Just because.

Been getting some happy scrapping done lately. :) Here are a couple that I can share. First, that birthday layout I mentioned before...

I actually used the movie ticket stub and a part of the tag off of the new top I bought. :) (Oh, and that bottom right square is actually Prism's awesome Mirri paper...just doesn't photograph well, but trust me. It's cool.)

Next, a fun (simple) layout about my Micah. I love this little story!

The journaling reads:

Micah won’t remember, but when he was almost 14 months old, Ali (who lives across the street and is six years older than Micah) proposed to him grandly in the front yard. I was there. Last week, in almost the same spot, Micah proposed to Ali. Well, actually, he declared, “Ali, I’m going to marry you.” Let me explain. Having recently discovered that I was already married (after random conversations with his brothers about marriage), Micah “settled” on Ali as his target and took the opportunity to tell her. She, after doing a little math and realizing the age difference, simply smiled at him and said, “thank you.” Then, they resumed their play with sidewalk chalk, happy as can be. Of course, earlier today, I overheard the boy in the kitchen talking to himself about how he loved hot cocoa so much that maybe he should marry it...and then arguing with himself about whether he should marry hot cocoa or Ali...Ali or hot cocoa. It was close; but, in the end, he stuck with Ali.

For what it's worth, here's the layout I made years ago about that initial proposal:

Here's the journaling from that one:

Fourteen months is a bit young, but Micah’s already received his first marriage proposal. We were in the front yard playing and some of our neighborhood kids joined us (as they often do). Ali, the girl across the street that all our boys adore (she’s just turned 7), does a fantastic job playing with Noah and Asher but tends to gravitate toward Micah...probably because he’s so darn cute and largely because she really wants a baby brother or sister. On this particular afternoon, she sat right down in front of Micah, took his hand and grandly asked him to marry her. The significance of the moment was, of course, lost on the boys, but Nathan and I exchanged a smile and said a silent thanks that we have only boys.

Sigh. They grow up so fast. ;)

Bleh.

So. Our fridge/freezer decided to stop working last night/this morning. Joy. Really not the way I wanted to start the day (cleaning both out and spending more than 20 minutes on the phone with the repair folks just to schedule someone "between 8 and 5" today, argh). On the plus side, though, we do have an additional freezer in the garage so were able to move food around...have the fridge stuff in coolers with ice. Suppose I'll be thankful for the opportunity to clean the fridge/freezer and purge/sort the contents. Still. Not the way I wanted to spend the day. :)

Sigh. Gonna go try to tackle the stuff I wanted to tackle a few hours ago now.

ETA: Just a quick update to say that we got it all fixed and are back in business. Dang little fan thing cost a pretty penny to replace, though. Bleh.

12,005 ft.

Sorry I went missing there for a bit...guessing that my blogging may slow down this summer. :) In any case, I was working on a deadline but am done now so can think again. ;)

So. On Monday, with Nathan's friend TJ here, we headed up to Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park. (TJ watched the boys for us on Sunday...they bonded over the Wii...did I mention we finally broke down and got a Wii? The boys have been saving for it for a couple months now and had just enough for the "basics" and we figured it would make it easier for TJ to watch the boys, lol.) Anyhow, after a yummy lunch, we convinced Noah to ride the aerial tram with us to the top to feed the chipmunks. (He'd refused every other time we've asked...insists he's afraid of heights but I'm pretty sure it's a fear of falling, not heights. But. He was also sad to miss out on the fun his brothers had last summer when we went up.) Those chipmunks are pretty darn entertaining:

Yes, they literally eat out of your hand:

Each boy got to feed the thriving chipmunk community a couple scoops of peanuts. They were happy (both boys and chipmunks). :)

After that, we headed into Rocky Mountain National Park and hiked around Bear Lake...a pretty easy hike for the boys and one they've done before. Of course, the other times we've done it, there hasn't been snow still on the path. :) That just added to the fun, right? Micah thought the walk was great fun:

We even managed a group picture using the timer on TJ's camera:

After Bear Lake, we took Trail Ridge Road. It is the highest continuous motorway in the United States, with more than eight miles lying above 11,000' and a maximum elevation of 12,183'. At the Alpine Visitor Center (at, I think, 11, 798 ft), we took the path/steps up:

Yes. It was a bit of a hike given the cold weather and altitude. At least I wasn't carrying Micah, though. (Nathan got that privilege, lol!) At the top, we had about one minute to admire the view before we were pelted with little popcorn snow things that kinda hurt. Fortunately, TJ had the presence of mind to take a picture:

And, in true Colorado style, the pelting stopped by the time we got back to the van. :) On the drive back down, the boys were delighted to actually drive through the clouds (yes, we drove through them on the way up but they were asleep so missed that)...so much so that we had to roll down windows to "let the cloud through the van" and stop once to take a walk in the clouds:

Yup. Fun day. :)

Since then, TJ had to fly back out, the boys have had swim lessons, we met up with friends in Longmont one day, went to a birthday party that was great fun, and other miscellaneous schtuff. :) Busier than I'd anticipated but still off to a good start for summer. How's your summer going?

Oh. And check this out. Cool. :)

Rainbow.

Okay, first of all, I had a fabulous birthday, thank you to all for the happy wishes! Nathan took me out for the day and we shopped (in both Fort Collins and Boulder), ate a scrumptious dinner (crab for me!...pretty disappointed in myself for not taking a picture because it was beautiful, lol), and saw a movie (Up! which was actually very cute and had a good story). Happy. :) I'll work on a layout later.

Today, though, I'd really love it if you popped over to the Prism blog and checked out my latest project over there because I LOVE it and think you should see it. ;) Pretty please? Here's a sneak:

Okay, now we're off to spend the day up in Estes Park with a friend...keep your fingers crossed that we stay dry. ;)

Birthday layouts...

Woohoo! Today is my birthday! :) Many thanks to all who helped me celebrate yesterday at The Treasure Box (ladies, you all rock!) and to those who have sent birthday wishes via mail, email and Facebook. I feel so loved. :)

As I sit here this morning, thinking about years past, I thought I'd share a few layouts I've done about or around my birthday:

I think this is one of the first layouts I did about my own present life. (2006 was the year I finally started making layouts that included me and not just family stuff, lol.) I still love the techniques used here. And those things still make me happy. :)

The following year, my birthday gift was going to CKU-Anaheim, so we didn't really do anything special to celebrate. I did, though, take a lot of pictures right around then and have made a number of layouts from that weekend. Here's one (and, yes, I only recently finished this one that had been in my to do pile for ages, lol):

And last year was a good one:

I already have some plans for this year's birthday layout but probably won't finish that for a week or so (have some other assignments that need to get tackled first). As for the day itself, Nathan has something up his sleeve but I haven't been able to tickle it out of the boys yet. ;) So, I'll have to report back later...