End of 2009

Well, hard to believe that the end of 2009 is so near. Seems like the year just started.
So much for my resolution to blog this year, oh well....there's always next year ;-)

I hope that you have all had a great 2009 and that 2010 brings even more blessings to you and yours.

Friday Fill-ins 10/23/09

It's been quite some time since I played along. Trying to get back into the swing of blogging again. ;-)

1. The crickets sing, the children squeal with delight as they play outside (too bad it's starting to cool off and they cannot play outside as long now).

2. Laugh wherever you are.

3. I want to get far away from the realities and difficulties of the real world on some days.

4. Buying a new car this year; this was a dream.

5. But as for me and my house we will serve the Lord (I know that I am not always the example that I need to be to my children and those around me).

6. That's where I come from (love Kenny!!!).

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to movie night at Ian's school watching Monsters vs. Aliens, tomorrow my plans include going to TJ's to watch the Nebraska game with Georgians for Nebraska, and Sunday, I want to go work out (my body is really starting to miss it).

Getting ready for class....

Several of my online friends have become huge fans of Jayne's Sketchapalooza class over at Feeling Scrappy. Sign-ups are going on for Sketchapalooza 5 now and the class starts on the 26th. I have taken a couple of the previous classes and loved them! Jayne and her design team design 20 sketches, so I was able to get quite a few layouts done. Just typing this up to share with you all, has made my mind my mind up about signing up. I was on the fence about taking the class since I am back in the swing of working on my dissertation.
I will need a break during my writing over the next few weeks, so I am looking forward to joining my friends at Sketchapalooza.

Blog giveaway

I am working on catching up on my blog reading and such this weekend :-)

Tresa over at Fabulously Artsy is giving away a beautiful altered canvas to one lucky follower.

Where does the time go?

I cannot believe it's been so long since I posted here on my blog. Holy cow!

Back in August, school started, so time has been spent working lately. Not a lot of time for other stuff unfortunately. Not much else has been going either though. School's been good. I have loved my classes so far this year. My trig classes are awesome! I love teaching the class, as it has been challenging for me to study and stay ahead of the students.
Alex and Ian have been doing well so far this year. They just finished up their first nine weeks, and are doing well. Ian was award a math award by his teacher for the first nine weeks. Alex has been realizing that seventh grade is a bit more work than sixth grade was. He's in for a rude awakening in high school...lol.
Cory's been working. They've started picking up in business as the holidays near.

We've been enjoying the nice weather, except for all the rain last month. The Atlanta area was flooded (mostly counties west and south of us), so we had a couple of days off from school.

Cory and I also joined the Georgians for Nebraska alumni group down here, so we've been able to hang out on game days with hundreds of other Husker fans. We've been able to watch every Husker game so far this season! They are definitely off to a great start.

We're enjoying a four day weekend this weekend, so I like having a lazy day. I can even stay up late tonight watching Desperate Housewives and Brothers and Sisters without having to worry about getting up early :-)

I'm off to watch some football and get some scrappin' done. Have a great rest of the weekend!

My poor blog....

Has been feeling neglected I know. :-(
We are in the process of finally moving to a bigger apartment this weekend. We have been in living in a 2 bedroom apartment since we moved down here to Georgia. We finally decided to move into a bigger apartment instead of buying a house (that's a whole other blog post).
So, anyway, Cory & I moved quite a bit today. We had a couple of friends helping yesterday (Thanks!!!). Now we're unpacking and realizing how gross and dirty people can be though (ugh....ewwww!!!). I have to clean 2 apartments now. Oh well.....At least the boys finally have thier own rooms and our bedroom is big enough for me to set up one of my 6 ft tables to use for a scrap area (yay!!!!!!)!!!

The Joys of Summer....

Well, that time of year is upon us again. I have been back at school for a week and half now (this past week was with students). I forgot how tired I get during the school day. My day starts out a lot earlier than I like, 4:45am, since I try to get to school by 6am. First period starts at 7:10am. Luckily, the day ends at 2:10pm. I love my schedule this year. I ended up with a couple of Advanced Algebra/Trigonometry classes along with my algebra 1. It was a fun week last week. I love all my classes and know that it's just gonna be a great year!!

Will work on playing along with memes this week....

Saturday 9

I just realized that I didn't post my Saturday 9 yesterday. Oh well... gives me something to do while I cheer on Melissa on The Next Food Network Star.

This week's theme is RAIN

1. What do you typically like to do on a rainy day? Definitely stay indoors ;-) I love to either curl up with a good book, watch tv, or even scrapbook a few pages.

2. Tell us about the last time you did something that you later regretted, that you can share with us. The importance and meaning we give to words can be so deep. So often we say things that we never meant for them to be taken the way they were. In a recent conversation with my son, he had become upset by something I had said earlier in the day. I had never meant to hurt his feelings or make him as upset as he was. The power we have with the words we say should never be taken for granted.

