Check out the Bend Bulletin today!!!

My first publication!!! The Central Oregon New Home Living Magazine was inserted into the Bend Bulletin today, Sat, Dec 6th!!! I am so excited...



On the home front....

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving, we were able to have EVERYONE over to our house this year. And when I say EVERYONE that means both sides of the family!!! This was the first time both my family AND Marc's family has been together since our wedding 12 years ago!!! It was great being able to see evryone and not have to travel!

BIG NEWS!!!!

Tony and Katy are engaged!!! They announced their engagement the weekend before Thanksgiving. I am so glad he has found such a nice gal! We truly love her and can't wait to see them get married!!!

Today's the BIG day!!!

Laurel from The Bend Bulletin came to interview me today!!! She was so nice, she checked out my studio first and then we sat at the dining room table just to talk. She had so many questions, she didn't know about the whole scrappin' world out there! So, I told her all about Creating Keepsakes magazine, Scrapbook conventions and scrap retreats. It was very informal, she wanted to know all about the techniques and tools I use, what kind of papers I use and how I come up with some of my designs. Nicole (the photographer) took some of my cards and tools to the studio to take pictures, the idea is a photo of a doorway with my cards hanging on a garland. The article is meant to inspire people to make their own Christmas cards this year.
I think I did well, it is so much easier and less nerve-wracking to talk to someone about something you are passionate about!
She told me the article will be published in Central Oregon New Home Living Magazine, she wasn't sure when, but no worries, I will let ya'll know!!!

The most amazing phone call!!!

Yesterday my cell phone rang, now lately I only receive phone calls from Marc, Debie, Mom or election people, but yesterday it was a number I didn't recognize, and it was a 541 area code!!!

Laurel from The Bend Bulletin was calling!! She wants to do a story on handmade cards for Christmas! Of course, I said yes!! An emphatic YES!!She asked if she could meet me in my studio, of course, does that mean I have to clean it? I suppose I should tidy up a bit...between getting Beau's costume ready for Halloween and the scrapbook retreat this weekend, OH, when will I find the time? Oh, and the photographer is coming out, do I get my hair cut, buy a new outfit??? I don't know, this could be the break I have been hoping for!!

You can buy my cards on-line now!!!

I am officially a "shop owner"!
Click on the following link to find my cards on etsy.
www.eggheadcrafts.etsy.com
Etsy is a web site designed for handcrafted items only, similar to e-bay.
So far I only have a few cards posted, but hopefully I will have time to post more. I have hundreds of cards, but not enough time to list them all right now. I will add a few more over the next few days, so keep checking back to see what's new!

The '08-'09 school year has begun!!!

I can't beleive its Septembre already!! The boys (and I) started school today, of course I had to get a 1st day of school piture in front of the house.It always amazes me how much the boys change over the summer and then again from the beginning of the school year to the end of the year!


My duties have changed a bit at the school this year, but that's OK. I get to see the boys every mornig at morning recess and again at lunch time. I am working mainly with the primary kids this year 1st thru 3rd, so it should be a fun year.

We had one last hurrah of a weekend last weekend, tune in later this week for pics and the details!!


PS Please pray for Lori and her family, they really need it right now!!!

12 wonderfully, happy years!!!

As a young girl I always hoped I would find my "knight in shining armor", just like any other little girl. I met Marc in high school and wasn't completely sure where our relationship would go. Here we are, over 18 years later, happily married for 12 years, with 2 awesome boys!!! No, it isn't all a fairy tale, we have had to work hard and make our family a priority over anyone else. God is central in our lives and we know we wouldn't be where we are without Him and our family and friends!

To celebrate our anniversary this last weekend Marc and I dropped the boys off at Nana & Papa's house and headed to McMenamin's Edgefield for some
R & R.If you aren't familiar with Edgefield it used to be a "poor farm" retirement home. All of the rooms were once home to various elderly men and women. Our room was occupied by Lucky Staehly a gentleman known for smooth talking the women! Due to an injury when he was young Lucky was wheelchair bound, but that didn't stop him from racing the neighborhood kids!

