November 21, 2010

My Friend Barb….

 

This is my friend Barb.  She reads my blog….along with my Mom.  I have been friends with Barb for about 9 years now.  We met because two of her children swim and both of  mine swim…and both of our swimmers are the same age! 

I will probably burn in he!! with Barb, but only because SHE married Roger…or we will be struck by lightning (WHATEVER YOU DO…DON’T TOUCH ROGER!!!)

 

Hi Barb!

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October 21, 2010

I suck at blogging~

As you can see from my blog, I’m sorta-kinda bad at the blogging thing.  So I thought I would just put in a little update for you mom…since you are about the only person that looks at my blog. :) 

Conner is back in school as a Junior now!  He recently had a physics project to make a boat out of cardboard and paddle it across the pool.  So he and his partner, Derek, worked on their boat for 3 or 4 weekends and this is the end result.  An A+!!!!  They had to figure out the weight of the boat with them out of it and with them in it.  They had to calculate where the water line would be once they got in it and they were dead on.  They even bought costumes….they were escaped convicts. (Not pirates, Diana) 

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Caitlin is doing great! Humira has worked wonders and she feels better than she has in a very long time.  Her swimming has shown HUGE improvements this season.  She has swam college career best already in the first meet.  She even made the A relay for their last meet.  This should be a great year for her and her team.  She goes to the doctor next month and I’m hoping the word “remission” comes out of his mouth!  But the most important thing is that she feels great.  

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August 8, 2010

15th Annual FFY Triathlon

Yesterday Conner  participated with two other young men in the 15th annual FFY Triathlon.  Conner was the swimmer, Neal was the biker and Aaron was the runner.  These young men did an AWSOME job and came in 1st for the relays and (if they counted it) 1st over all!  This was Conner’s first try at participating in the triathlon.  The other guys decided at the last minute to put a team together (Tuesday) and asked Conner if he would swim.  He was thrilled to do it. DSC_1232

His friend and swim team teammate, Nicholas, (who’s mom Diana is my BFF) also participated on a relay.  They went down to the lake a few days before hand and practiced together.  They started in the same wave and got out of the water at the same time! 

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The one other highlight of the day was that we got to meet Allen Smith from the Biggest Loser! He is from Columbus and was also participating in a relay.  He was sooooo kind to stop and take some photos with us. AND THE BEST PART?!?!?! He made our photo with him his profile pic on Facebook!  How cool is that?  We really cheered for him while he was on the show, not only because he was our home town hero, but because he was one of the nicest most genuine players in the game. 

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It was a great day, we had a TON of fun watching the race and seeing Conner, Nicholas and their team mates do such an excellent job.  Next year they decided they want to to the whole thing themselves.  I really hope that they do!

July 26, 2010

Sister Cindy

This past week my sister Cindy came up from South Carolina.  She was on her way to Colorado and stopped by to pick up my mom.  We had a grand time playing Scrabble (I won MOST of the games!) She brought along her two dogs, Ransom and Simon.  I loved spending time with them and can’t wait until they make their way back!

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July 20, 2010

Mom

This past weekend my beautiful mom flew in to visit.  She is going to drive back to Colorado with my sister so that she won't have to make the drive alone. That is what a good mom she is....she is willing to drive through Kansas for her daughter!  She is such a good mom that she flew into Indianapolis and waited 3 hours for me to come pick her up after work just to get in the car and drive 3.5 hours to Chicago! This was AFTER she had actually flown into Chicago and changed planes.  She could have just stayed there and Caitlin (who we were going up to watch swim) could have picked her up and taken her to our hotel.....but no, she is a good mom and flew to Indy so that I didn't have to drive to Chicago alone. 

We've had a great time in Chicago.  We watched Caitlin swim and had a nice lunch with her and her friend Brit.  We then headed over to Ikea and spent a few hours traipsing around the massive store.  I was in heaven.  Today we went up to Indy and did a little shopping.  Tomorrow my sister should arrive with her two dogs.....plus my two dogs.....our neighbors will be thrilled.  I love my mom. :)




Here is a little update on my garden....we've been picking tomato's and peppers already, but we got our first zucchini.  It was HUGE....we had no idea it was there hidden in the plant.  It got a little too big, but we still cooked it up.  I picked a perfect smaller one yesterday and we added it to our spaghetti.  YUM!

July 2, 2010

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY

22 years ago I married this great guy.  Happy Anniversary to my best friend, the father of my two amazing kids, the fixer of all things, and the man that keeps me balanced.  I love you forever!

June 30, 2010

Etsy Inspired Challenge

This week I was honored to be the featured shop in the Etsy Inspired Challenge.  Take a look! EtsyInspired  I am so amazed at how each person took some idea from one of my items and made such beautiful cards.  I was so inspired by their cards....they gave me tons of ideas!!


June 20, 2010

Happy Father's Day

Today I would like to thank my father for...well...being my father.  So here goes.....

Dear Dad,
Thanks for being a great dad! Thanks for letting me stand on your feet while you walked....I loved that!  Thanks for chasing me around the kitchen and pretending that you didn't see me hiding in my hiding spot underneath that old counter top we had while you pretended to look for me.  Thanks for letting me play with your hair and put clips in it while you would watch t.v.  Thanks for letting me sneak candy out of your secret "goodie bag" (which really wasn't a secret, we all knew where it was and we all went in it when you were not looking!) Thanks for leaving me $2.00 on your dresser every morning for my lunch (people....$2.00 a day back in the day was a lot of money for lunch) Thanks for asking me to pull you finger...back then I thought it was funny. Thanks for being the best Pop to my children.  But most of all, thanks for always loving me.  I love you Dad. 

