Happy Birthday Grandma!!!!

Happy Birthday to Grandma Sharon!!!!!

It's Been Awhile

Wow, it's been a really long time since I've blogged. A lot has gone on since my last post, and I've had pictures and things I've wanted to share, but I just could not get myself motivated to actually get on here and post. I love my computer and all the things I can do on it, but sometimes, I think that it sucks the life out of me, and after I get on and get caught up on all the scrapbooking message boards I'm involved in and do whatever else, I need to do, I just don't want to get on here and start typing, especially since I know it will take me awhile to say what I want to say. I won't even try to get caught up with everything that's gone on since my last post.

I do want to share some photos that I took over Memorial Day weekend. We had a very nice weekend. The weather was great--it has been sunny and warm for well over a week now--today it was in the upper 80's. The kids had Friday and Monday off, and Dale took them off as well. Friday we drove up the Columbia River Gorge to Bonneville Dam on the WA side where we went inside the dam and to the fish viewing room. Then we went to the OR side and went to the fish hatchery, which was very cool. There were ponds full of huge rainbow trout, and a pond with a viewing window that had very large sturgeon, including Herman, the 10 foot long, 70 year old sturgeon. Owen, especially loved all the fish.

The lovely "Hanford green" Columbia River water

The kids and Dale watching the numerous rainbow trout

Owen watching Herman the Sturgeon

Saturday was spent doing some things around the house. Dale did a little yardwork, while I started to tile our kitchen backsplash, which has been left undone for almost 2 years since finishing our kitchen remodel. I actually didn't end up doing much since I called a friend of ours who did tile for years to ask a few questions and if I could borrow his tile saw. He ended up coming over and pretty much doing the whole job. That's the way to do home improvement projects. I still have to grout the tile, though, which is the messy part. I'll post pics when I get it all done.

Monday we took another road trip up to Mt. St. Helens. Apparently, Dale has never been up there despite living here 13 years. I guess I just assumed we've gone up there. It was a gorgeous day, and we drove up to the Johnson Ridge Visitors' Center. Despite the eruption of Mt. St. Helens being a huge part of my history, the kids weren't too interested in all they could learn at the visitors' center, but we hiked around a little and tried to impart as much knowledge as we could to them. It is amazing to see where the side of the entire mountain blew out and the effect it had on the area. Things have grown and recovered tremendously there in 29 years (the anniversary was May 18th), but there are still areas where all the mudslides occurred that remind me of the surface of the moon.

Reflected in the window of the Visitors' Center

Trying to get these kids to pose all together for a picture is like pulling teeth.

Yeah for the sun!!!

Well, it's been a long time posting. Since my last post, we had Dale's birthday and Easter both on the same weekend. It was, of course, a good weekend. Unfortunately, the weather for the weekend wasn't good, so there weren't any outdoor egg hunts, but the kids had fun dying eggs and then finding ones filled with candy and their baskets and gifts on Easter morning before going to church to celebrate Jesus rising from the dead. He is risen indeed. After church, we went to Grandpa Mike's and Grandma Carol's for dinner. Of course the kids had an egg hunt there and got yet more candy, but the highlight of the day was seeing Grandpa and Grandma's new baby chicks. Grandpa Mike is building a chicken coop apparently and raising chickens. The kids also inform me he is going to get cows and a pony for the kids to ride. That should be fun. Hannah declared she really wanted some baby chicks, but my response was that those cute baby chicks grow into not so cute chickens that we have nowhere to keep.

The kids with their dyed eggs.

In their Easter best after church

The baby chicks

Fast forward a week and the weather has greatly improved. This weekend was sunny and warm and today was absolutely gorgeous and very warm. I actually took the boys to the zoo after picking up Justin from school. They had a great time, especially Owen, who had a great time right up until we left. The whole way home, he was very angry that we weren't still at the zoo. While a lot of animals were very lazy in the sun, we did have great fun watching the polars bears splashing around with a ball right on the other side of the glass, the sea lions which are always entertaining, the river otter, the sun bears and the cheetah. Later in the day, the kids had their first fling in the sprinkler. That is another thing that Owen was very upset when it ended. We also had our first cookout of the year. I hope this is just the first of many such days to come for the spring and summer.

One last thing I want to share with you. I've actually been doing an online crop over at the My Sketch World forum and one of the challenges is to make a card using word art that you can do on http://www.wordle.net/. This site is so awesome. You can go to it and create your own wordart by typing in any text or series of words you want and it will create a piece of wordart using those words. You can even choose different color combos, layouts and fonts. Here is one I made using the text from my last blog post on our Spring Break trip to the coast.







You need to click on it to see it larger. Anyway, just something cool.

Adieu Spring Break and Hello Spring!

Well, today was the first day back to school after Spring Break. The kids were not happy to have to get up and go back to school, although it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Usually Hannah gives me more grief about going back after any kind of time off. Of course, the spring weather came upon us just as the kids had to head back to school. It was downright warm today with more to come tomorrow. If we're not careful, we just might come down with Spring Fever. The cherry trees have finally bloomed full on, and they are gorgeous right now.

Our Spring Break this year wasn't typical. For the entire week, we were actually in the process of having our hardwood floors refinished. We actually avoided the process altogether at the beginning of the week by getting away for a few days. We went to Cannon Beach along the Oregon coast. I was worried that we were going to have horrible weather because the forecast just showed rain the whole time we were going to be there, but we were pleasantly surprised with gorgeous weather the two main days we were there. There was lots of sun and no rain until the morning when we were packing to check out. It was windy and cold, but at least we were able to be outside, walking along the beach, playing in the sand and if you're Hannah and Justin, even playing in the water despite the freezing cold temperatures. I don't know how they do that but they had fun. It was a nice relaxing getaway. Here are just a few of the many photos I took.

