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Sassy Lil’ Sketches “Hidden” Treasures Blog Hop

2010-08-23T08:16:00.003-05:00

It's a blog hop! There are two awesome sketches for this hop -

here's the layout I did using the first sketch

The next stop on your hop is Brenda B. and be sure you stop by the sassy blog as well!

Sassy Lil’ Sketches “Hidden” Treasures Blog Hop
August 23rd through August 30th, 9 PM. EST.

We are having a Blog Hop…Sassy Lil’ Sketches (http://sassylilsketches.blogspot.com) style! We want you to get to know our new Sassies. There are some pretty fabulous prizes to win, too!

The Sassy Lil' Sketches "Hidden" Treasures Blog Hop starts at Sassy Lil' Sketches (http://sassylilsketches.blogspot.com) where you will find two sassy sketches and the rules for the blog hop.

The Sassies:
Aimee (http://optimisticscrappiness.blogspot.com/)
Amanda (http://amandajonesblog.blogspot.com/)
Amy (http://gebmom.blogspot.com/)
Brenda B. (http://brendasscrappyblog.blogspot.com/)
Brenda R. (http://www.roseblossomlegacies.blogspot.com/)
Carla (http://www.carlarausin.blogspot.com/)
Cherie (http://boywouldntyouliketoknow.blogspot.com/)
Cheryl (http://cherylswindow.blogspot.com)
Christine (http://scrappinshimano.blogspot.com/)
Deanna (http://momentstocherish-deanna.blogspot.com/)
Debbie (http://www.scrapenabler.blogspot.com/)
Denise (http://lalasworldblog.blogspot.com/)
Isabelle (Zabou) (http://zaboubricole.canalblog.com/)
Jessica Bree (http://www.jessicabree.typepad.com)
Katie (http://scissorsspatulasandsneakers.blogspot.com)
Kelly (http://www.meluv2scrap.blogspot.com/)
Laura (http://www.findingthejoyineachday.blogspot.com/)
Martine (http://scrapcatslove.blogspot.com/)
Nancy (http://homesclscrapper.blogspot.com/)
Rebecca (http://houseofhenrie.blogspot.com/)
Sandra (http://buttonsandbowsandmore.blogspot.com/)
Shana (www.yayaprincessblog.blogspot.com)

Our awesome, amazing, and completely generous sponsors for Sassy Lil’ Sketches “Hidden” Treasure Blog Hop:
Xyron (www.xyron.com)
Thoughts 2 Paper (www.thoughts2paper.com)
Scrappy Jo (www.shopscrapbooksupplies.com)
Crop Stop (www.cropstop.com)
Apron Strings ( www.apronstringsdesigns.com)
Crop Chocolate (www.cropchocolate.com)
BoBunny (www.bobunny.com)

June 28th Sassy lil Sketch

2010-06-28T14:51:00.003-05:00

I am having so much fun doing the design team for sassylilsketches.blogspot.com - that i applied for another term! and I got accepted! YAY!

this is my June layout -

based on the June 28th sketch -

Sassy lil' Sketches

2010-04-28T09:13:00.004-05:00

It's April 28th! Time for another one of my layouts to be up at sassy lil sketches! I am loving using Cherie's sketches, great inspiration!
be sure to pop over there and check out the layouts by all the great DT girls - there's new layouts or cards every week!

*these pictures are of some friends of ours from church, I took their family pictures for them a while back, and she gave me permission to use them for this layout. He is also the boys' taekwondo instructor. THANKS HOWLETTS!

It's a blog hop!

2010-03-12T00:30:00.003-06:00

Welcome to my part of the Sassy Lil' Sketches GOING GREEN blog hop! I'm glad you stopped here as you're hopping along!

Here's the sketch from Cherie and Katie - I hope you find it as inspirational as I did!

Here's my layout!

Here's the details of the blog hop.

Create a project (card, layout, or altered) using the Going Green sketch from above AND one of the Going Green critera listed below:

1. Go Green - create a project predominantly green in color

2. Reduce - create a project that reduces your stash - using product that is ALL at least a year old (no new product)

3. Reuse - create a project with 'leftovers' from another project

4. Recycle - do a project with something that was used for something else first.

We will be offering a random Grand Prize for one participant.

Participants can get their name in for the prize by 1) becoming a follower of the Sassy Lil' Sketches blog, 2) leave a comment on each of the DT's blogs, 3) by doing the "Going Green" challenge and linking it by Mr. Linky to the Sassy Lil' Sketches blog http://www.sassylilsketches.blogspot.com/ by 9:00 pm eastern time on Sunday March 14th, 2010.

Thanks again for stopping by! The next stop on the blog hop is Cheryl's blog http://www.cherylswindow.blogspot.com/

some scrapbook stuff...

2010-03-01T19:41:00.003-06:00

I have a lot of scrapbook stuff to share with you! :)

this is my first layout for the sassy lil sketches blog - check it out at www.sassylilsketches.com

this layout was supposed to be for a blog hop for sassy sketches and a couple other sites. but i was supposed to use a couple other requirements other than just the sketch, and i kind of got wrapped up in using the great sketch, and forgot about the other stuff. but here it is anyway...

and this is the stuff I made for the scrapfreak design team for February. It's using Pink Paislee cupid line of products. SO STINKING CUTE!

in other news... I spent a good chunk of the last weekend working on my scrapbook room - it's almost useable. and now i want to do a little decorating in there to make it a really fun spot.

I'll share pictures when it's all done!

FINALLY - we made it to Grand Island

2010-02-21T20:43:00.005-06:00

After getting snowed out 2 times we finally got to go to Drew and Michelle's last weekend to celebrate Eli's 6th birthday. Here are just a few pictures of the good times we had. :)

boys at the hotel pool - theyr'e a bunch of little fish!

Saturday we went bowling for Eli's birthday party.
here's drew... rolling his suitcase full of bowling balls... YES - there were many jokes made!

9,8,6 and 6 (for a couple more weeks)

love bowling shoes!

