Last camping trip of the year...

We spent our final camping weekend with Moira and her girls at Mueller State Park in Divide, just west of Pike's Peak! It was an absolutely beautiful weekend - perfect weather and wonderful fall color! We decided to stay in the park to hike - giving our driver a much needed rest! The trails in the park are all moderate and are perfect for families. The payoff was the wonderful patches of bright yellow aspen trees, with hints of orange and red instead of 365 degree panoramic views, waterfalls, or natural lakes. It was a wonderful change not to be pushing ourselves up a mountainside but rather relaxing as we strolled the trails!

Today we cleaned up the trailer and packed it away for winter. It's always sad to put out the last fire and eat the last s'more of the season, but we are looking forward to our next season of adventures - dah, skiing of course!!! Loveland is making snow already and hopes to open in 12 days - with weather like today, they are dreaming big!!! But you never know what Colorado weather will bring tomorrow!!! Keystone and Breck plan to open in 43 days - now that's more realistic!

My knee is getting better - I've been going to the gym 3-4 times a week!! I'm going to the therapist this week and hope to hear everything is good! With the right work, I think I will be skiing by Thanksgiving!

12 days to Cancun!!!

16 days... and getting to know me!!!

Most importantly, it's 16 days until Cancun!!! The other night I booked our day on Isla Mujeres, where we will swim with the dolphins, ride the zip line across the beach, ride bicycles around the island and snorkel in a beautiful reef along the island! I can't wait! Please pray for no hurricanes!!!

I found this on Toni's blog and thought I'd play too! Feel free to join me by copying and pasting it on your blog with your answers so that I can learn more about you! Enjoy!

1. What time did you get up this morning? 5:30am (long before the sun!)
2. Diamonds or pearls? Diamonds are my birthstone, but I do like pearls!
3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? Whatever it was, it was so good, I don't remember!
4. What is your favorite TV show? Don't have a favorite
5. What do you usually have for breakfast? Yogurt
6. What is your middle name? Lynn
7. What food do you dislike? Brussel sprouts
8. What is your favorite CD at moment? Anything by Green Day
9. What kind of car do you drive? I don't
10.Favorite sandwich? Ham and Swiss cheese
11.What characteristic do you despise? Arrogance
12.Favorite item of clothing? big sweatshirt
13.If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go? This month - Cancun! Next time - New Zealand!
14.Favorite brand of clothing? Don't look at tags!
15.Where would you retire to? A first class airline seat traveling around the world!
16.What was your most recent memorable birthday? Too many to remember! :(
17.Favorite sport to watch? Not much into sport watching... but baseball at the park, not on TV.
18.Farthermost place you are sending this? Hopefully Korea!
19.Person you expect to send it back first? No idea!
20.When is your birthday? April 10
21.Are you a morning person or a night person? I prefer nights, but I get up early so I don't have to work so late!
22.What is your shoe size? 8.5
23.Pets? Nope - too busy!
24.Any new and exciting news you'd like to share with us? I joined the gym and have been working out to strengthen my knee for ski season!
25.What did you want to be when you were little? A teacher, a nurse, a HR professional - NOT!
26.How are you today? Overall in good health, except for this rehabbing knee!
27.What is your favorite candy? Anything made with dark chocolate
28.What is your favorite flower? Lily of the Valley
29.What is a day on the calendar you are looking forward to? October 8 - my 20th anniversary and then October 10 - we go to Cancun!
30.What are you listening to right now? The hum of my computer
31.What was the last thing you ate? Cookie dough
32.Do you wish on stars? No
33.If you were a crayon, what color would you be? today - RED
34.How is the weather right now? Pleasant but dark
35.The first person you spoke to on the phone today? Tosha at work
36.Favorite soft drink? Peach Crystal Light
37.Favorite restaurant? Edwardo's Pizza in Chicago
38.Real hair color? Who knows, haven't seen it in 7 years
39.What was your favorite toy as a child? Barbie dolls
40.Summer or winter? both for different reasons
41.Hugs or kisses? hugs
42.Chocolate or Vanilla? need you ask? Chocolate!
43.Coffee or tea? NEITHER
44.Do you want your friends to email you back? Sure - blog friends play along!
45.When was the last time you cried? about a week ago
46.What is under your bed? the carpet
47.What did you do last night? Watched TV
48.What are you afraid of? Dying before 56
49.Salty or sweet? BOTH
50.How many keys on your key ring? 2 - house and mailbox keys
51.How many years at your current job? almost 5 years
52.Favorite day of the week? Saturday :)
53.How many towns have you lived in? 6
54.Do you make friends easily? Usually

Now play along people!

New markers, Riley Stamps, and 19 days!

On Saturday, Melanie and I took the bus into town and did a little bit of shopping. My first stop was at Michael's, where I used my 50% off coupon this week to FINALLY buy my Prismacolor markers! (Thankfully I stopped at the mailbox first, where I found the coupon!!!) The 48 count markers retail for $189, but I got them for half ($95)! And then I used 2 gift cards I had for $75, so in the end it only cost me $20 plus tax! You can't beat that! And now I can color my images or at least attempt to anyway! I am so excited!
And now that I have these wonderful markers, I can finally color my Riley stamps!!! I used this cute little one with the tent as a birthday card for my nephew Phil who likes to camp with his family. I hope he likes it as much as I do! I can't wait to do more!

And with that, it's 19 days and counting to Cancun! I'm making my reservations to swim with the dolphins tonight! How much fun that wll be!

