Florida

I am back from a week long trip to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.

Sarah wanted to go to a scrapbook convention for a long time. When she saw this one earlier this year she knew it would be perfect. Her oldest son, Mason, has grandparents there. Due to some strange flight availability we got in 3 days before our convention and stayed 2 days after. It allowed us to be tourists.

We took the red eye Monday night getting in Tuesday morning around 11am. We headed to sawgrass mall. It was HUGE. After walking the entire thing from one end to the other and back we were done. Then we headed to Hollywood beach. It was incredible. The water was warm and clear.

Wednesday was my favorite day. We went on an Everglade Air Boat tour to see the alligators. It was awesome.

On the right are the boats we went in. It started as a beautiful morning.

We saw an owl, vultures, butterflies, lily pads, spanish moss and cattails.

Then it started raining. Not just a little sprinkle but full on - someone turned on the faucet- type of rain. I was on the edge of the boat and the rain was coming in. I tried scooting to the middle but then rain was coming in through the seams in the boat. I was WET. I didn't care though. It was warm and I was busy taking pictures of the alligator!

See how close it got to the boat? I could have reached over and touched it.

After we were thouroughly soaked and had gotten all the pictures our cameras could hold. (I took over 50 just of the gator) We went and tried gator. It was good!
We had fun being tourists. We each got a shirt with a gator that says Bite Me. The boys each got hats. Fun day!

For dinner we went to the Rustic Inn, a local place known for its crab. We had a sampler plate with more gator. This was better than the first. It was moist and tender. I also tried a frogs leg. It was ok. Like they say it tasted like chicken.

Thursday our classes started at CKC (Creating Keepsakes Convention).

We completed a 6x6 album in one evening.

Over the next two days we took 13 classes and 2 evening crops. We made an altered clipboard, 2 acrylic albums, a calendar, mini album, paper bag book, lots of layouts and a few more albums! It was great. We had such a good time getting rejuvinated and back into the scrapbook mode.

Our favorite teachers were Megan Hoeppner of Simple Scrapbooks

and Emily of Creating Keepsakes.

These are just some silly pictures of us. We kept passing a building that said Mental Ward (turns out is a bar that is closed down). We had to stop and pose like escape lunatics!

I'm an Athlete

I signed up with a local running group this week. I told them I don't run, I walk. They said no problem. They tricked me. My first workout on Saturday the coach has me walking 1 minute, jogging 30 seconds. I kept that up for 1 mile. I walked/jogged over 3 miles.

Today I took the family out. We walked to a local park and I did laps while the kids played. I was able to get in 2 1/2 more miles. Yeah!

The best part is the GPS wrist unit Aaron got me. He says it is an early birthday present. It is great. It calculates my mileage, pace, laps, calories burned and when I get home I download the information it has stored and it makes a chart. This is so helpful.

My goals are to complete my next half marathon in under 4 hours. I plan to do the Cow Town Marathon in October, Big Sur half Marathon in November and take part in my first Marathon Relay the CIM in December.

Going Green

I have been hearing about green smoothies for a long time. The thought of drinking something green just sounds gross. But after reading this blog http://happyfoody.com/ I bit the bullet and made one for dinner.

I own a Vita Mix and make fruit smoothies several times a week. The kids LOVE them. About a year ago I started adding the occasional carrots and cabbage. The kids know I put it in there and still drink it.

Tonight I made one with a banana, orange, strawberries, pineapple juice, carrots and baby spinach. The result was a green baby food looking drink. The kids looked at it then looked at me. I told them I put spinach in it. They tried it and looked back at me. While you couldn't taste the spinach it really looked quite disgusting. I told them it was either that or eat a spinach salad. They all had refills on their green smoothies.

It feels great to know I had all 5 of my servings of fruits and veggies today. (I ate a pound of steamed asparagus for lunch. YUM!)

I will definitely make more green smoothies.

Party's

YEAH!!!!!
School is over! Aaron is an official graduate with an MBA!
We had his party last Saturday at the park in the 103* weather. Despite the heat we had a lovely time. We had a bounce house for the kids, DJ for the adults and tons of yummy food.

The Saturday before last we had a birthday party at Someplace Fun. That is the name of the bounce house place in Galt. Alana, Aubrey and Caitlyn all got to celebrate another year of growth. We had a great time. The kids loved the full sized carousel.
I had fun taking the baby down the big slide and then racing DH and my BIL on the bungy run. That is until I fell on my neck. I didn't feel the pain until the next day. I couldn't even pick my head up off the bed. By Tuesday I had to go to the doctors. I ended up with a diagnosis of a sprained neck. After getting a shot of torodal and perscriptions for Vicoden and a muscle relaxer I went back to work with a soft neck brace. Luckily I am feeling tons better already.

Scrapbook Playground

Our 1st Annual Scrapbook Retreat was held on April 18-20, 2008 at the Ramada in West Sacramento

We ended up with 22 women. We had a blast!

For 3 days we at yummy food from LaBou, Vince's, and Chevys. Plus had a waffle and an omelet bar for breakfast.

Classes and make and takes from Sei, Fiskars, Stampin Up, Heritage Makers and more!

Games, recess, hula hoop contests, pj party, chocolate night! What more could a girl ask for!

I can't wait for the next one!

Only one word

I got this email from a friend. Instead of emailing I thought I would post it here. Pass it along if you'd like.


You Can Only Type One Word
Not as easy as you might think. Now copy or forward, change the answers to suit you and pass it on. It's really hard to only use */one word/* answers

1. Your cell phone is? usefull
2. Your significant other? aaron
3. Your hair? thick
4. Your mother? gone
5 Your father? here
6. Your favorite thing? family
7. Your dream last night? vacation
8. Your favorite drink? lemonade
9. Your goal? happiness
10. The room you're in? bedroom
11. Your ex? none
12. Your fear? divorce
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? fulfilled
14. Where were you last night? meeting
15. What you're not? perfect
16. Muffins? yes
17. One of your wish list items? degree
18. Where you grew up? Wilton
19. The last thing you did? breakfast
20. What are you wearing? robe
21. Your TV? off
22. Your pets? hamster
23. Your computer? laptop
24. Your life? overwhelming
25. Your mood? ok
26. Missing someone? Mom
27. Your car? Van
28. Something you're not wearing? pants
29. Favorite Store? MINE!
30. Your summer? vacation
31. Love someone ? Lots
32. Your favorite color? Sage
33. When is the last time you laughed? yesterday
34. Last time you cried? Tuesday
35. Who will/would re-post this? Wendy

Pictures of the beach

As promised here are pictures of our trip to Salinas, right off Pebble Beach near Monterey.


This was our view from our hotel room. We were only 300 yards from the beach. The view was spectacular. Sea anemones. We saw quite a few in the tide pools. I love my camera. I got some really great shots.
The hermit crab on the right was pulling the one on left. We watched for a few minutes. It was very interesting. I need to some research to figure out why.
The waves were awesome. I wish I had brought a chair. I would have sat for hours.
We walked along the boardwalk, through the golf course and along the beach. Our entire walk was probably 2 miles. It was beautiful.
I have many, many more pictures. I think I took 50 just of the water. LOL It was a fun trip. I really want to learn more about my camera now. I may think more seriously about taking a digital scrapbooking class.