Fall is in the air!!!

I can't believe how the weather can change so quickly. Yesterday was overcast and rainy and the high was a whopping 52, brr... I am amazed at the yellow leaves that are already shining in my trees. I do have to admit though, I am ready for fall. I really do love the change of seasons. It is just the "cold" season that lasts so long here in Montana that I really don't care for.

Fall also brings soccer season and did our boys start the season off right!! They shut out their opponent in both of their games this weekend!! Go Panthers!! Friday's game was spectacular as the boys scored 8 goals. Their offense was totally in gear and their defense shined as well. Benny did a great job on the defensive side and made some fantastic offensive passes with an assist in the first game! Whoo hoo! Saturday's game was fantastic too as our boys scored 4 goals. The weather was perfect and the games were extremely fun to watch. I am hoping for more of the same this weekend when our boys are at home Friday and Saturday for our first homestand! Go Panthers!

I had a blast finishing my designs with the Color Me Daisy September kit. I loved this kit and still have a couple of ideas for future projects. There is a wonderful scalloped album that I am going use for our summer trip to Seattle. The colors are just fantastic for summer or fall pics!!!

This is my favorite layout of all! I love the blue back ground with the ocean pictures! Our family had such a fantastic time in Seattle this summer and this layout totally reflects how close our family is! We are so blessed!

This is a little gift for Heidi celebrating her friendship with her brother. She will be able to stand it up on her nightstand or desk.

This little card was made witht he help of my cricut and threading water punch. I loved the fall colors in this kit! Awesome!

I will have some more layouts to post later. Lots of work done and lots still to do!!

The reading today from Oswald Chamber's, My Utmost for His Highest, talks about God wanting to make us like himself. "If we believe in Jesus, it is not what we gain, but what He pours through us that counts. It is not that God makes us beautifully rounded grapes, but that He squeezes the sweetness out of us. Spiritually, we cannot measure our life by success, but only by what God pours through us, and we cannot measure that at all.... He that believeth in Me out of him shall flow rivers of living water" - hundreds of other lives will be continually refreshed. It is time now to break the life, to cease craving for satisfaction, and to spill the thing out. Our Lord is asking who of us will do it for Him?

Oh Lord, May I be used by you today at school, at home and wherever I am...not to be successful in the worlds eyes, but to be used by you.

Have a fantastic day,

Kristii

TGIF!!

I love Fridays!!! You forget how totally awesome Fridays are when you take the summers off, but today I remember how good it feels!! It has been a fantastic week. I love working at the school and the kids have been awesome, but after a jam packed week, I am so ready for the weekend and it is a three day weekend too!! Whoo hoo!! I am planning on scrapping and sleeping as much as possible!!

Today will be Benny's first soccer match. Whoo hoo!! GO Panthers!!! We will be traveling to the Missoula area for the games which means I will be taking the afternoon off. The team will stay the night as they have one more game scheduled for tomorrow. We will come back home and I will leave again first thing in the morning to drive back as my sweetie has to work tomorrow afternoon. I look forward to the drive and spending the time with my hubby this afternoon. One of our favorite things to do is take drives and look at the beautiful countryside, and the drive to Missoula is beautiful!! It only takes about 2 1/2 hours, so it will be a lot of driving, but I wouldn't miss a game for anything!! That reminds me, I better go charge up the camera batter and make sure I have a memory card!!

Michelle, at Color Me Daisy, has posted the September kit!! "Chocolate Dreams" is full of rich fall colors and beautiful patterns. I have had a blast working with this awesome kit!!

Check out those awesome K and Co. spinners in the Embellishment add-on! Lots of fun!!

Here is one of my DT layouts for September! See how awesome the kit is to work with?? I absolutely love it!! This is my daughter's senior Winter Formal Dance. These papers were perfect!! I will have to upload the rest later because it is time to leave for Missoula!!

Have a great Friday!!!

Kristii

Wednesday's News

All the students report to school today. Everything is up and running and we are supposed to be ready for this! I feel a little like a chicken with my head cut off! Some new ideas were implemented and I don't feel entirely prepared, but one thing I have learned for sure is that today will come and today will go and everything will fall into place! Here we go-jump in with both feet-and we will come out on top eventually!!

Exciting news over at Little Red Scrapbook!!! Maegan is hosting a DT call!! If you have ever wanted to try out for the LRS DT, now is the time!! Check out the Little Red Scrapbook DT call here!!!

