My life...just not on the road I expected (but it's still dang good).

You'll be missed.

This was in my inbox last night...

It is with a heavy heart that we send this email to you this evening.  In the scrapbooking community there is an unspoken sense of sisterhood, today we have lost a very talented & gifted sister, Valerie, co-owner of No Bare Pages.  Valerie suffered a seizure late last night and passed away early this afternoon at Providence Hospital.

 

Valerie was not only an amazing scrapbooker but she was a  loving mother, wonderful friend, and a woman of faith.  We ask you to remember Valerie’s daughter, Lindsey and best friend Carma in your prayers this evening, that their hearts might be comforted. 

 

If you need to talk, we are here for you.  We will share funeral arrangements with you as soon as they are available.

Valerie was co-owner at a local store I taught at on a regular basis and was a friend of mine (just one of those cheery, fun, wonderful women that you can't help but love).

You'll be missed Valerie.

Straight from the toy department at Fred Meyer.

It's not something I do very often (because I think the kids already have too many toys from Christmas, Birthdays, etc.) but I took the kiddos to the store yesterday and gave them each a $20.00 spending limit in the toy section.

 

Courtney Lee picked out a Polly Pocket Funtime Boat for $20.99 (so she owed me a buck when we got home).

 

Coley got a Spiderman Lego temple for $18.99 and then tried to convince me that he should still be able to spend the remaining $1.01 on something else...nice try Coley.

 

And Annie got a bedtime baby, complete with a pacifier (the most important feature in choosing a baby for Annie), a bottle and a sippy cup (which Annie is using here) for $19.99. 

The baby even came with two outfits but Annie had her naked as soon as she got her out of the box (which is the case with all the poor, naked babies in our house).

And I got a nice, quiet, peaceful afternoon in return.

Because there were so many orders for the 6x12 standing albums that I posted over the weekend, I had to order more supplies and won't be able to ship them until Thursday of this week.  And for those of you who want to make them into Fall and Christmas albums (or any other sort of album) you just paint the back sides of the paper in Fall or Christmas colors or you can always replace the paper with other papers you have in your stash.

6x12 Transparent Standing Album

I finally decided what to do with my wedding photos...

 

 

 

 

 

 

It holds 68+ photos.

The cover is made from a transparency and the inside pages are made out of die-cut patterned paper (I painted the back sides of the paper) and photo protectors in 3.5x5 and 2x2 sizes.

I designed it for a local fundraiser I am teaching at tomorrow and am so excited about it that I already have more albums underway to use as decor around my house (one in Fall colors to fill with all my favorite Fall photos, one in Christmas colors to put out every Christmas and one for each of the kids in different colors).

I've got extra kits, so if you want one you can check out more information here (they're $25).

Oh, and if you're a store owner who wants to teach this yourself at your store, email me at karencrussell@charter.net and I'll email you a PDF with all the instructions.

Ten things.

 

1. The Beavs beat #1 ranked USC last night.  Josh and Coley & my Dad went to the game together and didn't get home until after 2:00am.  Josh thinks Coley was on ESPN cheering (if anyone taped the game on ESPN and doesn't mind making an extra copy I would be eternally grateful).  Lots of happy Beaver Believers around my house this morning.

2. The handlebars on Courtney Lee's bike melted in the heat this summer and are now soft and sticky and gross so they're covered in plastic sandwich bags and rubber bands.

3. I took a toy away from Annie this morning and she told me that when her Dad got home he was going to put me in time-out.

4. I finally went back to pilates class this week (which is great since I've been paying for it for the last 6 months and haven't gone) and am sore in places I never knew I had muscles.

5. I hollered at Coley this morning about his homework and don't know how in the world I am going to make it until he gets home at 2:45 this afternoon to tell him I'm sorry. 

6. Annie slept through the night for the last three nights in a row (I usually have to get up with her at least a couple of times because she lost her baby or her blanket or because there are monsters in the closet). 

