Wednesday...

Hi there... I am back with more pictures from our vacation in the beautiful city of Moab! Yesterday we got up early and headed out to Adrift Adventures where we were fitted with life jackets, hopped on a bus and headed out to the Colorado River for some white water rafting!  Unfortunately we couldn't take our nice camera on the raft because we do want to keep it! :) We did however buy a cheap little waterproof disposable camera which we will have developed when we get home.

When we got back to Adrift the girls bought cowboy hats. Later that evening they did some exploring near our condo and took some great pictures of each other. It was a great day!

The view as you leave our condo and head into Moab... stunning!

The company we booked our water water rafting adventure with.

As you can see... it was 101 degrees at 2:15pm... too hot for horseback riding!

The Colorado River as seen from the Red Cliffs Lodge.

More from the back porch of the Red Cliffs Lodge.

Last one from the back porch of the Lodge... it is so beautiful here!

Hannah and Amber

Daniel and I

Amber

Hannah... so lovely!

Well, I tried posting this last night but blogspot was down so it is actually Thursday today and now I am two days behind in pictures! Having too much fun to spend much time online I guess :) 

More to come... if I get around to it! We are headed to Arches National Park today... if Hannah ever gets out of bed!

Have a nice day.

~Sara~

Day Two.... We arrived in Moab, Utah!

Hello again... I spoke to my sister today and she requested more pictures of my trip. She said she wants to follow me on vacation... so this is for Jen!

 Along the highway from Grand Junction, CO to Moab, UT

 Daniel at the Utah welcome center, it is so beautiful here!

 Hannah and Amber looking to fuel up :)

 Posing on a rock at the Utah welcome center

 Daniel, Hannah and Amber goofin' off

 The first sign we saw for Moab while still on the highway

One of the three bedrooms in our condo

 Our condo in Moab, Utah

 Master bedroom

 Living room and dining room

 The spectacular view from our patio at the condo

 The kitchen in the condo

 Daniel grilling up some dinner on the patio of the condo in Moab

Amber, myself and Hannah in the pool at our condo in Moab

Today was a lot of fun! We checked out of our hotel room in Grand Junction, CO and checked Justin into his room before we left for Moab, UT a drive that took us about two hours... no one was complaining about the drive though as we passed such amazing scenery! When we arrived at our condo we got settled then headed into town for some lunch and to pick up some groceries. We then came back to the condo and relaxed until Daniel grilled us up some dinner. After dinner we took a dip in the pool and then came back to the condo and started our "Friends" marathon! The girls have never seen Friends and said they would like to give it a try so I brought the first two seasons on dvd with me on our trip. It really is a funny show, it still makes me laugh out loud! That brings us up to the present, it is 10:30 here in Moab, 12:30am back in Michigan and I am beat! The girls are on the patio soaking in the hot tub and Daniel has headed to bed... I think I will go join him! We have to be up early in the morning as we are departing on our white water rafting excursion at 8:30... it's gonna be another marvelous day!

Good night!

~Sara~

Hello from sunny Colorado!!!

Hey there and hello from the sunny state of Colorado!! I am on vacation here with my family for the week and we are loving it! I could get used to this sunny hot weather! There is definitely something to be said for "dry" heat. So, let me tell you why I haven't posted in awhile. I have been so busy getting my son registered for college, getting a whole lot of new landscaping in around my patio, getting my family ready for this trip to Colorado and Utah, finishing up with my classes for the summer and making swaps for the Stampin' Up! convention!! When I get home I will share with you those cards. Last Monday I spent the day working on those swaps, I plan on making 100 cards to take with me and so far I have nearly 25 done, and another 25 I have the pieces cut for... just need to assemble! It has been a busy time!! I did make some adorable cards last week, one for my dad for Father's Day and a couple for my sisters for their birthdays but I neglected to photograph them before giving them... Oops!!

I thought I would share some pictures today of our first full day in Colorado. We got up early this morning, had breakfast at the hotel and then drove to Colorado National Monument state park. There were some beautiful views on our drive through the park!!! We stopped many times along the way to take short walks and some photos. It was amazing!! Have a look....

 The first stop as we entered the park.

 I couldn't stop snapping pictures of the scenery... so beautiful!!



 My sweet girls... Amber is like my second daughter, I ♥ them both!

 Hannah, Amber and Justin exploring.

 See... just couldn't stop!!

 Just before our short walk into Monument Canyon.

 Daniel and I always like to get a "one armed" photo everywhere we go.

Me.

 Hannah and Amber... sharing a moment.

 My beautiful girl, Hannah.

 More beautiful scenery!

 Amazing land formations 1.6 billion years old! Made me feel young ;)

Justin, Daniel, myself, Hannah and her girl friend Amber.

