Most recent trip to Florida

We just returned from a quick trip to Florida. Scott helped Brandon & Bret work on their lake house. They left before 7 a.m. on Thursday & Friday & then worked very, very hard until late in the afternoon both days. The boys & I hung out with Nette & Mikan, swimming & going to the beach. It was a nice change of pace.

The beach was lovely. We went on the 4th of July to D's beach. Then we tried going to Mickler's on the 6th of July but found that the tide was up & there were way too many people. I don't know if there was even one spot for a chair within 200 yards of the boardwalk. We immediately packed up & went back to D's beach again & had the beach to ourselves. It rained for about 10" but it wasn't cold so we just stayed.

Someone always gets hurt. This time it was Christopher & Jared. On the night before we left, Chris ran his toe into the fireplace hearth & broke it. (purple, ouch) Then, he was doing the Nestea-plunge into the neighbor's pool in Florida & scraped up the front of his shin. Jared was scootering barefoot on the yard out front & scraped up his toe, foot, and knee. Ryan didn't get hurt (this time).

This picture makes me wonder where all the time has gone. The kids have definitely grown since the last time I took one of these 3-in-a-row shots. Christopher has a definite man-voice, is taller than his mom, & needs a new pair of church pants every five minutes. Ryan is fun-loving, playful, & a great big brother to Jared. And Jared is going to kindergarten in a little over a month.

On the way back from Florida, we went to Atlanta & saw Mike & Katia get married in the temple (in Spanish). It was fun to be in the temple with friends & to see these two start their new life together. Scott has been Mike's home teacher for several years & worked with him in the YM's presidency as well. Congratulations!

Backup your files... please? For me!

Yesterday, I was trying to fix MS Word on my computer when SHAZAM! I got the dreaded blue screen in Windows. The computer would work for a few minutes & then again CRASH. It was so sad. I went to the office store & bought a new external hard drive (good deal!) & loaded all of the important stuff (the ONLY copies of photos for the last 5 years, genealogy, book in progress, etc.). It feels so good to have it done!

I am working on some scrapbook pages for a secret challenge that I am working on. Once they go public I will try to link here! They're top secret until then. ;)

The kids are enjoying summer vacation by going to the sports center/gym with me every morning. They are so great at making up fun games - wall ball, kick ball, basketball, jump rope, & other sorts. The workers are always happy to see them so it helps me get there too.

We were able to go to the temple in Columbia last night with Brad who is going to Cambodia/Viet Nam on his mission. We are so excited for him & felt so privileged to be there on the day he went for the first time. Mary stayed with our kids & they had lego-building competitions!

I will try to add some photos soon. I think we're still in backup mode on the computer & I don't want to goof anything up... okay, and I tried making smaller copies of pics in February & ended up reducing one of my favorite pictures ever (the original) so it doesn't print right.

Happy day.

our beach trip

We had a great trip to the beach with Grandma Jonna & Papa Chick. This layout was just about our little family & why we go to Litchfield year in & year out. More layouts about grandparents coming in the future!

I am a Mother

While at the dentist's office the other, the hygienist asked me what I do all day. I answered "talk on the phone & play on the computer" -- probably a little too true on bad days. However, I really thought about what I do & came up with this LO -- which also happens to be my assignment for the calendar challenge.

http://www.twopeasinabucket.com/pg.asp?gallery=1&cmd=display&layout_id=750269

Multnomah Falls

DW Calendar Challenge LO#2 -- inspired by 1/5 -- use a variety of rub-ons (& stickers) for a title.

I finished a partially completed layout... first time stitching on paper. I love the GorgeOUS part & the falls, the eyelets & thread.

Okay, does anyone have an idea of how to highlight the smallness of the car on the highway next to the gorge?

DW 2006 layout

This LO is based on the 1/1 layout-- not an original idea to do it as the year in review, but I like it. This took a lot of time -- had to clean off the desk, sort & organize the scrap room, get the PC & the printer hooked up, download the printer software, & print all of the pictures out a few times to get the right size. I am happy with the results -- done is better than perfect.