Laura's Blog

"Vacation"

7:05 PM | by Laura

Yes folks, I already had to save my husband from falling the 100m drop down Look Off point, near Canning, Nova Scotia. What a goof!

This is what we saw when we looked over the the edge of Look Off cliff. Absolutely beautiful country.

Shannon had to give fishing a try while he was here. Wasn't too successful! Maybe it was the bait! Lol.

Peggy's Cove. One of my hi-light's. What a unique experience to drive in and spend some time there.

I literally had to drag Shannon away from the sea. He loves the crashing waves and wanted to find a chair and sit and watch for hours. He took hundreds of photos got some amazing shots.

Lonely sailboat...very windy that day. Probably perfect day for sailing. What do I know...I am just a stubble jumper from Saskatchewan. Just wouldn't want to be out on the water.

Liked this boat, don't know why. maybe cause of the little one in front of it. And the color contrast.

this was the last shot on the way out of Peggy's Cove. Now we are on our way to PEI tomorrow. Lot's of driving to see Ann of Green Gable's. maybe more pictures before I get home.

Well, the day has arrived and we or I should say I, survived the day and what a beautiful day we had! My sister Lana has not lost her touch to do long hair and she did a beautiful job on mine and Jenna's.

It has been a tradition of mine to count the hairpins when she does my hair since a few years ago when she used 72 to do an updo. I have to say that on Saturday, she broke the record and I was positive that she used over 100 pins, but to my surprise when I took it down Saturday night, I found only 89 in my hair. Unless she stuck some inside my head! Just kidding. Thanks Lana for making Jenna feel beautiful that day!

Well folks, here is my girls "Prima Prom Gown." Shut up. I know. Yes there are actually Prima flowers sewn on the dress. Forty eight of them in fact. But they were perfect, don't you think? It was her idea for the flowers and then what do you know, these new flowers appeared in the store.

Jenna's hairdo.

Jenna and her dad. He loves getting his picture taken. Ha! Not. Oh, well. Look at the shot of the dress. Great frontal pic!

These two can never stand still for long and take serious pics without goofing off! Akk! Good thing the gum didn't end up in hair or on the dress!

Jenna and Jenn have been friends since grade 9 and she is like my third daughter. She also had a unique grad dress because she picked hers up in Mexico. Rachel is Jenn's hair for grad.

Here we go again....Jenna has her sunglasses on upside down. Now it could be that she wasn't sure which way was up, not having the privilege of wearing sunglasses for long just getting contacts recently. But I am more inclined to think she was just plain goofing off again, much to her father's frustration....he had about had it. He wanted to get these done with, we were running out of time, and all I could think of was, "What a cool page this will make...I hope this picture turned out." Of course I didn't tell him that at the time either...hee, hee, hee. But this is so her. He just wants to leave and she has a way of making me laugh...I want to ring her neck, and she has a way of making me laugh. That's a good thing! I love her to pieces.

My mom. You will never find a more loyal grandmother than my mom. She is so proud of my girls and so supportive. She is there for their events and I am so thankful. I love her. My girls love her. She is their champion. And they know it.

Angelina. We came walking down the 300 stairs at TCU when it was over to cheering, whistling, clapping....to Angelina. Another champion of my girls. Another friend who loves unconditionally. My girls adore her. She stopped by with my sister and brother in law to see Jenna. I didn't get any pictures of Darla and Dave with Jenna that night with my camera.

You would think they graduated from Yale or Harvard as a lawyer top of class there was that much racket! I am so thankful she was here to share this weekend with us.

And finally Seth. Seth loves pretty girls. He needed to hug Jenna and he thought Jenna was beautiful and he thought her dress was too. Not because I made it, but because she wore it. The most important thing was that she felt like a princess, she looked like a princess and she was a princess and I thought she was the most beautiful lady in the room!

Thanks ladies for letting me ramble, brag about my girls appreciate you taking the time to stop by.

"Red Carpet Galla Oscarette Weekend Crop"

7:55 AM | by Laura

Well, here I am finally posting pictures of our weekend crop. Thank you ladies for being patient with me. I am going to immediately give you a disclaimer on any blurry pictures right off the bat, as I was laughing so hard while taking some of them it was near impossible to hold the camera steady! And before you ask, no I don't have a stabilizer lens!

The first pics are random shots of some of the ladies on Saturday while they were working. I took pictures of everyone, but they didn't all turn out, so I apologize if your picture isn't up here.

I know Barb and Kenzie were looking forward to the crop again. They were busy beavers getting stuff done all weekend.

