Memories...

I was just looking through my pic files, and I found this. It was taken at Sunset Beach (near Coos Bay) during one of my Spring Breaks in college. The date is 3/21/04...2 years ago, wow! I love my daughter soooo much.....I don't know what I would do w/o her! I am very thankful for her and I need to tell her that more often and realize it myself.

Rain, Snow, Hail...Repeat, over and over!

This was a typical 3-day weekend here in Central Oregon! I can't remember the last time we had a long weekend where the weather was nice! Anyway, the title says it all! I will post more pictures later! At least girlfriend caught a fish! YAY!

One Year Ago This Weekend...

...DH (then DF...oh that looks bad, I mean Dear Fiance!) gave me this beautiful set! Yes, he proposed to me over Memorial Day Weekend last year, of all times, when we were camping! YIKES! He sure must love me, because I hadn't had a shower in a few days, and must have smelled like campfire smoke!
I LOVE this ring! It is so beautiful and shiney and all of that! I especially love that this was custom designed for me by a jeweler in New York City's Diamond District. I have not seen any that even remotely resemble mine, and none are as breathtaking!
Someday soon, I need to get the bands soldered together...but they are a bit tight still, so I am trying to hold off. I am so glad that when I cut my fingers (index and middle) I did not cut my ring finger! Those two fingers will never be back to normal, and 1 1/2 years later, I still have no feeling in them, and as my Aunt Deborah says, "they look like Frankenstein." Because you can see the lines from where the stitches originated, there are a bunch of scars shaped like dots and lines...how lovely!

We are off again to camp. Leaving in the am tomorrow. Keeping BG out of school. Gonna do some fishing, reading, napping, cooking, eating, sleeping, play some games, a puzzle, and who knows what else! I am looking forward to this weekend! Yay! I hope everyone else has a great weekend too!

Gifts from Italy

Baby girl got this beautiful pendant from Italy. She wants to put it on her charm bracelet, but I think we may put it on a necklace. My only comment is that whatever we put it on, I want to make sure it will not break- it would be awful if the pendant got lost!








This snowman is a gift my brother hunted high and low just for me. This is made from Murano Glass. He went to all of these stores looking for a snowman, and he finally found it in the last store he went to. I plan on taking off the gold hanger (as it is frayed and about to fall off) and replace it with some pretty ribbon.







Jeni bought this for Wayne at Vatican City. They are rosary beads that Pope Benedict 16th blessed. I am not into all those Catholic things, but they are pretty cool. On the back side of all of the silver stations, they have pictures of different basilicas located in Rome and Vatican City.

The Honeymooners Are Back!!

Just a quick post, as it is late. Dinner tonight at Alan and Jen's. Saw lots of prizes, pictures, and even a game show DVD featuring my brother- the winner! Sounds like they had a good time. They are both off to work in the morning, and we were there well past all of our bedtimes. I am sleepy and DH is already in bed, waiting for me to "hurry it up!" TTFN!

I love my husband!

I was out of the loop all day today. I had to go with my Dad to try to rescue the school bus broke down on I-84 near the John Day Dam. I got up at 6 am, got to his house at 6:30, left to get on the road at 6:45. We did not get home until 4 pm. Lots of driving and sitting and waiting. When I finally talked to DH, he hurt his back doing some mechanic work. He had taken some advil, and was lying in bed with a heating pad. He still had to change water this evening though, poor guy. Anyway, he is getting older...I hope he heals fast; especially since we are going camping this weekend! I love my hubby...I took this photo recently when I was sleepless and he wasn't!

