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 :-)