Can you believe it?

.....another layout! This is Day 7 of the BPS daily dose of creativity. Yes I know i skipped day 6 or something...it was another card/altered item/tag or something which you all know I hate.

Anyway, Emma played a soccer game today and after a solid week of me preaching about being "mean" and taking the ball away from the other team....she did it! I knew she had it in her! She was in there probably pushing a bit too much =) and she even got her first career goal. It was pretty awesome...she made her mama proud. That is all for now. Hope you all have a great day.

Another layout

Here is my layout from day 5 of the BPS daily creative thingy. I skipped day 4 as it was a card and I hate making cards. So on this layout yes, there is journaling...yes it is blocked out...guess you can make up your own....gotta leave something for your imagination =). That is all for now. Gotta put the wild people to bed.

New Layout

Here is my layout from the new blog ScrapFaith There is a new challenge up there, so check it out and participate if you feel like it. Gotta run =).

A few new photos and a new blog

Hello all....here are a few photos from the other night. Thought they were cute. I've been asked by my lovely friend Emilie to be on the design team for her new blog ScrapFaith . The first challenge will be out on the 15th....so check it out. That is all for now. adios.

A new picture and layout

Hello...I have a new favorite picture. I took this one of the girls and I really like it. They both look so beautiful...and at the same time...that is the tricky part...usually one looks goofy while the other is looking good. Anyway, I found their shirts at my favorite store Target...thought they were cute.

This is from day 3 of my big picture scrapbooking thingy I am doing. I'm a little behind....but I wouldn't be me if that wasn't the case. And besides I'm definitely thinking I can't make a card or the "cute" altered project...really really really not into those...which makes it that I'm really not behind at all =). Anyway, hope you are all having a lovely day.

Busy weekend

Hello all....busy weekend here....and actually productive. Amazing. My first project...the firepit. I've been wanting to build something like this for quite some time, so yesterday evening I decided to do it. I think it turned out pretty nicely considering I have no official firepit building experience. We tried it out this evening and roasted marshmallows and did the smore thing. It was fun.

This was tonight before the firepit extravaganza...quite the large group, huh? Tonya took this picture. She almost takes as many pictures as I do =).

The girls and Jeremy built this lovely fort the other day. They all seem to love it quite a bit. Betty the crazy Idaho cat also seems to enjoy it too.

Tonya has now experienced not only the smore thing, but now mowing....she volunteered and keeps telling me how much fun she had...she kind of thinks it is like driving a car. Hopefully her love affair with mowing will last until she leaves =).

And believe it or not I made a scrapbook page. Holy crap..... I needed something to kick me in the butt so I joined a big picture scrapbooking class called Creativity:A daily dose. And I've decided to try to keep up with it for the month of September. And so far so good....I made my layout for day 1...something to describe our jobs/daily roles, etc.

Day 2 was a tag....I never make such things, but in the spirit of trying to get myself motivated, I followed the directions (somewhat) and made my little tag. Don't have a clue what to do with it, but who knows, maybe someday it will come in handy. I'm currently working on day 3s assignment. Anyway, that is all for now. Hope you all have a lovely day.

Long Time No Blog

Hello people....been awhile. Believe it or not I have been busy. Working, mommying, etc...basically the same old stuff....but it seems more than usual.

Tonya (pronounced Tone-ya)has now been in our house for a bit over a week. We all get along quite well I think. I have her officially hooked on Grey's anatomy, she has eaten green beans for the first time ever, has become a lover of cheese quesadillas and has joined the swimming team at school. Here she is teaching Bella how to crochet.
















Tonya and Bella on the first day of school (last monday)


Miss Emma started playing soccer and had her first game on Sunday. She was cute and was getting the hang of it by the end of the game. We had one episode where she just walked off of the field in the middle of the game...she was bribed back onto the field after being told that she needed to keep on playing to get her soccer treat after the game.



And finally another reason I have been a bit more busy than normal....for those of you who so kindly asked who the man was in my post a month or so ago and I so rudely ignored you....this is Jeremy. I like him...we will leave it at that. More to come if I feel like it =).


Anyway, I hope to resume my hobby of scrapbooking sometime soon. I have been on hiatus this summer and am ready to get started again I think. Step one would to be to clean up my office I think as it seems to paralyze me with it sheer messiness everytime I walk into it. Well that is all for now. Hope you all have a lovely day.
Ohhh.....did I mention I bit the bullet and got high speed internet...found a reasonable satellite option and did it. It is quite refreshing to be able to download a song from the internet in way under 45 minutes =). Adios.

And so she arrives

Antonina, the exchange student living with us this next year arrived this afternoon.

Spent a lot of time getting her bedroom ready. Found out I don't have a bed frame, so the bed is on the floor. Here is my finished work. Turned out okay, I think. Much better than the first attempt, which I aborted mid way through and had to start over.



And she brought us chocolate....got to like her =).

Have a great weekend!

Hello

A brief recap of the weekend. Went to Omaha to the zoo, art museum and the children's museum. Had fun....a last minute "vacation" before school starts. Here are a couple of pics from the weekend. This tiger was not a happy one...protecting her cute little newborn....

the 4 little girls at the art museum...thought they looked kind of cute....

finally bought the paint for my foreign exchange students bedroom....need to get that done now as she is arriving next week already. Anyway...that is all for now. Have a lovely day.

