A Scrappy Chick

27 months and counting...

2012-01-30T22:49:00.004-06:00

Well, life has been crazy busy the past couple of months. Britton continues to grow in leaps and bounds. We have hit several milestones with her. She is doing soo many things and we are having such fun with our baby girl. She is talking all the time and counting to twenty. She has started putting things together when you tell her not now. She knows the days of the week and the months of the year. We have done so many things since I last posted. I guess the best way to update people is to show you pictures.

Enjoying the acrobatic academy for Sam's 3rd birthday!

Playing in my Sleeping Beauty dress that I got for my birthday.

Enjoying the Christmas Lights at Botanica with my two best friends!

Riding the barrel train at Windy Knoll Christmas Tree farm! Having a ball!

Christmas Eve with the Daddy's side of the family. Playing with my new puzzle.

Christmas Day at Nana's house.

Helping mommy make whipped cream for the pumpkin pie.

Fall

2011-11-13T22:08:00.005-06:00

Well, this year has really been speeding by. I can't believe that I have not posted anything since September. Britton is now two years old and doing so well. We have suffered one bad cold, but no ear infections yet. I am still holding my breath waiting for the ear infections to start. It has been almost five months since her 2nd set of tubes were put in, I am hopeful that this really helps. This fall has been very mild so far. We have gotten to spend time at the zoo and Tanganyika Wildlife Park with our friends and planning a trip to the zoo next weekend if the weather continues to hold for us. We also went to the pumpkin patch with our friends.

In October we celebrated her birthday with a party at the zoo. Britton and her girlfriends had a ball. Even some of the older people (meaning those of us over the age of 6) had a good time. Chad's mom enjoyed being called grandma by all three girls. Halloween was a good time as well. Britton's daycare had a fall festival the Friday before Halloween and then on Sunday we took Britton out to Chad's grandparents and on Halloween we went to Amy and Ryan's to trick or treat for a little bit and then stopped by Nana's house. Little miss had a ball and made a killing on candy.

Britton had her two year check up at the doctor and is doing very well. She is in the 99% on weight and 88% on height. She is getting too big too fast. I still can't believe that she is only two. It feels like she has been in our life all along. We have been wonderfully blessed. We love her more and more each day. She is talking in full sentences, knows her ABC's, counts to 15 in English and 10 in Spanish. We are also in the process of potty training.

Grandma and her three granddaughters enjoying the zoo

Not so sure about the candles on the birthday cake.

Girls at Fall Festival celebration at daycare.

Trick or treating at Nana's house

One of our many trips to the zoo.

Britton and Carley riding a camel at Tanganyika

The girls at Walter's Pumpkin Patch

Best Friends (I love this picture)

Where has the time gone...

2011-09-05T22:22:00.004-05:00

My baby girl is getting so big. We have officially started the potty training. I don't know who it is harder on me or Britton. She is doing great at school and dry most of the day, but at home she doesn't want to try and go. We are fully in pull ups, no more diapers for her. The daycare center has already moved her into the two year old room. I know she is smart and that her good friends are in there. It just made sense to do it now instead of waiting two more months. She is so silly.

In August we took a vacation to Seattle, since I had to go for a few days of meetings. My dad flew up from Sacramento and we got to spend some time with Uncle Steve and Aunt Nina. We really had a great time and Britton really traveled very well. Whenever the plane took off Britton was lulled to sleep. What a treat for us since she was sitting on our laps.

Britton eating her first ice cream cone. This was the clean picture. We went over to Emma's house for dinner and play time a couple of weeks ago. The girls had an absolute blast.

Lying around at the park. Even in the 100+ degree heat we decided to take the girls to the park one evening after work.

Mommy, Britton and Grandpa in Seattle.

Family picture at a mexican restaurant in Seattle.

Watching the fish eat with Uncle Steve, after Britton fed the fish and had to taste the fish food herself.

It seems so hard to believe that we are planning her 2nd birthday party. It seems like just yesterday she was a newborn sleeping in my arms. I thank god everyday for the blessings he has given us. Thank you for peeking in on us. I am planning to attend a scrapping event in the next couple of weeks, so maybe I can get some pages done and share those with you all.

21 months continued...

2011-07-31T21:56:00.006-05:00

July was a very busy month for us. We celebrated the 4th of July, made a quick trip to St. Louis, barbecue with friends, a family wedding, and finally a weekend of family time.

We are very fortunate that Britton has made some great friends at daycare and they have become known as the three musketeers. We really enjoy both girls parents and enjoy spending time with both families.

How could I forget that June included Britton's first full hair cut and another very special day. When we were going down the adoption road we had the support of all of our family and a couple of very special friends that followed down the same road. I am so happy that now all 3 families are complete with children. We got together with everyone for breakfast in June and it was such a joyous occasion. I know that if it weren't for these two girlfriends the road would have been so much harder, at least for me. They have been a real rock and sounding board for me.

She definitely was not quite ready to wake up.

Getting her first full haircut.

All 3 families are complete. Some of the best friends with a bond that will never be broken.

Britton the morning of her 2nd ear surgery.

Mommy and Britton feeding the goats.

Britton and her cousin.

She is definitely a fish.

The girls at the barbecue.

21 Months Old

2011-07-31T11:54:00.007-05:00

Well, let's start with May. Over Memorial Day Weekend we decided to jump in the car and drive to St. Louis to see my grandfather. We needed to just go, since Grandpa had not yet met his Great Granddaughter. We were there for the weekend and knew that we could not spend all day in his room at the nursing home. We decided to try and wear Britton out a little bit by going places. We visited the zoo, Grants Farm, and the Magic House. We also had to get Grandpa custard from Ted Drew's. Britton was a great traveler and did very well with her Great Grandpa. At the time, little did we know that it would be the last time we got to see him. Grandpa went to be with Grandma on July 5th. This brought another trip to St Louis this summer. It was wonderful to see all of our family and to celebrate Grandma and Grandpa's life together. The stories and time with family was truly special.

In June we stayed close to home with harvest going on and Chad working so much. We went to the zoo a few times and started really enjoying playing outside on the swing set or in her water table. We did finally receive the clearance to get little miss into the pool. June 13th Britton had a 2nd set of tubes and her adnoids removed. Hopefully this will give our baby girl some relief from these ear infections. She was a real trooper and did very well.

Then came the 4th of July. We went out to Chad's grandparents house for the afternoon and evening on the 3rd. We had a great time and Britton was scared to death of the fireworks. We continue to spend lots of time with my mom. Britton has surprised us a few times by telling us that Poppy is in heaven. It is absolutely adorable and can totally catch you off guard. She continues to be a happy little girl that is growing up way too fast.

Britton showing Monkey the Ipad after Great Grandpa's Memorial Service and remembering how to do raspberries. Thank you Aunt Debbie.

Allowing daddy to help her with her sparkler.

Waking up in a good mood over Memorial Day weekend.

Great Grandpa, Britton and Mommy - Britton just woke up from her nap.

Britton bottle feeding the goats at Grant Farms.

Easter, 18 months and so much more.....

2011-06-06T22:39:00.005-05:00

This spring has brought so many changes with Britton. She has turned 18 months old and we are doing all sorts of things this year. I know kids grow up so fast, but now it is definitely going to fast. We had her 18 month check up and was informed by our doctor that she is doing things that a two year old should be doing. We also had a follow up with our ear specialist. I wish the news were better from him. Poor baby has been fighting ear infections in her right ear again. We had three rounds of antibiotics and the ear infection is still not any better. She will be having a second set of tubes put in and her adenoids removed next week. I know the procedure is needed, but I just wish the surgery wasn't they way to do it. I really hope this helps. Just before Easter we met Nana at Build a Bear to make a stuffed animal. This is not something i want to start all the time, but I would not mind it to be something special to do with Nana. Here is a picture of her "Lucky" dog. We could not help her, but any of the employees could do whatever they needed to. She went down the aisle with all the different animals and went straight to the dogs and said 'Lucky' since it looks so much like our dog at home.

We have had a zoo membership for several years. It has definitely been a necessity since Britton was born. This day we went over to the children's area. Britton would not have an issue with the account.

Easter Sunday was a cool day and we decided to go ahead and go out to Grandma and Grandpa's for the Easter Egg hunt. Once she caught on, she did not want to stop collecting eggs.

