Merry Christmas!!

Today we are celebrating Jesus' birth. It is a wonderful time with family and friends. We are in Troutdale right now, enjoying the calm after the storm. The boys are playing with their many toys from Santa, mom is taking a nap, Dad and Marc are having their first Christmas Jack & Coke, and here I am on the computer. I feel as if I have been going a hundred miles an hour lately, so it is nice to be able to sit and relax, I don't have any laundry to do and I don't have errands to run!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Christmas, enjoy this time together, because as we were reminded this past week, time with family is limited. As many of you know we lost a wonderful man last week, Jim "Gramps" Baker. I am thankful to be able to say that I thought of him as if he were my "blood" grandpa. He was at all of my volleyball and softball games in high school and he and Gram even drove all the way to Salem to see Marc and I get married. He will be missed, but I am comforted in knowing that he isn't hurting anymore and he is with Jeff now! Thank you Bakers, Traxlers and Lucas' for sharing such a kind, wonderful and loving man!

I'm outta here, Feliz Navidad!!

Fear no H2O!!

Last February Marc and Beau joined Team Avion in the Polar Plunge. This February we are hoping to get Tucker to join them, too. The Polar Plunge helps raise money to support the Special Olympics. Team Avion raised over $2000.00 last year for a great cause!! The Special Olympics provides year round sports training and athletic competition for people with disabilities. This is a great program for children and adults to compete, develop physical fitness and feel joy in participating. They are able to build relationships and friendships with other athletes and their families.
We are beginning fundraising for Polar Plunge 2008, the Avion goal is $5000.00. Please check out Marc's fundraising page and click on sponsor me. 100% of the money raised goes directly to the Special Olympics.
Team Avion...
Derek, Rick, Debra, Gene, Beau & Marc, right before the freezing cold plunge!

Beau right after getting out of the water! He's still smiling!

The 2nd best part of the Polar Plunge... the hot tubs!

Check out the Polar Plunge website for details and more information! We hope to see you there and please help sponsor Avion this year!

'Tis the season!!

This is the time of year that we all eat way too much!!! We had a wonderful time in Troutdale at Grandma & Grandpa's house. Friends of ours, Laurie, Mike & Monica White joined us for dinner, as did Tony's girlfriend, Katy. we had a great time visiting and of course eating. I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Marc put up our Christmas lights before we left to go to the "Valley" last week. We had been debating about what kind of lights we were going to put up this year, it was between colored or white. We have been using icicles for several years and decided to not use them this year. I think Marc did a wonderful job, what do you think?


Then, of course mom and I went to the Fred's "sock sale". If you know mom and I at all you know how crazy we are on Black Friday. We have been getting up at 5:00 am (and sometimes earlier) to go shopping for as long as I can remember. There were no fights this year, it was actually pretty mellow, we even attempted to go to Wal Mart again this year, Even though we vowed last year not to ever again.

I have been working on our Christmas cards feverishly for the past two weeks. I am hoping to get them in the mail by the end of the week!

Big news in the scrapbook world, the Scrapbooker of the year was announced and she is on the new CK cover for January, check it out here...

Congratulations to Elizabeth Kartchner, I am jealous!!

I'd better get going, gotta get the boys out the door to the bus and get some work done on my Christmas cards. Have a wonderful week!

Check out Geoff's Birthday gift!

As you know Geoffrey turned 18 last week, of course he had to get a tattoo! It turned out great, although I was worried he might pass out in the beginning.


We had another busy weekend, as usual, I was at Scrapadoodle on Saturday all day for Debie's 10th anniversary. It went very well, we many gals come in for the make and takes, plus a couple that scrapped for a while. Thanks, Deb, for having me!

I headed over the mountain to the "VALLEY" afterwards, to stay at mom and dad's. Dad really spoiled me this weekend. He made dinner Saturday and Sunday night. We were able to just sit and talk, which we haven't been able to do for a while.Sunday was the vendor fair at Mary's. There were a lot of ladies there and I did very well on sales, I can't wait to go back next year. Thanks, Mary!!! Alter Ego rocks!

Marc and the boys went to Prineville on Sunday to spend some time with Grandma & Grandpa.