3. I recently got an email from a lover from a very long time ago. I was asked "Have all your dreams come true?" If it were you and it was from someone you remember fondly, how would you answer the question? Cory and I always talk about "what if." What if we hadn't moved, what if we hadn't this, etc... No matter how often we talk about the what ifs, we always come back to the here and now. We love each other, we love our boys, we love our life together, and had we not made the choices we did along the way, there is no way we would be where we are today. I would not trade my life now for anything, so yes, all my dreams have come true.

4. If you had a job interview and was asked, "If you were an animal, what kind would you be (other than human)?" How would you answer that question? I would be a cat ;-) Anyone who knows my youngest would not be surprised by that..lol. Because of him and his love of cats, I have become more of a cat person than I ever thought I would. Plus our own two cats have convinced me that cats are just as much fun as a dog.

5. Do you think it is a good idea to share with a new lover stories of your past lovers? Honesty is a good policy in any relationship. I shared with Cory more and more as our relationship progressed. The amount of divulging that one does to another person is up to them and their comfort level.

6. When do you think it is permissible or even important to lie? The truth is important. When you have information that could hurt someone, omitting information would be what I would do. I would not like to be the one to deliver information that could be hurtful to someone.

7. What was the last thing you did that you never thought you would? I never would have thought I would ever move again from Nebraska. Last summer, we moved to Georgia. The move has allowed us to become quite "outdoorsy"...lol. I actually enjoy hiking trails through parks and climbing rocks. Never would have thought of doing that in Nebraska.

8. What is one important lesson that you learned from your mother? That's a toughie...I would have to say that never being afraid to work hard. I may shy away from work at times, but I will get it done and do my best possible job. I know the value of hard work and realize all my mom had to work for when I was younger and there was just mom, Dan, and I.

9. What is one important lesson that you learned from your father? Again a toughie, as my father was not around for much of my life. I guess I would have to say that I learned from my father that I should not be afraid to step out of my "shell." I watched my father talk and interact with anyone, whether he knew them or not. He was not afraid to initiate conversations or anything. I am still trying to learn to be more comfortable stepping out of my shell.

If you'd like to play along, you can find the questions here

Friday Fill-ins 7/31

1. It's time for me to get ready for school to start by going to bed earlier than 3am...lol!! Can't wait ;-)

2. Atlanta, Georgia; it's not a bad place for our family - it's been a great thing that we moved here last year. The weather is not as hot as everyone says...lol. I thought the weather in Omaha was worse in the summer.

3. I must be getting old...lol...my body can't handle late late nights anymore.

4. The hugs, kisses, and love from my husband and sons is the best thing I have ever known.

5. My Diet Coke is simply enough for me most days.

6. The last time I laughed really loudly was at Skyline...those girls made my sides hurt. I don't remember the last time I laughed that hard or loud.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to dinner with ladies from SS who are in Atlanta for the CM convention, tomorrow my plans include nothing right now, and Sunday, I want to scrapbook and finish cutting the letters I need for my classroom.

I am bored....

I can't believe this. I sit here watching tv and playing on the laptop, yet again. I really need to go back to school....lol ;-)
I have pictures that I could scrap, books that I could read, a dissertation that I could work on, a gym that I could go to and work out, but yet I sit here bored. Go figure...lol
Oh well, I should be thankful for what I do have. I am employed and get to go back to that job next week. I don't have to report back until next Wednesday, but I will probably go in on Monday or Tuesday to finish putting my classroom together. I tried to go yesterday, but the district is now re-carpeting the building that I am in. I can only hope that it will be done by Monday.

Off to find more ways to be bored..... ;-)

Best Shot Monday

This is this week's installment :-)
It's not too often I can talk Cory into letting me take a picture of him. This was at Amicalola Falls State Park. We took the boys up there on Saturday to see the falls. We had a great time.

Couple more of my favorites

This one was of Alex's birth picture.

Paper is BG O Baby Boy line.

Ian's birth picture. The paper was BG O Baby Boy line.

Inspired by Lita's sketch #1

Just need to finish embellishing a few pages and I'll be done with this album until I have more school pictures to add each year.

Hope you enjoyed ;-)

Layouts I've done lately

Well, my summer is almost over, but I have managed to get quite a few pages done.
I was inspired by my friend, Kendra, to start portrait album that showcases the 8x10s that I've had taken a studio or wherever.
These are just a few of my favorites that I wanted to show off here.

These were from Christmas 2004. The paper was BG Wassail line.

This was Ian's first grade picture. I LOVE this picture of him. He looks so old :-)

I used Candy Apple Glimmer Mist to create the border.
Family picture from January 2008. Paper is BG Lime Rickey.

Picture was of Alex at 3 months (Nov 1997). Paper is BG O Baby Boy line.

Words....

why is that words can do so much? They can comfort us, help us, entertain us, but unfortunately and worst of all, hurt us. I sit here thinking about how some people really should think before speaking. When you call them on what they said, their defense is that they were just joking. Too bad. Words can and are taken out of context all the time. People really need to think before they speak instead of hurting people and causing people to reconsider really why they should continue a relationship.

Saturday 9

This week's theme is Fast Car.

1. What's the furthest trip you've taken by automobile? Back in high school, we took coach busses from Omaha to Orlando for a band trip. Although if I were to ask my mom, when I was a baby, I know my parents drove me to California (but I don't remember that trip) from either Illinois or Michigan.

