Couple of my BEST friends......

The classmates who were there.... My bud Brenda and I...we've known each other our entire lives...really!

One of my best friends, Tisha and I.....we've been close friends since 1st grade.

Here are a couple photos from the reunion......... love the photos of my friends and I. These two friends are probably two of the ones who know me the best. Tish and I share a LOT of secrets about each other....things NO ONE else knows! Brenda and I have been buds since we were infants...she's like the sister I've never had. With the two of them..it doesn't matter how much time passes between chats or visits...I know they are there for me!

some more calendar pages

getting some LOs done...

Finally getting back into the scrapping world.....and getting some calendar pages done!

Thursday 13

Borrowed this idea from one of my best friends, Tisha.....I love reading her Thursdsay 13 as they are always on a theme!

This week...13 things I am looking forward to!

1. TOMORROW....tracking off! Off work for a month!
2. A chance to have slower paced mornings for a while.......
3. Disneyland....we'll be paying the mouse a visit in a couple weeks.
4. Halloween.......not one of my favorite holidays but the boys love it and this year they decided we didn't need to go spend $$$ on costumes and they are making due with what we have. They'll trick or treat while I visit at a friend's house...who's birthday is Halloween!
5. The cyber crop at The Scrapcity (www.thescrapcity.com) come hang out with us...there are going to be TONS of challenges
6. More time next month to scrap....
7. Spending time hanging out with Alex
8. Cooler weather to come...and time to go out and play in it
9. Thanksgiving.....a chance to visit with family we don't see often.
10. Time......just time!
11. The end of soccer season......not too excited about our coach and his attitude.
12. Getting to stay in my jammies all morning...
13. See #1!!!!

I survived....

Well...the week is over and I survived and it was a BLAST!!!!

Seeing friends that I hadn't seen in 10 years....I was worried I wouldn't recognize some. But as soon as I walked up to the football stands on Friday night and looked down I instanted recognized a dear friend....I think we both yelled and ran to each other!!! LOL!!! Lots of catching up...then a great surprise to see a friend who I didn't think would be there. A friend I have known since I was a baby...almost cried seeing her. She was my matron of honor and only lives an hour away (in the same town we went to school in) but life hasn't brought us together for about 6 years.

Saturday family picnic and Saturday night dinner/dance brought more fun, more time to visit and catch up. My fears of not recognizing people never really came to life as most of the people I really was excited to see I instantly knew who they were....like they had stepped out of our yearbook!!! There were a few of the "WHO is that???"...but usually for the people that I really didn't know well in school.

One thing I noticed was that we still kind of grouped together like we would have in high school. Saturday's lunch had those of us who were there sitting where and with those that we would have sat with 20 years ago. Dinner was the same....those who were close in school sat together and unfortunately some really didn't try to mingle with others. But I saw those I wanted to...caught up with those who I hadn't seen in 10-20 years and left me hoping that we don't lose contact again!

Is the week over yet???

Ohhh, that's right..it's ONLY Monday! Pretty bad when on Monday you are already thinking that the week has been too long and there are too many things to be done! Just wondering if there is ONE more thing I can cram into my days.....

My list of things to do, people to see, places to go for just this week:
1. work EVERYDAY! (WHY did I decide to take this job???? I miss my days off)
2. guitar practice, soccer practice tomorrow afternoon.....
3. meeting at April's to finalize things for the reunion, get things ready...
4. dinner 1+ hours north of here on Wed. with Dave's parents for E's birthday.
5. Give E his gifts...at some point before Friday.
6. Laundry...is it ever ending????
7. scout shopping trip for campout....
8. Soccer practice...again...
9. packing....for the reunion, scout camping trip...for 4 people!
10. finish making centerpieces for the reunion
11. make sure cameras are charged
12. A's parent/teacher conference on Friday at 7:20AM! What was his teacher thinking??????
13. A's field trip.....
14. Not to mention the daily..homework and house work!

I am excited about our 20 year reunion but nervous that it will all come out okay. Worried that the boys will be warm enough camping on Saturday night with scouts.

Will keep up here on how I am doing with my never ending list.....

Some cards...

This card set was made with 2 sheets of patterned paper and 3 sheets of cardstock! NO scraps left over....all of the papers were used!!! Oh, the complete set has 3 of each of these cards!

All the cards are made with CTMH products!

The end of another week....

Only 2 more weeks until I am off for the month of November....and so many exciting things going on between now and the end of November!!!!!