So, now it's back to work for all of us. Next week the boys and I are out of school so hopefully I will get some free time to myself!! One can hope.

Have a great week!

Happy 18th Birthday, Geoff!!!

Happy Birthday, Geoffy!! I can't believe you're 18 already, I guess that makes me old! I hope you have a great day!
The whole family was able to get together on Sunday at Olive Garden to celebrate..
Tony & Katy


Geoffrey & Alicia
Happy Birthday, bud, we love you!


Creating Keepsakes Convention
Mom and I went to Seattle last weekend for the CK Convention. We had a great time and learned some new techniques. We were able to meet some really great people like Lain Ehmann, who is a contributing Editor for Simple Scrapbooks Magazine. See her blog here.. http://knitandpurlgrrl.blogs.com/scraphappy
We also met Ali Edwards again, she is from Creswell, Oregon and is very big in the Scrapbook "world". I admire her style and how she is trying to make people aware of the "basics" of scrapbooking. See her blog here... http://www.aliedwards.typepad.com/

I am so thankful to have been able to spend so much time with mom. We don't really get to see each other much and I am glad that we share scrapbooking as our hobby, it really gives us something to do together. Thanks, mom, I had a blast, oh and I can't wait to get back to the beds at the Hilton!!!!

PS If you are in Gresham this weekend come see me at Alter Ego Salon 50 NW 2nd Street from 11-4 for the Vendor fair. I will be selling some great paper crafts including my cards. There will be many other ladies there selling lots of stuff!! I hope to see you there!

I hope everyone has a great week!!
See ya soon.

Happy Fall!

As you may have noticed I changed my blog appearance a little, I have done this in light of the season. We had our first snow last week! OK, so it was a dusting, but it covered the ground either way! Although I have been enjoying our 65-75 degree weather lately, I am anxious for some REAL snow to fall. If you had asked me 3 years ago what my feeling was about wintertime I would have probably said I really dislike it. I have to chalk this up to the many years of brutal weather in the beautiful Columbia River Gorge. Don't get me wrong, I love the Gorge and I really miss the green and the scenery, but I have to say that I don't really miss all of the rain that comes with that. Corbett is my hometown and it always will be, but I am becoming very fond of Bend's weather.

I held a class last Saturday for accordian envelope albums. It is made with legal size envelopes from the local office supply store.I did this one for "K" as a little gift to let her know we enjoy having her around.

The tags come out and you can adhere a photo or journal on them. I haven't included photos on this one yet.

Last Sunday we went to the Pumpkin Patch in Terrebonne, we had so much fun. They have a huge pirate ship made out of hay bales and of course a conr maze. We ate kettle corn and carmel apples, we even had homemade rootbeer. It was great!


Mom and I are off to Seattle this weekend for the CK convention,check it out at creatingkeepsakes.com. I can't wait, we get to see some of the women I really look up to in the scrapbook world. Yes, I am a groupie and proud of it!!

This is Lisa Bearnson, she is the founder of Creating Keepsakes Magazine, I am so impressed with her story. She started this multi million $ business from her home 10 years ago.

I gotta go, we are in the middle of the Indiana Jones trilogy, the boys have never seen any of them. It is fun to watch them see it for the first time. Have a great weekend, everyone! For those of you in Corbett, look us up next weekend, Marc and the boys will be in town. (hint, hint, C.R.!!! 541-948-3382)

Scrapbook projects

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What a handsome guy!! I can't believe he is a senior this year!!! Where did the time go? He will be 18 in November!!! This is the altered clipboard I made for my last class.
Anyhow, as usual our life this past week was crazy, busy! Between picture day at school, field trips and my new subbing job at the school I feel like I am constantly going, going, going. I finally got my sub # so I can sub part time for any other EAs that may need some time off or call in sick. It is a nice few extra hours and I love being at the school anyhow.
I have been very busy making cards and explosion boxes for Mary's vendor fair. I am very excited to see how people respond to them. I also got an idea from mom who got the idea from someone else who got the idea from someone else..... to make gift card holders. They are really cute. Now I just have to find or make envelopes to go with them.

They open up and you put a gift card in and give it to someone as a gift!

I also have been working on some new cards.

