We had a blast!!

I am back from IU and we had a wonderful time!! I went with my friends Christine, Donna and Jennifer. All 3 teachers were amazing and inspiring! We sat right in front ( thanks Donna) and were able to laugh and talk to Teresa, Layle and Janna. I even had them sign my projects at the end of the night. We first day we made several make and takes, jewelery, bling rings, Halloween pin decor, mini books, cards and a layout. There was a crop that night and tons of prizes too!! The next day was 3 workshops, one taught by each teacher and the brilliant thing was that the teachers rotated, not us, so we could stay in the same place all day!!! I will post some pics soon of the incredible projects we made taught by these talented girls!!
Did I mention prizes??? We all won prizes, and there were tons of goodie bag prizes too. Met a bunch of nice people from all over and even a group of "my peeps" at the end of the night! That was fun chatting with Lisa, Jules, and their buddies!


Donna was so happy to win this paper pack from Layle & Scenic Route!



Christine won these flowers and a big prize too!! Go on her blog and check it out!!! She was so excited!!



Lookie lookie at these prizes!!! They had over 300 prizes donated by some fabulous manufacturers!!



Ginger was the event coordinator and she did a terrific job doing everything!! I will definitely go to this event again!! It was so much fun and a great girlie weekend!!!


Layle, Teresa, and Janna posing for the "scrapparazi" . Be back soon with some pics!!

On My Way!

Yippeee!!! I am on my way to Inspiration Unlimited!!! This is going to be such a great event!! Can't wait to see what these awesome teachers have in store for us! I'll tell you all about it when I get back!! :)
Congratulations Christine for making the DT at Tallyscrapper! WHOOOO HOOOOO You rock girl!! You are going to be a busy girl on two design teams!!!

Can't Wait!!

In just 2 weeks my friends and I are going to this event!!! It will be so much fun. It is in Vegas and the presenters are Teresa Collins, Layle Koncar, and Janna Wilson. I love all of their stuff and can't wait for all the fun. Ginger at Down to Details has been organizing it all and has a ton of sponsors. A few sneak peeks have been posted by Teresa and Janna. All I can say is FABULOUS!!! I am really looking forward to hanging out, scrapbooking and not to mention being in VEGAS!!!

Went to Disneyland yesterday and here are a few of my favorite pics..

Every time we go, we have to ride on the horse drawn street car. Sammie even knows the horses' names. This horse is a new one named Big Red.


It was a great day at the park and it wasn't very crowded which is exactly how I like to go. Alice grabbed Sammie's hand, and the Mad Hatter, Sammie and Alice all walked along while I snapped this pic.


All summer long, Sammie had to wear her "magic boots" so she would be tall enough to ride some of the rides. She loves Space Mountain, the Matterhorn, Splash Mountain, Big Thunder, and especially Tower of Terror. She is finally tall enough to ride these rides without her magic boots!! The minimum height for those rides is 40" and she was 39" without the boots! She finally made it and was so happy! ( she sure has been eating lots of healthy foods so she can grow!)




Today in the mail her Halloween costume came. What should a 4 year old horse-loving princess be for Halloween you ask??? A pink princess unicorn of course!!! She dressed up as a horse like this 2 years ago and she loved it. She still wears the costume and prances around the house neighing. I like the idea that she can wear it again after Halloween. They don't even get to dress up in preschool. How sad is that???


On Sunday we went to the park but before we went, she asked if we could stop at Starbucks so she could have a "pink coffee". Yep, she's starting young. (The pink coffee is really a strawberry smoothie. ) On that note, I had an incident a few weeks ago with a Starbucks lid falling off my drink and making a huge mess in the car, filling both of my drink holders. I went back to the store where I got the drink and explained what happened and then had to scoop the ice out of my drink holders with my hands and then dry up all the tea with a towel. I emailed Starbucks to tell them I wasn't a fan of their new environmentally friendly cups and explained what happened. Today I received a $20.00 gift card in the mail!! YEA Starbucks!! Thanks for your wonderful customer service!





We had a horsey lesson with a new trainer. Her name is Victoria and she is very nice. This is her pony, Flicka, who she is training to ride and her other horse, Joey, who Sammie got to ride.



Christine had a Stampin' Up party and our friend Jennifer is a demonstrator. We had a great class on Sunday and learned how to make a box of cards. Jennifer is so talented and we had a lot of fun. I'll post some pics soon. I ordered some new inks and a scallop border punch. If you want to host a party or order some new stamps, check out Jennifer's blog. There are monthly specials as well. That's all for now.

Scrappy Class, Soccer, Beach, Fashion Show

Here are the pics I promised from the class Christine and I took a few weeks ago!! EEEKKK I am so far behind!!! This class was taught by "Mick" ( down under) from Kaiser Craft. The book was a lot of fun to make and now I just need to add some pics.. Love their products, especially the bling, board books and rub ons.

