Stacey Smiley

XMAS card idea

2010-11-10T19:03:00.003-05:00

Which one:

Syring Spring Concert

2010-04-16T16:01:00.004-04:00

My babies sang in a concert today and they did so good. I attempted to take video with my cell phone and the sound didn't really turn out all that well... oh well. It's still cute to watch the actions of them throughout the video!

Logan singing "Teach Me Well"

Makayla singing "Big Big Dreams"

Chris Daughtry

2009-10-30T09:15:00.002-04:00

We went to the concert last night in Saginaw! It was so AWESOME!!!! Here are a few pix:

BETH'S WEDDING

2009-06-28T20:13:00.007-04:00

What a wonderful day this was! We photographed cousin Beth's wedding! Here are just a few pictures (okay, a lot, but not in comparison to the gallery!!!!) Both kids were in the wedding too! They were so adorable!

I got my hair cut!

2009-06-25T20:34:00.003-04:00

Not quite like the photo... but then again it never is.
Here it is:

Here's my attempt the next morning:

Another missing tooth!

2009-06-14T14:08:00.002-04:00

Check out the second tooth Makayla lost... she ate this one too! LOL.

More Recital pix

2009-06-14T14:00:00.003-04:00

Makayla's Recital

2009-06-13T22:28:00.010-04:00

I used Logan's camera to take a video of the whole class dancing on stage. It's not the best video, but it gives you the gist of things. Makayla's the one right in the middle of the video... hard to see with this tiny camera we used! But still too cute!!!

Firt missing tooth!

2009-06-12T08:30:00.003-04:00

Would you believe my baby girl lost her first tooth last night! Oh she is just so dang cute!!!! Both bottom teeth were loose and she was eating strawberries last night when she realized her tooth was missing. Yup, she swallowed her tooth. Ewww.... but the tooth fairy came last night and she's so excited. I have a feeling the other tooth will be out before the night is over.

We Painted!

2009-06-02T08:35:00.002-04:00

Guess having time off from work inspired Mike to buy us some paint for our family room! We painted yesterday and got it all completed! It's a little darker than we expected, but it looks really good!

Makyala's field trip

2009-05-14T15:50:00.004-04:00

Today we went to the mall library and the temporary bounce house they have there. It was a fun afternoon. Here are some pix to share with everyone!

Since it was in the mall I had to use Logan's camera for pix! LOL.

The library:

INTERVIEW FOR ME:
I've had to apply for some jobs last week since Mike's position was eliminated last week. I applied at banks, Home depot and Lowes. I got a call today from Chase bank and had a phone interview - totally unexpected. She said I would hear from the Assistant Manager within the next 2 days for a personal interview. It's $8.25/hr and 20 hours a week. It'll work for now!!! Mike was approved for unemployment too!!! Yeah!

Life in general...

2009-05-13T14:06:00.002-04:00

So much has happened or is happening. Bridal Shower for my cousin Beth! Mike lost his job. We got a cockatiel. I think I've broken a record for the most books read in 2 weeks time! LOL. Makayla's dance recital is coming up. School is almost out. Summer is coming... WOW!

I of course have pix to share too!
Beth's Bridal Shower:

Our new bird: Polaris. He's only 7 wks old.

Makayla's dance rehearsal... pix taken after rehearsal was over. I can't believe all the makeup we have to put on their tiny little faces.

Happy Birthday Mummy!!!

2009-04-02T20:36:00.003-04:00

We celebrated mummy's bday at our house! The kids made shaped pancakes and a princess cake... um, we'll call it a pizza! LOL. It was the cutest dang thing I've ever seen. Mom laughed so hard she almost wet herself. It was nothing but classic! A day to remember forever!

Pancake sculptures:

and frosting the princess cake:

Yes, those are chocolate chips!!!!

Crocheting like crazy!

2009-03-28T16:06:00.002-04:00

I've been busy as a beaver just crocheting away this year!!! I've made 4 baby blankets, and 3 baby sweaters! Lot's of baby's being born this year!!!! LOL.

Here is a sample of a couple things I've made just recently:

Post OP

2009-03-22T10:26:00.003-04:00

I'm doing soooooo much better now! I had my check up and the doc said I was doing GREAT! I'm to eat a normal diet... nothing special. My liver has to learn that it needs to compensate for my gallbladder missing. Makes sense. I've been lucky in that I really haven't had the poops like I was warned I would. Whew! So glad too! He explained to me that I had adhesion's that had my gallbladder twisted like a towel and that's why it wasn't working - so upside down per say. There was nothing wrong with my gallbladder, but since it wouldn't stay where it was supposed too, they decided to just take it out. Works for me... prevents surgery again later on. They biopsied it and it was fine as well. Yeah! I was told to remove the tape from the incisions - easier said than done... that adhesive is STICKY! LOL.

Thanks again for all of your prayers. It means so much to me!
Hugs!!!

ps- Had Logan take a picture of my healing incisions! He kind of missed one...

Sunday... 5 days after surgery

2009-03-15T14:20:00.003-04:00

Today I feel like I took a step backwards. I'm not sure if it's just cramping in the tummy now along with the incision pain, or one or the other. I can get around much better today though... just have to be careful not to overdo it.

I created another 2 page layout today with one of the kits I created. It was fun!

Time for myself...

2009-03-14T16:00:00.002-04:00

I decided to scrapbook today! Took time out and used my creative brain for me.

SURGERY

2009-03-14T15:50:00.002-04:00

The surgery went well, and fast too! I got there at 11 am and was off to the surgery room by 11:30! FAST! I was able to visit with the family around 1pm and home I came! I had the laprascopic version!!! Thanks goodness. But believe it or not, these little incisions really hurt. My biggest challenge is going from sitting to laying in bed. It feels like someone is sitting on my chest... it takes my breath away. But after about 5 min. the pain subsides. I ended up having the itchy side effects to the vicodin (never did before), so I've been on ibuprofen since day 2! Every day gets a little better than then the day before. I'm able to get around really well now... just can't lift much. A gallon of milk is heavy when the muscle across your ribs tense over the incision! I'll be happy to be back to normal (what ever that is, for me!). LOL.

Here are pictures of my 3 incisions:

Here is a picture of what bandaids do to me:
Yeah, see that bubble next to the cloth stitch? That came from the stinkin bandaid! What the heck! Mike's trying to pop it with his exacto knife... I keep running!

I want to thank all of my family and friends for supporting me through this whole ordeal! Love and hugs!

Surgery Scheduled

2009-03-09T12:18:00.002-04:00

Tomorrow is the big day of my gal bladder surgery. I have to be at McLaren at 11am and my surgery is at 12:30pm. I won't know if I'll be coming home or not until after the surgery is over. If it's laprascopic I'll be coming home, but if it's not, then I'll have to stay there for 3 days. I'm praying for the laprascopic!!! Faster healing this way!!!

HOLLY HOTEL COMEDY CLUB

2009-03-01T11:15:00.005-05:00

Last night we went to the comedy club at the Holly Hotel with a few friends of Mike's. Oh my gosh it was so stinkin funny. They had 3 acts and the show was sold out. We were sitting pretty close to the front too! Here are pix of the 2 main comedians that were there:

Tim Rowlands

Bill Bushart

GREAT DEAL AT KOHLS

2009-02-23T14:22:00.002-05:00

Today I felt so much better that I went shopping. Clothes shopping for the kids! I think I'm sick! LOL. Anyways, I found the most adorable dress ever for $4.00 for Makayla. It's sooooo cute on her too!

Oh, and I stopped by the dr. today and they still don't have my scans. So, we wait some more!

HIDA SCAN TEST OVER

2009-02-20T12:45:00.003-05:00

Wednesday was my HIDA scan. I got in there at 1 and didn't leave until 5:30! What a stinkin long day that turned out to be. The first injection they gave me was the radioactive tracer, this is suppose to travel through the intestines and the organs releasing bile along the way. Well, mine never made it into my gal bladder. The second injection never came (thank goodness, cuz I heard this one really hurts the tummy). So, now I play the waiting game again to see what's on the agenda for making me better.

A TRIP TO THE ER

2009-02-10T13:42:00.004-05:00

After getting worse and week and faint I called my Dr. and they had me go to the ER on THURSDAY around 4pm for re hydration and some testing. After an x-ray and CAT scan they found that my appendix was enlarged and thought they may have to do surgery. They admitted me and I was put in a room on the 9th floor of McLaren at 1:30am. After a night of bathroom explosions, a team of surgeons came in to check me out. They poked and prodded and didn't find anything. They ruled out appendicitis because the symptoms didn't follow the right path. So, they gave me more anitbiotics and an anti pooping medicine. Well, I ended up having an allergic reaction to the anti pooping med... I told them I was allergic to oranges! Geesh. So they gave me an anti nausea medicine through the IV that made me vomit. I told everyone to get out and let me go to sleep after that. The nurse came in hours later and tried giving me more meds and I said HECK NO, get out please! They did. I was finally released SATURDAY morning. What a horrible trip that was.

I'm happy to say that I am feeling much better today. The runs are subsiding, and all that remains is the groggy, light headed feeling, and weakness. They never came up with an actual diagnosis, but they believe it was several viruses and bacterial infections that attacked my system and I just couldn't fight it all off.