Caleb showing how it's done

Dad helping Eli

Drew hel... um - no - actually i'm not sure what they're doing. boys are weird.

Levi - giving it a little lean - hoping to move the ball with his jedi mind force

we had a fun time... but i tell you what - who know bowling was so dangerous?

mom got hurt, Michelle pulled a muscle, it hurt my arm i broke... we were a mess. :) but it was FUN! anything for the kids.

till next time

x0x0 ~Amy

SuperBowl/Birthday party

2010-02-16T22:57:00.005-06:00

We were supposed to try traveling to Drew and Michelle's for the first weekend in February, BUT the weather had other plans for us... so... for the 2nd time - we stayed home.

Staying home allowed us to toss together a quick party. Partly to watch the super bowl, and partly for Jason's birthday. It was a great time. 8 adults and 10 kids. It got a little wild! :)

Matt fed Emma a LOT of cake

Brian and Syver

goon ball

Thane - he's starting to warm up to my camera. :)

I sent Caleb downstairs where the kids were watching a movie - and told him to get some pictuers of the kids. This was the best he got. ha!

Syver was telling me the CUTEST story about what he and his brothers are going to be when they all grow up - but when I pulled out my camera, he wasn't so impressed. :) isn't he cute?

yep, that's my kid! some day he's going to regret these goofy things he does!

Here's all the kids at the end of the night... this is the only picture (out of like 15) where you can see all their faces. :)

my other sweet boy...

2010-02-15T17:59:00.004-06:00

well, I planned to get this posted the day after the one about Caleb, but my laptop had other ideas. My motherboard was fried... BUT now I have a pretty new laptop and i'm working on getting things back to normal. so here he is...

my sweet baby boy. He's going to be SEVEN in March and I just can't believe it. He's so funny. He makes me laugh more than once a day.

When he was a baby, we were always amazed by his facial expressions, and they're still so funny. He's such a good friend, he cares about people.

His one foot has been giving him some trouble. but x-rays didn't show anything, so hopefully if he just rests a little more it will be better. At school, he's still working on his reading - I love having him read me books.

he's getting ready for his yellow belt test at taekwondo - he does such a good job, but he has a little trouble feeling confident. so we're working on that.

The other day Levi told me that all he wants for his birthday is a blackberry... um, nice try kid, but i don't think that's going to happen. :)

don't you just want to take that dimple and put it in your pocket?

my babies...

2010-02-09T09:03:00.003-06:00

On Sunday there was *almost* some sunshine coming in our front window, and so ... just to torture the boys - I made them let me take their pictures. They loved every minute. Unfortunately, I couldn't get a decent picture of them together, but there's some funny ones ...
Let's start with the big one today...

I'm having a hard time accepting that he's going to be double digits in just a few weeks...
so he reminds me of it every day.

At school he's learning multiplication tables, and starting basic algebra... third grade, and he's almost to the point where his parents will no longer be any help with math. poor kid.

He's decided he wants long hair "just to see what happens", and he needs new glasses. He's informed me that he wants "cool glasses" not sure what those are... but i have no doubt we probably won't agree.

Caleb is growing out of pants and shoes faster than we can afford them, he's past Gram's chin, and he LOVES taekwondo, and is working hard to get ready for his yellow belt test in March.

He's become quite the snow shoveler this winter, which his dad likes. He's getting funnier and sassier... "too big for his britches" grandma Etta would call him.

I guess we'll keep him. :)

check in tomorrow - for the small one.

Playing in the snow

2010-02-08T10:44:00.002-06:00

goofy kids having a great time in the snow...
goofy mom - had fun playing with photoshop.

Scrapbooking Excitement

2010-01-24T15:39:00.003-06:00

I am proud to announce that I made the design team for Sassy Lil' Sketches. Katie and Cherie are going to be so fun to work with! I can't wait to get going!
Here are my layouts I submitted for the try out.

Camping with the Hales

2009-08-11T09:09:00.007-05:00

This weekend we went camping with mom's side of the family at Snake Creek - close to Platte. beautiful location! We had so much fun, and for the most part great weather. (well, except one major storm, but we survived (for the most part)

Jalen went on her first boat ride on "uncle craig boat!"

We played on the slides...weee...

We had a mean beanbag tournament. Laine and Corey won, Drew and Michelle got 2nd, us old folks didn't do so good...

Rockin' on the Ridge

2009-06-16T15:55:00.005-05:00

Our Church had a special event on Sunday afternoon, and it was awesome! we had such a great time! Sadly in the afternoon it poured rain, so they ended up having it inside, instead of outside... but it was still a success. Good friends, games for the kids, and Great entertainment!

bringing back childhood memories at the rocket park...

2009-06-12T11:04:00.005-05:00

While we were in Huron for the wedding, we took the boys Sunday morning to the "rocket park". They've recently refinished it - and it's all fancy! :) Drew and I played there as kids - so it was fun to have our kids play. Only problem was... IT WAS FREEZING OUTSIDE! :)

lots of pictures...enjoy!

look at my old man...he's still got it! :)

michelle was cold! told you it was freezing!

look at drew's icky hat! BLECH!

no comment...heh...

mom and dad's four adorable grandsons.

even braved a little game of ball while we were there.

Chad and Dani got MARRIED!

2009-06-08T11:49:00.006-05:00

I'm waiting on permission from the bride and groom to post some more pictures that i took, but for now - you can see some family fun and sillyness! it was a great wedding, and a great time hanging out with our crazy family! already miss them all very much!

Camping - what a great weekend!

2009-06-01T10:16:00.008-05:00

wow, what a great weekend! We went camping at the river this weekend, and it was perfect! the weather friday and saturday was SO NICE! believe it or not, there was not a stitch of wind! We spent a huge chunk of time Saturday on the boat on the river - actually CATCHING FISH! - be ready - lots of pictures follow!

crazy storm friday night, we didn't get any rain, but beautiful clouds and colors.

the boys caught quite a few fish! heck, *I* even caught a few! :)

Caleb won't touch the fish - goofy boy!