CK Seattle is coming up in a couple of weeks. For those of you who don't scrapbook, this is a convention put on by Creating Keepsakes Magazine. All of the who's who in scrapbooking will be there. So far Mom and I have met Ali, Lisa, Stacy, Tracy White and Sandi Genovese. It's great fun, usually we volunteer in classes, to get a lot of freebies and meet some really cool people. I can't wait to take a little "ME" time. I really need a break from all of my projects and work!

I hope everyone is doing well!

P.S. This is why I scrapbook. The boys are finally getting to the age where they will actually pull out a scrapbook and look through it. I love watching their eyes light up when they remember a special event and talk about all of the fun we had.

This night Beau pulled out the Disneyland album and they had a blast showing "K" all of the fun places we went. She has never been out of Bend so, it was really neat for her to get to see some of the places we saw and it was cool to hear Beau talk about everything he could remember. This is why I scrapbook!!!

Scrapping classes have started!!!

I had my first class of the season on Saturday. It went very well. We made altered recipe books. My original sample was made with pinks and blues, but I made my own personal one with dark reds. Instead of making it a recipe book I decided to make it more of a notebook for scrapping ideas and classs notes. I think it turned out well.

My next class is this Saturday, we are making altered clipboards. I will post a picture later.
Debie at Scrap A Doodle is going out of town this weekend so, I am helping out in the store tonight, tomorrow and Saturday. I should be pretty busy, but just in case I have a couple of projects planned to work on.





We went to the Fall Festival last weekend. The kids bobbed for apples and painted pumpkins. It was a beautiful day! Marc enjoyed the music so much he actually fell asleep! He wasn't really happy that I caught this shot, but I couldn't resist.



We had a great time!




As you may have noticed, I have rearranged things on my blog. I am hoping this will make it easier to read. Only my current post will show on the main screen. To see any previous posts go to the archives at the right and pick a date.

Happy Fall to everyone!!!

Is it winter already?

Good morning, everyone!!

The weather is cold and frosty outside this morning. They were calling for snow last night but that didn't happen, I have to admit I was hoping I would wake up to at least a light dusting of the cold stuff! It is definitely time to pull out the winter sweaters and turtlenecks. I really love this time of year, before it is REALLY cold, while the leaves are falling and we sit by the fire pit at night.

Last weekend was fun, Marc and I were able to go to the Kenny Rogers concert at the Les Schwab Amphitheater. Suzie got us free VIP passes from work, thanks Suzie and Palmer Homes. We got to sit under the tent and enjoy the free beer, wine and food. It was a really great time.

Sunday, all of the kids and us went shooting for fun. Tucker got a new rifle, so Marc worked on sighting that in and we shot some skeet. I actually hit one!!! I was so impressed with myself, I haven't shot a shotgun in years. It was really cold and windy, so we cut it short and came home to roast marshmallows outside.

I start classes this Saturday, the first one is chipboard techniques. I will post pics of the girls and their projects next week.

Donna volunteers for the Assistance League in Bend, they help clothe and supply needy kids for school, she asked me if I would be willing to donate something for their auction. I was trying to think of something cute and different, the picture is at right. It is a gift certificate inside a Criss Cross Card.

I hope everyone has a great week. Talk to ya soon!!!

Look who's 50!!!

Jim just turned 50!!! Happy birthday, Jim. We had a great time at Jim & Suzie's Saturday night. Jim and Suzie were gracious enough to open their home to Marc while our family was in transition moving from Corbett to Bend. It was a long 4 months for us and they made it just that much easier on Marc. Especially since he was away from the family so much during that rough time. Thanks, guys!!

Appropriately Jim received a cane for his 50th birthday, and I was lucky enough to capture the moment on camera!!

Another busy weekend under our belts. "K" and the all of us settled in to watch a movie on Friday night, she actually ate elk! And liked it! Saturday I covered at Michaels again. Then it was off to "K"'s soccer game, they won 4-2.
We were able to finish our water feature out front. Actually, Marc finished it. It turned out great!! The birds really love it, too. I have seen doves, quail, Flickers and sparrow in it so far.
Then we were off to Jim & Suzie's for the afore mentioned party.

