Fair Entries

Here are the projects the girls and I are entering in our county fair this week - wish us luck! Oh, and just so you know, my girls did their projects all on their own. I was very impressed with how well they did by themselves, especially their bead projects. They came up with the pattern all on their own and had fun stringing the beads, I only helped them tie off their bracelets - they can't wait to wear them once the fair is over!

Kaylee's card...

Kaylee's bead project...

Kaylee's painting...

Brianna's bead project...

Brianna's crayon art...

And here are mine...

Stamping - Any other project...

Scrapbook Page...

Card...

Stamping Card (used stamp kissing)...

Invitation...

Altered Book...

Any other card...

Pioneer Celebration

The youth in our church went on a Pioneer Trek last week - and my hubby went with them as a leader. We welcomed them in at Rock Creek on Friday night after two long days of walking and pulling handcarts. If anyone would like to read more about the Willie and Martin Handcart Companies , which have special signifigance in our area, check out this site. Here are some pictures from Friday. I did a quick sewing job on Friday afternoon and made the girls some new pioneer skirts since their other ones are two years old and way too small - glad I had a bunch of fabric and elastic on hand! My SIL, Jamie let me borrow an old dress for Brailee - they all looked so cute!

Memory Tag

I was just visiting one of my cousin's blogs and found this fun game. I thought it looked fun so I decided to play along. I also discovered we have the same tastes as we have the exact same background on our blogs...for now, until I find another one that I like better ;-)

1. As a comment on my blog, leave a memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.

Changes!

Thanks to my blogging friends Lisa and Melissa, I discovered this great site with free backgrounds for blogs, so bear with me as I try some out! Try it out yourself (the link is below) - it's super easy and there are LOTS to choose from!

The Cutest Blog on the Block

Sweet Summer Treat

My girls LOVE berries - here they are picking raspberries from our garden the other day - yummy! We started with one starter plant from David's Mom 4 years ago. We dug it up and moved it when we bought this house, and this year we have lots of plants and finally some berries. They can't wait for more berries to be ready, even though they eat them faster than they pick them, so I don't think we will ever do anything with them...besides eat them of course ;-)

From my sweet friend...

...Ramsey - she dropped off these fun little goodies on Wednesday - I've never played with Riley images before, so I'm excited! I really need to break down and get my own Bella's and Riley's and all those other fun stamps - but first I need to play with the images I have received from my dear friends.

Thanks again, Ramsey, I can't wait to play!

If you're in the mood for blog candy, go check out Korin's blog.

They did it!

Here is what the girls learned to do while at the reunion - they finally learned how to ride their bikes with no training wheels - I'm so proud! The grass was the perfect place to teach them, so they didn't get hurt if they fell, plus they weren't scared to try. Kaylee only needed to be pushed by Daddy once and then she had it from then on. Brianna had a harder time petalling on the grass with those little tires, so she needed pushes just to get started, but neither of them needed us to hold on to them to help them balance, they did great! So the day after Kaylee learned, we decided to go on a family bike ride. Well, Kaylee crashed, big time, and really scraped up her leg and cried that she would never, ever ride her bike again. But the next day she was brave enough to try again, and we practiced using her brakes more, and now she's riding like she has been doing it for months.

With all of their cousins around riding around up there with no training wheels, it was a great incentive for the girls. I'd tried before, but Kaylee was always too scared. Brianna wanted to learn a couple months ago, but that was when I was so drained and I had a hard time with Brailee on the loose, too. Anyway, we came home and Brianna practiced a little on some cement and now she can start herself with no problems. I can hardly keep them OFF the bikes, now, they are so excited with what they have learned!

Thanks for letting me share!

Mini toot!

Okay, maybe my title sounds a little off ;-P but I hope you get what I mean! I have been checking all month and they finally posted the winners today - my layout that I posted here won first runner-up in the CTMH Sassy Strands Contest - woohoo! Congrats to all the winners, they all look awesome! Check them out here.

Reunion Auction Item

For the last 3 years, the family has done an auction - everybody donates items (most are handmade or family pics) and the money raised in the auction goes towards the reunion fund. I didn't get this done (or even started) before we left for the reunion, but I packed up my shoulder tote with papers, stamps, inks, and accessories, and completed this quick little mini album while camping. It was fun to stamp outdoors in the fresh air. Anyway, this is what I donated and it ended up selling for $150! It was fun to make - I will be making more pages to fill up the rest of the page protectors, but this is what I got done up there. I used the Reflections 6x6 program which was so helpful - made the project so much easier! Sorry for the glare on the photos, I was in a hurry so I didn't take them out of the protectors.

Products Used (all CTMH): My Creations Display Album, Reflections Program IV 6x6 Series, Rustic Trails paper, Pewter Accessories, Hemp, Twill and Cocoa Grosgrain Ribbon, Sanding Block, Edge Distressor

Stamp sets used: Hodge Podge Alphabet, Simple Stitches, Building Block Alphabet, Free Spirit, Campin Out (retired), Outdoor Trek, Back to Nature, Roughin It, Weathered Backgrounds

Family Reunion Fun!

We had David's Family Reunion this last weekend - it was so much fun - perfect weather, fun times, lots of activities - it was a Mountain Man/Native American theme. Here are some ... okay, LOTS of pics ;-) I only took 500, so these are some of my fav's. David and I won the two-man saw competition - we cut through our log in 40 seconds - we were pretty proud of that one ;-) There was also a hatchet throw and my SIL, Jamie won that one. It was a lot of fun.