I'm to follow up this week with my family physician. I'll let you know more as I find out. My apt. is for Friday!

ME and MY GAL BLADDER

2009-02-01T20:19:00.003-05:00

Well, I finally went to the Dr. Friday after thinking I had food poisoning or the stomach flu that seemed to be lasting more than 3 wks! And come to find out that it is probably my gal bladder. I will be going to have an ultrasound on it in the early morning! I'm praying for NO SURGERY! I really don't want to have to go under again.

MY BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION

2009-02-01T16:15:00.003-05:00

We were invited to Heather's house for my birthday. They made the most delicious dinner and dessert ever. We had lasagna, salad, garlic dinner rolls, cake, cherry pie, brownies, and coconut cream pie. Lot's of YUMMIES!

Here's Mike getting lovin from Lizzy, the BIG DOG!

And here are all my celebrators! (is that even a word! LOL)

WINTER FEST IN FRANKENMUTH

2009-02-01T15:57:00.003-05:00

What a great time we had in Frankenmuth Sat. Jan 24th! We met Chris, Heather and her family up there for dinner and the walked around for a bit. We froze! It was so dang cold out there, but there was so much to see!

Snow sculptures:

Ice sculptures:

Family Pix:

Hot Chocolate Time:

Time to go home:

COMPUTER GENERATION

2009-01-14T13:48:00.003-05:00

Who would have thought that when we had kids they'd be playing like this? I sure didn't. I can't believe how smart we grow them now!!! LOL.

HAPPY TURKEY DAY!

2008-11-27T09:13:00.002-05:00

Talked to dad before I went to bed last night and he was cracking jokes left and right and had me laughing for an hour! They did an ultrasound to see where the pockets of ooze were yesterday, but found NOTHING. So back to the drawing board. After the Dr.'s meeting they decided to make up a special batch of electrolytes and administered it through an iv. So now we sit and wait to see what happens next.

We decided to move our Turkey day to Sunday that way dad was guaranteed to be home to celebrate with us!!! It helped alleviate a lot of stress off of ALL of us.

Hugs and Love!!!

TURKEY EVE

2008-11-26T09:15:00.002-05:00

Well, not so sure what's going on with dad today. I guess the family dr. came in and says that dad's platelets and electrolytes aren't right. The specialists say he's fine. So they are having a big meeting to discuss the issue at hand. Not really sure what all this means. I will, however, post what I hear as soon as I hear something. Dad is going to have the fluid removed and the dried blood around the bruising removed sometime this morning. He has a feeling that he'll be sticking around the hospital yet another night. :( I was hoping to have him home for Turkey day. But I'd rather him be okay then sent home sick... if there is something wrong.

Hugs to all.

TUESDAY

2008-11-25T19:29:00.002-05:00

Well, dad's incision is still leaking really bad. There is no infection according to the dr. But he will have to go in the morning to have it drained with a nasty big needle and then vacuumed like last time around. Depending on how dad does with this, will determine if dad can come home tomorrow or not. I'm praying hard that he will be coming home. Or else we just may be spending Thanksgiving in the hospital room with dad!

MONDAY

2008-11-24T16:24:00.002-05:00

Yesterday dad was doing WONDERFUL! He thought he was gonna be able to come home, but according to the rules, they have to keep him for a total of 3 days. Makayla and I were up visiting for half the day, and Aunt D and Uncle Ed came up as well. It was nice visiting with them and I know dad really enjoyed the company!

Well, dad was supposed to come home today, but he called me to say they're keeping him another night or two. I guess his incision is oozing and they want to monitor it. I assume they are watching for infection.

I will continue to update you as I hear more.

Hugs,

SUNDAY - VISIT

2008-11-22T19:02:00.002-05:00

Today, dad is doing GREAT!!! He's up and walking, in physical therapy already and has been told he'll be out in the next day or two!!! Wow! This is fast recovery this time! YEAH! He's in more pain this time, but that's because they had to stretch this leg out to match his other leg. OUCH! Very tender I imagine.

Here are some pix from our visit!

Here's dad just visiting with us.

Poor Logan is worried about Grandpa.

Proof that Chris was there! LOL! j/k Bum!!!!

Oh yeah, and I also went and got my hair cut. I went to a new hairdresser and LOVE her! She did a GREAT job!

It's not very often that I don't have to come home and restyle my hair!!!! YIPPEE SKIPPEE!

AFTER SURGERY

2008-11-21T17:29:00.002-05:00

Surgery went very well!!! They said that everything fit the way it was supposed to! He lost minimal blood this time too! So that's reassuring! :) Dad's in recovery right now and should be in a room before the night is over (around 8pm maybe). I'll be going back up tonight to talk to him and say goodnight!

Here's a pic of dad after they gave him his happy meds before surgery!

DAD'S SURGERY

2008-11-21T09:14:00.001-05:00

Today dad goes in for surgery at 11. His surgery is at 1pm and should take about 2 hours. I will try to update my blog tonight when all is said and done and dads in his room!

HALLOWEEN HAS COME AND GONE!

2008-11-03T14:41:00.005-05:00

What a fast holiday this was for us. Here are some pictures to share with everyone!

Halloween:
Here are the kids carving their own pumpkins...

The kids with their pumpkins and costumes in front of our house...

Me and the kids dressed to go trick or treating...

My nephew Jaiden went with us trick or treating...

I couldn't resist putting this one on my page. Here is my son playing with my wig:

Then you have the all time famous Road Rally:

FIELD TRIP TO THE APPLE ORCHARD

2008-10-10T09:07:00.004-04:00

Yesterday was Makayla's first field trip! We got to ride a bus (for the first time), to the apple orchard!

She had a blast. We went on a hayride,

then picked our own pumpkin,

and an apple to eat straight from the tree. Boy they were yummy apples too!

We then took a tour of the petting zoo... saw chickens, pigs, goats, reindeer, donkeys, etc...

and then we played on the wooden park they had until it was time to go home.

and of course we can't forget to show you Makayla's boyfriend: Luke!!!

Logan made the same trip last friday to the same orchard... I wish I could've shared the same experience with him, but siblings weren't allowed. :(

SEPTEMBER EVENTS!

2008-09-27T13:04:00.002-04:00

This month has gone by so fast! I can't believe the schedules we have now... I hardly sit for anytime at all!

Two weeks ago Makayla had her open house for preschool. PRESCHOOL guys?!!!!? Can you believe it? Already! Where did this time go? Where did my little baby go??? It's hard to believe they started off this small

She then started Dance class Monday! She was so cute! She was so confident at first, and then became super clingy. No clue what happened. I was able to sit in on the tiny little dance room just so she could see me. She did great otherwise.

Her class is 45 min. long and it's split between tap, ballet, jazz and tumbling. She loves it all. But the instructor is most impressed with her strength in the tumbling area. So I guess we'll see where that goes in time.

This past week was Makayla's first day of Preschool.

We did great this day because I had to babysit 3 of the neighbor kids and Makayla knew I couldn't stay with her in class. She got in there, sat down and off they went to breakfast... no issues whatsoever. But that wasn't the case at all the rest of the week. It's been a screaming, crying and fighting fit that gets worse every day I have to leave her. I'm hoping this is a phase and passes fast! It just breaks my heart to see her act this way. I'm hoping week 2 will be better!!!!

The love of her life:

There's not too many places we go anymore that Teddy doesn't go with us!

SHAKEY SHAKEY

2008-09-13T14:51:00.003-04:00

Gee, yesterday I had my yearly check up at the lung specialist and came home with a bag o' drugs.

After taking them all I'm Shakey shakey baby cakey! I guess that's what you get when you are on a steriod and albuteral! Whoo whee! He said my lungs looked pretty good from the x-ray, and that my lower lungs are clear... but he still needs to find a control for the upper lungs and my asthma. So, I guess with him calling it that, that means it's official that I HAVE ASTHMA. Okay... now what. For the fall season I am to take benedryl at night before bed, continue my zyrtec and singulair and add in the nose spray and advair once a day. It's no wonder I'm shakey bakey today! LOL!

On a different note, I've been working hard trying to help mom with the Road Rally!!! :) It's gonna be such a GREAT rally I can't wait! Remember to book the date in for November 1st! That's the first Saturday in November! Whhhhooooooooooooooooooooo!
"BOO", don't get spooked!

READY FOR THE ROAD RALLY???

2008-09-01T12:32:00.002-04:00

Every year mom puts on a road rally for us! We have a total bast!!! I thought I'd share some pix from last year to share what fun it is!!! Costumes are always required too!

This years date for the rally is:
November 1st!!!
Be ready for the haunting of your life!

DESIGNER CONTEST!!!

2008-08-13T10:37:00.007-04:00

I've joined in a designer contest for digital scrapbooking. There are 4 weeks of challenges and points are distributed for all sorts of things. It makes it seem very fair over all.

POINTS:
~ Comments on your preview in the gallery
~ How many different people download your item
~ Judging panel

So, if any of you would be willing to visit the site and leave comments in the gallery or vote for your favorites... it would be greatly appreciated!

click image below!

Here's a sampling of all the kits entered thus far:

A trip to AUNT CAROL and UNCLE JOE's house!

