She's baaaaackkkk!!

Saturday morning after I got home from work and packed we left for Spokane to pick up Nikki!!!!!
We made the mistake of leaving a little later in the morning but having JUST enough time to pick her up. Why was it a mistake?? Because the Blue Angel's were in Spokane this weekend!!

Maybe it goes back to my Navy days and all the Air Shows I HAD to go to way back when (I spent most of my 4 Navy years at Air Bases) but I LOVE watching the Blue Angels.

We didn't have time to pull over and really watch but I did snap a few pics from the car.... moving......UGH! This is the only one that looks 'alright' so small.

I was kinda bummed that we couldn't pull over and watch for a while but.......we HAD to get my baby!!!! :)

We got to the airport early...only by about 20 minutes or so--Joe checked the monitor and guess what?! Her plane had already landed!!! WOOHOO!! Just as soon as Joe told us, his phone rang....yup! It was her!!

She hasn't seen us yet..........

....and LOOK!! NOT off the plane for 10 minutes yet and she's ALREADY on the phone.....and this WASN'T with us!!! UGH!!!

She see's us.........or Sammo....

That's his head there in the lower left hand corner. He was 'sneaking' up on her....until she turned and saw him first!!

And they hug...........

He is SO happy to have her back. This is the first time they've EVER been apart for so long and he COULDN'T wait for her to return!!!

OF COURSE we can't go to Spokane and not do some shopping so Nikki and I spent the rest of the day and evening shopping!! The boys went to Wingers---Joe found some 'new' beer he liked and the boys, Sammo and Salvador had fun doing whatever they were doing. The stories they told of their evening and their waiter.....LOL--THAT'S another story-----

We made a few more stops on Sunday--found a GREAT Mexican shop with AWESOME meats and the MOST scrumptious tortas (so much for WW this week. It's alright though because it was TOTALLY worth it!!!).

Weighted down with ALL our purchases from the day before PLUS the overflowing COSTCO cart, we were on our way.........I don't know how Joe does it but he ALWAYS manages to get EVERYTHING packed in. Goes back to HIS Navy days I guess. :)

Anyways, we came home over Sherman Pass-MY FAVORITE way to go to Spokane from here. It's just BEAUTIFUL.

I always think I'm going to stop and get pics and we never do...cars behind us or bad corner...whatever. Well, we stopped for a potty break so I snapped a few.......

I caught a few of a bumble bee filling up on sweets........

....and from the back....LOL

Joe snapped this pic of Nikki while I was in the restroom. She was so tired.........

Look at her laying on that nice warm rock soaking up ALL the heat it had absorbed during the day.

And here's Salvador........not the best picture I know--I have a better one of him on the rock but ALL you see is HIM and THE ROCK. I just love the look of the rock AND the trees in the background.

I told Joe, I'd like to take the kids sometime this week and drive back up Sherman in hopes of some good pics. We'll see if we get to it. I'm off until the 19th or so--it seemed like a long time at first but it isn't seeming so long now. It's alright though because whatever we get to we get to. Nikki is back and we just want to enjoy time together with her. :)

And here's my 'little man'. I didn't take many pics of him on this trip-as a matter of fact, this is about the only pic I have of him. :( -well, aside from him and Nikki hugging at the airport....
He picked out a few new sweatshirts this trip 'for school' but OF COURSE he had to try 'em out. He actually is my sweatshirt kid-85% of the time he's got some type of sweatshirt on. He's SO DARNED skinny--maybe he just doesn't have enough fat to keep himself warm?!
Well, we have a BUSY week ahead of us....we're having a little BBQ for Nikki on Wed with a few of her closer friends and their families. It's gonna kind of be a 'Welcome Home' party for Nikki but a relax and enjoy our friends time for us too!!! We're ALL looking forward to it! I'll be sure and post some pictures later on in the week.
I'm HOPING to get some creating done while I'm off too. It's been SO LONG since I've REALLY done anything. I have SO MANY ideas just RUNNING through my mind just no time to tackle any of it.
Enjoy your day!!!

Pics for yesterday from the day before....

teeheehee---a little confusing was I?? :) -What a surprise, some might say... I never DID get back up here to post pics last night. Busy, busy we were--not bad busy just busy doing other things..............together :) That's the BEST kind of busy to me!! And I got to visit with my DEAR friend Sandra last night. (Hi Sandra!!!! {wave}). Thanks for being YOU!! You're SUCH an inspiration, encouragement and GREAT FRIEND!!!! I'm SO blessed to have you in my life. THANKS for being YOU!!!

Well Yippee! for me!! My FIRST WW week I lost 4.6 pounds!! I can be happy with that!!! :) I don't EXPECT for this week to be THAT good but I'll be happy with ANY loss! We'll see.

I'm ALL about NEW recipes. I LOVE trying GOOD, new recipes. I'm thinking I'm going to make up a binder of GOOD WW recipes. They don't have to BE 'WW' necessarily--just recipes that are already pointed out-or at LEAST have nutritional info so I can point them out. I have some recipe inserts but just haven't found the RIGHT binder yet.........BUT...........I just had a fabulous idea. Keep your eyes posted in the next few months to see what I'm thinking about......