2. What's the worst pickup line you've ever received? It's been way too long since I've dated. Cory and I have been together for 15 years (including our dating).

3. What's the best pickup you've ever received? Again, not sure what it was, but whatever Cory said it worked ;-)

4. What was the last gift you received? The scrapbook album from my mom for my birthday last month.

5. What was the last gift you gave someone? hmmm...guess that would be Ian's birthday presents back in April. I do have a small gift to give a friend of mine when we go back to school in August.

6. Tell us about the last time you cried. I cry everytime I watch Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.

7. Tell us about the last time you laughed uncontrollably. That would be yesterday. We were all in car driving home from Memphis, and once Ian or Alex start laughing, I cannot stop. Their laughing is infectious and just one of the many reasons I love these two boys of mine ;-)

8. Do you suffer road rage? What are you thoughts on it? I will admit that I get aggrevated easily by stupid and slow drivers. I can understand how that little trigger of being cut off could escalate though.

9. What's one of your favorite movie quotes? Oh I have so many....but the one that jumps to mind first is "We'll stay up all night swappin' manly stories, and in the mornin', I'm makin' WAFFLES!!" (said by Donkey to Shrek in Shrek)

Silence is golden, but....

hearing Ian and Alex laugh is so much brighter!
After a long day in the car (we drove from Atlanta to Memphis) to meet Cory's parents and pick up the boys. While the quietness will be missed, I cannot get enough of their laughter.
Ian totally made Cory's day when he ran up to him at the restaurant and gave him the biggest bear hug. They've only seen Cory a couple of days over the past 5 weeks. They are so happy to be home. Ian couldn't wait until we got back into Georgia after driving through Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Alabama.
I love that we're all together again!!!

Friday Fill-ins 7/24

1. Going a day without a Diet Coke is not the end of the world.

2. Sitting here. listening to the sound of falling rain, I am glad that I am inside, but hopes that rain cools it off outside when it is done.

3. The honey butter croissants at Joey D's taste so good!!

4. Sometimes, putting others first is hard to do.

5. The beauty of God's creation of nature is breathtaking, really.

6. Well, maybe there is hope for me yet.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to being re-united with my kiddoes, tomorrow my plans include exploring Amicola Falls State Park with the boys and Cory, and Sunday, I want to go to spin class again.

Our vacation is almost over....

Cory and I head to Memphis on Friday to pick up the boys. While I have enjoyed having just Cory and I, I am looking forward to seeing them again. I have missed my noisy little kiddoes.

Pictures from Sioux Falls, SD

Mom has wanted to go up to Sioux Falls for quite some time. We ended up going up there on July 5 and 6. I never would have thought Sioux Falls, South Dakota, would have been fun or interesting. Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised. A definitely worthwhile day trip from Omaha.
Our first stop was the Porter Sculpture Garden outside of Sioux Falls. The sculptures are made from metal and other materials, including railroad ties.

Most of the sculptures were quite large. You can tell from this broken fishbowl that Ian and Alex are standing next to.

Once we left the sculpture garden, we took the boys to the science museum. I couldn't believe how much fun they had while they were there. Their favorites were playing with the hangliding simulator...

building their own version of the St. Louis Arch, together none-the-less. :-)

and this table they could put their lego houses on to simulate an earthquake. They were both laughing so hard watching the houses shake. I just cannot get enough of their infectious laughter :-)

When we left the science museum, we headed to Sioux Falls Park. This picture was taken from the observation tower. The falls were quite beautiful.

Here's one of my favorites of the boys by the falls. You could climb on the rocks and get as close as possible to the water.

Alex was in a rare photographic mode this day.

We had a nice day hanging out at Sioux Falls Park. We walked around the entire park, had dinner in the overlook cafe, watched Ian and Alex play football, and watched the nightly light and laser show over the falls. It was interesting to hear the history of the falls and Sioux Falls.

We spent the night in Sioux Falls, so we could hit a couple of other places first thing in the morning.

Our first stop was at the Japanese Gardens. Very pretty and quite early in the morning. It must also be a pretty popular photographic site, as we we saw a couple doing engagement pics and a girl having her senior pics taken.

After the gardens, we headed to the Great Plains Zoo. While it's no Henry Doorly Zoo, it was still a nice place to go visit. The boys are always happy to go to any zoo.

We headed back to Omaha after a quick pitstop to a local scrapbook store for me and mom :-)

Recap from 4th of July

Every year that I can remember, we have spent the 4th of July watching the Ralston parade in Mrs. Chapton's yard. Quite a few of our church family join the crowd, as well as, Mrs. Chapton's neighbors (since her yard is right on the parade route).
This year, Crystal joined mom, Ian, and I watching the parade. Alex was with us for a while, but ended up in the town center helping his friend sell concessions.

Anyone who's been to the parade knows what to expect - politicians, lots of fire trucks, and lots of Shriners. This year though, we were surprised by one new addition - Darth Vader. Crys took Ian's picture with Darth Vader ( I need to get a copy of that pic). Uncle Dan would be so proud of his Star Wars fan nephews.

