Destin 2010

We went to Destin during the first week of July with the whole family.  We celebrated the fourth of July and then next day we celebrated my 49th (no I'm not lying) birthday!

We stayed in a really nice condo on the top floor right on the beach.  It was really nice because the whole family was there including our future son-in-law and my Mom and Dad.  We even watched fireworks from our balcony on the beach.

Every morning and every night the BP workers would gather on our beach and spread out for miles cleaning the beach.  We NEVER saw a drop of oil and never smelled any odor.  And believe me we went and looked for the oil.  The water was beautiful every day.  We never saw the  BP workers pick up anything.  They would just walk around with their nets and gloves and boots.

Lauren hung this cute fabric banner I got off etsy for my birthday party!

My Mom and Dad.  We're so glad they were with us.

Seth and Ryan loved throwing the football on the beach

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Lauren and Seth

We are already planning a big wedding for May 28, 2011 for Lauren and Ryan!

Seth's High School Graduation

Seth graduated from Mountain Home High School in May and we are very proud of him.  He is the baby so we are going to have an empty nest.  Now I have realized there are good and bad things about an empty nest and I am trying to look at the positive.  John and I are really kind of looking forward to just doing things together again like it was before kids.  I'll just have to pray every night that the kids are safe and put them in God's hands.  That's all I really ever worry about anyway is that they are safe, healthy and happy.

 Ryan, Seth and Lauren

Papa, Seth and Nana

My brother Jay and his wife Christina

My cousin Ann (I call her Sister) and her husband Mark.

John's sister Nancy and her husband David.

Lauren's Bridesmaids

Lauren decided to ask her bridesmaids to be in her wedding in a special way.  So she gathered the fabric and crafting supplies and got busy. 

She made them each a canvas with their initial and a twisted fabric flower.  She is so creative and a true artist.

 She made them in my studio and I loved having her in there to just play.  She cut the initials out on my Cricut.

I loved how they turned out!  She gave each girl a canvas with a little easel to put it on.  Here is a picture of Christine with hers.  She has 8 bridesmaids.  Leah Floyd, Marci Morgan, Christine Grosso, Emily Burkhead, Stacey Miller, Holly Gray, Nicki Woosley, and Laura Miller.  They are such wonderful girls!

Spring Break Cruise 2010

     The Norwegian Sky

The first full day on the boat the boys went fishing and Lauren and I stayed on the boat.  The crew conducted a safety drill and actually launched all the rescue boats and shut the metal water safe doors.  It was really interesting and Lauren and I were glad the boats actually floated.

This is a cute bench in front of an ice cream store in Atlantis.

The aquarium at Atlantis.

Seth and Weston snorkeling.

Me and John on the balcony..............................NOT!

John's new hairstyle.

We had a great time and loved the warm weather and the sunshine. 

Scrapbooking

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I did a layout for my All About US scrapbook about our trip to Spark.  I use the Library of Memories System (Stacy Julian) to organize my photos and my scrapbooks.  I have a scrapbook for All About Us, People We Love, Places We Go, and Things We Do.  I also make a scrapbook for Seth for each of his High School Golf Years. Along the way each year I make mini-books about special events like Spark or a special vacation.  Right now I am focusing on photography and trying to learn Photoshop CS4 and Lightroom to edit and organize my photos.  I am struggling.  I have learned a lot but it seems I still haven't even scratched the surface.  I will keep plugging along.  I wish I could just slide a DVD into my brain and download all the info.  

Spark

 

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

 My cousin and I went to Spark in Salt Lake City in the fall.  We had a great time lighting our creative SPARK!  I finally got around to finishing one of the classes we took there.  We were given a Donna Downey fabric scrapbook and I added some pictures and created the pages.    I love how it turned out.  The fabric was really fun to work with, and I just used fabric glue to glue on the fabric and glossy accents to glue on the pictures.

Being Creative

 

  

I added these flowers to a shirt I bought at Walmart.  They are rolled fabric and I learned how to make them at a wonderful event called Spark last november in Utah.  I think there is going to be a Spark II!  Excited!

 

  

I call this my bird book.  The book was a class I took at Creative Escape in Arizona.  The project was designed by the talented Heather Bailey.  She has beautiful fabrics and papers.  I reorganized my studio last week and I work so much better in a clean organized space!!  Ahhhh!