MyScrapHappyLife

Today

"Hand in hand with freedom of speech goes the power to be heard, to share in the decisions of government which shape men's lives. Everything that makes man's life worthwhile-family, work, education, a place to rear one's children and a place to rest one's head -all this depends on decisions of government; all can be swept away by a government which does not heed the demands of its people. Therefore, the essential humanity of men can be protected and preserved only where government must answer-not just to the wealthy, not just to those of a particular religion, or a particular race, but to all its people."-Robert Kennedy

One of my favorite quotes from Robert Kennedy certainly applies to today. I am watching the Presidential Parade and am filled with a sense that today is a beginning. I am so proud of my country and I am so thankful to have a place in this society. Today I feel powerful, hopeful, and motivated. 

This morning I let Mackenzie go to school late to stay and witness President Obama's Inauguration. Macie was so excited "he's coming on, hurry,hurry" and she sat and watched the entire ceremony. I cried and we applauded. It was amazing. I believe this man will create change and lead our country into prosperity and peace. I believe this because I have witnessed what he has inspired in our people. 

His speech was beautiful and honest. My favorite passage.....

The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.

I wanted to have something personal to my family to commemorate this day so Lydia and I took the girls downtown for a photo shoot yesterday and here are some of my favorites....

I think I will use these to make a scrapbook with the newspapers and Time magazines I have been saving along with my thoughts. 

Bless America.

Happy Birthday MOM!

I made this little card to go along with a gift for my mother. It was inspired by this card on Kristina's blog.

I LOVE these stamps from Autumn Leaves and can't help using them all over the place.

Of course mom loved it and all of her gifts. We have brought her into the New Year in style with the new BlackBerry Bold. She has been wanting a phone that would allow her to connect to the computer and sync her calendar and contacts as well as allow her wifi internet access anywhere. Of course we love our iphones and I have a personal testimony for the iphone but the Blackberry Bold is actually compatible with her hearing aids. Isn't technology amazing. Now we just have to teach her how to use it!

I also found this fantastic new adhesive from Glue Arts called the Glue Guider Pro. This is a smaller version of the Glue glider Max which is THE HOTT new tool. She has been going to weekly crops lately and I thought this would be a great size for her tool bag. The refills are still a good 40 feet, so she won't have to worry about adhesive refills for awhile.

Happy Chatting and Scrapping Mom!

Soccer Champions and Uno Tournament

Last Weekend Mackenzie participated in the New Years Round Up for the 2nd year and her team took FIrst place! 

These girls have been practicing hard and are proud to have taken First in both tournaments so far this season. It is amazing how much heart they put into this sport. Mackenzie loves Soccer even when she has to run laps!

Of course we are dedicated to supporting the team how ever we can. We have been helping Camie run the Snack bar for a couple of seasons now. Camie works so hard to coordinate and set up the snack bar I am just that more thankful for her. Since we would be at the field for the majority of 2 days working the snack bar or playing games I sat up a little place for the kids to hang at between games. The small card tables I have stored for a few years came to great use for the kids to sit at and play games.

Kids from the team would come and go all day. The big hit was Uno. At one point there had to be a dozen kids playing or watching a game. They must have played at least 50 rounds over the weekend! Aside from the actual sport, the time the kids have together is just good fun and I love that they are making great memories.

Tis the season

I can't believe Christmas is less than 2 weeks away! We have been in a crazy December whirlwind. Last week I finished up my projects for Kits to Remember and those will be posted for ya on Tuesday. We also took a much needed vacation to Knott's Berry Farm and the girls had their winter gymnastics recital!

Whew! 

I told you guys last week about how we love to go to Knott's every December to enjoy the Merry atmosphere and after reminiscing about our last year through my acrylic project this month I was really ready for this years trip.

We went on Friday so it wasn't crowded. We didn't have to wait in any lines and there was no crowds. 

The girls spotted Snoopy right away...

Macie was picked to go on stage with Charlie Brown during the first holiday show. She was beaming!

They also added a new roller coaster to the kids area which Macie LOVED! I was terrified! I hate roller coasters but come on this was in the kids rides I couldn't not go but I regreted  it as soon as we got to the top of the climb. The seats spun and it had a couple of loops. I thought uh oh this was a mistake Macie is going to be upset. Are you kidding? She yelled THAT WAS AWESOME! She is so much cooler than me!

Mackenzie was more interested in the Ice Show and the crazy hats!

Brandon, Lydia, and Brian hit all of the new roller coasters. They were impressed with La Revolution!

Brandon said he robbed the place because every carnival game he played (and he loves those games) he won! He won Macie and Mackenzie pink Monkeys,

He also won a blue one for Ethan and Mom wanted a Christmas reindeer, No problem!

