After such beautiful weather we have finally gotten some rain. And it is darn chilly too!! My friends in MN woke up Saturday to over a foot of snow! I hope that it stays away from here because I think that I would just cry if I woke up to that. I guess I can put up with the rain but I sure do wish that it would go away and the sun would come back!!

Been working on some challenges for MMFY and I have one left to do and I will have them all completed for the month of April. Not too bad since I was gone for awhile this month. I have been sorting in my scraproom this week too and have come up with tons of papers that I know that I won't be using. I am thinking of creating little page kits and selling them on eBay. Then maybe I can earn enough to go and buy some of the new papers and embellies that I have been drooling over!! Just can't justify spending anything now with all of the recent car repairs and the summer camps coming up. And oh yeah...the kids are going to Chicago next weekend with their band for a competition. SO I had to finish paying for that trip too. It is never ending but I am so happy that they are getting these awesome opportunities to do some pretty neat things.

I just wanted to share this layout with you that I created for MMFY. We were given a list of things that we needed to include on the layout. 3 scrap from 3 different manufacturers, mixed up title from 3 different manufacturers and 3 pieces of ribbon no larger than 6inches long. I really liked how this one came out. It is simple but I am pleased with it. This is Maddie and I when we were at the Buffalo Bills training camp here in Fredonia (when they used to come here way back when!!) And the other one is also from a challenge at MMFY. We had to use flowers and clear embellishments. I cut flourishes from some transparency scraps that I had and painted them with a little white paint. The flowers were cut from patterned paper and I colored them with my watercolor pencils. I used blue to match the awesome blue eyes of Maddie. Can you believe how gorgeous they look in this photo. Sometimes they just blow me away with how beautiful they are.

I am off to finish up my last challenge and of course to finish the neverending laundry. Please say a prayer for a sweet little girl named Ellie. She is having a few troubles right now and they are waiting on an MRI for her. Her momma is very worried and I just think that they need a bunch of prayers right now. She is five years old. Thanks so much!!

Oh my gosh...we had such a wonderful time on our vacation!! I just can't tell you enough how much we needed this!! Our hotel was amazing and the ocean was breath taking. I miss it so much already!! I think that my soul was meant for the ocean. We stayed on the 9th floor with a balcony overlooking the ocean. I was scared out of my mind because I was constantly thinking that all it would take was one wrong move and down we would go...but I did manage to get over that feeling after a couple of days. I did learn however that Max is not afraid of heights one tiny bit. The elevator had glass windows in it and he just loved that. He would make Abby go to the 21st floor just so he could look out the windows that high. We spent a lot of time on the beach and even though we wore plenty of sunscreen the sun played a little bit of havoc with our winter skin. Abby and I got a touch of sun poisoning but believe me my tan is worth every bit of uncomfortableness (Smile) The baseball games didn't go too hot...in fact they lost all 4 of them. But remember these guys have not had a lot of time playing and most of their practices have been inside due to snow and other weather. So it was good for them to get these extra games in so they have more experience for the section games here at home. I took tons of pictures and I will be surely posting them as soon as I get a chance. Here are a few to get started with but of course once again I did not turn the pictures before posting. Sorry about that guys!! We did so many wonderful things that I could be here forever talking about them. The funniest thing that we did was take the boys to Hooters. We went with friends and had such a fun time. It was certainly not what I expected but at least I can say I was there...once!!

While I was away though I received some very sad news about my dear friend Stephanie. She lost her battle with cancer on April 13th. She fought so hard and she was always so positive...I really thought that she would be able to beat this horrible disease. I am so happy to know that she is no longer suffering but my heart breaks for her family...especially her youngest daughter Savannah. Please keep this family in your prayers....this is not going to be an easy time for them and I am sure they could use all the strength our prayers could give them. Stephanie was an amazing women and she took me under her wing...she helped me often when I was missing my mom. She was an amazing scrapbooker but most of all she was an amazing friend. I am going to miss her so much...I can't believe that I will never open my email again to find a message from her. Cancer truly sucks!! Sorry for the language but there is just no other way to describe it!!

So tomorrow is the day we leave for our trip...woohoo!! Got the house sitter and the dog sitter all set. Most of the clothes are packed...okay not most...I really hate packing. Have snacks for the drive and the hotel and of course lots of drinks. We start out first by going to see Maddie perform in her OBOC performance and then we leave from there and drive through the night till we reach our destination. Wish us luck and please say a prayer for all of us going down from the team so that we have safe travels.

I am going to share a couple of layouts that I have done this week...hope you all enjoy them. I am so excited about the pictures that we will be taking (Oh yeah....better not forget the camera) so that I can come home and scrap them!! I am in desperate need of some sun and a little bit of relief from all of the stress in life lately.

