I GOT MY CAMERA!

I GOT IT - I GOT IT - I GOT IT - I GOT IT -I GOT IT - I GOT IT -I GOT IT - I GOT IT -I GOT IT - I GOT IT -I GOT IT - I GOT IT -I GOT IT - I GOT IT -I GOT IT - I GOT IT -I GOT IT - I GOT IT -I GOT IT - I GOT IT -I GOT IT - I GOT IT -I GOT IT - I GOT IT -I GOT IT - I GOT IT -I GOT IT - I GOT IT -I GOT IT - I GOT IT -I GOT IT - I GOT IT -I GOT IT - I GOT IT -need I say more! I'll update soon with cool pictures.

I need feedback!

O.K. all you lurkers - it's time to de-lurk and post on this blog. I need your help. I need feedback on this flyer. Don't worry about hurting my feelings because you can't. I want to know what you like and what you don't like about this flyer. I need to know specifics. I want to make this the best it can be and so I need everyones opinion - whether you think it's a nice one or not - don't care - I still want it! So, get on your keyboards, log in and let me know what you think...I'm waiting.......
and by the way, Thanks!

Bowling

Yesterday we went bowling with the Laytons and, thanks to Steve, I have these awesome pictures to show you what a fun time we had. We've had a nice weekend so far. Darrel took the boys camping Friday night, leaving me to my own devices, which was so nice. Erin (a friend) and I grabbed some dinner, brought it to my house and scrapbooked until the wee hours of the morning. (Thanks for hangin with me Erin). I haven't scrapbooked for about three years now. (I miss you too Brenda) It was weird getting back in and catching the scrapbooking bug again. I completed something like 8 or 10 pages in two nights. I need to step up the pace a bit, I am still in 2002. Oh well, I guess I'll just keep plucking away at it and eventually (when I'm 60) maybe I'll be up to date...probably not, but one can hope. Anyway, I should be getting ready for a meeting right now, so I leave you with these pictures and a big thanks to Steve for taking them.

I added some more pictures to my other blog. I don't really have any to add to this one. We haven't done anything new that I've taken a picture of lately. Maybe I'll have to pull out some old ones just to get pictures on the site. We had a pretty quiet day here today. We cleaned this morning. I cleaned out my fridge and the boys tidied their room and then washed some walls. Then they read and played age of empires for awhile. They both had scouts today (which they LOVE) so that was a nice way to break up the afternoon. Darrel came home and we had a nice dinner together as a family. He says that he has to go back to work tonight but hopefully it won't be an all-nighter. I went to the scrapbook store today and spent WAY too much. I didn't even get that many things...really...I was very discriminating and had taken my pictures in that I was going to scrapbook so I wouldn't go overboard. Everything here is just so expensive. It was very frustrating. I do have enough to do quite a few pages now, so hopefully I can finish the book I'm working on now and get past the year 2002. I'm still have two years worth of stuff to scrapbook before Zachary is even born....pretty sad. I'm going to try and get caught up. I'm excited to start scrapbooking again. I'm going to start at our "work on a project" night tomorrow - it's at my house. I'm looking forward to cracking open my scrapbooks and getting at least one page done. See ya!

Starting a new blog

I am starting a new blog. I will post pictures on it mostly and I would love for you to see, comment, and critique them. Feel free to visit anytime. I don't know how often I will post on that blog, but I'm quite sure that after my new camera comes I will post more often than not. The address is: www.portraitartbyangela.blogspot.com

Good Morning

How is everyone feeling this fine morning? Why are Mondays so hard for us? I think for most of us it's the letdown from the weekend and knowing that we have to wait another five whole days for the weekend to return. For me, as a stay at home mom, I love having my husband home and tuned into my kids. I miss him when he goes back to work on Monday because then everything that needs to get done at home now falls squarely back on my shoulders. I like shouldering the burden with someone else. I have tremendous respect for single moms...I don't know how they do it! This morning we're back to our two-hour-a-day cleaning schedule. My boys are thrilled beyond words, I can tell. Right now they are downstairs watching Mythbusters (one of their all-time favorites) and I just gave them a 40 minute warning before we begin cleaning. So that means, I too, have 40 minutes before I have to be the gestapo of clean.