2008-08-06T18:30:00.005-04:00

We had such a blast! I just had to scrapbook about it. As I get all the pages together, I will post them here. But here is how the story goes so far!

We did everything in nature this special day! While Aunt Carol got the horses ready for us, Uncle Joe took the kids to dig for worms. Ewwwww....

And during this digging we find this cute little frog! Logan took it on as his own. Him and Uncle Joe got a container to make a home in for the baby frog for the time that we were there.

Aunt Carol then takes the kids for a walk around the yard on the horses. They just LOVED that!

When we were done with that, we then had to go fish with the worms we dug!

That was fun. As Uncle Joe launched the fish pole, several times I may add, the worms seemed to blow goobs on me as they flew by! YUCK!

After we were done fishing, Aunt Carol made us the best tasting fruit smoothies ever!!!

We then took a boat ride

and went swimming. I hadn't intended on going in, but after we lost the anchor, I jumped in. I couldn't leave ANCHOR UNCLE JOE to hold down the boat alone! LOL. I played with the kids and Aunt Carol until Uncle Joe happened to stumble upon the anchor.

CREATING SCRAPBOOK PAGES FROM OUR TRIP

2008-07-10T15:27:00.007-04:00

What a TRIP!

2008-07-05T18:56:00.010-04:00

Slideshow attempt
Gallery

This was the most interesting trip we've ever made!

SUNDAY
We get up (before the butt crack of dawn) at 3:30am to get our stuff ready, drop our car off in the US Parkplace and shuttle over to the Metro Detroit Airport. STARBUCKS right in the lobby! Yeah, so we grab one and proceed to the security gate. Guess what? You can't take it with you. So we take a seat and sip like crazy (mind you the suckers are HOT!) We continue on through security and they make you strip off your shoes, belts, etc. They scan everything and decide that our camera bags look suspicious so they need to search them throughly. Okay, no big deal. Once all is said and done we get to the gate and wait, and wait. Finally we're called to board the plane. I'm nervous as all sin. I know the take off is hard for me so I'm trying to keep myself preoccupied by watching out the window.

So, we happen to be right above the luggage compartment. I see this cop pull up... ok, nerves are even more on edge. I watch as he makes them open the baggage compartment and search it. Several minutes later another cop shows up and another. GREAT!!! Now what?

They decide we need to unboard the plane. Off we go to the lobby once again, except this time it's packed and the floor is the only space to sit. Me, the busy body that I am, decide to talk to the couples standing next to us. One lady seems to have minute to minute updates to share with us. She told us that the brought the dogs on to sniff the luggage compartments and the taxi itself inside. Nice! The end up finding a cardboard box under the seats that wasn't checked into this flight. Of course they aren't willing to share any info with us... other than the plane is now safe and we are ready to board again! (An hour later). Off we go!

After a 2 1/2 hour flight, we make our landing in Ft. Lauderdale. Easy, peasy! We unboard, find our gate, find some lunch, and wait. We board again (after a 2 hour layover - or as I kept saying - overlay! LOL!). We take off, and now we are getting ready to land in the Domincan Republic (another 2 hour flight)... and the plane is bouncing, and jerking back and forth... I was SCARED!!! I guess it was storming and the clouds were really rough traveling through (obviously!). Then we land and it's super fast down to the ground and slam on the breaks. I guess they have a very small landing strip. Not cool! Hahaha.

We get off the plane and we are unboarding from stairs out in the parking lot area. Strange! We walk to the airport that looks like a huge tiki bar! Palm tree roofs, all open areas... very strange.

It's hotter than HAITI (LOL, as I know totally get the saying! Too funny. Hahaha.) To give you an idea... the temp was over 90 the whole week with 80-90% humidity! HOT! We walk through the door area, show our passports, then we have to buy this visa. Okay, then we walk through the rat maze and hand them our visa card. (What the heck? I give you $10 for this paper card and then turn around and give it back to you only 5 feet away?) So then we find our baggage and get thrown onto a crazy bus! As some of you know, there are no traffic rules there. They don't stop for stop signs, they drive where ever they want and squeeze past items that make you cringe. I'm happy to say that we made it to the resort (1 1/2 hours later and alive!)

I'm a little disappointed at this point. The island is so sad to look at (being a 3rd world country and all). People just sitting out in the woods miles away from any civilization. Animals roaming aimlessly in the streets, and in the fields trying to scrape by. Just so sad... then you come to the resorts and they are HUGE, but aren't quite what the pictures depict online. Maybe it had to do with the long flight and the storming. (12 hours beginning to end makes for a VERY long trip!). So, we get to our room and it is very nice!

We unload our stuff and try for 2 hours to get the phones to work or the internet to work just so we can contact the family and let them know we were safe. No such luck! We go meet with the Bride and Groom in the lobgy (where they present us with a beachbag FULL of goodies - so sweet!) and then we separate and grab some dinner, then come back to the room to give it another shot. Finally, by some miracle, we get through to the SIL and let her know we're safe, we can't talk, and we'll try to contact them later. To the bar we go and grab a few drinks! The resort was ALL INCLUSIVE!!! That meant FREE FOOD, and FREE DRINKS!!!!

MONDAY
We woke up nice and refreshed. We took a tour of the resort and enjoyed our time to ourselves. We met up with the bridal couple and their party and went snorkeling! What an adventure. I'll leave it at that. We traveled by boat, about an hour off the resort to an open area in the ocean where we jumped off the boat and snorkeled. I took photos with a disposable underwater camera that I'll have to post later too, cuz I just haven't made it up to the store to have them developed! (boy that sounds so strange for being a digital family!). Mike ended up getting sea sick big time... and did just fine the rest of the day. We had to attend the rehearsal dinner with the couple/party. That was a blast!!! It started off very professional and ended very friendly! LOL. We were introduced to "Mamajuana" pronounced: mamma wanna! It's the umph drink. "lift the stick" drink (so it says online! lol). And it was so GOOD! Uncle Skeeter called it the Root Juice. This is because the main ingredient was this root only grown in the Dominican Republic.

(this pic came from mamajuanacorp.com)
We liked it so much that we asked if we could buy some and the manager had us meet him the next day to pick some up at the buffet. But their favorite saying through out the resort from that day forward was: "Mammajuana" "Yeah Baby!" Way too funny. We thought at first they called it Marijuana Hootch... no clue how we got that, but must be the spanish/ishy language they speak. Our waiter was a blast too. He had this hip wiggle that was so fun. And I picked on him all night. After all was said and done, we made our way to the center of the resort and took photo's in the dark. SO beautiful. My opinion changed about the resort big time after the day was through.

TUESDAY
Today is the day of the Wedding. Since we have time in the morning, we go swimming in the mile long pool! It's HUGE! And it was almost too warm to cool off in. After a swim, we go back and get ready for the wedding. Talk about HOT!!! I took off with the bride and her family, while Mike took off with the groom and his family. We met up at the wedding... which was absolutely beautiful. Breathtaking! Then more photo's, and off to the reception. What a blast! This family loves to dance and party and we had so much fun with them. Even the staff was out dancing! It was sooooo funny!

After the reception, we went to the casino and spent very little money! LOL! It was fun though... we met up with some of the bridal party and talked quite a while.

WEDNESDAY
Today was trash the dress photoshoot... but not until evening time. We met the manager of the restaurant and got our bottle of MAMAJUANA! It was wrapped so pretty.

Then off to beach until it was time. We swam, sunned, played, took lots of photos of us! It was VERY relaxing!

We went back to the room and took a 20 min. nap... mine turned into over an hour! I guess I was pooped beyond belief! Hahaha. We went off to the photoshoot and it was actually a lot of fun. It looked so pretty out with them all dressed up.

Later, after getting pix of ourselves, we headed to the bar upstairs. Here we met a couple that were super sweet from Canada. We spent a few hours visiting with them. Our bartender Roberto, made me a special drink earlier that day! It was fabulous. He made it himself and it had no name, so we called it Roberto's Special! Well I ordered another one that night. Great stuff. When we got back to our room - pretty late - we packed our bags and got everything ready to go.

THURSDAY
Time to come home. We had a little time after breakfast so we grabbed our cameras and took pictures of all kinds of flowers. Even some of the detail throughout the resort that made it unique.