The grounds at Edgefield are incredible, we enjoyed walking around and checking out all of the various flowers. The best part of the whole trip was the soaking pool! The pool is about 90 degrees and saltwater! It was so relaxing to be able to just relax and enjoy some quiet time together. I am looking forward to what the next 12+ years have to bring us!!

Marc is in love with another girl!!!

Let me explain....
This past week or so has been filled with friends, family and fun! Lots of parties have been had and lots of time has been spent sitting around talking. Sandy, Donna's sis, celebrated her 70th birthday last Thursday. Actually, she celebrated all last week! She was smart enough to have spread the celebration all the way until even last night! Her son Jim and DIL Diana and Diana's daughter Johanna came all the way from Montana to help celebrate. Johanna's daughter is the one that Marc is in love with!This is Graceylynn, Marc's new girlfriend. He drew so much attention last Saturday night, every time I looked he was holding her. It was love at first sight! She's such a cutie, and she has this head of long black hair!!It is so neat to see Marc with a baby, it brings back such fond memories of him and the boys when they were babies. Unfortunately, Graceylynn and her family headed back to Montana on Sunday morning, but we are hoping some day to be able to go visit. Marc has always wanted to go to Montana and now we have friends to stay with!

The Tower of Terror!!!

I guess I am still in the Disneyland mode, because I can't stop thinking about the Tower of Terror. It all started 4 years ago when we visited Disneyland with the boys for the first time. Beau was still a little too small to go on some of the rides, but he was big enough to go on the Tower of Terror. The week we were there, little did we know, the tower of terror hadn't even opened yet! during our trip they held a "soft" opening. Meaning they didn't advertise that it was open, we just happened to be at the right place at the right time!

Just in case you don't know the story about this ride here it is:

It goes like this. A family was visiting the Hollywood Tower hotel when the elevator gave out and they plunged to their death. Legend says that they still haunt the hotel to this day. So, the ride is all about the elevator. After you are escorted to the "basement" you are loaded onto the service elevator. It takes you up to the top where you see the ghosts and are asked to wave "goodbye" to yourselves in the mirror. Then the elevator plummets several stories. Just when you think you will hit the bottom it raises you up and the elevator doors open so that you can see out over Disneyland. This is where most people (girls) start screaming!! The elevator continues to plummet and rise several times until you feel like your stomach is ready to come out your throat!!

The first time we went with the boys I think we went on maybe 2 times and had decided to go again. This is when Beau voiced his opinion about the ride. He told us that he didn't want to wave goodbye to himself again!! We went anyway and he still remembered when we visited this last time. I think we went on it 5 times this trip and we would have done it again if we had more time! If you ever visit Disneyland, I would recommend this ride for sure!! I have to say this and space mountain are my favorites. I'm such a thrill ride junkie!!

Some of my favorite photos...

Last weekend we went to Todd Lake to float and relax. Tucker was hoping to catch some fish, but that didn't turn out too well. However, we had a great time. Marc and Beau hiked to the top of a bluff to take some pictures of Broken Top. When I got home and loaded the pics on the computer this picture caught my eye. Not only was this the first time Marc had ever used the timer on the camera, it is also very rare to get pictures of JUST Marc and Beau. I love this picture because they look so happy and the view is unbeatable!
This picture was taken in California, at the Chandelier tree. The Chandelier tree is one of the ones that you can drive a car through. I am usually a little leery about setting the timer on the camera because you never know what the picture is going to look like. The owners of this park were so smart! They had a post set in the ground just so you can set your camera on it! I usually push the button and then run to fit in with the rest of the family. This time I was pleasantly relieved to see how well this photo turned out!
This photo was taken at Amos and Lanell's wedding last August, it was so impromptu, but it turned out great. Doesn't Marc look so handsome!?
I decided one day last summer to hold an impromptu photo shoot at the park with Beau, Tucker and K. They all turned out great, but I especially LOVE this one of Tucker. I am so amazed every day at how responsible and loving he is. He has such a sweet and loving soul!
I love this photo of Beau because it really shows his personality. He is fun loving, carefree and happy! He's my little daredevil, but still loves to cuddle with Mommy!

The year of a million dreams!!!

