and climbed up on her Daddy's lap just to give him a love. Ok, that just about melted my heart! :)

I ran 'Rusty Cage' action on this photo by Totally Rad Actions and Stylish in Black frame action from Photo-licious by Natasha Whitely.

Finally with the SUN

2008-04-27T14:38:00.000-07:00

WOO HOO finally we have some nice weather. So I headed outside, here is my quad with the little wagon we use. Fleeta really wanted to come with me and if she would have stayed with me I would have let her out but heaven only knows what kind of mischief she would have gotten into! lol

So I headed up to the Aspen trees to pick up rock and weed. Paul planted these last year on the 'ridge' of our property, thus the name of our place is 'Aspen Ridge' :)
Here is our 'rock pile' we have these all over the property and the 1st year we picked up soooo many it was crazy. But each year it is less and less (thank heavens) Dad and I did manage to gather 3 wagons, love that it has a dump feature. Makes unloading it so much easier, plus we found if you don't overload it the wheels won't go flat. ha ha Oh my yes we learned that one the hard way!
Love the way wildflowers grow in such a scattered random pattern. I try an mimic this randomness but it always looks forced. Seems I do not have the artistic flair that God has :)Here is a closeup of these dainty little flowers, they are tiny but in a mass they are quite beautiful. I spent the rest of my day hand watering this years crop of trees, TID comes on the 2nd of May THANK HEAVENS!!! It takes forever to water cause you can't turn the water on to high or it will take all the dirt out of the grow bag and you have to fill it up at least twice. But on a beautiful day it really is a nice mindless way to spend some time outdoors. Well that was my Saturday, Sunday was spent cleaning house. You know the kind where you wipe down all the cabinets and get down on your knees and scrub. Not nearly as nice as being out in the beauty of the day but I sure am glad to have it done!!!