Well that was the best of the pictures we took today. Tomorrow we leave Justin here in Grand Junction, Colorado to join his tour group. He is going on a five day paleontology exploration while the rest of us head down to Moab, Utah where we have rented a condo for the week. 

Perhaps if time permits I will be back again this week with pictures from Moab.

Thanks for stopping by!

~Sara~

New Catalog Sneak Peeks!

Hi there, back again with a quick post. I am off to the swimming pool with Justin and my nephew in a few minutes... first swim of the season... Yippee!!!

Today I want to share with you another sneak peek from the upcoming 2011-2012 Stampin' Up! catalog. As you probably know pennants are all the rage right now and Stampin' Up! is on trend with the new Pennant Parade stamp set and coordinating punch! I l♥ve it!!! I have also showcased three of the five new "In Colors." Here I have used Pool Party, Island Indigo, and Lucky Limeade along with old favorites Crumb Cake and Early Espresso. Something fun I discovered while making this card is that Stampin' Up's dotted scallop ribbon punch fits perfectly with the scalloped edge of the pennant punch. Coincidence? I doubt it, Stampin' Up! is the BEST at coordinating everything!

So from the Pennant Parade stamp set I stamped in versa mark three of the four different flag images then punched them out with the triangle on the Pennant punch. I created the scalloped edge pieces with the scallop ribbon punch, I simply cut the punched piece in half then made them shiny with some crystal effects. The scalloped pennants are also from the punch. So cute! The stamp set has some fun sayings and "elements." I stamped the star and the starburst in versa mark to fill some of the "white" space on my card. Finally I used "Happy Birthday" from the Curly Cute stamp set, added a little doodling around the edge, some linen thread to "tie off" my banner and it was done! Simple and fun!

Thanks for stopping by, I am off to the pool! Have a great day!

~Sara~

Just real quick!

Good morning, just a real quick post today as the outdoors are calling to me! I hope you had a wonderful weekend, we sure did, I'll try to remember to post some graduation pictures soon!

Today I have made a Father's Day card using this weeks Mojo Monday sketch. I used some of the new dsp that I pre-ordered from the new 2011-2012 Stampin' Up! catalog. It is called Pocket Full of Posies. It features some really bold, vibrant colors like Rich Razzleberry, Daffodil Delight and Poppy Parade... so pretty! I also used some of the white bakers thread that is so popular right now... I am loving it!

That's it for now... I told you I'd be quick! Thanks for stopping by today!
~Sara~

Congratulations Justin!!!!!!!!

Today my son is graduating from high school. It is really quite a remarkable day! Justin was born with a genetic disease called neurofibromatosis. This may have been a significant contributing factor to his learning disabilities and his delay in speech. When he started Kindergarten his teacher suspected he had autism, he spent most days at school sitting under his desk. He was diagnosed in the 2nd grade with adhd, attention deficit hyper-activity disorder, and shortly thereafter with aspergers disorder, a form of autism. Justin spent the majority of his time in elementary school in the special education room and when he reached middle school he was put into a program called "life skills." It was assumed that he would not attend college and would need these basic skills to succeed in life. He learned things like counting money and how to cook. When Justin was in the 8th grade we moved to a new school district and while he remained in the special education program his teachers really wanted him to be mainstreamed, to spend as much time as he could handle in the regular classrooms. As Justin's freshman year was approaching we talked with his teachers about high school and our expectations and goals for Justin. It is much easier to place kids in the special education program than it is to pull them out once they are in high school so we made the decision to pull Justin from the special education program and essential "threw him in the deep end" and boy could he swim!!!! This decision made the difference between whether Justin would graduate from high school with a certificate of completion or with a diploma. You must have a diploma to attend college. Well tomorrow Justin will be receiving his high school diploma!

In addition to the educational obstacles Justin had to overcome were the medical issues as well. One of the most common medical issues with neurofibromatosis is scoliosis. Justin has had five spinal surgeries. His first when he was in the 4th grade, his fifth in the 11th grade. Some people would feel sorry for themselves, or be bitter or angry with the hand they were dealt but Justin approaches everyday with a smile on his face and a willingness to lend a hand. He is such a remarkable young man, I am so very proud of him! Justin is planning to go to college to become a video game programmer and I have every confidence that he will achieve his goals.

Well, I bet you didn't stop by today for a story... but you sure got one! What I wanted to share with you is a card I made for Justin that I will be giving to him at his graduation celebration tomorrow. I used some new Stampin' Up! dsp that will be available when the new catalog comes out in July. It is super cute, bright and cheery! I also used the owl punch... how cute is that for a "wise old owl!?!" I rolled up a piece of white card stock, wrapped a little baja blue around it and wahlah... a diploma!! I also added a little cap, wings and some heavy eye lids, all inspired by the very talented Teneale Williams.

Thanks for stopping by today, I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

~Sara~