Ellie is walking

Sunday when we went to Danelle's for dinner, Ellie was walking! It seems like she should have started a few months ago, but...Danelle really didn't want her to. Besides, she has someone to carry her wherever she wants to go. Now it will be a full time job keeping track of her.

Graduation Photo

Braquel and Keven were excited about graduating. Keven always wears a stocking cap, and if you look close...you'll see it under his cap. He did remove it before they marched in though. He is planning to go to CSI this fall.

Rest of project pages

This one held the paper bag letter that Grandpa Jones wrote.

This one was from Grandma Jones.

Alta's letter.

I think I deleted a page or two, but ...oh well. Above is Braquel's announcement that I helped her make. I ended the book with that. She's a special girl.

My Final Project for Photoshop Class

This is the cover of the book I made for Braquel. I asked each of her ten grandparents and great-grandparents to write a letter to her. They are in envelopes so that not everyone can read them. They are especially for her to read. All of them brought me their letters...one was written on a paper sack...I thought that was a way cute idea. I hope she loves it and looks at it often.

This envelope included the letter from Great-Grandpa Wood.

This one was from Great-Grandma Wood.

I took these photos on Braquel's birthday. She was a great sport to change half a dozen times and let me take them for my class. Then I put them together in a chipboard book. Robin was here for Mother's day and helped me....thanks girl!

Isn't she the most beautiful girl?

This was my letter to her.

This had the letter from Jeff in it. He procrastinated until the last morning.

I loved all the blue. It matches her eyes.

This had the letter from my mother.

I will post the rest of the book later. She actually got ten letters in all. I gave it to her Sunday night when we went up for the Bar-B-Q and she opened all her gifts.

Graduation

For my class, I had to do a photo (preclass) of two people I love. How could you not love these two ladies? Robin was here for a visit (the weekend I got my new camera) and Danelle & family came out for Mother's Day. Does Danelle look old enough to have a daughter graduating from high school? NOT...

Last night was Braquel's graduation from Declo High School. It started at 7:00 and it was in the auditorium, so we knew it would be crowded. Mom rode out with us, and when we got there, Danelle & Gary had saved us seats which was awesome. They were on the front row, so mom could even stretch out her legs. Dan & Alta brought pillows, and Dan let mom use that to sit on. Braquel & Keven came in and we got some nice photos...at least I hope so. Haven't had time to load them and look at them though. Braquel is such a sweetheart. They even got to walk in together and sit beside each other. The speakers weren't too long, which is always a bonus. Now she is moving on with life. She has a small home (she called it a shack) in Heyburn that she's moving into and she starts with the BLM on June 1st. Makes me feel so old...

It's Saturday....yeah!

These are a couple of the photos I took of Braquel for my class. She is just so beautiful. I love her. She has finished high school, and will graduate on Monday night. She goes to work for the BLM on June 1st. I'm so proud of her.

The only problem with Saturday...it's cold, windy, snowy, rainy, who knows what else we'll get today. Jeff and I were going to work outside, and we did get a little bit done...but gave up since it's so cold and windy. Hate that.

I finished my cards from scraps this morning. I got 38..I think it was. I'm giving some to my mother since she has soooo many grandkids, great grandkids, and great-great grandkids to send to. I'm not sure she really wanted them, but I told her if she didn't, I'd take them to one of the old folks home or something. They're mostly kids cards, but I figured maybe the people there could give them to their grandkids. They usually appreciate getting cards and I haven't done it for awhile.

We have RAIN again...

One of our assignments was to take a photo of something in our home that we love. I love this quilt. I had the material and I wasn't sure what to do with it. Then I found a photo of a quilt that had this border on it and loved it. So my sweet mother, put it together for me. I guess she had to tear the border apart a couple of times to make it work out to the right size. There are several things in my house that I love, so I'll be adding a photo here and there of them.

I'm sorry...I know we need the rain, or water, but I'm so tired of cold, windy, wet weather. I mean it's the 20th of May! How long is this going to go on. I have to admit though, that our lawn looks wonderful. The horses out in the green, green pasture look beautiful too. But, I'm ready for warm weather.

Photos that I have taken lately

We've had a lot of rain lately, and this was early one morning while we were getting ready for work. The rain was just hanging on our tree out front. I thought it looked pretty cool.

Our little colt, keeps getting between the wire on the ditch and the line of trees. We put a couple strands of barb wire up to keep the horses from barking the trees. The first time he went through, I thought it was just muddy and he slipped and went through. But last night when we got home from work...there he was again. The first time, I got him back through all by myself, but last night Jeff & I both worked on him and it was more difficult. So, we locked them off the ditch for awhile. We'll see what happens.

