Happy Father's Day!

Well, the bathrooms are still dirty, lol...

We did a little impromptu Father's Day Photo Shoot this afternoon. Can you believe that this wasn't even my idea?

I KNOW!

But I was so happy to have some willing peeps in front of the camera (that makes 2 days in a row people!) There was yummy overcast light coming in through the windows and I think these turned out pretty well! I get so happy when I don't have to spend hours fixing all my exposure mistakes, haha...





I had to whip up a Father's Day storyboard to showcase my favorite shots...



Thanks for stopping by, I hope you had a fabulous weekend!

Happy Easter!

Yeesh! Weeks go by and no bloggin'!

I have been itchin' to pick up the camera. UGH. It's like starting all over. Okay, NOT REALLY, I actually remember some things, but dang, this hobby is a journey!

Took the kids out yesterday - we are *finally* getting some warmer weather here in MN. The first park we went to had about 10,000 people for an Easter Egg Hunt, lol, so we had to move on to "Plan B". Add in a picnic lunch, and some playground time, and it was a perfect day! After lunch, we went to see the new Hannah Montana movie. Mad and I really wanted to see it, and when Wy said he wouldn't mind going, we RAN before he could change his mind and decide he was "too cool" for Hannah!













I hope you are enjoying a fabulous Easter with family and friends! Thanks for stopping by!

Courtside at the Timberwolves...

LUNCH BLOGGIN' again... :)

SO. We were gifted with courtside seats to see the Timberwolves on Sunday, and we had a fabulous night! What a treat to sit courtside!


Mad and Wy were on their very best behavior (except for Mad making the bunny ears on Wy for the photo op, lol...)


Crunch (team mascot) likes to hassle the kids (and everyone sitting courside) - he made a big deal out of posing them "just so" on the court, messed up Wyatt's hair, and then this was the first pose, lol...


OH! THERE'S Wy's face! Thumbs up, Crunch!


The best part of the night? An OVERTIME WIN for the Wolves! They had a slow start to the season, but they are HOT for January 2009! Thanks for stopping by - I hope your team is winning!

Happy Birthday Schmoopie Sue!

Yep. We are *those people*.

You know the ones...they dress up their dog in little outfits, talk to her like she's a person, and then once a year, have a little birthday party and spread peanut butter on a biscuit and sing Happy Birthday.

LOL.

Our baby turned ELEVEN on December 5. I can't believe she is 11 already! It really doesn't seem that long ago that we got her - she's really part of the family (as you can see, haha!)

Being a toy poodle, she was shaking like a leaf with all the "goings on" - and she was positively QUIVERING about a dog buscuit that was slathered in peanut butter.

We made her wait until we were all done singing Happy Birthday!



And finally - here is the whole family.

I think she snapped up this buscuit in one bite!

I can't wait to scrap these pictures, and of course I have to add this in to my December Daily album! I am working on my photos today, and will be sharing my first weeks pages soon!



Thanks for stopping by - have a FAB Saturday!!!

P.S. YES we know this is a strange name for a dog. The Schmoopie part is actually an obscure Seinfeld reference (it's from the Soup Nazi episode, in case you are also a fan) and the Sue part is after my mom, lol. Don't ask...

Fall Colors...

We hit the trails yesterday to take in the FABULOUS fall colors. Is it just me, or are the colors EXTRA pretty this year?

Here are some views from the trail...








I've been a NOT SO FAB blogger these days! LIFE is BUSY! We are slowly getting used to our new school year routine (the schoolbus comes an HOUR earlier this year. AN HOUR, people!) and I finally feel like I can breathe! I'm itching to get scrapping, AND my stamping supplies are calling to me too...

Happy Anniversary!

Today we are celebrating 11 years!

I had to drag out the old photo albums, lol. Did you know that my photographer used a camera with FILM??? Dang - that seems like ages ago! These were filed away in a storage box, way in the back of a closet. Behind my wedding gown, haha. I was tempted to try it on!

