Hang on to your seat....

yes indeed, it's me.. returning to post on the good ole blog!! Did ya miss me??? Life has been cray busy!! but what is new right?

So let's recap the last 6 weeks.. volleyball (posted pics already).

School pics (taken by Tim Patrick photography...awesome job!)




Ana's birthday (14th)



Fossil dig with Karina in Republic





My 2nd great nephew was born. Welcome Kainoa (Noe)


Pumpkin Patch after visiting my mom and dad (Happy Birthday Dad!) 135 pounds of pumpkins later (only 5 pumpkins!)



Halloween
Karina- wood fairy



Ana (old fashioned girl)





Next up is dance team if they get that going again for Ana (coach is having a baby that wants to come early silly thing) and then Brett's birthday, Thanksgiving and oh so much more I'm sure! Eagerly awaiting the return of my D60 as the shutter decided to quit working in the middle of the last couple volleyball games.. :( It's an ouchie fix but needed :(

Hello Fall...

well it's not officially here but it always seems that way after fair is over that fall really officially begins :) We've had our first Volleyball game and we won!! Go Bullpups! A few random shots with my new zoom.. it's almost like being on the court! Lighting always sucks in gyms.. :) LOL






Fair time has come and gone... we brought home tons of ribbons and awards :) 3 Grand champions and 3 Reserve Grand Champions and 2 people's choice awards :) Gotta love that! I got a blue on my scrapbook (no grand this year :( boo hiss) and reds on all my photos. We won't discuss photography @ the fair okay.. makes me hot under the collar :) LOL
Some highlights!
Karina's quilt.. Reserve Grand Champion and People's choice for Sunday



Ana's quilt.. People's choice for Thursday..yes it has a red..they didn't like that all her points weren't pointy.. but I thought pretty darn good for a 13 year old!



All the rest of their Grands and Reserves came in the baking division... my girls like to bake and do a pretty darn good job. Ana's Blondies are to die for.. one of her friends has asked for a pan of blondies for her birthday..that is all she wants! Ana entered 8 photos and Karina entered 3 photos and K had some misc. crafty things running around the booth. Ana sang today and I'm working on uploading the videos now to facebook. The first one I forgot I had the video going as I was also using my camera to take pictures and had the other camera propped up to record LOL

A few random photos from the fair...some by me and some by Ana who hijacked my baby and took off with it... I worried the entire time..called her 3 times to see if it was okay LOL



Harlie's feet


My adopted daughter Kelsie :)


ana's cow says good bye until next fair :)

Offical crazy time has started.....

We'll be trying to cram the last 3 weeks of summer doing as much as we can before we hit the grind of school again. @ the rodeo one of Ana's classmates said goodbye when it was over and that he'd see her in HE double hockey sticks in 3 weeks :) LOL I about died laughing! Ana is about going crazy to get back to the social aspects of school and sports! Karina is so-so about it..but I'm sure when it happens she'll be great! Brett starts back next week, but officially on the 16th. We were going to try to hit the beach with our bonus time for our resort but alas no time available...that sucks. We're going to Twin Lakes with the Headley's next weekend to enjoy some R&R.

We broke down.. we did.. we went to Stampede. We usually try to get the heck out of dodge when it comes to town, but since our ocean plans fell through we decided to hit family night at the rodeo. Of course we had to hit a few rides first, find some grub, get out of the brief downpour before we hit the stands. We went for box seats so we could see up close and personal :) Took my camera and got some good shots. This is where I wish I had my zoom lens :( someday :) Got some good pictures :)
Ana on some rides:



Brett and Jeff Cheeseman hanging with their daughters on the Ball of Fire ride :)


Karina and the streeters on the fury ride.. Lyndsi was not enjoying it as much as Dylan and Karina


Karina and Dylan on the yo yo



Random Rodeo pictures :)







and I'll leave with me...kicking back and enjoying the rest of my summer (until I have to go pack up my classroom and see what my new job holds!)

Did you see that????

? that blur that just rushed past me?? I think it was my summer..rushing past me!! I can't believe it's almost the end of July! Where has time gone?