Sunday morning I was at Michaels again, then "K" and Marc went testing and the boys and I went to the skate park. Some of those kids are amazing on their boards and bikes. There was one guy who was doing flips on his bike, into one bowl, out and back into another. It was incredible.

This morning were are back to the grind stone. Marc is out testing and I am trying to get some crafts done for Mary's vendor faire in November. I am finally all caught up for Scrap classes in October. I am anxious to get back into the routine of classes and be able to socialize with some of those ladies again.

Have a great week!!

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Hi ya'll

Today is day #12 out of 178
School has been going well. Beau is doing a little better, although this morning was kind of rough. Marc has been gone for the last 5 days, he came back yesterday and has today off to take care of things around the house. Beau wanted to stay home with Daddy today, so I had to give him "luvins" and send him out the door to the bus stop. He didn't like it but, it's the only way I can get him to go. The end of last week he did awesome, no problems at all and he even rode the bus to and from school. Hopefully, now that the family is back into it's old routine he will start feeling better.

I have been very busy, classes start at scrap a doodle soon and I have been going in to the store early to get some samples done and get prepared for my classes. Saturday and Sunday I worked at Michaels in the cash office because our office lady is out for surgery. That is so boring. I sit in this little room with no windows and count money for 3 hours!

Friday night "K" and I went to the movies and dinner at Red Robin, it was a nice little get away for her. Saturday night I spent with Donna, the sisters and Mary, I had a blast. We played games drank wine and gabbed all night. They gave me a hard time for wanting to hang out with the "old" ladies. I don't care, I had fun.

So, I mentioned Marc went hunting, he finally got his elk on Sunday, he got his deer and antelope a week or so ago, so he is done now until bird season. Thank goodness!!

Nothing exciting is really going on right now but, I will keep you posted.

When I started this blog it was my goal to keep friends and family up to date and to stay connected. There is one friend in particular that I would like to reach out to, so, I have a little question for that person. They will know who they are when they read this:

Who is Mickey without Minnie?
Who is Donald without Daisy?
Who is Butch Cassidy without the Sundance kid and...
Who is Pancho without Lefty?

I'm outta here, have a great week!


PS ya gotta see this....

What is in the barn?
Imagine you're going to live in Portugal. You find a lovely farm house set on a decent plot of land. The place has been empty for 15 years...
While exploring your new property you find a large barn. The door is padlocked and welded shut and it's all rusted solid. So you grind the padlock and the welds off and.........
http://www.intuh.net/barnfinds/afa70.htm

Monday, September 10, 2007 School is in session!!!

Well, one week down, how many more to go? 174 more days. Beau is having a rough time with school this year. He didn't want to go the first day, crying and saying he was sad. Today, cried and said he had a stomach ache. I know its just nerves, his teacher is awesome, she is being very helpful as is the Principal. I just don't know what to do. I would have expected it from Tucker but, not Beau, he's our little tough guy. I am sure this phase will pass along with all of the other ones we have gone through.

So, some big news. Mom won a scrapbook contest through Craft Warehouse!! She won a gift basket full of $300.00 worth of scrap supplies.Way to go, mom!!!

"K" had her 12th birthday yesterday, she spent most of it here with us. The boys and I took her to Freddy's to pick out her own volleyball and soccer ball. She was so excited.

Tony and Katy came to visit yesterday. Tony treated us all to lunch at Greg's Grill, it is a very nice restaurant here in Bend down in the Old Mill. We had drinks and just sat and gabbed for a while. She is very nice and they were very cute together. She works for a Real Estate Office and lives in WA. "K" stayed and watched the boys for us so we weren't really pressed for time. It was very nice for Marc and I to get out of the house together.

School this year is going to be a little different for me. I am scheduled to work form 12:00 to 3:30 so, I have a little time to myself in the morning after the boys head to the bus (although it hasn't worked out that way yet with Beau's issues right now, but it will). I am responsible for kids in Tucker's class, Mr. Knapp, and Mrs Barrett's class ( "K" & "D"s teacher from last year) Its great because she and I get along so well. I do have to do Lunch recess duty outside which is great right now but, I am a little concerned about when the weather changes. I guess I will have to bundle up!

