At The Beach

I took a little break from my blog over the Thanksgiving weekend. We spent three wonderful days in Pismo Beach for Thanksgiving. Our hotel was 50 feet from the beach and it was perfect weather. My Aunt Linda and Uncle Rudy were so nice to get six rooms at the hotel so we could all stay together. We really had a fun time.

The best part of the Holiday was spending time with my family. We had around thirty people at my Uncle Roger and Aunt Brenda's house. The food was great and I really enjoyed visiting with everyone.

Of course, I took a lot of photos and even did a photo shoot of my counsins Allie and Amanda on the beach at sunset on evening. I will post the photos when I get a chance to catch up. Right now I am spending a lot of time working on assignments for my art class. I can't believe that I actually wrote a four page paper, an art critique. I have not wrote a paper in over 10 years!

Our Weekend

Isn't she sweet! This is my next door neighbor's daughter Melia. I got to play with her for awhile this weekend while her mother, Nicole, worked in her flower bed. It was a great opportunity to grab my camera and take a few pictures. Melia is full of energy and I had a wonderful time hanging out with her.

We had a beautiful weekend here and John got to work in our "cottage garden" again. We planted 48 bulbs! I can't wait to see how they look this spring. We planted hyacinth, tulips, crocus and iris. Our little garden is starting to come together. The next step is to start planting the roses and other potted plants.


John did 99% of the work.


Didj thinks she is helping.








This is what I did most of the time.

Sisters

She may be my sister by marriage but Anne is my friend by choice. I really enjoy the time we spend together. We can relax and be ourselves. Even though we live far away from each other, we share what is going on in our lives over the phone. It is nice to have someone to share my feelings with and she accepts me for who I am. I am sure there are times that I drive her nuts but she is always there for me. Even at my absolute worse, after I had my back surgery, she was there just to get me through the day. I can’t thank her enough for all that she has done for me. I am so lucky to have a sister like Anne.

Christmas Layout

This is a layout of my nieces Emily and Maddie and my nephew Miles from last Christmas when they came to our house for a visit.

Sheepdog Herding Competition

Yesterday John and I went to the Western Regional Sheepdog Herding Competition at Thompson Ranch in Auburn. At the ranch we saw lots of sheep and cows. They had this really neat covered bridge and the ranch was just beautiful. We loved seeing all of the border collies and cattle dogs. Our dog Didjerido is a border collie and cattle dog mix.



The best part of the day was watching these dogs in action herding the sheep. The dogs take directions by whistling sounds that their owners make and it is amazing to watch. We would love to get our dog Didj involved in this because we know she would love it. We have taken her in for testing to see if she has the "instinct" and she chased the sheep so far away we thought we were going to have to buy the owner a new sheep. We have found a few people fairly local that will train you how to do this with your dog. We just had a great time watching the competition.

Pirate

I finished this layout of Cameron last night. The pirate ship is one of the Hambly overlays I bought at the expo last weekend.

"It is becoming a tradition for you and I to see a movie together when we visit each other. I let you pick the movie but you tend to pick ones that you think that I will enjoy. I took this picture of you when we went to see Pirates Of The Caribbean, Dead Mans Chest with my cel phone camera. June 2006."

The Cottage Garden

We are slowly planning and planting a cottage garden in our front yard. John has done so much work on it already but he has to go slow because of his back. We are really excited about this project. This weekend we put down the stepping stones. I think it looks really cool. The next step is to start planting the bulbs. We wanted to wait until after Halloween because all the kids stepping into it. Eventually we will put up a little picket fence.

What I Bought At The Scrapbook Expo

Here is a little peek at what I bought at the Scrapbook Expo yesterday in Sacramento. I had a great time and I did really well sticking to my list I made before I left.

I spent a lot of time at the 7 Gypsies and Rusty Pickle booths:

I loved everything that Hambly Screen Prints had in their booth. Their overlays and rubons are just beautiful. The best quality I have every seen and their booth was packed the whole show. I did a really cool make and take that was taght by Christina Padilla who I met a few months ago at a Sprap Jazz crop. She is a great designer and an excellent teacher.


The color of the day was orange:


I had a great time. My husband John is the best for driving me down there so I could enjoy myself and not have to worry about my back pain. What a great husband I have I am so lucky.

Going To The Scrapbook Expo Today

I am so excited. I am going to the Scrapbook Expo in Sacraento today. John is being such a good husband, he is going to drive me down there and then run some errands while I go shopping. I was so exited this morning I couldn't sleep. So I got up and started writting my list of must have item. Hopefully I will stick to the list!

New Layout - Long Beach Sunset

It only took me two years but I finally scrapbooked these photos of one of my trips down to Southern Califoria. I never did get around to editing the photos. I have decided to just scrapbook all of my old photos without editing them. I now try and edit most of my photos right after I take them they will ready to go when it is time to scrapbook.

Anyways, this layout was of a fun evening going out with my family and I glad that it is now in my scrapbook.

Halloween Photos

Our Halloween Photos from last night. We had a lot of fun making Jack-o-lanterns and handing out lots of candy. The kids were so cute!