You guys always participate in our dress up and we appreciate it. Your participation is what helps makes our crops a success every time! Thanks ladies.

I think we have to separate these two! It doesn't matter that she is pregnant....but oh, the cards Twila and Chandra made after the one great make and take Ralna did with the Tim Holtz stamps! AMAZING! Wait a go girls.

You two are so much fun in a class together. Val, did you ever get your little book all done? lol. Shona, I think it is a full time job for you just to keep her out of trouble.

Janice, did you get much done? I didn't get to see you a whole lot that weekend.

Oh, my goodness, the giggling sisters. What fun you two are. Have they come to take you away yet? lol. Do you laugh as much in the card class?

Love the costume Barb! I do think you should look into getting a new optometrist, though. Something tells me he is over prescribing!

And the winners for page layout, card making, altered project, and costume are: rat-a-tat-tat. (That's the drum roll in case you didn't know).

1). Page Layout- Shona I.

Notice the red face? Couldn't get a shot of the page, though. It was beautiful.

2). Card making- Lee B.

Again, no picture of the card, but it was beautiful and unique.

3). Altered Project- Heidi or Melanie M. (Sorry girls, I always get you two
mixed up

"I would like to thank my family for their continued
support......." I almost dies laughing, along with the rest of the ladies in the crop room. It
was absolutely hilarious. This picture is the one of her
"acceptance" speech. I am surprised it isn't blurrier. You crack me up, girl!
Too funny!

And here they are with their Oscarette's.......Gold Barbies! That's right ladies! Custom made by none other than Madame Ralna herself. I tell you she rocks with creativity. They were awesome and the one that Heidi or Melanie won even sang!

4). Best Dressed Costume- Heidi and Melanie M.

Here they are with their Oscarette in their "Red Carpet" finery.

Then the evening was winding down and we had a little incident at the store up at the till. One of the girls Heidi (I think that was the one) was beginning to realize that winning the Oscarette and being on the Red Carpet does begin to have its drawbacks. The dreaded Paparazzi spotted her at the checkout paying her tab and started taking pictures of her.

At first it doesn't look like she realizes that they are snapping away. She even looks like any ordinary shopper.

Hold on.......something tells me that she is starting to clue in that the paparazzi is not just another tourist in the LSS. She does not look too impressed.

"Do I have something on my face?" You can tell she is just a newbie at this whole paparazzi thingy....don't give them any more ammo to throw into the tabloids. Next thing she will be reading is: "Can't handle the pressure of Hollywood, starting a nervous twitch....will Miss M. end up having breakdown?" or "Miss M. on drugs?

Really wondering what the photographer is doing following her all over the store as she gets ready to pack up her stuff. Beginning to think something is fishy......

Realizes she has been had! I cannot put the photo that she gave me.....let's just say that that is why tabloids get sued! Just kidding, we had a good laugh and the picture was so blurry that I probably could put it on here and nobody could figure out what it was! I hope ladies that it was okay that I took some liberty with these pictures. I had way too much fun taking them not to share them.

We had a great time, I had some fun with my camera when I wasn't doing my make n' take and you girls all make it so worth the work and time that goes into the prep for one of these events.

I hope the pictures were worth the wait, and I apologize for missing some people. Let me know what you think.

"That Colgate Smile"

11:58 PM | by Laura

Well just one month short of four long years, my Jenna finally got her braces off on Thursday and just look at that smile! Oh my goodness, it was worth every penny spent, every hour of nagging (and I know for a fact she would agree with me now too), and any amount of agony they may have caused to have her teeth look as good as they do now.

They pulled her jaw over, removed stubborn teeth, and had to wait for baby teeth that just wouldn't fall out (genetics), but I think I may be in more trouble now than ever! lol. May have to really get out that shotgun, clean 'er up, and keep 'er right by my bed. Okay, enough kidding. In all seriousness, I couldn't ask for a better orthodontist in Dr. Remmer. I was afraid he was going to retire before Jenna was done and he is such a perfectionist, but he finished till the end.

So, anyway, I thought I would share with all of you.

The first thing she wanted to do was eat an apple. She has never been able to bite into one for almost four years. She thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it and decided she just might buy shares in an apple company...no wait, her exact words were we should buy shares in an apple company! So these last two days, she has been enjoying food she has not normally been able to eat.

So I have a few more pages to do and hopefully these will get done soon!

That's all for now.

"Angie & Me"

9:33 PM | by Laura

This is one of those pages that came together really quick and easy, which doesn't happen very often for me. I actually don't even mind this page. Anyway, Angie is my very good friend and I am glad the page came together as well as it did.