Our Godsons' had their birthday party at Cowtown as they both love to be cowboys. They had their cowboy hat, vest, and chaps on. Britton was the youngest one there and she was trying so hard to keep up with the boys. I was able to get this picture with her cowgirl hat on. We all had a great time.

The three musketeers. Britton has made some really great friends at daycare and we have been spending time with them at the zoo and at the park. Since where there is one the others are not far behind we have taken to calling them then three musketeers.

Bubbles.......

2011-04-14T21:49:00.005-05:00

How do you keep a child in when the wind is blowing 90 to nothing that loves to play outside? We had that challenge last weekend. Britton wanted to go outside and play bubbles every night and all day on the weekend. She loves being outside and running around, but with her ears and the fact that we are fighting an ear infection I really did not want her in the wind too much. She was a trooper and of course we gave in a little towards evening. We went to the doctor today and had her ears checked as we have been fighting an ear infection for a week and instead of getting better with antibiotic ear drops it appeared to be getting worse over the weekend. The doctor wanted us to finish out the ear drops and then come in today to get checked out. The ear infection is still there and the tube has fallen out of the right ear. I feel so bad for Miss B as she has got to be in some serious pain. We are starting her on some strong oral antibiotics and this should be kicked by the time we go back to the doctor for her 18 month checkup in 11 days. We are also scheduled to see the ENT the same day. I am truly worried that we are going to have to put another set of tubes in. I just don't like the idea of another surgery (no matter how minor it is).

Last Saturday Britton went to her first birthday party. One of her friends from daycare turned two and Carley's party was at Chuck E Cheese's. Britton was not keen on Chuck E, but she didn't scream or cry.

I purchased my new lens for my camera so I wanted to try it out one evening. She is always good for a few pictures. You can definitely tell that we have the camera in her face quite a bit as she now says "cheese" when the camera is pointed in her direction. My new lens is a 50mm and I love it. I have used it a few times and love the fact that I don't have to use the flash that often.

I hope that everyone is having a great week. Here are a few pictures of Miss B blowing bubbles and at the birthday party.

Trying to get into playing the games.
Waiting for the bubbles from the bubble machine
She dumped the bubbles and decided it was more fun to play in it on the ground.

WOW

2011-03-14T17:31:00.005-05:00

All, I can say is that these past several months have been hard to get through. For those of you that try to keep up with us, I am sorry that I have not been updating on a regular basis. I need to get better and I promise that I will try to keep up from here forward. The weather here has been crazy, Friday was close to 80, Saturday in the 60's, then last night sleet, rain, and snow. Today the weather has been cool, but now sunny. Friday evening we decided to join a couple of families from daycare at the park. Britton had an absolute ball. She went down the slide and was swinging. I did get a few pictures. Yesterday we spent the day with Chad's family and little miss got her bangs cut for the first time. Mommy did pretty well not crying but I tell you what she doesn't look like a baby anymore. She is truly one sweet and beautiful little toddler. I can't really believe that she is 17 months old. She has blessed our lives with so many things in such a short time. I am so thankful that she had almost a year with Poppy. She still floors me each and everyday with blowing Poppy kisses and looking at his picture and saying Love you! Tonight we were outside in the front yard and she kept wanting to go into the street. I finally made sure that she held my hand and then we walked together back to the house from the mailbox. She is just so smart.

First Haircut

At the park with Mommy and Daddy. Saying please for another push.

Wearing Poppy's baseball hat

Brent and Brian's Birthday party

It's about time!

2010-10-14T21:55:00.004-05:00

Well what can I say things have been crazy and the last thing on my mind has been to update the blog. I am sorry. As most of my friends know my stepdad (Ray) passed away on September 26th. He had been in the hospital since July 14th. He is truly missed and my life will go on but there will always be a big hole where he is missing. Britton was very fortunate to get to meet him, but her time with him was cut short and for that I am very sorry. Britton has helped me get through this tough time, by just being herself, such a happy baby.

I really can't believe that next week she will be one. She is the best thing that has happened to Chad and I. We are closer than ever and so much in love with our little girl. Here are a couple of pictures of Britton and her Poppy (Grandpa Ray).

9 months old

2010-08-02T22:00:00.003-05:00

Wow! It seems like just yesterday that we were bringing Britton home. The last few weeks have been crazy. My step dad has been in the hospital and undergone surgery with more treatments to come. We have been truly blessed and humbled by all the support and prayers that we have received. I truly believe that Britton has been some of the best medicine for her Poppy (the name Ray wants to go by). She is such a bright spot in all of our lives.

Britton is crawling all over the place and being so much more inquisitive. Just tonight she has started pulling herself to a standing position. I don't think it will take her too long to figure out how to walk. She now has 5 teeth and I am pretty sure another one on its way in as well.

We recently took Britton to Portrait Innovations for her 9 month pictures. I have attached a few here.

Thank you for checking in on us! Have a great week. Yes, Grandpa Bill, we have pictures for you that we will get in the mail this week. Love you!

Giggling little Girl

2010-07-08T23:29:00.003-05:00

Here is a video of Britton and her cousin Maddy playing on the Fourth of July. Remember to go to the bottom of the page and mute the music first.

I guess that I either need to post more videos or write down the way to upload these videos to the blog. I finally figured it out.

Have a great weekend!

4th of July and more.....

2010-07-08T22:09:00.007-05:00

So let's see, I can't think of any great excuse for not updating in the past few weeks except that I am spending quality time with my baby.

There are a ton of pictures to share of what has been going on in our life. Britton is getting so big and we are having so much fun with this little girl. Her personality is really showing up now. She is getting so close to crawling. She is talking so much and we are enjoying her giggle. We celebrated Grandma's birthday, father's day and the fourth of July.

Here are the pictures and there is also a video at the end from the family fourth of July celebration. We have also spent some great times with really good friends. I also think that Britton has met her future boyfriend.

Clapping for Grandma on her birthday!

Father's Day! Spent the day with Daddy!

Dinner with friends and hugging Sam. Sam is 1 year older than Britton. I think they may be destined to be together later in life. If not a couple the best of friends!

Just Chillin'

Working on crawling.

Hanging out with oldest cousin Clint at the twin's baseball game. Just after this picture Britton pulled on Uncle Chris' hat with such force that Clint got the blame. Sorry Clint.

Meeting Lauren for the first time.

Hanging out with Renee at Travis and Jill's Whopper of a party. We had such fun. I think that fireworks lasted about 3 hours.

Hanging out with Daddy during the fireworks. She was never phased by them. She even fell asleep.

Fourth of July outfit.

First flower for Britton's hair. Lucky had to check it out.

One tired baby, after shopping with Grandma and Mommy. Daddy and Poppy (Grandpa Ray) were playing golf.

Britton and her Poppy!

I hope that everyone has a great Friday. I hope to finish Britton's room this weekend. I am still working on the characters for the walls and need to hang a few things, but we are almost there.

Thank you for checking in on us!

She is growing up...

2010-06-13T07:33:00.003-05:00

There are so many things to update you on. Britton is getting so big and I can't believe how fast it is going. It seems like just yesterday she was born, but no she is already 7 1/2 months old.

Let's see if i can remember everything that has gone on with her in the last month. Mother's Day was awesome. We went to church and then to brunch with my parents. We met at Applebees. Britton sat in the highchair at the restaurant for the first time. Of course she was the life of the party (As I sit here updating the blog she is sitting on the floor talking to her toys). Britton and Chad gave me a mothers bracelet that Chad actually made (not just ordered).

In the highchair at Applebees.

The 11th of May the adoption became final, so the following weekend we had a party celebrate and to thank the many family and friends for all the love and support we were given through out the entire process. I just can't believe that from the time that we started looking into adoption and then getting our beautiful daughter was less than one year.

Playing with Great Grandma at the Adoption final party!

Daddy's birthday was the 21st of May and also the day that Britton's first tooth broke through. This little girl is very rarely fussy and teething does not see to bother her for the most part. She now has two teeth. She also started on her vegetables the week of May 15th. We have also moved into the big bath tub.