Sammie is playing her first soccer season. The team is called the Wildcats! She is one of the youngest on the team and isn't really sure what to do besides chase after the ball. They had their first game on Saturday and "lost" even though they don't keep score. The other team ( the Panthers) had a pretty good idea of how to play although one of the kids picked up the ball in play two times. At the end of the game, Sammie said to me, " The other team needs more practice because they picked up the ball, mommy, and that's NOT soccer!" I thought that was funny coming from her.



I love this pic of her from the back. She picked her uniform number herself. She chose 4 because she is 4 years old!! Works for me and my scrapbooks!!! :) The uniform is HUGE on her. It is size XS but I still had to pin it because the shorts fell right to the ground when she put them on. The whole game I was worried she would have no shorts on but she wore others underneath and I used a strong safety pin!

It was such a hot day, Sammie asked me (for the first time ever) to dump water on her head. I did!!

We hadn't been to the beach all summer and so we went over Labor Day weekend. ( yes, I am posting all of this out of order but in blogger you have to go backwards because it adds the most recent pics at the top) I tried hard to get these somewhere else but my brain doesn't work well in the logical, think backwards mode..
Anyway.. Here she is at the beach just loving every bit of it!! She loves to play in the water, sand and could look for shells all day long!! I love this shot of her jumping in the air!



This weekend we participated in an event called Festival of Children. It is an organization that raises money for children's charities. Sammie was in two fashion shows at South Coast Plaza. She wore an outfit from Gap Kids and I liked it so much I bought it for her. ( we got a discount)



She loves to ham it up!



Here she is walking on stage in her new outfit.



After the shows we walked around the mall and went to here for lunch. She sure enjoyed that!

School started last week and I have been exhausted. It is tough trying to catch up from being sick and then jump right back into work. I still have piles of laundry to put away, a messy dining room table and so many other random things to do.. I spend waaaayyyyy too much time on the computer but it is my "fun time". My class this year seems good. We have a nice bunch of kids. This is the first time I have ever taught a combo in my 15 years of teaching!! It is a little challenging to bounce back and forth from grade to grade but I'm sure I'll get the hang of it.

I particpated in the garage sale at The Scrappin Table. I made some scrappy money and bought some new fun stuff. Hope to get some time to scrapbook soon.
I entered a monthly challenge contest on the Scrapbook Supplies Direct website and won. That was exciting!! I'm not sure what I won yet, but I'll let ya know.

Well, I guess that's all for now.

Sick!!!

Hi Everyone! I am back again.. I was very sick last week and am trying to catch up!! I had a bad virus and had to go the the ER to get an IV and if you know me well, you know how traumatic that was for me! ( I did well though!) I was so dehydrated and had a fever and chills. I missed the first 3 days of work this school year and so I had to work on our "unpaid" day to catch up.. That was a big bummer. My classroom is ready now so i am glad but not the way I wanted to start back to work after being off all summer having fun!

Today was my first day "out" since I have been sick and only because it was already planned and paid for.. ( I just want to relax this weekend and not run around too much since I am still recouping)
Sammie and I went to Medieval Times with the Royal Riders Pony Club. We had a great time. We got a backstage tour of the horse stables which was really cool!!! Sam LOVED it all!! Here are some pics. I love this first one.. She looks so 80's to me!! LOL!! Oh and that pose was all her doing!!!

This is the back stage arena and stables where they bring the horses in before the show. Nothing fancy but pretty cool to see!
The performers were hanging out and we got to see the costumes, the props, and of course the HORSES!!!



It was a really great show and we had a lot of fun! There were 44 people in our group!

I have a few more pics to add but blogger is not cooperating with me and wants to add the pics at the top of my post instead of the bottom so I will come back tomorrow with some more pics..

Anyway.. Michelle tagged me to share 7 random things about myself.. Not too hard for me usually ( I have a lot of random things) but I was really trying to think of some different ones than I have shared before, although I think some I have shared in the past. Here goes:

1. I always print, except when I sign my name. I love to print rather than write in cursive. I like my handwriting but just like to print.

2. I was in the studio audience on The Price is Right. That is one of my favorite game shows! I love game shows.

3. I don't watch much TV. I prefer to play on the computer or do something creative. I have a few shows I HAVE to watch but that's it. ( game shows, Grey's Anatomy, Desperate Housewives and The Bachelor) I probably watch 3 hours a week!

4. I was a cheerleader in high school but I really don't like sports!!! I did a cheer routine to the song "No Parking on the Dance Floor" which is on my playlist here on this blog!

5. I learned how to drive on a stick shift and can still drive one if I need to.

6. My mom loved horses when she was little. I loved horses when I was little and always wanted one of my own. My aunt ( mom's sister) had her own horses and used to show them. I wished every year on my birthday cake for a horse. I even went to horseback riding camp. That's how Sammie must have inherited her love for horses but her love is WAAAAAYYYY more than mine ever was and I sure dreamed of having one.