Then it was off to the lobby where we waited for our shuttle. Another hour trip to the airport... at least this time I think our speed was more bearable! LOL. A lot more traffic on the roads this time than last... think the storm on the way in prevented the scooters from being ridden. So, we finally get to the airport. Here they search our luggage that is being checked in... we get our boarding pass and then proceed to this rat maze that is an hour long. We finally get to the security where we pass through the x-ray machine and they stop us with our camera bags (again!). They thoroughly search and tear Mike's bag apart. They decided that we couldn't take our double AA battery's home with us. I was so upset. But I guess Mike had several more sets hiding in the bag and he pushed me on. Strange stuff. We then wait and wait for our plane to board... all we can grab is a croissant to eat for lunch - not much to choose from... unless you wanted to walk back to the other side of the airport, and we didn't have that much time. So we get onto the plane and sit there, and sit there, and sit there. They finally announce that we have to wait, because a couple decided they were going to stay and they had to dig their luggage off our plane. (I'm sure it was something else, more confidential, that happened.) So we wait yet another hour. We figured, okay, well that's one less hour we have for layover in Florida. (2 hours originally). Now we're in the air... we land in Ft. Lauderdale with about 45 min. to go through immigration and then board the next flight. Oh my gosh. The airport was shoulder to shoulder packed!!! We go through immigration where we sit in another rat maze, hand them our immigration papers, then proceed to yet another line where we present our passports. Then off to baggage claims to get our suitcase so we can dump it off again on the next flight. (Pain in the a**!). We stand in line to get through customs... then off to the other side of the airport to stand in yet another huge line. At this point we have about 10 minutes before the flight leaves. I grabbed a worker and told him we were just transferring and our flight was leaving NOW. He pulled us through, dumped the luggage and sent us on our way to security. Again, here we go with the shoes off, belts off, etc... and once again they have to tear our photo bags apart. UGH! By the time we are done here they are calling "Last chance for boarding, plane is departing now!" RUN Forest RUN!!!! We finally make it to the plane and sit down. And we sit, and we sit... for yet another hour! At this point we're p'd off cuz we've had hardly nothing to eat, we were tired, and rushed to no end... and now we wait cuz there are even more international flights that we're waiting on. (gee, we could've grabbed some food in this time). So we get to eat on the flight. How REDICULOUS! They have cans of pop for $3, and m&m's, pretzels, and pringles as choices of food at $4 a piece! Luckily we sat next to a very nice guy who shared a bag of fruit with us. A nice little nap to pass the time. We finally make it to DETROIT! Thank GOD! We get our stuff and are now finally able to call home to let the family know we made it in and are ok. Into the shuttle to grab our car... to McDonalds for dinner (at 1am)! We make it home by 2am and beat to say the least!

So, in a nutshell this completes our trip!

DOMINCAN REPUBLIC

2008-06-24T13:34:00.002-04:00

HERE we come!

That time is here!!! I can't believe it. I'm so nervous and excited at the same time. It'll be sad to be away from my babies for a WHOLE WEEK, but I know once I'm there I'll be ok. It's going to be quite the experience!!!

We have a wedding to photograph FRIDAY night (the 27th), SATURDAY (the 28th) and we fly out SUNDAY at 6:30am!!!! We'll be back home super early on the 4th of JULY! Yippee!

In case you didn't get a chance to see the pictures of where we'll be staying: Punta Cana

I'm sure I'll post one more time before then, but if not...
LOVE YOU ALL! Will Miss everyone! HUGS an KISSIES!!!

BATHING SUIT SHOPPING

2008-06-12T19:10:00.002-04:00

The dreadful dead of any woman is to have to go out and buy a new bathing suit. I had an idea of what I wanted for our trip to the Dominican Republic (which is only 2 wks away now). I wanted something in a 2 piece, but not a bikini (please help those who have to look at me in that! LOL!) So, here is what I came up with... Logan helped me pick out the top! LOL... notice how bright and colorful it is??? There weren't many options for the bottoms - as they were sold as seperates. So this was the best color for my body and for the top.

Now I'll be working on exercising for the next 2 wks to make sure my belly doesn't pudge out the front! LOL!

A COUPLE DAYS AGO!

Oh my gosh, I took my brother to see Adam Sandlers new movie "Don't mess with the ZOHAN!".

It was HILARIOUS!!! I laughed until I went to bed! I couldn't believe all the innuendo's that were in that movie. Crack me up... then there are those shorts he is wearing! ONFLMAO!!!! Those are so my dad's shorts that we grew up watching him wear! That and his bear hat. Hahahahaha. (sorry, inside family joke - if you don't understand!)

Then we went to mom's house and Chris and I installed a pond! Mom and Casey had a nice visit as well! It turned out awesome if I say so myself!

Granted, mom went in afterwards and decorated it with all the ivy and flowers! I was just happy to see that we were able to get the water to pump through from the bottom to the watering can and back down again!!! The tube was crazy hard to insert into the spout of that watering can... it was actually a hilarious site to see too! Chris was on one side of the deck yanking the tube through the can while I was on the ground holding the can! LOL. Guess you just had to be there to see it. Take my word for it... it was a funny site to see! Let's just say it was one of the best days ever in a very long time!

Choir Performance JUNE 2008

2008-06-06T16:48:00.007-04:00

Check out my boy! He's singing! I was such a proud mom today watching him up there with the crowd of people singing with his class. How sweet!

and of course I had to put Makayla to work... I had her use my phone camcorder to record the sound for me.

YESTERDAY we went to the mall and played. What fun it would be to be young again!

WEDNESDAY I went and got my hair cut. It was supposed to be a shoulder length flip. Yeah, it turned out quite a bit shorter!!! But I'm getting used to it and liking it now.

Oh, and Uncle Chris... Makayla made you and Casey some Playdough balls for your birthday!!! So of course I had to take a picture of them for you!

WOO HOO THE WINGS WON!!! STANLEY CUP IS OURS ONCE AGAIN!!! HOME WHERE IT BELONGS!!!

HAPPY BDAY BUM!

2008-06-04T11:42:00.001-04:00

Wishing you a very Happy Birthday!

Birthday Comments

Can you believe it???

2008-06-04T11:35:00.001-04:00

Makayla is riding her bike without training wheels! How exciting! My baby isn't a baby anymore! :(

MORE SCRAPPING TODAY!

2008-05-10T14:42:00.006-04:00

With Mother's day tomorrow, I've been busy scrapping cards for family and friends. I've also been playing with pages as well. When you're on a roll, you just have to keep going! Here's what I have so far!

MOM: DON'T PEEK! LOL!

This one is for my best friend Stacey:

And here's another one from our trip!

Scrappin day Today!

2008-05-09T14:08:00.006-04:00

I am so addicted to the show MOONLIGHT! I just love the role Alex O'Loughlin plays. While out on my girls weekend away I hooked my best friend on the show as well. So, we decided to create a book with us and our favorite show!

Aren't these just so fun? It's not all about scrapping yourself, but what you like and who you were that makes the scrapbooking fun and interesting for others to read and look at.

CANDY ON ME!

2008-05-09T13:36:00.002-04:00

Makayla just loves chocolate! Here she is wearing her food once again!

LOL! Just too cute
Hugs,

Mother's Day is around the corner!

2008-05-08T13:11:00.002-04:00

Dad went back to work. I dropped him off this past Sunday night. He's back in his groove and doing great! Yeah!!!

On the way home from dropping dad off at night... I captured these sky pictures. It's so cool to have had so much light at 9:30pm. Do you believe in angels? I do!

Casey has moved in with Chris! I'm so excited!!! They have a new baby kitty and a pup too! Can't wait to go visit them!

Mom is doing great. Working hard as always!

What are the plans for Mother's day? Notta. Not much into celebrating these Hallmark Holidays. It's a waste of money. But I'm sure we'll find something to send our mom's.

Hugs,

DAD'S A OK TO RETURN TO WORK!

2008-05-01T16:01:00.002-04:00

Yeah, after a rough night of sleep and a worrisome morning. Dad passed his physical! He will be returning back to work very soon!!! We are just waiting for a call from the boss to see when his load and truck will be ready.

YEAH!!!!

Here's a preview of last night's birthday dinner for Casey and Mike!

Chris now has competition!!! LOL! My son!

They sure make a cute couple!

Hugs,

DAD UPDATE!

2008-04-28T16:37:00.001-04:00

On Wednesday we will be headed back into the dr. for the final saying and hopefully the return to work note that dad needs! If all goes as planned, we will be headed to dinner later that night to celebrate Mike and Casey's birthdays, then Thursday I will be driving dad back to work in Troy!!!

GIRLS WEEKEND IN OHIO!

2008-04-28T15:21:00.007-04:00

We left Friday to head to Hinkley Ohio! We met up with the Close to my heart scrapbook retreat... but we didn't stay there very long. The first night we pretty much just visited with our few friends.

Saturday we played on our laptops at the retreat... here's my friend at hers:

We came and left a lot while we were there. I guess you could say we were restless! But we did travel around the town a lot and had a BLAST! We rented a hotel this year and that was the highlight of our weekend! Hotel and laptops! Hahaha.

Here's us taking pix at Starbucks:

Here's me getting in trouble for taking a picture in Starbucks... gosh forbid! The lady behind the counter screamed "NNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" as I clicked the photo. So, on our trip home, I used my phone to capture these pictures in spite of getting yelled at for wanting to scrapbook my trip!!! I actually had to delete the original of this pic with 3 managers surrounding me asking me for my photo. HOW RUDE!

We made our first trip to Hobby Lobby too while we were out...

Very different from what I was expecting inside. Not the typical hobby store... more decorations than anything else.

Once we got back, we decided to do group photo's at the cabin.

of course I had to be the goof and make a funny group photo!!! What's a picture without silliness???

Then back to the hotel we went! Oh boy!!!!

Sunday came faster then ever... and boy were we tired! We slept in till kickout time! I think it might have had something to do with staying up till 4am laughing our heads off and watching the oh la la MICK from Moonlight on the laptop! LOL!

So on our trip home, we decided to document our the rest of our trip with LOTS of photo's!
Here's us at the service center off the turnpike in Ohio:

We stopped off at Einstein Bro's for lunch and got a really yummy bagel... and more photo's of course! Hahaha.

