Successful Campout and Rachel with a cell phone:

I thought this variety of bearded Iris was lovely! I photographed the flower during our family Easter Egg Hunt.


_{Country Hill Kit designed by Sandra Boddington at Sweet Shoppe Designs.
Postmark by JennV}



This is my, oh so silly, niece! She finds immense joy in hamming it up for the camera, which provides me with joy, too!


_{Florist Garden designed by Sandra Boddington}

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Michael and the scouts had a rather successful outing to work on Canoeing and Swimming requirements for the merit badges. The boys learned how to deal with a swamped canoe, switch places in the canoe and jump out and re-enter the canoe. They also learned how to help someone else whose canoe has been swamped. Aaron was able to pass off the first class requirements with the help of his Blazer leader, Bro. Adam Kotter.

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My stepfather allowed Rachel to use my mother's cell phone when they went to get the car serviced and pick out some clothes. Read his hilarious blog and see a photo of Rachel looking quite techno with a cell phone stuck to her ear!

E is for Explorer:

I really like ATCs...Can you tell?!?

_{Background Paper: IOD's Adelaide's Letter
Frame: Rhonna Farrer
Fairy: Hope Wallace
Carpet bag, Flying hat, and hot air balloon from the internet
Stamp: IOD's Felina
Postmark: JennV
Font: Marginal PX
Alpha: Century font with a IOD's San Salvatore paper then color burned.}

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My explorers are canoing today with the scout troop. Michael took the troop to Stone Mountain for a practice run with the canoes and two boys baptized themselves because they stood up in the canoe. It should be interesting to see how the campout goes.

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<sub>This is a photo of my two sons, Noah and Aaron. They rarely get along, but when we went to Six Flags Over Georgia they rode most of the rides together because they wanted to.


"Homecoming Kit", "Florist Kit", "Persimmons in Summer" designs by Sandra Boddington


Font: Pea Alesa


Overlay by Nancy Rowe Janitz</sub>

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My stepfather, Jim, sent me some photos of my brother doing his sweeping thing, so I will scrap them in a couple of days with his story. Another fun layout I'm trying to figure out is Eve's retelling of the story of Jesus' resurrection. Eve has replaced the angels with fairies that roll away the stone, so I will scrap it like I think she thinks about what happened.

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I need to go make a smoothie and mow the lawn now that it isn't raining and the sun isn't to high over head. By the way on the smoothie...i've been adding frozen peaches and they are so mild they don't seem to change the taste much, but for some reason it lends a "clean" taste to the flavor. Don't know really how to explain.

Have a lovely weekend all!

Painted Turtle(Chrysemys Picta)

_{Primitive Scrapbooking and Primitive Art by Mo Jackson, background from Arti-bytes (Hunibuni), note paper from BYOBB Kit by Gina Miller, Painted Alpha by Rhonna Farrer, Arrow by Katie Pertiet, Date Stamp by Jenn Star, Dragonfly by Jen Wilson, Fonts: Pea Girly Girl Script, Pea Lis, Artistamp Medium, Pea Jenny Script.}



Identification: Shell hard, smooth, somewhat flattened; bright yellow lines on head and limbs; lower shell orange or reddish, with dark markings (most conspicuous in juveniles); upper shell often with narrow yellow lines (less yellow in larger individuals), less often with network of dark lines; upper jaw notched at tip; upper shell of female up to about 25 cm (9.8 inches), though rarely more than 21 cm (8 inches); males much smaller.

Mature male: Vent located beyond rear edge of upper shell carapace when tail is extended; claws on front feet very long; lower shell flat.


Habitat: Permanent ponds, reservoirs, marshes, river backwaters, slow-moving streams, and nearby temporary waters such as those that are seasonally flooded. Favors waters with a soft bottom, abundant aquatic vegetation, and partially submerged logs or other places for basking. Often many bask on a single log.

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We had a hot, yet nice time at a lake near my parent's home. I took the kids out in the canoe, while Grandpa Jim and Michael took the kayaks. Their was hardly a breeze to be had, so we got uncomfortably hot pretty fast. We got to see some really cool painted turtles sunning themselves on a protruding tree branch. We got home just as the rain started pouring down in torrents.

I looked up information on the turtle I saw and found out that it was a male. I also noticed from my photo that he had a reddish plastron, which keeps it from being an Eastern Painted Turtle because, as I understand it, they have yellow plastons. Anyway, he was quite handsome!

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Good News for Aaron. Thanks to a great family in our ward, the Frost family, Aaron will be able to achieve his Second Class scout rank. He was afraid to swim the required length of the pool. He will jump in the 10 foot section off of the diving board, but rushes instantly to the side, so he didn't have the freestyle stroke techinique. Karen Frost and one of her sons, Mark, helped Aaron work on the stroke he needed and to work up to the requirement in increments. Karen used to be Aaron's Den leader and he really trusts her. Michael had mentioned Aaron's need of help to the Frosts at our ward Luau just last Saturday, and on Monday afternoon I got a call from Mark setting up a time at our local pool. This family is such a blessing for Aaron, and us!

Playin' in the Sand can be so much Fun:

...just ask Eve!


Text: Eve's favorite place to play at the park is in the sand box. Swings are a close second. She loves to repeatedly bury her feet in the sand.
When she finishes playing she wants every grain of sand removed, PRONTO!


_{Background paper and small alpha from Havana Kit by Jan Crowley, Beachy Alpha by Monica McClain, filmstrip by Jen Wilson, leather rose element, paper strip, hang tag and woven cloth by Michelle Coleman, fonts: Pea Angedawn, Susie's Hand.}

I'm not sure if there is any kid who has ever existed who doesn't like playing in the sand, making forts, sand castles, and burying their toes only to have their toes suddenly escape their sandy prison to reappear and have to be subdued over and over again! Their is a limit to where I put sand, though! I was DISTANTLY acquainted with a little boy in preschool who would run behind the tree at recess and scoop handfuls of dirt up and eat it. I was highly disturbed by this behavior. In my later years I learned of the disorder called PICA where people actually crave dirt because they lack minerals. UGH! From start to finish that is just a bad deal! I suppose you could eat Wheaties or something, but hey, I won't eat Wheaties either. I'm a Rice Krispies (original...thank you) with not too much milk. I say that because I do NOT like to drink the milk left over after I have finished eating my cereal. Disgusting stuff in my mind! When I was a kid and we got the extra cool junkie sugary cereal like Sugar Smacks, Captain Crunch Berry, or Fruit Loops I would eat those with NO milk because the syrupy sugar mess it created was too much. I ended up with raw skin on the roof of my mouth from eating my cereal commando, but I found this a better alternative to heaving up some nasty sugar milk. Oh, the diatribe we do weave we we type to...(no deceiving here).

Have a great weekend! We plan to go canoeing in the lake near my folks house!