A Day Away...

We really needed a day away as a family. (OK, so it was last week already!) And with Cora starting school last Thursda, well, this last weekend was IT!
(The boys start tomorrow!)
We had a gift certificate from (hold on to your seat) FIVE years ago!
For Grand Harbor.
They in the past, would not book the room without it being pre-paid, and then reimbursed when we brought the gift certificate... so in the past we have passed.
But I called the manager again, and she booked me. We have another nights work of certificate left which we will use sometime this winter. :)

ANYWAY, we had a FABULOUS time!
This was the view out our window...And our other window...We played at the water park Sunday night until 9pm.
When my three walked in, they were so overwhelmed I think, that they weren't quite sure what to do first!(does Daddy look like he is having fun or what? :) )We ate junky snacks at the snack shack, then ordered Tony Romas appetizers via room service, and played Nintendo DS together,then in the morning we went to the cable car,walked a bit,doesn't he look like a little ad model? :)and I went to one shop while the rest of the family got ice cream,and then we headed back to the water park...
After the waterpark closed at 7pm (another 6 hours of swimming!) we went to Eagle Point Park and caught the sunset.
Got this shot on the way... I just thought this church was very pretty...
(Speaking of God... :) )
Sometimes God smiles. And it is obvious.
It was one of those moments and views that make you take pause. This view, this place has been and will be, the same for hundreds to thousands of years with little change. The river has no concern with iphones or finances... it just is. And when you are in the presence of it, you can just be too...
(no editing what-so-ever)And sometimes you get REALLY lucky...
When we left this view to head back to the car, we were met with HUNDREDS of bats catching bugs in the street lights that just turned on in the park! It was CRAZY how many of them there were!!! It was a wonderful couple of days together! CANDI and I take the Iowa State Fair!!
(*pictures are kinda rough... Candi "promised" her camera pictures, and I am still waiting-so I'll just post her phone pictures. I have a feeling I'll get the fair pictures when she gets her girls photo shoot pictures! LOL!)

What I didn't place in, she did and the other way around... except in "2-page layout". We both placed. :) Candi got ANOTHER blue ribbon for her Christmas layout (was a Mississippi Valley Fair winner last year!) and I got 3rd for my club layout... this was the category I thought I would throw my "conservative" layout into. :)
I got a 1st (below) in "Use of Embellishment" and a 3rd in "One page layout". ("Dang Cute" just published in Scrapbook Trends.) :)
I haven't made it up there and I am not sure I will. :(
I mailed my entries.
ANYWAY, Candi also got a 1st in stamping (other than a layout) -I was project lead on a stamp book, yet didn't submit a THING to the stamping categories!! LOL! WELL-they weren't LAYOUT catagories! I'm a LAYOUT girl!! :)

And for Projects, I think this was my biggest disappointed, but not for me (my flower frame got no placing...) Candi's TOTALLY awesome frame (old window scrapbooked) placed second behind a paper bag book. WHAT???????? I thought it would get first for SURE! I love her frame! :)

My fair theme layout below didn't place either... guess cuz I didn't cut my pictures into letters to spell "Iowa" or "Fair"! :)

ANYWAY, I reached my goal-get a ribbon at the fair! And the STATE fair to boot! :)
It was fun-I kinda had that feeling you do as a kid winning a ribbon at the fair!

I'll leave you with this picture... I just love Gavin's expression while I am kissing him! :)
Be blessed-and love each other! :)

Sick of this picture yet?? :)

Do-overs?

I could NOT find the layout I did previously of Gavin at the fair, which I was going to enter for "fair theme" at the Iowa State Fair... so I whipped this together.
Same picture (from a layout I did a couple day ago), different layout!

More American Crafts love! (Despite the fact I didn't make the DT. :( ) Congrats to all that did!

And I got some JilliBean Soup journaling sprouts too!

AND, to prove JUST how technologically challenged I truly am, my version of a sketch! LOL!
I can draw it MUCH easier than I could ever figure out how to do it digitally!
How pathetic am I??

Also for the fair, I whipped this together... (For the "other" papercrafts class)
The flowers are from Sweet Vintage 78 on Etsy...
The idea "sprouted" (couldn't help myself) from a frame I saw Ginger Williams do. She did these fantastic flowers (flowers she handmade out of paper) and framed them, all using Cosmo Cricket Early bird... I used a little early bird, and some of the swimming line... and the flowers were fabric and vintage sewing pattern!
Yes... I KNOW I could make them myself... but I don't have vintage patterns at the moment (though on my list of things to find) or much fabric... sometimes it is just nice to buy something pretty from another artist...
The chipboard button, Sweet Vintage also.
Can I just say... I LOVE my butterfly punches STILL? :)

I entered 4 layouts and one frame at the fair... we'll see. They might want all Jolee's and matted pictures. We all know that isn't me. (Disclaimer: Not saying there is anything wrong with Jolee's OR matting your pictures.)
Wish me luck!

Here are a few pictures of my alone time with Gabriel last week! We went to the farmers markets in Davenport.
Where Gabriel ate his way through the market. :)

I do NOT want to dwell on how many grams of sugar are in the above treats! :)

The climber below is in front of the freight house. It has been so long since we have been there, that I didn't know this was there!

And they have this weird slide that doesn't really work and the kids tend to fall off of. Hmmmm...

And for Alicia... since she just posted a comment about including Dad...