We even stopped off at the Michigan welcome center:

Then we made a pit stop at Archiver's scrapbook store... and would you believe that we walked out of there buying absolutely NOTHING at all!

And there you have it!!! Our trip in photo's!!!
Hugs,

BABY FISH!

2008-04-14T16:33:00.004-04:00

I'm a new mommy again! We made a trip to the fish store yesterday and got a few new fish. The bright orange clown fish is the baby! The dark clown is my 1st baby. I can't believe he was as small as the other little guy when we got him.

Here's the fish for our main tank!

Then of course I had to take pictures of Bailey as well (our bearded dragon!).

WEEKEND PHOTO'S WITH DADDY

2008-04-13T12:59:00.002-04:00

Mike was putting the studio away when Makayla asked him to take her picture! These are so cute and so fun:

And of course, me miss out on a photo opp? Never!!! LOL!

HAIR CUTS ON SATURDAY

2008-04-13T12:10:00.007-04:00

So, Chris came over yesterday for a haircut and brought dad with him. Well, I think I made record for the fastest haircut for Chris! I was determined to get dad in the barber chair and chop some of that hair down. LOL! Chris was on a time schedule... so check out dad's new du! (pic didn't turn out that great from my camera phone...)

So much better if you ask me!!!
In case you forgot what it looked like:

Then of course it's time for my son's haircut. Mom, I want a mohawk! A WHAT? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? So, here is Logan's first crazy hairdo.

I can't believe I cut it this way... am I nuts??? LOL.

DR. VISIT FOR MAKAYLA

2008-04-08T08:19:00.002-04:00

My poor baby girl is sick. I took her to the dr. and she's having bronchialspasms. So they gave her her first breathing treatment. Boy am I glad I already own a breathing machine at home for all these treatments I have to give our kids. You'd never know that asthma ran in the family! LOL! Thank goodness for my camera phone too because it helped preoccupy Makayla while she was receiving her treatment.

This was taken before the dr. came into the room.

Here's Makayla receiving her first breathing treatment.

Here's the machine itself.

Dr. equipment.

Makayla after the treatment jumping bouncing around... she's actually playing under the bed in the room while waiting for the dr. to come back in and check on her.

SPRING IS HERE!

2008-04-07T09:12:00.005-04:00

What a fun weekend we had! We spent the day outside yesterday playing with the kids! I took tons of photo's as usual!

Makayla's fighting a bad cold, so here she is runny nose and all.

Here's Logan sitting in front of the garage (like he did when he was an baby!)

Makayla running wild! LOL. Look at that outfit! Hahaha. She loves her dresses.

Check out the air action here! Logan missing the ball, but up he's up in the air.

Makayla trying to pose, but that wind is soooo cool and the sun was so bright!

Makayla with her bike helmet! Protection baby!

Our kite flying.

So precious, Logan and Daddy together!

Look how high the kite is flying! Go LOGAN!

Don't run into the house Logan!!!

The kite the neighbor gave us to fly! It looks really cool in the air flying!

Our puppy dog! I know, she's not a puppy, but she'll always be called my pup!

Mike protecting Tauri from my phone camera! LOL! Tauri hates the camera, and I thought if I used my phone instead she'd pose, NOT!

Here's a usual pose of Tauri's! Hahaha. I think she thinks she's human sometimes!

Tauri laying on the kids couch as well! What a spoiled pooch!

WEDNESDAY

2008-04-02T08:37:00.003-04:00

Dad Update:

Took dad to the Dr. for his post opp. yesterday and he is doing GREAT!!! The Dr. said he could go back to work in 4 more weeks! Yeah Dad, Way to go! We saw the x-ray with dad's new hardware in it. It's crazy looking! He told dad that he really should wait at least 6 months before having his other hip done. So dad is thinking about doing the other one towards x-mas time. I'll keep you up to date on that one. I took dad to SOS yesterday, and they gave him a handicap tag for the car/truck. So that will help him out when parking! I also took him to Sams and we got groceries. I made dad a spaghetti dinner for last night that I took him... so he's eating good! Chris has been working non stop... poor guy, so I've had to really help keep dad company.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!

SUNDAY

2008-03-30T21:02:00.003-04:00

I spent the day with my best friend yesterday! It was a nice evening talking while the kids played, laughed, screamed, ran around and played video games. I came home to this in the garage though:

I can't believe our main tv broke yesterday! Ugh! So then I walked into the house and found this:

Nobody said that our family had cheap taste! LOL! Luckily Mike found this on sale for a GREAT price! Whew! But still... nothing like stuff breaking on you. What happened to the day when products used to last 10 years or more? Now we're lucky if they last 5! Phooy on them!

I visited with dad today. He's doing good. We go to the Dr. on Tuesday for his post op. and they are going to take another x-ray of his hip. I told him we were going out to eat and getting him out of the house for a while. He really needs to get out, and remove that "cabin fever" feeling! Some fresh air will do him some good. I brought him some sloppy joe and a bag full of movies from my collection. He was sooooo excited! :)

I also ended up at a Jewelry party at my MIL's house. It was very interesting... especially since I don't really wear jewelry. But Makayla had a blast! She thought she was in dress up heaven! LOL! So here's to the end of a day that Daddy and Logan spent the day together and then Mommy and Makayla spending the day together:

CREATIVE WEEK AGAIN!

2008-03-28T19:52:00.004-04:00

Here I'm sharing more artwork with you:

FRIDAY, YIPPEE!

2008-03-28T08:40:00.003-04:00

Went to visit dad yesterday, and he's down and out. He's fighting some sinus thing and not getting enough sleep. He's frustrated with his energy level. He thinks he should be able to run miles right now and he has only has enough energy to get to the bathroom and back. He's not walking nearly enough at the moment... but he is doing some exercises. Chris is spoiling him big time! He cooked dad another Easter dinner, since he missed the first one. They rented movies and watched them all night the other night as well. Dad said it was nice!

Today Mike and I have our appointment to get our passports for our trip in June. Should be interesting. Logan only has a half day today and then spring break for us starts! A whole week off! How nice that will be, to be able to sleep in!!!

SUNDAY EVENING

2008-03-24T10:31:00.001-04:00

Dad's home!!!!

Yeah!!!!

HAPPY EASTER!

2008-03-23T08:51:00.006-04:00

We colored eggs yesterday morning before going over to Uncle Chris' house for dinner! boy these kids love to color! LOL!

It's Easter and dad's supposed to come home today!!! I sure hope it is true. Just got off the phone with him and he said that they are running behind schedule that he'll know more around noon. But he's feeling really groggy tired again this morning and is going to take a nap. I'm hoping that it's not his blood level or blood pressure again. But I guess if it is, it's better that's he's in the hospital than at home alone.

We went up last night to deliver dad his rosemary's.

He looked really good! I felt so bad though, that he canceled his dinner so he could eat Chris' and dinner wasn't ready when we went up to see him. We had to have the nurse bring him up some food. Oh, what a big disappointment that must have been for dad. So sad. :(

Logan got really involved with Chris and his cooking yesterday. Chris had him peeing potatoes for him. It was cute.

Dinner was delicious last night.

Chris did a good job!

Yummy! We had a blast playing games and visiting with everyone yesterday. We didn't get home until midnight! That's late for us! LOL! Gee, is that a sign of getting old? Hahaha.
Mom Marci and Chris Mike Christi and Don Makayla Me and Casey
Chris and Casey
Drake

EASTER Morn:
What fun to wake up to Makayla screaming "the easter bunny came! and brought us HUGE baskets" She was sooooo excited. By the time we got out of bed and got downstairs the kids had their baskets half torn apart!

Happy Easter to all!

SATURDAY MORNING!

2008-03-22T10:40:00.001-04:00

Just got off the phone with dad and he's doing GREAT! They have given him his release for SUNDAY at 10am!!! Yeah! I'm so happy, so relieved, so excited! Not that you can tell! We'll be bringing dad up some Easter dinner tonight along with the all time famous RoseMary's that he requested!

Yippee!

FRIDAY EVENING

2008-03-21T19:42:00.005-04:00

Dad's doing ok tonight.

They are giving him 2 more units of blood right now. His Hemoglobin level is at 8.5 (only .5 more than before the 1st unit). His level should be between 14-18. They also drained his hip out, and now have this sponge like unit that vacuums the drainage out of the incision area. So far, so good. They are measuring the drainage with this unit and there is none at this point. YEAH. He is really groggy from the lack of blood though.

(me playing with my photo phone frames! LOL!
He is doing GREAT as far as physical therapy is going. They've given him a discharge from that already... now we're just waiting on the blood pressure to rise up and for the blood level to get back to normal! He looked a little jaundiced to me, so I checked with his nurse and she said that they did check his liver and the level was normal. So not so sure on that one.

Dad's room mate wasn't a very shy old man at all! LOL! Here are Chris and Casey's expressions after seeing the full moon shine:

Way too funny!!!! Hahaha.

