Day 181

I was really pleased to see we had a Hydrangea when we moved to the new house because it's one of my favorite plants. With all the cold and snow we had last winter, I thought for sure that it was dead. I was very surprised when I noticed it was blooming and looking quite healthy.

Day 180

It was such a gorgeous day today that I thought it would be fun to take the boys out to the park for a picnic dinner. One of my coworkers recommended this park, which is not too far from our house. It has this small lake, an awesome play structure, and a great set of paths for Paul to ride his bike. We'll have to go again when the boys can spend more time playing.

Day 179

Over the past two days, Paul and I have made a couple of batches of ice cream. This afternoon we made some mint chocolate chip. Here's Paul pouring in the milk. We brought our ice cream to grandma and grandpa's house tonight. Paul was very proud to be making it for his family.

Day 178

We went to the Strawberry Festival today and ate

Washed it down with


And I got


sunburned shoulders

Day 177

My husband is leaving town in a couple of days, so I kind of took the night off for some me-time. I managed to go to two malls and nine stores in about three hours. One of the places I went was the Vera Bradley store. Somewhere in the last four years, I've developed quite a love for Vera Bradley.

It all started when my sister-in-law and I went to an event where they gave us a little Chelsea Green coin purse for free. Tonight, I picked up two new pieces - a card holder in Raspberry Fizz and the new Euro Wallet in Blue Rhapsody, which is one of their newest released colors.

When I open my purse, a wide variety of colors and patterns meet my eye. And I love all of them. It's a wonder that they all get along.

Day 176

It's only the end of June, but I was finally able to get out and get my toes done. After calls to three different places, I was able to secure an appointment this morning. I picked a nice, bright coral that really doesn't show up well in the photo. I feel pampered and my feet are looking cute.

Day 175

One of the gifts that the boys gave dad for Father's Day was a mug with their little pictures on it. We did this last year, but this year I did it a little differently. I bought "A" and "D" letters for the boys and had each of them pose separately with a D and both of them pose with the A.

At the time of the "photo shoot", it was just this side of disaster. The little one was certain he should be allowed to go splashing in the murky, slimy water (ask me, I managed to step back into it), and the big one does all he can to never look at the camera.

When I got the pictures home, I managed to work though them enough to get basically what I wanted. It worked out and D A D really liked his mug this year.

Day 174

For probably about the last week I've been admiring a bush by the driveway when I pull into our house. I keep thinking, boy that's a nice bush. The neighbors are lucky to have such a pretty bush in their yard.

It wasn't until today that I had this "ah ha!" moment as I drove in. That bush I've been admiring is actually on our property. How lucky are we?!

If you look at the picture, the marker is the property line between our two houses. Our property is on the right. I don't know why it took me so long to make that connection.

Day 173

Today is my mom's birthday, and we were over at my parent's to enjoy a yummy dessert after a delicious dinner prepared by chef PF Chang.

My mom was showing me a quilt top she had just finished up. I really liked the colors she chose and the patterns. It's a fun quilt.

Day 172

We went to the Experience Music Project this afternoon for Father's Day. I was playing around with focus, depth of field and composition with this picture. Nothing amazing, but kind of fun.

Day 171

This is what happens when you go strawberry picking with your boys and dump your camera in the box of strawberries. I was also covered in dirt and juice with the picking, so there was just no avoiding the messy camera. Fortunately, a damp cloth cleaned it right up. I'm still glad I didn't take the time to dig out my DSLR. I'm a little more protective of that camera.

Day 170

I'm pretty excited because today in the mail I received a fun package!

I entered a beading contest called Use the Muse and the kit showed up today. The challenge of the contest is to take a kit and use the components to make a piece of wearable art. The only real guideline is that you have to use the secret component and incorporate it into your design. When I read it was a Lillypilly piece, then I knew this was the contest for me.

I'm actually pretty nervous about it because there is not a lot of time to come up with a design and create it. The contest ends on July 18th, and with my hubby out of town for several weeks, it's going to be very hard for me to find time to do this, but I'm going to try. I've already started sketching out some ideas. It might end up being a fun piece just for me that I complete six years down the road. We'll see how it goes.

Day 169

My favorite local bead shop has these fun aluminum jump rings in different colors. I'd been looking through Beaded Chain Mail Jewelry by Dylon Whyte, and thought these rings would be perfect to try out one of the patterns with. I decided this spiral chain would make a great bracelet for my mom's birthday.

After a quick trip to the bead shop for a different colored ring, some pale celery seed beads, and a clasp, I was ready to complete my project. I think the entire thing only took a couple of hours. And I just might have to make one for myself. I just love the fun, bright colors.

Day 168

I noticed this Foxglove on the edge of my mother-in-law's yard, so I thought I'd catch a couple of pictures. I liked how this one turned out.

Day 167

It was a nice, mild day today and perfect for a trip to the zoo. We were able to go with our friends and spent several hours eating a picnic lunch and exploring the exhibits.

We walked by the rose garden on our way out, and the awesome smell from the roses drew us in. I only got a chance to take a couple of pictures because we needed to get on the road to avoid rush hour, but I really liked the coloring on this one.