In and amongst the fire trucks was Ian's friend and family, Charlie. Ian met Charlie back in 2006 when they both went to Serendipity Preschool. They were the instant of best friends! Charlie's dad is a firefighter, so Charlie was riding in a fire truck when Ian saw him in the parade. After the parade, Ian met up with Charlie at the fire station before heading to the annual water fights. Typically, lots of people show up for the water fights because the weather is so hot. This year though, I don't think it made it past 70 degrees, very unusual for a 4th of July in Nebraska.

Ian was able to have a play date and spend the night at Charlie's before we left for Arkansas.

Recap Part III

We hung out at mom's quite a bit. I had two shadows the whole time; Pepper (the lighter colored one) was a happy camper to be able to sleep with me most nights in a bed instead of on the floor in mom's room. Ruby (the daschund) was happy to have someone new to lick...lol.

I was fortunate enough to meet up and hang out with a few of my best friends from college. I met up in Lincoln with Christy and Mary (clarinet buddies from UNL :-) ) and Kelli, who was my boss at Taco Bell. Kelli had moved to Texas years ago, and I have not been able to see her since 2005. Of course, since we were in Omaha, we met up with each other at the Omaha Henry Doorly Zoo. If you ever are in the area, the zoo is a definite must see. One of the tops in the U.S.
The gorillas are a crowd stopper in their new habitat (it was open a couple of years ago).


In all the times I have visited the zoo, there have not been this many orangutans hanging around on the nets. They were putting on quite the show for the visitors.

This year's addition to the zoo was the Skyfari. This was definitely Ian's favorite part of our visit this time. It was a nice 10 minute ride over the giraffes, cheetahs, Garden of the Senses, koi pond with spider monkeys, elephants, and rhinos.

Mom and Alex all smiles as they ride.

Recap Part II

This is one of my favorite views of the Arch we had as we walked along the Mississippi Riverfront.

This is one of the pics Cory took for me from the observation deck of the Arch. This is part of St. Louis's skyline.

After we left the Arch, we headed over to this waterfront area with restuarants and bars to find a place to eat. We ended up here at Joey B's, which was featured on Rachel Ray's Tasty Travels as we found it. Mom and I had a really good Hawaiian pizza.

Recap of visit to Nebraska

As I wrote earlier, we left on June 19 to meet mom in St. Louis. We had a nice drive up through Tennessee, Kentucky, and Illinois.

This is outside of Chattanooga, can't remember the name of the water though. I just like driving through that quick stretch outside of Chattanooga.

One of the first towns we go through in Illinois is Metropolis. I just had to take a picture as this reminds me of my friend, Rob, who is the biggest Superman nut I know ;-)

Outside of Mt. Vernon, Illinois, we drove along and watch these clouds transform into a storm. They were so pretty, so I just took a whole bunch of pictures (gotta love digital cameras). We were fortunate to not have to worry about running into the storm.

On Saturday morning, we got up early to head to the Jefferson Expansion National Park (St. Louis Arch). When we moved to Georgia last year and drove through St. Louis, Alex's first words were that he wanted to go up in the Arch. Last year, we didn't have the time to stop. This year, we made sure to take the boys up there. How often do you get this chance? My suggestion would be to get there super early, so that you don't have to wait in line. We didn't have to wait in any lines going through security or going up on the tram. We were even the only ones up in the observation deck for a few minutes. When we left though, the wait was probably at least an hour or so to get up to the observation deck (pics posted in next post - blogger is not cooperating here with me).

Best Shot Monday

This is not really the best pic of us, but Cory and I had fun exploring Amicola Falls State Park on Saturday. The falls were beautiful, and the weather couldn't have been better

Pictures to come...

Well, after the fiasco I was having with the laptop, I was finally able to load all my pictures from the past month in to my storage program. The laptop really must have just wanted to be home in Georgia to work right or something...lol.

Anyway, I will post some pics from the last month or so over the next couple of days. I know you have all been anxiously awaiting them ;-)

Good night y'all, see ya tomorrow!

Saturday 9

I was reading my friend Bry's blog, and she had played along with the Saturday 9.

I am trying to blog more often, so these memes are a chance to do just that.

This week's theme is HEATWAVE

1. It's July. How has the weather been where you are? Living in Georgia has not been as hot as everyone told me it was going to be, but then again, I have been spending my time being a couch potato while on summer break ;-) Tonight it's about 60 degrees and we have the windows open listening to the bugs.

2. What is the best way for you to beat the heat? I am the first one to run inside to the air conditioning. Although, if I liked wearing my swimsuit, I would be in the water a lot more.

3. "It's not the heat, it's the humidity". Do you buy that? Oh yeah. The humidity is worse to handle than the heat. I can handle the heat, well, some of the time anyway.

4. Do you like hot tubs or saunas? Hot tubs are fun, but then again, that would require me to put on a bathing suit. Saunas are just too hot, yuck. Although, like Bry said, both can be fun with the right company.

