I guess I haven't posted many of my pages lately, although I have been doing a lot!



Using Neopolitan Taffy by Dani's Delusions.



Using We Are Family, the charity collab.



Using Get Your Grunge on by Captivated Visions.



Using High Tide by Brandi Sutherlin Designs.

We went to the Renaissance Festival yesterday. We had a good time, but after awhile the heat and crowds get to me. Everyone was congregating in the shady spots! The kids ended up getting some fancy walking sticks, and the lady even carved their initials in them.

On Saturday night I went on a photo walk in downtown Denver. I guess it's a national event and there are walks going on all over the country on this same night. I joined a yahoo group of local area digiscrappers, and some of them were going, so I signed up, too. Basically we just walked around on a route the leader had already picked out and took whatever photos we wanted. My main goal was to experiment with my camera and get to know it better on the manual settings instead of always using auto. It works well for a lot of situations, but there are times that it's better to use the manual settings. I used to do a lot of photography, and develop my own prints and negatives and everything, so it's something I always mean to get back to, even though now it's all digital! So I am happy to say that I didn't use the auto settings, or the flash, for any of my photos, and I spent a lot of time just experimenting with exposure bracketing and the different white balance settings. The other digiscrappers were really nice and we stayed and had a late dinner at the restaurant at the end of the walk.

I had a chance to work with this awesome charity collab, We Are Family, available at Gotta Pixel. It will help Sally (KyRainbow)pay some medical bills from her fight with cancer.

I did another layout for the contest, week #3, without really thinking about how it looked similar to my week 2 entry. Oh, well! We had to put title or song lyrics from a favorite summer song, so I ended up picking Rock You Like a Hurricane by the Scorpions. I have a friend I used to visit in the summers and she was a huge Scorpions fan. We would sit there and listen to this album and copy over the lyrics into a notebook, but I have no idea why. We were out in the middle of nowhere in a mobile home, so I guess we had to be easily amused!

I did this layout for a challenge. The layout was supposed to be inspired by your favorite ice cream. I did mine based on the Cappuccino Heath Blizzard at DQ. Yum!



I used Espresso Yourself by Jen C Designs, and a modified template by Allison Pennington.

I don't know why I'm having such a hard time getting a grip on the fall schedule. I think I am just overwhelmed with this soccer business, and the fact that both kids are not at the age of two weeknight practices and one game day. On top of that they will both be in Scouts. Declan is also interested in baseball, so he might do a Sunday only league for 8 weeks. It is hard with our school getting out so late in the afternoon compared to most. Maybe we'll have to start getting in the habit of morning homework, but that really isn't my prime time of the day! Then today I got an email asking if I can work two day shifts at work, which I really don't want to, plus I think it will interfere with my availability for my computer job, which is definitely more of a priority for me. I know it's still only July, but registration is starting for everything now so decisions need to be made. We are checking out a new Scout pack for Declan to join since our current one is kind of disorganized and lacking in participation. Owen already has friends so I don't want to switch him over, but Declan has a chance to find a good one still. I may be helping run the Bears (3rd graders) so hopefully at least his den activities will be fun.

It's time to sign up for the August Brownie Addicts Membership!

Flower Scraps is having a celebration for the rest of the month!

Geek Chic new Store Opening!

Geek Chic is opening a new store today at Gotta Pixel! Check it out!



There is also a freebie add-on to her new kit Sweet on You in the store:

Wow, I have been slacking. Apart from a camping trip for 4th of July, we have not been doing anything that exciting, I guess. I never sleep well while I'm camping, and I start to feel really grungy after about the second day, probably because my hair is dirty and that drives me crazy! However, I have to say that I really love it and I am glad it's something we started doing. Now that the kids go to sleep on their own in the tent, we can stay up a little longer and chat by the fire with the other gronw-ups. Plus the stars were so amazing without the city light pollution. Dawn and I took the kids on a night hike (walk). We took the trail through the trees down to the lake, but then on the way back, missed the trail and had to take the long way back on the road. The kids were freaking out that we were lost or that wild animals were going to attack, or that we would get hypothermia. So between listening to the paranoid child and the hypochondriac child, I couldn't help but get the giggles, which freaked them out even more. Anyway, night hikes are one of my favorite things to do while camping, and hopefully they weren't too traumitized by it! We only had the one night to do it since the next night we were out late for the fireworks and went straight to bed when we got back. Next year I think I will go up for longer with the kids, and then Scot can join us for a couple days in the middle. It was so nice and peaceful when everyone left, so it would be fun to be there during the week a little after everyone else takes off. Owen smashed his hand on a football tackling thing, and one other boy smashed his hand with a rock, but otherwise no major injuries, so that was good!

Now the kids are done with classes except for a couple more sessions of baseball for Declan, so we can start making plans for Elitch's and things like that.