Katie ... volleyball....

Katie loves volleyball.  She practices it ALL the time.  She played two seasons of it after her 7th grade volleyball season was over.  She was READY for 8th grade volleyball!  Sadly, she didn't make the A/B team after all her hard work & camp she went to.  Her serve just wasn't as killer of a serve as all the girls on the A/B team -- and she has made SO much improvement in that area -- even if she is a killer setter and digger! 

Last week, these pictures were shot at her game. 

We are super proud of you Katie!  Keep up the good work!

talk like a pirate night

Monday was a National "Talk Like A Pirate" day .... did anyone talk like a pirate?  I have to say "aye Matey" and "blow me down!" came out of my mouth a few times, much to my kids embarrassment!  "Shiver me timbers" I also uttered... but I have no clue what it means.

Let's back up a day... Sunday I get an email that I have placed an award in a photography contest.  The award night was on Monday night at an English restaurant -- which was featuring bag pipers, Scottish Dancers and all kinds of fun.  My girls are Highland Dancers ..... so I emailed their teacher to see if she needed them to dance, and she did.

Monday night after volleyball practice and shoving down homemade pizza in our bellies in 5 minutes, we were out the door to this English pub.  The girls did their dances .... and we saw "Nessie". 

Maddie dances the Lilt

Katie is dancing around the swords

Nessie ... the Loch Ness Monster!

Katie dances the Seann Trius

Katie's leap at the end ...

The girls together dance the Highland Fling... I love the second picture of their hair flipping!  Reminds me of that song "I Whip My hair back and forth ....." dumbest song ever.

and the results of the Photography Contest that was held from the Highland Games this year!

My picture of Katie captured second prize... the first prize was the picture to the left of my picture.  It was a great picture! 

Just in case you can't see it.... there it is. :)

My first photography contest win!

sharks, dorkfish, and a killer whale

Over Labor Day weekend, the girls and I decided to head to Sea World on Saturday to enjoy one last play in the water -- since it was the last weekend to play before they shut down to make way for the NEW Aquatica to come next year.  That was one long sentence!  Whew!

We packed a lunch, enjoyed the shows, one very wet water ride, and one very scary (for Katie) but fun (for me) roller coaster ride .... and played in the water for an hour while I crashed on the lounge chair and played with my iTouch (Solitaire).  Whew... that was another long sentence!  My English teachers' would kill me for writing this long of sentences!
First off, we went to see the dolphins.  For some unknown reason, they closed off the dolphins until 1:00, so we could only "see" the dolphins.  :(

Maddie has turned into a walking encyclopedia of all things shark.  She LIVED for Shark Week. 
These next group of pictures I'm proud to say I shot w/ my camera on MANUAL!!  NO FLASH!  That will explain some of the shake that you will see around my girls, but at least it means I'm learning manual!!  Wahoo!

Oooh ... stinkrays!  (Stingrays.. I know!)

Ooh... pretty!!

This guy was literally giving me the stink eye.  Made me pretty uncomfortable at first.  It reminded me of Bruce, from Finding Nemo.  Look at his mean scowl.

Duh duh..... duh duh ... duh duh ...
(picture in your head the Jaws theme song)

Maddie was in shark heaven.

I worry that she will grow up to be a marine biologist.

Course, I would be thrilled for her if she does that -- but let's hope she would study dolphins.  Not sharks!

My... that's an odd looking shark. 
Look at his.....  Gasp! 
LOOK AT HIS TEETH!

If you have NO idea what a dorkfish is, you HAVE to read my blog post HERE and watch the Bill Engvall comedy guy about his fishing trip ....

We hadn't had a chance to see the new Shamu show .... so we got there early, two rows above the Splash Zone!  I really miss the chance to see the trainers get in the water with the whales.  Course, I understand WHY .... (all of the trainers wear their hair in a bun now) ... but seeing the trainer come out of the water on the nose of a killer whatle to heart stirring music just made my heart stop and my eyes swell with tears.

But ..... we got to see a baby!!

Isn't it cute?!!

and finally here is a clip of my friend and fellow photographer pal Valerie -- she is a trainer also!!  You can see what she sees when she's in the water with a beluga whale!