Since the last blog post...we've sent Ana off to Cougar Quest Camp @ WSU (academic fun classes-she'll be home tonight) Karina celebrated the first double digit birthday and I did my 3 days of my EETT grant training (information overload BIG time).



Because I was in class on Karina's birthday we just did dinner and cake when I got home (presents of course..now she can rock out big time!) so tonight I'm taking Karina and 2 of her friends (also July birthdays) to the Best Western in Omak and we're swimming, having pizza, watching movies and hanging out in the hotel all night :) Ana will join us for a bit when she gets home this evening. Brett plans on staying as far away as possible! LOL I know if works out okay that Ana wants to do it too for her birthday in Oct.

Karina and I have a few housekeeping things to do for tonight..like more food to eat in the room, some drinks, movies and cupcakes for celebrating!

The last week of July brings us allergy testing for Karina and a trip to the Tri-Cities to visit my mom and dad and visit with my bro and sil and my neice and nephew. The cousins need to bug each other (these are the youngest of the cousin bunch). Then it will be August and all the back to school demands begin! Ana has Band Camp, I have 2 days of Math training, an interview for a possible different position next year, hopefully a bit of family vacation, (beach and or the lake with Headleys) and scrapbooking!

I'm part of Peta Boardman's CT and 5 of us are part of the Battle of the CT's. Its a competition. We have to make layouts using the designers products and also follow the directions for the week. Last week was to use a common color (we chose pink, red and white) and to do a white space layout (white space meaning leaving more open spaces and not filling the whole page. Here is what I did.


We made it through the first round, our group was not in the top 3 (bummer) but we're on to round 2. Round 2 is to make a layout with a song type in it. We're using love songs. I'll post later with the link to vote when the round is up to vote. Voting only last 2 days :) and then the next round is put up! There are 4 rounds and the team with the most votes in the end win prizes :)

Okay off to do Karina's hair (she loves to have it all braided and made fancy) and then off into the stores to spend $$$ :)

Oh someone remind me to take a picture of karina's finished quilt :) Ana just got hers back the night before she left for WSU as we had forgotten it at my mils. She has some work to do on it before Fair so she better get to work!

A view of summer so far...

Some photos to see what we've done this summer so far! :) Enjoy!

Manito Park - Lisa spent a couple of hours here


More flower pictures here: Flowers :)

The girls spent a weekend with their Nana and cousins:


4th of July






Ana enjoyed her friend Zoe's 14th bday by floating the river with her and 8 other friends :)


See album Here: FLoating

still to come this summer... Ana's Cougar Quest camp, Karina's birthday, fishing,a day at Silverwood, camping with the Headley's, golfing for Brett, Band Camp and various doctors appointments before school starts!!

FOBTY...

we're suppose to blog about the weather.. What about this Okanogan weather? It's been a pretty abnormal summer I think. It's almost mid July and we still haven't had the scorching heat that we normally have. It's been cloudy, windy and a few plain ugly storms. I worry a bit about the dry lightening as we are pretty bone dry up here and that means FIRE.. Fire season is not fun!

Sooo looking at the forecast.. we have some nice mellow days ahead of us :) go mellow days :) Looks like good camping weather or even maybe a day at silverwood (amusement park) :)

FOBTY...

You Are a Pineapple Smoothie

You are adventurous and brave. You aren't afraid of much. You are in love with new experiences. You are usually the first to try something. You get bored rather easily, and you need to be challenged in life. You are turbo charged. Most people find it impossible to keep up with you in any capacity.

What Flavor Smoothie Are You?

camp and room make over :)

Dropped the girls off at Camp last week. Here they are at Camp Four Echoes on Lake Coeur d'alene :)





cleaned up the junk out of Karina's room and then spent two days painting it. Brett helped by putting up the tape on Wednesday night. The next morning... sadly all his work was on the floor :( that wasn't nice of the tape!
BEFORE:



AFTER: rejuvenate green :) (white border on bottom will be covered by baseboard)