I have one more layout that I put together for my LSS using the new KI paper and my Cricut machine. I have been scrapping my behind off and it feels soooo good!!! The KI papers have been so much fun to work with and I really haven't done too many back to school layouts before, so I am totally enjoying this process. I loved homeschooling my kids and some days I really miss the fun we had with each other and the focus that we had on the Lord!!! Those were the good old days and it is so much fun to remember!!

I hope you all have a terrific day!!!

May the Presence of the Lord give you peace and may you lean on Him today!

Kristii

Back in the routine!

The first day of school went well and I worked at Hallmark too last night. I am a little tired, but made it through! So far my afternoon classes are light, but that will all change soon. We have tons of boxes of books at the library and I am looking forward to processing them and looking for new prospects! I love my library job!! Getting paid to look at books and encouraging kids too, what more can a girl ask for. Ok, if I were paid to scrap, that would be heavenly!!

Benny has soccer games out of town this weekend. I am really looking forward to watching him play! He has grown so much and I am wondering how that will affect his game. He has put on 10 pounds and has grown 5 inches since his last physical. He is no longer one of the little guys. He is not overly tall mind you, just not a little underclassman any more.

I have lots of scrapping to do this week, but here is a layout I did for my LSS, Keepsakes by Design using the new KI papers.

These pictures were taken back in 1992-ages ago. Even though we homeschooled, we still took pictures and had fun traditions on the first day of school. What fun memories!!!

I hope you all have a great day, gotta get to work!!

Kristii

School is in session!!

I cannot believe summer is over!!! Wow, it was like the blink of an eye and yet so much has happened it seems like years. I am ready to get back into the routine of things and I am looking very forward to seeing my coworkers again. The beginning of the year brings in new, wide-eyed freshmen and taller, more mature students (or at least we hope so, lol!). It is all very exciting - I really do like this time of the year!

We attended our fall sports spirit night at the high school on Friday night. We were so surprised when Benny was introduced as one of the co-captains of the soccer team!!!

Whoo hoo!! Go Benny! Go Belgrade Panthers!!!

I finished several layouts over the weekend and have several more to do by the end 0f the week. It was a very good scrappy weekend and I am hoping the week will be just as good! I only have time to post one layout this morning. It was done for Scrapping the Music and it is titled Never Give Up Give it all you got! It was based on the song by Eagle Eye Cherry, Never Give Up. I used the Studio Calico August kit for this layout. Boy I love that kit, such fun colors and emebellies. I used some shells and buttons from my stash and my wonderful Cricut machine. The pictures are of Heidi at the ocean and I want to continue to encourage her in her pursuits!

Hope you have a fantastic Monday!!

Here's to a fantastic school year!!

Kristii

TGIF!!

Thank goodness it is Friday!!! I am so ready for a relaxed, scrappy weekend!!

What a week this has been!!!

*My dad has been visiting this week from California and we have been enjoying his company tremendously!!

*Almost all school shopping has been completed and I think we are ready for the school routine to start.

*Benny is through with three-a-days and has made the varsity soccer team again this fall! Yay!! Way to work hard, bud!!

*I started my part-time job and I am really enjoying it.

It feels like a whole month has gone by in a matter of a few days!! Tonight we will be going to spirit night at the high school for dinner and fall sports team introductions. Tomorrow I am going to kick back and enjoy my last free weekend for a while. I have lots of scrappy projects to do and I am looking forward to spending the weekend in my scraproom watching whatever Olympics may be on.

I finished another layout for the So Sketchy Blog by Allison Cope this week. I have a fantastic picture of Bethany and Charley that I took while we were in Seattle and I thought it would be perfect for this sketch.

I used Creative Imaginations and Autumn Leaves Heather Bailey patterned papers; Bazzill cardstock; Doodlebug crushed velvet flock; Hambly sticker strips and journaling stickers; creative cafe jewels; KI chipboard stickers; Autumn Leaves Heather Bailey patterned felt, Jennifer Bowlin bingo cards; AC thickers; and making memories paint.

Hope you all have a fantastic weekend!!

Happy scrappin,

Kristii

Only 6 more days...

Until school starts. Part of me is ready to get back in to the routine. The other part of me wonders where the summer has gone! It has raced right on by and it seems like I barely took it in. Although this summer has been full of change and adjustments, it has been a good one. I survived!! Whoo hoo. My kids are doing great and life is good! So, I will keep on keeping on.