Memorial Day weekend we did so many things. We went out to the lake one evening to spend time with Grandma and Grandpa. (really Grandma wanted to show Britton off) Saturday evening we spent time with Mike and Toni and their daughter Sidney. Toni smoked chicken for dinner, which was awesome and then we got to take Britton swimming for the first time. She is going to be a water baby. We just have to be careful of the ears. Then on Monday we went to the zoo as a family. Britton loves to be outside.

Britton swimming at Mike and Toni's

Britton at the lake

At the zoo on Memorial Day

This week her second tooth has broken through and she is definitely becoming more and more independent. Last night Chad and I were working on folding laundry and Britton was showing great interest in the basket. So Chad picked her up and put her in the empty laundry basket. She loved playing in it for quite awhile. She is such a happy and curious baby.

Last weekend I did get a chance to work on Britton's scrapbook so I need to take some pictures and get a few of those pages up here for you.

Thank you for peeking in on us. Have a great week.

Update!

2010-05-08T10:24:00.003-05:00

So I have really been slacking and I am very sorry.

Britton has been doing so many things this past month. She is now sitting up by herself and pulling all of her toys out of the basket just to find the perfect one to play with. She is holding her bottle by herself and we just started feeding her rice cereal this week.

On the 20th of April, she had tubes put in both ears. Since then she is even happier than she was before and when she talks it is quieter since she can now hear herself. She was such a trooper. I know one thing for sure and that was her surgery was way more difficult on mom and dad than it was on her.

Britton in her Easter Dress after church on Easter Sunday.

Sunglasses that Mommy insisted on buying for Britton.

Just before surgery. The nurses gave her the green teddy bear.

Last weekend we took Britton to the zoo for the first time. We plan to make this a habit after church on Sunday mornings. As is in the past we met up with our godson and family and enjoyed the Cinco deMayo festivities.

Tuesday evening we started rice cereal with Britton it was also the first time that she was in the high chair. She seems to really like the cereal.

Thank you for peeking in on us.

Almost 5 months

2010-03-18T22:59:00.005-05:00

Wow, I really can't believe that Britton will be 5 months old on Monday. She is doing so well and is always so happy. We are so very blessed. Chad and I have always wanted to be parents, but never in our wildest dreams did we think that we would feel so absolutely complete and in love with this little girl so quickly.

I spoke with our attorney and we truly are playing the waiting game now that all of our home visits are complete. We just get to sit back and relax and wait for the six month mark. I can't believe that it is truly in only six weeks.

We have been doing a lot of playing on the floor and of course I have been taking pictures. I have a couple to post and a short video. Little Bit has found her loud (screeching) voice. It has been so funny to see her screech and then laugh at herself. Thank you for checking in on us.

Tomorrow evening I am going to spend the evening with friends scrapbooking. I hope that my creative juices continue. So I was able to get the video to upload. You might want to turn the music off at the bottom of the page and then come back and hit play on the video.

Britton Update

2010-03-04T21:56:00.006-06:00

So, I know that I have slacked on updating everyone (sorry grandpa). The last couple of weeks have been really crazy. Britton came down with RSV and an ear infection. She is much better now and things are starting to get back to normal. I am so thankful for my mother in law and her flexible schedule that she was able to help us out so much. I think that it helped that she got uninterrupted time with Britton too! Even though Britton was sick she was still a very happy baby. I took one video on day 5 of RSV that I am posting at the end of this. You definitely would not know that she was sick just by watching the video.

With life getting back to normal, we had our last visit with the social worker earlier this week. It is a great feeling to be done with that, but now we just have to finish the 6 month wait for everything to be final. Our social worker, Iva, has been absolutely wonderful and we truly feel as though she is a member of our family after spending so much time with her through this whole process. Iva made things so easy for us and we really appreciate everything she has done for us.

I took a few pictures last weekend. I can't believe how much our little girl has grown. She weighs 18 pounds now and is wearing 6-9 months already. I just love to hear her in the morning and to see her smile when she wakes up. She is truly the light of my life! We are so very blessed. Thank you for checking in on us.

I have actually gotten to work on her book. Maybe this weekend I will get pictures taken of her pages and get some posted. Be on the lookout.

3 months old

2010-01-24T17:47:00.004-06:00

Well this week Britton turned 3 months old. I took Friday off to spend the day with Britton and to take her for a 3 month follow up to the cardiologist to check out her heart murmur. Chad was not able to go to the doctor with us, I was a little nervous about this, but things turned out just fine. In fact we do not have to go back to see the cardiologist until she is 1 year old. Her heart murmur is getting better and we are past the time frame that it would get worse. Britton did very well during the EKG, listening, and then the sonogram. It is so hard to keep her absolutely still.

We have enjoyed a nice quiet weekend at home and not having to really do anything. We decided yesterday to have Britton's picture taken. The pictures turned out great, but the process was very trying. Our appointment was at 4 pm, they did not start on our pictures until almost 5 pm. We got done with one room and had to wait about 45 minutes for the next room and then another 45 minutes to view and order our pictures. Once we finally placed the order it was going to be another hour before they were printed so we decided to pick them up today. I think they were severely under staffed. I have attached a few of my favorites. I hope to get a couple of scrapbook pages done this next week for her book and will post pictures of those soon.

Thank you for peeking in on us.

Christmas 2009

2009-12-31T22:00:00.003-06:00

Let me just start by saying that Christmas 2009 has been the most awesome Christmas of my life. Chad and I got everything that our hearts desired in 2009 and many great wishes for the future. The best gift of all time was the addition of Britton to our family. Chad nor I would be asked what we wanted for Christmas and our response was we have already received the best gift ever in our daughter! It was very difficult to decide what to get Britton for Christmas since she is only two months old, so we did not do too much this year. Britton was really a great baby for the entire day. She did not sleep too much during the day. I think she was afraid that she would miss something. My Aunt and Uncle from Ohio and their son were here as well as my Aunt and her daughter from Arkansas so Britton was meeting other members of the family she had not met before. Here are a few pictures from Christmas as well as a few that I took on Christmas Eve in front of the Christmas tree at our house.

Santa came to visit the day care center before Christmas!

On the 22nd, I took Britton for her 2 month check up and first round of shots. She is doing very well and getting very strong. She weighs 14 pounds and 7 ounces and is 23 inches long. The doctor did notice a small umbilical hernia, that we believe will heal itself by the time she is 2 years old. So for now, we just monitor the hernia and wait to see what it does. She is sleeping anywhere from 4 to 6 hours at a time during the night. We are thrilled for this.

Thank you for peeking in on us! Happy New Year to you and yours. I hope you get all your wishes for the new year.

7 weeks old tomorrow

2009-12-09T20:07:00.003-06:00

Well, this past couple of weeks have gone by so quickly. I went back to work one week ago. Taking Britton to daycare was very difficult, but she really seems to like it. I know how can you tell if a 6 week old really likes something. I like to believe that she likes being there and that she is having fun. Everyone at work really did a great job of keeping things going while I was gone, so I have not felt so completely overwhelmed. I am really trying to get out of the office earlier like around 5 or 5:30 and that seems to be going well. One of my staff members, mother works at the daycare center in the older infant room, and that really helps to know that there is someone there everyday that can check in on Britton and let me know if there is anything that I should be aware of.

I can't believe that Britton will be 7 weeks old tomorrow. She is sleeping about 5 hours a night before she wakes up for her bottle and usually goes back to sleep until about the time to head out the door for work. We seem to be getting into a routine. Chad is playing with her on the floor now. I am seeing more and more smiles each and everyday in addition to more noises each day. This weekend we have the last baby shower and I also hope to get the rest of the Christmas shopping finished. On Sunday we will be going to cut down the Christmas tree and then to bother our house and my mom's house to decorate trees and take pictures. I know that Britton is very young for Christmas this year, but I really can't wait to have our family Christmas with her.

Here are a few pictures from the past couple of weeks. I do promise that after the holidays I intend to get some scrapbooking done again and I will post some of those pictures. I am working on my mom's Christmas cards and I will post a picture of those this weekend.

playing in my activity gym.

snuggle time with daddy.

at Windy Knoll Christmas Tree Farm picking out our tree to cut closer to Christmas.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-26T09:04:00.005-06:00

Well this is an exciting year for us, since we have our daughter. We are still in the can't believe it is real phase. She is with us and we are so thankful for that. As I sit here updating the blog Chad is getting her dressed in her first Thanksgiving outfit. We will post pictures later. The time has flown by and I have to go back to work next week. I know that things will be okay, but I am going to have a hard time leaving her at daycare and not getting to spend my day with her.