This was one of my assignments for the class I'm taking. Using my macro setting on my camera. I took a bunch and really like the single one. But look at the wonderful detail my new camera gets. I'm loving it.

Photos

This is a photo of our house. I have a friend that called me a couple of months ago, that I hadn't heard from since high school. She lives in Utah, and asked what our home looked like. I took this photo Sunday morning...after we mowed the long grass on Saturday. We actually had to take the grass catcher off because the lawn had gotten so long because of all the rain we've had. Sorry. I'll try to get a better one after we get the barrels planted and the grass is cleaned up. We love our home.

I'm really having fun using my camera. Took it out again tonight and caught some photos of Jeff grilling our first steaks of the season...um...it was yummy.

New camera

This photo of the horses, is one Robin took the first day I got my camera. I was giving the boys rides on the 4-wheeler, and she was getting photos. I'll post some of the boys and I riding a little later. The colt (the one on the left) likes bugging the older horse (Chief), but he doesn't let him get away with much of anything.

I'm having a ton of fun taking photos with my new camera. Yesterday I went outside three or four times trying different settings. I think some of them aren't too bad. We worked outside all day Saturday. We were both so tired and sore we could barely move, and when we ran to town to eat...both of us were so tired we could barely eat. Now that's tired. I guess we're just getting too old to do all this yard work.

We're going to buy Ken's John Deere mower from him, so he brought it over and let us try it out. It's one of those zero turn one's, and Jeff is in love. It mowed very nicely, but what he really loved was how it turns right back on it's self, and it's so much faster. Ken loved it, but living along the river, he had trouble with it wanting to go downhill....right into the river!

Greetings

This is one of my favorite layouts that I did at the retreat. It was funny, because Marcy, Stephanie, and I all had pretty much the same paper to do our Halloween layouts with. I loved the photos that Danelle shared with me.
I tagged four ladies on my blog the other day, and Danelle did her's yesterday. I loved it. She has such a way with words. I'm glad to see that she reads my blog. Love you!

Well, last night was my last photoshop class. We had to hand in our final project, and then we had treats. I made Texas sheetcake brownies. One lady brought some really good salsa...um. I was thrilled with the book I made (I'll post some photos after I give it away) and everyone else thought it was awesome. One lady said...wow, I wish I was in your family. I really hate to be done with the class...but I did sign up for a photography class on line. It's called "Get out of auto mode". Should be fun. It's only five weeks, so I have I can learn something about my new camera.

We had rain again last night. Jeff was going to mow the lawn while I was at class, and he did...but he had to leave the deck quite high or it kept plugging up. So now, if it's nice today, we'll have to mow again tonight. We were going to take the 5th wheel out for a maiden run this weekend, but guess we'll stay home and work in the yard instead. We still have so much work to do.

Updating

I can't figure out why my blog doesn't update when I do entries...anyone know how to fix that? It says I haven't updated for weeks now, and yet I'm doing it almost every day. Frustrating!

