Action Love

It has been a very full two weeks but I will get to that later.  First, I want to rave a little about the actions from Florabella.  I love them.  I want more of them.  I love the dreamy quality they give portraits and even landscapes.  They are on sale right now for Christmas...I am so tempted!  What should I do?  If you're curious, go to www.florabella.com and check them out too!

Do You Know Me?

While I'm waiting for things to scan, I may as well do another post.  Is it weird to have two separate posts on the same day?  I don't know, don't care.  :)

I've been slowly slogging through photos from Jeremiah's grandparents, scanning them in and attempting to find out as much information as I can in order to put together a family keepsake album.  Recently I was delivered another box of photos of people that are completely unknown to those who have seen them so far.

They are really really cool vintage photos; I'm using them for the textures and frames of the old folders they're in, for my digital scrapping kits.  I'm guessing they were taken between 1880s-1920s mostly in the Logan/Ogden region (although I've come across a couple from LA and San Franciscio).  I'm thinking about starting a blog/site where I can post these pictures and hopefully get enough people to look at it that we can maybe identify some of these people (I'm happy to send full res copies to people who think they may have located photos of relatives).  Here are a couple to start out with while I figure out how to format and host a dedicated site.

Blogging is not my forte

Wow, consistency is just not something I'm good at apparently.

I really would like to be better, so here's a post to help get me on my way.

Summer went by very quickly.  In July we headed up to McCall, Idaho for my family reunion, then I went to Pasco to ostensibly spend five days with my parents while Jeremiah went home to work.  Thanks to a hailstorm in Denver that took out 18 aircraft and cancelled hundreds of flights (mine included), I didn't make it home for a week and a half.  It was nice to be with my parents and get to spend time with my adorable nephew Phoenix, though.

At the beginning of August we went to Hilton Head Island, South Carolina for a week with Jeremiah's parents.  It was so humid!!!  But I really liked swimming in the ocean (not something I've ever done before and yes, I was a little nervous about sharks since I've heard so much about bull shark attacks on the Atlantic) and biking throughout the island.

I've been taking a digital design class through jessicasprague.com and I'm really excited about it.  I think I may actually be able to contend as a digital scrapbooking designer.  In the next few weeks I hope to start applying to online shops.

I am still doing online therapy for TinyEYE Therapy Services.  My Alberta schools did not renew (it wasn't me, I promise) so I'm working with schools in Saskatchewan, including one of the ones where I tested.  I am working approximately 13 hours a week, or will be when all of the schools are ready to start therapy.  So far it's going well, although most of me would rather dedicate my time to designing.

That's our summer in a nutshell.  I've purchased some website/blog themes that I'm going to try and use for a more professional looking site as I try to move into designing and maybe try to resurrect Blink Memories so this blog may be moving.  We shall see...

Saskatchewan

From May 9-19, I was in the Far North (as they call it there) of Saskatchewan, assessing children for qualification for speech/language services as part of my job as a TinyEYE therapist.  I went to four different First Nations communities, drove over 1200 miles (more than half of it on horrific dirt roads) and tested close to 90 students.  It was a very eye-opening experience; the people there live in fairly poor conditions and have major issues with drugs and alcohol but the children are just children.  They love to play (especially basketball and street hockey), ride bikes and be with their friends.  I took some lovely photos of the lakes (there are over 10,000 lakes in Saskatchewan, in case you were wondering) and enjoyed the peace and quiet.  I was grateful for Internet and cell phone access when I was able to get it (which was about half of the time) so I could stay in touch with Jeremiah.

I had a very enlightening time but I was super happy to get home to my husband, cat and house.  There really is no place like home.

Red Earth, my first area.

One of the (many) dirt roads I drove on.

Pelican Narrows, my second area.

Deschambault Lake Resort, my third area.  I was

here for two nights.

Flin Flon, the "city" I stayed

in over the weekend.  It is

actually in Manitoba.

Sandy Bay, my fourth area.  I stayed at Slim's Cabins

for three nights.  It was really pretty.

Updates

I know it's been a couple months and quite a bit has happened.  Here'a a quick rundown of the highlights:

--I spent two weeks in Canada assessing children on First Nations Reservations.
--I started summer vacation!!!
--Jeremiah has been extremely busy with Vision (a good thing).
--I had a birthday (an eh thing that Jeremiah made special for me).
--Jeremiah sponsored a hole at the UCAR Golf Tournament, complete with massage.
--We got another cat who likes to live in a box.
--I became a Jessica Sprague Certified Digital Designer.
--We celebrated our fourth anniversary.

I'll expand on each of those a little more in additional posts.

Disney!!!

We decided to do something completely spontaneous last week and wound up in Disneyland for 3 days with our good friends, the Hortin's.  We had a fantastic time, the weather was gorgeous (sure beat the snow that was coming down when we left) and Disney without children is fantastic! (See, there are some perks to being barren.  Disney and going to WalMart without screaming toddlers are two of the biggest :)

Here are some photos from our trip:

Pretty birdie

On the sailing ship Columbia in Disney Bay

California Adventure bumper cars

My favorite picture of us

From the Buzz Lightyear ride--it's a 

video game!

Trying on a pirate hat (and face).

Climbing the giant LEGO outside

the LEGO store.

Loved the dust motes on Tom Sawyer's Island

Had to post at least one pic of him

on his phone.

All of us in line for Soarin'

The picture of the picture they

took at Space Mountain.  I don't

remember it whipping around

so much when I was younger.

Trying to pull the sword from the stone.

Driving us to hell in Mr. Toad's ride--that's really where you

go in the ride, kind of creepy (and then there's the

random child whose mother didn't notice we were

already occupying the photo op and sent him in to get his

picture taken).

Pirate's booty on Tom Sawyer's Island

With LEGO Vader at the store.

Final group pic in front of Mickey's Wonder Wheel.

Maybe next time we should ride that...

Spring Has Brought Me Such a Nice Surprise!

No, the surprise is not my spring cold (although I was not expecting it, having been so unusually healthy for the last 10 months).

We had quite a lovely day today and when I ventured out into my garden to pull the invading grass from my planter beds, I found this!

I have always loved crocuses so last winter I planted a bunch of bulbs.  None of them came up last year but today I found this little beauty!  Of course, it would be growing right next to the lilac bush I'm planning on moving this weekend and probably won't survive past Saturday but at least I got a glimpse of spring--before the next snowstorm hits us.