Two weeks ago my dad was here from Sacramento to meet his granddaughter. I would say that he enjoyed his time with us. I just wish that he did not live so far away. We had a great visit and really got to spend time with him.

Britton was born with a slight heart murmur so we are following up with a pediatric cardiologist. We had an appointment yesterday and things are going just fine. Her murmur is still in the very mild stages so they want to just monitor it. We will go back when she is 3 months old for another follow up. I really think that it is something that she will outgrow. The Dr. said for them to consider doing anything the murmur would have to double at the very least before it would be in the level for them to do any type of procedure.

On November 7th our oldest nephew was playing in the playoffs and got injured. He ended up in surgery that evening. He broke his fibula and tore some ligaments. He is doing well now, but just got to meet his cousin a week after his accident.

We want to wish everyone a safe and Happy Thanksgiving. We hope that you get to spend time with your family and friends today. Here are some updated photos from the last few weeks.

Bath Time

Britton and Mommy at a shower.

Thank you for peeking in on us.

Almost 3 weeks old

2009-11-10T20:02:00.004-06:00

Well, I really can't believe that our daughter is almost 3 weeks old. My dad is here from Sacramento to meet little Miss Britton. We are doing pretty well. She still is having issues with her nights and days being backwards. My dad has seen her attitude and her sweetness. Chad took off today to play golf with both dads so I took advantage and took Britton to Portrait Innovations for 3 week pictures. I also wanted to make sure that my dad had some professional pictures to take home when he leaves Friday.

Here are a couple of pictures since we got home and when she met her other family members. We took her out to her great grandparents house on Halloween to meet the rest of the family. She was a real trooper and loved the attention, but what little girl would not love it. This Thanksgiving season I am very thankful for our family and for the blessing of this little girl in our lives. I am really enjoying being a mom and I know that Chad is so proud to be a dad.

Halloween outfit

Meeting Grandma Diana and Papa Chip

Meeting two of her three cousins

Pictures from today

Thanks for peeking in on us. As you can tell I have not done alot of scrapbooking, but I need to get her announcements finished and start on thank you notes. Have a great rest of the week.

2 became 3

2009-10-28T23:34:00.004-05:00

In April of this year my husband and I began the journey of adoption. We filled out all the paperwork, put our name on the list and got the profile ready. We were hoping to have some movement on our profile by Christmas, never in our wildest dreams did we expect to have a child before Halloween.

On June 16th we first spoke with our birthmother, and all decided that we wanted to proceed forward with this match. We were blessed with the fact that the birthmother lived close enough that we could be apart of the pregnancy and then the birth. We attended a few doctor's appointments and sonograms. We would speak every couple of weeks if not weekly. When we received the phone call on October 22nd that our birthmother was at the hospital we had resigned ourselves to the fact that we would not make it for the birth of our child, but we would be there soon after. About halfway to the hospital we received a phone call asking how far away we were and that they were waiting to break her water until we could be there. We got to the hospital at 4pm and our daughter was born at 5:04pm. I even got to cut the cord. What a wonderful day. We are so very grateful to our birthmother and the staff at the hospital for their treatment of us while we were there.

Our daughter was released from the hospital into our custody and today we made everything official. We went to court this afternoon and now we are ready to shout it from the mountain tops that we are now parents. Our dream or wish has come true. We cannot thank our birthmother enough for all that she has done for us and for making our dreams come true. We know this was not an easy decision, but we are so thankful and we plan to make sure this young lady knows just how much she is loved.

Here is our first official family photo.

Here are a couple of pictures of our beautiful daughter, Britton Lee.

2 days old

4 days old

Thank you for peeking in on us. I will be updating with pictures very soon.

Projects taking all the time

2009-08-22T23:02:00.003-05:00

Well hello friends! Again I have been gone for awhile. Work is really crazy busy and then add onto that all the projects that we have been doing around the house. I have missed the time to update the blog and share some of what we have been up to with you all. We have been needing to replace some of our siding on the house and then of course the job that comes with it is painting. We had the siding replaced the beginning of June, but could not start the painting since harvest was just around the corner. Harvest means long days for Chad and since I don't do ladders that leaves me out for the high parts on the painting. So of course the time that we could start the painting was when we were having a hot spell with the weather and it was really hot outside. We did get most of the painting done in one weekend, and as of tonight we just have some touch ups to get done in the next week. While we were painting we also replaced all of the light fixtures outside. The first few pictures are of the painting of the house (including our paint crew the very first night)and the last two pictures are of the house as of today and the new lights outside.

I am really happy with the new color. It is harvest brown for the main color and melted chocolate for the trim color. The new lights really do compliment as well.

Last weekend I was able to get away to Maple Memories to get some scrapbooking done as well as a lot of laughter. I promise to get some pictures posted tomorrow of what I got accomplished as well as a few pictures of our family vacation to Branson. This year we took a quick trip to Branson with Chad's entire family and had a great time. We did a lot of laughing and in general spending quality time with family. I really did have a great time and would do it again.

Thanks for checking in on me. I will post more tomorrow. :)

It's about time!

2009-06-21T22:59:00.003-05:00

I am sorry that I have been MIA lately. I have been working alot of extra hours (just wish I got paid for the overtime) lately as you can all tell. Work is crazy busy, but I am learning new things every day. Hopefully now that I have hired a new person I will be able to get back to some normal hours.

Last weekend I was able to get out and take some pictures of my brother in law and his family before the wheat harvest started. I was happy to take the pictures and even more honored that they asked me to do it. I had fun doing it and can't believe that the boys have gotten so big. I have added a few of the shots below.

I hope that everyone has a great week. Thank you for peeking in!

TGIF

2009-04-03T16:00:00.004-05:00

I hope that everyone has had a good week and ready for the weekend. I took the day off today and we started some pretty deep spring cleaning or maybe you could call it a Clean Sweep. We are going through rooms and closets and getting rid of things that we haven't used in forever. We have already taken one load to Goodwill. I can't wait to see how much more we can add to that list.

Here are some more pages that I got done at Get Scrappy.

These are pages from when a group of us went to YoderHaus before they closed. This was a really great day and I had a blast with such a special group of friends. YoderHaus was a really cool scrapbooking and quilting retreat in the heart of an Amish community. We were going to go back this year, but unfortunately the owners had move back east and have sold the house. On the layout I used basic grey paper, the large tag is chipboard with Coffee Shop Glimmer Mist, the silver "friends" is from all my memories I think.

On the second page I used rubons by making memories. I love the simplicity of this page.

Golf Anyone?
Dad this one is for you!
These pictures are from last year when we spent a week in St Louis for my grandfather's 90th birthday and to see my dad. Chad and my dad spent 3 days golfing in about 5 days, this course was the final one, I think.

The "Tee Time" title is by Jolees's and the base card stock is raven by bazzill, I honestly cannot remember which line of paper the patterned paper is from.

On this page I used the Karen Foster license plate embellishments and thickers for the name of the course and the date on the right.

Thank you for checking in with me. I hope that you all have a wonderful weekend.

Wow What crazy weather

2009-03-28T22:03:00.005-05:00

Well, what can I say it is Spring, however, we have been getting snow and ice since yesterday. The snow has stopped, but that doesn't mean that it is any fun getting around. I am finally going to post some pages from Get Scrappy. Get Scrappy was the fund raising crop that I went to with all my friends from the East store. The crop did raise some much needed funds for the YWCA Crisis Center. I had an absolute blast and got about 10 pages done while I was there.

A little about these pages. I wish that I could remember what brand of patterned paper I used, but I can't I have had it too long. The title I painted the chipboard letters with white acrylic paint and then sprayed them with red glimmer mist. The word embellishments are from lil davis. The white on the edges is actually just white acrylic paint and not paper.

These pages are pictures that I took for my friend before she had baby number 2. I know that she is tired of seeing these photos pop up since I have used them several times for class samples when I was teaching, but this layout was done for my book so they should not pop up any longer. I wanted a simple yet elegant look for this layout. This was my favorite layout from the weekend.

