Laughter

This is my all time favorite layout right now....not sure why cuz it's really simple, but I LOVE Madison laughing in the photo! The quote is pretty cool too!

Trading Spouses

Well, this weekend so far has been fun! Alexis is staying over the weekend so she can do her navy weekend at Fort Snelling! Steve went down to Jim's for the weekend. We are kinda "trading spouses" for the weekend! hee hee. They are putting in windows at their farm. Now Steve will know how to put windows in for our house! yeah! Madison is having a blast with her here! Here's a little video of the two of them playing out in the sandbox. Make sure you stay tuned for Madison's partial A-B-C's. Is she following in Tyler's footsteps or what?

My Book has arrived!

These are the layouts that are in my book! There are 4 of them! How exciting to see my work published! All the paper that was used (digital paper) was from one of the women that I design layouts for using the paper that she designs. Her name is Berna Datema and has outstanding work. I was very excited when I found her designs and even more so when I got to start doing my layouts for her. She is going to start giving freebies out to those of us who have blogs so if you ever want to give digital scrapbooking a try, you have to look no further than my own blog! How fun! I just can get into my digital scrapbooking so much. Anyways...very cool to see my work being published in a book. Remember, if you want to order a book you can go to their (memory mania) website to order the book at: http://www.memorymaniac.com/

Today

Although it may appear all I've done is sit at my computer making layouts and playing, let it be known that it took me the last 5 hours to clean the office and make my desk look like this....(Steve will be so happy!)

I did do this funky layout of Tyler as an incentive to stay in this room and clean. It was BRUTAL cleaning in here.....and very, very dusty.

Happy Birthday Jake & Hunter

Boring Videos

I finally got this to work! Here's two little videos of Madison. VERY boring....I know, but it's so fun to put video on my blog. I'll try to work on my media content. hee hee.

Here's a little layout of the Michaels household to start off your Monday!

Camp Snoopy

Here's our little Miss Sunshine on the carasouel at Camp Snoopy. We put her hair in ponytails today because we told her she looks like "Boo" from Monster's Inc. That's the only way she would let me get her hair up!

I'm trying to upload some video (my latest obsession) but it is not working for me. If you see any videos above, I obiviously got it to work.

Anyways...here are some more photos of us at Camp Snoopy...

Madison and her boots.

Madison is obsessed with wearing her lil' cowboy boots. I made a layout of them.

Not much going on....we were going to go to the Cabin with Jimmy and Alexis and Dan but decided not go because of the baby and the fact it's too hard to be someplaces with her and nothing for her to do. Good thing we didn't go because it was cold and rainy!

Saturday Grandma Gracie and Auntie Lynnie came over and we just hung out. It was really fun. We watched some home movies and then went to Kohl's and then to Applebees for supper. It was fun hanging out on a rainy day!

Today we are going to go to the Mall of America and just hang out there. Too icky outside to do anything outdoors. Madison will get to go on all her little rides at Camp Snoopy or what ever it's called these days!

Tyler is Home Again!!!!

See him in action! Push the arrow and watch him!

Don't get a crick in your neck from watching this turned sideways *watch at your own risk!*. This is so awesome that I can get these videos on my blog! Ty came home last night again for summer break! Tonight he entertained us with his uncycle! Fun to watch him. He says he practices about 1/2 hr a day! Talent runth over da boy!

Madison got herself a pair of these awesome cowboy boots at a gargage sale...aren't they cute?

A Video.

This is a video that I created for our first anniversary. I just figured out how you can put video on this blog so I am doing a test. Make sure your sound is up on your computer and then hit the arrow in the middle of the screen above. This is sooo cool. Sometimes it pays not to be able to sleep and just play around on the computer. Shoot...now I am going to want to make more of my own movies. I want to figure out how to take video off my camera....I can't even remember if I can do that or not. Holy cow this is taking forever for this video to process....jeepers, maybe I won't be putting too many of these videos on here!

My Book

One of my scrapbooking books that I am being published in can be ordered online if you go to this site: http://www.memorymaniac.com/. The price seems high at 20.99 so I suggest you wait until I get my free copy first and maybe you just want to LOOK at it without paying the price. I am sure the excitement will wear off after you see it once. But if you feel you must order the book then go to http://www.memorymaniac.com/ and you will see it on the left hand side. I am really excited to see it finally. No word yet when the other book will be coming out. It is suppose to be at the end of summer which is now, but apparently their printing schedule is behind at the moment.
I have not submitted to anymore books or magazines. I kind of got my fill from getting these pieces published. If it paid more than I would but a free book and 20 to 40 bucks is not worth the work it goes into submitting them. Designing them is one thing....that is really fun for me and I get satisfaction from that, but to submit them is a long and boring process. Now I can just say "been there, done that" when asked if I have been published before. Plus I can put it on my resume (for all those customer service crap jobs that have nothing to do with graphics that I want nothing to do with -hee hee). Boy, do I ramble on and on.