I think Mom caught more fish than anyone else!

ew!

Dad loves having me along to do silly things like take pictures - can you tell?

nasty dirty feet! blech!

campfire was chilly Saturday night!

this was the view from the campsite.

Spring Soccer

2009-05-26T21:05:00.004-05:00

Tonight was the boys' last night of soccer for the spring. Mom and dad were here to watch with us, and FREEZE with us. sheesh - it was cold! But the boys played the so well! they both really hustled, and Levi scored a goal! YAY!

Next is T-Ball for Levi.

Backyard BBQ

2009-05-25T16:39:00.005-05:00

Sunday night we had some friends over to BBQ for the long weekend. Will and Amber brought their firepit and the kids had a GREAT TIME roasting marshmallows. Here's a few of the best pics I snapped. :)

oh...my child...

2009-05-21T07:21:00.004-05:00

Levi is such a goofball, the other night while we (ha we, I mean THEY) were planting the garden, he said "ok mommy, you take my picture, and I'll show you my faces" so here they are...

started off pretty innocent and nice

and then oh my... i knew we were in for a ride, but i kept snapping

so, as I'm posting these, I decided to ask him what these faces "mean" so here you go...

this is my "smart, thinking face"

my "you're funny face"
oh! that's my "naughty face"

oh dear! this is "mean!"

"that's my bug eating face of course!"

"i have no idea what that is, but it looks weird"

"that's my i'm sorry and i love you mommy face"

so there you have it. the many faces of levi.

*i think he's got a future in theater, what do you think?

just a couple soccer pictures

2009-05-20T11:01:00.003-05:00

1) it was too stinking hot and windy to be at soccer
2) the boys played at EXACTLY the same time - hard for a mom to watch both
3) I *need* a zoom lens
4) Levi made a goal! and Caleb's team won!

how many pictures can you take of planting a small garden?

2009-05-20T10:58:00.004-05:00

evidently if you're me, and you have a new camera FIFTY FOUR! :)
here's just a few. the kids had a great time.

Dinner with the Thomas family

2009-05-17T21:13:00.005-05:00

We had the Thomas family over for dinner tonight - kind of spur of the moment - relaxed, easy, simple summer food on the grill dinner, and we had a great time! just relaxing, eating, visiting, and enjoying every SINGLE moment of these adorable girls. so great. God's really blessed us - to be able to be so close to them. i love summer... (sorry, lots of pictures!)

Guys' fishing weekend

2009-05-17T21:10:00.003-05:00

Jason and some guys from our small group at church went on a camping/fishing weekend with my dad as their "guide" this weekend. sounds like they had a GREAT time - and from the looks of these pictures, they actually caught fish too! Word has it that my dad is "cool" - which I already knew! Thanks dad - they had a great time! you're the best!

New Camera

2009-05-17T21:06:00.005-05:00

I finally got a digital rebel and i LOVE IT! Dorothy sold me her old camera for a great price, and I couldn't resist. I'm SO looking forward to learning some things and working on my photography skills. I took these pictures friday afternoon, straight out of the box.

Landscaping

2009-05-04T22:05:00.005-05:00

picture heavy post. :)

first - Verity's baby dedication was Sunday, and so we went out to Fredel and Jason's for lunch after. Al's whole family was there, so that was fun.

then we're doing some landscaping in the front of our house. When we bought this house
there wasn't a single tree or shrub or flower or ANYTHING on our whole property. so...
we're working on it. We planted 3 shrubs that are 'barberries' or something? (yeah, i'm
no gardener!)

so this is just getting started on Sunday

Levi being cute.

Caleb 'helping'

Jason hard at work.

levi was more than excited about the WORMS! weird kid.

Levi being a wild man bike rider.

Cale 'surfing' on the shovel (as you can see they only helped when it looked fun)

Caleb being 'handsome' he's so 'old' now. he doesn't like to be cute.

the dogwood that we got for the northeast corner of the front.

and last - i was just playing with the camera and thought this one was pretty.

the last couple weeks

2009-05-01T10:53:00.004-05:00

Levi was a bunny in his kindergarten play - he had one big line "you're MEAN!" HA!
he did a great job. 1st picture is him with his teacher.

Wednesday we had AWANA awards night - Very proud of Caleb, he got his award for doing all 3 sparks books in 3 years.

and Levi got his 1st year book award too!

and... Soccer has started! It's been chilly so far - but hopefully it'll be getting better - every tuesday and thursday if anyone's interested in coming and watching!

Just for Sus

2009-04-22T08:34:00.003-05:00

When we were home for Easter, *Aunt Sus* informed me how bad I was at keeping my blog updated. :D so here's a quick recap of the last month or... probably more like 3.

love this pic of mom reading to the monkeys

Caleb had his spring concert for school - he did a great job of singing, and he thought it was pretty cool to be up on the fancy stage at the auditorium of the high school.

We got a NEW CAR! well, new to us! it's a 2007 chrysler pacifica. When we started looking for something new, I told Jason I wanted a silver vehicle. and he informed me that when you shop for a used car - you don't shop for color. well! :) it's silver. ;)

Monkeys on Easter morning - spoiled as usual!

and... these last ones are out of order...sorry!
We had a busy birthday season! Here are the boys blowing out the candles at their 'together' party. We went *low key* this year and just had yummy food, ice cream cake and lots of family. It was still a great time.

Poor Levi was REALLY sick on his actual birthday, :( I felt so bad for him, he was quite pitiful. But I think we did a good job of making up for it by celebrating for several days after.

So...there you have it. HA! all caught up!
until next time...
~Amy

someone forgot

2009-04-05T09:56:00.004-05:00

to tell South Dakota that it's SPRING! HELLO!
The snow is so wet and the wind was blowing so hard - that it only stuck to the east side of a lot of things. Looks really weird!