As promised I am posting pictures of moving day. Heidi was so excited, which she should be! We are so proud of her!! On our way!!
I am not the only one who is going to miss her!!

Her apartment is as cute as can be!!
Good luck sweetie!! I hope you have a fantastic year!!

Exciting happenings at Color Me Daisy!!! I am hosting this week's challenge!! You can find the challenge here. Also, the sneak peeks are up on the blog. The September kit is absolutely fantastic!

I can't wait to play with this kit!! It totally rocks!!

I hope you all have a great day!!!

Kristii

Blessings on the hot road!

I just wanted to make a quick post to say we are back from moving Heidi. We had a great time seeing her apartment and spending a little more time with her and Travis before heading back home. I did pretty good saying good bye. I am getting a little more used to that aspect of this whole empty nesting thing, but what I am not used to is the empty home you come back to.

Wow, I kept looking at her door waiting for her to come out of her room and I would have to remember she is home in Washington. I don't know why I am doing that because I know she is gone. Silly me!!

We had a marvelous drive home from Washington. We had to take the truck and it does not have any air conditioning. It could have been agonizing in the blazing hot temperatures, but my sweetie and I decided to think of it as an adventure and we were certainly blessed!

The road we travel is heavily wooded and one thing you don't think about while you are driving in your comfortable air-conditioned car is that in the heat, the trees give off a most beautiful scent. We would have totally missed that heavenly aroma if we had air conditioning. While we were driving we saw a moose, my favorite animal, and we were treated to a herd of elk, cows and calves, getting to cross the river. Now we see this fairly regularly, but in this instance they were a bit skiddish and the young ones were mewing like crazy. We had to stop and take a look. It was such a loud and excited sound. I have never heard that many elk mewing at the same time!! Absolutely awesome!! It was also quite a sight to behold as the herd was distressed about something. They were busy running back and forth very agitated! Finally on the drive home we were treated to a spectacular moon rise. It was huge and absolutely beautiful. We were very blessed on that adventurous drive!! All I could think about as we drove was how lucky I am that I have such amazing kids and such an amazing husband. I thanked the Lord for my blessings all the way home! What a wonderful, hot drive!

I am having a blast as the Guest designer for Scrapping the Music this month. This weeks song is based on Allison Krauss's When You Say Nothing At All. Such an awesome song with tons of possibilities. I chose to use the line, "old Mr. Webster could never define what's being said between your heart and mine." I love the look in my sweeties eyes in the pictures I used. His eyes are smiling and that is the way our hearts are for each other. We have been married for 24 years and our love is still going strong! It is a beautiful thing!!!

I will post pictures from our trip tomorrow!

Have a great day,

Kristii

Moving Day

We will be packing up Heidi's car and our truck today to move Heidi to Washington. sniff, sniff!
I am very excited for her, yet I will miss her tremendously!! I admit it, it is no fun being the only female at home. The boys will outnumber me and gone will be chick flicks and in will be fast cars, bombs, blood, and blasts.... The boys are ornery for sure and I know I will be the object of their jokes. lol! So I am gearing up for a male household and I will be planning a girls weekend in Washington as soon as we possibly can!!

I'm gonna miss you girl!!

I finished my So Sketchy layout yesterday!! Whoo hoo!! I found my mojo!! Doin a happy dance here!! I can't wait to post it!! My oldest beautiful daughter is the subject and I put my heart and soul into it!! I have another layout to finish for Scrapping the Music today before we leave tomorrow. I am hoping my mojo sticks around for a while!!

I hope you all have a fantastic weekend!!!

Wishing you much mojo!!

Kristii

Time for change!

Today marks a small, but significant change in our home. I will be taking on a part-time job in addition to my full-time job that will be starting in a week. Times are difficult right now and with both of our daughters living in Washington State (I will not be a once a year visiting parent!), one going to college, and our son on the verge of college, we are feeling the crunch. So I will be taking on a small job at our local Hallmark store that will have me away from home 2 nights and one day every other weekend. I am very pleased that the hours are so limited and that they are willing to work with me regarding that fact! I do not want to give up any of my other priorities including teaching classes at my LSS, which I love! My son starts soccer next week and that is my main priority of course. I am hoping the only changes that will be taking place is that my husband will have to make dinner twice a week and I will not be surfing the computer quite as much. I spend way too much time on the computer an way, so it will be a good change I do believe. I will be limiting myself to my blog and my favorite sites and that is it. I was able to be a stay at home mom for 18 years of our married life, so I have no complaints now. I want to be able to visit my kids regularly and will do whatever I have to do to accomplish this!!

