My Story

I Can't believe a whole week is actually over. We are packing the car as I write this.....well I guess Steven is packing the car :) We spent the morning on the beach taking family photos and then some time this afternoon getting in one last tanning/play session in before beginning to pack up. Now comes dinner at Lambert's along with the throwed rolls....and the long ride home. Church tomorrow morning and back to reality.

I have enjoyed our time here so much. All I can do is think about next time to keep from getting so sad about leaving this time. We had such awesome time of fellowship and fun. I really can't remember the last time I have laughed so much! If laughter is good medicine then I should be the healthiest person around! I am so blessed to have such an awesome group of friends.......really their family. So now I'm going to go enjoy the last sunset over the bay and say goodbye to Gulf Shores for now.......

Tomorrow life as usual resumes......but really that's not a bad thing!

I'm afraid we are all a little camera crazy!

Me on Billy's boat! FUN!!

Me and Marybeth

Laurel trying to use the big camera!

Hawk A beautiful picture of Laurel

The Girls being creative

My Subject......

Did I even get close? ;)

Another beautiful day! The skys were a little cloudy and the kids were a little tired so we decided to hang out at the house. We went boating in the morning....it was a little choppy but fun! We are going to go again tonight and "boat into the sunset"

Then we decided to be creative and get out the watercolors. It was soooo fun! And really relaxing! Now if I can just stop trying to be a perfectionist and just enjoy the process of creation!

I can't wait to see what else the week holds for us!

Day 1:

We have the bay on one side of the house and the ocean on the other. Billy brought his boat, everyone has been having a great time taking boat rides.

Moody Mia....didn't want Angela to braid her hair for the beach.

The Girls coming down the beach.

Lena building a sandcastle

Cara....quick with a pose
Steven & I enjoying the sun.

My Beautiful Girls

We spent our first day on the beach today, the girls had a blast! Their lips were blue and they still didn't want to come out of the water. I enjoyed watching them play so much. The twins were babies last time we were here. Watching them and their amazement at the ocean and the beach was beautiful. Seeing Mia make her first sandcastle, her seeing it come out of the mold....the look of excitement was contagious. They said "can we come back here again someday?" I don''t think they understand that we'll be here all week. I feel so blessed to be able to spend this awesome time with my friends and family.

My Father Is The Creator

This is a post I did for the Scrap Girls Blog:

One day I asked the Lord..... why is it so easy for me to express myself in art? Why is it so comfortable for me? Even if I'm not an "artist" it's so natural for me to create.....He said.....Because your father is the Creator..... Of course, it's so simple.....revelation usually is.

If my heavenly father has such a strong attribute of creation, then of course I do also. Everyone of us has the desire to create, weather it be art, music, cooking, gardening, etc. the list is infinite. Find your creation language and express yourself! It feels so right.

Materials:

Atelier Collection
Overlayed Collection
Life Journals Paper Mini
Scrap Simple Embellishment Templates: Paint Palette
Tints & Tatters Collection Biggie
Brush Set Splotches

I can't believe we are actually going! I have been waiting soooo long for this. Our house is the yellow one. It has the bay on one side and the gulf shore on the other. I'm just ready to go and have some quiet time. To just relax and make things stop for a while.

I always seem to connect with the Lord in a major way when I'm at the beach or in the mountains. Something about His creation just seeps into me. I am looking forward to spending some quiet time seeking Him. I'm taking my journal and my paints and my bible. So pray for me when you think of me, I really want to come back with some answers, peace, and a new strength and determination for the journey ahead!

Of course playing on the beach with the girls will be great too! And spending time with all our friends (we are sharing the house with 3 other families) I can't wait for the nights of game playing and fellowship. The huge relaxed breakfasts and watching the girls (10 children and their all girls!) play in the sand, oh the pictures I'm going to come home with! We are also planning on having our family photo taken while we are there, it's been years since we have had one done.

So I guess I'll be spending most of the day making more lists, doing laundry, packing and preparing! I'm sure I'll be able to make a couple of posts from the beach, they are supposed to have wireless in the house, and there will be no shortage of laptops! :D Talk to you soon!

Is it really possible? I didn't realize how much I rely on the internet on a daily basis until.....we lost our connection for about a day and a half. Not really a long time right? I can't even tell you how many times I sat down at the computer to........look up a great fish recipe for dinner, check my email, send a birthday e-card, track my WW points, look up the cause of inner ear infections, check the weather at the beach, leave a message for a friend on Facebook, turn in my layout assignment that was due YESTERDAY, and many...many....many more things! I just realized how much this virtual world has opened up for us! Especially us stay at home mom's who just don't get out that much! And really how much money does it save on buying cook books, stamps, magazines...not to mention the phone bill! Who needs to call when you can MSN. Anyway just my little muse about the world wide web.....am I crazy? Wait, don't answer that! :D

Well I think I'm about done with blog redecorating! The only issue I'm having is with the background fitting all screen resolutions...it looks great on my screen, but it seems people with bigger monitors are seeing a white border....bummer! I know there has to be a way to fix it! If you know a secret HTML code...clue me in! Anyway....off to bed now, and a real post tomorrow! :D

You know.....being a digital scrapbooker, I can't be fully satisfied with anything until it's been sufficiently scrapped! So a lot of prayer and a few tutorials later, I'm getting closer to my version of a blog! It would really help if I spoke HTML....but I will not give up! I'll be working on the side bars tomorrow.....pray for me! I need all the hair I have! :D PS.....did I mention this is fun? Oh....and there are more credits to be posted for the supplies used too....but now I need to go to bed!