Happy birthday Seth!

Well, today is Seth's birthday. He is 20. His dad can't get over that! We took him out for dinner at Applebee's and had a great time. He is doing great living with the guys! He really is growing up.

Bye, bye

Goodbye to another pound! I need to get back to exercising so they will come off faster. I have been in a funk lately. Also some stomach issues...finally going to the doctor tomorrow. Yuck! So my total loss is now up to 11 pounds. Whoo Hoo! We were in a car wreck last Saturday. We are ok as well as our van. A trooper decided to stop in front of me and pick up a piece of cardboard in the left lane just west of the McDonalds in Cameron. The busiest intersection! He didn't give me much time to react but I got stopped. I thought I was in trouble when he turned on his lights. He started to get back into his car when I heard a crash. I looked in my rear view mirror to see the guy behind me getting hit...then he hit us. All in all, four cars were involved with the trooper not getting hit at all. He was upset which he should have been. A van did not get stopped and hit a car who hit a car who hit us. Shook us up a bit but we were all right. We were coming back from Leena's soccer game. She looked so cute out there with her pigtails. She wasn't in it much but we are very proud of her. She received M&M's last week for being the best player! Will try to post some pics.

Thanks Mende for suggesting The Pioneer Woman. I hadn't been there for a while. I enjoyed her story about how she and her husband met. She is an excellent writer. I couldn't wait to see what was next when I had to stop reading! The address is www.thepioneerwoman.com. Check it out.

Weight update

Great News! I lost another 1.2 lbs. This makes 10.4 total! Whoo hoo! I am so excited. This spurs me on to keep losing more! I have a long way to go but feel more confident about getting there.

Losing Weight

Why is it so easy to gain weight but difficult to lose it? I have been on a weight loss journey for a few weeks now and have been on a roller coaster ride ever since. Sometimes I have just been ready to quit. Who needs this anyway? I do. To feel better physically and mentally. My health will improve when I lose weight. For a girl who never had to worry, this sucks! I am battling medicines and a hysterectomy as well. Anyway, I joined Weight Watchers thanks to my work who is paying for it. Several of us have joined which helps a lot. Especially when we go out to lunch, most of us are watching what we eat. Today, I weighed in and have lost 9.6 lbs. Great but would like to have lost more by now. Again, I think some of it is my medicines.

I have been exercising more which helps. Phillip and I have been biking a lot lately which thrills him as he is an avid biker. He likes sharing this part of his life with me. I am starting to enjoy it more as I don't need an oxygen tank now! :) Tonight, we rode 4 miles. Two nights ago, we rode about 7 or 8 miles. I am so excited! The past two weeks, we biked several nights. And the thing I love about biking is that I am not sore...well, maybe the bottom area gets a little out of sorts! While on vacation, I swam a lot which helped as it is challenging to find restaurants that offer healthy food. Phillip has been a great source of encouragement and praise in this weight loss journey. He is truly my soul mate.

My clothes are starting to become loose as well as my shoes! Sweet! The only bad thing is, I just bought a couple of capris in the size I usually buy and they are now too big. I guess that is not really a bad thing is it?

I plan to post more as I go through this process. Please keep me in your prayers!

Lainey

I had the opportunity to take some pictures of Lainey in a flower garden. She never fussed and smiled the whole time! She will soon be 9 months!

Our busy life!

Wow! We have been busy lately! I have been on several conferences and busy with work. Today, I dropped Phillip off at Red Oak for RAGBRAI. For those of you who don't know what this is...it is Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa! He will be biking 70 miles tomorrow!

We went to Leena's 7th birthday party yesterday which was a Luau. We had a lot of fun. I can't believe she is 7. Will post pictures soon.

Lainey is now 8 months and growing like a weed.

Can't believe school will be starting in one month. I am ready as I don't like the boys setting at home playing video games or on the computer all day.

You don't know what you've got until its gone... I MISS MY COMPUTER! Hopefully, we can get another one soon. I had to get my ac fixed on my van...wow, that cost an arm and a leg! I am definitely in the wrong business.

The Scrapbooking Divas didn't get to meet in July due to crazy schedules. I miss getting together with them. We will HAVE to find time in August...hopefully! A few of us are doing a swap where we exchange scraping items such as paper, ribbon, embellishments according to color. We have had a blast with this and are getting great stuff. I look forward to this. We take turns hosting the color, sorting, and mailing. This time it is purple. I can't wait to see what goodies I get!

Well, I will try to post some pics this coming weekend...if Lacy leaves her laptop at her house. We will be babysitting the girls at their house...yeah!

Rub-a-Dub

Lainey gets a bath in Grammy and Papa's sink!