Tagged

I was checking out blogs this morning, and found out that Darla had tagged me to write about myself. I really don't think anyone reads my blog, but if they do...here you go.
10 things I love:
My family: Not just my husband, although he's a keeper...you should see the card he gave me for Mother's Day...and not just my kids. But "grandkids". They're so much fun. I tell my kids that if I'd known how awesome grandkids were...I just might have skipped them and gone right to the grandkids. Love them! And, I have an awesome extended family too. And then there's the Wood family that I married into. They are so wonderful too.
Scrapbooking: and making cards. It's by far my favorite way to unwind from stressful day, or to start the day off right. I can do it anytime I get free. Love my craft room because I can scrap and then leave it out if I don't get it finished.
Crafting and quilt making: After my 2nd favorite thing, comes any type of crafting (pretty much) and quilt making. My mother made a handmade quilt for each of her grandchldren when they got married. Steph challenged me to do the same...I might have ten made now...still a long way to go. I didn't think I'd ever get it done, but thanks to Doris doing some quilting for me, it's coming along. I love making anything, but usually give it all away.
Photography: Yeah! I just bought a new camera and I'm so excited. Robin...promise me you'll give me lessons. I want to be you when I grow up! I am just finishing a Photoshop class that I've just loved!
Activity: I love being busy. I used to love baseball, volleyball, & raquetball, but as I've gotten older...it's golf, horses, 4-wheeling...a little easier. I even love working out in the yard. Weeding, getting the flower beds cleaned up after winter, just looking out and knowing it looks good because I've been out there working.
Idaho: I've visited alot of places, but I truly love Idaho. We can go camping, fishing, boating, rock climbing, almost anything within minutes. And most Idahoans are friendly. It's not quite like it used to be...there's getting to be too many people, but I love the beauty of our state.
Football: I loved going to the BSU games. Love watching NFL on tv...and the college games. I think I love football way more than Jeff does. But he watches Monday and Sunday night football with me while it's on.
Reading: I love a good book. I hate to even start one, because I know I'll be up all night reading it. Along with reading, I might add I love movies too. I watch them, and then use lines from them alot.
Cleaning: I know it seems weird, but there's nothing that pleases me more than cleaning the house, the yard...whatever. Looking around and getting that satisfied feeling at what I've accomplished.
Food/Cooking: I am not a terrific cook, but I love planning a menu and getting everything made and cooking it. I just don't think I do it often enough. And I'm not terribly creative. I tend to make the same old things. But Danelle is getting me interested in trying new recipes more than I ever have.
Now: some things you may not know about me:
I have been scrapbooking since I was in about the 7th grade. Oh...not all out like we do now. But I have scrapbooks that are falling apart because who knew then that rubber cement wouldn't last? Seriously scrapping since the early 80's. Tore everything apart and sorted by school year and started over for all my kids. Steph and Danelle have learned it too.
I would seriously love an old car. A muscle car! My choice would be a Mustang fastback...about 67-69 would be awesome. But, I'm almost willing to take anything...
I grew up in a family that always had horses. From the time I was very small, I've been riding horses. I was excited when Jeff & I got married, because he had a horse and his family rode. It had been quite a few years since I'd been around them, and had really missed them.
I am proud of how hard I work. I grew up learning to hoe beets from the time I was about 5. We always had hay to roll, haul, and stack. There's was always work to be done, and it's paid off for me. When I very first got married and lived in Salt Lake, and was looking for a job...I finally got hired because the office manager was from Idaho and said he knew how farm kids learned to work. I had never worked outside the farm before, and no one else had been willing to give me a chance. The owner of that company once told me...no matter what I need to have done, Frank sends me you. I knew that meant that I could learn anything and I did a good job.
Jeff and I have 27 grandkids...and only five of them are boys. That's a lot of girls huh? But they are all so beautiful and kind and sharing girls. (and so are the boys). I love them all.
Maybe that's just a little insight to me.
Now, I guess I get to tag four people, so I'll see if anyone reads my blog.
I tag:
Danelle
Stephanie
Janell
Jennifer

The weekend is over...

Here's the first layout for my 2009-2010 scrapbook. I did it at the retreat of Treven's soccer last fall. Danelle provides me with photos, or I probably wouldn't have anything from his soccer games. I did go to one, but didn't get much in the way of photos.

Well, the weekends just go by way too fast. Robin & the boys came down Friday evening. I was in the yard working, and Jeff was getting the truck ready to go 4-wheeling when they came. I took both boys for a ride, and then we played with the horses for awhile. When we came in we fixed dinner and then it was almost bedtime already. Robin and I worked in the craft room until about 1:00 p.m. I was up at 5:30 a.m. so it was a short night. I started on Braquel's book that I'm making for my final project in the Photoshop class I'm taking. I uploaded photos to WalMart so I would have photos for the book. By then it was time to fix breakfast, fix Jeff's lunch, shower, clean up, and then run to Janell's for our retreat meeting. I read all the survey's, and appreciated all the good comments. There were things that we felt were very good ideas too. And, some that...face it...we just can't please everyone! But for the most part, they were pretty positive. We are already excited about the things we have planned, and we're going to be starting on the challenges on the first of June...Yikes. That's only a couple of weeks away.

After the meeting, we ran to Twin to do a little scrapbook shopping at Girlfriends. It was funny...Dave came in to get a gift certificate for Danelle from them. Too funny! Half the family was shopping for scrapbooking stuff. Then we ate lunch at the Mongolian Bar-B-Q. Love that place. Then guess what? We ran into Best Buy and I finally broke down and bought a new camera. A Canon D50... it's the same one Robin has, and I'm in love. Can't wait to read the book and get to know it better. Robin helped me with some things, but I'm sure it will take me awhile. But, I love the weight of it almost more than anything. It feels so good to have a nice, heavy camera again. Then Michael's ...and then Cold Stone. UMMMMM. Love that place.