A little information about the title. I used Chipboard letters by pink cactus and used of course glimmer mist to add that sheen and the green color. I then added the bling. The swirls are just large punches from paper shapers (thanks Toni for letting me use this).

For those of you that know my scrapbooking ways, I hope that you noticed that I did journal in my own handwriting and at this same time that I did the pages.

Here is one last picture, I took this picture this morning during the spring blizzard that we were having. If you were to look in our backyard right now there is still snow and sleet on the ground, but it has melted off the tree.

Thank you for peeking in and be safe. Have a great rest of your weekend.

More New Pages

2009-02-25T22:27:00.004-06:00

Well, this last weekend I went to a PJ Crop at Scrapfunattic and had an absolute blast. We scrapbooked from 5pm until 5am. I really can't believe that I made it all night. A lot of us that used to work together got together and had a great time. Sarah, Sam, Mary, and Kim, and Mary's friend Linda, and Kim's daughter Megan. I have not laughed like that in a really long time. Toni you were definitely missed. Scrapfunattic knows how to have a blast, they had movies set up, drawings, snacks, and just plain old fun. I have to say that I was lucky enough to have my name drawn and I got 3 bottles of glimmer mist. Believe it or not they were colors that I did not already own.

This top layout is from one of our Christmas trips to Prairie Pines Christmas Tree Farm. Up until this past year the tradition was to go to Prairie Pines and then spend the day putting up the trees at our house and my parents. This past year we went to Windy Knoll Christmas Tree Farm and took advantage of their tagging process. When you go out and tag a tree, you pay for it and you can choose when you come back to cut it down. I do believe that we have found a new place to cut down our tree. They really do have a great selection. The patterned paper is by Cosmo Cricket, Bazzil card stock, the word stickers are also from Cosmo Cricket, Heidi Swapp alphabet colored with glimmer mist, and making memories metal snowflakes.

These pages are from Grants Farm in St. Louis. Chad and I went there a couple of years ago when we were visiting my Grandfather, and seeing my dad. It really is a neat little place. Of course I have always been in love with the Budweiser Clydesdales. The paper is Basic Grey Granola and the tags and photo corners are chipboard shapes sprayed with glimmer mist. I found the chipboard shapes and photo corners at Hobby Lobby and I actually got them on one of their 50% of sales. Gotta love deals like that. Can you tell that I really like this product? I wrote on the tags with white pen. I know that Toni has already talked about the white pen that she loves and I will second that review. It is the best on the market.

Thank you for peeking in. I do hope that you are all having a great week and enjoying this lovely weather.

Christmas Cookies and Zoo Pages

2009-02-14T21:14:00.003-06:00

Here are a couple of layouts that I have done recently. On this page the patterned paper is by Around the Block, the letters are cork letters from Hobby Lobby and I sprayed them with Glimmer Mist. Boy do I really love to use Glimmer Mist. The buttons were from Michaels.

Here is a two page spread for a trip to the zoo. I can't remember which company the patterned paper is from, I found the ribbon at Scrapfunattic, the letters are flocked from Hobby Lobby and the items that look like brads are little stick on brad tops also from Hobby Lobby.

I am looking forward to next weekend and a chance to get a lot of scrapbooking done. I am going to Scrapfunattic for a PJ crop 12 hours of fun!

I hope that everyone has had a great Valentine's Day. Thanks for peeking in.

Product Review

2009-02-12T21:13:00.004-06:00

Well, I know that it has been a while. I hope that everyone is having a great week. Things have been crazy at work, but I am looking forward to the weekend. I want to share with all of you a great product that I have found. For those of you that use the ATG tape gun, it may be difficult to find the refills. I have found the Scotch ATG 908 refill for as low as $5.50 per roll that is including shipping and handling. This is the only refill that I could find that was listed as acid free. I have used the following website to order from and the more rolls you order the cheaper it is. I have ordered from Framing Supplies, http://www.framingsupplies.com/3M/InformationATG.htm, the wait is not bad at all. As far as the tape goes, this is the best that I have found. I have seen this same tape at other stores, but not as wide or as much for substantially more than what I can get from Framing Supplies. I hope that this product review is helpful to everyone.

New pages

2009-01-26T21:56:00.001-06:00

The last couple of weeks I have gotten about 10 pages done. I am feeling much better about my hobby since I am actually getting a chance to enjoy it right now. Even though my full time job has been crazy busy, I have carved out time to scrapbook the last couple of weekends. This next weekend I am going to a Super Bowl crop during the day then I plan to join my husband's family for the remainder of the game. The top picture is of our godson on the 4th of July in 2006. He was having a ball getting their dog wet and just playing in the grass and mud. He is such a sweet boy. Under the marbles I have written Splish Splash as the title. I honestly cannot remember the brand of the patterned paper. The base cardstock is actually a cross between red and orange, not quite as orange as the picture makes it seem.

The baseball page is our youngest nephew pitching. He has really taken to pitching just like his oldest brother. These pictures are from 2007. I am gaining on my back log and boy does that feel good. I used Thickers for Brian's name and then I used the cricut for the year.

I hope that everyone is having a great week. It is cold here with some ice and snow expected tonight. When I came home from work it was just starting to get slick outside. Be safe!

Random Thoughts

2009-01-21T12:36:00.002-06:00

I know that it has been awhile. Things are going pretty well, but busy. I guess it is that time of year when you work in Human Resources and Accounting. I am trying to work on the W-2's to get those out and still find time for my wonderful hobby. I have gotten to scrapbook the last two weekends and boy does that feel good. I have cleaned out some of my scrapbook room so now I can just go down and work for a little bit and not have to clean up to get the space to work. I will post some pages later tonight, but I thought that I would update everyone on my life.

As most of you know, we got a new dog, named Lucky. Well, let me tell you his name should be Houdini. The silly dog can climb a 6 foot privacy fence and run to play with other dogs or the kids in the neighborhood. He did this not once, but three times Saturday afternoon. So needless to say, we were at our wits end and we had gotten a work out. Lucky would come to me after he was done playing with everyone else or he saw Chad heading his way. Sunday afternoon we went to PetSmart and purchased an electric fence that you can string on the fence and not have to bury. We plan to install that this weekend. I will let you know how it works. In the meantime, we are having to stand outside with him so that he will not try to climb the fence. Boy, he is one fast dog. Well, that was our excitement this weekend.

I hope that everyone is having a great week. I will post pictures tonight.

Last Christmas

2009-01-05T21:15:00.003-06:00

Brent and Lucky

Brian playing wii bowling

Brent playing wii bowling

Well, I hope that everyone had a great Christmas and Happy New Year. My husband's family finally got to celebrate Christmas this past Saturday. My sister-in-law had a great idea this year, and that was to just spend some quality family time together since everyone is getting so hard to buy for. The rest of the family was okay with this as long as the kids were okay with it. I am very proud of our nephews, they were more than okay with this plan. They even told Grandma that they did not want anything for Christmas, but to buy something for someone that probably won't get anything. So, instead of buying gifts, we went to a movie, out to dinner and then back to our house to play games. We were able to spend 8 solid hours together enjoying family time and playing with the new dog. The only reason we were so late getting together was because of illness throughout the family. We played a couple of other games, but ended up in the basement teaching Grandma and Grandpa (Chad's parents) how to play the Wii. We had a great time, but it sure went by quickly. I, personally, hope that this becomes a family tradition.

Christmas Dog

2008-12-29T21:56:00.002-06:00

On Saturday, December 27th we went to the Humane Society and added a new member to our family. We found a great Australian Cattle Dog. He is 2 1/2 years old and just as sweet as can be. As many of my close friends know a year ago we had to put down the dog that Chad and I got right after we were married. Well I have been talking to Chad about getting another dog for quite a while and he finally caved. Lucky is the new dog and he is about 26 pounds. He and Ernie seem to be getting along very well. I know that I am very happy to have two dogs in the house again.

If I don't get updated with other Christmas pictures before the New Year, Please have a safe and Happy New Years Eve.

Happy New Year.

As promised...

2008-12-01T21:57:00.002-06:00

Dallas Game Photo. Can you believe that we were three rows from the last row in the stadium? I love my camera!