School starts next week for a lot of kids around here. My kiddos don't start until mid September because of the track they've been put on. I, however, will start preschool right after Labor Day Weekend so I've been preparing lesson plans and deciding how to get the preschool room ready.

I have also started the monumental task of potty-training Zachary. We started a couple of weeks ago and it's such a pleasant thing. :0) If I could be a mom and never potty-train I would LOVE that. It's definitely one of my least favorite things to do as a mom. We have at least attempted to cross a few hurdles. We went out of town (to my mom's house) and although he had a handful of accidents we did alright. We've left the house on quite a few occasions now and he even went to church for two weeks in a row without any accidents. We still have our days (and sometimes a few times a day) that I have to practice my patience skills, but we're doing OK. Keep your fingers crossed for us. Every little bit helps.

I'm still waiting on my camera. UPS approved my claim (which basically means that they admit they can't find the package or that it was stolen) and I re-ordered the camera from B&H photo. The only problem being...they are out of stock. I put myself on the list for the camera and they said that they will ship it as soon as they get it in. I would have had them refund my money but no one else has this camera with the lens that I want in stock. It seems that it's backed up all the way from the Nikon factory. At this point I'm being patient because I've already missed all the photo opportunities this summer that I really cared about. My other little point and shoot camera didn't do a terrible job, but I sure would have liked to have my new camera for all the cool vacation pictures. I got an e-mail saying that they received my order so now I just wait for the e-mail telling me that they have shipped my order. UPS is on my spit list right now so they better take extra special care of this particular package for me...we'll just see how that goes.

Well, I guess I better get plugged in to my kids now and decide exactly what and how we are going to clean today. Thanks for reading the ramblings.

even more pictures...(scroll down to start at the beginning)

The kids at the Bean Museum - BYU

Alex and Johnathan standing in front of the Heber Creeper
Emily sure loves this train!
a rainbow and the "Y"
Zachary and Daniel loving this train ride

more fun pictures

We went to BYU to visit my dad in his office. We ate at the Cougar-eat and we got ice cream from the creamery.

This is my dad with the grandchildren in his office
here is a picture after grandaddy fed his fish - facinating isn't it?!
Alex hitting golf balls
Johnathan hitting some golf balls too.

Our fun vacation to Utah for Grammie's week

We had a great time in Utah. We did so many fun things. I don't have a huge amount of time to update right now but I thought you might enjoy some fun pictures from our week.

Here we all are at the Heber Creeper...ready for a fun adventure

Caitlin and Emily loved the train the very most. My mom and dad loved holding them!

These are the grandsons (8 and up) golfing with grandaddy. The rule is you have to be age 8 or above to golf and you have to obey the rules (which mostly consisits of listening to grandaddy and doing everything he says)

We visited temple square...it was hot...we did, however, get a kickin' good parking spot!

Joy and I and Elise and I (on separate trips) visited IKEA in Draper. That store is AWESOME!

