Christmas here and gone

Christmas was very relaxing and fun this year. Shelby for the first time really understood what it meant and what to look forward too.

Stephen was able to make it home before the girls were out of bed so he could see their faces when they saw what "Santa" had brought them.





Shelby got Baby Alive, which is really cute, but not fun play on the carpet. Kelsey received a wooden puzzle of a train, she had been eyeing it for about 6 months at Orvis, She is so much like her dad. He was given a Orvis gift card to buy a much coveted reel for his Alaskan Fly fishing trip.

Christmas was good to me too, I ordered the Bamboo Tablet for my computer, I am hoping this will make using Photoshop a little easier, I loath the mouse! Now I just have to take some classes from Meredith, and I will be set!

I hope everyone had a joyous holiday.

Merry Christmas Eve

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas!
I will be enjoying all 18 of our wonderful children and 17 cousins, aunts and uncles.
There should be 36 of us, but Stephen, has to work today and will be home tomorrow morning. But I am very excited to see the two new additions!
I hope everyone is traveling safe, and are warm and cozy!

I finally finished

I have spent way to much time on this little project, but it was fun.


The card didn't turn out the way I expected and wasn't exactly what I wanted. I may still change it.
I am in LOVE with Copic pens, I used it to color in the skin of Lilly (Skin White).
I may just go out and get a few more this evening. You can now buy them here

The bow on the box is my favorite. It was so easy to make. You take 1" by 6" and then pull the ends together and layer each of them. I will be making a lot more in the next few hours.

Santa and Reindeer

The family went to an annual Christmas party on Saturday with some friends, and there were some very special guests. One of the guests was welcomed with open arms and great big hugs. The others well, lets just say Stephen had a plan; and it wasn't a good one.
No he was not going to shoot it and skin it; he was going to tackle them and protect the children.
I however refused to stay in the room for more than enough time to get a few pictures.

oh I forgot about these. I think I was ten the last time I had a Tab. Yes it was yummy.

Stephen and Shelby watching Santa and his Reindeer very closely.

The Scary Reindeer. They were not happy and not fond of children or being confined in a small hot loud garage.

Kelsey receiving her gift from Santa, wow I didn't know he shopped at GT!
It was a great party, and I put in my request for next year; snow and elves.

Little projects for Christmas

Ok, so I spent a lot of today doing little projects that I wanted to have done before Christmas so I could incorporate them with some gifts. I should have started months ago, but I only got my little hands on this paper today so...enough said.
Here is what I did.
These are going to be tags on the gifts we are giving way.
This will hold a special gift card for a special someone.
I love this paper from My Minds Eye. I am still working on the card that will incorporate the little happy snowman. That is still to come.
And a quick sneak of the yummy goodness I worked up last night.

Just a pop into say hi

I am working on ALOT of stuff, and don't really have time to post but I will tonight with pictures.

I just got home from Green Tangerines and I bought some wonderful My Minds Eye Paper!!!! Hi Mer! He He He......
come back soon so you can see what I made.

Christmas at the Campbell's

Decorating of Christmas is my favorite part of the year. Except for this year. I thought I had more decorations...I think Stephen secretly threw out all the old hammy down Santa stuff or i did, someone did and now I have to buy new stuff.
We did get a new item this year. Our beautiful fake tree, I nagged Stephen so much that one morning on his way home from work stopped off at Lowes and bought the most beautiful already lit tree.

I finally finished the Advent Calendar, this was a class at GT by Jodi, the girls love it. I put coins in each of the boxes, however Kelsey stills says every morning. when do we get the chocolate. I am not kidding when I say EVERY morning. You would think she would see the pattern here. hum, maybe she s really smart her self and that is her way of giving me a jab. hum.

Warning .... Graphic pic ....Hope there are no vegetarians out there

In our house we hunt for our food. Everyone gets involved --- except for me! I only eat Elk, yes i am a wild game snob.
Here is a pic or my lovely little goose next to a few geese they had for dinner. I am very proud of my hubby, he provides food for our family. This year however, he didn't get drawn for Montana so no Elk for me. I am sad.