I will post 1st day of school pics when Marc gets home with the camera. Have a great day!!

Thursday, August 30, 2007 Long time no see!!!

Ok, so back in July Jenne Redfern scolded me because I hadn't posted in so long but, this summer has been crazy busy!!!! So, here is an update on this past summer and I am hoping to get back on a normal schedule now that school is starting back up.

JUNE:
As you all know I work at the elementary school that the boys attend. Well, last year I took a 5th grade boy and girl under my wing. They both have a very different home life than I was and am used to. It started that they needed some after school help with homework and staying out of trouble while home alone. So, they started riding the bus to our house after school so that I could keep them on track. Marc and I agreed that I would keep it up as long as it didn't affect our family and the boys.

"K" our "girl" as we call her, is a true blessing. She went hiking with us, out to dinner, to the local swimming pool and she went with us to mom and dad's imfamous Father's Day BBQ in Troutdale for the weekend, she just really fit in well and we enjoyed having a girl in the house. "D" on the other hand, our other boy, has a lot of past and present family issues, not to mention he is mostly unsupervised every day after school and most of the summer. He and I had some issues and we had to ask him not to come back. It is heart wrenching because I see him running around the neighborhood with kids he probably shouldn't be socializing with. But, what do you do? His teacher is awesome and has really supported me throughout the whole ordeal.

Then, in June, we started with Archery night at church. The Archery Outreach was every Thursday night for 12 weeks where men and women were invited for a BBQ and archery competition as a fellowship night. It was all based on donations and I was in charge of the BBQ portion. So, every week I cooked hamburgers, hot dogs and all of the accesories that go with that. Plus, I liked to add a few extra surprises every once in a while to mix things up. It was a huge commitment on my part but, I really enjoyed seeing everyone and knowing that they appreciated what their church family provided for them.

Mom and Dad came for the Sisters rodeo that month also, we did dinner and the usual just hanging out stuff, it was a lot of fun.

Beau had his birthday party on the 23rd. It was a pool party, so we had the new pool up and running and kept the hot tub open too. I bought a bunch of water balloons and squirt guns and everyone ran around on a cake and soda high!! They had so much fun!

June 28th marked the 2nd anniversary of Jeff Lucas' death. We still miss him very much and are getting closer and closer to reaching the goal for his memorial stadium at our high school.

JULY:
Mom and Dad went to round butte for the 4th of July. We met up with them for a couple of days and then Marc and I headed to Corbett on the eve of the 4th, leaving the boys with grandma and grandpa. I really wanted to be in Corbett for the 4th of July this year. We haven't been back on the 4th for almost 3 years. We had so much fun, of course we hit the beer garden on the 3rd. That is where everyone is on the eve of the 4th in Corbett. Then we hit the parade and fun festival on the 4th. And, who could miss the Corbett fireworks?? They get better and better every year. Thanks to Susan and Big Bear for all of the work they do. I know how much work it is because mom and dad were in charge for several years when I was younger.

Gene Hubbard and Sarah Wilson were married on the 7th. The wedding was beautiful and her dress was just gorgeous!!!

Then we started 2 weeks of swimming lessons and gymnastics camp. Those were the craziest weeks of the summer by far. I felt like I was living in the truck, running the boys all around town. But, they had fun and Beau got to get his cartwheel fix!!!

Then, the week after that they went to Vacation Bible School for 3 days. That was a nice break for me, I dropped them off at 9 and picked them up at 12:30. So, I was able to get some scrappin done.
The next week I helped cover at scrapadoodle so Debie could go on vacation and the boys hung out with Donna and/or Kathi.

AUGUST:
Marc's Uncle's step daughter-to-be was married on the 4th in Sandy. The wedding was beautiful, she had sunflowers everywhere, planted and in vases on the table. We got to see Marc's sister and brother in law and several other family friends we hadn't seen in a while. It was nice to get caught up on the family gossip.

Then, Donna's daughter and granddaughter came to visit from Cali for a few days. Beau was looking so forward to Emily coming he could barely contain himself!! They had so much fun and were basically inseperable for 3 days. Our family went to Suttle Lake for several days and Donna and the girls came to visit for a few hours. It was so nice to be able to see them again.

