Answers

I have been hurting since Jan 6. Like painful, achy, constant hurtings. And after many trips to the doctor, some physical therapy, and some meds, I have an answer. Fibromyalgia. Yep. I am slowly coming to terms with it. I am so glad and fortunate that I don't have RA or Lupus (which for a while I thought I did as I was becoming a hypochonriac), or some other extremely rare horrible disease. Yes it sucks. But, I am hopeful that I will find a way to treat it and live with it without it affecting my day to day routine. Right now I am so tired by the end of the day I want to climb into bed at 8. And I'm so stiff that I hobble around like an old woman. But I have faith that it will get better. A positive outlook can only help... right? My goal is to be back to my normal self by Amy's wedding! 3 month to go!

oh Deer

These are taken looking outside my bedroom window. Enjoy!

Snowmobiling!

The annual snowmobile trip to the Black Hills was a blast as usual! There were 15 of us the first 2 days, and 13 for the rest of the trip.

The first day we headed up to Roughlock Falls and stopped at Latchstring Restaurant for some lunch. Yum! And look at the wonderful view! (That's the Restaurant at the base of the hill/mountain) It's actually a log building and while inside we actually noticed there was some water leaking inside. Adds some rustic charm huh?

After lunch we headed over to Cement Ridge. It was so foggy/cloudy, it was unbelievable. You couldn't see anything from the top.

That night, most of the group snowmobilied into Lead to eat at Louie's. A few of us rode into town in the Suburban instead... Visiting Louie's is quickly becoming a tradition on the trip, although next time we will go back on Friday night again for Trivia night... it's fun to play along.

Day 2 of snowmobiling we headed for the hills (west and north of Trailshead). It was a day of boondocking. Just boondocking. And it was super duper fun! I was exhausted by the end of the day, but it was worth it! I made my snowmobile do things I hadn't been able to do before! Yay! I turned corners I never thought I would be able to make and I learned how to use my left handed throttle. :)

One of the first places we stopped had this fun jump in the middle of the field. The boys spent awhile playing around on it.

This is what it looks like while the group is waiting for the all clear to climp up or down a hill... sometimes there is one just one path down or up, so you have to wait your turn.

We made lunch in the middle of a clearing somewhere in Wyoming. Thank goodness for GPS or we would just be wondering around the hills... well we were just wondering anywhere, but it isn't quite as aimless and without the GPS. Anyway, lunch was hotdogs over a fire we made in said clearing. We finally wondered up the backside of cement ridge then booked it back to Trailshead by dark to enjoy supper at the Lodge.

Day 3 of snowmobiling. We spent most of the day playing in meadows south of Trailshead. First we weren't in deep enough meadows and I hit a tree stump. Oops! I broke the choke level off with my knee, bent the trailing arm and cracked part of the windshield. But, it was still drivable. Dad on the other hand, hit a stump and broke his steering rod. We had to go get the spare snowmobile for him to ride the rest of the day. Good thing we weren't far from Trailshead yet. We then went further south. We fould some untouched meadows which were super fun to ride in! They weren't super deep, so there wasn't much chance of getting too terribly stuck, but getting stuck was still a possiblity. Playing in deep meadows is sooo much fun though! I even had my snowmobile doinga partial cookie, but i don't have the strength to made it stay in such a tight turn for a long time.

Here we are in one of the beautiful meadows!

Lunch was simply sandwiches in a clearing. After playing in more meadows, we headed to a warming hut to try to dry out our butts! The girls' were all wet. Then, we headed to Deerfield Lake Resort to refuel. We also enjoyed some yummy hot chocolate. By the time we left Deerfield Lake, the snow was coming down pretty good and it was getting hard to see on the trail as the sun was setting.

We hightailed it back to Trailshead. This was taken on our way back to the Lodge. Me and Dad :)

We spent the night in our cabins laughing and having a good time.

The next morning, on our way out of the hills, I snapped this picture I love. I love how beautiful the hills can be when covered with snow.

I didnt' take many pictures, but perhaps I will add some more posts as other on the trip start posting their pics.

Packing!

Yep, it's that time of year again! Time to go snowmobiling in the Black Hills. The annual trip. Love it! Leaving Wednesday, back Sunday. Outs for now folks!

Scrappy Goodness!

Warning! Very picture heavy!

So what have I been up to on the scrapbooking front? Well a lot it seems! I have actually done a lot since the beginning of the year. It helps that it is very cold and snowy outside, so I've been scrapping as I've been doing laundry... :) Also, Studio Calico (SC) started doing Sunday Sketches at the start of the new year, and that has been very inspiring to me as well!