5. What's the hottest you've ever been? Guess they mean temperature-wise. Summers in Nebraska could get hot - 100+ temps every once in a while.

6. How many times do you hit the beach in the summer? When we found out we were moving to Georgia, Alex's first thoughts were about going to the beach. It's been a year later, and unfortunately, we still have not made it to the beach. We are looking to a possible trip in the future, but if it was closer than 6 hours away, I'm sure we'd be at the beach a lot more often.

7. When you were a kid, what did you do in the summer? I was always outside. My brother and I would ride bikes, play in the yard, play with friends, and run in the sprinkler. Summer vacations were carefree times. I have been blessed to watch my sons so much of the same this summer.

8. Surfing. Have you ever gotten on a surfboard? Body surf? No surfing here.

9. What's your favorite summer song? My fav the last couple of summer's has been Kid Rock's All Summer Long. I crank it up on the radio whenever I hear it.

Friday Fill-ins 7/17

1. Carrots and ranch dressing make a quick and easy dinner.

2. Fatal Tide by Iris Johansen is the book I'm reading right now.

3. July brings back memories of sitting at the Chapton's house watching the annual Ralston 4th of July parade.

4. Loving my children at first sight was obvious.

5. They say if you tell your dreams they won't come true.

6. Take time to think it over.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I am looking forward to another "date night" with Cory, tomorrow my plans include going back to the gym (finally), and Sunday, I want to scrapbook (if I can find my pictures in the garage).

Relishing the calm before the storm

I have been able to enjoy a nice peaceful week with Cory this week. The boys are spending time with Grandma & Grandpa in Arkansas. I am sure they are having a great time. Both the boys were excited about going golfing, swimming, and going out on Grandpa's boat.
The week has been nice and quiet around here. I'm not quite sure what Cory and I will do this weekend since we'll still be childless, probably just stay at home and watch tv all weekend ;-)

I do miss them, but definitely not all the bickering.
I am looking forward to seeing them next weekend.

I'm Home!!!

It's been a nice relaxing couple of weeks. The boys and I headed back to visit G-ma Cantu in Omaha. We had a nice time visiting with friends and hanging out at G-ma's house. Cory wasn't able to come with us, so he had to stay behind here in Georgia.

The boys had a great time catching up with their friends. Alex spent much of the time at Danny's. Ian was able to play with Devin and even spent the night a few times. Ian was estatic to see Charlie at the Ralston 4th of July parade and even got to play with him a few times before we left.

The trip was quite relaxing, as I had no responsibilties...lol. The bummer was that my laptop died on me though. I wasn't able to read my blogs, check email, or any post on Facebook. The horror!! I don't know how I managed without being online...lol. Oh well, I did watch a lot of Food Network and USA. Burn Notice is a new fave now of mine!!

Mom took the boys and I down to Arkansas on Saturday, so the boys could spend a couple of weeks with Cory's parents. The boys are super excited to go golfing and out on Grandpa's boat. Cory met us down there. I was a bit happy to see my hubby again ;-)
Cory and I left on Sunday, since he had to be back at work tonight. We spent the night in Tupelo, Mississippi, which is the birthplace of Elvis Presley. Didn't have too much time to sight see, but maybe next time.
Cory and I ended up spending yesterday at Six Flags over Georgia.. It had been a while since we had managed to spend a whole day alone. I forgot how much fun roller coasters can be. I loved going on Batman again and found a couple of new faves in Goliath and Superman!

I am just glad to be home and able to be online again :-)

Friends

I was sitting here the other day thinking about this post. I count myself blessed to have so many friends that I could call and have help me at a moment's notice. While this is a blessing, I sometimes feel like I don't have any friends, weird huh? I sit on my computer and talk to people. I'll sit and talk to my husband. I'll talk to people while at work. And yet, here I sit while at my mom's and have only seen friends who happen to be visiting others while in Nebraska too. Don't get me wrong, I am not complaining by any means, but what happened to the days of spending all our time with friends? I look at my oldest son whom I've hardly seen the last few days because he's been hanging out with his old friends. Lucky him. Why as adults we don't do that? Is it because of our own priorities in our lives? Are we too busy for our friends? Do we rely too much on technology these days to communicate for us?
I just happened to be thinking about all this the other day, and I think it was because I miss my friends here in Omaha. While that that's true, I truly appreciate and care for all my new friends that I've been fortunate to meet since moving to Georgia. Maybe it's just because of the different paths we seem to take now as adults.
I am just so thankful for all the people I consider my FRIEND :-)

Best Shot Monday

The boys and I headed to St. Louis to meet up with mom this past weekend. We had some time, so we decided to go up in the Arch. This is one of my favorites from the visit.

I can't wait!!!

Tomorrow I am headed to St. Louis to meet my mom!! She's going to take the boys and me back to Nebraska with her for a few weeks. I am looking forward to seeing friends and my baby sis ;-)
While we're in St. Louis for a few hours, I'm hoping to take the boys up in the Arch. I'll post pictures of our time in Nebraska and in July, the boys get to spend a couple of weeks in Arkansas with my in-laws. Gotta love some kid-free time!! Can't wait for the next couple of weeks!!