7. I took Ross's cell phone away for texting during class (he was quite surprised to find out that the cell phone company is nice enough to send me a bill each month that lists the times and dates of each and every text message he makes).

8.  When Courtney walked into the living room the other night and saw Josh and I smooching she said 'Oh, that was awkward.'

9. It's been a hard week for me.

10. I need a coffee.

Sometime this summer.

Just trying to post some shots from the summer that never made it to blogland.

 

We had decided to go with Josh's Brother and his family over to the beach sometime back in July.

Turns out the road was close due to a forest fire (that's Josh talking to his brother who was in the white truck) so we decided to head to the river instead.

 

We just had the girls (Ross and Coley were in Idaho with my mom).

 

 

And my niece's (Tate & Brook) were there too.

 

 

It was while I was taking this shot that I realized Annie had put 4 pairs of Courtney Lee's undies on over the top of her diaper.

 

This is what you call a redneck swimming pool.

 

 

 

Courtney Lee catching frogs & pollywogs. 

But the poor frog who was unfortunate enough to escape and hop a little too close to Annie (who hates bugs and anything that resembles a huge hopping bug) got whacked to death with her plastic shovel.

 

Where's Waldo (Josh)?

 

Misti and Jamey showing everyone that they too have a secret handshake (after Josh and I were showing off ours).

 

Took this over Courtney's shoulder while she was wading in the water and am crazy about the Bokeh (those little disc shaped reflections of light that are created with a wide-open aperture).

 

 

And then Misti and I (who both wear long pants to the river) hopped in with all our clothes on. 

 

The frog-killer with her murder weapon.

 

 

Sorry about the bare chest thing...but I had to post it (Courtney Lee's face while she was soaking Josh with a water gun was just too funny to pass up).

He's home.

 

Josh Downs is home and everyone's life is a little brighter.

(He's filling  a position in the Civil Engineering Dept. over at Kingsley Field for eight months while his boss is deployed in Afghanistan - so he's over there for two weeks out of each month).

ETA:  His degree is actually in Mechanical Engineering but his regular full-time job is doing system analysis for a company called Portland Engineering (he only works as a Civil Engineer in the military).

Happy Birthday Josh Downs.

 

Josh Downs is 28 today.

Yes, 28.

Jill (my very best friend in the whole-wide-world) called me the other day and asked "How old is Josh going to be?"

She already knew the answer, but I entertained her by telling her again.

And then she said, "That's so funny, I was just watching a program about cougars and it made me think of you." ('Cougars' by the way are old chicks who prey on young men).

Thanks Jill.

I've got eight years on Josh.  He was just a young lad (24) when we met.  And as crazy as I already was about him after a four hour conversation on a plane where we met - as soon as I found out how old he was, I quickly decided that I could never date him based on his age.

I hadn't been on a date in 3 1/2 years when we met (I was doing the bitter, scorned-woman thing...and doing it quite well I might add).  Everyone I knew was always trying to set me up but I always found a way out of it.  I even remember my little cousin Sammy wanting to set me up with one of his buddies who was 24 years old at the time and saying "Are you kidding me Sammy, he's a baby?!?"

But we're good together (and quite coincidentally, my Sister is 8 years older than her husband and Josh's brother is 8 years younger than his wife so I'm in good cougar-company with my sister and sister-in-law).

And at the risk of sounding overly sappy...at 28, he is the most solid, grounded, intelligent, genuine, ethical, funny, dedicated, crazy-hot, good-natured person I have ever known.

Just think how great he'll be at 38.

Happy Birthday Harriet.

A couple of weekends ago (Part Two).

As promised; the riveting sequel...

 

We left the hotel around 8am which was much too late for Josh who got up before all of us to go running (he's one of those people that are so perfect it's actually annoying).

We took the old highway to Multnomah Falls because there are tons of waterfalls and other great places to stop all along the way (My Mom and I had taken the boys along this same old highway back in 2002 - here's the layout).