June 19, 2010

Farmers Market

Our farmers market started while we were on vacation, so I missed the first two weeks.  But I made it today for a quick trip.  I only had a short time since Conner had a swim meet this afternoon....but I was able to get a few great things.  My FAVORITE part of the market is the flower sellers.  I just love fresh flowers in my house, especially ones from the farmers market.

June 10, 2010

Jackpot!!!

This whole week I've been keeping my eyes peeled for alligators! I kept saying that this vacation will not be complete until I see an alligator.  We drove through the mangroves the other night looking for Wally Gator, but nothing.  Tonight we were on our way to dinner and....presto....an alligator was sunning outside his little lagoon down the road.  JACKPOT!

June 9, 2010

Wonderful Wednesday.....

                                                          We woke up to a perfect day...there was less humidity, the temperature felt a little cooler and the gulf water was significantly cooler.  And to top it all off, we had a great beach show today.  We were treated to a dolphin show....about 4 or 5 dolphins feeding close to shore.  BUT the icing on the cake was the manatee we saw!  Just slowly making his/her way down the coast. 

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Here is how day 4 went:
1) woke up and took a walk on beach and found some great shells.
2) Hung out at pool.
3) Ate some lunch.
4) Took kids to Rec Center to practice.  Cait worked with Conners flip turn....she has the most beautiful flip and his is in need of a little work.
5) Ran into grocery store.
6) Went to the Mucky Duck and had dinner....by the "window".
7) Stopped at Blind Pass to search for some more shells.
8) Came back to condo and sat and watched thunderstorm.
9) Chilled.

Oh how I could live this life!

June 7, 2010

I could live this way....

Another beautiful day in paradise. Beach in the a.m., quick dip in the pool, lunch then a nap.  We had dinner at Island Cow,a little local restaurant.  After dinner we took a drive through the mangrove looking for a gator.  No luck on finding a gator but we saw lots of wildlife.  It felt like we were on Animal Kingdom. It was apparent that a lot of the Bach goers this weekend were off island folks.  Today the beaches were not as crowded.  Just enough for me to do some good people watching.  

June 6, 2010

Vacation....day 2

Day 2:
I woke up very early to go out "shelling".  I don't understand...but no one wanted to go with me.  When I returned, Brian was up making breakfast for everyone.  After we ate, the guys and I went down to the beach while Cait slept a little more.  (college life is good) 
I am posting this photo for Diana.  I want her to know that I actually went out FAR.  Conner and I went out to the sandbar....and I wasn't even afraid!  Cait came down when she got up and that was around the time the guys went to the pool to cool off.  It was a perfect day. :) 

Cait and I went to the local recreation center to find out about the swim team schedule.  After getting the information we went to another beach I heard had great shells.  And we were not disappointed!  We had to go home and change since we didn't have our suits on and we got SOAKED looking for shells. 

In the late afternoon Cait, Conner and I went exploring a little.  We found the fishing pier and this bird followed every move we made.  I think he thought we had some bait for him to steal.  No such luck for him.

Now we are just relaxing in the cool condo...contemplating going to get an ice cream....

June 5, 2010

Ahhhhh 1st day of vacation

Day 1:
Got up at 4:00 a.m.  It's amazing how I can get up without any problems at 4:00 a.m. when I want....but getting up at 7:00 on a work day is torture!

Arrived at Fort Myers at 9:30 a.m (after flying 1st class!!!) and purchased some goods for the week.  Luckily the condo was ready and we didn't have to wait until 3:00 to get in.

The condo is WONDERFUL and we are right on the beach.  The views from our unit are perfect.

Quick change and we were off to the beach for a while.....then we hit the pool for a relaxing dip......then we all had a gooooooooood nap.  Much needed. 

Nice dinner out....another trip down to the beach to shell search, and now the boys are in bed and Cait and I are watching a little t.v.

Good 1st day. :)

May 24, 2010

Little Pink Houses for you and me....


Saturday I worked on a new idea for a bag and I love the way it turned out! It's a funky little pink house with an apple tree. The house has a little window box with flowers and the apple tree has a little birdie sitting in it. 

We also went to Hank and Diana's for dinner on Saturday along with the Bowlings. It was such a nice day and probably the first day in quite some time that it didn't actually rain!  We all sat out on their deck enjoying the evening...until Brian informed me that he erased the Greys Anatomy finale I DVR'ed on Thursday and had not watched yet!  Lucky for him I was able to watch it online and didn't have to divorce him.

Sunday I fell on my BIG BUTT after getting out of the shower!  I can't believe the size of the bruise on my bottom.  I told Brian that is was one "BIG A$$" bruise...literally!  Thankfully I didn't hit my tail bone.  But boy oh boy does it hurt to sit on it. I won't post a photo of it....that would just be wrong.

Here are my words of wisdom for this week:
 "Life is too short to dance with ugly boys"

May 20, 2010

Blooms

Tonight I thought I would take a few photos of some flowers in my garden. I love flowers...I wish they would bloom all year round. The peonies are so big and heavy (just the way all beautiful things should be!!). I have no idea what the other flowers are, I just know they are beautiful. If only I could get Waffle to stop walking all over them!