Yes, I am still working on the 2008 Europe trip, but I am making progress! (Uses SC Yearbook kit)

I finally scrapped Roxy! This was based on a Studio Calico sketch challenge using the Cotillion kit.

Continuing on with the Europe trip... the ferry ride! This one was also a SC sketch, and it is a combo of the Yearbook & Marketplace kits.


I love love this layout and it was so fun to make! I misted and glittered and it features 2 of my favorite dogs in the whole world! I used Studio Calico's Orchestra kit.

This is also a SC sketch layout, using SC's Orchestra kit.

More Europe... using Yearbook and Whodunit from Studio Calico.

I love January's kit Whodunit! The colors are so delish! (I also used some Garment District for this)

I've also been scrapping our Grand Caymen trip! The colors from Playground were perfect for these pictures! I used a sketch from SC for this as well! I told you, these sketches are great for my creativity!

SC's Orchestra kit is so very versitile, I love that I can get totally different feels from page to page with the kit!

This is one of my favorite layout's using Whodunit. It was based on a sketch challenge, but the real challenge was figuring out how to journal.... so I did it as banners using my typewriter :) Oh yes! I have a typewriter now! Love it! So great from using on layouts!

Wait... I might have just lied... THIS might be my favorite Whodunit layout! I love the color combo and this pic of me and Chris!

I'm starting to think I'm kinda a schitzo scrapbooker... I flip back and forth and all over the years and between completely different events! This was for a hearts challenge and I love how it turned out! I also just love this picture!

I did this one for a year in review challege. I chose to focus on all the hobbies I have taken up in the past year.... wow! I like to do a lot of things.... maybe that's why I'm not ready to completely settle down yet and have kiddos.... I used a whole hodge podge of kits for this one!

I love my friends! Have I told you all that lately? Really, I do love you all! And this is a wonderful photo to showcase the friendship that we have had since we were little! I used Whodunit for this layout too.


Another Whodunit layout... Scrapping my graduation yet. It's been one of those big events that I haven't really tackeled!


And finally, using the newest Studio Calico kit, Baker's Dozen. I love how colorful this kit is! This layout uses one of SC's sketches.


And that's what I have been up to as of now. I told you, lots of scrappy goodness... now I wish I could remember to update more often so it wouldn't take so long to post! LOL!

New year, new...

Well first off, I am still a horrible blogger... It's already the 19th day of a new year and I still haven't make a post! So I guess this is happy new year!

So, what is new you ask?

I got a new camera! Yay! It's a DSLR and I am currently taking an online class to try and master it.



So, the animals and Chris have been by subjects for mastering my camera.

I made Chris jump his snowmobile over and over while practicing with my shutter speed...


This one was showing motion. He is going super duper fast here ;)




Sunny while on a walk in the very snowy pasture.


Jake found a really big stick while on our walk



And I caught him mid-air/jump.

And of course I can't leave the kitties out!


Something caught Roxy's curiousity here...

And that's it for now!

Camp Crop-A-Lot

Last weekend Michelle and I went to the first ever Camp Crop-A-Lot here in Windom. It was held up at the Methodist Church on Friday night 6 to midnight and on Saturday from 9 to 9. They fed us lots of yummy food and there were vendors on Saturday. They had a really good turnout and it was a lot of fun. I got 7 layouts done! Generally I scrap things from lots of different years and jump all over the place, but I only did one layout from 2008 and the rest were within the last month or so. Here they are.

Jennie, Ali, and me dress shopping for Amy's wedding. This one was a lot of fun to make! Love love the TTV frame stamp from Studio Calico. I also whipped out Studio Calico's Garment District for this page.


Chris & I at Craig & Kiri's wedding. Love the colors.

For this layout I wanted to showcase this beautiful sunset from our trip to Grand Cayman. I thought this Sassafras was perfect for this photo!

Michelle & Monica had found these cute EK Success stickers for a honeymoon that they thought would be perfect for our Grand Cayman trip. So I started with them for inspiration for this layout. I used bits and pieces, as the palm trees and sun in the title are pulled apart from other elements of the stickers. I used Studio Calico's Documentary kit for this one.


Since I was obviously in the mood to scrap Grand Cayman, I continued the theme. I've seen this wonderful coffee stain stamp used so many different ways, it seemed only natural to use it as bubble for a dive layout! I love the dotted swiss cardstock - I think it adds just that extra little kick.

This is the only layout I did from a previous year. I had a lot of fun playing with the different elements. I love the maya mists - they add such a punch here!


This was my last layout of the crop. It was fun to use all the flowers. A layout this girly can only be for a bunch of girls.