This next picture is from the 3A State Championship Football Game. Our nephew is number 70.

Chad is so proud that our nephew is number 70, since that was his number when he played Football at Conway Springs.

Thanksgiving

2008-11-30T21:31:00.003-06:00

Well, I just wanted to update everyone on our Holiday plans. I surprised my husband with tickets to the Dallas Cowboys Game on Thanksgiving Day. Needless to say he was completely stoked to go. We decided to drive most of the way to Dallas Wednesday evening. The plan was that we were going to sleep in and head to the stadium whenever that morning since the game was not until 3pm. Well, my husband does not sleep in, he was up by 8am. I think he was excited to go to the game. It was a good game and a great time. I took tons of pictures (I will post a couple tomorrow night). We did go ahead and drive home that night. Chad had to work at the Christmas tree farm Friday.

Saturday we went to Hutchinson to watch the 3A state football game. Our oldest nephew was playing and boy was that a great game to watch. You bet I took even more pictures there. We are very proud of our nephew and the Conway Springs Cardinals for the win. The boys played hard.

Today my parents and I headed out the Windy Knoll Christmas Tree Farm. Chad was working, but he had time to help us look for trees for both houses. This was a big deal for our family since we have been going to Prairie Pines since 1981 and this is the first time that we have gone anywhere else, even though Chad has worked at Windy Knoll for the last three years. Windy knoll does something really neat, they allow you to tag a tree and come out later and cut it down. We don't usually go until about the week before Christmas and most of the great trees are really picked over. So now all we have to do is go back whatever day we want to get the trees and cut it down and take them home.

I hope that everyone had a safe and wonderful holiday. Thanks for stopping in. I promise to get pictures up tomorrow night.

Tagged

2008-11-16T22:18:00.002-06:00

TOP 8 TV SHOWS
1. One Tree Hill
2. Dancing with the stars
3. CSI
4. ER
5. Grey's Anatomy
6. Brothers & sisters
7. Desperate Housewives
8. Extreme Home Makeover

TOP 8 RESTAURANTS
1. On The Border
2. Old Chicago
3. Texas Roadhouse
4. Panera
5. Jason's Deli
6. El Chico (which is not here anymore)
7. McAllister's
8. Cinnamon's deli

WHAT ARE 8 THINGS THAT HAVE HAPPENED THIS WEEK?
1. Went to a friend from college's wedding
2. Went to see Quantam of Solace
3. Got a pedicure today
4. training my new hr assistant
5. Strong Kids kickoff event
6. Budget meetings
7. Worked late
8. Got to see my godson and his brother

WHAT ARE 8 THINGS YOU'RE LOOKING FORWARD TO?
1. Thanksgiving
2. Christmas (my favorite holiday)
3. Going to the tree farm
4. Family time
5. hanging out with friends
6. Football season to be over
7. Time with my nephews
8. Book Club next month

WHAT ARE 8 THINGS YOU LOVE ABOUT FALL?
1. "Sweater weather"
2. Beautiful trees and leaves on the ground
3. time with family
4. Christmas lights
5. Soups
6. love going to the pumpkin patch
7. Snuggling at homes
8. Nephews birthdays

Now I am tagging JoEtta and Toni.

Crop Camp

2008-11-11T21:09:00.001-06:00

I hope that everyone had a great weekend. I know that I did. I went to Crop Camp at Camp Horizon in Ark City for the weekend. I had a lot of fun and in the process got about 21 pages completed. I spent most of last week getting organized and then I left Friday afternoon and came home on Sunday. The only thing that I would change next time is to take Friday off and go earlier. The pages above is one layout that I got done. I have to say that I think this layout is one my favorite from this weekend. The pictures were taken early in the summer. No the little boy is not ours. My best friend thought that it would be fun for us to have pictures taken with her son, our godson. Her idea was to have the John Deere theme since Chad works for John Deere and Zach has developed an infatuation with the green and yellow tractors.

I will post more pictures later this week. I have to save some pictures so that I will have something to post later.
Have a great rest of the week. Thank you for checking in on me. Hugs~

Dolphin Watching and Tampa

2008-10-19T12:25:00.001-05:00

Well Saturday morning started with Chad finishing his training. I picked him up in the field and we headed for John's Pass and Hubbard Marina. When I talked with Chad about doing a dolphin watching tour he mentioned that he would like to do that as well. I knew that he would not have time in Sarasota so I started looking into the Tampa area. As it turns out Hubbard's marina is a little over half way to Tampa from Sarasota. This was the thing to do Saturday afternoon. As a bonus we were able to go to Bubba Gumps Shrimp Co. Chad originally talked about just getting a burger and I reminded him that why not get seafood when you are by the water, since it is going to taste much better than at home and I don't even eat seafood. We had a good time. After lunch we went walking around the marina taking a look at all the shops and just taking in the scenes.

Our dolphin watching tour started at 3pm. No sooner had the boat pulled out of the slip did we see a group of about 3 or 4 dolphins. We watched thosed for a little bit and of course I missed the picture when the dolphin decided to jump out of the water. We probably saw anywhere from 15-25 dolphins yesterday. I would say it was worth the time that we spent on the boat. It was a fun time and the employees of Hubbard's marina were wonderful to work with.

While on the dolphin watching tour we also got to see these beautiful bird rookeries. These little islands are filled with Mangrove trees and the birds love to nest here. This picture is of just a few of the pelicans on this little island.

After we left John's pass we headed to find the hotel for the night. I found out that we were not far from a Cheesecake Factory so that is where we decided to eat dinner. Then it was walking around the mall for a little bit letting our food settle and then back to the hotel to pack and get some rest.

We are ready to get back home. We have just a couple more hours here in the Atlanta airport then we should be home late this afternoon. I hope that everyone has had a great weekend. Thanks for peeking in.

Sarasota, FL

2008-10-18T06:53:00.000-05:00

I have been in Sarasota since Wednesday and spent money at two scrapbook stores. I found some really cool stuff. Remember all those Bo-bunny word books, well I found tons of those types of books even one that says "DISNEY". I just could not leave that one on the shelf. I do know where we can buy more even custom words. Yesterday my Great Aunt and I went on Mote Aquariums Ecotour in hopes of seeing dolphins and learning a bit of information. It was really neat. Right after we left the dock we did see a couple of dolphins. I have marked the dolphin on the picture. Boy do I wish I would have brought my other camera with me. I would have liked the extra zoom power. Last night we went over to Aunt Ruth's and played Phase 10, which is a cross between gin rummy and I am not sure what other game. I can definitely say that it is a game that most of the Whiston (my family) clan plays. Let me tell you there is no mercy when you play with a Whiston.

Take a look at the houses. The houses are huge and with tons of windows. I have no clue how much they cost. I would not mind the house, but I sure would hate the mortgage bills. One house even has a statue of Michael Jordan on their back porch. I did not get a picture of the statue for everyone.

Well I better finish packing. We are heading to Tampa today to go back to the airport. I am enjoying the sunny weather instead of the rain that we left back home. I hope everyone is having a great weekend. Thanks for checking in on me.

Well, I am still alive

2008-10-07T21:38:00.007-05:00

Again I must apologize for appearing to have fallen off the face of the earth. Things have been really busy at work and with family. Several of my dearest friends were blindsided last week with the closing of one of the Scrapbook Garden Stores last week. I am sure that people may understand the need for closing the store, but the way my friends were treated really stinks and I don't understand how anyone that runs a "family" business could treat people that way. I am positive that better things are out there for everyone from the East store and I want them to know that I will help in anyway possible. I have never been more sure of my decision to leave the store as I have been the last week or so. I am positive that everyone will find better jobs and feel extremely appreciated wherever they end up now. I am glad that I had the chance to work with everyone and I am very thankful for the friendships that I have made while working with them, and that will never be taken away from me.

I have posted one page halloween from last year. We went to Night of the Living Zoo. Wow was that place crowded. I wish we would have gotten to see some of the animals and I know that our godson would have liked that better. Both of the boys had a great time and we had fun hanging out with their mom and dad. Sorry about the glare on the photos.