Nothing Days

Here's one of my favorite layouts...not sure why but I LOVE these colors!

Not much is happening these days...Yesterday Madison and I went down to Auntie Lynnie's house. We were suppose to of gone to the Shakopee pool but it was just too cold/icky out to go swimming. So instead, we went to Michaels and Walmart *only got the necessities*! Madison was soooo good that she got to ride a little ride at Walmart and then got to jump on Auntie Lynnies trampoline in her back yard!

Tonight our friends Jim and Alexis are coming up from their farm in Farmington, and together with another friend Dan, are going to get together. We were all suppose to go to Dan's lake cabin but we aren't going to go because we don't want to get another babysitter for Madison because she was just at Grandma Gracie's and Auntie Kim's while we were in Sturgis. Tonight we'll go out to dinner with all of them. Madison's babysitter from across the street will babysit her.

Here's a picture of Jimmy and Alexis:

Well, gotta go because my dramatic child just flung herself on the floor because I told her she can't have a popsicle. Somehow we'll find a way for her to survive!

Happy Birthday Mommy!

Happy Birthday Mommy. Hope it was a good day for you:) Love you!

Back from Sturgis!

We are finally back from Sturgis. We had such a blast there but wished Nana and Papa could of stayed abit longer than they did! Thank you again Wes and Donna for letting us stay with you. We sincerly appreciate it! It was nice to be able to spend some time visiting! Thanks again!
We had a great time! On Thursday we biked down to Stugis in the 100 degree heat and just hung out doing what you do in Stugis (well...not really cuz we are a bit milder than most). Obiviously lot of motorcycles....

One of the highlights of our trip was watching ULTIMATE FIGHTING. I was pretty shocked by my reaction and how much I love watching the fights. Expecially between the girls which was just nuts.

We met alot of new friends (edited for your viewing pleaure)...

On Friday we went through Custard Park and Keystone which was just gorgeous...

We went to the casinos down in Deadwood (never did go to the one that Kevin Costner owns). I won about $125.00 and then we played on that the rest of the night. We must of won more because we came back with 100.00! We sat down and played Black Jack with a bunch of really drunk guys who were very funny. Very fun night.

On Saturday we went back down to Sturgis and just once again hung out. Then we went back to Wes and Donna and got to catch up with Steve's cousins, Paula and her husband Mark and their kids Shelby and Levi and had dinner with them all. It was nice seeing them again. Last time in 2005, we stayed with them. It's nice to be able to catch up with family.

Here is my favorite picture of Steve on the entire trip.

Finally...leaving for Sturgis

Here I am.....with biker headgear (*disclaimer....a head scarf from Target) ready to leave for Sturgis. We were going to leave at 4:00am and then I got Steve talked going at 2:00 am and NOW he has bowed down to the queen (me) and agreed to leave at 12:00 after he sleeps for 2 hours. Me on the other hand was drinking just a tad too much coffee all day and now I am totally wired and hyper. Hence me taking pictures of me in my biker headgear.

Also, thanks Mommy for watching Maddie on Wed, Thurs & Friday and Auntie Kimmy on Sat & Sunday! I sooo appreciate it! We need this little vacation badly!

Riddle...

What do you get when you take a 42 year old man-boy, throw in some bloody marys and beer, and sprinkle a little boredom in?

THIS...





THAT, my friends, is floating in our pond.

Class Reunion layout

Just a layout I did with "the girls" from my 20 year high school reunion. We honestly all look the same. Just smaller hair.
Well, Madison and I are soon off to go over to my mom's house. We are leaving for Sturgis on Thursday morning at 4 am (eeks) and I decided to go stay over at my mom's house with the baby so Wed night when I leave her there it's just not like I dropped her off and am leaving her. It's going to be hard to be away from her for 4-5 nights. But I am soooo looking forward to going to Sturgis. Steve is managing to ride the Harley with his heematoba surroga leg (or what ever it's called). I can't wait to be a biker babe for a short week. I can't wait for all the photos I will be taking. Fun, Fun. Last time we went there were plenty of interesting people and things to take photos of.
See you all when I get back!

hahahaaha.....this picture was taken at our (mine and Kim's) class reunion. We dressed our husbands the same (unknowingly). This is the ultimate funny brother in law photo ever in our family. Of course only Kim and I think it's funny. No one else really gets it as much as we do! I laugh everytime I see it. hee hee.

