Thursday 13

I'm linking up again this week with Thursday 13. Please go check it out and visit some of those great blogs!

You may have heard, the National Park Service is celebrating its Centennial this year. Happy 100th Birthday, NPS!

So, in honor of this, my list this week is, 13 National Parks or National Historic Sites we have visited. (in no particular order - I will add the link to the specific park/site too)

1. Wupatki National Monument, Arizona

It is beautiful, desert country. We learned a lot of about this tribe's lifestyle.

 

 

2. Herbert Hoover NHS, Iowa

See President Hoover's birthplace, museum, library and burial place.

 

 

3. Valor in the Pacific Monument, Hawaii (USS Arizona/Pearl Harbor)

What a somber but beautiful site.

 

4. Harry Truman NHS, Missouri

We visited the home he and Mrs. Truman lived in; the Truman Farm and the Presidential Library.

 

 

5. Brown vs. Board of Education NHS, Kansas

An important stop to learn about Civil Rights

6. Little Rock Central High School NHS, Arkansas

Another Civil Right stop - the story of the Little Rock 9.

Please note: You can not enter the school but you are welcome on the grounds as long as you don't disturb classes and in the little park across the street.

7. Gulf Islands National Seashore, Mississippi and Florida

There are lots of waterfront walking paths and sealife.

8. Cuyahoga Valley NP, Ohio

This pretty gem of a park is in northern Ohio - there is a nice train ride and LOTS of bike paths!

9. Mammoth Cave NP, Kentucky

Wonderful cave tours and a fascinating look underground

10. Great Smoky Mountains NP, Tennessee

Pretty mountains and scenery

 

11. George Rogers Clark NP, Indiana

A quick historic stop.

12. Effigy Mounds, Iowa

A pretty walking park along the Mississippi River

13. First Ladies NHS, Ohio

Housed in the former home of President and Mrs. McKinley, this is a very interesting site to visit for a little First Lady and McKinley history.

Have a wonderful Thursday!

What I'm Loving Wednesday

It's Wednesday again! I am linking up with RACHEL for another "What I'm Loving Wednesday".

*My Cubbies keep on rolling!!!! It's been a fun April and I'm looking forward to a positive season this year.

*100 days to the Rio Olympics (I hope they are ready...)

*All the National Parks coverage and features

*Young Mr. did great at his karate tournament this past Sunday (3, 1st places)

*My awesome photography clients - they are spreading the word that I am booking for the summer. Thank you all!!!

*A good hug!

*Baby pictures from a friend

What are you loving this week?

Travel Tuesday - Lincoln Birthplace

I think I will focus my Travel Tuesdays on US National Parks as the NPS celebrates 100 years this year!

Find your Park HERE

In June of 2009 we visited Lincoln Birthplace in Hodgenville, Kentucky.

This is a pretty spectacular sight to see when you pull into the parking lot.

Up the stairs and inside the building is a replica cabin of where Lincoln was born.

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Little Miss earned a Jr. Ranger badge here

Stay tuned for further National Park adventures...

A slight change in direction

For the past almost 6 months, I have walked by my craft desk and stared at the same half-finished layout that has been sitting there. Nothing about it has changed.


I love scrapbooking.
I love the friendships I have made through scrapbooking.
I just don't "feel" it like I did. I don't feel like I have the time to sit down and scrap. I don't have the space to work in like I used to and that is a frustration. I have contemplated selling all my supplies and moving on. I feel overwhelmed by it when I look at the boxes of photos of the kids as they've grown up and travel memorabilia I have waiting to be scrapped. I have been making photo books through Shutterfly of each of our vacations.


So - I chatted with my Mr. about it the other night. He doesn't want me to get rid of my stuff because he thinks I will regret it later. (Probably..) I think I have decided to just work on scrapbooks for our vacations using highlight photos and memorabilia, as I feel like it. Then make a photo book of each trip too. I think I will start working on an annual book for our family of our daily type photos and little day trips we take.


What about my other scrapbooking friends out there? Have your priorities changed over time with regards to scrapping?

Friday Letters

TGIF! It's been a hell of a week...