Willow Tree "Father & Daughter"

After seeing Heather's post on Willow Tree, I looked up and printed a catalog. After perusing that catalog, I decided I was ready to make my first of several (hopefully) to come purchases. Since Father's Day is just around the corner, I decided to get this for Mac to give to Wayne. Even though he is not her "real" father, I hope that someday she will look at him as her "dad." In my eyes, he has done far more for her than her biological father- all but be the donor! She still calls him "Wayne" to his face, but calls him her dad to others. So I think the time is coming that she will begin to call him dad. The funniest thing is when she is talking to the "donor" and refers to Wayne, she says, "my new dad." It makes the donor really mad. He has even asked me to talk to her about it. I have, but didn't really make a big deal out of it, just told her not to say that to her dad. Anyway, I LOVE these things! I also made some christmas ornament purchases, a 6 month-iversary gift for Wayne, the real anniversary gift, and a figurine for Mac's teacher for the last day of school (it was her first year teaching). I just got an e mail saying my order will be here Friday! Woo Hoo! I can't wait to see these beauties!

Family Fun

Mayzie Kate and Grandpa (this is my dad's brother, my Uncle Ron). Grandpa came over and danced with his little sweetie.

This is Mayzie and her bright, beautiful smile...sometimes she is a stinker and doesn't show it that often!

Mayzie and MacKenzie. What beautiful, happy girls! They had quite the ball dancing with eachother!

Sometimes I love living in a small town! Whenever we go to functions like this we see so many people we don't see on a regular basis. I LOVE that part of it. But I also hate seeing certain people...i.e., Wayne's ex-wannabeGF who is a psycho! As we drove by the restaurant where she works on our way to the fairgrounds, her car was not there. I jokingly said to Wayne that we would see his GF there. Well, of course, so sooner did we get there- there she was! She was the date of our neighbor, Greg, who is 56 years old! My goodness- he could be her father! She is 32...what class she has. The funny thing is, she always goes after older men, with money- and lately men who will never get married. Greg has an adult son (in his mid-20's) and has never been married. Sufice to say, I think it would be a good bet that he will never do so either! Anyway, he has some $$ and just completed building a nice log house. It is absolutely beautiful, and he did it all himself. Yes, Melissa, he would be a nice catch...but please leave the nice man alone- he doesn't need any bi-polar (just speculation) psychos (not a speculation!) harassing him! Please pray for Greg!!!

Welcome To Earth...Third Rock From The Sun!

For all familiar with the title, this is a song by Joe Diffie. When I lived in NC my exH bought me that CD one year for Christmas. I LOVED Joe Diffie! I listened to his music alot. I still love to listen to it and sing along with it evrey chance I get. Well, he was the headliner tonight for our 13th annual town party, Collage of Culture. It was the cheapest concert I have ever been to. No assigned seating, just bring some chairs, plop 'em down and wait. It was $5 per adult, kids under 12 are free. So $10 to get in and $8 for dinner (bowling alley pizza, the best in town) and then DH and GF got dessert for $7. Not a bad night. Evening spent as a family with some of my family. Cousin Vanessa, her hubby Jer, and daughter Mayzie (she is almost 3!). Got some very cute pics of the girls dancing and just being adorable, but they will have to wait for tomorrow. I am not really tired, but DH is and I am bugging him by typing...please, can you type quieter? No, this is the only way I learned...honestly, the nerve!!!!

I need a close road to travel...

I never thought I would say this, but I really miss school! When I was in school, my life was so busy, I didn't have time to be lonely or miserable. I miss Suzette and her company soooo much!!! We were learning new things everyday, our minds were constantly being challenged, and we thought one day we were going to make a difference in the world. Well, I don't feel like I have done diddley with my degree since I got it. DH asked me the other day if I wanted to go back to school this fall; not really- but maybe I should?!? Anyway, I just wish my friends were closer. I know Bend is only an hour away, but with gast being over $3 a gallon, it just makes it ridiculous. I wish I could find Suz the perfect man (does he exist?) that lived in Madras, and she could move here and be close to me! Or maybe Stephanie will get the school counselor job and move from Idaho to Oregon. But I have a feeling if that happened, I still wouldn't see her that often- she would probably be gone all the time visiting everyone! And of course, Gia will never move here- although it would probably be one of the best things for her. So, I will just be here all by my lonesome...miserable and sad. Too bad none of my SIL's care for me that much. Joan and Sherri are best friends and have been for the last 15 years. LDS Jeannie is a brown-noser and is evreyone's best friend- BUT MINE!!! I guess it's not too terrible of a loss, but a little company occassionally would be nice :)

For all that have their best friends in the same town- you are truly blessed! Make sure you count your blessing and be thankful daily!