Here's one of those "you had to be there moments"... or more so "glad you weren't there" moments. Hahaha.
The cleaning lady came in to clean the room mates side (since he had been transfered to a new place), and she came to this container on the wall. None of us even noticed the nasty thing until she made a comment about it. She said it smelled REALLY bad. We all looked at her like she was crazy! Well, she removed the container and I thought we were all going to puke. It was the most gosh awful wrenching smell you've ever had touch your nose. Yes, even worse than dad's gas! LOL! It was BAD. We all left dad and ran to the end of the hall until the smell had cleared. It was too funny!

FRIDAY AFTERNOON

2008-03-21T12:34:00.002-04:00

Hi all, I'm on my way to the hospital to be with dad. His blood pressure dropped again this morning, his wound is draining WAY too much, so they are going to drain it here in a little bit. They won't be releasing dad today. :( I'll post more as I hear anything.

THURSDAY UPDATE ON DAD

2008-03-20T15:37:00.004-04:00

Hi everyone, I talked to dad around lunch time and he seems to be doing very well. They unhooked all his stuff yesterday so now he can get around and actually use the bathroom. He's had his PT today which went well. He likes all the new gadgets he gets to play with! (I'm in trouble now!) He does however need to receive 1 unit of blood because his hemoglobin count was too low today. I called his dr. to find out the reason and he said that it's normal for after surgery and dad is doing GREAT! So I guess I need not worry. It looks as if he gets to spend yet another night in the hospital. Hopefully he'll be able to come home tomorrow! But who knows with it being a holiday weekend and all. We will be headed up to visit him around dinner time. It should be a very interesting visit since I have NO voice today!

*** update ***
Dad had a blood transfusion tonight. I guess his hemoglobin was down to 8. Eeeks. So they are trying to build him back up. We took Logan up for a visit tonight and he just cuddled with Grandpa! What a sweetie pie.

Scrappin

2008-03-19T14:02:00.002-04:00

Here's a couple pages I've been creating in my down time.

EASTER from 2007

Chris and Casey!!!

WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON UPDATE

2008-03-19T14:01:00.005-04:00

It's now afternoon and dad is still doing good. They are moving him up to the 8th floor where he'll be able to go to the physical therapy room and work with other patients to get moving again!!! Yeah! We're on the road to recovery! Thank goodness. Thanks to all of you for your prayers and thoughts and well wishes!

HUGS!

WEDNESDAY 19th

2008-03-19T09:57:00.003-04:00

WEDNESDAY 19th

Talked to dad a little this morning and he's doing okay. He's been having a rough time sleeping though. They are working on getting him into his room on the 8th floor today!!! So that's exciting! Yeah! I won't be making it up to see him today cuz I'm pretty sick with a sinus infection. Yuck! But I'll be calling to check in on him through out the day! His PT is there right now 10am to have him walk down the hall and back!

TUESDAY NIGHT 18TH

2008-03-18T19:41:00.003-04:00

TUESDAY NIGHT 18TH

It's 7:30pm and I just got back from the hospital. Dad is doing MUCH better! He's got great color, and he actual got out of bed and walked down the hall. It was extremely tough, but he did it! I'm so proud of him! They even had him sit in the seat in his room...

So he was in good spirits. But by dinner time he was back in bed and in much pain. Which is to be expected after all the activity. He was ready for bed since he hadn't slept at all the day nor night before. Hopefully tomorrow they will have him in his room. It looks to be so far that he'll be staying at least until Thursday due to the minor setback.

Here's a pic of Chris and Makayla playing in dad's room today!

Too cute!

Okay, off I go to rest before bed and then off to another long day at the hospital with dad!!!

TUESDAY MORNING

2008-03-18T11:05:00.003-04:00

I talked to dad this morning and he's doing ok. He's in room 656 bed 1 and is still being monitored because his blood pressure is still really low. He said he feels really light headed too. I'm sure they go hand in hand. He didn't really sleep at all last night, but he was getting ready to doze off finally when I was talking with him. I guess the guest in his room kept dad up all night with his calling for the nurse. Dad has a physical therapy session this afternoon that he is a little nervous about since he IS so light headed. I told him that it might help bring his blood pressure back up by moving around some. They also gave him his first belly shot (to thin his blood out to prevent blood clots). He said it wasn't as bad as he thought it was... but then again it was someone else giving him the shot - it might change when time comes for him to do it himself! I plan on going up to visit him this afternoon as well. I will continue to update you all!

HAPPY ST. PATTY'S DAY

2008-03-18T08:52:00.008-04:00

Happy St. Patty's Day! Today dad went into the hospital to get his right hip fixed. It was a VERY long wait! He was supposed to go in at 10:30 for surgery, but they didn't take him back until 11:45am! What a horribly long time to make someone wait who's scared to begin with! I took a picture with my new cell phone of dad waiting in his bed:

The surgery lasted 2 hours and 15 min. Chris, Don, Mom and I all went out to brunch while we waited. When we got back the Dr. visited with us and told us that dad did in fact have Avascular Neuclosis, that the ball of his femur was completely missing... turned into sand and the cartilage was just sitting there. The replaced it with titanium and it went well. Dad went into recovery and was there most of the day, evening, and night. They assigned dad a room, but his blood pressure had dropped rapidly as they were going to move him. They then decided to move him into a monitored room instead for the night. We were finally able to see him and he was pale as a ghost. But he had his humor... so that was reassuring. His blood pressure had moved up a little in the time we were there, which was good.

2008-03-13T10:46:00.005-04:00

Boy, it's been a while since I've updated my blog! LOL! I think I need to be on here more often! Geez!

I've been busy creating tons of scrapbook layouts for contests! I even attempted the contest to be a designer for Digital Scrapbook Place... but didn't make it past round 1. :( Oh well. Here's my round 1 layout:

Here's some more pages I've been busy creating! Yes, I've been a creative fool! LOL!

Not much else going on in my world.
We had teacher conferences last week and found out that Logan is behind more than 6 months and that we have to decide whether to keep him back another year or not. Not an easy decision. It stinks big time knowing that the school we just came from was that bad! Ugh!

We did sign Logan up for Karate! He's enjoying it soooo much! His last class was last night. So we're going to sign him up for the next level up. It'll be 2 nights a week and he'll be able to earn belts. How exciting! He got his outfit last night as well. It's so HUGE on him, but it looks so cute!

Makayla plays away at home while Logan is in school. She loves pretending she's in school and has these make up names for her class mates. It's hilarious! She's such a character! She's getting soooo big too! I can't believe she's less than a foot shy of Logan and they are 3 years apart! She's gonna be a TALL girl!

Hugs to all,
Stac

MY BUSINESS

2008-01-10T11:26:00.001-05:00

I'm testing out my signature link PERFECT PIX and my mom's signature link SCRAPPERS ALLEY! Click on the pictures to take you to our business web pages!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2008-01-01T10:14:00.000-05:00

I'm so excited for this NEW wonderful year we have ahead of us! Things are looking great already! My mother in law just received a letter stating she's qualified for disability and that's just AWESOME!!! I'm so happy I could dance!

Upon waking this morning, we see TONS of snow! How pretty it is when it's been untouched!

Picture time!!!

2007-11-18T10:38:00.000-05:00

I drug the family out in the backyard yesterday for Pictures! LOL! Boy was that a workout! I can't believe how bad they all fight me when it's time for family pix!

They are all soooo cute!

I even took a picture of my nephew Jaiden in his outfit as well a few days ago!

Love to all!
Stac

PICTURE DAY 1ST GRADE

2007-09-26T13:23:00.000-04:00

I just couldn't resist taking Logan's pic before going to school today. He was soooo cute!

and of course can't forget the other child! LOL! Makayla gave me a a cute smile today as well!

PLAY DAY WITH THE KIDS!

2007-09-23T08:44:00.000-04:00

Today while the kids were playing outside I got bored and grabbed the camera. Boy, what cute pix I got... check them out:

FILLING FROM HELL

2007-09-06T07:47:00.000-04:00

So, I had my dentist appointment on Tuesday. Let me start off with, Makayla was GREAT! Me on the other hand, not so great. They said that the corner of my molar was decayed. That they might have to do a root canal depending on how close the decay was to the root. They said they would fill it first and see if that worked... if not, the root canal would be done later. So, they gave me 2 HUGE shots! I started getting really woozy, light headed, shaky, really funny. The dentist came in with a can of coke and said that my sugar must have dropped and this should help. I guess it did. Or maybe it was the cold compressed the assistant was putting on my head! They finally came in and started working on my tooth. It took forever! I get home, Makayla zonks out for a nap and I play on the computer. Well, 6 HOURS later, my face starts thawing out... here we go again. Woozy, light headed, sick to my tummy, I started crying and couldn't stop. Of course I was home alone at this point... since Mike was picking Logan up from school and Makayla went with him. Mom was online and she helped talk me through it, then came right on over! I felt better once I was thawed. In the meantime, Mike thought it was so funny at how numb I was, so he took a picture of me.

I didn't think it was funny at the time, but I guess it kind of is now that I look at it.

Today is 2 days later and my mouth is soooooo sore. It feels as if I got into some fight. My cheek feels bruised big time, my gum is sore where the shots were given, and my tooth is tender (which I can handle). On top of all that I feel like I've got the start of a bladder/UT infection, and the female infection as well. Nothing like having the itchies!!!!

I'm looking forward to SATURDAY!!! I'm going out with Stacey!!! to scrapbook in the new NOVI store. It's going to be so much fun.