Joy of joys!!! I found a Click N Ship message in my emails yesterday, so that means my September Color Me Daisy kit is on its way!! Whoo hoo!! I am looking so forward to working with this awesome kit!! I can't wait until the reveal.....you are all going to love it!!!!

Whooo hoo!! I felt the stirrings of my mojo last night. I printed out a picture of Bethany and Charley and decided that I will use that picture for my next So Sketchy project! The August SC kit is so "me" and I know I will be able to put together a layout today!! I moved some paper and embellies around last night, so I am well on my way!!! That is a good feeling!!

Heidi and I went to see Mama Mia yesterday! Of course it wasn't as good as the play, but they did do it very well! We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and our only complaint was Pierce Brosnan. Singing just isn't his specialty. I was really surprised by Meryl Streep. She totally pulled it off!!! I am really glad that we didn't take the boys, because we would have never heard the end of it!! It is definitely a chick flick and it was a perfect mother/older daughter outing!! I will miss Heidi when she leaves! The boys just don't get in to chick flicks!!!

Today's devotional from My Utmost for His Highest hits me in the heart! "Am I prepared to let God grip me by His power and do a work in me that is worthy of Himself? Sanctification is not my idea of what I want God to do for me; sanctification is God's idea of what He wants to do for me, and He has to get me into the attitude of mind and spirit where at any cost I will let Him sanctify me wholly."
I am so faint of heart and give up way too easily. I need to remember that I need to let God do his work in me and completely trust! I need to let God have his way!

Well, I gotta go get ready and look at my layout once again.
Have a great day!!
Kristii

Still cleaning and purging my scrap room...

I was so hoping to be done with this by now! It is taking me forever! Oh well, I know I will like the results when I am done. Maybe I will think twice before buying any more scrappy goodies, lol!! My scrap room looks like a mess! I think we will be bringing the armoire from upstairs downstairs to store some of my goodies in...I am not sure how this is all going to work yet. I am just going to keep plugging away!

Speaking of scrappy goodies, I did get my SC box yesterday. Such fun and bright colors!! I am hoping this mojoless state I am in flies out the door! I have two layouts I will be working on this afternoon so please wish me luck!!

I also have to mention that I finally got my copy of Stephanie Meyer's new book Breaking Dawn!
I am looking forward to some serious reading time before school starts!

The August gallery at Little Red Scrapbook is now up. Here are my contributions for the month"

Hope you have a great day,
kristii

More Vacation Pics

The last day of our vacation we drove to Ocean City State Park to play in the ocean. Sad to say Beth and Matt couldn't come with us!! Darn work just gets in the way! We missed them tremendously, but we had a great time at the beach. There is nothing like the Pacific Coast!! I love each and every inch of it. This is the first time we visited the Washington Coastline and we were pleasantly surprised. I figured it would be rocky, but we found a beautiful sandy beach and the kids had a ball!!!
Charley had a blast digging in the sand. Look at all that sand on his nose. He still wouldn't go into the water. He is just not a water dog, lol!!

The kids had such a blast playing in the waves! It was sad to leave the ocean, but we made it home at the same time Bethany did and we had a nice dinner on our last night. I just have to say, our kids moved to a great vacation destination!!! We love Seattle!!!

No layouts today, I have totally lost my mojo and I am hoping it will return quickly!!! I am going to keep cleaning and organizing my scraproom today and hope that the creative juices start flowing once again!!! I just realized my Studio Calico kit arrives today!!!! Whoo hoo!! That should get the juices flowing for sure!!!

Have a great day!

Kristii

I can let the cat out of the bag!!!

Whoo hoo!! I am the Guest Design Team Member for August at Scrapping the Music!!! I absolutely love STM and this is such an honor!!! My first design was very quick since I was on vacation, but I had fun with it just the same!! The song was Forever, by Chris Brown and of course with a title like that, I had to do a wedding layout. The picture of Beth and Matt that I used is one of my favorites. They look so happy and Bethany is absolutely radiant!! I chose to keep the design simple and use just a splash of color. All the materials are CI and Prima. I just love the CI die cut paper-gorgeous!!!