Ty&Maddie

Just love doing layouts of Tyler and Maddie. Not sure when Ty will go back to College...either this week or next week, so I am trying to get as many photos with the two of them as possible. They are soooo cute together.

We went to the Uptown Art Fair today. Pretty Cool stuff. Ty's never seen Todd's woodstuff and thought it was pretty cool. Madison referred to Uncle Todd as "that guy". Pretty funny. Anyways, saw some cool artsy fartsy stuff and now I am all inspired and want to CREATE. We also sat and watched some guys tap and dance and do some cool drumming on buckets and Ty is all inspired to dance and perform. Steve is still looking for his own niche', hee hee. Gotta go!

20 Year Class Reunion

Well, had my class reunion tonight. I wanted to look through the photos so I downloaded them and decided to also blog! It was pretty much fun all around to go to the reunion and see everyone. Fun to watch the same people who still act the same and then to get into conversations with others that I didn't know all that well or lost touch with. Here is a photo of our entire class....

It was nice to actually see my whole group of friends....here's a photo of us...

It was fun but to tell you the truth, 20 years really isn't long enough yet for me to miss high school. I think the best thing though for the entire night was when other's asked me "how things were going" I got to say back to them, "life is really good for me right now". I am lucky to have a wonderful husband and beautiful daughter and a great stepson. I guess that made me feel good to be able to say that to them and it be the truth.

Here are the rest of the reunion photos!

Beach Baby

Beach baby, beach baby, give me your hand....

Comments

Just so you know you can now leave comments on this blog. Ya don't have to leave any...but incase you want to you can do it now without having to sign up or anything...I just changed the setting.

TyTy is home! Yippee! Finally....photos of da boy. It is so fun to watch big brother and little sister because Madison soooo looks up to Tyler. He is God! She follows him around like a puppy but then she will do something, like ignore him or say NO to him and it's right back to being brother and sister. It's so fun to watch!


We got back from Grandma Gracie's today (me, Madison, Auntie Lynnie and Logan). It was really fun. We watched Haley's soccer game .....










Went to the beach (I'll spare you of any beach photos!) and gave Logan a makeover.....

Layout of Kylee & Nikkers

Cute layout of 2 cute sissies together.

Chicago Photos

To see my Chicago pictures, just go ahead and hit "view all images".

Chicago

At the last moment (very last moment) a road trip to Chicago was decided with my 2 nieces. Quality time with AUNTIE KELLY! We had a blast. I am now reconnected and have indepth knowledge with the youth of the world with rap songs and the Kelly Clarkson musical know-hows and what's. Kylee kept us posted with the highs and lows of the Twins world and Nichole whipped us around Chicago tailgating everyone! It was fun. I will post more of what we did and also photos but just NEEDED to get this on the blog since I have not blogged in a few days.

Here's a little preview of our Chicago photos.

What we do during the day!

Madison is home with me on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and we don't usually have a hard time finding anything to do.

Here we are meeting Auntie Lynnie at the Mall of America for a little R&R (kinda).

This was yesterday in the 100 degree heat. I could NOT get her to leave this park and I was absolutely dying of heat. We have a little deal (Madison and I) where we are trying to hit all the little parks that we see driving around in Bloomington.

I need to get some pics of TyTy on here. I am having StepMommy guilt that nothing is being blogged about him. OH....I think I forgot to say that Tyler made the Dean's list again. Woo-hoo TyTy!

I am off to take my Niece Nikka out to lunch for her birthday. July is such a busy bday month. 6 different birthdays. Eeks.

Kelly's book

Hey, I finally got news about one of the books my artwork is being published in! Also, here is a preview of the book. How exciting. My first published pieces!
The store will be getting a partial shipment for a book signing onSaturday, August 11th! August 13th the author will be sending out my books and then the book will be available online through their store down in Louisana!

How fun that we were invited to attend the book signing. If anyone orders a book I will certainly sign yours! hee hee.

There were 50 of us designers and I acutally have quite a few of my layouts in the book. So I am really excited.

Madison Happenings...

Me and Maddy making choc. chip cookies for Tyler. I ate most of them and are remaking some for him as I speak!



How fricken cute is this?