1st DAY of 1st GRADE!

Oh yeah, I forgot one of the biggest events this week!!! Logan started 1st grade! His first full day class went very well. The second day he was very clingy... today, he was an eager beaver again. It's taking me some time to adjust to everything since today is the first day I had Jaiden to add into my morning routine. Boy was that interesting! I barely made it to Logan's school on time. Whew!

Hugs to all.

DESTINATION WEDDING

2007-08-30T08:50:00.000-04:00

I'm excited to announce that we will be photographing a wedding in the Dominican Republic next year! We will be put up in an all inclusive hotel for a week! Check it out:

I'm getting more and more excited as I think about it!!!

GREEN FIELD VILLAGE

2007-08-23T12:37:00.000-04:00

What a wonderful time we had at Green Field Village. We did so much! Here are some pix of our day! I tried to just include pix of us.

And here are my nature pix of course! I just love natures animals!!!

Enjoy!!!

DREARY TUESDAY

2007-08-07T09:43:00.001-04:00

What a dreary day! Cloudy, rainy, blah! I know we need it for the plants and grass and bugs, but it's just soooo humid out! Yucky.

We are supposed to go get Logan's eyes tested again and replace the glasses he lost. NO FUN! I can't believe he lost them. What's worse is that we can't find them anywhere. It just makes no sense to me at all.

Yesterday we had a HUGE scare. Makayla fell off the wooden fence in our backyard. I was freaking out big time. She fell on her back and head backwards and it knocked the wind out of her. My heart was racing a million miles an hour. She has no marks anywhere on her (miracle), but woke up with a really bad headache today. I called the Dr. and I'm to observe her for 48 hours and if nothing abnormal occurs we're in the clear. It'll be a challenge to keep her still for that long though!

BUTTERFLY RELEASE YESTERDAY
The kids received a butterfly house a month ago from Aunt Mandy. The caterpillars arrived, grew huge, formed chrysalis and hatched all in 2 weeks time. What a beautiful process.

Well, yesterday it was time to let them go. The kids were amazed. There was one that we saved and has an injured wing. We couldn't let him go to the wild, so we are keeping him as a pet. Here are pictures of the kids letting them go and holding them.

CLOSE TO MY HEART
I ordered my new catalogs and they should be here tomorrow! Yippee! How exciting! I also placed my first order last friday as well. I really can't wait for that! I'm so addicted to these stamps it's not even funny!!! Here are samples of what I'm getting this time around:

My new Halloween stamps set

My new X-mas stamp set

Sept. stamp of the month - cute alpha and scrolls!

Another cute Holiday mix stamp set

Free August Stamp of the month

Our new Idea layout book!

New 6x6 cardboard accordian albums

I can't wait!!!!

JAIDEN's 1st B-DAY PARTY

2007-08-01T11:00:00.000-04:00

Here is a 2 page layout I just completed of my nephew's 1st b-day party!!!

NO CALL...

2007-08-01T10:35:00.000-04:00

CONTEST
Well, no such luck for getting a call for Creating Keepsakes Scrapbooker of the Year contest. Oh well... maybe next time! I will share my pages here with everyone!

TODAY IS TUESDAY...

2007-07-31T12:04:00.000-04:00

And I feel like crap! I have the worst ear infection. My ears are burning inside out! And now my tummy is acting up all of a sudden. What is this? It's the middle of summer and it's like 95 degrees outside. How can these bugs be going around like this? Ugh, I want to feel better. All I can say is that I'm thankful that I don't have Jaiden today. I think I might have cried!

Hugs

I DID IT!!!

2007-07-28T11:17:00.000-04:00

I read the whole book of Harry Potter! Whoo hoo! I can't believe I finally finished it! It was such a good book! Well written ending!

JAIDEN's FIRST BIRTHDAY
Is tomorrow! Can you believe he's a year old already? Whew. Crazy. Mom and I made his b-day cake. It turned out so adorable.

Dan seemed to like it too. I'm glad. It shall be interesting to see how things turn out tomorrow! It starts at 3pm.

SO MUCH TO DO
Where do I start? I've been so busy reading that book that I've lost track of time and responsibilities this week. I have to create a sign for Jaiden's b-day cake, create a letter for my CTMH team and customers, order my new catalogs, pay bills, and I can't even remember what else! LOL.

WHERE OR WHERE IS STACEY?
I sure do miss my best friend. Sure wish we had more time to talk to each other and hang out together. One day soon I'm sure we'll get together again.

TIME FLY's

2007-07-25T09:16:00.000-04:00

It's been a while since I've talked to the world... or space for that matter! LOL!

HARRY POTTER

The new book was released on Friday at midnight... NO I wasn't up there that late to get it. But we did pick it up on Saturday on our trip to SAMs. Mike's mom took the kids Sunday afternoon over night and we spent all of Sunday (3pm - 10:30pm) reading our books. I was able to finish book 6,

while Mike read ALL of book 7! I've just begun the 7th book as of Monday, but found that my eyes and head hurt so bad from the marathon reading on Sunday to continue. I've been so busy to even pick it back up for more than a couple pages the past 2 days.

HIGHLIGHTS
I decided to color my hair. It was looking a little dark to me, so I highlighted it. I'm really happy with the way it turned out.

It's really getting long too! I can't believe how long it is taking though t o grow out this time. It's like it's on slow motion or something!

CK CONTEST
Only 6 more days till we get our phone calls for Scrapbooker of the Year!!! They will be calling 10 people. Then in September they will announce the BIG winner at their Expo. Holy cow!!! I can't wait to hear the news!!!

REST OF THE WEEK
TODAY: I will be running to mom's house to pick up cake pans for Jaiden's b-day cake. I'll be picking up the wedding album cd that she created for our clients.

TOMORROW: I will be riding down with mom and the kids to her cousins house to get pix of my Great G-ma's picture book! That'll be exciting. I will be making Jaiden's cake and mom will then help me front and decorate it later after our visit with her cousin.

FRIDAY: I have nothing planned! I won't have Jaiden this day and plan on making NO PLANS! LOL! I'm so pooped from all the running around I've done this week and all the running I still have left to do. WHEW! I need another break!

CTMH

I should be getting the new FALL catalog come next week sometime! Whoo hoo!!! I can't wait to see all the new and exciting things they have to show us this time around. Should be fun!

DIET
I'm doing really good so far. Here is a before and after pic of me in the past 52 days of doing my boot camp.
BEGINNING:

NOW:

I've lost 7 pounds all together!

Okay... off to get some things done before it's time to run again!
Hugs to all!

NEW WEEK...

2007-07-17T11:35:00.000-04:00

So, the vacation is over! It ended very well.

FRIDAY
I cleaned the kitchen and laundry area spotless... put stuff away, organized everything, cleaned out the cleaning supply cupboard. I was a busy girl! We then took a trip down south to pick up fish parts for Mike. A trip that should've only taken an hour, took us close to 2!!! Long trip! We ended up stopping at a fish store on the way home. It was fun. The kids seemed to enjoy it.

PHOTOGRAPHING WEDDING
This was a very unusual wedding. The bride was from China and the groom was from Seattle WA. It was completely outdoors and on Lake Huron.

They ended up having fireworks to end the night! It was so beautiful!

We ended up staying in this funny little motel room. I laughed and teased Mike about it the whole time we were there! LOL.

The front!

Inside the front door

Our TV viewing

Our tiny bathroom!

Hahahahahaha... It's so funny! I just had to take pictures!

TRIP HOME on SUNDAY
I woke up really sick. My nose was running like a faucet. I made Mike stop off and get me a box of kleenex which I ended up going through the whole box that day. I felt miserable. I ended up just hanging out on my rocking chair for the rest of the day.

Still sick as of today. I finally got my nose to slow down, but still not feeling 100%. My ears hurt, my face is swollen - sinuses I'm sure. And to top it all off... I've got the poops! Yuck! Must be from all that snot draining into my tummy! Ewwww.

Anyways... off I go to look for Logan's glasses. We are going to try and clean his room spotless again to see if he lost them in there. If not, I'm in trouble!!!

Hugs!!!

VACATION COMING TO AN END!

2007-07-13T11:13:00.000-04:00

So, today is Friday. Tomorrow we have our last wedding of the month! Whew! It's been a fun, busy season, that's for sure!

WEDNESDAY: HARRY POTTER DAY!
We went and saw the movie! I thought it was really good. Although movies just don't do the book's justice! The layout of the movie didn't follow the book quite right, but it still made for a good movie. I reserved my copy of book 7 at Border's as well!!! Can't wait!

THURSDAY: ZOO DAY!

We ended up going to Potter Park Zoo in Lansing, MI. It was just right. It took us about 4 hours to get through the whole thing. Lot's of floral gardens there! It was nice. We of course took lot's of pictures!

This little guy was so funny... he kept following Mike around the cage looking for him. It was like he WANTED his picture taken! Hahaha.

I took this picture! I liked the view I had from my height! I'd love to blow this one up!
Of course there are pix of us too at the zoo!!!

We ended up eating at Johnny Rockets... MMMmmmm. I love that place. It's so old fasioned - like the soda shops of the 60's!

We stopped off at Logan's favorite fish store while we were out there as well... Preuss's.

