4th of July

Well we survived the 4th of July. For our town of 700-800 people it grows to about 5000-8000 people for the day. Since it rained all day or should I say misted all day, I don't know if we had that many people or not. My brother and his family came out for the weekend for his 20 year class reunion. Mark and I watched the nephews on Friday evening and had a really good time. We went out to eat, went uptown to ride rides and then shot off fireworks when we got home. On Saturday, we went to the parade, got damp, went to my friend Sheila's for a BBQ and then went uptown again with the whole family. The boys rode rides and I took pictures. Mark and I went to the fireworks at dusk. Fun weekend.

Grandma

I am back from "grandparenting"for the last 4 days and I am TIRED!!! That Brody is a handful to say the least! I know he's had a very rough week with his daycare being closed suddenly and poison ivy and staying with grandparents and having grandparents stay with him but oh my! It was fun to see them and Griffin was a hoot. He's so laid back and good-natured that you hardly know he's even there. He jabbers and giggles and smiles a lot...so cute too. Brody is growing up so much and he's smart as a whip too. I hope we don't have to wait another 3 months to see them again... oh and by the way... there's a third on the way but I'm not supposed to know...so SHHHHHHH!

Sorry

It's been awhile I know. I worked all of last weekend and had most of this week off. Went on a "road trip" with Mark and Terry on Tuesday. They were supposed to umpire in Okoboji but there was an accident with one of their players and the game got cancelled. It was a fun day and evening. Mark learned how to play "Up the River" and we ate great food!!! This weekend I work both Saturday and Sunday from 9-4. Pretty easy shift and I think there will only be one of the guys there. The other two are going home this weekend. Then I work on Wednesday night and again on Friday night. It sounded like all three guys are going home for Father's Day so I could have a REALLY short shift on Friday. We are going to Okoboji on Thursday for another ball game and then up again on Saturday for the weekend. We are "grandparenting" so Ryan and Robyn can go to a wedding. Looking forward to it!!!! I have no new photos to upload so I guess it will just be words. Sorry... talk to you soon.

Here is our Luau photo for my birthday!!! Cute huh?!? We are back in cold Iowa wondering why we came back to the cold, damp weather. What were we thinking? Mark got a taste of the good life and now he's ready to win the lottery and enjoy it. We have enjoyed the outdoors a little since we got home. We have tried to recreate the paradise that my mom has in her backyard. The only thing we are missing is the water feature (pool and hot tub). I keep telling Mark that the faucet is only 10 feet away. Not much of a water feature though. Aloha!!!

Been gone for awhile

So we went to Texas for my little sister Megan's college graduation. She graduated on Friday, May 15th in San Marcos, Texas. The whole family was together for the first time in years. This is mom, me, Megan, and my brother Brent. I will post more photos in the morning cause I am too tired do anymore tonight.

Happy Birthday!

Since I will turn the big 4-0 next week, Mark treated me to one of my favorite hotties last night. WOW!!! What a concert! He was AWESOME! I would have had pictures BUT according to some security guy, I couldn't use my camera. He said that no cameras with removable lens were allowed. He said it was printed on the back of the ticket. I didn't see it...I saw no recording devices. So I have no photos... but I have my ticket and my t-shirt that Mark bought for me...THANK YOU MARK! I had a wonderful time. Lady Antebellum and Miranda Lambert opened the show. They were great too. Kenny came out on stage via a seat hooked up to wires. He floated above the crowd singing "He Thinks My Tractor's Sexy". He was so good, I just can't get over how great the concert was. I sang and sang and was hoarse this morning but it was so worth it! I've seen him a couple of times before but this was by far the best concert I've been to. His band has expanded over the years too... he now has thirteen members besides him. One of the last songs he did was "Back Where I Come From" and Dallas Clark (former Iowa Hawkeye who plays for the Colts) came on and sang it with Kenny! What a highlight and the whole song they had pictures from all over Des Moines streaming on the five big screens by the stage. And my highlight was he sang my FAVORITE song "Me and You". That is the song that Ryan and I danced to at his wedding and the song that plays on my phone when Mark calls me. All I can say is I had a wonderful time. Thanks again Mark.

More mini projects

Hi there!!! I have enjoyed my creative side this last week. I went with my friend Sheila and her mom to a meeting of Creative Memories consultants. It was in Des Moines on National Scrapbook Day, May 2nd, which struck me funny. Why plan a meeting on the day to celebrate what your business is all about? We had a good time though. I can't believe how far Creative Memories has come since I was first introduced to it some twelve or thirteen years ago. I think they are coming around to what the rest of the scrapbooking world has been doing. I still love their products... that hasn't changed.

So here are some of the projects I worked on the last couple of days. They are little mini envelope accordian tag books. (if that makes any sense) These are made from coin envelopes and sandwiched between two chipboard covers and inside the envelopes are tags. Originally these were "What I love about you" books. The tags were numbered 1-5 and you wrote what it was onto the tag. I modified them a little. This one is for my mom for mother's day. Well, enjoy the beautiful weather the next few days. I know I will....