All is right in my world again....

I once again have a "kitchen couch." :-)

Cleanin' up... not my language obviously... that's just crazy talk!

This photo has nothing to do with this blog. ;-)

I have spent the last couple days kickin' ass and takin' names on this house! We have WAY too much shit and it's gotta GO!! Actually I should say WE have been... because the kids are helping a lot and Rick is goin' crazy on that nasty-ass hole of a basment. We are going to have a yard sale the 19th.

I think my motivation is knowing how busy we are all about to become. The kids and I both start school on Tuesday... soon after that Jessi will start field hockey and Sean will start football. That won't leave a lot of time for housekeeping... so the less crap we have... the less crap I will have to clean up.

You know what the hardest thing to part with has been for me? Cookbooks. I have SO many and I NEVER... EVER.... EVER even OPEN almost ALL of them. I probably have used 5 of the 30+ that I have. Who needs cookbooks anymore when every recipe you could imagine is online? But they are GOING GOING GONE!!

Lucky me!! :-)

Today Nicole was nice enough to invite me along on her photo shoot... this little gal was not the most cooperative in the smile department... but HOW CUTE is she!!?? (and we did manage to get a bunch of adorable smiles too... but this photo cracks me up!! It's like she's saying "People. Please. Who are you tryin' to kid here?")

Bounce house Mania!

For Jessi's "End of Summer Party" I got a great deal on a bounce house and decided to go for it... even in the face of a rainy weather forecast. The kids had a blast... and I even took a turn. (Holy crap.... THAT is a workout!!) Brhaun was nice enough to help Rick go and pick it up because John told me that it would take 4 guys to move it and it would be the size of a cubicle. WRONG. Rick probably could have picked it up on his own, but oh well :-)

Because I felt like it... I turned Jessi's big party into one of my own with all our regular peeps. Len and Dyan also came by for a little while, and Richard came over later on in the evening :) We had a lovely, loud evening and Brhaun got to witness his first "Nicole and Colleen Battle Royale." ;-)

Rick took the day off yesterday and it was great to have him home on a Saturday! We finished up the kids school shopping and then went to lunch at Olive Garden. Richard's section was all working on 'Never Ending Pasta Bowls' so we were seated in a section beside him... so we got to visit a little, but Richard missed out on us tipping him "Canadian style." ;-)

Today is supposed to be a big, yucky day with Hurricane Bill brashing past. Good day to watch movies and chill out.

A great day at Peaks-Kenney

What a great day!! I have never stayed at a lake so long without being bored to tears! Can't believe I have never been there before... I was missin' out!

On a completely unrelated note... These were on my memory card with our lake photos... so I had to post them :) I took this one holding the camera upside down over/behind my head... so THIS is what always goes on behind my back!

Then he moved on to harrass Jessi who was preparing us a fabulous chicken dinner. LEAVE THAT GIRL ALONE... I'm HUNGRY!!

A lotta ramblin......

OK so people are giving me shit about my lack of blogging so here it is... remember... you asked for it!!

I haven't really felt much like blogging or anything else really. A lot on my mind lately.

Brhaun left his 4-wheeler here and I took Jessi for a ride on it and was immediately broght back to the last time (at a H.S. boyfriends house) time I was driving some atv thing when I was 15. I crashed into stuff and went sailing through the air and then planted firmly into the ground. So now every time Rick takes the kids for a ride... all I can see is them flying through the air and then fast-forward to me caring for a 40yr old head injured adult. And that's not all the trumoil that the 4 wheeler has caused my brain to endure........

Rick begs me to go for rides and I did go on one, and I think that he still has my claw marks in his ribs. I just don't like it. Which sends my currently whacked out brain straight to "Wow.... Rick would be so much happier with a girl who actually ENJOYED camping... fishing.... 4-wheeling.... the outdoors... What do we even really have in common?? Am I holding him back from the happiness he could really have? ...and vice versa?? I mean, there are lots of guys out there who go out and take photos with their wives and go shopping... and enjoy taking trips... and entertain the thought of moving out of this piece of shit state that I hate.... Rick is not one of them." Yeah. I am a little crazy that way. Most of you already know this. And of course.. rather than keep all my internal wackiness to myself... I have to drag poor Rick down my road of psycho. Who, as always. assures me that no matter what we have in common... we are in LOVE and made a commitment to each other FOREVER and that is MORE than enough. Well duh. He also said that we should both work on trying finding more common ground with each other and that was really good to hear.