Eventually, I think it would be fun to scan them all, and tinker with them in photoshop - see if I can improve them. (And then make some really fab digi layouts for a wedding album!) My photographer was actually my uncle, so I have the negatives too, and I think there are some enlargements in frames (probably in another box) somewhere. Remember when you got married and you put pictures in frames ALL OVER the house? I think I packed them away to make room for all the BABY PICTURES that were in frames all over the house.

This first photo was a snap at our wedding reception, right before we were cutting the cake. See how relaxed we are? The stress of the day was over, the ceremony went off without a hitch, (except for 2 groomsmen who can't tell time *eyeroll*) and likely we had had a drink or two, haha.

Here's me with my girls - I'm happy to say I keep in touch with ALL of my girls still! Everyone is married off, and we all have kids to keep us busy...

Walking down the aisle, Mr. and Mrs., and looking forward to a fun party...

Heading to the reception...

Me and my Dad, getting ready to walk down the aisle...Dad passed away almost 3 years ago now, so I'm glad to have this picture - I'm keeping this one out for awhile...

Have a fabulous Saturday!

Back to school portrait session...

YEESH! Where has the month of August disappeared to??? SORRY for being such a bad blogger - YIKES! (LOL that my last blog post was about how I can't believe it's already August...) I have lots to share - just need to find time to blog about it...

We have been busy enjoying the last weeks of summer, and now are in the "getting ready for back to school" craziness. (DO NOT get me started about the supply lists!!!) Last night (Thursday), we had open house at school for teacher meet n greet, and school begins on TUESDAY! Here's hoping for a FABULOUS YEAR!

I have been trying to make time for a portrait session, and days and weeks were slipping by, so after the open house, we headed out to a nearby lake for a mini portrait session. I'm really pleased with how these turned out (especially since I haven't picked up the camera in a few weeks!) and have already put in an order for some enlargements - YAY!

I think I captured the personalities here, heh heh...

Have a fabulous Friday!

Stopping time...

I *wish* I could stop time! We've been easing into our "summer schedule" and it's been HECTIC! I thought summer was for RELAXING - I must be doing it wrong, lol. ANYHOW...I've been a bad blogger! Hoping to get caught up now that we are getting into a routine...

I've been getting LOTS of practice with my new lens - and YES, it is possible to get a bad photo with it, lol. BUT - I am learning it, and getting used to the weight of it, and I LOVE LOVE LOVE the crisp sharp images I can get with it! This photo of Mad (I stopped time with my lens!) was taken while she was SPINNING on the tire swing - she was SPINNING people - it was a great excercise for practicing exposure, focus, and keeping a moving subject in frame (with a very heavy lens on board, lol).


As of last night, these guys (in the photo below) are OUT OF TOWN at GRANDMA'S for a WHOLE WEEK! The house is SO QUIET! I vegged out and goofed off ALL DAY today and it was FAB.U.LOUS! I miss 'em though...that's how it is. When they're around, they're makin' me crazy - when they're not around, I miss 'em!


Mmmmm...don't these look YUMMAY? We have a li'l strawberry patch in our backyard, and this was today's harvest! I had to take a picture because this was a TON of berries! That's my LARGE Longaberger mixing bowl people! I *never* get this many when I send the kiddos out to pick. Hmmm...


That's IT for today! I hope y'all are having a FABULOUS Saturday!

Sea World...

Just a quick post today, and then I have to get to work! I am still playing "catch up" from vacation, but I am just about there! YAY!

I did manage to scrap again last night, so I'm sharing another page from our vacation. YAY! I wish I would have had more time - I have at least 2 more pages from Sea World in mind! We had such a good time on our first full day of vacation! I guess I will just keep plugging along, lol. I am still pretty new to digital scrapping, and I have lots to learn, so I'm not quite as "speedy" as I'd like to be. (GRRRRR!) I think the only way to overcome that is to practice, practice, practice - am I right???

Page Credits: Fondest Memories kit from Shabby Miss Jenn, bracket border and ribbon flower accent from the Twirl Collection from Shabby Princess, notepaper scrap from KSharonK at 2 Little Pixels, Courier font.