Happy Thanksgiving

I know I am a little late! but oh, well better than nothing.
It has been such a crazy three days.
Here are some pics of our yummy and fun Turkey Day.

These were taken at my aunts house, I would have gotten family pics done..but the camera battery died.
Apparently that is my MO this holiday season.

Trying to get a family photo.
Brett and Stephani and Trystin, they came up from Fresno. It was great to see them.
Denise and Rob and Baby Kaeleana...she is getting so big
One of the turkeys yes.. we had two...for left overs.
the women got in this one can you tell?

Geneology Jackpot!

Ok, so I received some paperwork to go through from Stephen's mom's side of the family. This would be her paternal side.
I got this....this is a HUGH! This is the original discharge form for John M Gessler, in 1861 who served under Commander Alfred Sellers, in the Civil War. I did some digging and found out that Alfred Sellers was killed in Gettysburg.. YIKES, I was doing the happy dance. John was discharged due to an amputation of the leg. (I think).
I have a lot of other stuff to go through.

I also found thisA Monument that John M. Gessler made. I am just blown away.

Our Star Student

We had Kelsey's first parent teacher conference yesterday.
We are so proud of her, she is not only a very willing and eager student but sweet and caring too.
She is really enjoying her class and learning. She is almost reading at a 2nd grade level.
She is still struggling with Math. So we will be working very hard on that.
But we are excited and pround.
That is my mommy brag.

A little known fact about me.

These pics were taken last year, on our way back to Bodega Bay a little cemetery on Bodega Road, just about to reach the intersection to some road that takes you to Bodega Harbor.
I love cemeteries. I always have. I don't think they are scary or weird, but very interesting and romantic. I could spend hours roaming a cemetery looking at all the headstones, trying to find the oldest dead person.
I know that must sound really morbid, but I like old people and I like there history even better.
Maybe that is why I enjoy Genealogy so much. Why I spend hundreds of dollars a year just to have access to all the latest discoveries.
There are a few/well a lot of free sites. And I devour those too.
One of my favorites is Cyndislist.
There are thousands of links that are extremely helpful. A bit overwhelming though.
Another great site is Dead Fred. I love this site. And I love the name.
If you have any questions about Genealogy, or would like something looked up - leave a comment or an email and I can help you. I have been doing this for 9 years now....I am not a pro by anymeans, but I do have alot of access.

Stories In Hand...The story is I am still stuck on day 5!

This project from Jessica Sprague, is great! There is a lot of printing and cutting which was perfect for me; especially since I don't really remember a whole lot from last week (due to surgery and pain meds). So I finally finished the project part - and have yet to start on the story part. It feels gloomy to me, well I guess that is not the right word for it. Overwhelming is the correct word. I have just received Day 9 email, and I haven't really done anything over Day 5 yet. But I am going to just dive in tonight.


I would love to hear if you have started and what your progress is.
***************************************************************************
And since I haven't finished that project....I still have yet to start this fantastic project
and no I am not biased because it happens to be Ali, its just fabulous.

One last thing....
I came across this . website/blogand for some reason I can not stay away.....check it out.
I was on the couch one evening totally bored, and so I just started going through peoples favorite blogs...Yes I am that nosy! So the Pioneer Women, she is a writer? photographer, Mama and her pics and life really do take you away from the city. Makes me want to go out and live on a ranch...well, no it does not I did that once... I don't like feeding livestock! And I would be way to far away from Green Tangerines. So I will just continue living my city life, happy, healthy, and fully stocked with all the latest and greatest scrapbooking has to offer.....

"Yellow Croc Boots are just the BEST"

Those were Kelsey's words after receiving a much waited for package from UPS! By the way she now loves UPS just as much as I do (boxy lady) -- that's for all you Green Tangerines fans...you know what I mean!!!

