Memorial Day

Today is a day to think of those who have lost their lives for us...it's something Jeff and I really take seriously due to his time in the service and what is going on currently. We thank those who serve and risk it all fo rus!

For me, memorial day is also a time to remember those I've loved and lost. My Grandpa Lacey, the sweetest grandpa you'd ever meet, Grandma Tatman, a smart lady who raised my mom - which is a huge accomplishment because she is wonderful! But mostly I remember Delaney, my little girl who was with us so briefly and fought so hard. We have 5 months of memories of her and I wouldn't trade them for anything. Life is looking up for us, but I do stop and think of her often.

Today I did a page about the flowers that were sent for her service - it was so amazing; people were wonderful.....just look at all the pretty floral arrangements sent! If any of you read this, I still am very grateful for your thoughts at that time! I hope you had a very peaceful, nice day!

Happy Birthday to me!

Well today is my first 39th birthday! I hope I have many more - but they will all be 39 now as I've learned from older friends and family! Where does the time go? Where did the weight come from? Sometimes time ticks on but sometimes it goes sooooooo fast!

My students threw me a surprise party yesterday - holding it yesterday was the surprise since I knew it was coming! They were too cute and so wound up about it!

Jeff and I went to Bonefish Grill for dinner tonight - had yummy halibut! Then my mom made my favorite cake since I was 1 - chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and instead of sprinkles, crunched up Hershey's minis on top - yummy!

So that was my day in a nutshell! My new patio furniture is coming Friday! Woohoo!

Happy Mother's Day

Just wanting to say that to all my friends who read this and are mothers. May you have a great day with your kids and/or your moms. I will be spending time with my mom, who is the best for so many reasons......I could get deep and sad but let's just say she's ALWAYS there for me! This day is always hard for me as I don't get to spend it with my daughter, but I'd like to think she's going to send me some sunshine from heaven tomorrow.

Added a new video (and a baseball clock! Go Mariners) to my blog today. I really love Carrie Underwood's voice - love the Cheating song but this one has more inspiration to it to not waste years....feel like I've done that a bit in deciding on having children.....all of a sudden the years creep up on you and you're left going "What the heck?" But really I am grateful for all the GOOD that I have filled my years with, even after the worst happened.

We've been painting the trim on our house this weekend; Jeff picked out the color - it's nice -quite subtle - I was thinking a darker brown trim but this is growing on me. Next we paint the fascia (sp?) white as well as the big around the garage. We did all this because they previous people left the trim in the back a mint green and since we had to redo that and didn' thave the color the front was done in, we decided to redo the whole thing - a bit of curb appeal going on. I also picked out new numbers for the house (going back as the adhesive kind don't stick well to stucco) and outdoor lights that I LOVE (one is going back because it came with no hardware, so I gotta exchange it). Home Depot has seen A LOT of me lately - Sooooooo glad they relocated very close to us!

Just thought I'd share a pic I took of a sunset in our area - we get some great ones sometimes with our hills and open space we have living here. Gotta see if I can photoshop that light out of it tho!

Have a great day tomorrow!

Sooooooooo tired

Ok so this is a pic of me that I took (so that means it's staged, lol) the other day for a photo a day thing I was going to try and do for May (but I blew it already).......this is me right about now as the school year is ending......I desaturated th epic cuz man my skin looked icky - still does, but maybe not so much as before! My job is wearing me out; I love to teach, but it's a lot of the other things involved that are difficult, and when you are dealing with the issues our school deals with, it adds an extra layer of stress....but on the bright side it's Teacher Appreciation Week and our paras and administration have been good to us this week - our kids don't really have much of a clue about it though.....oh well! If you are in a job for kudos, this is not the one......ALTHOUGH, I do get them from time to time in small ways.....I cherish those! I do realize I'm going to miss my kids but right now I'm counting the seconds til I sweep them out the door!

On another note, wanted to share one of my favorite pages I've done - used Basic Grey products - submitted to their gallery but they weren't impressed enough......sniff, well........I did get heaps of praise at www.scrapbookchalet.com as one of their members picked it as layout of the day - that means much more to me anyway.....I do sooooo appreciate the comments my friends and scrapping peers leave......on the crafty or artsy side of it! And hey, this page includes some of my favorite scrapbooking friends on it! This was our trip to Portland to the Creating Keepsakes Convention...my friend Rachel took this nice photo of us together...

Anyway, I'm tired so I'm done posting for now......remember if you have kids in school to let their teacher know you appreciate them or contact a former teacher of yours and let them know......to really know we've made a difference later down the road is the best reward!