Friday Fill-ins 6/19

If you'd like to play along, click here

1. All children alarm their parents, if only because you are forever expecting them to do something completely uncharacteristic.

2. Show me a good loser and I will show you a bridge for sale in Brooklyn.

3. Scrapbooking and hanging out with friends is like eating an entire box of chocolate liqueurs at one time.

4. Too bad that all the people who know how to run the country are busy spending our money and not listening the people.

5. I have yet to hear a man ask for advice on how to combine work and family.

6. It is impossible to think of any good meal, no matter how plain or elegant, without salt or pepper in it.

7. As for the weekend, tonight I am looking forward to seeing my mom in St. Louis, tomorrow my plans include heading back to Omaha with my mom, and Sunday, I want to relax and see my sister.

As we get older...

I think we really do get wiser...lol ;-)
I was thinking about this post today while I was working out. If I would have known 15 years ago that I would be so concerned about my health and such, I probably would have not eaten so much fast food in college...lol.

We joined Lifetime Fitness last month, and we have all enjoyed going together as a family. Alex is excited about his birthday in August since he will be considered an "adult" at Lifetime, so he'll be able to hang out upstairs with Cory and I on the machines and weights. Today, I was pretty proud of myself. While the weight may not be coming off as quickly as I'd like, there are other benefits for me. I was able to run on the treadmill for quite a while today. Doesn't really sound like much of an accomplishment, but I used to not be able to handle even a minute. My endurance is increasing, and I know that in the long run I will get to my goal.

Just need to keep pluggin' away....

Shimmerz Blog Hop and Prize

My lovely enabling friend, Kendra, just introduced me to the world of Shimmerz. :-)
They are having a blog hop to celebrate their first birthday.

You can check it out here.

Pictures Part III

After spending the day at Fernbank Museum, we headed downtown to Turner Field. The Milwaukee Brewers were in town, so Cory wanted to cheer for the home team (he's from Kenosha about an hour from Milwaukee)

I went up to the top of the stadium and took this picture.

Atlanta Skyline from the top of Turner Field.

These benches are up near the top of the stadium. The view of downtown was from these benchnes. The boys thought they were fun to sit on.

One of my BFFs from college - Christy. She's an associate professor at a university in Pennsylvania, and was in Birmingham visiting her in-laws. We haven't seen each other since before she moved to Pennsylvania. It was so good to see her and her family. The kids all got along great - especially Ian and Michael, they were the best of friends all day long.

Pictures Part II

What's more fun in summer than hanging out and swimming?

The boys would stay in the pool all day, everyday if we let them.

Catching Up on Pictures

I was able to upload some recent pictures from the last couple of weeks. I've blogged about them, but thought I would finally catch up on posting them though for you to see too.This is one of the first views of Tallulah Gorge at Tallulah Falls State Park.

Cory and the boys at the Gorge.

These are near Hurricane Falls, the largest waterfall at Tallulah Falls.

I'll post a few others in my next post ;-)

Best Shot Monday

I have been reading my friend Jayne's blog, and she's been playing along with Best Shot Monday. My dear hubby took this picture for me yesterday when we were enjoying the sculpture garden at the Birmingham Museum of Art.

I love how the reflections of the painting and the tree show up in the reflection.

Friday Fill-ins 6/12

1. I grew up thinking that I wanted to be a teacher, wife, and mother.

2. My iGoogle page was the last website I was at before coming here.

3. Why don't you clean your room? (I sound like a broken record everyday saying this)

4. Cory's hugs help me relax.

5. Thanks for the memories.

6. (not sure what to put in the blank here that) was off-putting.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I am looking forward to recovering from spending the day scrapbooking at Archiver's with SS friends, tomorrow my plans include a trip to Lifetime, and Sunday, I want to also go to Lifetime and hope to scrap a few more pages.


If you want to play along with Friday Fill-ins, click here

So today was...

my birthday. Nothing too exciting, but I can celebrate another year of blessings (which reminds me, I am behind on doing pages for that album). I am excited though to spend time with Cory and the boys. We really do all get along and enjoy being together. It makes a difference when there is no other family around.
I am planning on meeting one of my BFFs, Jen, for coffee tomorrow though. We haven't seen each other for a few days (even though we're less than 10 minutes from each other). Friday I am planning on meeting some other friends at Archiver's to socialize and maybe get some scrapbooking done. If all goes well, I may even get to see a best friend from college who will be in Birmingham this weekend. It's been years since we've seen each other and just recently found each other on Facebook (gotta love technology). Hopefully, her schedule will permit a visit :-)
Anyway, life is good and I am enjoying yet another year!!!

Today's Adventure

Gotta love summertime! The weather is gorgeous and, for some reason, we tend to do things that we don't do any other time of year.
Today, Cory, the boys and I headed to downtown Atlanta. We spent some time at Fernbank Museum (we had bought a family membership a couple of months ago). The boys love the science room. They get to make these giant soap bubbles (if I could upload pics from my camera, I would share with ya), get to see how a tornado is made, play with a "lightening" ball, and sit in one those concave seats to talk across the room to each other. Cory ends up having just as much as the boys since he loves all that science stuff.
I finally got to see their rose garden in bloom. I just love roses. They smelled and looked so pretty. Ian probably would have picked me a couple if we wouldn't have told him that was not allowed.