Amos & Lanell got married (finally) on the 18th! This was the best wedding we went to all summer! Not only because we were happy that they were finally getting married but, because Amos was actually smiling most of the night! Amos doesn't smile much! He is so serious!! We love him though and his brother Blair was able to come visit from the military.
This also marks the first night of meeting Tony's girlfriend!! She is very nice and I look forward to getting to know her better.

Then the week of the 20th, I finally finished the second Japanese album!! I actually got the OK on it and now I just have to reassemble it. Then it is on to the next one!!

Marc and I celebrated our 11 year anniversary on the 24th. He celebrated it out in the middle of nowhere hunting for deer and elk and I celebrated it out with the girls and a couple glasses of wine!! But, if you know the story of our wedding then you know why. If you don't know the story ask us, we love to tell it!!!

That puts us at this week:
I started work at the school this week. Just a little bit, orientation and welcome breakfast for district employees at the HS. This weekend we actually get to stay home although, I think I will be working at Michael's on Sat.

So, I am all caught up now, I am hoping to post at least once a week. If I don't hold up my end of the bargain then I give you permission to give me a hard time about it!!!

I'm outta here,
Nicki

Monday, May 21, 2007 Busy Life!!!

What a crazy and hectic life I live lately!! We had a great time in Hood River, but after unpacking Marc headed to California for three days for work. It is hard to believe that our little "redneck" boy from Corbett went to California on a BUSINESS TRIP!!!! I think the whole trip was worth it for him when they bought him a $50.00 T-bone at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse in Portland! A meat and Potato guy my man is!!!

This past weekend we went on a much needed vacation to the beach. It was so much fun, we hadn't been to the beach in about 4 years. It is a little farther for us to get there from here than it used to be from Corbett. We headed through Salem to Lincoln City and stayed the night there. Of course the hotel had to have a pool! The boys (including Marc) had a blast in the pool alone. Marc said that we could have just rented a room in a Bend hotel that has a pool and the boys would have been just as happy! It's true but, they had so much fun clamming!!! Marc and Beau got a huge Big Blue clam. Beau was so proud of it he was showing it to all of the other clammers there. Pretty soon there was a whole group of people digging in the same area as us.
Of course we had to go to the taffy shop that we went to as I was growing up. they have the best taffy in town! We shopped, a lot! The boys were looking for the "perfect" gift for their Girl Friends ( notice it's not GIRLFRIEND, I was informed that they are "just girls that are friends"!!!
We visited the wax museum, Ripley's believe it or not and the Undersea gardens. I have to say that I was disappointed in all three of them. I think the only update that any of them have had in the 30 something years I have been going there is that they added a Lord of the Rings display at the wax museum. Other than that they all had just about the same thing they have always had. I wish we would have spent our money on the Oregon Coast Aquarium instead.
We went to a cool glass blowing place. we wanted to have the boys blow their own glass floats nut, it was $65.00 each person! So, we just sat and watched them make all kinds of beautiful floats.
Scrapbook news
I finally finished one of the Japanese albums, it was shipped last week! Pam also asked me to do some invitations for her so, I printed the invitations and envelopes an mailed them Friday before we left.
I am taking a break from Scrap-A-Doodle for the Summer. Debie and I agreed that people (myself included) will be too busy during the summer break to do classes. So, I will spend some time this summer coming up with some new designs.
Marc is on call all Memorial Day weekend, so we can't go out of town so, I think I will join some friends at a scrapbook weekend retreat. It is kind of an impromptu get together, but it is with some friends I haven't been able to scrap with before. It should be a lot of fun.I probably should get myself organized.
Anyhow, talk at ya soon!!
Don't forget, you can leave comments after my posts, just click on the link at the bottom of the post.
Nicole

Sunday, May 13, 2007 Happy Mother's Day!!!

Happy Mother's day to all the moms out there!!
What an awesome day at church today! There were 8 baptisms and one incredible testimony from one of Marc's new friends, Dennis!!

It's a beautiful day again today, and I get to choose what we are going to do the rest of the day. I think we are going to hike Smith Rock or Pilot Butte!
Wish us luck!

May 9, 2007 Summer's Almost here!!!

What a beautiful week it has been in Bend!