Geri (David's Mom) bought a tipi for this year and future reunions. Some of you may remember the pics of us on the mountain cutting poles for it. It turned into a big project, but I think it was so worth it - the kids loved sleeping in there at night. Here are some pics of it going up - it only took them two hours, which I think is pretty good considering none of them have ever put one up before. Anyway, we ended up painting everyone's handprints on it and we will add to it each year - I thought it was a fun way to make it unique to our family.

And for those asking how I've been feeling - I feel GREAT! I haven't felt this great in over 6 months, so it's good to have some energy back! I hope this lasts the rest of the pregnancy!

Brailee had a little scare Saturday night - she has an old bug bite that she will just not leave alone and I think it finally got infected. Well, her leg really swelled up, as you can see here, but with a lot of peroxide and cleaning, it luckily cleared up. I took Brailee to the dr. today for a ruptured eardrum (yes, again - poor thing) and mentioned her leg and he said it looks fine now.

Card Catch-Up!

I finally had a chance to sit down and create - and I made cards! I hardly do that, usually I just do one card at a time, and rarely, since I have quite a stash of cards that I've already made, and just like hold on to ;-) It was so easy to sit down with just one pack of paper and a couple stamp sets and whip these out really quick. I used the June 2008 CardMaps from PageMaps for each of these cards. I made some more, but I will post those later.

Procucts Used - all CTMH: Serendipity paper pack, Say It In Style stamp set, Playful Petals stamp set, Serendipity stamp set, Solo U stamp set, Dimensional Elements flowers. Oh, yeah, and I finally got to play with my Fiskars Threading Water Punch - LOVE that thing!

New 'do's!

I got my haircut last week - it's short and I LOVE it - perfect for this summer, and so easy to fix! Check it out - sorry for the crazy pic, I'm not good at the "Auto-portrait-oh's" as my mother calls them!

Kaylee got hers cut yesterday and she wanted hers just like mine - but the last time she had it that short, she didn't like it at first because she thought she looked like a boy, so I told Nicole to cut it like mine but try to keep it girly. Well, when I left the room, Kaylee said "I want it cut like a boy" and so once Nicole cleared it with me, this is what she ended up with - she's too cute to look like a boy ;-)

And here are the two of us together...

Thanks to all my awesome blogging friends!

I have some thank-you's that are long over-due - check out the awesome goodies I've received from my blogging friends.

Melissa sent me this fun card and an awesome Blog RAK - a pack of BasicGray Cupcake paper - so much fun to play with!

Nicole sent me this darling card, sending boy vibes, along with a nice stack of stamped Bella images - I have never played with Bella's before, so I'm super excited!

I won a contest on Nona's blog and she sent me this fun mini book as my awesome prize.

Thanks so much, everyone, I truly enjoy blogging and I love all the inspiration and sharing out there. Love ya all!

Surprised?!?

We sure are! I couldn't hold it in any longer - here are some pics of the new baby joining our family in February! This was a complete shock, to say the least, but we are thrilled to have another little blessing!

Here are the girl's reactions when we told them a few weeks ago...

Brianna: We are absolutely NOT having another baby!
Mom: Why not?
Brianna: Because you're not in the hospital!
Kaylee: But Mom, your belly's not big.
Mom: No really, we are! (While trying to hold back the laughter)
Brianna: No, you're just teasing, you're smiling!
Kaylee: I hope it's a boy, we have enough sisters!
Brailee: Baby! Baby!

Once I showed them the pics from the ultrasound last week, I think they all finally believe me, and they are so excited!

2-D

3-D - look at that face!

Quick summer-themed projects

I haven't had much time to create lately, so I'm really going through withdrawals ;-P But here are some quick projects I have done lately - both done in less than 30 minutes!

Here is a thank you card/book I made for one of the families we were camping with last weekend - to say thanks for the boat rides. The girls made their own contribution to the book and there are 10 pics inside. I finished it up with my BIA - I love that blue little tool - perfect for making custom books!

And here are the super quick invites I did for Brianna's b-day party. I just printed them up on my computer and did a quick stamp job - love that fun little Splash stamp set. Sorry for the bad pic - it turned out with a really blue hue - it's really on white paper - I used a blue strip to cover the party details, though. And yes, it says no gifts, please - my girls have SO many toys, they don't need more, or maybe I'm just a really mean mom ;-)

Blog Award

Thanks to the fabulous ladies who nominated me for this blog award, Jenn, Stacey, Amanda, Nicole, and Marjorie. Sorry I'm a little slow at finally posting this - I don't think I'll ever catch up this summer!

The rules for this award:1. The winner can put the logo on her blog.2. Link the person you received your award from.3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs.4. Put links of those blogs on yours.5. Leave a message on the blogs of the girls you've nominated. Hmmm, it was hard to narrow down a list to nominate - it helped that most of the ones on my list have already been nominated, so I could move on to someone else, but there are so many awesome bloggers out there - so much inspiration, it was hard to pick JUST seven! Here is my list - go check out their fun sites!

1. Brenda

2. Ramsey

3. Lisa

4. Amy

5. Yvonne

6. Ceal

7. Lynn