After the trip to the musuem, we ate dinner at Alex's favorite drive-in --The Varsity (America's oldest drivein). It is not the best food by any account, but the boys, especially Alex, love it. The onion rings are pretty good, and Cory has become a fan of the slaw dogs. I'll stick with my burgers.

After dinner, we headed to Turner Field for our first Braves game. The Milwaukee Brewers are in town, and since I am married to a Cheesehead, we had to go this weekend (he wouldn't have minded seeing the Cubbies earlier this week either). We had pretty good seats down the first base line. We did end up walking around the stadium during the game since we had not been there before and I wanted to get a good picture of the giant Coke bottle and Chick-fil-A Cow out in left field. We did manage to get a couple of nice pictures of the field, and the Atlanta skyline from the told of the field. There were even these giant Coke bottle shaped benches you could sit on and look at downtown on (once again, I wish I could post a pic or two for ya).
We had a good time, and the Brewers won (Prince Fielder hit 2 homeruns). Can't wait to go to a Gwinnett Braves game now (they are just down the road from us).

Friday Fill-ins 6/5

I haven't played along on a Friday in a while. If you want to play, click here

1. I love my new Georgia home.

2. My favorite thing for dinner lately has been salads.

3. So glad that I don't have to listen to bark! bark! bark!

4. A nice long walk at the Greenway is something we all enjoy doing.

5. I love hearing some good news.

6. When all is said and done, I love my life and wouldn't trade or do anything differently.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I am looking forward to doing something with the boys, tomorrow my plans include nothing right now, and Sunday I want to go to Lifetime.

Best Friends

Isn't it nice to have friends whom you can go months without talking to and then pick up with as if all that time hadn't gone by? Although sometimes those months go by and you do realize that you miss your friends and should probably call them or email them.
Today was a great day :-)
I had a surprise IM pop up from a best friend whom I haven't talked to in months. I was so happy to talk to her again. I realize that I probably should have picked up the phone and called or tried to IM her, but I didn't. I won't make that mistake again. My dear husband, being the wise logical one of the two of us, so often reminds me that I need to quit thinking that people are mad at me or something and just talk to them. How'd he get to know me so well?!

Anyway, I am so glad that I talked to my friend today. I have missed talking to her the last couple of months.

One of many lazy summer days

Summer is a such nice time to catch up and hang out with friends. To not worry about the time or anything.

Today the boys and I headed over to Kennesaw to see my good friend, Marta. It's been a few weeks since I've seen her, so it was nice to chat and catch up with each other. The boys had a great time swimming in her pool. She has all the cool toys for the boys to play with (pool, Wii, PS system).
I also took her my dead hard drive to see if her fiancee could salvage my files. Cory doesn't have what he needs to try and recover the files, so hopefully Marta's fiancee can help. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. If not, does someone know a good computer person who can help?! :-)

I'll catch up and post some pictures tomorrow.

Forgot to mention....

That Cory and I celebrated our 13th anniversary yesterday. I cannot believe that it has been that long. The time has flown by so quickly.
I cherish the years we've had together and look forward to all that life has in store for us.

Has it really been that long?

Well, here goes another new year resolution out the window....lol.

I had every intention of blogging about my non-exciting life everyday, but evidently my non-exciting life has kept me away for quite some time.

I guess my last entry was on Ian's birthday. He had a great time celebrating with a couple of friends at Chuck E. Cheese and then proceeded to stay up until 3:30am with E. :-) Wish I had his energy some days.

Spring break was the first full week of April. Mom was able to come visit and spend the week with us. It was so nice to see her again for the first time since moving. It was hard to say goodbye at the airport :-( Hopefully, the boys and I will be able to get to Nebraska here in a couple of weeks.

May brought the end of school for the boys and I. Both Alex and Ian did really well this year. I was proud to see how well they both did academically (both on honor roll all year). They loved their schools and will miss them next year. They are both excited to start new schools again though in August (our address was part of a re-districting before we moved. Their new schools open in August).
I finished up my first year teaching down here in Georgia. I loved every minute of it, including the fact that I spent the year in a trailer. I will be teaching advanced algebra (11th &12th graders) next year and also have my own classroom inside the building (no more trailer :-( which I'm kinda sad about. I was close to the main office and copy room. Now I'll be at the other end of campus). But I am excited for next year already.
My doctoral classes are still going on. I am in week 6 of my current class. I am looking forward to getting back to work on my dissertation. I encountered a road bump in that process, but it will work itself out and all will be good again.

Other than the occassional trip to the pool or Lifetime Fitness (we joined last month, and we are all enjoying it), our summer has been uneventful.
Oh, we did take an improptu trip last Saturday. I found information about one of the state parks here in Georgia, so we thought it would be fun to go exploring. Tallulah Gorge was gorgeous! Once I can upload the pics from my camera, I will post them (my hard drive that stored my pics died on me, and I am hoping to recover all those pics. In the mean time, I need to reload my photo software, so I can upload from my camera again.)