The icing on the cake was when last night Jessi accidentally spilled diet sprite on teh brand new laptop and killed it dead. It was not a very nice night, I think I felt the worst for Jessi, who was devastated, felt terrible, and went to bed sobbing. This morning I assured her that it woudl all be ok... we got the accidental damage protection, so it will be ok. Even if it wasn't ok.... it was a mistake that easily could have happened to any of us!

Last night I had the worst nightmare that Rick found someone else (shocking.. right??) and I was a freakin' mess without him. I couldn't even function or breathe. Sometimes my subconsious knows JUST what I need!!!

The Last FABULOUS FUN FRIDAY

This weekend was our last FABULOUS FUN FRIDAY! Karyn has a lot of stuff in August, plus her kids start school the last week of August... plus we are all out of money...LOL!!

We did it up right though!! Friday we drove to Portland and had lunch at the food court... ORANGE CHICKEN for me of COURSE!!

After lunch we headed to SPLASHTOWN! It was kinda drizzly so the park was not too busy, but it was still hot and humid, so it was a PERFECT day to play! I have no photos of Splashtown even though we went Friday AND Saturday because it is WAY too much freakin' fun for me to be wastin time takin' pictures!

The plan was to do Splashtown til they closed at 6pm, then Funtown for the evening, but at 4pm it started downpouring, so both parks closed down. Since they have a "weather guarantee" we got free 3pm-close passes to use another day (which would be the next day :-D ). Since our plans got rained out... we decided to have dinner at Fuji. It was a BLAST for all... except for Devon who was overtired and not feelin' too good :( He was a good sport about it though.

The food a Fuji is very plentifful and FREAKIN DELICIOUS!!! I don't even LIKE shrimp, scallops, lo mein, or even fried rice that much, but at Fuji I can't get enough of it all!! It's like MAGIC! ;-) We got back to the hotel around 11pm and got a good nights sleep. The next morning's plan (after some hotel shenanigans) was Aquaboggan.

We had a great time at Aquaboggan and it was actually a HOT, SUNNY Day.... WEIRD!! The plan was to go home afterwards... but those free tickets were burning holes in the kids pockets (ok... I admit... mine too), so they convinced us to leave Aquaboggan at around 4 and go over to Funtown... which ended up being a couple hours of Splashtown first (LOVES IT!), then funtown once Splashtown closed.

We stayed at funtown til they closed and didn't get home till 1am!! (not sure why this is all underlining... ignore that please)

We had SO much fun and I am feelin it today!! Every muscle in my body is sore!!

A PERFECT end to our FABULOUS FUN FRIDAYS!!

Kristina and Tristan's Wedding Slideshow

I am not a huge fan of camp.

There. I said it. It’s out there. I try… and I really wish that I did enjoy it like the rest of my family does, but I just don’t find enjoyment in being trapped in the middle of nowhere in an old, SMALL (REALLY SMALL… with sometimes 12 people CRAMMED into it!), musty, bat-mouse-and who knows what else-laden house. Sleeping and sitting on furniture with all the same characteristics mentioned above skeeves the hell out of me. Also not a fan of cooking in a sub-standard kitchen with no cutting board… large bowl… decent knife…. You get the idea.

But like I said… I do try. And I don’t hate it ALL. I love watching Liz read stories to the kids. She also plays this GREAT game with them where she fills a pillowcase with random objects and starts to tell a story. She then passes the pillowcase to the person beside her in the circle, they reach in and take an item, and then add on to the story using the item as inspiration. I think this years story ended up being about elves that had crazy magic hair in a battle with aliens using guns that shot chicken nuggets. There was a fairy involved at some point, but she had to excuse herself to make a phone call (old cell phone in the pillowcase…lol). And of course I love all the yummy food and hanging out and relaxing with friends and family. And I even love a swim in the lake now and then :)

We always thought it would be so much fun to have a dog at camp that swam. WRONG…lol!! Lucy had a blast and we couldn’t keep her OUT of the water… so she was wet all the time…. Chasing ducks all the time… getting tangled in fishing line (once), and just being a wild, crazy nuisance!! It was fun to watch her… but if I heard Rick yell “LUCY COME…NOW!!!” one more time…… Oh and SPEAKING of little miss Lucy… as a grand finale of the trip, she decided to squeeze out the window of the MOVING CAR on the way home. Lucky for her, we were still on the dirt camp road and I was driving slow enough to stop as I heard her climbing out, so I THINK that I may have been stopped before she landed, but it all happened so fast that I am not sure. She is perfectly fine… still dumb as ever.