Thunder and Lightning

Starting yesterday afternoon, we had some storms move in. They are forecasted to last through today at least. I was in the house yesterday afternoon and the power flickered several times. So since we are running all of our irrigation water, and the pumps run on electricity, I had to step out to make sure they were still going. If not- big problem and I needed to call DH. I took several pictures of the sky. I love thunderstorms! The smell of the rain, the cool wind on one's face, the rain drops on the face (ok, the soft ones, not the hard ones!) and the sound of the wind, rain, and the crack of the thunder and lightning! The picture (above) is Mt. Jefferson. This is a view pretty much straight down our driveway.
(above) This is Juniper Butte. If you look very carefully, you can see some smoke rising. There were several brush fires due to the lightning strikes.
(above) The big hill (some living in the flats may call this a mountain, but it is not!) is Grizzly Butte. BIL, Glenn has a ranch out this direction. They usually get much heavier weather than we do here in town.
(above) This is just a shot out into the grass field. Right now I can't remember what Butte that is to the left (what a dork I am, I have lived here my whole life!), but to the right is Grizzly.

Willow Tree "Promise"

How have I gone all these years w/o knowing about these beautiful figurines? Today I was perusing other blogs, and I ran across a lady's blog that had a post from Mother's Day. Her husband and 2 sons gave her one (a mom holding 2 boys) as her gift. A little bit down the blog, she had a picture similar to this. Her and her hubby will celebrate their 10th anniversary, and she bought it as an early gift. Anyway, I went to google and looked up willow tree. I must admit, I am now in love! I printed out all of the figurines, angels, angel ornaments, and nativity. I told DH if he ever needs a gift idea from now on, here he goes! These are relatively inexpensive, and there are several life occassions that they coincide with. I can just see my future collection of these in my future hutch in my future home! Oh how nice it is to dream!

My Something Creative for the Day

Last month I worked on Mother's Day and Father's Day cards. I saw some cute ideas when looking through my Creating Keepsakes card idea magazine. Well, last night I was looking through the normal mag for June that came in the mail yesterday. I saw 2 really cute cards. So I marked the pages and decided I would attempt it when I had time. Well, I am working on laundry and other house stuff...and I busted my bootie yesterday cleaning...so I decided I needed to use my new creative area. So I am posting the Father's Day card I made for my husband. The other card I made will still get some use, I will have MacKenzie give it to Wayne. I will take a pic of it later and post probably tomorrow- since this is my post for the day. I invited my parents out for dinner, and I need to start getting prepared and laundry finished, etc.

Busy Day Filled...

After playing in the yard for about 1:30, I knew I could no longer postpone the inevitable! I needed to clean my house! After the miscarriage, I seriously neglected my house, especially the living room/dining area. I had stuff everywhere! Yes, most of it was mine, with some being Mac's, and very little of it DH's. As I was cleaning off the collapsable table, I had a brain storm! Quickly I went to get a measuring tape. I measured the first thing- 36". Ok, cross your fingers...measurement #2 50". YES!!! The folding table will fit next to my sewing table...if I move all the crap out of the way! For quite some time I have been trying to figure out just how I could have both my sewing table and scrapbook stuff out, and easily accessible to work on when I had the time. It is such a drag to haul the stuff out, work for an hour, and then have to put it all back! I think it takes me an hour to find all I need to make the project, and then an hour to work on the project, and yet another hour to put it all away! So I am hoping this arrangement works out nicely! I know it looks a tad cluttered, but had you seen it before you would think a miracle happened at 2320 NE Fir Ln!
This is the back wall of the dining area. I took loads and loads of stuff out to the storage shed. I am so proud of myself, I even took out craft stuff that I haven't used in a long time, because I didn't want this area to look even more cluttered than I knew it was going to be! As you can see, I have some more tidying up to do. On the surface of the table are a few projects I am currently working on. I think I may need to buy a few more 12 x 12 plastic storage folders.