I promise to get better about updating posts. I am hoping that things will slow down so that I can get some pages done. I will be out of town next week and hopefully I will get to visit some stores while I am gone and maybe even get to do some small projects. I am ready for some rest and relaxation.

Winter Wonderland

2008-09-11T21:09:00.003-05:00

Well, I am sorry that I seem to have fallen off the face of the earth. Really, I have been enjoying some down time and doing some reading. I have joined a book club and we meet every other month and the book we are reading is Twilight by Stephanie Meyer. I really enjoyed the book and have already started book 2 in her series of 4. Well here is a layout that originally started as a two page spread, but when it came down to it I only had one picture. I used this page and gave the other page two a friend. I hope everyone is having a great week. I will be sure to update again this weekend with more projects from this weekend. I am hoping to spend some time in the craft room. Have a great Friday.

Bella Cards

2008-08-21T23:20:00.000-05:00

Well, as promised, here are a couple of cards that I started last night and took the time to finish tonight. The first one is a birthday card for my best friend. I love the birthday or party themed bellas. I used twinkling H2O's and my new nestabilities on both cards. The second card is using another bella stamp that I borrowed or a friend stamped a few of them for me while I was scrapbooking one friday night. On this card I also used flocking by doodlebug and the scalloped rectangle nestabilities. I really like these products and will be using them more in the future. Thanks for checking in on me. I am ready for Friday. I hope you all have a wonderful Friday and weekend to follow.

Wow

2008-08-20T21:32:00.002-05:00

Wow is all I have to say for this week. Last night was my last class at Scrapbook Garden. It is amazing how I really do feel good about my decision and I feel like a ton of bricks have been lifted off of my shoulders. Tonight I worked out after work and when I called home to tell my hubby that I was on my way, he told me that he was starting dinner. Can life get any better? I really enjoyed walking into the house with dinner waiting on me. (boy am I spoiled) I hope he keeps this up even though I am not working a second job anymore. LOL! I have spent a little bit of time in my scrapbook room this evening working on some cards and boy does that feel good. I promise I will get a couple of them up tomorrow night. My next project is cleaning my craft room and get in gear catching up. I have to match my friend Toni's 50 pages since our Yoder crop. I am so jealous. I hope that you are all having a great week so far. Thanks for peeking in.

John Deere Fanatics

2008-08-17T21:52:00.000-05:00

Chad and Zachary

Well here is a page that I just finished up using the Cricut Design Studio and the Stone Script font. I have been lazy about getting my desing studio back up and running since my computer crashed a couple of months ago. I can't believe that I have not done this sooner. I really love the design studio and I have so many pages to just add the finishing touches with this tool. I hope that everyone has had a wonderful weekend. I spent the majority of the weekend with my best friend and her children (our godson). We had a great day today, we met at our usual time and place (the Zoo) and then went to lunch. It is great to see the boys grow up and to just have fun time with them. They were running the zoo and they even had me running (LOL)!

This Tuesday is my last class at Scrapbook Garden. Wow, that is going to be hard, but it is time to move on. I look forward to teaching this week and having at least one new instructor to sit in my class. This week will be busy, but then things should slow down. I hope that everyone has a great week. Thanks for peeking in.

Family Pages

2008-08-14T22:30:00.001-05:00

As promised earlier today, here is a new layout that I have unearthed. In getting things cleaned up I am going through all the layouts that I have completed and I am putting them in the appropriate albums. I apologize for the flashback on the pictures. I still have not figured out the best way to photograph the layouts. The pictures were taken at my Uncle's wedding in 2006. Wow, we had a wonderful time. I used Bazzil cardstock, the silver specialty paper is by Magenta. The embellishments were from making memories, prima marketing, and 7 gypsies. I did put a little bit of stickles on the flowers. Thank you for peeking in. Have a great Friday! :)

Thursday

2008-08-14T09:24:00.002-05:00

Okay I know that I have been slacking again. I promise that I will get some new pics posted tonight. I have been really interested in the Olympics so my blogging has suffered this week. I only have one more class to teach next week, so I should have more time to scrap for myself. I am enjoying it when I take the time to do it and I realize now how much I have missed working on things for myself. Thank you for checking in and I promise I will post again tonight with at least one layout done.

Yoder Retreat

2008-08-07T22:20:00.004-05:00

One of the bedrooms for the retreat. I love the quilts!!!

Our Fun Filled Group!

Mary creating perfection!

Toni talking with her hands and telling stories.

Well, I am ready for Friday! This week seems to have gone on forever. I am working tomorrow night and doing my last Friday Night crop at store. I really can't believe that I am down to just two more classes or events at the store before I am finished. Wow what a journey. Enough about that.

I just thought that I would share a couple of pictures from our Yoder Retreat. Wow what a wonderful day and what fun. I don't think that I have laughed quite that much and also gotten so many pages done in such a long time. I can't wait until next time. Let me tell you that Janet was a wonderful hostess and really does a wonderful job with the retreat. I could just go there and hang out and do nothing.

Sedgwick County Fair

2008-08-01T00:24:00.003-05:00

My husband goes to the Sedgwick County Fair for work and most years I will tag along or join him later. Well, now that our Godson is old enough to enjoy the time instead of just sitting in a stroller we have started taking him out to the fair. It is a blast since he is so into cows and anything john deere. Wonder where that started? Could it be that his Godfather sells John Deere. Here is a picture of the two of them after the carousel. Zachary has such a sweet little smile. I have also included a picture of Zachary with the funnel cake. How can you go to the fair and not have a funnel cake? Have a great Friday.

Weekend Retreat

2008-07-29T23:04:00.003-05:00

Hello! I know that it has been a while since I have written, but I wanted to update you on my scrapbooking weekend retreat. I can't believe how much I got done. I actually got 20 pages done. That is the most that I have done in one day in a really long time. We had an absolute blast and are looking forward to doing it again soon. There were 5 of us that went and I have not laughed that much in forever. I know that we all had our cameras with us and I will post pictures soon. I need to share my pictures with everyone else and see what the others have. Well enough about my weekend retreat for now. I have been pretty busy the past couple of weeks and made a tough decision to quit teaching at the local scrapbook store. I have been working there for a long time and it will be hard to leave, but my full time job is keeping me very busy and things are not slowing down there.

Here is one of my favorite layouts from this past weekend. This is somewhat outside the box for me, but I love it. I hope that everyone is having a great week. Thank you for stopping in.

Organization

2008-07-19T23:35:00.002-05:00

Oh my word. I never realized how much paper I had. I have been trying to get organized for 13 hours of cropping and I want to make the best use of my time. So to help get ready to go and crop and feel like I am getting something accomplished, I have been cleaning and organizing my scrapbook room. I am having issues organizing my patterned paper. How do you organize your paper? I would love to know. My goal is to use as much of my current paper supply and try to get through that before I buy a ton more. I promise to update with some pictures later in the week. I hope everyone is having a great weekend.

Travel Word Album

2008-07-15T01:13:00.003-05:00

I hope that everyone had a good Monday. Boy I had a really hard time getting out of bed today. I was just hoping for another day to the weekend. Well, here is a class that I am teaching at Scrapbook Garden this month and also in August. It is using Bo Bunny papers and embellishments. I really like this project. Everytime I do one of these word albums I keep thinking of other things that I could add to them. These albums make great gifts. I can't wait to make the one that says Beach. I hope that everyone has a great week. I am going to be getting things ready for 13 solid hours of cropping. I can't wait. I am hoping that I will get alot done.

Bella Card

2008-06-29T22:54:00.002-05:00

I hope that everyone has had a wonderful weekend. I got a chance to scrapbook yesterday and actually got 5 pages done. I have not had a chance to take pictures of any of those layouts but I did make a birthday card for a gal at work. She was on vacation when her birthday so I had a little bit of time to make her card. I am never sure what to make for someone at work, but I remembered that some crazy person gave me this bella stamp. I just love it and it is perfect for my co-worker. I used white cardstock for the actual card, making memories blue paper with the cuttlebug swiss dots folder and a scrap of patterned paper. I colored the bella with watercolor pencils and the dove blender. I hope everyone has a great week and just remember that it is only a four day work week. Thanks for stopping by.