The quote says: "A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart and can sing it back to you when you forget the words." That pretty much describes her. You are truly blessed if you are still friends with someone after 23 years. I just love her to pieces!

Here is the page that was done for the January calendar kit. I finally remembered to take my camera to work today and took some pictures. Unfortunately, the snowman paper is discontinued and we are all sold out. Did some stitching with the embroidery templates for the first time. Didn't mind that too much. Used some stickles, felt, stamping, stapling and that just about finished it. We did a card and a 6x6 page too, but I ran out of time tonight, maybe I'll post those next...so I have something else to post about next week. lol.

"It's That Time Again"

8:53 AM | by Laura

Hi everyone! Surprise, it isn't even two months since my last post. Just thought I would let everyone know that I was going to take my camera to work today and take pictures of the last layout I did and take pictures of my January calendar kit and post it for everyone. I am currently working on February's page kit and there is still room in the class.

It's getting to be that time of year again and my baby is graduating...sigh. And yes, I am making her dress. So I will be starting on that one soon. :-)

So, I should have some new pics up soon if I remember to take my camera to work today! Everyone, have a great week and I am sure we will see some of you in the store.

"Family Christmas"

9:50 PM | by Laura

Once again this year, our whole family got together at my sister Lana's house, for Christmas eve supper. It was the first time in over three years that everyone was together for a meal. Of course, there is alot of food, goodies, games, laughs and tons of pictures! We had this smoked sausage that oh, my goodness reminded me of my Papa's homemade sausage! He had his own smokehouse in his backyard (only in small town Saskatchewan, and only 2o some years ago)! He made the best sausage in the whole world! This stuff was the closest to his and Lana made it with, gulp....sauerkraut. Mmmm...can still kinda taste it. Anyway, so good.

There is something about this picture I love. Granny hates getting her picture taken, and usually does not cooperate, but she sure loves her grandchildren, and to hear her talk about them, a person would think they either found a cure for cancer, invented something significant, or married into royalty. She is so loyal and I absolutely love her humor and spunk. She will be 88 and still lives on her own and does all her cooking, cleaning and does some driving. And boy, she sure can take a strip off your hide if need be! (Never very often, in fact only now as she gets older....when we were kids, we got away with murder!)

Not sure who won the good ole crokenole game, but dad played a bit, had new glasses and still bent the posts! we were teasing him for his poor aim!

My Rosie, she sure loves playing her card games. It was quite funny when she was helping Rachel along..."No, don't play that one out of your hand, pick the one up off your pile and use it first so you can turn another one over." "Play the one from your hand, then lay the one from the pile...." we were laughing because Rach was trying not to be insulted.

It was so good to see Auntie Karen and Uncle Terry. This time last year, Auntie Karen was battling ovarian cancer. She is one of the most beautiful women inside and out, that I know. I have not seen her in a number of months, and I was so glad to see her in such good health. She is in complete remission. She so reminds me of her mom (Shannon's grandma) with each passing year. God is so good.

The girls like doing the Nancy Drew mysteries on the computer and they got a couple new ones this year. It seems that Severin was interested in what was going on. (Or could it be that it was a cool privilege to sit in with the "older" cousins for a bit to see what they were doing?) You forget what it is like having little kids around now that ours have grown up. It is such fun. (Especially when they are someone else's and they have to deal with the crankiness.)

Here is another miracle. Maybe some of you remember the "Miracle" page I did of Harcus three years ago? This little boy almost died at birth and had major heart problems. God has touched that little boy so many times, so many ways. He ran his first marathon this summer and got his medal. He was so proud of that medal, he had to take it to the specialists appointment to show him. When he told the specialist that he ran his first marathon, the specialist replied with, "I ran a marathon too." Harcus not wanting to be outdone replied back to the specialist, "I bet you didn't get a medal?"
God is amazing!!!!

Hmmm. The three stooges? Not sure, but none of us like getting our homely mug taken. Why did I put it on here you ask? Because alot of people ask to see a current picture of these three stooges.

I have so few pictures of either of these characters, let alone the two of them together. Love this picture. Will have to scrap this one alone.

Okay. When I say to you guys, that I am getting crusty and crotchety, like my dad, this is who I am referring too. I am pretty much a chip off the ole block. We had been standing there and Shannon kept saying, "Just a minute, need to get another one, need to get another one." We kept standing there, and still would be if Shannon would not have snickered. Then I clued in that he was just pulling our leg, trying to get dad going. Almost worked, too.

So that is pretty much the extent of my Christmas this year, alot of driving. Alot of fun, food and good times with family.