7. My parents anniversary is the day before my birthday and when I was little, I used to think they got married and I was born the next day. :0)

Many of my bloggy friends have done this before but I will tag you again and play along anyway if you want.. it is fun!!
Tag you're it:
1. Christine
2. Jennifer
3. Laurie
4. Susan
5. Dawn

Leave a comment so I know to check your blog too! Oh, and if I didn't tag you, and you want to play, please do so!! I'd love to find out some random things about you!
Bye for now.. I'll be back with some more pics. I owe you ones of the scrappy class I took a few weeks ago.

More pics as promised

Hello! Here are the pics I promised last time but not necessarily in any order
Some are from Legoland, Sea World and some are soccer and water fun in the backyard.

This is Sammie's first season of soccer. She is enjoying it. My brother in law is the coach and Brad is the assistant coach. She practices twice a week and then games start in September. The kids are hilarious. They are all just learning the game and it is quite amusing to watch.








I love this "tourist" picture.. Especially the sunglasses!!




Well we have been busy enjoying our last few days of summer. Boo hoo. I am always sad when summer winds down. I have so many things I wanted to do and didn't get to. Every year in June when school gets out, I make a long list of my summer projects. I didn't do it this year and I don't know why.. I still have lots of things I wanted to do but I never seemed to have the time to get to them. Oh well.. someday.. the list is long in my head just not on paper. I guess I will write it down so I get it off my mind and then I'll work on it eventually!! For now.. I am going to forget about it!! ( I said I wanted to enjoy my last few days of summer!) ha ha ha

Here's a few things we've been up to..
1. Went on a preschool fieldtrip to the La Habra Children's Museum
2. Swimming
3. Water play in the backyard
4. Preschool playdates
5. Soccer
6. Getting over being sick. ( Sammie had a high fever and an ear infection in both ears)
7. Riding lessons
8. Visting Grandma and Grandpa


On Saturday Christine and I took a class at Strictly Scrapbooking. It was fun and the project was great!! I'll post a pic soon. I am having trouble with my memory card for my camera. I will have to use a different memory card. We met Donna for dinner after and had some fun girl time! Anyway.. getting excited for inspiration unlimited in October. It will be a blast!! I'll post a pic of one of the Teresa Collins project sneak peeks too!!
Bye for now!

Summer fun

I have been playing around on the computer and I changed my blog again! I really like this new template! If you want to have a new blog look too, here is where I found it.

I called this post "summer fun" because I am in denial that it is August!! It makes me sad because once August comes the summer goes so fast! I love being on summer vacation! Christine and I have declared August 1st as "National Teacher Day of Mourning!"

It sure has been a while since I have posted so here's what's been going on...
Brad and I celebrated our 13th anniversary on July 23rd. We went to Disneyland as a family and had fun. We rode the new Toy Story Mania ride and here is a pic with the 4D glasses you have to wear. You use an air gun on the ride and it is like a shooting gallery. It keep score of all of the targets you hit. Sammie scored 125,000 and beat Brad!! I scored 150,000 so I beat him too! He got 109,000.. Tee hee hee.... It is an awesome ride!



Sammie finished her 2nd session of swim lessons. She did great. This was a wonderful swimming program! She went off the high dive by herself!! Only 1 other kid did that! This kid is fearless!! I was so proud of her since she didn't even want to put her face in the water at the beginning of the first session. Now she can go under, blow bubbles and even swim a super short distance.





We just got back from a little vacation to Legoland and Sea World. Sammie loved Legoland. She had a great time going on all the rides. This was our first time there and we really enjoyed it. The park wasn't that crowded and the weather was perfect! The 2nd day, Sammie made a little friend named Audrey and we hung around with her, her sister, and Grandma the rest of the day. It was too cute! The miniland was great too. They have replicas of Las Vegas, Washington DC, New York, Hollywood... It is incredible!!


What was Sammie's favorite part about Sea World??? The Anheuser Busch Cyldesdale horses of course!! They have a place where you can take a photo with the horses and visit the barn, which we had to do twice!! The funniest part was the Clydesdale that we got to meet and take our photo with was named Sammy!!!


We did enjoy Sea World too. She loved the penguin encounter. The sea lion show was funny and we saw 2 Shamu shows as well. One was the regular Shamu show and the other was Shamu Rocks which is a nightime show. Sammie was trying to talk about it the next day and refered to Shamu "shamrock" because of the name of the show. I thought that was funny.
They had a new area that just opened called Sesame Street Bay of Play. There are some kiddie rides and a huge climbing thing that she loved. We were busy from morning till night and she was on the go with no naps at all... These past few days she has been catching up on sleep and has slept until 10:00 one day and 11:00 another day..
She has her first soccer practice tonight which should be intersting! She is the youngest one on the team and probably the bossiest!! The kids all voted on their team name. Sammie wanted to be the Mustangs because the uniforms are brown and she loves horses but she was the one who voted for every name that was suggested and then the winning name was the Tigers. ( which is also cute) She was pretty disappointed about the winning name choice. I dont think she really got the "concept" of voting. oh well..
Anyway.. I will be back soon with more pics. Blogger only lets me upload like 4 at a time ( unless I just dont know how to do it right) LOL!! I took a ton of photos.