August 16

Well, after an amazing three weeks, we are headed back home to Virginia today. I can’t believe how much we did! We had so much fun, went a ton of cool places, and spent a lot of quality time together. Getting to see the kids all together was extremely special for all of us, and I am so glad Aaron and I were able to stay for so long. Here is Aaron, sleeping soundly on the plane.

August 15

Today we took it pretty easy since we are flying home tomorrow. We went up to Apple Valley to visit with my brother-in-law Caleb’s family, who we just love. And…here we all are. We also had a dinner out, which provided the material for my Cranky Cousins layout (coming up in my next scrappy post).

August 14

Okay…now I am exhausted. I just did 4 straight days of Disneyland/California Adventure and have really put some miles on my new Keens.Today we had another family swim and BBQ since we are headed back to Virginia on Monday. We had a great time swimming and playing with the kids. In the evening, they decided they were going to entertain all of us, and they just kind of ended up like this. I am pretty sure Mady was singing first (that is an unplugged Rock Band mic) and eventually Aaron and Cameron started playing piano. I wasn’t there for the setup, I just had my camera ready for this little performance. Mady was making us cry with laughter the way she was sitting there on the piano bench between them, she had her little knee up, she is ready to make a music video! There are a couple of other great shots too…and I will have to scrap these rascals!

 

August 13

And ONE MORE DAY! But this time, it’s just me and my hubby! Chris and I got the idea while driving out to the river last weekend (as Malinda said, “Lots of desert, lots of time to think”) that we could really use a date day. We did go out, just the two of us, for Valentines Day, but that was, well, in February. We asked my parents about watching Courts and Aaron (they also had Cameron that day) and not only did they agree to that, they also offered to take Ashley to the airport for her flight to Colorado. Chris and I were REALLY excited to have a day to have fun together. I did NOT take my camera (GASP) and we had nothing to carry, nothing to push, and it was really a super fun and relaxing day. We got to go on “grown up rides” and walk in a leisurely way when we wanted to. We did take a couple of pictures with Chris’ phone, and this one is the best.

My Scrappy Week

Well, we were on vacation this week, during which time we alternated between swimming and sitting on our duffs. Consequently, I scrapped my BUTT off! (I wish that were really possible.) I made 16 pages this week so far!! They can’t all be posted this week as some are for future releases, but I thought it would be a good idea to scrap ahead while I had the time. Remember that my scrapbook pages are always linked to my gallery at ScrapMatters for full credits, which I will not post here. If a page features a new release from a designer that I am on a creative team for, I will specifically mention those here and link up the product names (in blue) to their location in their stores so you can check them out.

I was accepted onto a new team this week, and I am now proud to be creating for The Design Girl! Check out her shop at ScrapMatters by clicking on that link. Last week I showed you a layout I did as part of my application for her team, and I am looking forward to showing you my future layouts with her products.

So here are the pages I made this week on vacation!

Here is another page in Aaron’s baby book made with some new templates from Stolen Moments called Scraps By Number: Just Call Me Sara. I just love how this page turned out. Aaron is 15 weeks old in these pictures. Cute little boomy guy.

Actually I went a little nuts with that template pack and also made a two-pager with two other ones. These pictures are from two of our days at Disneyland during our California vacation.

Here is another layout from our California vacation called Cranky Cousins. The little guys are not ALWAYS angelically behaved.

And here is one from this week on vacation! I actually scrapped it the same day I took the pictures! Ahhhh, the sweet life of a vacationer!

All the rest of the layouts I have to show this week are for Aaron’s baby book.

First, we have The Baby in the Mirror. I am so glad we caught this pictures of the first time Aaron really paid attention to himself in the mirror. He was so enchanted by his own face, and I have to say, I don’t blame him!!

Then, from the same week of his life, I have this two-page spread of his first Cubbies games! We went to two of them when they came to play the Nationals. I am really happy with how this spread turned out. We had a lot of cute pictures of Aaron in his Cubbies gear to show off!

Finally, here is a spread from his first July 4th! I did this one for a speed scrap.

Now you can see here that I have scrapped 4 pages (including a 2-pager, but still…) from just ONE WEEK of his life! This may offer a clue as to why this book is taking me so long. I NEED TO NARROW DOWN THE PICS!

I hope you enjoyed all my scrappyness for this week, I sure did!!

August 12

YEP, we are back AGAIN! This time, we headed to Disneyland for a few hours and then over to California Adventure with my mom, Courts, Ashley and Cameron (Kelly was back at work). Chris and my dad have been in San Francisco watching a couple of baseball games, so they missed this fun. For today’s picture, however, I picked one from AFTER Disneyland. Aaron and Cameron and I left Disneyland in one car to head to my cousin Malinda’s house for a cousins dinner. The drive there was pretty harrowing, rush hour on the 5, and Aaron had to go potty, and…that’s all I’m going to share about that here. BUT we made it there and had dinner with Wendy, Malinda, Kelly, Cameron and Mady.

We tried to take a fun cousin pic using the timer on my camera…at some point I will scrap the series that includes Wendy making goofy faces and me running down from my camera to stand in the photo, but for today’s picture, here is some cousin cuteness.

   

August 11

Okay…yesterday was the beginning of a Disney marathon! Today we headed back to the happiest place on earth with my mom, Courtney, Ashley (who just flew in this morning after having a day long fog delay leaving Alaska!), Kelly and Cameron. Kelly and the boys and I got there first, while Mom and Courts went to pick up Ash from the airport. We were so happy to see Mickey hanging out on Main Street and SO lucky to make it through the line all the way up to him! The boys were really excited, and Cameron didn’t get SUPER close, but as Kelly said “I hope Cameron is at least IN one of those pictures you took!” And he was! I loved how Mickey got down on his knee to get closer to the boys and he tried to get Cameron to come over. This is truly one of the highlights of Aaron’s life, and a true joy for me to see. I am totally a believer in the magic of Disney.