I haven't posted lately because we were on vacation! The four of us headed south for a week of rest and relaxation. The final destination was Disneyland, but to get there we first had to visit the Giant Redwoods and several beaches along the way. Our first stop was Crescent City, Oregon to hunt for seashells and rocks. Oh, and the view was gorgeous!This is Battery Point Lighthouse, at 6:00 in the morning!!! The sand was so fine that it felt like walking in flour! We spent an hour or so combing the beach and just having fun. Next stop was the redwoods! This is the part Marc was looking forward to the most, besides Disneyland. Of course we had to drive through the tree!If you've never done this, you definitely have to. The trees are amazing! After hitting a few more beaches and drive through trees along the way, we finally made it to Anaheim. After we checked in to our hotel we made our way to downtown Disney to check out the shops. Our favorite of course is The Rainforest Cafe.

The last time we visited Disneyland Beau was only 4 years old (almost, it was a month before his 4th birthday) so he wasn't able to go on a lot of the rides and the amount of walking we did was a bit too much for him. This year, however, was a different story!!! The boys weren't interested in any of the "kiddie" rides, they wanted to go on Splash mountain and The Tower of Terror over and over again. Now, if you know me, you know that I am a thrill junkie, I LOVE to go on scary rides, so I was happy to go on them over and over again. Marc was a little less than thrilled to go on Space Mountain for the 5th time, but he went anyhow.

Little did we know that this year Disney is celebrating their "Year of a million dreams". This means that there is what they call a "Dream Team". This team surprises guests with gifts, we were surprised by the dream team at the Tower of Terror on Tuesday morning. They gave us free Mickey ears!!

After 4 days at Disney we were ready to head home, but not before we hit the Jelly Belly factory in Fairfield, CA!!! More on that in a later post!

School's out for summer!

It's amazing to me every day how quickly the school year flies by. I remember thinking in September how far we had to go. Then in December thinking that we are in the home stretch. Then, just 4 weeks ago I thought the last day would never come. It's here!! The difference in the boys from day one to the last day is unbelievable
This was in September!


And this was today!

Beau is losing that baby face and Tucker is starting to become a young man. I am so proud of them and I can't wait to see where 3rd and 5th grades take us next year.

There has been some turmoil this year with the student body splitting up as well as the staff at school. Because our school was getting too big, a new school has been built to take on the overflow, not just from our school, but 2 others as well. Our Principal has been asked to run the new school and through the process she has chosen to take several staff members with her. While this has been hard for the staff and students, I try to remember that CHANGE IS GOOD. Right? I know things will be different next year, but we will meet new people and learn new things. I am excited about the teachers the boys have for next year, I know them both really well and look forward to working with them.

Mrs. Barrett and Ms. Pfaff, you 2 rock!!! See you next year!

Geoffy's a graduate!

I can't believe it, Geoff graduated last week! The boys and I headed out of town right after school last Tuesday. we made it to Portland by 7:00, exhausted, but ready to party! So, after the graduation we all headed to The Spaghetti Factory! Tony and Katy came down from WA, it was a late night, but we had fun. Then, first thing in the morning we headed home, just in time to drop the boys off at school at 9:00. Much to their dismay! This week we are gearing up for the last few days of school and the Ginormous Father's day/Graduation celebration at mom and dad's!

What we do for fun....

I don't know what your family does for fun, but ours climbs trees!

A couple of weeks ago, during some decent weather, we decided to go on a spontaneous picnic trip to Shevlin. While we were there the boys discovered some really cool trees for climbing.

And when I say "boys" I mean all 3 of them!!! Marc had just as much fun as the little guys. Of course mom had to pull out the camera and take full advantage of the photo opportunity!

Take a close look, they are actually getting along, even putting their arms around each other! It's amazing! Anyhow, we had a lot of fun and enjoyed some bike riding too. It's a great place to take the boys to do some "off road" bicycling.

I have hundreds of kids!!

As many of you know, I work in the school district. I feel like each and every kid that I have worked with is one of my own. I am often asked how I remember all of the kids' names at school. My response is usually that I have had at least one personal experience with each and every one of them! Either it was a problem solving issue, someone who needed a shoulder to cry on or someone who I was able to help in an academic way. I really feel satisfied helping kids, at home and at work. Case in point...
Last week I was asked to join the 5th grade classes on a 3 day field trip to the Oregon coast, of course I accepted!! This was a great opportunity to get to know the kids and some of the parents on a personal level. It was a blast!!!