 

I know that looks unsafe...but it wasn't.

 

A very rare sighting of me (thanks Josh Downs).

 

And a flower for Yannie's mama.

 

This is a lookout building along the highway.

 

It was really windy up there.

 

A tree climbing stop.

The stress of seeing everyone up in the tree sent Annie into a neck pinching frenzy (her stress reducer/relaxation method). 

 

Courtney Lee didn't move from that spot the entire time (she's a little bit of a fraidy-cat).

 

One of the falls along the way.

The problem with all of the stops along the way was that Josh was not content to just check out the falls from the closest vantage point.  Josh is (of course) all about getting to the source of the falls which would be fine...except for those three whiny kids.

I even said "Hey Josh, if we're going to expect these kids to hike all the way to the top of Multnomah Falls (which was our final destination) it might not be a good idea to wear them out so early in the day."

Josh's response?  "Ya, you're probably right...let's just go a little bit further." 

 

Coley ended up with a blister before 10am hence the bare feet.

More falls.

 

Managed to find a couple of band-aids (one for Coley's blister and another one for Courtney Lee).

 

And finally...Multnomah Falls.  (See the top?  No, not the bridge, the very top...that's where we hiked to.) 

 

In addition to his irrational issues with play structures and girls running downhill (because they aren't 'sure-footed' enough), Josh also has irrational issues with the kids being near any location with more than a 3ft. drop-off on either side, so there was lots of (sweaty) hand-holding along with lots of whining on our trek to the top of the falls (and Annie's still pinching her neck).

And every time the girls tried to run, he would holler at them to stop because he was afraid they weren't 'sure-footed' enough and were going to fall.  I told him that he was being overprotective/ridiculous and that he was going to raise a bunch of sissy-girls if he didn't lighten up. 

So Josh and I were cranky with eachother.

And seeing a few really cute women in full make-up, summer dresses and strappy sandals come walking down the trail while I was sweating like a little piggy, dragging my sausage legs and my kids with me, didn't improve my mood.

 

A much needed break (Courtney Lee was taking a cell phone break).

 

This one managed to talk her Dad into carrying her almost the entire hike.

And that's what it looked like at the top...right before we walked back down.

 

Josh filled up our water bottle with water from the creek for the hike back down (because drinking creek water is safe...but playing on a slide without a helmet is not).

 

And shortly before this fake smile, Courtney Lee took off running down the hill and as Josh started to holler for her to stop running, I shot him off a glance that interrupted him mid-holler.

And it all just kind of happened in a slow-motion-Murphy's-Law-sort-of-a-way...

She started to pick up some speed, her hands started flailing around a bit to try to slow herself down and the next thing you know, she was on her face with a cloud of dust all around her.  I took off after her, dropped to the ground and pulled her onto my lap to check out the damage (a couple of skinned up knees, elbows and palms).

Josh didn't even say "I told you so" (because he's so perfect, it's actually annoying).

 

And an icecream from the snack shop before we headed home.

A couple of weekends ago (Part One).

Josh and I decided to take the kids up to Portland a few weekends ago (just never got around to posting about it though).

We decided to go to the Portland Zoo and to Multnomah Falls.

My idea of a vacation weekend involves sleeping in until until 7am or so, grabbing some breakfast on our way out of town and leisurely making our way to our destination.

Unfortunately, Josh's idea of a vacation weekend involves packing the car the night before, waking up at 4:00am and being on the road by 5:00am so that we can get to our destination early.

So we threw the kids in the car in their p.j.'s and were on the road by 5:15am.

By 6:00am everyone was awake. 

By 7:ooam (as cute as they are) I was ready to rip my hair out with all the fighting, whining complaining, nose picking, etc.

 

The good news is that Josh can just about always finds a way to make me lighten up.

 

And every time we drive past Eugene, he always stops at my favorite coffee shop, the Beanery even though it is completely out of our way  (and is the hometown of the Oregon Ducks).