Mental block or just mental?

So I've been staring at the same page layout all week just trying to decide if I like what I have. I finally took out some pictures and tried to create this week. For some reason ALL of my pictures are outside - hiking, skiing, mountains! LOL! Dah, that's all I take pictures of anymore! I am really sick of green, blue and brown layouts! Don't get me wrong, I love those colors, but you can't scrap the "big hike" on PINK paper! Or can you? I'm testing the waters this time with maroon. I'm not quite sold. Maybe a few more days of staring at the page and I'll make my move!!!

But tonight I had to put it to the side and create a special card for a friend to give away. Tosha at work asked me to make a card for Cris' Mom who is battling with cancer. I told her that would be no problem as it is the least I could do for Cris and her Mom. Wow, I struggled all night to come up with a nice card. I am happy with the end result. It is the same design as the one above, but the colors were green, blue and peach. I used a big flower in the corner instead of the ladybug, and it turned out very calm and beautiful! I decided to give this card pictured here away to another co-worker who had a birthday this week. I hope she likes it since it is one of my favorites!

Dan is in CA this weekend on business. Melanie and I plan to get our nails done on Saturday, do a bit of shopping and watch movies! It should be a nice weekend for us! Too bad Dan has to work!

Just 3 more weeks until we leave for Cancun!!! I can't wait to be back on the beach, snorkeling with the fishes!!! And best of all, I get to swim with the dolphins! That's one of my 101 things to do Lisa!!! How lucky am I?

New cards

I've spent some of the weekend working on cards! It's been fun, but it's now time to turn to scrapbook pages! I have had such a block there, maybe my recent surge in cards will help!!! Here is a card I made for my nephew for his upcoming birthday. Michael will be 26 this year and is still waiting for the city of Chicago to call him up for the fire department! Maybe this will be his year finally!

As for volleyball pictures, I was a bad Mom and didn't bring the camera to any of her games... bad Mom! The team did manage a 6-0 season - congrats to Melanie!!! Mel will be going to a v-ball camp next month, maybe I'll be able to remember the camera then?!!

Volleyball, Skiing and Creative Juices???

Melanie has been playing on the volleyball team again this year with much greater success! She is on a "C" team, but they are probably as good as the A & B teams! They are undefeated (5-0) with one more match to go tomorrow! Dan and I both got an opportunity to see her play today and she did AWESOME!!! She had 2 streaks within the match where she served at least 8 times before they turned it over! She was HOT! They won 25-8 and 25-6!!! I hope she continues with the sport because I know she really enjoys it!

I went to the therapist last week for my knee and he told me that I could more than likely ski by November, but I will need to strengthen my knee more and that includes weights! Ugh! The doctor confirmed this on Monday! That means I have to join a gym because the machine in the basement can do some of the exercises but not all. (At least I can do some I suppose!) I'm going to try to go to 24 Hour Fitness at lunch by my office. I printed a free pass for a week. Maybe if I'm lucky, I'll love it!!! Wish me luck!!

I haven't had much creative energy lately. I'm hoping with the arrival of some Hanna Stamps maybe my juices will flow again?! One can only hope!!! My brain has lots of plans, but it doesn't seem to connect to the parts of my body that do the work!!!

Labor Day Weekend

This past Labor Day weekend we spent up at Rocky Mountain NP with our friends Moira, Caitlin, Mary, Nestor and Tammy! We had a fantastic time and a great end to summer!

On Saturday we started out at the Alluvial Fan Falls - a spot we had never gotten up close and personal with prior to this trip! It was a neat place to climb around on the rocks and get our feet wet! We then headed up Old Fall River road, the original road that went up to the top of the pass overlooking the Never Summer Range. It was a long, painful trip following a very slow woman driver who refused to let us pass! The only bonus was the napping elk we spotted along the way! At the top, we took newbies to the park Nestor and Tammi up to the top to catch the best views! That was the warmest I had ever seen it up that high! It was beautiful as usual. A quick trip down the pass and into town for ice cream was the last thing on our agenda for Saturday! What a pleasant day!

On Sunday Nestor, Tammy, Melanie, Dan and I set up the trail to climb Flat Top Mountain! It stands at 12,234' and has a HUGE flat top (thus the name!!) The hike started out at Bear Lake and gradually climbed over 2,800' in 4.4 miles. There were 2 really nice overlooks along the way - one of Dream Lake and the other of Emerald Lake. Both lakes have been visited by us in both winter and summer, so it was fun to see them in a different way! What a great place for Tammy to celebrate her birthday - on the top of the world!!! We got up after the sun hid behind the clouds but before it sprinkled. And we got off before the weather turned and worse!!! This is my family at the top with the lakes behind and below.

After the hike we all crashed! On Monday before we left we took a really short hike to Alberta Falls! It was beautiful as usual! What a fun weekend!!!!

New card and land lines...

I spent my spare time this week making some male birthday cards! Here is one of the results. I used a bunch of scraps and a sketch from one of my favorite blogs. Frances from down under is amazing. She never seems to run out of ideas! I wish I had just an ounce of her talent (and time)!!

I also spent some time shopping for stamps this week! I can't wait to get them and try them out! We'll see if I have any talent hidden somewhere!!! And for time, well I'm not sure where that is hiding either!

Now, about that land line... how many of you have abandoned yours? We are seriously thinking of saving that expense since we all have cell phones. Do you think it's worth it? I'm looking for the negatives and positives of this PLEASE!!!

Tomorrow we are going to the Rockies game! What are your plans?