We were definitely pooped by the time we got back. I started reading Harry Potters 6th book. So far so good. It's fast reading compared to the last one I read! LOL!

TODAY: FLY BY THE SEAT OF OUR PANTS DAY!
Not sure what we are doing today. It's kind of a free for all. I guess we'll see as time passes what we end up doing. We couldn't make it to the beach this week due to the horrible weather... 90 one day with storms then 77 (but feels like 67 with the wind) the next!

TOMORROW: WEDDING PHOTO DAY
Mike and I will be enjoying ourselves after the wedding in a hotel alone!!! We'll be out in Port Huron photographing. If we're lucky the wedding event will be short and we can play afterwards! That'll make for a wonderful end to our crazy vacation week!

Hugs to all!
:)

HARRY POTTER WEEK CD:3 days

2007-07-08T20:59:00.001-04:00

Our Harry Look alike from our wedding this past weekend!!! :)

Harry Potter's movie comes out this week!!! I can't wait! I'm so excited to announce that I read the WHOLE book in 3 wks before the movie came out! I can't believe I did it!!! I'm so proud of myself. It was by far the LARGEST book I've read yet. 860 some pages!!! YEAH!

You know you are hormoning when YOU feel like you are the only one talking to the kids.
- When you feel like YOU are alone, even when you are surrounded by family members.
- When you ask the same question 10 times and get called a "PEST" cuz you can't get an answer.
- When everyone around you seems like they are in a bad mood - when really it's YOU!

Okay, enough of that nonsense...
Hopefully we'll be able to go on vacation somewhere this week for more than just one day. We don't have much time, cuz we have another wedding to photograph this Saturday and it's out in Port Huron. We'll get enjoy a night out at a hotel that night... but I really hate NOT knowing what's going on day to day. It's one of my obsessions I suppose... to be able to control the time frame of what's going to happen day to day. I just don't adjust to spontaneity very well. But MIKE just doesn't seem to care how hard that is on me.

I lost a couple more pounds... I now think that I will put them back on by next week when I weigh in... now that I know that ... hormone... time is here for the month. I'm sure that's why the scale showed such a low number. I'll take it either way! It was nice to see 148 again! Maybe that'll motivate me to walk every day this week coming up. I've been lazy about the whole exercising this week. Not good.

Have a good night!
Talk to ya'll later!
:) "SMILEY" :)

HAPPY 4TH!!!

2007-07-04T11:30:00.000-04:00

WHEW! I DID IT!

2007-07-03T07:34:00.000-04:00

Morning! I did it! I mailed my submission for Creating Keepsakes Magazine Scrapbooker of the year! I'm so excited! It cost a FORTUNE putting the thing together, but it'll be worth it in the end. It cost me $20.00 to mail the stinkin thing because of the holiday this week!

Tomorrow's FIREWORKS day!!! Yippee! What time are we meeting in Fenton?

Sunday, Sunday, SUNDAY!

2007-07-01T08:48:00.000-04:00

Hello to all my alien friends out there! :)

YESTERDAY's WEDDING:
Yesterday started out rough when we got to the church for photographing the wedding and NOBODY was there. That pretty much told us that we were at the wrong church! Good thing the other church was nearby and we still made it there on time for pre wedding shots. It was a long Catholic wedding! But the reception went fast! Mike and I were exhausted when we got home.

FAMILY:
Poor Mike has been fighting some bug this week... with a sore throat and now his bloated sore tummy. It sux to watch him in pain. I feel so bad that I can't do more to help make it go away. The kids stayed at Grammy's house last night... have to go and pick them up today. That should be interesting!!! Always is!

CK CONTEST:
I haven't finished this stinkin project yet. It's due by the 6th and I don't have a clue how I'm going to get it there on time. I need a guarantee. I ran out of ink to print off my essay and that sux BIG TIME! I need to decorate the cover of the binder I'm sending it all in and then it will be set to go! I hope I can afford to send it overnight or two night it!!! Hmmm... who's the most reliable source for shipping? LOL.

FRIENDS:
I sure miss my best friend a lot! I wonder when I'll get a chance to hang out with her again. The kids have been begging me to go to Pat's house to swim in the lake! LOL! It's soooo cute. My time is so rough with this being wedding season that I can't get away for my weekends... at least not this month. We have weddings for the next 2 or 3 weeks in a row! I can't complain though.

NEW HOME:
Well, we found out from the mortgage company that we qualify for a $80,000 mortgage, but we need 10% down. He said that if we can get Mike's credit score up a couple notches within the next 6 months, we may not need the large down payment. So that is exciting to have learned!!! It gives us hope that it is possible to move when we decide to move!!! :)

Okay, off to work on my contest book, then read more Harry Potter! Gotta try to finish that before the movie comes out!!!

Hugs,
Stac

WEEKEND ALMOST HERE!

2007-06-28T20:24:00.000-04:00

Man, I can't believe that time of the week is here already. Where did it go! It always seems to go that way when you have time off of your normal schedule. I've been sleeping in all week, resting most of the week, and enjoying my time away from the baby! I spent the day outside with the kids reading Harry Potter Order of the Phoenix. I'm so proud of myself that I'm on page 300!! I'll be pushing it big time to finish it before it comes out in the next week. AGH! Can I do it? If I spend everyday until then reading non stop, maybe! LOL!

Jaiden will be back tomorrow around 3pm. It should be very interesting. I hope he adjusts okay. It'll be a rough week next week though. I'll have to let Dan know that Mike and I will be on vacation the 2nd week of July!!! Haven't decided where we are going yet though. Should be interesting as well.

Look what my son came home looking like after a trip to the "Barbie" shop!

His hair is ALL gone! My baby, what did they do to my baby?
So, today Makayla brings me the scissors asking me to cut her hair like Logans. Oh my goodness... I eneded up taking about an inch and a half off the back for her today as well.

Oh, we get to bring Suzi with us on July 4th! Are we still going to Fenton like we do every year (Stay-C)? Just wondering! I look forward to our strange tradition. LOL!

My contest pages are just about ready to go!!! They are all printed, the supply list is written and printed, my contact info is ready to go... so now I have to proof read my essay and (have Stay-C tell me which one I should send!). Then assemble my portfolio and mail it off. Not sure what to do with my pages to make them presentable... any suggestions?

Hugs,
Staci , ME ,

QUIET day today!!!

2007-06-26T09:58:00.000-04:00

Mom took the kids over night last night! Mike and I enjoyed our evening together. What did we do you ask? We went and looked at homes for sale! It was fun to be able to dream of getting a home of our own again with a yard big enough to play in! We found some GREAT priced homes while out yesterday. I actually called the mortgage guy we used in the past to see if we are even capable of getting a loan at this time... or what we need to do to get a loan in the future. I am still awaiting his call! These homes we found were 1400 sq. ft. and only $79,900 and $86,000. We even found one that was auctioned off that was Beautiful, but have a feeling it's gone! It was too late to call on it last night.

Today (Tuesday), I am enjoying the peace and quiet. I am working hard on finishing up my contest pages for Creating Keepsakes. I found all my pages and had 1 that I actually had to eliminate! Go figure. Writing up this supply list has got to be the hardest part. Next time I will do this as I go along! LOL.

I'm doing great on my HEALTHY eating habits! I'm finding that I'm not as hungry anymore. I think my tummy is finally shrinking! I'm able to get my 8 glasses of water in a day now without a problem... and I'm finding it harder to sit still anymore. I seem to be up and walking around the house aimlessly through out the day just to move.

Happy days are here again!

Sunday

2007-06-24T11:40:00.000-04:00

So the weekend is almost gone! We had our final estimator come out yesterday for central air. This will be the 4th one this past week. He'll be calling us with a quote on Monday. Hopefully his will be the lowest... so far they have all been between 1500 - 2600. Just a little much for our pocket book at this time. But it should help my allergies and breathing! That in itself would be worth it. After the estimator left, we spent the day moving my stuff from mom's old house to my garage. Then Mike and I went out to dinner alone. The kids spent the night at Grammy's again! I might get too used to this if it keeps up! LOL! Mike and I were feeling under the weather and fell asleep early! We did watch pay per view: Smokin' Aces with Ben Affleck. Very strange and gory movie. Today, we don't have much in our plans. We're still both feeling a little under the weather and Suzi wants us to spend the day with her... I am so not up for that today. I think my resistance is down from Wednesday night. 4 hours of sleep that night really killed me! I'm still trying to catch back up.

CONTEST:
I ran out of ink today while printing my pages. I hope I can get the ink in time to finish these. For some reason I thought I had enough pages to send and today I can't seem to add them up to the 20 I need. Ugh. Looks like I'm going to have to create 2 more pages. Boo hoo. It's going to take me all week to figure out where all my supplies came from. I really should've kept track while creating them. But that's me... the procrastinator!

DIET:
Well, I did okay this weekend. A little on the high side for calories, but still in my range. Dinner last night was DELICIOUS! We went to Italia Gardens and ate Lasagna! Mmmmm. But I only ate half of it! That's good for me! I'm learning to cut my portions down. I would be happier however if my weight or clothes showed a difference. I gained 2 pounds in the last couple of days. I need to keep myself off of that scale! LOL!

I'm outa here for now!
Hugs to all!