An ACTUAL HOT AND SUNNY DAY!!

 

 

 

 

We had a great day today!! In the morning we got the house picked up and took the dogs for a walk (which about gave me heat stroke I think... isn't feeling like you want to vomit one of the symptoms of that?). Then Nicole, Brhaun and ALL the kids came over for some meat smokin'... sprinkler playin'.... bush-wackin'.... snake catchin... photo editin'.... rib eatin'... FUN!! ;-)

We all had a GREAT time and can't WAIT for more of the same at the lake next weekend!!

Just a few from the wedding....

WOWZERS!! That was SOMETHIN'!! On the way there, Nicole and I were so excited and nervous and talking about how this could be the beginnings of a career and a partnership... we even spend who knows how long trying to think of a business name.

On the way BACK... we were beat up... exhausted... achey... and totally doubting ourselves. Shooting weddings is FREAKIN EXHAUSTING!! Not to mention the day was probably THE MOST COMPLICATED DAY FOR SHOOTING PHOTOS EVER!! It POURED, then the sun came out, it was foggy, it was clear, it was indoors in an old seaside home, it was outside in a wedding tent................ DAMN!!

Today... I am back to excited! It was a BEAUTIFUL wedding. Not over-the-top, just a bunch of people so happy to see each other and be there to support the commitment of the couple. the bride and bridesmaids were gracious and sweet, the groom and groomsmen were down to earth and welcoming. Actually EVERYONE was welcoming! They all knew that this was Nicole and my first wedding shoot and everyone was SO helpful and nice.

I can't BELIEVE how many pictures we took and how HARD it was to choose just 8 for this post!

Off to take the kids to Harry Potter :)

I learned that getting Rick Cabela's giftcards is a great way to trick him into an OOB trip!!

We had a great day yesterday!! Rick had some GC's he wanted to use at Cabela's and wanted to go down and spend them.... I said sure. Then thought... hmmmm....... Old Orchard Beach is near Cabela's..... and I haven't been boogie boarding in a couple WEEKS!! To my SHOCK... I suggested maybe we could go and Rick was totally on board. Shock because he is NOT a "beach guy" at ALL! Even after he agreed and even as we were walking to the beach, I was expecting a grumpy "Can we go yet?" dude that I would want to kill. Happily... I was wrong!! Even though the water was at LEAST 10-20 degrees colder than last time which cut our boogie boarding short, we still had a blast!!

NCA.... over.

....and as the last trophies were awarded, and the teams rejoiced over their spirit sticks one last time. The NCA team arranged themselves into formation ONE LAST TIME to preform a slow motion re-enactment of the highlights of cheer camp set to the inspirational voice of Miley Cyrus signing "The Climb." Cuz.... There's ALWAYS gonna be another mountain... and it's ALL about THE CLIMB. After all.... they are CHEERLEADERS goddamnit!

they may not know it
But these are the moments that
they're gonna remember most, yeah.

And one single tear streamed down my left cheek.

Ok Ok... I tease... but I am very proud of Jessi, her team is really good and won first place for their cheer and earned the opportunity to compete in nationals or something (a lot of the cheer talk may as well be swahili or that clickety-clack language ...lol). GO JESSI!!!!


(but seriously... all I could think of during that slow motion Miley Cyrus thing was the signing performance at the talent show in Napoleon Dynamite)

Trimmin' the blog hedges

Did a little trimmin' the hedges around the ole blog. Wow... it's been awhile since I've done that. What a difference getting a job and a life can make on internet use! It's kinda sad how much I was attached to that damn laptop!! Now I sit in front of a screen all day long at work, so it's about the LAST thing I want to do at home. (TV does not count... loves me some TV... especially since I got DirecTv "for Rick" and got all the movie channels free for 3 months!!!)

If your blog is gone from my blog list... sorry... I either got sick of waiting for you to blog... got bored of your site... or you were a casuality of my lost interest in scrapbooking. If you got an add onto my list... well consider yourself extremely privileged that I would want to spend my time reading your blog when I should be doing other things! ;-)

Taking Jessi to a college and getting her all set up in a dorm room

....is too much like taking Jessi to college and getting her set up in a dorm room.