Dear Friday, HELLO!!!!


Dear Weekend, I know you're packed with stuff to do but I hope to enjoy a little sunshine at some point.


Dear 10K a Day, Whew! Thanks for the kick in the pants to get Mr. and I walking a lot again.


Dear Blog Readers, Thank you for stopping by and leaving comments.


Dear Full Moon, you suck!


Have a great weekend my friends.

Thursday 13

I'm linking up for the first time with Thursday 13 (make sure you go check out the other awesome posts here!).

Today's 13 topic: My favorite photos

I've taken A LOT of photos over the past year and a half. These are 13 of my favorites (there are LOTS more!).

Thanks for taking a look!

Wordless Wednesday post

San Francisco

November, 2007

What I'm Loving Wednesday

Happy Wednesday! We're almost halfway through the week. I hope things are good with you!

I am linking up with RACHEL today. (She's a huge Texas Rangers fan - check out her blog!!!)

This week I'm loving:

*My husband's encouragement

*My Cubbies have an 11-3 record!!!!!!!!! (3 weeks until I go to a game...)

*Little photography projects coming together

*Books

*Twitter - I've connected with some awesome readers and baseball fans

*A texted meme when I need a laugh

*Family time

*The flowers blooming and the trees turning green

*100 years of US National Parks

*Posting a new link up post tomorrow (Thursday 13, coming soon!)

What are YOU loving this week?

Feel free to link up with Rachel.

Book Review-Sister Dear

Today-April 19, 2016

My friend, Laura's book is out today!

Buy your copy of Sister Dear.

Synopsis:

All Allie Marshall wants is a fresh start.  But when dark secrets refuse to stay buried, will her chance at a new life be shattered forever?
Convicted of a crime she didn’t commit, Allie watched a decade of her life vanish – time that can never be recovered. Now, out on parole, Allie is determined to clear her name, rebuild her life, and reconnect with the daughter she barely knows.
But Allie’s return home shatters the quaint, coastal community of Brunswick, Georgia. Even her own daughter Caroline, now a teenager, bristles at Allie’s claims of innocence. Refusing defeat, a stronger, smarter Allie launches a battle for the truth, digging deeply into the past even if it threatens her parole status, personal safety, and the already-fragile bond with family.
As her commitment to finding the truth intensifies, what Allie ultimately uncovers is far worse than she imagined. Her own sister has been hiding a dark secret—one that holds the key to Allie’s freedom.

My thoughts:

The writing is superb! The characters are creepy and so believable. I was riveted by this book and could not put it down. You won't be disappointed.

5 stars from me.

The weekend

is over already....  Happy Tax Day!!!!  The weather over the weekend was GORGEOUS and it went WAY too fast!!!!!


I am linking up today with B Loved Boston for her weekend recap link up.


We didn't do A LOT but Little Miss & I enjoyed the weather as much as we could. My Mr. and Young Mr. worked all weekend digging fence post holes and got sunburned.


Saturday morning, Mr. & I went for a 6 mile walk (after 4 miles on Friday evening). My legs are still killing me!
The boys headed out to work and Little Miss & I took our books out to the porch to relax a little. I pulled weeds and Little Miss picked up sticks and junk in the yard for a couple of hours.

Little Miss wanted to do a little "photo shoot" with her Littlest Pet Shop animals. She staged, I shot.

We all caught the matinee of The Jungle Book.

It was a little drug out in places but followed the story very closely (which I always appreciate!).

Yesterday morning, was more porch reading. I had to work in the afternoon, so Little Miss & I walked to the library to soak up a little more "nice".

After work, I made chicken alfredo for dinner - it wasn't too bad!

I watched Mr. & Mrs. Cardinal start making their nest in our bushes out front. It should be an interesting spring if they are going to be around!

I hope you all had a good weekend!

Friday Letters

TGIF my friends!!!!!

I'm linking up with Wifesticated today for Friday Letters.

Dear Family, I love you guys so much! Thanks for helping me feel better this week and cheering me up.

Dear Cubbies, You've had me smiling all week! Keep it up guys!!!!