These are some of my kids..
This is Mrs. Barrett's class (my favorite, by far!!)

The camp is Camp Magruder, but the program is sponsored by OMSI. We had the opportunity to explore the environment and learn about ORT, that's another story. We also had the opportunity to LICK A SLUG!!! Mom will get a kick out of this one!! She has often teased me over the years about slug licking, when I was at outdoor school in 6th grade we were asked if we wanted to lick a slug, of course I jumped at the chance! If you don't know, when you lick a slug (a banana slug) the slime makes your tongue numb!This is K, she is a girl after my own heart! A red-headed spit fire not afraid to speak her mind!! She jumped at the chance to lick a slug!! I am so proud!!


This is my field study class.
The classes were all split up into groups, each group stuck together for field study and interest groups. We hiked the dunes, dissected squid, learned about team building and sang by the campfire. It was a wonderful experience and I can't wait to do it next year with Tucker!

Girls, girls, girls!!

On Saturday I taught a class at Scrap-A-Doodle for some moms. It was a half day "All about me" album with lunch and dessert.The goal was to have the moms finish a 6 x 6 album all about them. They had a great time and the albums turned out so nice! It was great fun.

Then on Saturday night I hosted the BCF youth group girls at a scrap party at our house.I have never had so many teenage girls in my house before!I taught them how to make explosion boxes to give to their moms for Mother's day. In addition to all of the girls there were 2 babies. I have to say, I think I held the babies more than I have held any baby in a while, I definitely got my baby fix for a while.That's Vanaya on the left and Titus on the right. Marc and the boys had just gotten back from a short overnight trip at Grandma and Grandpa's in Prineville, the first thing he did was pick up Titus! It has been a long time since we have had a baby in the house!That's Titus' mommy, Rachel. Titus' Daddy, Ben, is the pastor's son, he was just ordained a pastor last month. She's such a nice gal, and her explosion box was beautiful! I had a great time, it was so nice to have other girls in the house besides Lady!

Happy Mother's Day!!!

To all the Moms out there, have a wonderful day!
This one's for you, mom. We love you!!

Our night out on the town!!!

As you know, Marc and I don't get to go out alone very often, without the boys, that is. Don't get me wrong, we love the fact that the boys are behaved well enough that we are able to take them just about anywhere with us. However, Mommy and Daddy needed some adult time! No, not that kind, I mean billiards, beer and my brother!! Tony and his lovely girlfriend, Katy, came to visit from Washington this weekend. We were able to celebrate Marc's birthday on Saturday with a night out on the town.

First, we dropped the boys off at Donna's (our surrogate grandma in Bend) and headed off to Anthony's for dinner. It was very nice! Then it was off to the Black Horse Saloon.
Of course we enjoyed the live music and the pool, but I think the best part was the company. This was a great opportunity to spend some time with Tony, who I NEVER see, and to get to know Katy better. She is a great girl! Then we headed to a sports bar, for Katy and her dart addiction, to find out that they don't have darts!! No worries, though, it was off to the house and the hot tub instead, where we visited and listened to Tony complain about his poor stubbed toe!

It was a great night!

This one's for you, Debra!

Saturday night we had an Avion night out! Nicole, Marc, Dave, Jim, Miriam, Suzie, Debra, Sarah, Gene

A bunch of us met up at Shoji's for some temmpanyaki and sushi! It was so much fun, but Debra gave me a hard time for not posting recently. Hey, I'm a busy girl! I had two classes last weekend, one class this weekend, a weekend retreat coming up, a mother's day half day class and that same night a youth group girls class at our home, all of this coming up in the next couple of weeks! Oh, and Marc's birthday is somewhere in there, too. Like I said, I'm a busy girl!

Oh, and we bought some new trees with Donna and went out to dinner with her afterwards on Friday. I have to tell ya, she says she is blessed to have us as neighbors and that all of her friends are jealous of her, but we feel that we are the ones that are blessed! She is always there for us if we need something, she loves our boys as if they were her own grandkids and she is a great friend to me. Thanks, Donna for being an awesome neighbor!! You rock!!:)

So, Debra, does that explain why it has taken so long to post? We had a great time on Saturday, tell Miriam it was great to meet her and I hope you have lots of fun in Europe!! I wish I was going too!