I am looking so forward to the weeks to come!! The songs are going to be fantastic!! If you get a chance, stop on over at Scrapping the Music and take part in the challenge!!!

This week I am having to clean out my scrap room. My dd is moving back to an apartment in Washington and will need some of the shelves that I keep my scrappy stuff on. Reorganization and purging will be my priority. It will also be good to have a clean scraproom again! I am soooo messy!!

Next week, life gets back in gear! Benny will start three a days for soccer and school will be starting the week after. I have to get him in for his physical today. I know he is dreading it. Hopefully we will beat some of the rush!! I will also have to take him school shopping for supplies and clothes. I have lots to do before I start back to school! I have so enjoyed this summer of scrapping. I got so many layouts done and I feel like I have grown so much as a scrapper! It has been a wonderful time!! I am going to miss these carefree days!!

Well I am off to get busy!!

Have a great day,

Kristii

More vacation pics from Point No Point

We visited Point no Point on the Puget Sound near Seattle on our first day of vacation.

The boys did some fishing and they even caught a few there. It was the first time Benny had ever fished in salt water. He loved it!! After the we, (the girls) finished shopping in Poulsbo, we joined the boys for a picnic on the beach. There is nothing like the ocean!! I could sit and watch the waves all day and never grow tired of it!! Charley wasn't impressed though! We tried to get him to go into the water and he would have nothing to do with it!! He was quite comical!

After lunch, we took a little stroll along the shore and just enjoyed being together. What a blessing!!! It was a fantastic day!! Here are a few family photos and a picture of the Point No Point lighthouse.

While on vacation, I finished a layout for the So Sketchy Blog. The sketch is awesome and I had a blast making the layout, but I have to admit the photo I sent to Allison was not my best. Sorry about that Allison!!! I was using a different computer with different software and I just didn't get the photo to look the way I wanted it to. Here is the layout using my software from home.

I used Pink Paislee papers, Making Memories florals and alphas, Chatterbox florals and buttons, a Scenic Route butterfly, Cosmo Cricket ribbon, and a Hambly transparency strip.

Thanks for looking everyone!!

Have a great weekend!!

kristii

I'm back!!

What a wonderful trip!! It was a whirlwind, but the time I got to spend with my daughter was fantastic!! It wasn't quite as hard leaving this time around, but it was very quiet when we arrived home. I had such a great time seeing how well they are doing in Washington. They look so happy in their new home!!! Their apartment is so cute and I see little touches of her personality throughout each room! I am so proud of you girl!!
We took Charley with us and he was a delight!! I think Bethany enjoyed having him there as you can see from the picture below!! He is a great traveler!!!
Saturday, the girls spent the day shopping in Poulsbo while the boys did some salt water fishing in the Sound. It was a fantastic day for all!!!

They boys caught a few fish and they had a blast. Of course they didn't have a camera, but I did get this photo of them when we arrived on the beach. Don't they look cute!!!

I will put some more photos on my blog tomorrow. I have so much to do today that I had better get busy!! I have to unpack, do laundry, get groceries...the list could go on and on!! I also have lots of scrapping to do!!

Until tomorrow,

Kristii

Today is the day!!!

Whoo hoo!! We are off to Seattle!! I can't wait to see my sweet daughter's face in person!!

I miss her so much and this trip is just what the doctor ordered. Our whole family is going along with Benny's girlfriend. We are going to visit Pike Market, the Beach and whatever else our little hearts desire!! I am soooo excited!!

Before I go, I just want to post my recent design for the So Sketchy Blog. I just love Allison's sketches and this one is no exception!!

The quote states: Getting ahead in a difficult profession requires an avid faith in yourself. That is why some people with mediocre talent, but with great inner drive go much further than people with vastly superior talent~Sophia Loren. I want to encourage my daughter who is working hard in a very competitive career field to remember that the inner drive she has is so important and to keep fighting the good fight even though things don't always work out the way you planned.

Patterned Paper: Making Memories and Scribble Scrabble; Making Memories Passport Stickers; Making Memories florals; Technique Tuesday Frames; Stamps: Autumn Leaves and Studio Calico; Ticket, Jenni Bowlin; Alphas: Making Memories and Scrapworks; Making Memories Brads; KI Memories La Di Dah Buttons and Airmail stickers, Studio Calico.

Have a great weekend everyone! See you next week!!

Kristii