Big day of Ice Fishing

2009-01-31T20:48:00.005-06:00

Jason and the boys met my dad at Fort Thompson today - our friends Rod and Val who run Diamond Willow Ministries on the reservation up there - have a youth ice fishing tournament every year. The boys always have a great time.
Well...this year comes with a big fish story!
They hadn't caught any fish when I (Amy) talked to them at 4:00. Tournament was over at 5! at 5:15 Caleb called me and said MOMMY! I WON THE WHOLE THING!
at 4:40 - Caleb caught an almost 2 pound Walleye (daddy thinks it was about 18 inches long)! It was bigger than even any of the adults had caught! lucky little stinker.

here are the pictures. Enjoy!

365

2008-12-29T11:33:00.000-06:00

ok - i'm going to try it again. :)

here's a link.
http://365amy.blogspot.com/

i posted a 'best of 2008' to get me started on 2009.

Levi's Kindergarden Christmas Program

2008-12-11T12:26:00.002-06:00

all those 5 yr olds...so stinking cute!

playing their bells

singing I'm getting nothing for christmas

little show off...

Thanksgiving Weekend 2008

2008-12-11T12:21:00.005-06:00

not too many pictures from actual thanksgiving day for some reason.
but lots from the day after at the capital and seeing the trees and feeding the geese.
enjoy!
(and yes, i started watermarking my pictures - always better to be safe on the web)

this year's BIG tree was the biggest ever!

is she the cutest thing you've ever seen?

boys got to go on a free wagon ride - they thought that was awesome!

we all decided that we can't remember ever going to feed the geese in shirt sleeves! usually it's dang cold and super windy!

New Bed for Caleb

2008-11-15T22:35:00.004-06:00

mom and dad are here - and dad and jason were busy today - lofting caleb's bed so the boys can have their beds in an L shape in their room, and have some more floor space.

so i chronicled their day with pictures. (and as you can tell - they loved it...ha!)

Halloween 2008

2008-11-01T08:22:00.002-05:00

Here are a few of our pictures from last night. Great time was had by all. Lots of walking, TONS of candy, and super fun with good friends.

here's Jalen the lion - i got to put her costume on her before she left my house. isn't she ADORABLE? you should hear her roar!

caleb and levi were in GOOFY moods! can you tell?

here we are with Ellie "aka hannah montana" and Ethan the pirate - at the trunk or treat at a church in town. I'm telling you - trunk or treat is the way to go!

here's ballerina Emma - she was cold - but her tutu is under there - trust me. i love her blue eyes!

here's our punkins all a glow... the boys were impressed!

and here we are - right before bed (at almost 10pm) with our haul...seriously - do 2 kids *need* this much candy?

Oct 30th and it's 70 degrees!

2008-10-30T18:10:00.004-05:00

it was a beautiful day today! the boys and I and the babies i watch enjoyed sometime playing outside after school. Here are a few shots i took.
first the boys with their pumpkins we carved. Caleb picked a funny face, and Levi picked a cute frankenstein.
then my dear sweet levi...my kid who i love...but seriously - i don't know where he gets it - but he LOVES BUGS! today he spent time collecting grasshoppers in the yard (how they haven't all frozen i don't know) so here's a few of the pictures we took. is he cute or what?

and the weatherman says it's going to be just as beautiful outside tomorrow! YAY!

I'm going pink!

2008-10-02T21:18:00.003-05:00

yep - i did it last year and I'm doing it again.
my blog's going pink for october!

Family Pictures.

2008-09-21T21:50:00.004-05:00

went to NE for Ike's birthday this weekend. Took family pictures for mom - and I know they'll all be waiting to see them. so here are a few of my favorites. SOOC (straight out of camera) except for cropped one and i shrunk them down for posting.

enjoy.

went to NE for Ike's birthday this weekend. Took family pictures for mom - and I know they'll all be waiting to see them. so here are a few of my favorites. SOOC (straight out of camera) except for cropped one and i shrunk them down for posting.

enjoy.

First Day of School

2008-08-18T14:04:00.002-05:00

hard to believe it's that time of year already! but here they are...on their way to the first day of school.

caleb - off to second grade

Levi on his way to his VERY first day of Kindergarten.
he was so excited, that it was hard not to be excited for him. although - you can believe that i did shed a few tears about my baby going away to all day everyday school, but i was able to wait until he was out of sight.

can't wait to pick them up at 3:15 and see how it went!

not a lot going on...

2008-08-11T19:47:00.003-05:00

not too much to report on around here...

winding up our summer and getting the boys ready for school. Hard to believe that my baby is going to be going to kindergarten. but he's so very excited!

i do have some scrapbook stuff to report on. :)

This weekend we had a crop at scrapfreak, and I got some cool things made.
but the thing i'm the MOST excited about is this frame...

I'm really proud of it. it's fun to get so excited about a project.

AND I found out tonight that I won the monthly contest put on by a sb company named scenic route! This is the second time i've won their contest. This time I submitted this...

and I get their new paper line as a prize! YAY!

this next weekend we're doing a mini vacation in sioux falls, and then next monday will be the first day of school...so stay tuned. :)

so many pictures of camping - here's just a sampling...

2008-08-04T22:18:00.004-05:00

Just a few pictures from our weekend camping with my parents at Ft. Thompson.
we had a great time - wish it was longer! enjoy!

oh - the first 2 pictures are of the guys geocaching - but we didn't find it b/c dad and Jason were too worried about rattle snakes in the tall grass.

Happy 4th of July!

2008-07-05T21:35:00.005-05:00

our weekend in pictures. spent on *lovely* lake mitchell, mom and dad's pontoon boat, happy kids, happy husband, green water, gigantic houses, fish, turtles, fireworks on the lake... good times...good good good...

Dorothy's Visit...

2008-06-30T14:25:00.002-05:00

My friend Dorothy is in the states from Japan - and she came and spent five days with me in SD! we had SUCH a great time! a majority of the time, we did mostly NOTHING - but it was still awesome!

seeing the sights of mitchell. :)

"ow! i hit my head on a cow!"
then friday we went to sioux falls and ate out, did a bunch of shopping, and stayed in a hotel before her plane on saturday.

that's a BIG sandwich!

we both love chili's!

twelve years...