A few photos

Catching up just a bit tonight. Had a chance to finally download my pics and here are a few of them. Just to prove I actually went there to work =)...



Here was a little guy I took a photo of on our way to one of the clinics. We went from the main camp each day and went way out into the countryside to hold our clinics. Always tons of interesting people along to way...



Some yummy treats........ I did not eat any =)



The last day we got to have some free time. A handful of us chose to go see Angkor Wat. Here I am standing in front of it.


Another one of the temples there...



More temple...

Well that is all for now. Hope you all have a lovely weekend!

I'm home

So very happy to be home! Made it back yesterday at noon. It was relatively uneventful. Had a good time in Cambodia. I'm working today, but will soon get around to posting some photos....I think I took 500-600! Thanks for all of your prayers. More later.

40 hours later....

I am finally here. It was a very long and uneventful trip. The suitcase with my clothes made it....which makes me very happy as i REALLY need a shower badly. the suitcase stuffed to the brim with medical stuff is lost somewhere....hopefully it will show up soon so that that stuff will go to good use. the trip from the airport to the hotel was very interesting. there appear to be no traffic laws or if there is no one follows them. The hotel where I am tonight (sat. too) is beautiful. definitely not roughing it. Look HERE I don't know that i'll have internet access again until saturday, but wanted to let you know all was well. Now off for my much needed shower and sleep =).

Off I go....

Leaving for Cambodia tomorrow afternoon. Please keep me in your prayers as I travel. Also for the girls as I don't know how much contact I will be able to have with them over the next week. Scared and excited both. If I have computer access I will update...otherwise will update you all when I get back. Have a great week!

Hello (edited to add photos =)

I was meaning to post last night and had some photos ready.....but I was downloading something that took forever (dial-up!!!!!!!) and didn't get around to it...so today here I am at work without my pictures...will try to post those later.

My week in review...trying to spend a lot of time with the girls as I am leaving next week for Cambodia. Kind of scared about that whole thing. I finally got a schedule and will be working in the clinics M-F. Will have some free time on Saturday. Looks like we will be very very busy seeing 300+ patients per day. I will post more about that before I leave.

My qwest to pick up my level of fitness is going pretty well. I ran 2.5 miles in 19 minutes the other day. I was pretty proud of that feat...don't know if I'll do it again anytime soon =).

Been doing the adventureland thing on a weekly basis. That is where my pictures are from that I haven't posted...will do those tonight.




Our foreign exchange student Antonina from Kazakhstan is arriving on the 17th of August. I really need to get moving on her room. Currently there is no bed and a massive amount of toys on the floor. Think I will be attending to that this weekend. Sounds like fun, huh? Well that is all for now. I hope you are all having a great week.

Happy 4th of July

Had a good 4th of July...Last night we went to watch fireworks. Today we went to ledges state park and hiked a bit, walked through the creek beds...ate some ice cream at dairy queen. Tonight our neighbor down the road put on a fireworks show that was almost better than the one we saw last night...he had to of spent a ton of money...it was good. Here are a few pictures of the girls from today.





And a few from last night. That is all for now...have a lovely day =).

Bloggin' again.....

Well folks....here I am, blogging again. Amazing isn't it? And I have another layout. Made this tonight. Took these pictures of Emma last week. I thought she looked adorably cute. She was just being a goof....she is quite good at that.


Also for you poor souls that don't live in Iowa, wanted to share the beautiful sky with you we had the other day. I love Iowa in the summer....winter....not so much. Makes you appreciate the summer I must say.


And lastly, found these flowers here in the lovely orange cup...emma picked them from our yard. They are wild black eyed susans. thought it was cute that she was decorating.

have a lovely day!

A layout and a flower

First of all...I actually scrapbooked a bit....amazing. Haven't done that for a while. It was nice. Bella loved this page for some reason...she told me I did an excellent job. She is sweet.




And also a picture for you. Found this lovely flower in my yard today, thought it was pretty. That is all for now. Hope you are all having a lovely weekend.

Holy Crap....

That is one big thistle. The last time I saw this thistle it was about a foot tall and I thought to myself I should pull it out....unfortunately it appears that I won't be able to do that...only a chainsaw would help me at this point. This thing is at least 6 foot! Thinking about entering it in the Iowa State Fair....I'm sure they have a largest thistle category...they seem to have everything else.

In other news, Bella has swimmers ear, Emma has a urinary tract infection, Emma would like to move into a new house without bugs and one that is a prettier color like green. That is all I know for now. Hope you are all having a good day.

Hello again....

A couple of quick photos from the weekend. My brother, his wife and new twin daughters were in IA this weekend. Nice to meet the girls and see them again. Our whole family was together which doesn't happen very much anymore. Anyway, here is a picture of the three of us together...




My brother, me and my sis



Miss E. enjoying the neighbors kitty...she named this one marshmallow



And lastly, one of Bella. Hope you all had a lovely weekend.

Still here

Hey all...still alive and ticking. Here is my last published layout finally out. It is in the newest issue of Simple Scrapbooks July/August. Just thought I'd share. Haven't submitted anything since this so there won't be more. Well must run. Have a good day.