a few minutes

OK - I only have a few minutes before I need to get myself and my boys ready this morning. Sorry about the lapse in blogging. We are having a great time here at "Grammie's week". Today my dad is taking all the grandchildren that are eight and older, golfing. This select group includes, Alex, Johnathan, and Kenneth (now that he's turned eight). The boys can't wait to go golfing with grandaddy and today Joy and I get to go and drive the golf carts. We are also excited. Yesterday we went on the Heber Creeper down Provo Canyon. The kids thought it was the best. That was the first time for all of them being on a train and I have lots of pictures to post when I get home from the train. Caitlin and Emily especially enjoyed themselves. I got a little motion sick and my mom only made it halfway and when the train turned around in Vivian Park, she got off. My mom has been VERY sick these past couple of days. I feel so bad for her. She's been such a trooper but she's had it coming out of both ends. That has been the only downside to Grammie's Week so far. We've had Caitlin get the throwing up bug as well as Daniel, Alex, Ben, and my mom. What a nightmare. It seems to be only a 24 hour thing but for 24 hours you are pretty miserable. Hopefully this will be completely out of our systems before we journey back to Las Vegas because we for sure do not want to share the love with this one. Holy Cow! Well, I have to go take the dogs out. I'll post again soon!

hello

I have so much stuff to do today but I thought I would take just a minute and update my blog. Today we are cleaning and doing laundry in preparation for my mom, dad, and Ben and one other family who will stay at our house - they are all coming for Kenneth's baptism tomorrow. Joy already has company and is off to the chocolate factory with them this morning. She has a funeral to help with this afternoon (as a part of her calling) and I will have Caitlin over to nap at my house. Johnathan is safely in Utah and loving every minute of his stay. This morning he is at Jonah's birthday party, which I am sure is just overflowing his little heart with happiness. A big thank you to my mom and to Brenda for taking care of Johnathan this weekend. This means more to him than I think I even realize. Alex is busy helping me clean this morning, although he is going a lot slower than in the past. He wanted to play Age of Empires 3 this morning and I told him that this was a day of cleaning and laundry and you should have seen his face. Oh well, it's good for his character. Zachary has decided to wear underwear today so wish me luck with that endeavor. He is also bouncing from one activity to another. I won't let him play on the computer, play x-box, or watch t.v. so he has contented himself with play-dough and helping me fold laundry. I guess my minute is up and so I better get back to work. Thanks for taking a minute of your day to read a minute of mine. :0)

today...

This morning Johnathan got up at who knows what hour. He was so excited to go on a plane he could hardly sit still. At 7am he asked me how many minutes until he got on the plane and I told him it was 2 hours until we left for the plane and 4 hours until he actually got to get on the plane. He was so cute at the airport - he talked NONSTOP. Now, he can usually talk your ear off with the best of them but I think the excitement and nervousness was all rolled into his tongue. Thanks again, mom, for picking him up. And thank you for calling and letting me know that you had him. I hope things go well and that he has a most wonderful weekend with mom, dad, and the Armstrong family. Jonah Armstrong (Johnathan's best friend in all the world) is having his party tomorrow and his baptism on Saturday and that is why Johnathan has ventured up to Utah sans his family. Mom is going to pick him up from the Armstrongs on Sunday afternoon and then Joy and I will be up with all our kiddos by Sunday night for a week of fun! Alex keeps coming in to me (at the computer) and sighing really loud because I made him stop playing Age of Empires 3 so I could do something on the computer. I just told him that if he would like he can go downstairs and clean because that's the next thing on my do to list. He left but I have a feeling that he's not going to take me up on my offer. Maybe another time.

where did these little boys go?

Zachary and Grandaddy Fellingham

Johnathan, Darrel, and Alex
Johnathan
Alex
Zachary

The Children's Museum

Yesterday Joy and I took our children to the children's museum in Las Vegas. We had a great time. As you can tell from the pictures below we especially enjoyed the bubble portion of the museum. Alex's favorite part, actually, was the water table where you can channel water through different ways with dividers. He says that he wants to build one for me. I told him that was very thoughtful of him. I look at the pictures of my boys now and they are just getting bigger and bigger. I can hardly believe that I am old enough to have a ten turning eleven year old. What happened to my little boys? I'll have to post some of the pictures from when they were little. I miss my little boys, although it is nice to have them growing up for some things. These past couple of days we've been cleaning two hours a day and I have yet to hear my boys complain - and for the most part they stay on task. A LOT of that work ethic (if not all of it) comes from their dad. I have THE MOST AMAZING husband in this whole wide world. I probably should tell him that more often. Well, till next time...