Stephen had some extra Cabelas points so of course after purchasing a much needed dog kennel cover - for Duck hunting purposes??? still don't understand. He wanted to get Kelsey some new boots to go into the field with. I did have to convince her NOT to wear them to dinner last night with her sparkly purple dress. She opted for her traditional purple crocs.
Still don't get it....but they are her feet and it's just not for me to get.

Not sure why, not sure what it means....

But for some crazy reason I am on the list for Sacramento's Blogsphere; behind the number 1, along with alot of other sites. I do however think it is neat. Unless I found out that it's not then boo hoo.
EVEis too! So that is the excitement of the morning. No I take that back; the real excitement is that I feel REALLY good today. Yay for me. I am going to post those pics of my Stories at Hand project and the stuff I received from Two Peas (for the Ali Project).
EDIT: I guess this is just be relavance to the area..... still not sure what it means....but all my favorite girls and places are on it too. So it is still exciting because....well i don't know why....

Project links...

ok, here are the links to the Projects I was hoping to start this week. I may just dive in next week.
here is the Ali Edwards:
family spinner
I am very excited about this project..I am looking foward to starting this over the weekend.
I would love to here if you are starting these too.

Hernia be gone

I had surgery yesterday, and it went really well. It turns out that I had TWO hernia's good thing I found it when I did. Because it was only going to get BIGGER! yicks...thanks for all the love and support. Especially from the girls and guy at GT. I really am a part of something fabulous.
I do want to brag just a bit because well, I never do and it is making me happy. A receipe box that I made a while back in on the front tabel at GT, and people like it! Yeah. I know that sounds strange but it makes me so happy, because I am really not to confident in the projects I make. So there it is thats my brag. Even though I know that the Teresa Collins paper is the reason that everyone loves, it but I will take the credit for this project. Yea me.

I have sort of started Jessica Sprauges project, well I am getting the emails at least. I a stuck on the couch for a few more days. So I will start hopefully on Saturday.
I am also excited to start Ali Edwards project. I will do links some time today when I am not on pain meds and I can remeber how.

Stephen wants to Invoke the Lemon Law on Me!

Yes, Stephen thinks that I should be able to invoke the Lemon Law on my body. I think he has finally had enough. I probably should be worried. But I am not, all joking aside. I have a Hernia. Yeah me! And guess what that requires....more surgery. Yippee. no I am not excited I am pissed. Are you kidding. No one my age should have to see a surgeon on a regular basis. I shouldn't even have a surgeon. What the *&%%! I am having pity party, OK, well I haven't seen the Dr yet all this is just anticipation for the worst possible outcome. I can hear Dr.McNabb now "your tummy is broken and it needs to be fixed". He told me when I needed to have the grumpy gallbladder removed that it "was sick and it will get worse and it needs to be removed" So off to the Dr. I go....
I guess I could live with a golf size ball sticking out from above my belly button. Ugh I don't think so...maybe I will get that tummy tuck after all.....

Halloween 2008

I normally take an amazing amount of pictures for Halloween, but because we did a little close friend family party for Kelsey's 7th, I was much to busy to even really understand that it was Halloween.
I almost missed the Halloween parade at school along with the treats I was suppose to bring, and to top that off. I took one pic on Halloween night and the battery died in my camera. I was totally unprepared for Oct. 31st this year. but I was very on task with the party it turned out great and a lot of thanks goes to my hubby...he did some awsome decorating.

We played a mummy game and guess the body part game with werid yicky food. The kids loved it. I am glad everyone had a good time.

Hope everyone eles Halloween was good.

