Fearless Jump! Digi Layout

When we drove home on Sunday, it was wet and super muggy in Sioux Falls. It was cool and rainy (and muggy) in Iowa where we stopped for a bit of breakfast. Got to Nebraska and it was overcast in some places and it downright poured (while I was white knuckle driving at some points) just about the whole way. It wasn't quite as muggy, though. Get to Colorado...more clouds, rain and even a little hail. Unload the van and then Mother Nature decides to put on her own personal fireworks show. I'm shocked that the parks even got their firework shows in, but they did. 

In complete contrast, Monday was a picture perfect, sunshiny, hot, summer day. Go figure huh? The girls and I headed over to the pool while Steve stayed home and did the laundry. Worked for me. LOL And I'm sure he enjoyed the "quiet time" for a few hours.

Yesterday was an at home kind of day. Since we left so early and right after Amy's party, I didn't have a whole heck of a lot of time to clean up the house. I don't know about you, but when I get back from a trip, one of the first things I want to do is clean. It's a weird quirk, I guess, and maybe I want to give the house a good dose of TLC after leaving it for a week, but whatever, I had a strong nesting urge yesterday. This was after I went to my dentist to have a permanent crown put on a molar. I don't remember if I even mentioned it, but I cracked a good sized chunk off a molar one Friday night a few weeks ago. Turns out there was a lot of decay under a filling and the tooth was cracking all over. The popcorn I was eating just nudged it along. LOL Thankfully, it didn't hurt a bit. So, I needed to get the permanent crown put on and now I can get used to eating on both sides of the mouth again. Guess what I had last night...after three weeks without munching on it...yep, popcorn! And it was delicious! The weather yesterday was lovely. No humidity, which is wonderful.

Today, though...not so much. Another system has come and dropped our temps a good 20 degrees or better. We aren't even supposed to hit 70 and it's raining. The last I checked it was July...what's up with this? LOL I don't think we'll even bother going to swim class today. Ah well, it shouldn't last too long. Maybe I can squeeze in another layout today...we'll see.

Here's a layout I worked on yesterday afternoon (after I got all my cleaning urges satisfied). I started out with a different template and almost completed the layout, but in the end, decided I didn't like it all that well with the pictures. So I started over (one of the things I love about digital scrapping...no wasted paper if you decide it's not working for you) This one worked much better, I think. I picked up a new Traci Reed kit from Sweet Shoppe Designs, called Splashdown. I like the bright colors in the kit, but some of the pattern paper seemed too much for this layout, so I kept them to a minimum. You can click on the image to make it larger if you want to read the journaling. One of the neat elements in this kit are the water splashes. They are definitely subtle but they are there.

It's hard to believe it's been a week already since we were at that water park. I didn't swim as I didn't pack my swimsuit, plus being sick didn't help. So, I wandered around taking photos. I was able to get my feet wet, which really helps to cool you down.

Hope you have a great day. I've made it through about half of my Reader full of unread posts. Yay!

Thanks ever so much for stopping by!

Hey! Did You Miss Me??

LOL You might have noticed (or maybe not) me being more quiet than usual on the blog. You probably DID notice I haven't been commenting lately.  We took a road trip to Sioux Falls, South Dakota to visit Steve's family. We left last Sunday(at o'darkthirty) and got home late afternoon yesterday. All in all, it was a great trip. Well, except for the fact that I caught a nasty cold (I've not had one in about a year and this one is a doozy!). Most of the week the humidity was "low" by Sioux Falls standards, and it was windy, so it made the weather a little more bearable, if you know what I mean. Although Friday and most definitely Saturday were quite sticky! All the way to SD, it was bright and sunny and just about all the way home it was cool and rainy. Even here at home. I was sure any fireworks would be postponed as it poured here, but I was wrong. There was just enough of a break in the storm for the shows to be held, even if we needed coats and umbrellas. LOL

I took a bunch of pictures on our trip, but will spare you a "what I did on my vacation" post loaded with pictures (for the moment anyway, LOL) and share just a few highlights...

We went to a local swimming pool...Amy jumped off the HIGH diving board.