Friday, we dropped the boys off for a weekend of fun at Grandma and Grandpa Haines' house, then we headed East.

Marc and I spent the weekend in Hood River for the Hunter's Ed Conference and had a wonderful time!! There was a welcome cocktail party Friday night and we were able to connect with some people from all across the state and visit with people involved in Fishing Ed and Bow Hunter's Education.

Saturday, Marc was in classes all day so, what was a girl to do with so much free time? I finished a complete 8 X 8 mini "all about me" scrapbook in one day!! I watched a chick flick, read a book, got a facial, and a manicure and a pedicure!!
I have not relaxed so much since Mexico last year with mom!! It was wonderful!!!

Saturday night there was a banquet with dinner, and an auction and awards ceremony. It was neat to see how many men and women have served as volunteers for 25 years and more!! One guy I talked to has been a volunteer for more than 40 years!!! It is amazing how committed these people are to the education of our hunters!!

It was back to reality and work on Monday. Marc had a hunter's ed class on Monday night and the boys and I went to dinner at the church with the Strength team. It was so neat to hear their testimonies and how far some of them have come to get to where they are now. One guy even spent 2 years and 14 days in jail! That was until the chaplain, a petite little old lady, witnessed to him.

Marc bought me an i pod as an early Mother's day gift. Anyone who knows me well knows my obsession with music. It has been a big part of my life for a very long time! I sing with commercials, with the radio and I have even been known to sing with elevator music! I have been wanting an i pod for a long time but, couldn't bring myself to splurge on such an expensive gift for myself. So, the last few days I have been loading my Cd's onto the computer and downloading music from the Internet. I am loving it!!! The only thing now is that I still sing but, the boys can't hear the music, only me singing. Oh, well, such is life!! :)

Until next time.......

Thursday, May 3, 2007 Marc's Birthday!!

Today Marc turns 36!!!

We went to see the Strength team last night at church and they were awesome!!! They burned wood and broke bricks, bent a horshoe into a heart shape and blew up cans of soda!! It was so much fun and what's even better is many people committed their lives to the Lord!!
The boys brought home a couple of souvenirs, broken bats and boards that they had autographed. It was definitely worth staying out until 9:30 on a school night!

Not much to talk about today, just getting ready for the weekend in Hood River. I will let ya'll know how it goes on Monday!

Tuesday, May 1, 2007 "budget looks good!"

Well, I am so excited because the school principal stopped me in the hall yesterday to let me know that the budget looks good for me for next year!! I was worried about what I was going to do. When I applied for this job I knew it was temporary but, I was holding out hope that the budget would allow for me to come back. Well, it looks like they may be able to hire another EA also!

Marc and I are heading to Hood River this weekend for a Hunter's Ed conference. It should be fun, a lot of relaxing and shopping on my part. I am looking forward to just hanging out. Especially since we worked so hard last weekend around the house. Donna (our neighbor, and surrogate grandmother for the boys) and I went plant shopping and got some great new plants for the flower bed between us. Marc and I bought a new tree for the front yard and he replaced a lot of the bad sod in the yard. Painting is suppose to start this Thursday but, the weather report is calling for rain, so we will see.

Longboard Louie's Eastside is open!!!
We helped Jeff and Kathi a little last week and were rewarded with a free meal over the weekend. I have to say that the Halibut Enchilada was my favorite!!! The prices are reasonable and Jeff is planning on having seasonal Margaritas!!! This weeks is Blood Orange Margaritas!! They are awesome! We even went in on Sunday just to have a couple more and chill out from a busy weekend! If you get the chance you ought to stop and say hi to Wendy, she is so nice and serves up a great fish taco!!!

On the scrapbooking side of things, I entered another contest. One through Creating Keepsakes mag. It is called Fresh Faces, basically it is a call for un-published scrappers to be highlighted in the mag. I entered the allowable two layouts and I am hoping for the best!!! One of my biggest goals in life is to be published in Creating Keepsakes magazine.

Bend Christian Fellowship
The strength team is coming to town this week!! Their motto is
POWER/INTENSITY/MOTIVATION/INSPIRATION
It should be a blast, they blow up hot water bottles with their mouths, break bats with their hands and break bricks with their heads!! It starts Wednesday night and the finale is Sunday night. I hope we see you there!!!

