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I scrapped yesterday......finally. It seems like forever. After our vacations I plan to get back into it on a regular basis. I'm now a year behind. I know, I know....I'm anal about scrapping in order. So here's what I did yesterday and some from the 24 hour crop.

We started another session of swim lessons for Zachary. He's becoming such a little fish. Oh, and I took the boys for haircuts. All that long wavy hair of Zach's is gone......it was just getting too messy.

Celebration

Yesterday we started the day off at my Aunt Mildred's 90th Birthday party. Doesn't she look great? I now know what I can look forward to.....great genes! I also want to point out the mere fact that I'm wearing those 4 1/2" shoes....and I'm not even as tall as my aunt! We had a German luncheon.....my Great Grandparents are from Germany, so it's only befitting we had lunch at the Phoenix Club in Anaheim. I liked my sandwich, but the smell of the cabbage and saurkraut was not appealing.

After the party we went to go get the kids to go to party #2. My dad's 57th birthday. We went to the swim club and had a BBQ. Always a great time swimming! My boys are doing amazing. Austin is diving so well, such great form. And Zachary.....what can I say? He's like a little fish now and barely needs help.

I found out a little more about Colin and what's going on. He's still not sure why he's "active", but it's not like you can really argue with the government. His unit (apparently he's been reassigned) is already gone in Kuwait doing some sort of training......something about rescue, can't remember what it's called. So he's supposed to go to Fort Campbell later in August for Soldier Readiness Training for a few weeks. There are 34 guys that are to go. Then sometime in October he's to go to Kuwait for a few weeks and then to Iraq. His "unit" is on a 15 month tour. When he goes in October there are 9 months left of that tour and that's how long he'll be gone. We're kind of hoping for a miracle that he doesn't go and here's why. Colin had a job working in a steel factory cutting metal and they held his position until he got back. About two weeks ago when he and another guy were loading a piece to be cut, it dropped on Colin's finger.....his right finger and smooshed the heck out of it. He went to the doctors and it's isn't broken, but apparently there isn't blood circulating in it very well and he has no feeling in it, which in his follow up appt's they'll be checking for that, which means he could lose the tip. Are you catching where I'm going with this? His right finger is his trigger finger. This could be the miracle or a way out. All of this just leaves me feeling so surreal....my baby brother going off to war. I won't go into the politics of the war other than we're not for it and think the troops should have been out of there a long time ago.

I won't leave on such a sullen note, here's a funny story from yesterday's dinner. I'm sitting there with two of my brothers, Colin & Garrett. I keep looking at Garrett's forhead and notice this dark circle, a practically perfect circle. Werid? I ask what happened? Colin whips out his cell phone to show me a pic from a week ago.......HUGE KNOT! Yuck! What happened? Well, Colin doesn't have a car and was at a party and asked Garrett (who's 17) to come get him. When Garrett shows up, Colin is fighting with some guys and getting his butt kicked pretty bad, in fact really bad. Garrett jumps in to save his brother and somebody hits him in the head with a beer bottle. Nice. They're both laughing, especially Colin who has always thinks he's so tough saying how he had to have his baby brother save him. Unbelievable......boys.

Happy HOT Friday!

Man is it yucky out today! We finished up our first session of swim lessons this morning, Austin passed and Zachary is to repeat. (check Zach jumping off the diving board...he's not scared at all!) Which is totally fine, he's just learning and doing awesome! We spent the morning with my mom running errands and having lunch, which is always a good time. That is.......until she dropped the biggest bomb on me. I'm getting choked up just thinking about it. My brother Colin is being deployed. I'm so confused because they wouldn't let him go "active duty" when he came back from boot camp. They said there is a "6 month waiting period". Wow......that was a superfast speed up. He's going to paramedic training in a few weeks and then he's off. We don't know how long, but I'm really scared and sad about this. I'm praying it's not in the middle of any "hot spots" of war and that it's not for a long time. Oh please let it be a mistake, I'm having a hard time bearing this thought of him being in a war. My mom is a mess. There we were crying and hugging in the middle of Costco.....not the best time to tell me, but she said she had to tell someone. I'm the first to know.

(that's Colin on the right)

Well, I work tonight and tomorrow we have 2 birthday parties! My Great Aunt turns 90! and my dad turns 57! Scrapping Sunday at the Bee.......come by and say hi sometime this weekend if you're in the area.

100th post!

First off.....I cannot believe I've had that much to say! And this is going to be a good post because it's all about CHA & Chicago.


I left bright and early Thursday morning to LAX and extremely nervous because I've only flown one other time by myself. Things go pretty smooth with little time to spare and I'm off at 9am to Chicago. I arrive at 3pm call Karen and we're totally excited and ready to go! Man we're making great time......that's until we walk outside to catch the bus. We landed at Midway and had to take a bus to O'Hare. We missed it by 10 minutes and had to wait an hour for the next one. So now it's 4:15 and we're on our way......that is, until we get on the freeway and are in dead stop gridlock! UGH!!!! Well, we get to our hotel at 6pm and now our disposition is declining because we're hungry and it's get later......we have a preview party at Creative Imaginations and by the time we get there, the little food they have left is COLD! But the new collections ROCK and we did an awesome make 'n take. We have big plans for the fall with one of their designers......can you guess who this girl is squished between us? (that's your hint of who it is!)