We weren't home long, and it was time to run to Albion. Debbie (bless her heart) had planned a surprise birthday/closing party for Danelle at Annie's. We got there about 8:30 and Danelle still wasn't there. They couldn't get her to come down. I called, and of course, she knew something was up...just because I was in Albion. She and Gary finally came down though. We didn't stay long since the boys were at Danelle's.

When we got home, we got the boys to bed and then Robin and I worked again until about 1:00. Up at 6:00 and I actually finished the book for Braquel today. I just need to get the letters from everyone. Vern & Reta gave me their's, but so far...that's all I have. I'm thrilled with it though. Good thing Robin was here to help me bind it. And...I had to use some of the photos she took too. I love having her here. She is such a special lady...She gave me a 12x12 paper rack for Mother's Day. Steph gave me a Hard Rock t-shirt from San Juan...so cool! Danelle and family gave me a gift certificate to Vicki's...can't wait to get my flowers. And Jason's family brought me a gift certificate for Penny's. Tori called later...so it was a very nice Mother's Day. I called Reta since I didn't get to go to brunch with Jeff, and then called mom since she's in Soda helping Doris recover. Doris sounded much stronger and I'm sure she'll feel better after getting the stitches and staples out tomorrow.

Thanks to all the kids for the visit's and gifts. Oh...I forgot. Jeff got me a card and money for flowers too. He got me the cutest card. Say's...sleep late...don't fix breakfast...don't do laundry...do cook lunch...don't clean...just sit around and take a nap...In other words...pretend you're me! Pretty cool day.

Weekend

Here's another family reunion layout. Our reunions are always so much fun. And you would think that the 2nd weekend of August would be nice and warm, but if you notice...we're all wearing jackets. It rained almost the whole time. But we still had alot of fun. The kids always enjoy getting to know all their cousins again.
This weekend will be so much fun. Robin, Chris, and Taylor are here. I took the boys for a ride on the 4-wheeler when they first got here. We brushed the horses, and then ate. They are so good. Anyway, after they went to bed, Robin and I made a few cards and then hit the sack.
On Wednesday, I drove to Idaho Falls for a school on Thursday, so I got to attend one of Taylor's soccer games. Nearly froze to death! I can't imagine how he played...in a T-shirt and lightweight pants. I had on my heavy BSU sweatshirt (with the hood up), my coat over that, and a blanket wrapped around me. Idaho...got love it!
Robin gave me a paper rack for Mother's Day. And then I bought 3 more. Robert's in IF is going out of business. Can't wait to start sorting all my patterned paper and getting things cleaned up. It's time to purge...again.

Couple of photos from drive

Our drive took us out through Oakley, up over the pass to Linn Utah, over that pass into Park Valley. Then to Almo for dinner at the Outpost. Back through Elba and Albion, and home. It rained and snowed quite a bit of the way, but it was a pretty cool day to get photos.

Update

Here is the first layout of my family reunion that I did at the retreat. The Jensen family planned
it and the theme was the Amazing Stapelman Family RACE...as you can see from the invitation. It was really fun. We divided into teams and had to accomplish quite a few "races". There were races for different ages. The team we were given was: Stephanie, Lindsay, Brooke, Dillon, Aubrie, and myself.

Well, another week nearly gone. Thursday night was my class. Only two more left. We turned in our motion photo and worked on our impossible photo. I'm really not liking mine. I used one of my up close photos...my grass out front of the house...and put a fairy in the corner, but it just looks to fake. I can't seem to get the grass to just cover a little of her to make it look like she's hiding. I'm about to give up and try something entirely different...but what?

Friday was work all day...I can't seem to get caught up with all the quotes and stuff is piled way high. I was going to do the photo shoot with Braquel Friday night, but the wind was blowing 50mph again...still is today. I'm sick of the cold and the wind.

Saturday morning we went to breakfast at JB's, but Braquel wasn't working. We still went in and it wasn't long and Braquel and Kevin came in, so they sat with us. Then we went to Treven's baseball game in Declo, but when we got there...no kids. It was so cold and windy that they cancelled the games. So we went for a drive instead. I'll post some photos of that later.

Today it's still blowing. And cold. I wanted to work out in the yard, but I'm not about to in this weather. Maybe it will warm up a little later in the day and I'll brave it.

I finished the last of my project for the girls for Mother's Day. Just a few things to go with them now. I'm excited to give them out.