Remember:
Make the most of every day!!!

April 25, 2007 Crazy Scrappin' Days!!

OK, so, am I crazy? I have been making pages for the Scrapbooker of the Year contest through Creating Keepsakes Magazine. It requires 20 scrapbook pages and a one page essay. Then, mom calls me this morning to tell me that Martha Stewart is having a contest for the Master Scrapbooker. So, I decide to enter that one too, luckily I had a page already made that I wanted to enter. Then, I just finished my first of the series of Japanese scrapbooks. I still have 3 more with the Japanese theme to do and then I get to start on his life after Japan! Scrapbook overload. And, to top all of that off, I am teaching classes at Scrap-A-Doodle. So, there is some prep work required for that too

Martha!!!
I know, I know, a lot of people don't like Martha and I realize that most of her ideas on the show come from her creative staff and others, but, I really enjoy her show and most of the ideas that she shares. Besides, you know those cooking shows on TV, do you think Emeril made up ALL of those recipes himself? Anyhow, my point was that I am so excited about her new line of scrapbooking supplies at Michael's. I have visited the store several times to see if they have the planagrams set yet. I even offered my former manager to come in just to set the planagram myself so I could see everything first. She just laughed because she knows that I would spend more time opening the boxes just to see what was in them!!!

Marc and I are planning on heading to Hood River next weekend for a hunter's ed convention. I am so looking forward to having some time alone, the boys are spending the weekend at mom and dad's. Marc will be in classes most of the day so that leaves me time to relax and/or shop!! I need to do a little research on scrapbook stores nearby! I am looking for a good book to take, if you have any suggestions leave me comment.

April 24, 2007 Beautiful Day!

Well, it is beautiful outside, even at 7:45 am, although I am still not feeling 100%. I have a stuffy nose and am sneezing like crazy. This cold started out as a sore throat and has moved into my sinuses. Oh well, at least it's sunny outside, that always makes me feel better.

So, I have been working on this huge project for Egghead crafts, a Japanese album. It started in September of last year with my first consult. The plan was to do the first year of Richard's life in Japan in an antique wooden Japanese album. Then continue his life in other albums but, there are so many before Richard pics that we have had to change plans and include only pics before him in the Japanese album and start a new one with Richard's first year in another album. Well, I finished the album of his first year last night and I am looking forward to meeting with my client to show her the final product today! I have really enjoyed looking at her pictures of Japan, she is a beautiful woman and took great pictures.

We are excited for the Strength team to come to our church next week. Marc has passed some of the flyers out and Tucker's teacher let him pass them to his classmates. The church offering amounted to over $11,000.00 just for the strength team fund!! Pastor David said that he spent $500.00 just to buy baseball bats for them to break!! Check their website for more info.

Not much else happening on our homefront.

April 20, 2007 New Blog!!!

I have thought about setting up a blog site for some time now. I thought it would be difficult and I would have to pay someone a ridiculous amount of money to spend 5 minutes on the computer, but it was so easy!!!! Now that I have one set up I commit myself to post at least 5 times a week, schedule permitting, and to keep our family and friends up to date on our lives here in Central Oregon!!!

This week has been crazy!! Marc has been doing backflow tests like a mad man, his goal is to cover our first mortgage payment without touching his regular paycheck!! So far, he is way beyond that and, we have the money to paint the house already set aside. I haven't been too great about keeping track of our finances over the years so we sat down and talked about it, I feel so liberated knowing that we have a little nest egg going. Since we decided to be smarter with our money I have "found" over $600.00!! I discovered that I overpaid on our gas bill by almost $450.00 over the last three months. And then we found out that our insurance covered more for Tucker's $500.00 dental appointment than we thought they would, by over $200.00!!! Oprah said something a few years ago that has stuck with me but, i had never applied to my life. She said something to the effect of, organize your money and you will find more, she said this applied to even keeping it in order in your wallet, ones and fives and tens etc. I am sure this is just a way of better keeping track of how we spend but, it never sunk in that I should be doing it too!!! Anyhow, enough for today!! Make the best of this short time we have on earth!!!