They are inside the bubbles here...so cool!
I have absolutely no idea what Alex is doing in this picture...he's smiling at least.
Zachary made this all by himself, he did ALL the coloring and the cutting and pasting.
more bubbles :0)

Ben

more cool pictures

cool new adobe effects I found

more pictures from out trip...enjoy, we certainly did!

Johnathan posing with a demonstration of big and small

The boys playing at Goat Rock State Park Beach
playing in the pool at the condo
my mom and dad at the Santa Rosa Fair Rodeo
self explanatory...LOL

no camera yet...

Yes, you read that right. I am STILL WAITING for my new camera. Can you believe it?? I ordered this magnificent piece of machinery on July 19th and set it to ship three day select with UPS. It is now August 5th and we're still waiting. UPS did try to deliver the package twice while we were gone but they are supposed to attempt delivery three times and then hold the package for pick up. They now say that they cannot find the package. Well that's not all the way true. It depends on who you talk to. I have talked to at least three different people and I have gotten three different answers. I have heard everything from "it's on the truck" to "we're not sure where it is" to "it may be delivered Monday" Whatever...I don't know what to think anymore. I am freaking out about my camera and it seems that there is not much I can do about it. This has been soooooooooooo frustrating for me. Please keep your fingers crossed that my camera will be delivered soon and that everything is o.k. with it - being that it's forever hot here and I'm sure sitting in the back of a truck or whever else it's been sitting is not good for it at all!!

Anyway, on to other news. This week we will be cleaning up the house and washing the walls in preparation for putting it on the market. The market here in Las Vegas is HORRIBLE right now for sellers so we are not holding our breath for offers to come pouring in. We just hope that it will sell in somewhat of a timely matter and that it won't put too much stress on our family.

We're also home this week which will be nice. We can settle back into somewhat of a routine before we jet-set out of here again. Last night I went to see Harry Potter with a friend (thanks for calling me Erin and for the invite). It was a great movie - I really like the Harry Potter series and watching this movie after having read the final book really was kind of fun. You get so much information in the final book that everything in the movie really made a lot of sense. I can't wait for the final two movies to come out. I really, really enjoyed the series and will probably, at some point, read it again. Maybe with my boys soon.

We came home from church today to an upturned garbage can (we forgot to lock the cupboard) and a pee stain in our room. Shelby was not very happy when we left her to go on vacation and so when we all left her again today to go to church I think she was trying to express her unhappiness in every way she knew how. Ah, the joys of dog ownership. Today was the first time that we have all left the house since we got home from vacation. I think Shelby has some serious abadonment issues. :0)

Well, if you are still reading, good for you and thank you. I know that I have pretty much just rambled in this post but I am getting ready to post some pictures for your viewing enjoyment. Enjoy your Sunday and the rest of your week!!

more pictures from our vacation

On our way down to Karla's house (Darrel's sister) we stopped at Seaside Beach...it was cold. Hence, the sweatshirts in the pictures below. The boys still had a great time playing in the sand and running from the waves. Once we got to Karla's house her husband Floyd took us to his brother's water park that is really close to thier house. The boys got to play there for a couple of hours before coming back. We spent two nights at Karla and Floyd's house and the second night we were there they lit a bonfire in the backyard and we roasted marshmellows and we had smores. Both days we were down south we went to Avila beach (pictures to come soon) where we played, boogie boarded and generally had a fabulous time. We came home last night late, late, late (or early if you'd rather look at it that way) after stopping to help some poor lady and her grandmother change her tire near Primm. We had the most wonderful time on vacation and we are all glad to be back and home to our own beds. We look forward to many more happy times together before the boys return to school. We will be sad to see daddy have to return to work (they pretty much called him every day we were on vacation) because he won't get another good break for a long time. Enjoy the pictures!!