Gladiators take 2nd

Four soccer games in three days! All of the kids hard work paid off. Benjamin's team, the Gladiators, took second place in the Adidas Cup tournament. He played very hard and was excited to receive a medal.

Inspiration all around

Benjamin is participating in a soccer tournament this weekend. They won their game tonight 7 to 1. Maybe it was this inspirational rock we discovered walking to the field? Another game bright and early tomorrow.

Way to go Ben!

15 year Anniversary

Today is our 15 year wedding anniversary. Yeah us!!! It's amazing how quickly the time has past and how much life has been lived in the past 15 years. We have been so very blessed. It has really been fabulous and I am looking forward to more forever with Chris.

We spent the evening last night looking through our wedding photos with the boys. It was enlightening to see our wedding through their eyes. They were really interested in how young we looked (ha!) and also made a few random comments I thought were worth sharing.

"Whoa, Grandpa's mustache was huge!"
"Grandma & Grandpa used to have a pool? No fair!"
"Who's that guy?" (seriously, this was said about 100 times in reference to Geoff, Beau, Uncle Loren, Grandpa Walker, Uncle Tom, etc. everyone looked so different 15 years ago)
"You all looked kinda like hippies" (reference to Jen, Gabe, Heather, Emily, Chris & I)
"How come dad's hair was so long?"
"Where are Grandma's wrinkles" (I won't tell you which Grandma was referenced)

It was a hilarious night spent reminiscing. I thought I'd share two of the many photos with you. Thumbs up cheesy. Check out the puffy sleeves (it was 1996 people!), young siblings, and long hair!

We didn't get a chance to celebrate tonight because Chris left for LA. Many of you may not know but he is starting a PHD program at Pepperdine in organizational leadership. This is a fabulous opportunity for him as his work will be flexible with the time commitment that is required over the next three years. The program is remote based and so he will be required to travel to LA every other month and spend 4-5 days immersed in coursework. He is excited and I am excited for him.

Happy Anniversary Chris - Love you TONS!

Craft room in Creating Keepsakes

My craft room is published! Photo proof. I am pretty excited to announce that Creating Keepsakes has featured my craft room in their September 2011 issue. Friend and Editor Megan wrote a nice little bit about my room and how I store stamps. I am tickled and really surprised how organized (and full) my room looks in a photograph.

Joellyn - does this room count towards fung shei Friday?

Side note: sorry I have been neglecting the blog a bit lately. It's been extremely busy at work, home and life and unfortunately blogging first seems to be the first to go. I'll try harder, even if only by phone.

Crazy Creative!!!

My good friend Paula recently started a new career venture. You can follow her musings at her blog. I did want to share with you all that that she is crazy creative, I am talking nuts! She makes these fabulous ironing board covers (and other things) and sells on her etsy shop. I own own and I also bought one and gave to mom last mother's day. Mom can vouch for the quality and loves her cover too! I hope she doesn't mind but I took one of photos off of her etsy site to share. So buy one if you are interested - they are awesome and really dress up a nasty task. Chris can vouch for that.

Also Paula has two other etsy shops one for vintage finds and another for additional handmade goodies. Check these out often too.

I love Miss Paula and wish her enormous luck and good fortune on this new adventure. If I am lucky she may invite me over one night to craft or garage sale with her on a Saturday.

1st ice cream cone

We treated Nicholas to his first ice cream cone today. He loved it! Too bad I could snap a shot with his eyed open...