Me and my kids with my mom

Me and my mommy


Laughing til I cried

Arnel and kids with Grandma and Grandpa


Kids with Grammy


Kids with Grandma and Grandpa

Well, at least a brief update is due even if I'm too tired to do it justice. We have had a wonderful week here with my brother Zak visiting from CO and my mother and in-laws here from CA. We even got a brief visit from Arnel's sister from IN and part of her family. We don't get to see nearly enough of any of them but it never ceases to amaze me how it can feel like no time at all has passed when you get together again with people you love. I do have to add that I didn't realize just how much I missed my mom until I had her here again. I also want to thank all of them for the tremendous amount of help they were while they were here. They are almost solely responsible for getting our home and yard presentable for Julia's graduation party and they just plain spoiled us rotten to top it all off!

I think Julia's party went well. The weather cooperated beautifully and I think SHE had fun which was by far the most important part. As much as I enjoyed it, it is a huge relief to have it over with. This week is for recuperation and getting ready for NEXT week, when we will be hanging out at a cabin in Rose City.

Pictures shared soon!

So excited! The fam is going to be arriving starting tomorrow! It is starting to sink in just how long it has been since I've seen my mom, especially....way, way too long! I'm hoping that once she's made the trip once she will see how easy it is and do it on a regular basis!

In other, less earth-shattering, news, we got our first CSA (community supported agriculture) share this weekend and it was great to get the locally-grown, FRESH, organic produce. It is always fun to see what you get each week. We were able to have a delicious salad tonight and I plan on brewing some tea with the fresh tea leaves tomorrow. We also have spinach, rhubarb, chives and green onions!

Gabe hit another inside-the-park home run this weekend. Way to go, boy! We got this one on video so if I can get Gabe to upload the right section I will post it.

We watched Slumdog Millionaire this weekend. Twice. Don't know why we waited so long. Excellent movie!

Julia's report card came today. Straight As her last marking period and overall all As and A-s for second semester. Great way to make the transition into college. I have to add that one of the As was in Chemistry, making her father especially proud.

I got my free book from Library Thing today so that will be next on my "to read" list. (Scroll down a bit for details. Too lazy to write it all out again.) Very excited!

Also, I don't know if I mentioned here that I was debating buying a Cricut Expression. Well, I did it! (Thanks, Mom, for your contribution!!) I've had my "baby bug" for a long time and definitely got my money's worth, but it is starting to show it's age. Plus, I've started to see things that I wanted to do that I would need the "E" to do. Anyway, after much going back and forth I finally bought it and it is a BLAST. Here is a die cut I was able to make with it:


And the layout I made with it:



Next week is a fairly normal week here, followed by a busy weekend...and then the CA and CO family arrive for a week! We are all sooooo excited! The weekend after that is Julia's open house so we hope to see you there!

Today was the big day. Julia advised me that no photos were allowed during the ceremony as they had a professional photographer taking pictures...though she forgot to get one of the papers to order! So, being the good citizen I am I left the camera in the car, only to find people taking not only photos but videos left and right. And of course she was running late so I didn't get any of her before she left. I did get some after we came home, but she had to return her National Honor Society Sash so I don't have any of her with that. Hopefully I can find out how to get a copy of the professional's shot.

Anyway, here are a few I did get:


Julia in cap and gown (and my shoes)

Dad just being weird (you should have seen the faces he was making before he realized I was turning the camera his way)

The point when she finally realizes what is in that Toshiba box with "Intel" written on the side

And I know I've technically separated my scrapping blog from my personal blog...but I have to share one layout here. This is a layout of my graduate. I could have sworn this picture was just taken last week...

Totally forgot to mention another really fun thing that happened to me this week! As most of you know, I love to read, especially mysteries. I "hang out" at a site called Good Reads (and would love to add you as a friend if you are a reader and are over there or are interested in joining!) But I also am a member of another site I visit occasionally called Library Thing. They are both really cool for different reasons. One really cool thing at Library Thing is that they have something called "Early Reviewers" where they provide a limited number of pre-release books more-or-less randomly to people willing to review them. Well, I scored my first Early Review book this week! In the next several weeks I should be receiving a free copy of Broken Angel by Sigmund Brouer! How fun is that!?

I've been a scrapping fool this weekend! I am extremely honored that my sister-in-law Donna asked me to create a mini-album for my niece Frances' high school graduation. It has been a blast looking at the photos she sent and I've got a decent dent in the layouts. I've also managed to squeeze in a couple for the upcoming blog hop cybercrop for If I'ts Groovy. (Check out my scrappy blog, Marci's Scrapping Spot, for a sneak peek!)

I also received a wonderful surprise today. Arnel and I have volunteered to coordinate our church's youth group the last few years but have made the difficult decision to step back for now and devote the time to our own family. It has been such a blast working with these kids, and I really do consider them MY kids and love them all to pieces. It is so sad to think that I won't be seeing them quite as often or working with them quite as closely in the near future. Knowing then how I feel about them, imagine my surprise to find that as a thank-you today, Arnel and I each received $100 gift cards! His is for a local sporting goods place and mine is for Hobby Lobby. It almost seems unfair to get such a wonderful gift when working with these kids hase been so much fun and such a gift in itself...however, I DO love Hobby Lobby so I guess I will keep it! ~grin~ Thanks to all you parents who contributed and who have let me share your kids these past few years!