Thing is with me I like the recipes with minimal ingredients--(I LOVE those WW 5 ingredient magazine cookbooks-so far the recipes we've made have been GOOD too!!!)--I'm not so crazy about the ones with a bajillion ingredients so much...I get tired just reading the recipe much less measuring it ALL out.

Anyways,Feel free to share. :) Recipes, snack ideas, LOW POINT snack ideas etc, etc....speaking of.........I bought some jello, cappuccino or something.....not so great-or I didn't think so....once you get to the chocolate it's alright but the top--pleck-not so much.

We went to a friend's house the other day--just to hang out and enjoy. We ended up staying for dinner and LOOK at what we saw:

I KNOW the picture is dark.......it was already dusk and I had my camera set to action in case he took off, which he did before too long and I haven't taken the time to adjust them yet--but you get the jist!! Nice one!

Well, after he took off we went looking............we went up and back and around....well, we rounded the corner, barely looked behind us and LOOK in the barn....

I know this picture is SUPER dark too and then with it being smaller........

but if you look to the far right, you can BARELY make out the silhouette of ANOTHER deer. They were ALL over the place!!!!

Searching STILL for 'the big one' we came across these guys munchin' on some hay:

For a quick second we THOUGHT this guy WAS the big one. He's not. As this guy took off 'the big one' reappeared.

The funny thing about this was while I was snapping pics of this guy I noticed the other set of horns behind the hay roll (to the right). There was yet ANOTHER!!! He was kinda funny too....in another shot I have him barely peering over the hay. TOO funny.

It was a fun evening that's for sure. I kinda got into the whole 'tracking' -- for pictures anyways!!!!

Sunday morning after church I went back out and about for more pics. It was a BEAUTIFUL day--Beautiful, clear, blue skies---fresh---not too hot--just perfect...

I took HUNDREDS of pictures this day. It was just SUCH a gorgeous day and I was just surrounded with beauty.

This is the Okanogan River. The picture is small, I know, but really, it is just a beautiful site.

I have NO idea what this is but LOOK at the THORNS on this puppy!!!

The night before Samuel had flip-flops on and didn't know but stepped on one. It went RIGHT THROUGH the flip-flop. Luckily for him it was at the end and it didn't go through his foot. OUCH!!!

Another of the Okanogan.

Just beautiful.

My 'lil man walking and balancing on the RR tracks. I really got some cute pics of him this day. I can't wait to have them developed!

Apples on the tree.................

Look at 'em all!!!

YES! I DO have more photos to share BUT Joes just walked in the door so I'll have to try to MAKE time to post them later!!!!

Enjoy your day!!!

River fun.......

The boy's and I went down to the garden this morning to pick some squash. While we were down there, Salvador asked if we could go 'swimming'. Most anyone who knows me knows what I think of rivers, lakes and the such......they're big potties for animals, and who or whatever else comes along.....yuck. Granted, pretty to look at sometimes but not what I want to soak MY body in. Anyways, I told them, yes I would stay down there with them if they wanted to splash around in the water. One thing led to another and the boys ended up crossing over to 'the island'. They had SO much FUN and I had SO MUCH FUN watching them and snapping pictures.

Let me share:

Here's Salvador. He ventured out to the island by himself first.

For those of you who don't know him......

Salvador started out as being one of Nikki's friends.......LONG STORY--too long for this post. Anyways, he is one of the kids who's really become a part of our family. He has spent quite a bit of time over here this summer and we enjoy having him around. Samuel LOVES it when he's here and Salvador takes such good care of him. Salvador says, 'Samuel is the younger brother I never had.' We are very blessed to have him in our lives.

Anyways--- Here he is......Grrrrrr! He did it!!! Lemme tell you, it was no easy feet getting up there!!

Once he saw what it was all about, this was the FIRST time he'd been been out to the island, he came back for Sammo. You can see the water isn't real deep in this area, yet still he took Sammo's hand.

I just thought that was so sweet!

It REALLY can be tricky getting up different sides. It's ALL sand in this area so as soon as you get somewhere you fall back down!! Samuel tried a few times and then Salvador gave him a boost.

HE MADE IT!!!

The HAPPY DANCE of sweet success!!!

If I've said it once, I've said it a million times.....

...this kid CRACKS ME UP!!!! LOL

After the happy dance.........

I just thought these shots were such 'boy' shots.

I just like them..

Running, dirty, playing....it just yells BOY to me!

Salvador finally made it up, he didn't have anyone to lift him up!!! :) And they shared a 'boy' moment!!

These two are a crack up!!!

Well, they disappeared for a while and I just busied myself with pictures of all that was around me......after a while I called for them and before I knew it here they came.....

They found a big stick, of many I am sure, and twisted it into the sand, 'marking their territory'.

I told them I was ready to go back up to the house so they decided to come.

A Samuel thing...........

He says its his 'man hair'. UGH!