Getting excited for the reunion next week..hope it's as fun as I am hoping it will be!!!!! Oh and the EXCITING news is that Dave and I are going to a Billy Joel concert!!! I happened to come across that he was going to be in Fresno so on a whim I tried to get tickets and there were some left!!!!! I told Dave when I got home and he ordered some for us....he's always been a big huge fan and passed up an opportunity to see him play in college.

Other exciting news is that...on a whim I decided to try for a DT position at the new forum ScrapCity....well, I made it through the first cut!!!!! YEAH!!! A few more weeks and a crop the weekend of Oct. 26th and they will announce the final DT!!! Come check out the new site cause it's fun!

Also....check out the new club kit at The Shaker Box!!!!!! BEAUTIFUL!!!!!! Gonna have to get me one of those!

Indian Griding Rock

What a great day we had visiting Indian Grinding Rock State Park where the marblized limestone has over 1,000 bedrock mortars.....more than anywhere else in the country. This is where the Miwok Indian tribe of California lived. Since Evan just learned more about the Miwok's at 6th grade Outdoor Ed and Alex is learning about it in Social Studies we decided to take a drive up there today. A beautiful fall day.....

Thursday 13....

Okay...back for another edition of Rambling Thursday 13.....

1. 3 weeks to TRACK OFF!!!!! For those of you who don't know what that is....we are year-round education here....3 months in school and 1 month off. We 'track off' for the month on Oct. 26th and don't return until the Monday after Thanksgiving!

2. That means 4 1/2 weeks until DISNEYLAND!!!! Dave's mom and I are taking the boys to Disneyland for 3 days (gone 5....a day to drive each direction!)...I can't wait!!!! LOVE Disneyland and we haven't been in about 4 years!

3. Halloween....trying to teach the boys to be creative with their costumes and not have to buy some expensive, cheaply made costume from the store that will get outgrown or destroyed! I think they want to be rockers....a drummer and a guitarist!

4. Work is keeping me busy....which is the reason I am so excited for #1 in the list! I think we are all at our 'limits' right now and need a break!

5. Countdown to my 20 year high school reunion....only 2 weeks away!!!! I'm on the committee and need to make posters and the centerpieces for the tables. I'm really looking forward to seeing those who are showing up...however, out of a class of 165 people only about 40 classmates are actually going to the reunion. Kind of sucks...although a lot of the people not going are the ones who always looked down on others.

6. In 2 weeks I'll have an 11 year old! Can you believe that he'll be 11???? I can't...where did my little boy go! This week he's off at Outdoor Ed....6th graders go to our outdoor ed campus for 3 days...I'm sure he's having a blast. Not doing much for his birthday this year...it's the same weekend as the reunion (see #5) and a scout camping trip.

7. Soccer....would it be bad for me to say I am looking forward to it ending??? Alex is having fun but 2 practices a week and Saturday games is wearing on me. And while his coach is good, he seems to put a lot of pressure on them to win. Not too thrilled with him learning the winning is everything/the only thing at age 8!

8. Wondering if this long term job I have now will last only until Feb. or all year. While the money is nice (well, it will be when I get a paycheck!), I really miss the time I had last year to relax, spend unrushed time getting things done....feeling the pressures of workign full time again!

9. Fall...LOVE IT!!!! It's cooled off....this weekend I want to take a drive into the hills to visit a state park and then a couple wineries...hoping for some good fall color. Here's it's hit and miss for fall color...and when it starts to change it doesn't last long. Maybe even get our Christmas card photo taken somewhere....

10. Have you checked out the kits that Michele has put together at the Shaker Box??? Go check them out and get your hands on one of them!!!! Think I will go pick up an October one for myself.....

11. Have been having fun scrapping lately....was in a funk for a while but seemed to have gotten the groove back. Need to get busy on Christmas gifts.....those calendars! This year my dilemma is: I used to make 3...one for Dave, his dad and my dad. With my dad passing away, I had my brother take this year's calendar I had made for our dad. Now...do I continue to make 3 and make the 3rd one for my brother? Or go back to making 2? Maybe I'll make my brother a smaller one????

12. Just finished reading a couple AWESOME books: The Choice by N. Sparks...it's his new one and definately leaves you thinking about following the wishes of a loved one and whether to follow them in time of need. The other one was The Long Walk Home (sorry forgot the author)....which was also very thought provoking. I recommend both of them!

13. Tragedy struck our little school community yesterday....a little girl was crossing the street and was struck by a car. She has multiple breaks/fractures from head to toe, brain hemorages and had to have surgery to restore circulation in her legs. Really shook up our principal who lost a student years ago (at another school, in another town) the same way. Please keep little Rachel in your prayers.

God Bless you all...and have a great week!