Day 166

My mom found this really cute construction quilt pattern several weeks ago and immediately thought of my oldest. This morning she surprised me with not only the completed quilt, but a smaller version for my little guy as well. They're both really nice with lots of great details like hubcaps and tire treads.

Paul insisted on sleeping with his right away, and I actually had to steal it off his bed while he was sleeping to get a picture of it. I did replace it after I was done.

Day 165

Today was the dinner celebration for my birthday with my hubby's family. For the last several years, I've shared my celebration with Father's Day and have been overruled on my dessert preference in favor of some sort of lemon concoction. Not a big fan of lemon - unless it's lemonade.

This year I got lucky since Father's Day is next weekend. My sweet mother-in-law served my favorite birthday pie - apple. And I got to take home the leftovers.

Happy birthday to me! ;)

Day 164

Tonight was an event that I've been looking forward to for five years. The radio station that I listen to features comedians in the morning and afternoon for about five minute sketches. I love standup comedy for some reason. I love to laugh.

For the last five years, the station has brought in four of their favorite comedians for a night of comedy. I have never been able to go due to birthday parties, newborn babies, or just plain scheduling conflicts. This year when they announced it for the day after my birthday, then I just knew I was going to be clearing the calendar that night and celebrating my birthday in style.

It was a great night! Of the four comedians, I really enjoyed three of them and fourth was okay. That's actually not too bad. One of the guys is coming back in October and I'm hoping we can find the time on the calendar and scrounge up the funds to go.

There were no pictures allowed inside the venue, so I'm glad I stopped to snap this picture before we went in to find our seats.

Day 163

Today is my birthday, and I'm the odd duck in the family who loves yellow cake with chocolate frosting. The rest of my family likes chocolate cake with white frosting. Actually, I used to always request pie for my birthday because up until a few years ago I didn't like any cake at all.

My mom is a fantastic cake decorator, but is always stumped when it comes to my boring chocolate frosting. I thought the mini-M&Ms turned out really cute!

Day 162

There were all sorts of gorgeous flowers around the resort. I was killing some time while waiting for the kids to get all of their stuff loaded on the bus, so I took some pictures. Believe it or not, this was actually taken with the little point-and-shoot. The ones I took with the DSLR were overexposed and didn't have the detail that this photo has. I thought this turned out just stunning!

Day 161

Tonight we took the kids bowling. The school rented the whole 10-lane alley for two hours. Part of the party package was to put the black lights on and play some groovy music.

I had a couple of artistic shots of my shoes and my purse that I liked. But then, I bowled a 145 and had to use that picture today because that's probably the best I've ever bowled. I had to quit while I was ahead and take Matt back to the resort for bed, or I might have really put the other chaperones to shame. ;)

Day 160

For the first time, I was able to accompany my husband on one of his school trips as a chaperone, and I picked a good one. We left for Lake Chelan this morning and spent the afternoon at the water park. This evening we took Matt on a walk around town (Paul is staying with my parents), and this was the view of the lake from the park.

Day 159

The sunset tonight was gorgeous. The sun was almost red. All I had with me was the point-and-shoot, but I think it got closer to capturing what I saw than I thought it would.

Day 158

In about a month the boys and I are going on a middle-of-the-night flight to meet daddy in Michigan. It is my hope that the boys will be sound asleep when we have to transfer planes (yes, transfer). I have a couple of carriers for Matt, but my sister-in-law has been very excited about the ease and comfort of her Ergo Carrier. I tried hers out with Matt and had to agree.

After some failed attempts at getting a reduced price on eBay, I did some searching online for a "deal". The best I could do was free shipping, no tax, and a free rear-view mirror. The fact that it was coming from California and would probably be here quickly is what sold me - well, and the mirror. ;)

The carrier came yesterday (after the parade - oh, well). We tried it out tonight, and my brother took some pictures for me.

Day 157

Today was the Duvall Days parade, which literally ran down the street from our house. The boys had never been to a parade before, and since we could walk down to see it, there seemed to be no reason to miss the parade. Towards the end, there were some prancing horses and gals dancing. I thought the flow of their dresses was so fun to capture.

Day 156

I was working late into the night tonight trying to get some work done before our busy weekend. I wasn't getting much inspiration on what to take a picture of, so I played around with this shot of my computer with our work system up, my detailed notes on the work I've done towards the bottom, and the calendar - my almost constant remember of stuff to be done and schedules to be met.

It's still a darn cute calendar.

Day 155

We were out and about this evening running some errands and the weather was starting to change. I caught these storm clouds coming in during the sunset.

Day 154

I was playing around with the new lens again at grandma's after dinner and got some fun shots of the boys playing. I liked this one because I managed to catch the ball in the air after Matt threw it.

Day 153

More playing around with the macro lens today. I thought I'd try to see what motion I could capture, and decided to play around with water. My little one was in the bath, and it didn't take much encouragement to get him splashing. I like the results, but I'm not thrilled with them. I'll have to do some more experimenting.

Day 152

I'm participating in a large consignment sale this week, and this evening was the pre-sale for consignors. The location where the sale is taking place has these gorgeous large flowers around the side of the building. They almost look like silk flowers, but they are real. I had a few moments to take some pictures while I was waiting for my friend to check out.