I guess it's the same as when the little girls try to 'make boobs' with their shirts........you know, when you flip it over and THINK it looks like you have boobies. LOL-the things kids do.......

And here he made a bear print with his hand. I thought it was pretty cute!!

After we were done down by the river we came up and they got changed. Samuel looked so darned cute so I asked him to come to the 'sitting tree' to take some pictures....

He told me about a sliver he had in his foot earlier in the day. I told him his dad was going to have to take it out and he got all upset because it hurts ya know! So I told him maybe he could try soaking in the tub first. While we were walking to the sitting tree he mentioned his sliver...wondering if it was still there......here he is looking.........'Nope! It's gone.' Great right?? So what is Samuel's take on this discover??? 'Oh Great! I guess I don't have to take a bath now!' BOYS!!!!!!

Here he is swinging on the tree swing........

The kids love these little tree swings. When I was back at my moms a few years ago when she was so sick I picked them up at The Christmas Tree Shoppes. I LOVE that store!!!!

They were ONLY a couple of bucks each and the kids have had MORE fun on them!!!

They make for good pictures too!! :)

Are you tired yet of all my pictures?? Trust me when I tell you this is FAR from ALL of todays pictures!! As a matter of fact, I took OVER 300!!

I thought I was done too but I'm not...........just a few more...

These are for Nikki.......

She's still in Tx.

I told her I took some pictures of her kitty and she asked if I'd post them so she could see.

So, here they are Nickles...

And one more pic of another one of my blooming lillies!!

These seem to be a little darker pink than the others.

Well, that's all for now.......I've got some 'business' to take care of.

Enjoy the rest of your week!!! I'm back to work tonight for 3!!!

Just fun.....

Sammo had his BF Riley over yesterday.....well, he'd spent the night the night before.... Before he left yesterday they were outside playing--they play SO well together. I went out to check on them and this is what I found:

I just thought it was SO cute.

It makes me so happy when the kids find FUN in the MOST simple things.

I realize this blog has become more of a family/summer/life blog than the 'my creations' blog that it started out as. With summer here, Nikki away and our schedules what they are, I haven't made ANY time for creating. I'm STILL in the process of moving my room--although MOST of what I 'need' is already up here, there is still TONS of 'stuff' left down in the other room. I just have to figure out WHAT to do with it. And honestly, as much as I've had ideas and THOUGHT about 'creating' my heart just isn't in it right now. Hopefully I'll get my 'mojo' back soon?!

Anyways-

It's back to work for me tonight--for 3--. It's all good 'cuz I'll be 3 days closer to Nikki's return!!!! We all miss her so much and can't wait for her to be back home!!

That's all for now.........

Enjoy the rest of YOUR week!!

Smiles and love!!

Fun! Fun!! Fun!!!

I've been off for the past couple of days and BOY o BOY have we been enjoying them!!!

I got off work Saturday morning and by 11:30am Me, Sammo and Salvador were headed down to Wenatchee to spend a few days with my friend Kim. We had SUCH a nice time. I didn't really get much shopping done but it was ALRIGHT. We just relaxed and enjoyed. We took the kids to the Riverfront park. We'd brought Sammo's bike, well, actually it's Nikki's but he's been riding it, and Salvador brought his skateboard-of course!! :)

Here's Sammo riding into the park......

Kim was FINALLY able to get him to get into the water....he didn't want to because he didn't have swim trunks on. LOL

HE FINALLY decided to get in to 'spear a fish'. LOL

Then they splashed each other with water to cool off. It was SUCH a hot day. In the 100's. The water felt SO cold at first but it was OH SO refreshing!!

And here he is riding out of the park.

What a cutie pie!!

After the park we went back to the house. Kim made rotbeer floats for the boys so we sat outside on the deck while the kids finished their rootbeer floats and played with Libby. She's SUCH a sweet dog.

Isn't she a cutie pie?!

Sunday we went to Kim's sister in laws house to hang out in her pool. Sammo had such a good time playing in the water.

Shelly has all kinds of water toys so he went from playing to just relaxing on a float to playing.....

HOW cute is he huh? How could you NOT just LOVE that face?!?!

And here's Salvador....eating and listening to his iPod. His 2 most favorite things to do. LOL

Sammo playing some more............

...............CLOWN.

And Salvador listening to music and eating MORE!!!

Then yesterday we went to the park here in town. Salvador and Laz had their skateboards so they were doing their thing while Sammo and I were waiting for my friend Sonia,her son and little sister. While we were waiting, I took pics of the boys. I love those mid-air pics. Here are a few of my favorites.....

Poor Sammo. He was so bored while we were waiting.......

..........can you tell????

--Look at that silly thing he has on his head! LOL I found it in the HearthSong catalog, I think, last year at Christmas time. He LOVES that darned thing!!

That's about it for now I suppose. I ran a few errands earlier with Salvador and Sammo is at a friends. He'll be back later with his friend....he's gonna spend the night. One more day and it's back to work for me. Time flies WAY too fast when you're having FUN!!!!