19 Years!

Today is my 19th wedding anniversary. It really doesn't seem possible that I have been married that long. But every year is better than the last and I love Greg today more than ever.

I wanted to find and scan a better picture, but this previously posted one will have to do. I ran out of time didn't plan ahead!

Here's what we're doing to celebrate: laundry, packing, cleaning, he's working, then a night at the soccer fields. So romantic! But Greg did get me a beautiful cross necklace. I got him Reese's Peanut Butter Cups (I'm on a budget!).

We leave tomorrow for 2 weeks in Virginia with Greg's family. Hopefully we can ditch the boys for a night or two while we're there and try to celebrate properly!

Next year, he's taking me on a cruise - or else!

Another Scrapping Challenge

The Simple Scrapper has another template challenge this week. Since I needed to scrap one more page from our Houston trip, I decided to do it for the challenge. For the record, I still hate scrapping with Elements! But I loved the template and think my page turned out pretty good.

For the record, I used the free kit I Am Free by Shawna Clingerman.

Sweater Success!

A few months ago, I said I would never knit a sweater again. My last attempt didn't turn out so well. But when I saw this sweater in a Creative Knitting magazine, I felt compelled to try again. I'm so glad I did.

I love it! I stayed up late Saturday night and got up early Sunday morning so I could finish it.

Lessons learned (for me):

1. Always use a pattern (no more making it up as I go!).
1. Always use the exact yarn called for in the pattern.
2. Knit the small size and just add a little length.

Jon's Soccer Layout

Jonathan has really taken to digital scrapbooking. I love the layout he did today. I already did a page about summer soccer. Here's his version. (It really is all his own - I wasn't even in the room when he did it.)

His journaling reads:
During the summer we do a special 3 on 3 soccer. My dad is a coach, me and Ben are soccer players and Zach is a referee. My mom just sits on the sideline and screams when we score goals.

Yeah, that's pretty much what I do!

Houston Trip

I tried to blog while I was away, but that didn't work out so well. So here's trip - in one blog post.

It was a lonnnggg drive, but Zachary drove all but 3 hours there and half the way home. I'm loving that he can drive now!

We had a little birthday party for my dad whose 67th birthday was last Sunday.


There's not much to do at a nursing home, so the kids entertained themselves by playing musical chairs to Zachary and his cousin Christopher's phone ringtones. Pretty funny!

We visited my brother-in-law's boss's backyard. You've never seen a backyard like this.


Lemurs, pigs, and kangaroos, oh my!

And a 5th century stone chapel replica. It was beautiful.



And so much more...

I guess this is what you do when you have more money than you know what to do with!

We went to Jedi Training Day at Space Center Houston.

We went swimming - cause it was HOT!

And we celebrated Independence Day with THAT Family.

It was another lonnnggg drive home. But we had a great time.

Now I have a week before I start packing for another trip...

Simple Scrapper Challenge

The boys and I are heading to Houston tomorrow to visit my sister and parents. Since I finished the laundry and most of the packing, I took some time to scrap for this simple challenge from Simple Scrapper. I scrapped a photo from last week when my friend from church youth group (high school) days visited.


I used the free Easy Squeezy Add-on kit from Laura Bozman.

BTW - I found the freebie here - a great blog showing tons of digi-scrapping freebies.

Who needs a Wii...

Who needs a Wii, or a Gameboy, or TV... just give 'em a box and see what happens.


Benjamin even thinks it makes a nice place to read!

Knitting and Scrapping

I've spent the last 3 days finishing this:


I had already started it not knowing who it was for. Then last week my friend started fostering a 16 month old baby girl who has leukemia. I knew I had to finish it for her.

I finished weaving in all those ends about 10:30 last night. I delivered it today. My friend loved it.

I spent the last hour working on this:


I'm back to my Creative Memories program. It's so much easier!