We went to play miniature golf and they had go-karts....Jessica REALLY wanted to ride one, my little daredevil.

Of course, we went fishing...Amy caught a "lobster!"

And to the Butterfly House   *Ü*

And to Steve's sister's house out in the country.

Jessica wanted to ride in the big red tractor,

but not Amy.

Amy on the other hand, did learn how to set off fireworks. Oh my, we might have a mini pyro on our hands.

On the way to this sister's house, we stopped by a fireworks retailer and picked up a few to set off after dinner. Wasn't sure that they'd be able to set them off as it was rather windy, but it all worked out.

So, we're back and I must work on the mountain of laundry that needs to be done and re-stock the fridge.

Oh and work my way through reading a lot of blog posts. LOL

Ahhhh, it's good to have a vacation...

but...

it's also good to be home.

Splashing Good Time!

I think it's safe to say a good time was had by all at Amy's party today. It got pretty warm, but the clouds were building by the time we got underway. Thankfully, no rain fell. The only water came from the slip n slide, squirt guns and water balloons.

First up, here's the cake I made. We saw it in a Jello dessert cookbook. The kind you see at the check out in the store. That's blue Jello in the center.

And this is what I did with the part of the cake I took out.

Amy's ready for some fun!

General mayhem...

I cannot believe I got this GREAT shot of Ryan nailing the football through the tube.

Love the look on his face! (hope you don't mind my posting this, Heidi)

Amy slipped and slid for a bit.

Then we had the water balloon toss...

followed by the full fledged fight!

Steve stood on the deck and randomly nailed his daughters. It was pretty funny to watch.

Thanks for the help with the wind break, Becky! LOL

Amy gets so excited, she squints her eyes.

After most of the guests had gone, Amy, Hattie and Jessica started dancing to the music I had playing (Luau party songs). The song they played over and over again was Wipe-Out! It was so cute to see them dancing with such care-free abandon.

This is one of the gifts we got her. It's a MythBusters Science Exploration kit. Amy's been known to watch the show with Steve. Anyway, with this kit, she can make a marshmallow launcher!

When she took a good look at the box, she exclaimed...I know Daddy picked this one out. LOL

So, there you have it! It's amazing how much goes into putting together even a casual type of birthday party.

But, Amy thought it was a blast and I over heard a couple of kids say it was one of the best parties they'd been to. 

Awesome!

Thanks for stopping by.
I sure hope you've had a great Saturday, too!

Successfully Nine!

Well, it's a day late, but it's official now. Amy is now successfully nine years old (her use of the word successfully in that sentence-love it).

After hearing her share that her birthday is coming up for months and months, yesterday was the big day. We are having her party this afternoon, but she got to open one gift from us to tide her over until then. When asked what she wanted, she always said the skipper thing. You'll see, she got her wish. Man, it was tough to get any ideas for other things she really wanted. She really didn't have any burning desires and would run the gamut from the skipper to a piano! LOL

This is the skipper thing she wanted.

Nothing like being able to grant a wish without breaking the bank. 

LOL

She also mentioned she'd like something to make her bike look cool. 

I found a spoke light that either lit up solid or blinking. 

She thought it was very cool.

Yay!

Because I know the time's a-coming when gifts like this won't be quite so cool.

Then she had to try out the new "skipper."

At around 7am.

Ready....

Set....

GO!!

The day was filled with my running errands to get ready for the party and our upcoming road trip.

When I got home, the girls wanted to go to lunch at the school that offers free hot lunches every week day.

On the way home from that, we pass the pool. 

They wanted to go swimming.

(it was already in the upper 80s by noon, heading toward the upper 90s for the day)

I knew they'd love the feel of the cool water...

So, I took them home to get suited up and we headed to the pool.

The day care that was there included kids that the girls knew from school, so they had a blast playing with friends.

For dinner, we headed to Red Robin and had an enjoyable meal together. With her getting very embarrassed when they sang to her. But she was happy to endure it for the sundae she got when they were done. LOL

After getting home from that, I needed a bit of a "break," so I headed out for a little bit of quiet mommy time.