2008-06-29T21:15:00.002-05:00

can you believe it?

we're watching our wedding video. the boys think it's pretty funny.
some people they say haven't changed at all...

others get a big laugh...

like steve, laine, matty, britt...

they say daddy used to be skinny
and think it's weird that mommy doesn't have glasses on.

and best of all, levi wants to know why he didn't get to dance? poor kid. he's bummed.

it actually feels like summer!

2008-06-21T14:31:00.005-05:00

boys had an awesome watergun fight in the backyard today - caught so many great images, i couldn't decide which to post and which not to!

look! there's a mosquito biting his head! :eek:

our boys are extra allergic to mosquitoes, THIS is what happens when they get bit!

summer haircuts...

2008-06-08T10:52:00.002-05:00

am I the coolest mom ever or what?

Cale opted for just a regular old buzz. :)
but he's still cute!

I can't believe it!

2008-06-03T08:01:00.004-05:00

I won the card category of the pagemaps.com 2nd anniversary contest! :banana: I was SO SURPRISED! I created my card the day they were due, a couple hours before the deadline! I'm so glad that Becky picked my card.

Check it out!

and check out my friend shannon's layout right beside my card! she got honorable mention! CONGRATS SHANNON!

here's my card

and here's my prizes! I got an autographed copy of Becky's new book, and then a ton of loot!

in other news...

pretty quiet here on the home front this week. our boys (and our nephews) are at mom and dad's going to vbs - sounds like they're having a great time!

memorial weekend...terrible weather, 1 graduation, and a zillion pictures...

2008-05-27T10:21:00.006-05:00

the weather for our annual memorial day camping trip was MISERABLE! But we made the best of it.

Sunday we went to Lauren's HS Graduation in Huron - that was fun! Larry has called her "bird legs" forEVER, and so we took the bird theme to a new level. :) gotta love being a part of our family...after all your family helps to make you who you are. :giggle:

and here are some camping/fishing pictures. enjoy!

putting him to work! :)

Dad caught two fish at ONE TIME! too bad they were something icky and they had to be thrown back. :)

this last picture, i believe maybe michelle or drew took? It was taken on Saturday and I wasn't even at the campground. :)

busy weekend, get ready for a lot of pictures!

2008-05-18T21:28:00.004-05:00

ok, here we go! We had a lot to do this weekend! FIRST - look at the awesome picnic table my dad made for the boys for our back yard! It's just the perfect size, it's so sturdy, and they love it!

Saturday we had Laine's graduation in Tripp. So we all loaded up and headed down. Poor Jalen, little girl gets no attention, can't you tell? :)

here's our girl at graduation, seems almost impossible to me that our little adorable flowergirl is done with high school and moving on to college at USD to be an awesome teacher. sniff...love you lainer!if you ask the kids, they'll say the best thing about uncle al's house is the TRAMPOLINE! I am not kidding or exaggerating when I say these kids were jumping on this thing for over FIVE HOURS Saturday! I mean seriously? how in the WORLD do they have so much energy? yes, they got several injuries, but mostly they made it out alive. ;)

sheesh, who's kid is that?

yeah, steve is good at encouraging them. ;)

Sunday we had to get a good picture of mom with the boys for a late mother's day picture, but seriously? when you have boys who are 8, 6, 5, and 4 - it's not easy.

then this afternoon (sunday) jason and the boys went to Huron with my dad to the outdoorsman expo thingy. they had a GREAT TIME and I would imagine the boys will sleep WELL tonight!

best thing I learned this weekend?
"if you can't eat a big pickle, then don't take one!" LOVE YOU LAINE! :D

first soccer game

2008-05-07T19:40:00.001-05:00

first of the season
and first ever with my new camera. :)

enjoy!

check it out!

2008-05-06T12:39:00.001-05:00

levi's on the front page of the mitchell daily paper! Practicing for their preschool graduation program!

Pre-School Graduation

2008-05-05T21:24:00.004-05:00

We had Levi's spring program and pre-school graduation tonight. here are a few pictures. They did the poem "Rumble in the Jungle" Levi was a leopard. he was so cute!

here he is with his teachers

he got a new scooter ( he's been asking for a long time) for a graduation present, and daddy tried to run him over!

and a pic of caleb in his glasses - JUST for good measure. :)

I have been INFORMED...

2008-05-05T09:25:00.007-05:00

that my previous blog is lacking in pictures of one adorable flowergirl.
so here she is - not super great pictures

but adorable she is.
enjoy!
(just for you aunt ruth! :))

sorry that some are kind of blurry - lighting in the church was tough.
again - photos by jason. :)

Steve and Jenna's Wedding

2008-04-27T18:13:00.004-05:00

here are some pictures that Jason took for those who weren't able to be there this weekend.
despite the dreadful weather friday - wedding day saturday turned out to be pretty beautiful, and the wedding was AWESOME no matter the weather. Jenna was SUCH a beautiful bride, Steve was so ... well, "steve" and we loved being a part of their awesome day. We know they're going to "live happily ever after"

enjoy!

*photo credits completely go to Jason!

Easter weekend...

2008-03-25T18:13:00.004-05:00

just a few pictures. Enjoy!

ike enjoying some breakfast
the last minute easter baskets that we came up with after forgetting ALL our stuff at home in the closet.

mom and dad and all the grandsons

yeah yeah yeah - i wore a dress...

for two weeks they are 4, 5, 6, and 7

hunting eggs at grandma elaine's

drew got a fishin' pole for his birthday

couple more from today

2008-03-19T16:28:00.002-05:00

2 more of the birthday boy with his new bike - gift from mom, dad, and caleb

and a couple of the cutest baby on the planet. she was SO happy to be outside!

my baby is five...