This one (below) was taken the other day when we decided to take the dogs for a walk.
I put the camera on the back of the car in the driveway and ran...
And yes, that is a dog in a front carrier (Baby Bjorn style) :)

Love each other...
And Be Blessed!!!

Jason and Joelle...

I knew Jason and Joelle when they loved here in Davenport while Jason went to chiropractic school...
Joelle took the "Birthing From Within" class I was sitting in on while getting my doula certification... I went often to her home while she was pregnant with baby # FOUR!

She ended up having a home birth... and a beautiful little girl.

Her husband dove into a lake, and crushed his cervical vertebrae last year.

It makes my heart soar to see this video of them, this tribute of her from him, and these pictures of a couple, with four children and their share of trials, so full of love.

Our cousin that forwarded this to me said it best:
Love and Respect=Happiness.

Kiss your husband extra today...

Remember why you love and respect him. No matter what.

(Be sure to stop my music to hear theirs! :)

Alieda's Challenge

I wasn't as active on Studio Calico when Alieda was so present...
but her legacy in scrapbooking lives on.
She challenged us to not worry so much about how we feel about how we look in pictures and just take pictures of ourselves with our kids.

That is a tough one for women. Let's be 100% honest.
But it is important.
And so while at the zoo with my kiddos, she made me think to plop my purse down, and do what I could to make it work to get a picture with them this day.

Each picture I have with my grandma I treasure. There are not enough.
Each picture with my father. A treasure also.
I love my children.
For them, I need to leave proof.
Life is too fragile.
Period.

Do it.
Take a picture with your kids today.
Hold the camera out and take a picture.
Set it on your car and take it.
Set it on a table and run on over!!

This picture isn't perfect... but it's us, and THAT is perfect.

Blog Challenge(s) and other fun stuff...

Back to School!
I really can't BELIEVE it is that time again!
I went TODAY to register the boys for school!
{sigh}

Scrapaganza's blog challenge is Back To School... but it doesn't just have to be your kids! It can be YOU, it can be I DON'T want to go back... limited ONLY by your imagination!

I used masking and Glimmer Mist on my layout... not new, masking numbers and things, but it is FUN!
I plan to create a class at Scrapganza using Glimmer Mist on three one page layouts! YAY!
I have had a ton of requests for me to do a layout class again, so this is what I was feelin' like doin'! :)
Hopefully I will have it available for September!

Go check out the FABULOUS layouts (speaking of Glimmer Mist Ms. Klauer!) for The Story Matters! The subject-10 of my favorite things... OK, so that leaves it PRETTY wide open! YAY!
The layouts are awesome, so go take a look-and don't forget to comment on their work! I didn't get my layout QUITE finished on time, but it will HOPEFULLY make an appearance by tomorrow night! :)

Some goings on...
The Dollar Tree... I LOVE the dollar tree! For $6, I can get the kiddos a couple things each, that last probably the day-and any more I am lucky, NOT go broke, and they are thrilled!
Gabriel found this archaeological egg you dig the dinosaur out of... though we broke down EVER piece of dirt (chalk!) and NO other little arm! Darn it! But he had fun-even though it was a MESS!

And Gavin found ZatchBall-which I have no idea what the stink it is... him and his Daddy start talking some language about points and powers... {sigh} but he LOVES these cards. YAY!
Mom is NOT impressed with his favorite card (in picture) but I guess I have to let him be a boy who thinks this weird stuff is fun.
Cora usually gets something she breaks in 10 minutes, or that didn't work to begin with... alas, no pictures of her ribbon wand, as it wouldn't even stay on to begin with-and this one was MY idea!
But she got dress up shoes too... and those have held up! ( I swore I took a picture of her dirty little feet in her dress up shoes, darn it!) Until she gets a blister then complains!

We had some passes left over from the Zoo, from when we were members. So one day we were in town and we went for a visit!
The zoo is always a good time!
Anyone see the heart there? :)
These birds never get old for them!Oozing coolness. :) We have to go on the carousel twice so each boy can ride the eagle-both of their favorite! :)
They just love that fan mister! I love the funny pictures I sometimes get with them all dew-ey! :)I thought I got pretty lucky with this shot of the bear... pesky bars. :)
Looks like the Colobus mom has the same issues "I am not a jungle gym! OUCH! That's my TAIL!"
Funny little story... I maybe let the kids get one quarter each of the food. It is always a rip-off, and the goats eat it in 1/2 of a second anyway!
But Gabriel, he gives each ONE grain at a time! No joke! That kid will make his grain LAST! Gavin and Cora are collecting it off of the ground in the meantime, since most of the kids drop their when the goats touch them anyway-who needs to pay a quarter! LOL!
And when you don't pay admission or for the train, why not splurge for the ponies? I mean, just cuz we HAVE a pony that we never go to ride! LOL! Cousin Dorothy uses Jasper as a babysitter, and we pay $4 a child to go to the zoo to ride for 5 minutes. {sigh} :)
The boys rode in the very back of the train (Cora and I one up) backwards for the first time, and that concluded our trip to the zoo...
I made the mistake of taking them to Ben Franklin "just to look"...
the newly displayed candy canes were instantly swords-and so our trip to Ben Franklin was VERY short...
( They look SO innocent, don't they??)
Though they really didn't seem to have that much anyway-some cute home decor, but SO much more $$ than Hobby Lobby! Geez!

OK, well that's about it!
Be Blessed!
And pray for more of this WONDERFULLY not so humid weather! YAY!

OK, better go work on Candi's pictures before she starts to torture me! :)

AND my State Fair entry!! :)