National JOE day!

Happy National Joe day to my husband Joe (and all the other Joe's out there in the world).  LOL!  I bet you didn't even know there was a day dedicated to all those Joe's out there.  I know my Joe deserves a day to celebrate him!  He is pretty awesome.

And Sunday was his birthday to, so we celebrated by going to hit golf balls at the dome.  Hope and I started on the miniature course.

Then while Joe was taking breaks from hitting he gave Hope some lessons.

Then she would hit some on her own.  It was pretty cute to see them together.

Golf is probably a better bet than softball.  LOL!  I was lucky enough to talk her out of going out for softball this summer.  So we are going to spend the money on a pool pass instead.  Hopefully we have a nice summer to enjoy the pool.

Surprisingly, I don't have any cards to celebrate National Joe Day, so these will have to do...

For this card, I actually cut a slit in the chipboard typewriter sticker and slipped the stamped sentiment to look like it was actually typed.

This is another of my favorite cards I created a while back.  I love the bright colors!

Everyone have a great weekend!

Darla

24

I haven't given an update in a while on my diet.  Well, I am happy to report that I am down 24 pounds.  I am really happy with where I am at right now, but would like to give myself a few pounds to play with over the summer, so hoping to get another 6-7 over the next month.  We will see.  There are a LOT of temptations out there.  LOL!

Tomorrow someone (JOE) has a birthday!  We are going to celebrate by watching UNI and Iowa play tomorrow in the NCAA tourney.  GO UNI!!!!!  They have the late game, so I hope I can stay awake long enough to cheer on my panthers.  Iowa will get my cheers too, until they have to play each other (if they both keep winning they will meet up on the brackets).  I have the tourney on now, and Charles Barkley just chose UNI in his bracket.  :)

So what else has been going on...

This furry beast got a buzz cut the other day.

and now she is all cute for Spring!  She even had a purple bandana around her neck for UNI!

So when I picked up Hope on Friday, she brought all her crafts home from BTB for the week.  One in particular cracked me up.  She chose to wear a hockey jersey to BTB and came home with this... MASK!

How creepy is that!  I am just glad they didn't offer that craft last friday on the 13!  I would need to change her name to Jason.  Good grief!

Taylor is obviously a little chilly with her new do, so she likes to snuggle in the blankets.

Hope's class got their picture in the paper this week too.  She is in the front on the left hand side.

Well, it is about time to round of Hope and her friend from her sleepover and deliver her home and for me to have a little bit of relaxation the rest of the day.  Probably wishful thinking, but never hurts to dream right?

So to celebrate Joe's birthday, here are some recent birthday cards I created.  Enjoy!

Happy Birthday Joe!  Love you!

Darla

Beautiful Weather!

Oh I am so loving the weather this week.  We have been walking at work and Hope and I went for a walk down the trail tonight after school tool.  She was on her bike and just before we were going to turn around the pedal fell off.  I wasn't able to get it back on so she walked it to a neighbor's house along the trail and stayed and had a play date and I had Joe pick her and the bike up on his way home from work.  Taylor and I made our way back home and had supper ready by the time everyone made it back home.

It was a little wet and muddy in places along the trail, but it was great being out in the weather.  AND we even saw a robin, so it is officially spring.   Right?

So Hope had her interview for the videographer position for next school year.  She is supposed to find out if she got it or not tomorrow.  Keep your fingers crossed.

One of the videos she showed as a sample was of her friends performing at Funday Sunday last weekend.  She was in the first two songs and then the last song she recorded for her sample.

The girls were rocking it out to Taylor Swift!

Hard to believe we have had this furry cutie for almost a year now.  After our walk tonight, she needs a bath and a good trim.  Next week on Spring Break she gets her turn at the beauty shop.

Last week one of my best friends got back from vacation.  She went to Costa Rica and celebrated her birthday.  So I gave her a gift when she got back.

So to celebrate her birthday and just being happy about the weather, here are some cards to share!

Shared this one because my mom and sister Dawn and I went to a retirement party for our dentist.  He had been (almost) the only dentist I have ever been too.  I had my last appointment with him just a few weeks ago and got teary as I walked out.  

Well, I hope I have good news to share with you tomorrow.  Have a good night!

Darla

First Job Application

I am so proud of Hope!  Tonight she applied for her first "job".  She is interested in being on the Creative Production Crew next school year and she had to apply for the position she was interested in.  The first week of March she will have to interview for the position.  They have given them the questions they will be asked, so we will need to practice so she has an idea of what she will want to say.  We have also talked about trying our best, but not to get down if she doesn't get the spot that she is hoping for.  We will see how that goes.  Wish her/me luck through this journey.

Tonight was also observation night at dance.  Hope has improved since the last time I was in the studio to tape her dances.  There is still a lot of work to do there too, but hopefully we will get there.

Hope has also shown a recent interest in playing chess.  So Joe stopped and bought a real chess/checkers board so they wouldn't have to play on the iPad anymore.

So while she was waiting for us to finish eating supper she set up the board AND started naming all her players random names.  It was cracking me up.

This morning she took a few selfies with Taylor too that I found on my phone tonight.  LOL!

Too cute!

Well now onto the diet update.  I FINALLY hit the half way mark by losing 15 pounds.  I don't know if I have it in me to make it to 30.  We will see how far I make it, but I can definitely tell you I am tired of being on this diet.  UGH!

I am ready to add fruit, but for the bad things I am craving I still would LOVE to have a bowl of popcorn and a chocolate donut!  I can't even believe that wine is not at the top of my list, but I wouldn't turn down a glass if someone had one poured for me right now.  :)  I will have to settle for watching last night's episode of The Bachelor.

Well, here are a few more layouts I have created lately.  All of these layouts were from pictures from several years ago, but really wanted to get scrapbooked.  Enjoy!

Each year I put together a double page layout with the highlights from the school year, instead of making a layout of each event.  So I know I will have an album ready to go when she graduates (if I can keep up with the scrapbooking).  LOL!

Here is the journaling from the layout above...

Keep praying for me...to stay strong with my diet and keep a good attitude...to be the best parent I can be...and be the best wife I can be.  

Until next time!

Darla

The BEST Macaroni

Today I went to a funeral for my aunt Lois.  It was a very nice service.  One of her granddaughters wrote a beautiful tribute.  My memories of aunt Lois include her cooking.  She made the BEST macaroni and cheese and everyone in the family always looked forward to her bringing it to family dinners.  I think I heard almost everyone mention it today as well as some of her awesome desserts, which I didn't get to eat any.  I think funeral calories shouldn't count, but just in case I stayed on track for the diet.  Dawn did too, we even took our own salads...

but our sister Dee on the other hand...

...cheated!  Oh the shame!  LOL!  I practically thought she was going to steal a potato chip off a kids plate.  :)  She did pass on dessert though, so way to be strong Dee!  Heeheehee!  Love ya!

I have been hungry for a pasta dish, so I decided to try this tonight...

It is zucchini noodles, ground turkey and marinara sauce.  It turned out as good as it looks on the plate.  It was so pretty I had to take a picture.  LOL!

It was very cold out today out at the graveside service (like negative 19 wind chill) and I am ready to snuggle up the rest of the night and read a book.

So in honor of aunt Lois, here are a few sympathy cards to share with you tonight.  Rest in Peace...

Darla