Hat Creek California

My hubby and I traveled to Hat Creek Ca. A tiny little town named by the Creek that runs through it. It's about 60 miles north east of Redding. About 4 hours away from Rocklin. It was quite a drive, but in the end when we arrived we were so excited. We kind of new what we were getting but to see it in person it was breathtaking.
Stephen caught so many beautiful fish, some big and some small. I scrapbooked and watched more movies than I have watched in 3 years. It was a great get away. We didn't leave the property we cooked in and talked listened to music and drank way to much! We started the days with Champagne, the way I like to start my day. I didn't get to many layouts done. I did those pictures that you should scrapbook, but you are really not interested or excited about doing. It was hard. Each afternoon I would sit down with a glass of White Wine a piece of Cambazola cheese and crackers and try to get excited and use my prettest paper and embellishments and NOTHING...It was agonizing. Ah, what I would have given for a trip to GT for some much needed inspiration. I may or may not be showing those layouts. It is such a sad sad thing.
Here are some more pics...I think we will be visiting again next year..maybe for a 7 year anniversary.

Results and Playing the Waiting Gami AGAIN!

Ok, so I have taken a few days....maybe a week off of the blog spectrum, to just well; I guess be lazy. I love being lazy.
So I did receive some results last Friday and some other info: here it goes:
please feel free to leave questions and I will do my best to answer them.
I have Scattered Fibroglandular Densities, with punctate rounded benign appearing microcalcifications. So basically that means that I have calcifications that are benign appearing -- still have to have that darn biopsy on the 20th just to make 100%sure they are benign, then I will be throwing myself a booby party. I do have to go back in 6 months and have more mamos and ultrasounds for follow up.
So, the call I got on Thursday of last week that had me in tears all day, is for my right boob. Apparently it was so jealous it wanted more attention! And boy is it going to get it. I have a summation artifact that needs more lookin at!
So there you have it! Good news and well, just some more waiting. I go in tomorrow morning to get the mammo and US. Wish me luck, I don't think I will need it though. I really appreciate all the love and support ALL of you are the BEST! I love you all.

Breast Cancer Awarness Month

Friends, if you have never done your own self exam; do one TODAY!!!! There is not a better time than right now to get to know your boobies! Can I say that? Well, it is my blog and I am the author of this post so Yes I can say BOOBIES!!!!
So some of you know that last month I went to the Dr. and she found a lump in my Left Boob, I am a little disappointed in that boob, since it is the perkiest and largest of the two I have. No mine are not created equally. He He, that was funny.
Now I have to simply wait for the results to come back and to see the Surgeon on the 20Th of October! What a wait, and yes it is hard to not think of anything else. I have done all sorts of research on lumps, there are a lot!
I do however keep coming back to a conversation I had with my OB/GYN at my 6 wk, post baby appointment 3 years ago, the conversation went like this:

Me: A few of my mom's cousins and aunts have been diagnosed with Breast Cancer and I am concerned.
Dr.: What about your Mom, Sister, or Grandmother?
Me: No, thankfully
Dr.: Then you have NOTHING to worry about!
Me: OK.
Well if you do a little research you will find out that 70% of those ladies with Breast Cancer Do Not have family history of Breast Cancer!
Be proactive about your own health. Doctors do not know everything, and you know your body better then they do.
Now go say Good Morning to your Boobies!

A Week in the Life of Us

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So I decided last Monday that I would take part in Documenting a Week in Our Life. It has been more difficult than I thought it would be, and a little boring. We just don't have that much fun around here.
Unless you think taking your sweet little 3 year old the Emergency Room and her having to get IV fluids, anti throw up meds, and blood work done is fun. She is better now, thank the powers at be. And I did leave the camera at home. I didn't want to seem like a weird mom, who wanted to document this horrible experience, but looking back I wished I did. I want to remember how fragile this little being really is. So next time, when she has a fever of 103.7 and has not kept anything down all day, and I will be more proactive, and not let her get so dehydrated!
Shelby be has a Bladder Infection, a pretty bad one, apparently. Anyone with little girls Just a reminder FRONT TO BACK!!! They are not kidding when they made this rule.
Here are a few pics of our week.









It has been fun doing this; but I forget to take some pictures and I am not really good and righting things down. I figure if this week doesn't turn out so great...there is always next week.