So over all it was an A+ trip. I am so feeling the season. I can't get enough of time with my girlies and Bran and my fam! I love you guys so much, thank you for bringing me joy just being you!

I also have to brag a little about my cuties! They were adorable in this years 

winter gymnastics show.

Mackenzie did "COOL YULE" with pizzaz...

and Macie made a snow man that would melt anyones heart in her first time performance!

See I wasn't kidding.

All right I hope that brought you some Christmas Cheer now Im off to a soccer scrimmage (our first time playing a boys team!) and then I must finish the Christmas cards mom and I started last week. Ill share them tomorrow.

Sea World and Soccer in the sand weekend

Today is officially the first day of Fall. We said goodbye to summer (for real this time) in style.
My favorite in-laws came from Modesto with our favorite little guy Ethan!
Mackenzie and Macie's only cousin. They had been counting the days until his plane was due in!

He is so adorable and when they are together it's like they never missed a beat.

We made the most of the 3 days we had them. We spent one day at Sea World.

Amazingly we got to do everything without rushing. Ethan and Macie rolled in the wagon and Mackenzie took good care of them. She was beaming when this man made the comment that she will make a great mommy someday. They were all hers that day. I loved watching them together creating these memories that will lead to a strong lasting relationship.
Thanks Jane and Darren for making the trip and having us over to your Aunts it was great to spend so much time with you. It was so comfortable and easy. We love you guys.

Oh, I also whipped up an acrylic book for Jane's Dental office's thank you cards. They were taking up space on her counter and needed a nice book to hold them all.

I used K2R 8x8 Acrylic (cuz it's the best) and the bind-it-all.
I mixed black cardstock pages with clear drop in pages so that the card could be opened and the post cards could be read on both sides.

Yesterday we spent the day at Mariners Point for the Soccer in the Sand tournament.
What a blast!! Seriously we had the greatest time with the girls, our family, and friends.

Sign on San Diego did an article on it here.

Thank you Darrell (our fantastic couch) and thanks Camie for organizing! We can't wait to do it again.

Mackenzie's team played 5 games. There was sand flying and girls diving.
It was riveting!

Mackenzie kicked butt at goalie for 3 of the games.

Natalie played pink and Amanda played black so we always had a team to root for.

Macie had so much fun. Of course she was right in there with the girls. She is the teams biggest cheerleader!

Brandon was BBQ-er in Chief. He was running two BBQ's for all four of our camps.

During breaks on our court there was time for some un-official games.

I wish these times could last forever. Spending time with family and friends is what it's all about!

San Diego Zoo new Baby Giraffe and the end of Summer

Yesterday we took our last outing of the summer to the San Diego Zoo. It was our lucky day not only because there was a breeze but also because a new baby Giraffe was born the day before!

It's A GIRL!

How cool is that and the momma was givin her some love when we stopped to watch! Aw.

We also had a great time with the Pandas. They were awake and playfull which I have rarely seen.

They have this new really cool mural outside the exhibit now.

The girls took charge for this outing pulling the wagon and leading the tour. Macie had it like a queen!

Im so glad we made it out to say goodbye to summer.

Last week we had our last outing to Sea World for the summer as well. If you are in San Diego and have not gone to see Cirque De La Mer you MUST go see it before it end in September!

It's always sad for me when summer ends because it's my favorite time of year. But I am actually really looking forward to getting back to a routine. Back to School and back to SCRAPBOOKING for the Studio! I am ready to unleash some of the ideas have and add more classes, kits, and videos. It's also Soccer season! This year is Macie's first year! She is so excited to be on the PINK team. In the spirit of the season we picked up these cute tee's for the dogs, at the dollar spot if you can believe it.

I would love to hear from all of you about the most memorable thing you did this Summer and what your SCRAPBOOKING goals/interests are for this fall. Every post will receive a GIFT CERTIFICATE to spend in the Studio.

Apple Camp

Last week I was MIA because we were at Apple Camp. This is a fantastic program Apple provides in it's retail stores each summer. This is our second summer and a ton of fun. Mackenzie and Zack made an incredible NEWSCAST in IMOVIE

and Amanda, Natalie, and Kenz made a blinged up slide show! The instructors were so fun and the information invaluable.

Macie mastered all of the kids games and was so proud of herself!

While we were at the new Otay Ranch mall of course they had to hit the water fountain....

The week before Apple Camp my Mom was on vacation and we got to spend some time with her. Of course we had to see Walle E with Grammy....Super Funny.

Mom also wanted to take the girls and I down Old Highway 94 for some stories about how my grandfather had made the same journey from Oklahoma when our city was first established.