Saturday consisted of tons of shopping......TONS! We are going to have sooooo many new great lines at the Bee. Here's a sneak peek of what's coming. Saturday night we took the train to downtown to celebrate Christine & Jennifer's Birthday with some traditional deep dish pizza. As we were walking across the river we saw film production going on and someone said that they are filming BATMAN 5!!!! How cool is that? On our venture back to the train Christine had some leftover pizza in a box......we felt bad just leaving it. We had a plan to give to a homeless person. Christine stops and asks this person if they would like some pizza. They were sitting by the bridge, it was 11pm, they were reading, had crazy mixed up clothing one.....Ok, HE's homelesss right??? First off it was a girl and she said, "we're you looking to give this to a homeless person? Because I'm with the movie." Well......Christine being as smooth as ever not missing a beat says, "well, no.....I just didn't want this to go to waste." The girls takes it and we are in stiches because we're embarrassed, but then realize......if someone offers you food because they think you look homeless.....maybe it's time for a MAKEOVER!


Sunday & Monday we shopped our hearts out. So much to choose from. Monday I was exhausted and ready to come home. Again, I'll show ya some more sneak peeks of what's to come. I finally feel like I'm back to normal.


Tonight I work and guess what I'm doing???? Setting out all the new Daisy D's fall collection!!! Come by tomorrow and it'll all be out for ya to shop! It's beautiful...the colors are so rich. We also were one of the first to order Basic Grey.....but we only ordered chipboard books and alphas, we were'nt digging the collection. So watch for that too, it should be here soon also! I also wanted to let you know that I'm now going to be contributing to the Red Bee's blog, so you can click the link on my "blogs I read". (you have to click on there....I have way more pics there from the show!)

I am TOO OLD!

To scrapbook for 24 hours! What was I thinking? I managed to stay about 18, but started to feel delirious, so I came home at 6am. I had a great time at the crop, but next time I need to be at one that is a weekend retreat and I can go to bed!

My boys started swim lessons today and they did a really good job. This year Zachary goes all by himself....no more "Mommy & Me." When we were leaving to go he was upset I didn't have my suit on then kept telling Austin, "you're swimming with me, right?"

I leave Thursday morning for CHA...I'm really excited, but already feel overwhelmed. We have SOOOO many appts already set up. My mother in law is on vacation this week and will be helping out Thurs & Fri while Ryan is at work.....thank God for her.

On a sadder note, my Grandma (dad's mom) passed away on Sunday. It came suddenly, she passed in her sleep. She wasn't very close with anybody, including my dad, and seemed to always be very self absorbed.....it's kind of sad. I'm sad for my dad because it is his mom....but since he was about nine he lived with his dad and 3 brothers and she was always in and out. (married 5 or 6 times?) He said the last two years she's really been trying, calling once a week. She lives in Oregon and wants to be creamated, so I don't think there will be any services. It's just so sad that she has this huge family but kept herself so distant.

Well, I better run.....Ryan and the boys are playing with daddys poker set playing "Jack Black". :)

Pictures

I know I haven't uploaded any photos lately....so here is a little recap. Some photos from the 4th of July.

Enjoying a snowcone!

Austin participated in a dive contest, a cannon ball contest and a free style contest. I love when I get an action shot like this!My parents belong to the "Swim Club". Think 1950's where no really has a pool and everyone in the neighborhood shares this pool with a game room and kitchen. I swear some of the dishes are from the 50's! So every 4th they have a big bash....mostly for the kids and this is the first year we've gone. We had such a great time.

Here's a shot of my fancy new pedicure. It's neon pink & white. I love it! I'm already sporting a bad flip flop tan line.

And to fulfill my shoe obession......a pair of 4 1/2 inch wedges that were on clearance (approx 60% off!) at Macy's! I love the colors.....they are so me.

Ryan is out at a dinner tonight.....I'm thinking of breaking out my scrapbooking stuff and ordering dinner. I'm getting so pumped up with all the sneak peeks for CHA, plus with me getting to go next week.....I can't hardly wait!

Jersey Boys....

was a great show! I highly reccommend it! I am loving going to plays now! More, more!!! Next year A Chorus Line will be at the Ahmanson.......and I will be there! Any ways back to Jersey Boys.....very funny and the music was nostalgic! I loved seeing my Grandma and mom with little tears in their eyes. I think the 2pm show was the "senior" time, because I had to have been one of the absolute youngest ones there! We were a little late which sucked. The 5 & 101 fwy was a dead stop....took us an hour and a half. We were so stressed out. When we walked in it had only started 8 minutes ago, so we got to watch about 15 minutes of it on a big screen until the end of a scence and then they sat us. Great day, worth checking out!

Friday

I'm so glad it's Friday because tomorrow I'm seeing this....

Here's the link...http://www.jerseyboysinfo.com/broadway/

We wanted to see it in NY, but it was on hiatus when we went. I'm going with my Grandma & Mom. Should be a fun girls day. My Grandma is coming into town today and will be here for a week.

Last night I had Bunco.....always a great time with the girls! I get home and Zachary is still awake, but laying in his bed. He comes into bed with us and we're talking.......I ask him what he had for dinner, what Austin had and what did daddy have? He tells me he had chicken, Austin had a hot dog and daddy had, "a piece of crap." I could barely hold the laughter back. Gee....I wonder where he gets the word "crap" from????

Have a great Friday!