WHOOHOO I scrapped!

YAY! I was *so excited* that there was zero to watch on tv last night, lol. I know I know - I gotta get my priorities in order! I've just been feeling like a blob and wanting to veg out in front of the television lately! Vacation hangover maybe?

ANYWAY...I took some time to scrap last night - and put together this page from our vacation. I am *determined* to scrap this trip and get the pages printed so we can all enjoy them in an album! I usually get overwhelmed by these "bigger" projects (like vacation) with lots of pictures, and they end up getting overlooked for smaller, one-page scenarios with a shorter time committment.

ALSO - I am trying a new approach, and so far, I LOVE IT! Instead of winging it, and pulling photos and page kits and etc from all over (and wasting a TON of time searching my files), I printed out thumbnails of all my vacation pics, and wrote detailed journaling notes about what I wanted to scrap from our vacation. This was eas to do, since it was still pretty fresh in my mind, and I am making it a goal to jot notes from now on, WHENEVER I dump the camera memory card onto my computer. I think I will keep a little journal just for that! I am trying to be better about including more journaling on my pages too, so this will help with that.

This page layout is a scraplift from a page that is featured in the May/June Scrapbooks etc. magazine. It was a paper layout, but I thought it worked well as a digi page too. I tweaked it a bit to work with my photo composition, but the basic layout is the same. I just love the bracket template with the notepaper - the perfect place for journaling!

Page Credits: What Dreams May Come kit from Studio Flergs at Scrapbook Graphics, bracket template from Jen Caputo at Scrapbook Graphics, Notepaper from Heather Ann Designs, stitched photo frame from KSharonK at 2 Little Pixels, Happy Alpha 3 from Marcie Reckinger at Funky Playground, Courier font.

Our day at Epcot...

Now - I'm not a fan of spending an entire day at Epcot, I'd prefer to combine it with Magic Kingdom because there aren't as many "attraction" type things at Epcot. BUT I think for this trip, some of my favorite pictures are from Epcot! It just so happened to be the Flower and Garden Festival while we were there, and it was BEAUTIFUL! My pictures don't even do it justice. Everything was just LUSH and STUNNING. And they have added quite a few attractions since I was last there...

I'm calling this photo "Shark Bait"...lol. Of course you all know Bruce from Finding Nemo (Fish are FRIENDS, not FOOD!)...

Snow White, and the Seven Dwarfs, formed from living plants. Isn't that FABULOUS? They had all different "characters" all over the park, mixed in with gorgeous foliage and flowers. I have *no idea* how I managed to snap this without ANY people in the picture - my lucky day!

We bumped into Pooh while shopping in a shop...the kids at first thought they were "too cool" for Pooh, but AS EVERYONE KNOWS, you are *NEVER* too cool for Pooh! AS IF!


Daisy and Donald (and us too) - another fun photo op...

More from our Florida Vacation...

On Sunday (5/11) we headed out to Universal Studios again - our tickets were good for the entire week, so we could take our time, and do shorter days. That was really nice, because it was fairly crowded and I don't like dealing with that for a 10 hour day! 5 or 6 hours is PLENTY of hot and humid and crowds for me!

Of course, the Jaws attraction is a "classic"! Here we are, posing with the big shark.

We had to stop and say "Hi" to Curious George! Later in the week, we saw the Man with the Yellow Hat too, but didn't get a picture (I think we were racing to catch a show or something?)

AND - the NEWEST ATTRACTION at Universal is the new Simpson's Ride. We didn't get to ride it until our last day (and we were on a MISSION that day) because the lines were SO LONG. Like 90+ minutes of waiting to get on...DOH!

(I can tell ya, though - it was WELL WORTH the wait, and I think it was possibly my FAVORITE RIDE.)

BUT - we did meet Homer, Marge, and Lisa this day! (This picture cracks me UP!) I asked Marge for some beauty tips, because I have *NO IDEA* how she keeps her hair looking so "fresh" in the Florida heat and humidity! She wasn't sharing though...sigh...