Lifesongs

Casting Crowns has a song called Lifesong, which I love.

There are so many songs that I love, that speak to me, that encourage me.

And I figure, what better way to remember them, than by scrapping them?

This summer, I have fallen in love with two songs especially: Something Beautiful by the Newsboys and I Have Found by Kim Walker. So, I decided to create layouts using the lyrics of these songs as my journaling. For these layouts, I used the August kit from Scrap for a Cure.

For my Something Beautiful layout, I used Sketch #22 from 52 sketches...52 weeks:

Thanks for looking!

A few sneaks...

Well, I've been calling this week family week.

On Friday evening, my SIL, Josie, and her family (the ones we just visited a few weeks ago in Denver) arrived for a five day visit. So, we've been trying to spend as much time as possible with them.

On Saturday afternoon, we hung out at the farm. In the evening, we all went to my FIL's for a very special supper & program.

Yesterday, we all went strawberry, raspberry and saskatoon picking together.









And in the evening, I hosted a bar-b-q for the nineteen of us (I had to borrow some stacking stools from a friend because we didn't have enough chairs!)

Last night, one of the cousins slept over and then another two got dropped off for a playdate.

Shortly, we'll be leaving for a wiener roast with everyone at the park (where I'm hoping to get some good pictures of the cousins.) And then they'll leave tomorrow.

And tomorrow, my brothers and my nephew are coming for a two-day visit! I'm so excited to see them-- it's been a year since we were last together.

And as a result, I haven't had a lot of time to scrap, but, I got my Scrap For A Cure August kit in the mail yesterday. Even though it's been a tad crazy here lately, it was so pretty that I had to sit down last night (when the kids were in bed) and do a little creating with it. So here are some sneaks:





Thanks for looking!

I've been accused...

of slacking on my blog lately.

And it's true. I apologize.

But it's summer and we've been busy with going to the beach, going for bike rides, going to the Winkler Pool (twice this week!), and just trying to enjoy as much summer goodness as we can!

I also got to spend the day on Wednesday with my wonderful friend, Val. We shopped and ate out-- it was great!

Now, my SIL and her family are visiting for four days and after they leave on Tuesday, my brothers and my nephew are coming for a visit for two days. It should be good. Busy, but good.

Sigh. I ♥ summer.

Here are a few layouts that I made using the CMK July kit:









I've also posted on the Scrap For A Cure Blog and the My Scrap Shoppe Blog today, if you'd like to check out my posts.

Have a great weekend!

It's Saturday....

and I thought I'd take a break from posting our Denver vacation pictures (because I still need to edit them) and post some things that we've been keeping busy with...

1. I went for a run this morning and ran 5km (3 miles) for the first time this year. I had the three kids with me, two on bikes and a third on roller blades, which made it all the more fun. ;)

2. We've spend our afternoons at the beach for the past two weeks doing swimming lessons with the kids. And the all passed!! Yay! Here are a few pictures I took:







The love to build these river systems that lead to the lake. They do it every day.

Sage loved her swimming teacher, Colleen.



3. I've been reading a lot (I ♥ summer reading!) and trying to fit in some scrapping, too. Here is a layout that I made using CMK's July kit. I blogged about it a little here, if you'd like to check it out.



Well, that's all I have time for today... we're off to the library.
Thanks for looking!

Denver: Day 4

On Tuesday, June 30th, the fourteen of us piled into two vehicles (Cam rode with Andy, and Josie rode in our van, while I drove) and drove for about an hour up into the mountains. We stopped at a sign for a trail leading to St. Mary's Glacier.

We parked and started hiking up to the glacier.

Apparently, there was an easier trail to take, but Andy likes a bit of a challenge.





We did encounter a steep area fairly early on, but the kids all did really well climbing it on their own, with some encouragement from everyone else. It did wonders for their confidence!







When we got to the top of the trail, this is what we saw:



We had a wiener roast for lunch and then Cameron and Andy took eight of the kids up to hike on the glacier. I stayed back with Josie, Maria and Elle.





A little chipmunk kept coming closer and closer (I think he smelled some leftovers in Josie's backpack!)



Here's a shot of them coming down the glacier. So fun!

Austin loves to collect rocks and was quite thrilled with this find. It's hard to tell from the picture, but it's actually quite lovely with pieces of quartz in it.





We took some more pictures and then headed down the mountain (this time, taking the easier trail. Thank you, Andy!)



I took a few pictures on the way back to Denver, but it's so hard to capture the grandeur of the Rocky's on film. I did think this waterfall was really pretty though.





Thanks for looking!

Denver: Days 1, 2 & 3

Wow, I feel so late in blogging our trip.

We got home late Friday evening and if feels like I hit the ground running. We've had swimming lessons each day, among other errands to run, activities to participate in (tae kwon do, bike rides, strawberry picking-- I want to be very intentional in spending time with my kids this summer, because it is going to fly by!), so blogging, unfortunately gets put to the bottom of the list.

I did however want to share some pictures of our trip... but I might spread it out a bit, if that's okay. (Like you have a choice! LOL!)

Here are photos I took from the first three days...

The kids, travelling in the van:





They did very well. I had packed some toys, but they were mostly content to read and play Austin's DS. I did bring the Chronicles of Narnia on CD along to listen to and I listened to The Magician's Nephew as I drove through South Dakota.

We stopped for the night at a Quality Inn in Omaha. I thought it would be a little nicer, but I guess the name doesn't say WHAT quality it is. Ha. Ha.

Day two, driving though Nebraska.



We stopped at this little tourist attraction/gift shop in North Platte to stretch our legs just before lunch time.



I thought this sign on their door was too funny!



A silly pose from my oldest.



We arrived in Denver around 3:30pm. We went to Denver to visit my SIL (my dh's sister) and her family. She has seven kids. Here's a picture of the cousins, from tallest to shortest:



After a very yummy supper of chipotle, we went for a walk around a lake near their house. Denver is such a pretty city-- so many lakes and trees, as well as mountains!





Day three: we spent most of the day shopping & running around. Then, for supper, we were invited to a family bar-b-q at a private beach:



Cameron & his BIL, Andrew, get along really well.



As did Josephine, my SIL, and I. I had a great time sitting around and talking with her and two of her other SILs-- very comfortable and fun!

So there are the highlights from our first three days. I'll try to post day four tomorrow sometime.

Thanks for looking!

More layouts to share

Here are the layouts that I created with the July kit at Scrap for a Cure.









And a card for my nephew:



Thanks for looking!