Before

Congrats B&P

I put this layout together using this free template from the Shabby Princess blog. They have some cute stuff and you already know how much I love templates, especially cute FREE ones :)

{Credits}

Boom Boom kit- Sweet Shoppe Designs

Braden and Paige received the Presidential Fitness Award this year. B is getting to that stage where trying to get a picture out of him is pure torture. You can see how happy he is...Paige was trying her hardest to get a smile out of him :)

To celebrate the last day of school, I stayed up late last night scrapbooking and watching episodes of "The Office" on Netflix. The first 3 seasons were so good! The UK Office is still the best though!

Hooray for SUMMER!!!

Welcome Summer!!

I saw this on a a photography blog. Isn't this adorable?! So bright and summery, full of fun things you can do with your kids this summer.
You can download it here

Tomorrow is the last day of school! It's a day of class parties, pictures, goodbyes and a teacher/staff luncheon I'm putting together for FPAC. I've enjoyed my 2 years but it's time to say goodbye. Bath and Body Works...I love this place. I went here to get all the teachers a little gift. The girl helping me gave me the bags and the ribbon to go with the lotion, awesome! I made the tags before I got the lotions and I was so happy to find these with the bright summer colors. I've included a tag without the love, FPAC in case you need a gift idea for your teachers :)

father/son campout

While I was looking for baby pictures of Paige for that last layout, I came across these pictures of a father/son campout when when Braden was in Kindergarten. I still have that Spiderman shirt he's wearing. I couldn't get rid of it because it was his absolute favorite :)

{Credits}

Memories template- DD, photo clusters #31- DD, leaves and paper- Shabby Princess Gabby kit

a thought for Wednesday

my little girl

I found some old pictures and thought this template would be fun. Most of these pictures were taken when we still lived in Utah and when we first moved to AZ. I can't believe it's been 7 years since we moved here!

Paige is a fun girl who really enjoys life. I love her outlook on life.

And her laugh :)

{Credits}-

template- Anna Aspnes, paper & elements- Little Girl kit- Echo Park

Teenagers

I found this blog post and thought that I would pass it along to you.

Worthless Teenagers and the Parents who Make Them

a thought for Friday

I like this one!

every picture has a story

I can't believe I'm going to post these pictures let alone tell you the story behind them. There's always a story behind a picture...

The year was 1987. We were doing a dance production of "Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs" and we're getting individual and group pictures taken. I was in ballet and clogging at the time so I showed up wearing my ballet outfit and then I was going to change into my clogging costume. The photographer took the picture and then I went to change into my clogging costume. While I was changing, this wave of terror came over me. I realized that I forgot to bring my underwear. If you've ever been in ballet, you know that you can't wear underwear with a leotard. My mind was racing with ways to fix this problem. 'I'll just wear my tights, that'll work.' But then I realized that my tights are white and my clogging shoes are bright red and that would look really bad. 'I'll just wear the leotard underneath'. I tried that but the lace was hanging out around the neck of my costume. So what do I do now?!

Stick my head out of the dressing room and yell for Mom.

So Mom comes in and I explain the situation. I'm at ease because Mom knows what to do, Mom will fix this problem and save the day.

She says, "Well, you're just going to have to go without underwear."

WHAT?!

In my mom's defense, we lived on the outskirts of town and there was no time to go to the store. Kids were lined up and she didn't want to make other people wait on us. I understand that. She said, "Just go stand there and smile, it's no big deal."

Okay, I can do that.

I step out of the dressing room and walk over to take my place and the photographer says, "Great! Okay, I want you to turn to the side and pull up the edges on that skirt so we can see all those ruffles!"

35 year old Kris would tell this guy, 'Look, that ain't happenin'

12 year old Kris just stands there in horror saying nothing while my Mom is in the corner feeling sorry for me and trying really hard not to laugh. It was just my luck that this guy wanted me to strike this "happy hoedown" pose when I stepped up to the plate.

So, you want me to lift up the sides of my skirt? Sorry dude...this is all your gettin'...

When we finished this picture, Mom and I both laughed for days. Laughing is good!
I just realized how much I look like Braden in this picture!

I also forgot about my she-mullet hairstyle :)

Mother's Day

I just adore Mother's Day. It is by far the laziest and most glorious day of the year for me and I love every second of it. I also love the thoughtful handmade gifts, they make my heart happy :)

I of course would not be here without my own sweet Mom who I love so much.

This is the 2 of us way back in 1976...good times...

the pool project of 2011

In the 6 years we've lived in our house, we've tackled some crazy projects. Most of them have been successful and some, like Aaron retarring our patio roof, should be left to a professional. Our pool has needed to be repaired for a couple of years. We've put it off because we had other priorities (last year,we needed a new a/c in our kitchen...a/c is top priority when you live in AZ)

We couldn't put it off any longer and we only had a short time period to get this thing done. (The pool paint has to be applied at a certain temperature) It took us about 8 days from start to finish.

First things first...draining the pool...

We had to cover the area with a tarp to keep the direct sunlight out. Aaron rigged this up so we could get as much water out as possible.

then you have to schedule some time to play!

power washing. The plaster was in such bad shape that the algae found lots of places to hide...

sanding, taping, lots of patching and all that fun prep work...

getting ready to prime. I've got to give huge props to Aaron. He did the tough part of researching and planning all this out. He also did all the sanding...that was a big job.

We primed one night and then painted the next.

After it cured for 2 days, then it took another day and a half to fill...
Hooray!! We now have a pretty blue pool just in time for summer!

I cannot tell you how relieved we are to have this project DONE!! :)

Make the most of what you've got.

February 2010

Yellow, orange and blue...another one of my favorite color combinations. As I look back on some of my past layouts, I've used these colors a lot for the boys. And this digital kit is hands down one of my favorites, I just love it.

{Credits}

Cindy's layered templates- Year in Review 1, C'est la Vie kit- Zoe Pearn, travel memory overlays- Ali Edwards, font- Posh-dafont