2008-03-19T09:19:00.003-05:00

sigh...
he's SO excited! he had chocolate chip ego waffles for breakfast
has lunch already planned
picked out his 'birthday clothes'
we need to make snacks for school, and he got string cheese to take to awana
I can't believe he's five...

Anniversary party pictures

2008-03-17T10:12:00.003-05:00

I LOVE the way my grandma is laughing here!

a couple detail shots

gma & gpa

the card i made I ♥ it!

Third Day, Sanctus Real, and Decemberadio Concert

2008-03-14T10:09:00.005-05:00

Sanctus Real

Decemberadio

Third Day

Mac pulled this kid out of the audience to sing part of "love song" and he was actually GOOD!

love this one

so very fun!

GUESS WHAT!

2008-03-11T19:51:00.005-05:00

:D my dad's gettin' a blog!

probably not too much for people not interested in fishing the missouri river in central south dakota, but still. :D

I made him a header - AND I took the picture in the header as well.

http://justgoingfishing.blogspot.com/

love ya dad!

Valentine's day #2

2008-02-14T16:03:00.002-06:00

equally adorable don't you think? :)

Valentine's day #1

2008-02-14T11:28:00.002-06:00

probably going to be a couple posts today. but seriously HOW CUTE IS SHE?
yes I might be a tiny bit biased, but come on...

ADORABLE! Love her!

two babies!

2008-01-28T16:16:00.000-06:00

today was my first day watching TWO babies! I think things went well! (of course, my mom was here helping me and there wasn't too many times where they were both awake at the same time, and then one went home early. :D) but it was still good!

new camera

2008-01-18T17:00:00.000-06:00

tradition has it - that we do a little photo shoot whenever we get a new camera. this one is no different... today - Caleb was WAY more cooperative than Levi - but...I took what I could get.

they INSISTED on using one of their comforters as the background - i don't love the lines on it...but oh well. :)

holy cow!

2008-01-03T13:32:00.000-06:00

I can't believe it - but about a month ago a friend got me to enter a scrapbook contest for a company called Scenic Route - we've been using it for our design team stuff - and I'm LOVING IT! WELL - today we found out that we BOTH won! THANKS JESSICA!

I'm so shocked I can't BELIEVE I WON something!

I entered my halloween mini book that I made for scrapfreak.

so very cool...I'm getting free scrappy stuff in the mail as a prize! yay!

365 in 2008

2008-01-01T10:15:00.001-06:00

one of the things I'm going to work on this year are my photography skills. I'm hoping to get a new camera, and learn to take better photos.

SO...I'm doing a challenge at scrapfreak - and I'm going to try to take and post a photo a day.
you can see it here My Crazy Life... one picture at a time

just a little "good morning" for ya...

2007-12-29T08:32:00.000-06:00

this morning we will be dining on grandma elaine's SUPER AWESOME CHRISTMAS TWISTY ROLLS...thought you'd like to drool...

Happy Birthday Jesus!

2007-12-26T22:18:00.000-06:00

Christmas Day Sledding...

2007-12-26T22:14:00.001-06:00

Sledding on Christmas day - SO MUCH FUN!

Christmas Morning!

2007-12-25T08:46:00.000-06:00

here's a few pictures from this morning!
Cale woke up at 6:45 but we put him in bed with us and got him to sleep until almost 8 when levi got up! woohoo!

rollerblading AND shooting - looks dangerous to me!

I think we've lost him!

more later!

Christmas Eve

2007-12-24T23:21:00.001-06:00

Here are a few pictures from tonight! Since we can't travel b/c Jason's on call - we had friends over to our house after Church and we had a great time!

here's molly (1) when she got caught getting into the crackers before supper.

um, ya think levi enjoyed his spaghetti?

after dinner the kids put on their jammies and watched a movie in the basement

Caleb and Levi with their goodies for santa - cookie, candy, and carrots and broccoli for the reindeer. Levi insisted on putting a cube of ice in the milk so it wasn't nasty when santa got here!

here they are by the tree with their new jammies on.

now I'm heading to bed. I'm TIRED!
MERRY CHRISTMAS!

oh Christmas tree...

2007-12-05T18:55:00.001-06:00

here they are!

The small tree in the family room is decorated with all the boys' stuff...and fruitloops. :)

And the front room tree is our real tree, smells SO GOOD, and is decorated in a bunch of our favorite stuff...

Seeing the Trees

2007-11-24T12:17:00.001-06:00

Yesterday we went on our family traditional shopping trip to Pierre the day after Thanksgiving, and then up to the Capital to see the trees and feed the geese, then out to pizza hut.

Just a couple quick pics from the trees - I don't know WHAT was into Caleb but EVERY picture I have of him is TERRIBLE! punk. :)

Have a great weekend!

November Design Team Projects for ScrapFreak

2007-11-17T20:33:00.001-06:00

Here are all the projects I did for November for Monica at Scrapfreak! Lots of fun goodies to play with!

Halloween picture taking funness!

2007-10-31T21:07:00.001-05:00

WOW! What a busy day! Both boys had lots of fun at school, then they came home with daddy and we saw ALL their candy and junk from school, quick jack-0-lantern pizza from papa murphy's and we were onto our halloween photo shoot with some friends. Then we did some speedy trick or treating then off to Awana. We're all BEAT! but here are some shots from the day...

dinner :)
2 knights - Levi and his friend Ethan

Layla, Molly, and Ethan

Ellie and Ethan
Caleb was totally uncooperative! nerd.

my adorable knight in shining armor. :)

and this is baby Tyler - the little guy I watch - isn't he the cutest! I especially love the last picture!

Two years...can you believe it?

2007-10-20T11:42:00.000-05:00

It's been TWO years since I started this blog! HA! What a bunch of NOTHING :D

This is the first picture of the boys I posted - they were 5 1/2 and 2 1/2! Can you believe how little they are?

and here they are TODAY! 7 1/2 and 4 1/2!