Wood floors are nice!!!

The chaos is almost over the floors are done! They finished with the sealant tonight. We still don't have anything in the kitchen or family room, but the floor are beautiful.

Now we just have to be careful for a week or so and get some felt for the bottom of the appliances and furniture. It's so beautiful!!

I'm living in chaos!!!

The past few weeks have been so crazy. The floor guys will be here at 8:00 tomorrow morning. We are at the eve of the wood floor installation and we are sooo ready!! I have a refrigerator in my dining room and a dishwasher in my living room! Oh, and NOTHING in my family room!This is a picture of my living room right now, as you can see I can reach the milk from the couch (one of four couches in there right now)! This is the dining room right now, here I can bake those lovely Thanksgiving dinner rolls without even leaving the dinner table!Here's the kitchen, the only thing cookin' here is microwave popcorn and pop tarts!Here's the family room where our wonderful couches SHOULD be and where I should be relaxing and watching TV right now!

Through this whole thing I have learned a little something about myself. I have found that I don't work well with clutter and disorganization. I am not saying that I am the most organized person in the world, but I don't think I could live in a home that is full of clutter and constant disorganization. Our family has a routine, and without that routine I feel cluttered in the brain, unable to function at my full capacity. Fortunately this will be all over soon. Unfortunately, we are talking about new carpet in the family room/dining room next!! Welcome to Mi Vida Loca!!!

Marc + Saw = 7 stitches!!

A lot of you know that Marc is kind of accident prone. I think in the 18 years we have been together we have visited the ER maybe a half a dozen times, I would have to sit down and figure out exactly, but that is not an exaggeration!! There have been hernias, stitches and even staples before we met! So, I don't know why I didn't prepare myself for the worst when Marc rented a toe kick saw this weekend!! Who would have thought that "they" even make a toe kick saw!! What the heck is that? So, here's the story...

Marc helped a guy out with a major water leak he had at his house. It took him many hours and some concrete cutting to locate the leak, come to find out it was in the middle of the driveway!! Roy is a contractor is doesn't have a lot of work right now so he asked Marc if he would be willing to trade. Now, if you know Marc at all you know he is big into trade and bargaining, we have ended up with some cool stuff because he likes to swap things with people. So, he had this idea that maybe they could trade Marc's labor for Roy installing hardwood floors at our place. Of course Marc jumped at the chance and we went to look at the flooring he had at his warehouse. So, to prepare for the floors being installed we had to remove our old flooring, carpet and linoleum. This is where it gets sticky!! The sub floor runs under the cabinets so we had to figure out a way to cut under the toe kick so that the new flooring would run even with the bottom of the cabinets. Roy suggested we should rent a toe kick saw. This is where I should have been concerned. So, we went to RSC and rented one. I need to mention that the boys were in Prineville at this time so, they were not witnesses to Marc's destructive nature, this time! Anyway, we worked on the flooring all day on Friday, accident free! Then Marc decided to work in the bathroom and get the corner under the counter with the dreaded saw. Mind you this is at 7:00 at night, when we should have been settling in for the night and enjoying a nice movie. I was washing dishes at the time (by hand, that's another story), when I heard him say a couple of choice words that he normally wouldn't say, that's when I knew something was amiss! The saw had gotten in a bind and kicked back and run across the top of his knee. Needless to say we went to the urgent care center (conveniently located across the street!) where the doctor determined he needed stitches!I have to say that Marc was in good spirits during the whole thing, joking and laughing about all of his other "incidents" with the doctor, she was very entertained and couldn't believe Marc had cut himself in the same place as the last saw incident!
So, all is well now, the boys are back home, the house is in a disarray but, we are anxious for the new floors to be installed. The wood will be delivered on Monday and then it has to sit in the house for 10 days to acclimate, then it will take a day and a half to install. This is what the family room looked like before...And this is what it looks like right now...The new flooring will cover the kitchen, breakfast nook, laundry room, bathroom, hallway and front entry. I will post new pics once the construction is underway. Have a great day, back to school and work tomorrow!!