All about Maggie

I've made some progress on Maggie's scrapbook, so I thought I'd post some pix. I have 20-25 more pictures that I haven't used yet. I like to include a lot of pictures in my scrapbooks :)

It's so funny looking back on the pictures of her as a puppy. She was so small!

I love the left-hand side of the page below - one of my favorites. She is such a daddy's girl!

Belated anniversary

Yesterday was our 4th anniversary. Yes, Chris and I have been married for 4 years now! We've enjoyed the time we've had together so far and look forward to what the future holds. We didn't do much yesterday, but I did make dinner for us at home and we enjoyed a little DQ trip with the dog.

A couple new things

I decided to play around with a picture of Maggie from the Lake on Fotoflexer - a free online photo editor.

I'd always thought these types of pictures were neat when I first saw them - a black and white picture with just one thing in the picture that was colored. I'd always wondered how this was done and wanted to have pictures like this too! I recently started experimenting with Fotoflexer, not having done much photo editing in the past besides just very minor edits. I think my favorite of these is the second one since the orange vest is such a big contrast against the rest of the picture. I'm also anxious to try some of the other editing tools with other pictures we've taken.

I am also in the beginning stages of experimenting with mosaics. Quite a few years ago (like when I was in high school!), my sister and I started collecting old, chipped, or inexpensive dishes that we came across at various places in the hopes of making mosaic pieces. We got interested in this after we saw really neat things that some of our family friends had made.

So we came across a box of these dishes while I was helping my parents sort through things to prepare for their move. I decided to take a few of them to experiment with since I have some extra time on my hands. Here are the dishes I have right now. I'm contemplating starting with a picture frame, a trivet or just a small wall hanging. (The small "good morning" juice cup is from my grandparents and we have the matching pitcher in our kitchen. My thought is to do a piece for the kitchen with this cup and the yellow, orange, and green dishes.)

I haven't started chipping the dishes yet, but I hope to start soon. I'll be sure to post what the end result is with this new project!

Pix - Summer 09 at the lake

Craig on slalom - yes, he can still get up! Beth also got up again this year, but I don't think we got a pic.

Kaitlyn wakeboarding - going outside the wake. Her and Chris were having a nice competition of who could do better on the wakeboard.

Craig and Kaitlyn tubing

Craig and Beth tubing

Rachelle and Kaitlyn tubing

Rachelle and Dominik tubing very slowly

Craig and Chris tubing - we all knew they would try to show off.

At first, they both tried to stand up. There was too much weight on the back of the tube and before we knew it we saw the "Gotcha" on the underside of the tube! This pic is right before Craig stood up.

...And the aftermath.

And then Beth tried her best to flip them off by turning the boat back into its own wake :)

Chris on slalom - look at that grimace!

Huge water tail!

Kerrie skiing on two - I tried wakeboarding and slalom lots of times. I failed miserably at wakeboarding. I was pretty much up on slalom. The one time I got up, I got so excited and just fell right after I stood up. We still don't know why I let go that time. Hopefully I'll get it next time.

Chris wakeboarding - Chris got up almost immediately and was going outside the wake. After Devon arrived, he gave Chris some pointers. Before we knew it Chris was going back and forth like it was nothing. He was also getting some good air too! It was a lot of fun to watch.

In the boat...

Handsome husband driving the boat.

Mr. D got very tired in the boat and ended up falling asleep while the rest of us played in the boat.

Mr. D with mama and papa.

Maggie trying her hardest to get to everyone in the water, but she reached the end of her rope!

Happy puppy by the water

Chris caught a big catfish! But he ended up letting it go since we wouldn't be able to eat it before we left. We still had a catfish dinner while Chris' family was there thanks to Kaitlyn, Chris, and Craig.

We spotted a northern pike swimming by the dock! Very rare to see at Lake of the Ozarks.

Chris going out in the paddleboat to try and net it. Thank goodness he didn't fall in!

The fish swam away but then was stupid enough to come back! Chris sat on the waverunner with the net in the water and the fish just swam right in!

