two...

A quick post to wish my baby...(sniff, sniff) a happy birthday. Jill is two today!
Isn't she the cutest two year old ever? I also got a new camera last week and I am lovin' it - thanks Dad!

self portrait...

Okay, maybe a self portrait of a confused me - but it is me. I was inspired by Ali Edwards' challenge to take more personal pictures and scrap them. This one was actually an accident, but I will scrap it. It reminds me a lot of how I feel sometimes. It makes me laugh every time I see it!

Here are some more samples for my Atlanta CKU-A class. Notice on the "My Blessings" page that I have a seperate journaling page behind the yellow one shown...this is one of the solutions for larger journaling we will learn about.

the orange guppy rides again...

The Orange Guppy is the name of our boat. I don't have a good picture of it as it really that photogenic! It is a 1978 Birchcraft in a beautiful burnt orange complete with stylish pin striping (actually just a few run-ins with the dock). It isn't pretty but it runs and we just got back from Sand Hollow where we enjoyed 3 very hot days boating and playing in the sand.

We met some new friends, Cindy and Dave Allred, and hit it off with them. They brought 4 wheelers since there are some great sand dunes right off the lake. We could beach the boat and literally walk 20 feet to the 4 wheelers and head off to the dunes. It was my first time on 4 wheelers although I have driven motorcycles, scooters, and snowmobiles before - not a big stretch. I also have to drive my own, I hate trying to hang on when someone else is at the helm. It was fun! Such a feeling driving through that soft sand and a huge contrast to the cool water I had just come from. I was moving along great, driving with a couple of our friends; Anthony and Jake, and I CRASHED!! I came up over a dune (I had checked it out before) and instead of a rolling hill or a slight drop off, it was hollowed out. I basically did a nose dive. Mid air, I think I realized that it wasn't going to happen and I rolled off to one side. I did a flip and landed on my lower back - I was most worried about the vehicle rolling on me so I tried to get away from it. Anthony saw everything and came running over to make sure I was okay. I later had to ask him what happened, it was just a fluke thing, he did say it was impressive. Well, at least I did it with style!

This next picture is for my Atlanta CKU Albums group. I wanted to share a few examples of what we will be doing - been reading a lot of posts on the lack of examples so; here ya go! I will post more later - can't seem to get more photos to upload.

can you see the love...

This fine piece of concrete, shells, and colored glass - was a beautiful Mother's Day present from my oldest girls. A stepping stone that they made - from scratch, and meticulously placed the shells and glass in ornate designs. Can you see the love? They spelled love in shells - this also, I feel, pertains to the love it took for them to create it!

This plant with some darling little blossoms (if I do say so myself) is what my MIL got. This was such a breeze and turned out so cute too.

These are also the Mother's Day cards we gave using Simple Sweet Juicy. I love Mother's Day - not just because I am a mother, but because it causes me to reflect on my own upbringing and what I want to teach my own kids. Sometimes we can feel a little guilt from what we THINK we should be like, but I think we tend to put too much pressure on ourselves. When it comes down to it, all our kids really want is to know we love them and a little of our time. Thanks to my mom, for being my friend but for also being my mom.

basic grey

Just had this layout selected to appear on the Basic Grey gallery! Have you seen that place? So inspiring - I love seeing other ideas of how to use the same paper I have in my personal stash. The variety of looks is inspiring and so fun.

happiest place...

We're back from the happiest place on earth - DisneyWorld. It was a great time and the kids just loved it. I think their favorite part was the cruise at the end - they just didn't have enough time to utilize all of the great kid stuff to do there. Next time we'll have to do a longer cruise - but this was a great test.

Here we are with Minnie on the ship - Oaken is wearing a pirate bandana they gave us at dinner for the pirate night theme. It is kind of nice having the characters on the ship - your chance of meeting one is greater than at the parks it seems. Such a fun trip - I would highly recommend it.

This picture of Oaken holding the biggest cookie he has ever seen. I think he is excited!

I think he likes it!