Picture perfect in front of Haystack Rock

Okay, so Justin insisted on bringing the goggles thinking he was going to need them in the water.

Owen decided that he needed to wear them at the tidepools. We got a lot of looks and comments. Of course everyone thought he was great.

Discovering the tidepools around Haystack Rock at low tide.

Hannah working on her sandcastle compound.

Justin got buried up to his waist.

And our crazy kids running in the FREEEEZING cold waves.

We got home Tuesday and hoped that our floor would be almost done, but due to a few delays, there were still 3 days before it was completely done. When we first walked in the house, the stain was on, and I was not very happy with it and almost freaked out. It was not what I had envisioned. It was just so different and took a little getting used to. He assured me that it would look a lot different once the two finish coats were on. I trusted him. For the two days that the finish was being applied, we had to be out of the house for most of the day. We did a lot of visiting of family and friends, which was fun, but after you're there for 5 hours or so, it gets to be a little much, and I just wanted to see the floor. Now, that it is done, I can tell you that the floor looks amazing. All the wear and tear from the 18+ years on the old nasty floor and the damage we added when we remodeled the kitchen have been erased, and the now all there is is a smooth gorgeous finish. All we have to do now is put up the tile backsplash and our kitchen remodel that started 2 years ago will be totally complete. Our next major project will be getting all that mauve tile out of our master bath---Ugh!!!

I Saw...

and it was AWESOME!!!! Yesterday I went and saw Wicked with Annaliese and Heidi, someone I met through Annaliese. I really didn't know much about this musical, but I have just known for a long time that I REALLY wanted to see it, so when tickets went on sale last fall, I did not stop bugging Annaliese until we had tickets. Then the problem is the long wait before you actually get to go see it. Well, it was worth the wait. I haven't seen an incredible amount of Broadway shows, but I have seen a few very good ones like The Lion King and Mamma Mia--even High School Musical was incredibly entertaining, but Wicked was, in the words of some annoying Bostonian portrayed on Saturday Night Live, "wicked awesome!" The set was AHHHMazing and the acting and singing were just incredible. At first, I was bummed because the understudy was playing Glinda the Good Witch, and somehow I felt cheated--like I wasn't going to get the best I could get. But if she was the understudy, then I couldn't imagine how good the main person playing the role is. Actually I did YouTube and watched the main gal, and I actually preferred the gal we had. It is an amazing story, which gives a whole new meaning to The Wizard of Oz. I will never watch that movie the same again. If you get the chance to see this show, I HIGHLY recommend it. In fact, I am thinking about making Dale go see it with me again when it goes to Seattle in September. I worry about seeing things a second time though, because can it live up to my high expectations a second time around? We'll see what happens.

Scrapdango March kits & DT Call

I'm a little remiss in getting these posted, but on Sunday we had another reveal of the designs that the Scrapdango design team did with the March Sugar and Spice kits. I'll post pics of both kits, but as you can see, once again, they were both sold out quickly. It is fairly clear after this happening for 3 months, that if you want either of the kits, you need to act fast when they are posted on the 1st of the month. Carrie, the owner of Scrapdango, and Dana, the kit planner, have done such an awesome job in putting together two great kits each and every month, that it's no wonder they go so fast. So here are the kits.

Sugar kit featuring Scribble Scrabble Ruth

Spice kit featuring Prima (You)th

And here are the layouts that I did with the Spice kit. I have to admit that when I first saw the kit, I was a little worried about what I would do with it, but I really love the results. The first layout is my favorite that I did with the kit and one of my favorite layouts ever. It really is a departure from my usual style, and I love that. Thanks for looking.

I have to share the journaling that I did on the "No Girly Girls Allowed" layout.

"My little girl who used to be so into princesses and anything pink and girly is no longer. Disney princesses, dolls and ponies have given way to Hannah Montana and High School Musical. Sweet little kid songs have given way to rock and pop. Ballet all dressed up in her lavender leotard has given way to hip hop in baggy pants. Pink and purple have given way to black. Dresses and anything frilly have given way to blue jeans. Pony and pigtails and little hair things have given way to short unembellished hair that usuallyisn’t even brushed. She got rid of her purple princess bike, which was too small, and picked out this boy’s rallyx bike. She didn’t want anything to do with a girly bike. She does still have a pink helmet, but it’s only a matter of time before she refuses to wear that."

And before I go, if any of you want to know a way you can be assured to get one of these great kits each month, you can apply for Scrapdango's design team. They are taking applications now until March 28th. You can see all the details here. Scrapdango has been such a wonderful site to design for, and I have had the time of my life these past 7 months. It's sad to think, my time as a designer there might come to an end after this month, but I'm excited to see what the new DT holds.

Goodbye Old Friend

It's sad for me to say that we have to part ways. You have been near and dear to my heart for over 4 years now. We have shared every holiday and celebration together. We have shared the little things and the big things. You were there with me at the birth of my last child and have watched as all three of them have grown. You have changed the way that I view the world and have made it a much brighter place. I know it sounds so cliche', but it's not you, it's me. I admit it, I'm shallow, and I only want the best. I have found a new friend. One that looks almost identical to you, but is so much more sophisticated. I'm sorry it had to be this way. I will miss you, but it is time for you to move on. You have new friends now. Someone that was so excited to meet you and take you home to introduce you to his family. You'll be happy there. I hope they treat you as well as I did. I will always remember you, and I will miss you. Here is a photo of the two of us together. I will always have the photos--the MANY MANY photos.