SO... in honor of my big anniversary (yes a day late!) I'm going to give out a little prezzie...
I know there are lots and lots of people who read my blog and NEVER leave a comment - so I'll give you a week or so - EVERYONE leave a comment. :) and then I'll have the monkeys draw a name for a winner and I'll send you a little sumthin sumthin :)

The end of another soccer season...

2007-10-09T16:35:00.001-05:00

and boy did I miss my zoom lens this year. :(

but I did get a few cute pictures at the last game last night. Jason sure loves coaching - and now can't wait until spring!

GO PINK FOR OCTOBER

2007-10-01T08:48:00.000-05:00

October is breast cancer awareness month! So I went pink. :)

pictures...until the camera died.

2007-09-22T23:09:00.003-05:00

Camera died at the pumpkin patch...here's what I got today before it did. :)

Camera died at the pumpkin patch...here's what I got today before it did. :)

On the Road Again...

2007-09-21T22:25:00.001-05:00

We loaded up our kids and my mom and dad in the van at noon today and were on the road to Ike's 6th birthday party in Grand Island. Loads of fun to have all of us in the van. :) When we first got in today Caleb was whining about his loose tooth being really too lose and bothering him. Well, not but a few minutes later he said - OH! here it is! And his TOOTH WAS OUT! So very exciting! We had to laugh, and I found an empty mint container in my purse, so we put the tooth in there for safe keeping until the tooth fairy can get to us.

he found a new 'use' for the empty spot.

had to make an ice cream stop 1/2 way. :)

I scrapped!

2007-09-15T21:02:00.000-05:00

WOOT!

heh - some things I can't show you because they're projects for the upcoming crop at ScrapFreak, but THIS i can show you!

It's going to go in a frame and hang in my scrapbook room - to match the "I heart this face" layout I did for Caleb from the SBLS contest I did (which I won by the way! WOOT!) :)

so anyway...here it is...

isn't he cute?
I have to tell the story of what happened tonight when I showed him the layout. He had noticed the other day that the layout of Cale was up in the frame, but the other frame was empty. He asked if that empty place was for him. :) So tonight I showed him this and here's the conversation we had...

he stopped in his tracks and yelled,

"MOMMY! THAT IS AWWWWWWESOME!!!!"

"I love it! IT'S awesome, NO! It's BEAUTIFUL!"

I said "aw thanks! and do you know where it's going to go?"

he said "oh yeah, in your office in the frame on the wall! LIKE I'M A SUPERSTAR!"

yes, my baby -you're a superstar.

that's it from here for now...
I'm scrapping at the dining room table (yes b/c my studio is so messy i can't hardly get in the door) and we're watching the husker game. :)

Soccer has begun...

2007-09-14T08:24:00.000-05:00

Last night we had our first soccer game - and it was FREEZING! But they did good and even though we don't keep score...we won 2 - 0! :) The boys are excited to have Coach Jason back next week! (jason's been out of town this week for training) This year they get to play with a goalie - so I caught a few pictures of Caleb ready. :)

gotta give photo credit for this one - levi took it!

The Monkeys meet the Princess

2007-09-09T15:32:00.000-05:00

:) The boys started asking the MINUTE they got up this morning - IS TODAY BABY MEETING DAY? They were so excited! So we went to church and Sunday School, then came home and had brunch, made cousin Fredel and Jason some brownies, and made a quick trip to walmart (where of course I picked up an ADORABLE pink outfit. :)) and THEN it was time to meet the baby. They think she's pretty cool.

She's HERE!

2007-09-08T18:08:00.000-05:00

And she's a GIRL BABY!

Jalen Valray Thomas
Born: 3:22am 9-7-07
Weight: 7lb 2oz
Length: 19 1/2"
and lots of long brown hair

"Both Fredel and baby are doing well. The doctor ended up doing a C-Section after much effort by Fredel resulted in no baby due to a pelvis that was just too small. We will most likely be at the hospital until Tuesday."

That's from the email new daddy Jason sent out this morning!

Lucky for me we seriously live a block and a half from the hospital! So we went up last night, and I went up this afternoon and got some pictures! We're going to take the boys to meet Jalen tomorrow and they can't wait!

a few pictures of the beautiful girl (and her mohawk! :))

not the best picture...but you can see her mohawk. :)

Labor day weekend

2007-09-05T10:42:00.001-05:00

This weekend Mom and Dad came down and put their camper at Lake Mitchell, and Drew and Michelle dropped Ike and Eli off to spend the weekend while they (D & M) went to lifelight. We had a great time - fishing, swimming, canoing, and just hanging out.

Cool pic of Cale

Ike giving his brother a boat ride

Monday - happy family in a canoe. :) (you can't hear Eli screaming LET ME OUT!)

one is the lonliest number...

my little fisherman

the candy snake mom had that the boys got pieces of for being good

jason took this one out on the canoe. kids are Ike and Caleb

Dad and Ike

maybe our last day of swimming...

2007-09-04T20:06:00.000-05:00

took some kind of cool pictures at the pool today. Nights are getting pretty cold here - pool is FREEZING, this is the last week they're going to be open. We took advantage of the weather this weekend and today to hit the pool. Boys are little fish.

And yes...that is Levi jumping OVER his dad. :)

(and yes, I have pictures to post of this weekend, patience...)

2007-08-29T13:30:00.001-05:00

The boys had a GREAT time - all three of them. :)

their favorite ride they're on there in the middle under the white thing.

the view from the ferris wheel - see the corn palace?

levi liked the bumper cars the best!

Caleb liked this ride where they had to LAY DOWN the best.

Smells like teen spirit...Weird Al

2007-08-25T22:11:00.000-05:00

Weird Al

2007-08-25T22:04:00.001-05:00

WOOHOO! Jason and I went to see Weird Al tonight at the Corn Palace. What a great show - real entertainment! Over 2 hrs and over 30 costume changes! He did so many songs! The band is great and his vocals are so good - he doesn't miss a beat! SO FUNNY! Brought me back to my HS days riding around in Chad's Bronco. :) so funny... Pictures aren't great - but they're for drew. :)

stay tuned for a tiny video. :)

accordion baby...
EAT IT!
Jedi
smells like teen spirit
Amish Paradise
white and nerdy
encore - see the pretty corn?