When we got off the freeway, Coley looked around and said "What a minute, are we in Duck City?"

 

A quick diaper change (there in the lower left corner of the frame) and a little more fighting and we were back on the road (only now I was much happier because I had a Mexican Mocha; light on the chocolate and a bagel with cream cheese in my belly).

We got everyone dressed and did everyone's hair in the parking lot of the Portland Zoo.

 

The squirrel statue had cheeks just like Annie and reminded me of this post.

 

It was Annie's first time at the zoo and she loved it (except for the cardboard cutout lion that snuck up on her)...

And while she was completely impressed with the whole experience, Coley & Courtney were still fighting and complaining.  In fact, one of them (I won't name any names, but their first name begins with the letter 'C') even said at one point during our fun-filled-family-vacation-to-the-zoo, "I'm bored."

Ummmmm.....................................................................

WE'RE AT THE FREAKING ZOO...AND YOU'RE A KID...AND WE PLANNED THIS WHOLE WEEKEND SO OUR UNGRATEFUL LITTLE KIDS COULD HAVE SOME FUN...ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!?!?!?!?!?

And that's precisely the point in the day when my (lack of) patience had been spent.

 

So I took a few more pictures (but not nearly as many as I would normally take) of my ungrateful & bored kids at the zoo before we left to find a hotel and grab some lunch at the Spaghetti Factory...

Where I refueled my spent patience with a salad, warm sourdough bread dipped in pesto dressing and spinach ravioli's.

 

And then Annie and I hung out at the hotel and played while Josh and Coley and Courtney Lee went to the store to find water wings for the hotel swimming pool.

 

 

Yes, I wear jeans to the pool (I have irrational issues with my sausage legs, remember?)  Oh, and that scar on the top of my foot...remind me to tell that story sometime.

 

 

When I left to go pick up dinner for everyone, the scene looked something like this (minus the appropriately named 'Pool Party' action from Totally Rad Actions that I used on this shot). 

I told Josh to keep a close eye on Annie because I was worried she might fall in the pool.  He calmly replied "If she falls in, it's no big deal, I'll just get her out." Mind you this is the same man that makes Annie wear a bike helmet when she plays on the slide in our backyard (seriously...I'll find a picture to prove it) and won't let the girls run downhill because he thinks they aren't 'sure-footed' enough...but has no problem with a two year old falling into the deep end of the pool.

When I got back, I walked to the pool carrying a stack of dinner boxes and drinks.

They weren't at the pool.

So I headed to the elevator and up to our room.

When I opened the door Annie was all wet and hollering "Hey Mamma, Yannie fell in the pool!"  Josh was all wet too from plucking her out of the deep end of the pool after hollering loud enough to bring in some spectators (there is nothing that Josh dislikes more than drama and/or making a scene...both of which he accomplished beautifully).

Josh said Annie handled it really well...even floated back up to the top of the water with her hands above her head and that she didn't even cry too hard (poor Courtney Lee on the other hand was sitting in a fetal position in the corner while the event took place, screaming that her baby sister was drowning...she's a softy).

 

So we spent the rest of the night watching a movie (American Girl - it's really cute) in our p.j.'s, eating Pizza from Pizza Schmitza, fruit smoothies from Jamba Juice and really good Thai food from the Thai Orchid (my favorite Thai place).

More from the weekend tomorrow.

Beaver Believers.

 

Josh and Coley and I went to the first Beaver's home game of the season on Saturday.

 

That's Reeser Stadium in the background.

 

 

Shooting sports is quite an art (I think most sports photographers have trained themselves to track the action with one eye while looking through the viewfinder with the other...I have yet to master that).

 

Lens envy.

Josh had lost his voice before the end of the first half.

 

Every time the Beavers went to kick a field goal, Josh had Coley running up the in the stands to try to catch it.

 

 

And then after the game, we got to play down on the field.

 

Beavers 45, Hawaii 7.