Speaking of stressful things...Please say a prayer for my sister inlaw Paige. She has found out some pretty scary and sad news this week. She needs lots of prayers and love to get through the next several months or so. When I can I will share more later but I just don't want to talk about it too much right now. She just doesn't deserve this and the whole family is going to need a lot of love and support.

Okay, I am off...not sure if I will be getting time to post while we are away but I might...you just never know. Hope to see some layouts from you guys using my sketch...remember...you just never know when I will surprise someone with a neat little RAK. Just leave me a comment with a link to your layout...I would love to see it!!

To Myrtle Beach!!! Max and Abby have a countdown chart (we had to because Max kept asking "Is it today?") And he crosses off a day each night. Last night he said "I am so exciting to go to the beach!" I am sure he meant to say I am so excited but you know he is only four!!

I posted my first challenge over at MMFY and it was a sketch challenge. I was nervous because I never created a sketch before for someone else to use. But after trying not to stress about it I think that I did a fairly good job for my first try. What do you think? If anyone wants to try it out I would love to see what you come up with. I love seeing what the ladies have done with it over there. I think it is so cool to see how people interpret sketches and make them their own. So go ahead and try it guys...you just never know...there might be something in it for you if you do!! I just love the picture that I used to create my version of the sketch. Max eating cake at Abby's birthday party...just love the perspective of the picture. Andrew asked why did you use a picture that you don't see his whole face? Because I liked it...that's why! Good answer I thought!!

Our weather is gorgeous! We have had such sunny warm weather lately. It is just amazing what a bright mood the weather can put you in. We have done a lot of working in the yard trying to clear away the remnants of winter. You wouldn't believe the number of branches and twigs we have picked up already. It seemed like we had so many more wind and ice storms this year...they really played havoc with all of the trees. I just can't wait until the grass turns green. Right now it is still so brown and yucky!!

Baseball tonight!! WooHoo we actually get to play a game. Last week the games were all canceled because of the fields being too wet with snow and mud. I am excited to watch but a little worried because the guys have only been outside twice to practice with the ground issues. Hope they can get it together quick. I will be sure to let you know the outcome tomorrow.

Have a great day everybody and I hope you enjoy the sketch and my layout. I seriously would love to see what you guys come up with.

Oh My goodness!! Max and I played outside yesterday for two hours!! I haven't been outside that long in forever..okay so it just seems like forever!! We had a little scare in the morning though because we woke up to some snow flurries...luckily they were short lived and the sun came out and warmed up just a bit. Today is another sunny day so I plan on scrapping and cleaning in the morning and then outside again this afternoon!! WooHoo!! Here is Max on the swing yesterday...oops I forgot to rotate the picture...sorry about that!! Isn't that the greatest grin?

I am going to go and try to get some work done now...I will be posting later today with my altered creations from my DT spot so check back again later if you want to check those out!!

We woke up this morning to 62 degrees!! Oh my gosh...when I took Kody Potty I didn't even have to wear a coat!! The sun has been peeking in and out all day between the rain showers so it really does almost feel like Spring has sprung in western New York!!

Busy day for MMFY...all of the DT showed off their projects using the awesome kits from Kelly's Kit Shoppe...and I am safe to share with you what I did!! The first one is of Drew and I wayyyyyyy back in highschool!! I can't believe how much we have both changed...oh my gosh it is funny isn't it? The second one is of Maddie when we visited her at college in the Fall and the last one is of Maddie in her very first Easter portrait taken by her daddy. Now talk about change...those pictures are about 18 years apart...amazing huh? Tomorrow I will share the altered projects that I did with the kit as well. Theresa Collins makes the most amazing papers and embellies and I was so excited that my kit contained most of her items. You will really love working with her stuff...I just know it!!

10 more days until we leave for Myrtle Beach. So excited I can't stand it. Spent the weekend doing some shopping for the trip. It was hard to imagine being able to wear shorts and short sleeves but we had fun getting new things and I can't wait to be able to actually wear them!! Max was so excited because he got new Shark Trunks (that is what he calls them) for swimming in the ocean. Let's hope we don't encounter any real sharks while we are doing that!!

On a side note...our brown van died yesterday...don't know what happened just that when Drew tried to start it to come home..it wouldn't!! Had to have it towed to our mechanic but I told him don't fix it until we get back from vacation because I won't have any money to pay you until then!! (smile) No seriously...we just spent almost 1400 in repair bills for the other van I am not about to spend anymore right now. We will just have to deal with one car for the moment. Just means I can stay home and scrap since I can't do anything else!!

Need to head to tht post office...mailing out Maddie's skirt that I dyed for her to wear in her OBOC production at college. I sure hope she likes it! (smile)