What happens when I try to imitate crafty people?

What happens when I try to imitate crafty people?

I.FAIL!!!

Big time.... thankfully this was a cheap failure, so I'm not missing any money -- but there's nothing like perusing Pinterest and finding all these amazing ideas for crafts, recipes, ideas ... and think "oh, I SO can do this!"  Hello Martha Stewart wanna be!  You ain't Martha Stewart or any of those million creative housewives who have beautiful homes and can sew an apron in their sleep, build a beautiful garland for their front door, and redo a piece of furniture front the thrift store so it crackles perfectly ... ALL IN ONE DAY! 

This is what I tried to do ....  print a picture on tissue paper and then mod podge on canvas.
Yeah ... sounds SO easy, right?

And yes, you CAN print on tissue paper!  Didja know that?!  I didn't until this morning!
I have pictures I am mounting on canvas of the girls ... I've been doing it for awhile now, trying to build up a collage I can put on the wall.  I figured this would've been a cool idea.  I got the idea from this site ....  this gal did an amazing job in describing everything.  Her pictures were beautiful.  Everything was perfect. 

Here is my story in pictures:

If you're still hung up on the fact that we can print on tissue paper, let me give you a hint if you should try this activity .... you HAVE to tape down your tissue paper (dull side up) on cardstock.  If you use regular paper, it won't go through.  But, tissue paper tears.  A lot.  Going back to my regular pictures now.  Idea was cool though!

I will go back to perusing Pinterest and other blogs and just sigh in envy of all these cool crafts these gals come up with.

New Favorites to share!!!

I've tried some new favorites lately, and since I think it's pretty selfish for me to not share the newest stuff out on the market -- I'm going to share!

1)  Fage Greek Yogurt with Mango Guanabana.  I have NO clue what Mango Guanabana is.  Is it mango with a guana and a banana?  If so, what is a guana?  Either way, I'm on a greek yogurt kick, and I bought this from my grocery store for only .75 cents ... marked down.  Hopefully they're not on the way out w/ this flavor b/c I.LOVE. this stuff!  For sure, this is going on my grocery list!

2)  Lypsyl Honey Rose chapstick --  I took a BzzCampaign years ago for Lypsyl, and I've been hooked on this stuff ever since.  However, a few weeks ago I was looking around in Big Lots, and found some of the Honey Rose flavor for only $1.25!!  SCORE!

3)  Pacific Gold Teriyaki Turkey Jerkey -- I bought this at Costco and wow oh wow ... did my family fall in love with this jerkey!! 

4)  Archer Farm's drink mix Blackberry Blueberry -- these caught my eye when I was browsing the individual packets of Crystal Light ... there were four flavors at my Target, and I noticed they were all the flavors of the Sobe drink mix .. Apple Pear, Blackberry Blueberry,  Strawberry Dragonfruit, and Acai Punch.  Eight packets in a box for about $2.49 ... a lot cheaper than buy a Sobe drink!!

 

5)  Pinterest!!  Finally on board with pinterest, and now I have a bunch of boards that I'm busy pinning and repinning .... awesome ideas.  Wish I was the one to have thought of this idea!  (You can follow me on Pinterest by using that little button on the side of my blog!)  If you need an invite, leave me a comment with your email address!!

6)  Sioux City Orange Cream Soda.  Mike and I went to a dinner party a few weeks ago, and the gal had a bunch of drinks spread in tin containers all over the house.  It was so awesome... but since alcohol beverages were mixed with non-alcoholic beverages (I don't drink alcohol) I was leery about what I was picking out.  I picked this out, and my eyes literally popped out of my head after I took my first sip.  I gave Mike a drink and his expression was "WOW!" We quickly ran around the house searching for more bottles...  hee hee  I asked the hostess where she got it ...  Home Goods (she bought it b/c it went with the colors of the party!  So fun!)!  So naturally, we drove straight to Home Goods after the party, and bought the last remaining four pack they had.  $3.00 .....  they had a Sassafrass flavor as well (we bought that too).  So, look up your Ross, Marshalls, Home Goods and see if you can find this.  I believe I will be shopping there more often just so I can stock up.  :)

Anyways -- those are my latest favorites!  What are your latest favorites?