Well, thanks for sticking with me thus far in my posting. I should be back tomorrow ;-)

Happy Birthday to my Baby!

I really shouldn't call him Baby anymore, but Ian turned 7 today! I can't believe how quickly the years go by. I look at him now and see this cute little man. He's so grown-up. I was able to surprise him this afternoon with cupcakes for his class. He was so surprised and had the biggest smile on his face when he saw me. I cannot believe I forgot to take my camera this afternoon...doh. He chose dinner at Pizza Hut for his birthday dinner since we had not eaten at Pizza Hut in 2 YEARS!!! (hasn't quite been that long, but it has been quite some time. We have found a much better pizza place down here in GA, at least in my opinion)
Ian was so excited to have money to spend at WalMart and Target thanks to G-Ma Cantu and Grandma & Gramps Colby. We'll be going shopping this weekend, and I am sure that he will find a new kitty to add to his collection. :-)
I just cannot believe that he is 7 and another year has gone by. This last year has been quite a change to all of us.

I'll post a couple of pictures later once I upload them to the computer.

Ever feel like you're missing something?

Well, I just realized that I haven't blogged in almost a month. Life has been a bit better since the last time I blogged. A week off this week for spring break has definitely helped, along with having my mom visit us has been the icing on the cake.
The last weekend of March I was able to see a good friend from Missouri and a couple of other friends from North Carolina and Kansas. They all flew and drove in for a scrapbooking weekend at Camp Skyline in Mentone, Alabama. The chance to get away for a few days of "me" time was great. I am so thankful that Cory doesn't mind me running off for a weekend every now and then. Too bad he doesn't have any reason to do the same. I had a great time seeing old friends and meeting a few other ones for the first time in real life. Thanks to Scrapshare, I feel like I know so many from our days of swapping and such. The online forum has been a part of my life for over four years, and at this point, I could not imagine what life would have been without it. Quite interesting to realize how important a website has been to me, although life now has led me to a different point. Anyway, I am starting to digress here.

This week has been great. We've been playing tour guides to mom and visiting some places around Atlanta that we haven't been to for awhile or at all, like the World of Coca-Cola. Alex and Ian could not WAIT to try all 64 flavors of Coke products. I don't think either of them managed to try all 64. LOL (I'll post a few pictures tomorrow when I have a chance to finally upload them all off the camera).

Well, I better get back to doing some homework. That's the reason why I hopped on the computer here so late at night. Oh well....

Anyone want to help my cousin?

My mom called me tonight and told me that my cousin, Alicia, has the chance to win her dream wedding (lucky girl!!).
Voting is until Wednesday and you need to register to vote. If you feel so inclined to vote, click HERE and vote for Alicia and Scott.

Thanks :-)

Manic Monday

In reading a couple of my friends' blogs today, Jayne's and Sherry's, I thought I would play along with Manic Monday. Love this week's questions :-)

Are you a saver or a spender?
Definitely a spender, especially on my children. I will buy the little things they want along the way. Although when dear husband and I need to make a major purchase, we hem and haw over it forever. I know I should be saving for the future, but I don't.

Do you prefer to walk around barefoot in your home? Socks? Shoes?
Always barefoot! Only wear shoes when I have to, and they are usually my Crocs or Birkenstocks at that. No socks unless I have to wear my tennis shoes.

Do you talk to yourself?
Sometimes. It usually seems to be when I am doing something on the computer and I am getting frustrated with it or its doing something I don't want it to. I'm like Jayne too and will have a later conversation with myself after I thought of the perfect comeback to something 15 minutes ago :-)

To play along...go to Manic Mondays

Do you.....?

Do you ever just feel blah? I think that's been my problem lately. I have no motivation to work, no motivation for my classwork, no motivation to scrapbook, no motivation to do anything. I have been happy just being a couch potato and doing a whole lot of nothing. Sad, huh? I am not sure what is causing my funk, but hopefully it goes away soon. I feel like I can't really talk to anyone, so what do I do? Put it out here on my blog for total strangers to read and comment on. Who knows, maybe now that I've gotten this off my chest, I can start to shake the funk off. Maybe it will be nice to have a break next weekend and see a good friend, but then again, I don't know how much fun I will be with all this other stuff rattling around in the back of my mind. I just wish I could be done with a lot of this stress, but that's at least a year away though still. Oh well...I trudge on and hopefully one day the funk will be gone. :-(

Pics from this weekend

Here is the group of ladies I got to spend an awsesome weekend with at Scrapshare Northern Alabama in Cullman, Alabama.

I was even able to get a few layouts done. I completed an album of my mom's & I's trip to Pella, Iowa from last May. These two layouts are inspired by sketchs from Feeling Scrappy's sketchapalooza class that I am taking right now.

This layout is for my mystery envelope challenge on Sisterhood of Scrap

Off to put everything away from this weekend, even though I will just pack it back up again in two weeks when I go away to the Scrapshare retreat at Camp Skyline in Mentone, Alabama. Can't wait for that one either!!!