{through my lens}

ten on tuesday

1.) It only took until July 11, but I rode bike for the first time this summer. 18 miles!

2.) She's 7! That went fast

3.) We "celebrated" twice :)

ps-missing m&m's courtesy of shae :)

4.) I won tix to a VIP screening of Eclipse! Bre and I felt pretty special :) First ones to see a movie at the new Century in SF!

5.) Here is my "secret" to new-looking tennis shoes. Not that it's anything too profound, but it has been known to change a few lives ;) I take a bucket and pour a bunch of bleach and hot water in. Then I put my dirty shoes in and fill it the rest of the way with hot water. To keep the shoes down in the water I put cookie sheets and something heavy on top. Then a day or two later I wash them in the machine with detergent and downy and let them air dry. Works like a charm! They come out looking new! Oh, and it helps to take the laces out and just throw them in the water separately.

6.) I made this (and only needed help on one little thing-thanks Jan!). Pretty proud of myself.

7.) At the gap this weekend I got a pair of jeans that were originally $79.50 for $4.18!

8.) I didn't do dishes for a week. It felt soooo good! This photo could be enough to send Karen into a panic attack...I haven't shown it to her :)

  

9.) If loving school supplies as much as I do is wrong, I don't want to be right ;)

10.) Our church is sending a group of 40 people (myself included) on a mission trip to the TX/Mexico border on Saturday. Prayers for our safety would be appreciated :)

Vote for me :)

Contest details

Ten on Tuesday

1.) LR experienced a big time tornado on Friday night. I've never been afraid of storms, but you can sure bet I am now!

2.) We lost electricity for about 24 hours. It was projected to take 2-3 days to get it back, so even though it wasn't pleasant it could've been a lot worse.

Working to restore power:

3.) No electricity also means no hot water, which means really short showers to conserve what we had :) It also means no fans, and for a freak like me that means no sleep. Apparently I cannot sleep without the hum of a fan.

4.) We had to bring our frozen food to a semi-truck downtown. So...no electricity also means a cleaned out freezer and refrigerator :)

5.) We helped clean up the park all day Saturday.

6.) Sunday I helped my dad (and others) dump out all of the milk, etc. from the grocery store.

7.) There was debris everywhere

8.) Corn fields are in rough shape

9.) Thankfully, there were no deaths or major injuries which is pretty amazing considering the damage that was done...and the fact that there was little to no warning that this was on it's way!

10.) This is a link about the storm that someone forwarded to me. Pretty interesting...and scary!

Storm Website

Shades of summer

Saw A's sunglasses hanging on the monkey bars after they left tonight. Thought it warranted a photo. Love her!

Ten on Tuesday

1.) It was hot out today...really hot.

2.) This is across the street at the neighbor's. Isn't it the cutest, most perfect little nest you've ever seen?!?!

3.)  We picked fresh strawberries today. Yummy :)

4.) The girls stayed in LR last week, and Ava loves to pick out songs to sing while my mom plays. It's about the sweetest.thing.ever. She knows sooo many songs it's unreal. I took a video, but I'm not really sure how to post it.

5.) This cutie got her hair cut. Love it!

6.) I ordered a Flip camera! Excited to see if it's as great as they say :)

7.) I'm super behind on blogging. Should I even try to "catch up?"

8.) I'm also really behind on editing. I think I should focus on that before blogging (right Sara and Jan?!?!)  :)

9.) School's been out for almost a month and I haven't had a full day at home yet-bums me out :(

10.) Did you like "Ten on Tuesday?" I read several blogs that do this, but mine wasn't as entertaining!

Black Hills 2010

Got back from a fun weekend in the Black Hills tonight. Not sure what I would do without my little weekend getaways :)

We climbed Crazy Horse and visited Prairie Berry Winery. We also visited Mt. Rushmore last night and then again this morning!

 

 

To view more of the pics click here!

Check it out!

I entered a photo share thing for Memorial Day and mine was one of the images picked! Click on the link and scroll down to see baby Shae in front of the flag :)

http://www.mcpactions.com/blog/2010/05/31/patriotic-images/

one more day!

well...technically there are three days of school left, but only one day of preschool! it's time :)

 

we had preschool graduation last friday night and this is the treat table. i think my mom and i did a good job. the candy bar was a hit!

words for wednesday

Attitude

by Charles Swindoll

The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life.

Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill. It will make or break a company ... a church ... a home.

The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past. We cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable.

The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude ... I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me, and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you ... we are in charge of our Attitudes.

 

I need to tape this to my bathroom mirror and read it every morning...my attitude lately hasn't been great and it's up to me to change that!

Everyone needs to read...

this book! Seriously, I finished it awhile ago but it's one of the best books I've ever read and I tell everyone I can about it! It's one of those books where I was sad it was over. Let me know if you read it, and what you think!

Here's a little snippet of what it's about:

In Kathryn Stockett's stunning fiction debut, The Help, three ordinary women are about to take one extraordinary step . . .Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone. Aibileen is a black maid, a wise, regal woman raising her seventeenth white child. Something has shifted inside her after the loss of her own son, who died while his bosses looked the other way. She is devoted to the little girl she looks after, though she knows both their hearts may be broken. Minny, Aibileen's best friend, is short, fat, and perhaps the sassiest woman in Mississippi. She can look like nobody's business, but she can't mind her tongue, so she's lost yet another job. Minny finally finds a position working for someone too new to town to know her reputation. But her new boss has secrets of her own. Seemingly as different from one another as can be, these women will nonetheless come together for a clandestine project that will put them all at risk. And why? Because they are suffocating within the lines that define their town and their times. And sometimes lines are made to be crossed. In pitch-perfect voices, Kathryn Stockett creates three extraordinary women whose determination to start a movement of their own forever changes a town, and the way women - mothers, daughters, caregivers, friends - view one another. A deeply moving book filled with poignancy, humour, and hope, The Help is a timeless and universal story about the lines we abide by, and the ones we don't.