It Is Good To Be Home

I am back in Northern California. I had a great trip but I sure am glad to be home!

Visiting Southern California

John and I flew into Southern CA on Saturday morning for the Neuschafer Family Reunion. We had a really nice time visiting with my family. This was the first reunion I have been able to attend since my back got really bad about 5 years ago. It has been years since I have seen a lot of my family. I think we had about 50 people at the reunion and this was the biggest reunion we have had yet.

Of course, I made everyone pose for a family portrait. Once I get home I will post the photos. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to visit with everyone. I did get to spend time with some of my cousins and I really enjoyed taking with them.

After the reunion we stayed the night with John's mom. We had a very short visit then the next morning I drove John back to the airport. I spent the whole day with Jeff, Martha and the kids. I absolutely adore those kids, they are so sweet.

Yesterday afternoon I drove down to my mom's. I visited with Aunt Linda and Uncle Rudy while my mom was still at work. Aunt Linda and I went through tons of old photos and didn't even make a dint in the boxes and boxes of photos we planned to go through. My mom and cousin Mendy joined us after they got off work and Linda made us dinner. We had a really nice visit. It has been so long since Mendy and I have been able to just hang out together and talk. I stayed at Mom's last night and after all I have been doing the last few days my back was a mess today.

I went with my mom to see the surgeon this morning and of course he said she needs surgery to remove her gallbladder. I am sure it will be done in the next few weeks. I am planning on flying back here to help her after her surgery.

Photo of the Day

I was just playing around in Photoshop with some pictures that I took in July. I love this Dave's Midnight Sepia Action. There is some great stuff out there on the internet for Photoshop.

Now if I could just get my high speed internet hooked up I could use some of this stuff! They finally laid the cable line today. They had to dig two long ditches (one in my neighbor's yard) and cut a ditch across the entire length of our street to bury the cable. It took 4 men 5 hours to do the work! Now I have to wait until next Thursday for them to do the inside installation.

Mini Hawaii Album

I didn't get much done here around the house today but I did finish the mini album for Anne and Cameron. I started this album awhile back and I am really excited that it is finished. I will send it out to them tomorrow. You can check out the rest of the album here if you like.

Pattern Paper Challenge #5

This is the layout that I did for the 2Peas pattern paper challenge #5. Can you tell I love this patterned paper? The last 4 layouts I have done have been with this Kaleidoscope paper. I have used every single scap of this stuff. I love it!


This is the layout I did for Lanette's The ABC of Me circle journal for the 10 Sweet Peas's circle journal group.

2 Peas Wednesday Blogger Challenge

Challenge for Wednesday: It's the middle of the week. What do you start to look forward to, during the latter part of your week? Anything? Blog about it... is it something consistent week to week, or does it change as life changes?? Share about some things you are looking forward to.

I look forward to spending time with my husband on the weekends. In the summer we go to the local farmer's market every Saturday morning. This year we have been spending a lot of our time in the mountains fishing. Well, usually John fishes and I bring my camera along and photograph. I love it when we bring our dog Didjerido with us. She loves fetching sticks in the creeks and going for rides in the car.

We love to Bar-B-Que on the weekends. I am lucky because John loves to cook. We always have a great dinner on Sunday nights.

It Was Off The Hook!

We were up bright and ealy this morning to meet our fishing guide Capain Ken of Ken's Custom Tackle. We were hoping to catch just one Kokanee Salmon but this was beyond our expectations. We "limited out"!

At one point we had 6 huge Kokanee in the boat in under an hour!



Captain Ken said these were the biggest Kokanee he has seen on Union Valley Resevoir, ever. Kokanee are land-lock Sockeye Salmon, unable to reach the ocean they remain much smaller than the typical Salmon.

All together we caught 9 trophy size Kokanee and 2 Mackinaw. It was a beautiful day on the lake and John is still smiling from ear to ear. I am so glad we had the camera with us to capture this moment together. We will definately do this again.

