Saturday, April 30, 2011

Last day of...

Besides being the last day of the month, a few other things are wrapping up for me this weekend... 

- Yesterday was the last official day of the semester at Columbia College!  I love my job but I am very glad to have a little bit of a break to enjoy my family and clean my house!!!  I do have to say that it was pretty cool for me to be sitting on the 'faculty side' of a graduation ceremony last night for the first time ever.  One of my students gave me the honor of walking beside him in the processional, plus Brian's cousin Linnea as well as Janae and Nicole (who were in my small group as high schoolers) all graduated last night--it was fun to be there in the celebration with them all.  It also was the first time for me wearing my Master's hood, since I didn't walk for my graduate degree from Stan State (pictures to come when I get some back--didn't bring my own camera this time).

- Dare I say the rainy season is over?  The whole next week is projected to be in the 80's--soooo stoked about that!  Brian is on a guys trip this weekend to Lake Tahoe,  so the kids and I filled our Saturday with friends, fun, and sun!!!

Zeke has been in Jujitsu for the past few months.  He's getting close to earning his yellow belt and is excited to move up to the 7yr old class here pretty soon--he seems quite large in this 'Tiny Tots' class!
(can't believe he's going to be 7 in 24 days!!!)

Emmy and her friend Lizzie

Zeke and his friends Nathan, Ben, Wil and Johnny

These beautiful ladies are my friends Marie, Lisa and Joy

I love it when my kids take care of each other! 
Zeke is helping Ethan stand in line to get a balloon animal. =)
-I'm also feeling very motivated to organize, de-clutter and get some projects done around here!!!  Our MOPS meeting was inspiring (thank you, Spring!), as well as was my recent trip to IKEA, and with the energy the sunshine gives me, I just might be able to get something accomplished!!!  Watch for some 'before and afters'--I find that if I document the process, I tend to actually finish it!!!

Friday, April 22, 2011

Girls Getaway Weekend

For my birthday this year, Brian's gift to me was a weekend away with friends to scrapbook, relax and eat out!  What an AWESOME husband I have!!!  We planned our date and reserved a place through VRBO (Vacation rental by owner) and finally got to go last weekend. 

Some of my favorite women came with me (I didn't have room in the place for all the awesome women I know!!!) and we had a very relaxing weekend in Capitola.  The condo we rented was right on the beach with a gorgeous view, so even when we were inside scrapbooking, we were overlooking the ocean, pier and all the beach activity below.  What a place!  What a great time!!!  Thank you, ladies, for sharing my birthday gift with me (and to Jen for spending her birthday weekend with us!)!!!

Keely - Melissa - me - Amy - Jennifer

Right at the base of our condo stairs!

Sunset from our balcony.  The moon was full, bright and gorgeous, but I couldn't get a great picture after dark.  Guess I need some more practice & skills to capture moonlight on the ocean!!!

Our view back at the condo from Zelda's Restaurant, where we ate lunch.  Ours is the gray building w/ the white window trim above the bright yellow hotel room.  We were on the middle story.
 
Picture taken on our balcony.  Told you it was an awesome view!!!


This was taken at the end of the boardwalk looking toward New Brighton State Park, which Brian and I can't wait to check out the new find for camping with the fam!!!

One Warm Day

I think these pictures were taken a couple of weeks ago now, but my life has been pretty crazy as of late (still is, but I'm giving myself a break!) and I'm finally just getting around to downloading my pictures and updating.

We had a couple days after all the rain that were just absolutely gorgeous.  Now we are back in the clouds again and I wanted to post these pictures to remember that sunshine is coming... Brian and I are sure that we're going to jump straight into summer when all this gloom is gone!


Ready-set-go...  into the sprinklers!




Copying big sister!

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Fun Easter Craft at MOPS

We made these super cute easter bunny pails at MOPS last week and I just had to share.  Mine has an Easter lily in it right now, but I think it'd be cute holding plastic eggs or a little spring flowering plant.
Materials included:
Can/pail--sponge painted white
2 cotton balls
1 pink pompom
1 sheet of white craft foam paper (to cut out 2 ears and teeth)
2 googly eyes
pink paint (small amount) and a small paint brush
2 pipe cleaners (for whiskers--my are white, but you could use black or whatever color)
ribbon cut to size
hot glue