Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Hello 14


Happy 14th Wedding Anniversary to My Husband Brad!  

In honor of our 14 years as husband and wife I thought it would be fun to share 14 memorable moments!  Listed in chronological (or close too) order:
  1. Driving cross county from MI to CA, TWICE!  I'm glad you've relaxed the 4 am wake up calls and 12 hour driving schedule.
  2. Shopping for and furnishing our first apartment, still can't believe we fit so many Ikea boxes into that Ford Escort AND that we still have that Ford Escort!
  3. Exploring Yosemite and Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks, and yes, we will totally take the free bus service to trail heads from now on!
  4. Saturday mornings spent at the Farmer's Market picking up strawberries, flowers, and banana bread from Bake Sale Betty
  5. Maui for our Honeymoon and driving the Road to Hana + our romantic dinner luau
  6. The amazing trips we took around CA from exploring Santa Barbara, checking off another Mission off the list, to seeing Hearst Castle & eating pot pie at Linn's and so many more!
  7. Our Easter in Santa Fe while interviewing at Los Alamos.  The dinner at KFC might just be one of our most memorable holiday meals!
  8. Finding two red lines, "No wait, it says to wait ten minutes!"  Ah, yeah that second line isn't going to disappear.
  9. Holding each of our babies for the first time & watching them grow. Hearing the kids call out Mommy or Daddy and light up when they see us makes up for the times they are challenging, don't you think?
  10. Going from watching House Hunters to actually looking for one ourselves, especially since we were coming back "home", something I never thought would happen!
  11. Having our families with us for holiday celebrations again, it's so much nicer to have a full table at Thanksgiving than to just be the two of us like every other day.
  12. Disney World is so much more fun with children, I never would've guessed how into getting all the autographs you would be!  You are one patient Daddy to visit so many princesses!
  13. Showing our kids what going up north means to a Michigander and how a pastie must be eaten anytime you're there!  
  14. And since we just went, I'll end with the summer birthday trips we've started taking each year.  I hope they become a regular thing and that as the kids get older we can go for longer.  Chicago was so fun and even though you did implement the early wake up once again, I will admit that it did get us to the Field Museum early enough to feel like we had a private viewing of the dinosaurs!
Love you very much Brad and can't imagine life without you by my side, now and always ♥ 

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Monday, August 11, 2014

Mani Monday: Ulta Mint Condition


During Ulta's last clearance sale I picked up their 8 Piece Nail Pail with Mini Nail File for around five dollars.  I thought that was the perfect way to try out their in house brand for the first time.  I wore Mint Condition for a trip to the lake last month.  It was the perfect color for the beach, but the formula was a little on the thin side.  This was three thin coats, but the top coat did help it wear well and make it worth the extra effort it took to get it on.

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Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Project Life April 2014

It's a new month and the first Tuesday so that must mean it's time for another installment of Project Life Share!  Since April had both Spring Break and Easter in it, it was a busy month!  Most pages were event based and since those were so photo heavy, I didn't end up having very many weekly spreads.  The ones I did complete were kind of basic so I opted to focus on the highlights.


The weekend leading into Spring Break my daughter went over to Grandma's for a sleepover.  She always loves this special alone time with Grandma and they create many great memories together.  Now that she has a little brother, this time is very precious to her and she looks forward to having Grandma's undivided attention.  As you can see, the big activity this time was dying some eggs.


We didn't go on a big trip but did get away for an overnight trip to The Great Wolf Lodge.  It was our first time at this location and the little kid pool was a big hit with the two year old.  I did a full spread and a 4X4 insert with each side featuring one of the kids.


I cracked out the special page protectors from the Just Add Color Kit that was on HSN awhile ago.  It was perfect for some not so great pictures that I still wanted to include.  The smaller size makes them look less fuzzy, another bonus to using the 2X2 pockets.


At the end of Spring Break we went to our annual Easter event with our good friends and their kids.  This time we tried a completely new activity and went to Dave & Busters.  We all had a really nice time and it was very well priced for everything included.  We got breakfast, could take our own pictures with the Bunny, unlimited non-ticket earning games, a few free ticket earning games, a goodie bag, and a free photo booth picture with the Bunny.


I used some of the 2X2 inserts from the Just Add Color Kit on the left side of the spread and patterned paper to fill in the other slots.  Then I used the same patterned paper to make a coordinating journaling card for the right side of the spread.  I thought they really tied everything together nicely.


That Saturday ended up being jammed packed because we headed up the road to my parents after the Bunny Breakfast was over.  We were literally one exit away from them and since they live over an hour away it made sense to stop over for a quick egg hunt for the kids, lunch, and then drive over to see my Grandpa in the nursing home.

I got to use some of my favorite supplies from Doodlebug Design Inc. on these Easter themed pages and I think it makes everything look so cute and happy!  It was helpful to use bright colorful supplies since it didn't look like spring had arrived outside yet.


After the kids got their goodies and we had lunch, we got to the real reason for meeting up with my parents.  It had been way too long since the kids and I had been over to see my Grandpa, their Great Grandpa.  It was an especially cold and snowy winter and we just hadn't made it over in months!

Now my Grandpa can be the very definition of a grouchy old man but this time he was really alert and for him, talkative...which still means not very but like I said for him, it was like he had a lot to say.  I specifically remember that he was glad I brought my camera.  He is who I got my love of photography from, he has been critiquing my images ever since I snapped my first one.  On that day, he said it was good I was taking a picture of him with the kids so they'd have it to remember him by.

He even managed to look a little bit like he was smiling in a few, which is very rare, and I noticed in one after I uploaded it, that it looked like he was waving.  I wonder if he had a sense that his time was nearing an end.  He took a turn for the worse soon after and then died around two weeks later so that's the last time my kids and I saw him alive.

These ended up being very important pictures.  He was my last Grandparent alive and I was especially close to him and my Grandma as they lived three blocks away from us for most of my childhood.  I usually saw them every few days growing up and they were a big part of my life.  I am glad my last time seeing him was such a nice upbeat visit.


Spring Break had a lot of bigger activities but there were some random photos that I wanted to include so I pulled them together for this quick page.


I'll end this month's share with Easter.  Our festivities began bright and early at home.  My two year old was moving so fast it was very hard to get a decent picture of him, he was so excited to find eggs filled with candy.  I put the obligatory family pictures in an insert along with a few of the kids during the backyard egg hunt at Grandma Norma's.


Since I have many, many pictures of E hunting eggs and the ones of her that morning at home turned out better, I included more of the little guy hunting at Grandma's.  After the insert there are a few more pictures of the family celebration, including my dinner plate, everything was so yummy!

I hope your Project Life pages are coming along and you are continuing to enjoy this method for memory keeping.  I continue to find it great fun!  I'm linking up with The Mom Creative & the Community Show & Tell at Simple Scrapper.

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