Slacker

2008-06-23T16:01:00.001-05:00

I know I am a total slacker. I plan to do some updating on my blog this week. I have gotten a few pages done recently and I am working on a Travel word class that I will be teaching at Scrapbook Garden next month. Please check in later in the week for more updates. I promise not to be such a slacker in the future. Thanks for checking in.

90 Years Old

2008-06-03T22:20:00.004-05:00

Well, it has been forever since I have last written. I am sorry that it has been so long. I have spent the better part of May out of town. I went out of town for my full time job and then went to St. Louis to visit family. My grandfather turned 90 last Friday. Most of the family was able to get together to celebrate. I enjoyed the time with my real dad, grandfather, and the rest of the family that was able to get together.

My grandfather is one very special man. His mind is so sharp and he tells such wonderful stories. On Thursday evening his church and the seminary that he used to teach at threw him a birthday party. They really spent quite a bit of time planning the party and it was wonderful that we were able to join the fun. There were about 40 people in attendance and it was really neat to see how he has touched so many people's lives over the years.

Thanks for peeking in. I did get a little bit of scrapbooking in while I was gone and I will post some of those pictures later this week as well as a class that I am teaching later this month at Scrapbook Garden East. Have a great rest of the week.

Father's Day Acrylic Album

2008-04-30T23:21:00.003-05:00

I know that I have been talking about my upcoming classes and I have finally finished the sample for the Father's Day Acrylic Class. I have included a slideshow of the pages, I apologize for the quality of the photos. It is very difficult to take pictures of an acrylic album. This is the second acrylic album that I have done and they are really fun. This one is in the shape of a house. The paper is 7 gypsies, the stickers are SRM, the chipboard brackets are bazzill, and the ric rac is also bazzill. I can't remember the brand of the other ribbons. I have used pictures of my father in law. He is truly a wonderful man.

I hope you all have a wonderful rest of the week. Thank you for stopping in.

New Pages

2008-04-24T21:58:00.002-05:00

I got a chance to scrapbook last Friday and I did get quite a bit done. I completed this layout of Easter 2007. I am still really far behind, but I have been skipping around to what looks like fun or to what I feel like working on. I am trying to squeeze some of my pages in while still working on projects for Scrapbook Garden and other people. I will post pictures of a Father's Day Acrylic Album that I will be teaching next month. I am looking forward to that class. Thank you for peeking in.

Friendship

2008-04-21T11:09:00.002-05:00

You never know who you will meet in life and what they will come to mean to you until something happens. On April 9th I received a phone call from one of my best friends telling me that her husband had a heart attack. I could not believe it. I did not know what to say or do. I kept in touch with her throughout the day to find out that he had another heart attack and had flatlined twice. I have never been so scared in my life. I did not know what to say to Toni. I just knew that I wanted to be there for her and the kids. Toni and Mike are very special people and I could not understand why this was happening to them of all people. I know that God was with Mike and wants him with his family and friends. It is truly a miracle that he is still with us today. He did get to come home over the weekend, but he still has a long road to complete recovery along with some lifestyle changes that everyone will have to learn. For everyone that has been praying for our friends please continue those prayers and thank you so much. We are so very happy that Mike is home where he belongs and on the road to recovery.

I am so glad that Toni and Mike have become such wonderful friends. We love them just like family.

Get Scrappy

2008-04-14T22:22:00.004-05:00

A couple of weeks ago I spent Friday and Saturday at Get Scrappy. This was a fundraiser crop for the YWCA Crisis Center. The whole thing ended up raising over $14,000 for the crisis center. I had a lot of fun and ended up getting a few pages done in the process. This is just one of the layouts that I did get done that weekend. I know that it says 2006, but I am still working on 2005 pages as well. I am going to srapbook this Friday and I hope to get more pages done this weekend. I apologize for the photos, but I have not gotten anything to put the pages against so that they don't bend. I will get better. Thank you for peeking in. Have a great week.

Zoo

2008-04-06T21:23:00.006-05:00

The call came in on Friday- "Your people, my people, same time same place. Let me know." Meaning do you want to meet Sunday at 10 at the zoo. Our Godson loves the zoo and last year we started meeting him, his little brother, and mommy at the zoo on Sunday mornings after church. We love spending this time with them. Zachary seems to really know and love all animals, but seems to have a special fondness for cows. Today we had to see the new calf that was born on Friday. After we saw the new calf we went to the new restaurant for our drink and popcorn. Enjoyed a short break where Zachary tried to catch the birds that were flying around. Zachary became our leader for the rest of the morning. I didn't get as much scrapbooking done this weekend as I hoped, but I plan to try and get some done this week and will post some later in the week. I hope you have a great week. Thank you for peeking in.

Slide Show of Family Tag Class

2008-03-31T22:55:00.003-05:00

This is a slideshow of the family tag class that I will be teaching in April at Scrapbook Garden. I really like it. The pictures are of my best friends family. Last March she asked me to take pictures of her family before she had Joshua. We spent the day at the Sedgwick County Park taking pictures and having a great time. Thank you for peeking in. I hope you have a great week.

Edgewood

2008-03-25T21:02:00.004-05:00

I am a very lucky person. I have two dad's that mean the world to me. My parents got divorced when I was 5 or 6 years old. Both of my parents re-married wonderful people. Both of my dad's are very special people and they get along very well. In fact My step-dad's family had a reunion in Tahoe in 2005 to spread my grandmother's ashes and my real dad joined us for a couple of days. Both dad's and my husband love to play golf and enjoyed a round together at Edgewood (where the celebrity golf tournament is held every year). I love the saying my two dad's, but how many people can say that they played golf with their two father's in law. I had to beg my husband to take pictures, and I am so glad that he did. Here is the layout that I have finally done for that special trip. Thanks for checking in.

Questions

2008-03-22T18:02:00.007-05:00

What's his name? Chad.
How long have you been together? We have been married for 11 years.
How long did you date before moving in together? We dated for almost 4 years before we got married. We did not officially live together until after the wedding, however, during college we may as well have lived together and saved the rent money.
How old is he? 34 almost 35
Who eats more? well, he does.
Who said I love you first? He did. He told me at a fraternity party and I asked him the next day when he was sober if he knew what he told me the night before.
Who is taller? He is about 4 or 5 inches taller than I am.
Who is smarter? I would say 50/50 depending on the subject.
Who does laundry? It just depends. Chad usually does the laundry, but most of the time he forgets to get the last load out of the dryer until it is time to do the next round of laundry.
Who does the dishes? Chad usually takes care of the dishwasher, but I do the items that cannot go into the dishwasher. He will not touch my baking stones.
Who pays the bills? I do
Who mows the lawn? Chad mows the lawn.
Who cooks dinner? We usually do it together or I will do it.
Who drives when you are together? Chad does most of the driving when we are together.
Who kissed who first? Chad kissed me first.
Who asked out who first? We were set up by some mutual friends. We were all just going to play miniature golf and then to watch movies and who knew we started dating that night.
Who proposed? He proposed to me, if you could call it that. We had been talking about marriage and when it came down to the proposal Chad got scared and just said here is the ring put it on. He was too nervous to ask my dad's permission, but it all worked out. My parents love him and always have. Chad did finally ask me again about 6 months after we had originally gotten engaged and it was so sweet.
Who has more siblings? Chad has 1 brother, and I have a Step-brother and step-sister.
Who wears the pants in the family? me of course.

It's Friday

2008-03-21T22:07:00.006-05:00

Well, this has been a crazy couple of weeks. I am looking forward to some of the new classes that I will be teaching in April. I am trying to get the samples done of those this weekend. I plan to get pictures up of at least one of the April classes on the blog by Monday. My goal this weekend is to get a few pages scrapbooked or at least LO ready to go for Get Scrappy. I have also been working on my blog. I am learning a whole lot and having fun. I do hope that everyone has a great Easter and thank you for checking in.

New to Blogging

2008-03-19T22:53:00.004-05:00

Okay, so I have been harassed into creating a blog. I have no clue what I am doing, but I believe that I will have fun sharing things with everyone and learning something new. Please check in as I will try to get this up and going this weekend. I have taken a couple of days off work and hope to get alot of things done. I need to clean the scrapbook room and get ready for Get Scrappy next weekend. I really want to get caught up. I have added a picture of my awesome scrapbook desk, the first stage, that my husband built for me.