As I was walking toward the van, Amy hollered out the window....

Mom, you always make my birthday awesome!

That, my friends, is THE best thanks I could have received!

Hope you have a "successfully awesome" day, too!

*Ü*

Lazy (?) Days of Summer

Ahhhh...the good ole Summertime has officially started this week.

Which means in a few short days Amy will have a birthday. (Her 9th, sniff, sniff)

We've got a family road trip coming up soon, too.

Until then, we've managed to keep ourselves busy at home. 

Well, not AT home, but around town.

*Ü*

We've been to swim, a playdate (a make up one, since the originally planned one was postponed due to one of the playees becoming sick), roller skating and a local carnival. And three of those occurred in one day!

Ahhhhhh, the lazy days of summer.

Steve noticed a carnival set up in the parking lot of a local mall and after dinner last night said he'd like to go. 

So, we loaded up into the car (sans camera-darn) and headed over.

I was quite impressed at how daring the girls were this time, especially Jessica. She was quite vocal on the attractions she wanted to try. And try them she did, with a big happy grin on her face.

Amy wanted to ride the Sizzler, which is one of those spin type rides she discovered last year when Grandpa was in town. You know the one where you sit side by side and as the ride gets going one of you gets smooshed by the other one. I wore flip flops (what was I thinking?), so couldn't ride with her. Steve got the honors and they both had a blast. (Jessica wasn't quite tall enough, so she hung out with me).

It was a fun, happy time. 

And while the prices they charge are exorbitant, 

the smiles on their faces, 

while munching on a 2 dollar snow cone 

was definitely worth the price of the ticket(s).

This fun trip was after the made-up playdate, and 

the terrific time at the roller rink.

Yep, I have to agree with the girls, it was one awesome day.

Lazy days of summer, indeed.

For the record, they were up this morning, before 7am!

As you can see, Mommy has still found a little teeny bit of time to crochet.

This is Mama Tortoise. Baby may (or may not-I'm ready to work on other projects) follow soon.

I couldn't find the same yarn as the sample in Crochet Today, but I really liked the colors in this multi colored yarn and decided to throw caution to the wind and make a pink turtle. LOL

Hope your summer adventures bring you lots of smiles, too!

I Played With Paper Today!

These came out a little darker than I thought they would, but I think you can still get a good idea of what I used anyway.

Under each card I've linked the blog that inspired my creation. If you want to know what supplies I used, feel free to ask in the comments and I'll get back to you.

Enjoy The VA Sunshine

This is the first card I made today and boy am I rusty! LOL I also had to take a few trips out to the garage to find the border punches I wanted to use as I don't have enough space to have all my goodies in the house.

Willow & Paisley

On this one, I ended up using the Home Accents cartridge and my Cricut set at 1 inch. Then I used the negative space as a guide for gluing the individual pieces down.

Sharing What I Love

The vase on this one is from the Cricut cartridge, Walk in My Garden, again at 1 inch. And I used a Cuttlebug folder.

Lea's Cupcakes & Sunshine

I like the colors in this one.

It was fun to finally play with paper again.

Maybe I'll do it again, soon. LOL

Have a great weekend.

PS I was interrupted numerous times while working on this post and decided to just hit publish. 

Gone Fishin'

Thanks so much for all the lovely comments on the Father's Day gift idea I shared. Hope you're right and Steve likes and doesn't think it's too cheesy. LOL

Been busy crocheting another project from the Crochet Today issue I picked up. This project is one of the main reasons I picked up the issue. The s'mores were a happy bonus.

First up, here's a cute little bear:

He wants to go fishin', but needs a few things...

Like a hat to protect his sweet ears and head.

When he gets to the creek, he'll have to make up his fishin' pole

Like, so.

Oh, goodness...looks like he was pretty successful already!

Yep, he sure had a happy day!

Whoops, looks like those little fishies want to try to get back to the creek!

Not to worry, our little friend got them back into the basket.

Now, doesn't this make you wish fishing in real life looked this cute?

LOL

*Ü*

Have a wonderful weekend, friends!

Thanks so much for stopping by.