First Day of School part 3

2007-08-20T16:27:00.000-05:00

ok - here are the pictures of them together from after school. Sounds like they both had an AWESOME day! Levi said his favorite thing was - EVERYTHING! :) They read if you give a mouse a cookie, and made paper cookies. And they played red light/green light in the gym, had cookies and milk for a snack. Sounds like fun to me! :)

Caleb said the first day of first grade was good! and NO uncle Drew - no first aid in the first grade. :) He had a good day, liked lunch, had 3 recesses and survived with out his best friend Cole in his class. But they did play together at recess and sat together at lunch. He had 5 words that he has to learn for a 'test' on friday. :) OH and for those of you familiar with Caleb and his kindergarten year. :) he even used the BATHROOM TODAY! ON THE FIRST DAY! WOOT! :)

ok - pictures. enjoy...

First Day of School part 2

2007-08-20T12:45:00.000-05:00

Well, here he is. My baby...sniff...off to his first afternoon of preschool. He's SO excited! he's proud to have his own backpack, and be off to school. Isn't he cute?

and HERE he is holding the cricket that he had in his hand the WHOLE time I was taking the above pictures...sigh...

First Day of School part 1

2007-08-20T08:21:00.000-05:00

:) Caleb is off to his FIRST day of FIRST grade. He's so excited to be getting back to school. Both boys were up at 6:45 this morning - kind of early if you ask me, but I guess they were excited!

Here's the pictures of Cale - Levi goes at 12:45 - I'll post pictures of him later.

Camping day two

2007-08-07T08:32:00.001-05:00

day two - the last day. :) more pics - some good, some just for family to see, some just for a good laugh. ;) have a great day!

Camping day one

2007-08-06T13:54:00.000-05:00

ok - I took TONS of great (yes, I'm bragging) pictures camping this weekend. so I'm just going to post them. ENJOY!

IT IS CROP DAY!

2007-07-13T07:59:00.001-05:00

The crop I've been planning for ScrapFreak is today!

I gave a little sneak peek of the class I'm doing - here it is...

We'd love to have you crop with us - the freak team has planned some really fun stuff!

Driving to my parents house...

2007-07-03T14:28:00.001-05:00

well, I'm not a big fan of driving, especially by myself with the boys. they tend to be rowdy, and I tend to be sleepy. :) But a couple weeks ago we did the drive up there on our own. so...I decided to snap a few pictures (yes while I was driving!) on the way. *I* think I got some pretty cool ones for a) driving and b) THRU the window! enjoy!

interstate right here outside of town

wanna count the wall drug signs? there's zillions! Free ice water you know! :)

over to Chamberlain by the river. so pretty...

gotta know where you been. ;)

followed this guy for a long time. he drove slow. and he was a boat, camper, pickup combo - hard to pass. he bugged me. :)

cool looking dead tree.
those cows are lookin at us!

this is the wind farm just south of my hometown. currently the biggest one I think in the state - 27 towers. Just to give you size perspective...that 'box' on the top - that's as big as a school bus!

see - I really was driving!

gotta love the landscape of SD...sigh...

there it is! That's how the boys know we're getting close - can see the old water tower, and now can see the new elevator.

TADA! This water tower is in the park just a block and a half from my parents house. right at the swimming pool where I spent many a summer.

the end!

Baseball in the hot sun. :)

2007-06-26T14:42:00.000-05:00

This last weekend we spent Saturday and Sunday watching my cousin Brady (10) play in a baseball tournament here in Mitchell. They did really well! We got to see him pitch, AND we saw him hit a super homerun on Sunday! Our boys thought it was really cool! Here are a few pictures - and I have to give him credit...Jason took the pics. :)

Vacation ... Day 4

2007-06-22T16:56:00.001-05:00

Last day. :) We had a quick breakfast at the hotel and packed up again and we were on the road! We drove back towards Rapid City and had decided to take the boys to Bear Country. It was really fun - it's a drive through wildlife park. got lots of cool pictures. But LEVI kept wanting to roll down the windows when we weren't supposed to have them rolled down! Then we went back to Rapid, grabbed some lunch and had a picnic at Dinosaur park! The boys thought it was really funny that the Dinosaurs had been there since Gram was a little girl! Back on the road - on the way home - we drove through the Badlands. The boys really thought that was cool! We let them get out quite a few times and hike around. So pretty in such a weird way!

This bear was playing with his toes. :)

only family shot from the whole trip. :)

Boys pretending to be happy in the van.

Levi eating at Dinosaur park

pictures from the badlands.

and THIS is what boys look like after four exhausting days of vacation! :)

well, that's it. :) hope you enjoyed going on vacation with us! And when I say these are just a FEW of the pictures, I'm not kidding! I just ordered TWO HUNDRED AND SEVENTY FIVE pictures! :)

Vacation ... Day 3

2007-06-22T16:42:00.001-05:00

Day three started off early. We packed up at the cabin and went to a little grill place in keystone for breakfast. They have all you can eat pancakes for 99 cents and the guys wanted to try it out and see if they could eat way more than they should. :) They were really good pancakes! And it was weird we ran into a family friend from my parents church in line! Then we started a drive - this day we went by Sylvan lake and Harney peak, then drove needles highway. After needles highway we stopped and had a picnic lunch on the way, then we drove up spearfish canyon and saw some cool waterfalls on the way. Then we stayed at a hotel in Spearfish that wasn't all we wanted it to be, but it was ok. :) Boys swam in the pool and we ordered in pizza and just relaxed..

sylvan lake
the eye of the needle at needles highway. can you see my boys? they're wearing black t-shirts!

Roughlock fallsBridal Veil Falls
photographic proof that I actually went on vacation. :)

caught this shot out the window of the van while we were driving. :) Thought it was cool.