This is the sewing table, and the absolute cleanest it has ever been! Last time I used my machine (last week) I dusted it off and put the cover on. I have a wonderful machine that my parents bought me for my college graduation last year, and I don't want it to get ruined...so I am making an effort to take extra special care of my things. Under the table to the left, you can see a white bag. This bag is filled with 2 almost finished WTIL baby quilts that I had sooo wanted to send with Auntie Pam to the orphanage in Mexico, but I didn't get them done. With the miscarriage, a few things I wanted to do had to go out the window. But I will have these done (someday hopefully soon) and they will go to WTIL! These will only be the 4th and 5th that I have made- but I guess that is better than nothing!

PS- BTW, darn blogger erased these pics from my last post, so I had to restart another post- this was originally all the same- oh well!

...With Hard Work

For Mother's Day, DH and Mac bought me some flowers (two six packs of dianthus and one six pack of petunias) and a cedar planter. I found this wire planter in my mom's greenhouse. I confiscated it and hung it all by myself on the power/phone pole. I bought a bag of moss and lined the basket, put some soil in it, and then planted three of the six petunias.











This is my favorite thing in our entire yard! This is an old pump (well casing) that DH found in a junk pile on his first farm that he bought. It was all torn apart in a zillion pieces. He thought it looked interesting, so he took the time to reassemble it. Anyway, this is the cedar planter with the pink/white dianthus that my two loves bought for me.














Just a closer shot. I almost couldn't get all of those flowers inside the pot. There is a total of 12! Anyway, we are planning on taking this to the new house. DH is going to make a fountain out of it somehow. He is going to put some kind of a bucket underneath this spout and have the water recycle somehow. I didn't quite get it, but he has it all planned. I just can't wait! I want loads of flowers planted all around it!

First Grade Mammal Project

Yet another day for my daughter to get dressed up and have her hair fixed, clothes ironed, etc. Here is a picture of her hair.




















MacKenzie's mammal project was the Antelope Jack Rabbit. Here is a pic of the posterboard that we put together over the weekend.





















Close up of the posterboard. Mac told me what things she wanted to put on the board. So I typed it and we printed some pictures of the Antelope Jack Rabbit. At the very bottom Mac drew a picture of it, along with an owl and coyote- since she learned that these are the natural predators of the AJR.










The kids had to make a "habitat" where their animal would be found. This is supposed to be the desert. See her rabbit on top of the pom-pom in the left corner? Too cute!

These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things...

Two of "my girls" from Pre-School
Destinee (in purple) took tap last year
This is Allison's (in green) first year














Allison (my very favorite pupil in class) danced to "Little Wooden Puppet"






















Destinee (close in line w/ Allison being my favorite) danced to "Topsy Turvy Flowers"
She was by far the best dancer in her group. I think because she loves all things dance and she had tap last year. Dance really does teach the girls so much!



















Kira & MacKenzie (same 1st grade class)
Kira is a tap dancer and her song was
"Tiki Tiki Room"


















Idalis & MacKenzie (same kindergarten last yr)
Idalis was in the first year ballet class. Her song was "Candle On The Water"
Amaya, MacKenzie & Kianna
These girls danced to "My Favorite Things"

MacKenzie posing out in the hallway just before the dressing rooms close for the start of the recital. Nana wanted a head and shoulder pose...here you go!










Another head and shoulder pose, didn't come out too clear though!





















Full length body pose...point those toes!