Chris and Devon showing there manliness...and then having slimy hands afterward!

Look at those teeth! It also looked like he had been in a fight!

This all made for a wonderful time at the lake!

2 weeks at the lake and some fingernail polish has almost broke a bad habit of nail biting. I think I'll have to keep my nails painted to keep from biting them. I want to keep them so I can do this more often.

Visiting MO

Chris, Maggie, and I had a great 10 days at Lake of the Ozarks earlier this month. We headed out to Missouri since Chris had 2 weeks of shutdown at work and there wasn't much to do around home.

Kaitlyn and Chris' parents were already at the lake when we got there late on Friday night. We got to spend several days with them before they had to head home the next week. Chris' other sister, Rachelle, and our nephew Dominik also came for a couple days. My parents also came up for dinner at Half-sauced BBQ (a great local place in Osage Beach), to spend one night, and find out what being at a lake house is all about. We also spent some time with Chris' aunt Pat and his two cousins, Devon and Tova. Even though we got to see a lot of family, Chris and I also had the chance to spend a few days by ourselves and we enjoyed a good mexican place called Vista Grande and some much-needed clothes shopping for Chris.

It was great to spend so much time on the water, although it did rain and was a little chili (highs in the 70's) a few days. A few of us also tried some new things. I almost forgot to mention that Chris caught a northern pike with the fish net and he also caught a decent sized catfish, which he ended up just letting go. I will post some pictures soon since we took a lot while we were in the boat and you can see the fish Chris caught!

On our way home from the Lake, we also stopped in Mexico to see Chris' Grandma Barnes. We don't get to see extended family very much so it's nice to see them when we can. We got to have lunch with her before hitting the road again.

Just a few days after we got to Missouri, we made a day trip to Rolla to see Chris' grandparents since his grandma had been more sick recently. I'm glad we did this because she actually passed away this past Tuesday (July 28th). So after being home for just over a week, we are headed back to Rolla this Friday (tomorrow) for the funeral. Please pray for Chris' extended family. Chris' grandma had been fighting aggressive cancer for several months, but now we know she's not suffering anymore and is in a better place.

Scrapbooks

This spring/summer I've been able to finish two scrapbooks.

I finally completed the 36-page book from our vacation to Hawaii in 2006.

This one had gotten put aside several times to complete other shorter books. We had a ton of pictures from this trip and I didn't even put all of them in! This has to be one of my favorite pages (although I have lots) - this was at the top of Haleakala in Maui. We had some very cool pictures and it was awesome to be there in person.

I also completed the 19-page book from our vacation to Jamaica this past September - our first big vacation that we took by ourselves.

This book was much easier because everything was fresh in mind when I was working on it. This is one of my favorite pages of when we went on the "canopy tour" (ziplines through the hills). It was one of the most exciting and adventurous things we did while in Jamaica. I'm glad Chris decided he could do it even though he is weary of heights.

Now I'm starting on a couple of things. One of them is a book of Maggie. I thought it was time I did a book about her since we have a fair number of pictures. In fact I'll probably have to add some more pages behind the "E" to fit all of the ones I printed off. It was fun to look at the pictures of her as a puppy - she was so tiny! I'm sure there will also be more pictures from when we go to the lake in a few weeks!

The Search Continues

I had a job interview last Monday at a consulting firm in town. It seemed to have gone well. I had actually interviewed with them when we were first coming to Lafayette. But I found out today that they can't hire me right now. Instead of hiring a new person for the West Lafayette office, they have to utilize their current employees in the Indianapolis office that have minimal work right now.

So it's back to looking again. That's ok. It would have been bittersweet to get a job right now as we have a vacation planned to Lake of the Ozarks in July. (I probably would not have been going to the lake if I had a job offer.) Don't get me wrong, I would have been ecstatic to have a job, but I also love going to the lake. I'm now looking forward to spending time with Chris' family and probably my family too, seeing Maggie wear her lifevest again, waterskiing, riding the waverunner, soaking up the sun, and just enjoying being in such a beautiful and relaxing place. Wow...just writing this is getting me excited!