Dear Spring, Thank you for finally showing up. I'm looking forward to seeing you for a while.

Dear Readers, Thank you for stopping by and leaving your comments and thoughts. They've been pretty entertaining this week!

Dear Bloggers, Keep it up! You're posts are awesome.

Dear Friday, I am SO happy to see you!

Dear Weekend, Go slow!


Dear Photography Supports & Encouragers, Thanks for cheering me on; booking your shoots with me and your encouragements.

What are you up to this weekend?


PS: I'm launching my photography website HERE

What I'm Loving Wednesday

Today I'm linking up with Rachel for What I'm Loving Wednesday. Please stop by her blog and others that link up!

This week, I'm loving:

*My husband and kids!!!!

*The upcoming weekend forecast!

*I started knitting a shawl/scarf last night. I think it's going to be pretty when it's done.

*We tried these last night. Meh...not my favorite M & Ms. The honey nut were probably the best of the three.

*These posts from Facebook:

*Baseball

*That whatever sinus crap I had going on over the weekend is finally easing. UGH!

*Books

*Working toward getting in 10,000 steps each day (hasn't been so good the past week)

*New blogging friendships

*An old high school friend getting back in touch and catching up

What are YOU loving this week?

Travel Tuesday - Universal Studios, Days 5, 6 & 7

Welcome to the continuation/completion our recap of our trip to Universal Orlando from February.
You can read the other two posts: HERE and HERE


Day 5 (Sunday, 2/14/16) - The security line to get into the park was HUGELY, GIANTLY long! So - since we decided we still have a couple more days, we would bail out and try a little later. We walked back to the hotel and relaxed by the pool for a couple of hours.

We headed back to the park and had lunch at Comic Strip Café - the food was ok. Then we walked around and took in all the people and watched them. We ended up not really riding anything and just hanging out at the hotel. It was a nice, relaxing day.


Day 6 - It was a cooler, cloudy morning. Walked to the park and Young Mr. and I headed right for Rip Ride Rocket. We got loaded on the train and the ride broke down... So we unloaded and waited for almost 45 minutes. But got back on and LOVED it!

We ran to ride Transformers. The Mr., Young Mr. and Little Miss rode MIB. I needed to sit out for a little bit and enjoy some people watching.

After lunch at Burger King we played some mini golf; went back and napped then bowled at the bowling alley in our hotel.

We had a little appetizer platter for dinner and a big brownie dessert

Day 7 - We finished packing up and ran our butts to the hotel for early admit to Harry Potter.

Enjoy these photos from our Harry Potter morning:

At Platform 9 3/4:

This pretty much sums up the trip :)

We left sunny Florida and landed in Chicago that evening to 32 and snow. UGH!

Just a note

On marriage and family...

I don't usually get real serious here and I'm not really sure what I saying here, but-let the rambling begin. As I lay in bed the other night, I reflected on how lucky and loved I am.


My Mr. and I have been married for 18 1/2 years and known each other for almost 21 years. (WOW....that long already!) We have never parted without a kiss and an "I love you", even when we were upset. We have been through some tough times - really tough times and we're still standing together. I think because of those times, our love is stronger and we understand each other a lot better. That man is my best friend and I truly can not imagine my life without him!


I know some people think we're "strange" or "overbearing" or whatever you want to call it, because we do so many things together-we rarely do anything without the other (that doesn't count going to work). We do a lot of things with our kids too. We don't go out by ourselves more than a couple times a year. BUT - it's who we are. We like spending time together and with our kids. I brought Young Mr. into our marriage, so we have really never known not having a child around.


We treasure our time together and with our kids. We know our kids won't always be around all the time (I think...). If that is "wrong" to other people, well - that is fine. I feel like how we handle our marriage and family is our business.


Cheers to all of you and your loved ones!

Throwback Thursday

I am going to jump in the Throwback Thursday ring this week.

Here are a few of my more "popular" posts from the 10 years I have been blogging.

Did You Hear the One - where a movie scene was filmed at our house.

Concerts - where I post about concerts.

Vacation 2015, Day 6 - a recap of our trip to Arizona last year.

Thank you for stopping by! I love your comments.