We're Going Fishing!

John has hired a fishing guide to take us Kokanee fishing tomorrow. Yes, I am getting my fishing license tonight and I am going to attempt to fish. We are meeting the guide at Union Valley Reservoir tomorrow morning at 6 A.M., sharp. That means that I am going to have to be up by 4 A.M.. Me up at 4 A.M.? I am not a morning person. At all. I am a little excited though. If I catch a fish that is too big John will have to reel it in for me. John is very excited about this trip. I hope we catch some big fish!

John and Jim's Hike

Last weekend John and Jim did a 10 mile hike to Melissa Coray Peak, elevation 9,763. This area is know as West Pass. In one year(1850) 50,000 immigrants came through this exact spot in covered wagons, on horseback or by foot. You can still see the marks the wagon wheels left in the rocks.

Sisters Layout

I finished two more layouts today. One each for Emily and Maddie's scrapbooks. I started these layouts awhile back and just got around to finishing them today. These pictures were taken on Mother's Day two years ago on a visit to Southern California. Time flies, it doesn't seem like it was that long ago!


This layout is for Emily's album:


This layout is for Maddie's album:

Okay, so I accomplished something today other than housework!

High Speed Internet Service

Woohoo!!! I finally signed up for cable internet service. No more 15 minute uploads for my photos! I spent hours last night trying to setup my new photography website. It was so frustrating with our slow internet service. Now it won't take me all day to do a project on the internet.

New Layout

I posted a layout for the first time I a long time at Two Peas in a Bucket. The layout is for the Ali Edward's pattern paper challenge. Every week they post a new chanllenge. Well this is the first one I have done and it is already the fourth week.




I have not felt very productive this week. I have been spending a lot of time on the internet. I have found out some good information on photography that made it worth my time. I started a new website for my photograpghy. Now I just have to upload my photos. I have to look into getting satelite or cable internet access because this is just too slow.

I had a really nice time at the Scrapjazz crop in Roseville last Saturday. It was nice to meet some new ladies that are sooooo tallented and love scrapbooking.

Going to a crop

I am excited, today I going to a crop at Scrapbook Station in Roseville. I was talking to Patti, the owner, about how I've been on the internet visiting scrapbooking sites. She told me about Scrap Jazz and that she was having some ladies from there get together for a crop and she invited me. I am hoping to meet some new scrapbookers and get some pages done.

Back at Home

I had a good time visiting family in Southern CA but I sure am glad to be home! I really missed John, Didj, Lucia and my own bed! The weather here is gorgeous. Yesterday evening felt like Fall. I wish it would stay this way, it's only 82 degrees right now.

I feel a little "off" today. I had to take a pain pill this morning for the first time in quite awhile. I feel better now. It will just take me a few days to get back into the swing of things here. I have lots of new photos to play with and I really want to get some scrapbooking done. I am also going to look into getting satellite internet. This dial up service is not going to work for me. I got spoiled down there using Anne's super fast internet service.



I spent Saturday with Jeff, Martha and the kids. I am sure I drove them crazy with all of my picture taking. I just can't believe how much the kids have changed. Miles is walking and running and climbing all over the place. He is such a sweet baby and he loves to cuddle. He has the most gorgeous huge eyes! Emily is so tall! She looks so much older than four to me. She will be going to Pre-kindergarten soon and she is so excited. She showed me her backpack for school and she even has a reading list. Maddie was adorable in her little dress-up heels and red dress. I loved it when she just hung out with me while I was sitting on the couch. She is such a sweet girl. I meet Annabelle, my new niece, for the first time. I swear she looks like me in my baby pictures with all that hair! She is beautiful. All of Jeff and Martha's kids are just so gorgeous. I got to hold Annabelle and walk around with her, she is so light, at least for now.

I am looking forward to flying down again in a few weeks, August 24th so I can visit everyone again. I am flying down for the Neuschafer family picnic. I haven't seen most of my family in years so I am looking forward to the trip.