We had a beautiful drive and a fantastic dinner of Fish and chips.

We also spent a day by the ocean at Sea Port Village. We took the Ferry Boat ride to Coronado and had lunch at Peohe's our favorite San Diego restaurant! Im waiting for those pics from Mom so Ill share when I get them.
Mackenzie has Gym Camp this week so I am hoping to actually get back to some Scrappin! I have been inspired by this French blog recently, she has a fab style and by the Gallery Idol Contest entry's.
Apple Camp also inspired me to reorganize and edit all of my video's so thats on the list for this week.
I should have some new projects as well as video demo's up over the next few days!

Our Spectacular Summer featuring John Mayer Where the Light is

What a spectacular summer! Last week John released the DVD "Where The Light Is", the live audio/video recording from Nokia Theatre LA Live in Los Angeles, CA on December 8, 2007 that Lydia and I attended!

Ok, if you have the DVD check me out directly behind Ashton Kutcher's head in Bold As Love! See my disembodied head? Im all up in that one, at the end I am messing with my iphone trying to get some pics of the Trio before they head off stage.

That concert was unreal! The theatre is gorgeous and John played all three sets. An acoustic set, the Trio, and the full band. I can only describe it as sublime!

Also in our spectacular summer, we are all unloaded from our fourth of July Campland trip.

So Ill be back in the Studio working on some NEW layout designs. Be sure to check out the updates in the Studio! Camie has been hard at work on the new shopping cart brimming with kits!

Fairy Day

Every year on the first weekend in June Summers Past Farms in Lakeside California celebrates all things whimsical by hosting a Fairy Day in their beautiful gardens.

They have a Fairy Parade, a Fairy Garden Competition, and a Fairy Tea.
My girls enjoyed exploring the gardens and being in the parade.
My mom, my sister, and I loved watching the baby fairies and elaborate grown up fairies.
The Tea this year was delicious and even had chocolate fondue, yum.

Mom and I love to sit in the bar/patio on their comfy
oversized chairs and have their signature mint tea.

This was Macie's favorite Fairytopia, Cinderella Fairy of course!

Oh, talk about a spoiled pet!

His crib even has a disco ball!

This Fairytopia is a bit scrappy.

This was my vote for favorite. Do you see the little mouse peaking out from his cottage?

Thanks to Summers Past Farms for providing such a unique and memorable event. This was our 4th year and it just keeps getting better!

Macie's Fairy Birthday Party!

I already warned you that I go over board for my girls birthday parties so Macie's party turned out just as I had over planned it!

My Sister and I stayed up till four a couple of nights but it was so worth it!

Everything we made came from the Keepsake Embossing Boards templates.

The Happy Birthday string sign was made with the Majestic Board. We used the large scallop oval and added large paint stamps for the letters and edged the piece with paint.

Lydia came up with the TISSUE PAPER FLOWERS. I had a picture in my mind of how I wanted them but I couldn't figure out the technique for creating them. I googled a couple of ideas like this and this. I didn't like those because they took an hour to make one!
Lydia came up with a way better design. She called it the uppercut and twist. Basically you pull a piece of tissue over your hand and forearm, then you remove your arm and twist the ends.

I found some inspiration here at Kristina Werners Blog. I like what she did for the cupcakes and the butterflies on the baloons. So I put my spin on it and made some cupcake toppers with the Majestic Board small scallop oval......

I used the same board to make the goody bags as well.

I used the Butterflies from this board for the balloons.

Tami used the Ultimate board to make the centerpieces
and Mom used the same board to make the butterflies on the hanging floral ball.

The highlight for Macie wasn't the decorations though. It was the XL PRINCESS CASTLE JUMPY.

and of course having everyone she loves there...

It was so cool, we even got to have Macie and Mackenzie's only cousin Ethan there via Skype even though lives 8 hours away! He helped Macie blow out the candles......

and visit with everyone....

Brandon and Mackenzie took him on the jumpy and down the slide a dozen times...

although Brandon didn't need a reason to go down the slide a dozen times.

We were having so much fun in the jumpy we almost forgot about the Piniata!
Mackenzie was totally whining about how we should go by age or size because she would have to go last. HMMM, there is a reason for that rule what was it????

They hustled to grab the candy. Grandpa tried to snag some of Kenzie's....

Ya, she wasn't havin it!

The Party was a huge success and everyone made it a special day Macie is sure to remember. And the presents didn't hurt either:) Thank you everyone! Everyone knows Macie inside and out, the gifts she got were so HER and I know you all went out of your way to give her something special, Thank You!

What a LOVED little girl!