Collin poses with a Mountain Dew shirt and Pixie poses with a Mountain Dew hat and Phil's sunglasses!

Update

I haven't updated in a while because my computer is on the blink. You don't know how much you use something until it is broken. Things have been hectic around here. I have been on three trips since 3/25 and Phil has been on a couple. We keep plugging away at our kitchen. We are about ready to paint. Then, we will have to buy a sink and faucet so we can tile the counter tops. Yeah! It's getting there!

I have been working on Seth's scrapbook for graduation for a while and am down to prom pages. He looked so handsome! Will post the pictures when I can get to a computer! I am using my work computer now...shhhhh! I will then finish his book with his graduation pictures. I mailed out the announcements. I have most of the decorations ready to go for the reception.

Lacy, Mat, Leena, and Lainey are doing well. Lainey is now 5 months. I got to watch them the first of April for a few days. Mom joined me and did we have a blast! It is amazing how 2 little girls can wear out 2 grandmas!

Haven't heard from Davin for a while. He is busy with finals.

Tanner is doing great as is Collin. They are ready for school to get out.

Well, I need to get to bed...I am in Columbia at this posting and need to get some shut eye so I can stay awake in the sessions!

Life, One Layout at a Time: How About Some New BIG Giveaways!!

Life, One Layout at a Time: How About Some New BIG Giveaways!!

For you scrappers

Here is a chance to win a Slice cutter. Go to http://lifeonelayoutatatime.blogger.com/ and enter by posting a comment on how you would use the Slice. Good Luck!

New pictures of Miss Lainey. She has grown a lot! Matt took the pictures. The top pic is of course, Leena. It was taken by Matt when they were picking out their Christmas tree.

My 17th Anniversary

Flowers Phil got for me for my "anniversary".

For those of you who know me, you know what I mean by the title. For those of you who don't know what I mean by this, I just celebrated my 17th anniversary of being 29! This works for me very well. I love my anniversary, which was 2/11. I had a wonderful day as I received many phone calls, cards, texts, and well wishes. My parents and my father-in-law gave me cards that were tear jerkers! My brother-in-law that lives in New Jersey called me and told me he loved me. It is sooooo wonderful to be so welcome in Phil's family and feel like I have been with them forever. Everyone is so good to me. Thanks to all of you who remembered me and wished me well. It was a great day.

Snow Bowl

My cousin Tate was the head coach.

Seth and Collin participated in Laura Street Baptist Church's Snow Bowl. Tanner watched and took a couple of pictures. I took pics from the Bearcats letters from the field that represented each of the boy's name.

What a weekend.

Wow, are we exhausted! We kept the granddaughters this weekend and are definitely not used to the late night feedings! We also kept the granddogs...they were more work than the girls! We had a blast and hated to see them go home. Lainey hardly cries and is such a good baby. She has grown so much. Sorry, no pictures. My batteries are not staying charged. Someone is either using them or they are not good anymore. Leena was such a good girl. Grandpa took her to the park and rode bikes. She came home filthy! We wanted to take them out to show them off but with Lainey's eating schedule and the dogs, we stayed home most of the weekend. Maybe next time. Our house is trashed so this week we will have to work on that. Anyway, we had a super weekend.

Some Scrapbooking Layouts

The next layouts are of my father-in-law's 90th birthday party. He was surprised by a ride in a Model T which Phil arranged!

I like to take pictures and cut them apart then place them side by side. I also use the cropped off parts as an added embellishment. The lemonade embellishments came from your flower shop in Tarkio, Mark and Lori!

The Lemonade Stand layouts were as much fun to make as to watch the kids run the stand. Leena was a definite attraction!

This one is of Seth...I like it because of the simplicity of the page.
I thought I would share some layouts I have worked on in the last few months.

Many thanks, Mende

I want to just take this moment to thank Mende who has inspired me with all the fun gadgets for my blog. I have learned how to add more fun gadgets from your blog and have had fun with this learning experience. Thank you! :)

Merry Christmas Family Pictures

No, I don't give my kids beer...even though Collin looks like I do! I can't decide if he is a Mountain Dew man or a grinch! I was very proud of all our kids as they were appreciative of what they received and said they didn't expect all they got. Next year, I think we will do some charity work and maybe instead of buying a bunch of gifts, put the money together and all of us go on a weekend trip...am I nuts or what?!

Our "little" family finally got together for Christmas after much stress and working with everyone else. We had a WONDERFUL time and took family pictures. I love the pics of Davin and Hannah. Of course, with our goofy bunch, one had to be with us acting goofy. I don't know where we get this do you DAD?