Lisa's Blog

I am not an animal lover. I mean I cry when I see one hurt or a stray that nobody cares about. My mom and sisters laugh really hard when they think about me having a dog and a cat living in my home! The chewed up shutters, the hair that seems to be everywhere, the occasional accident. The cat hates the dog and really bullies Maggie.

Well--we've had a stray little black cat with the greenest eyes hanging around our home for the past few months. Maggie and this Kitty (my kids call it Twilight) are the best of friends. Maggie bullies Twilight to death and she/he takes it! Of course, I feel sorry for the cat so I feed it. Imagine my complete and utter surprise to come home a few weeks ago from church to discover the dog had somehow broken into our home (she was out back while at church) and she and the stray little cat were laying side by side taking a nap in the sheets of my unmade bed!!! I about died. (I hadn't gotten my bed made that Sunday before church!) I'm a germ freak and I don't want animals in or on my bed--especially a stray cat!

I've been trying to get a good picture of the two of them but unfortunately Twilight is wild and can't be caught. We've tried so we can take her to the vet--no luck.

I got this one the other day:



This is a cute example of how we should all be with each other!

It's camp week for my kids this week.

Kade went with this bunch of 18-year-old kids (plus about 100 more) on a three week tour across America. He's only been gone two days and miss him terribly.



Brecken is at our a church young womens camp all week. She was so excited to finally be able to go (you have to be 12).



Sage goes to a sports camp every afternoon and Collin goes to football from 6-10 in the morning, then basketball camp in the afternoon.

Whew! I'm tired just thinking about all this!

Hope summer is going well for you!

Lisa

The first week of summer has come and gone and can I just say I love this time of year--my absolute favorite. So far we've had several BBQs, pool parties, a hike to a cool cave, pedicures, and many different types of camps. Kade is still gone for two more weeks. He's in a place called Palmyra, New York today.

Okay--so I have to tell you that this is my new favorite sport.



Please, go buy a wiffleball set and have tons of fun. Old and young alike can play. I still have a funny image in my head of my then 78-year-old mother sliding into second base last summer! Thanks, Kerri, for capturing this family moment!

Happy Warm Weather! Remember--it's doesn't matter what you do as long as it's together.

Sincerely,
Lisa

P.S. Please share some of your favorite activities to do in the summer. I want to go on lots of adventures with my kids.

Hey Everyone!

I recently found out about a terrific scrapbooking gal who desperately needs our love, support and prayers. Barb Larsen is from Montana and has been sick for months with lots of testing going on. They finally found a tumor the size of a baseball in her spleen. This is a very rare kind of cancer and she has been in a lot of pain.

This is a photo of Barb (on the right) with my pal, Lori Chadwick.





The hospitals in Montana have told her this is to big for them and they are transferring her to Houston, Texas. Even with all of this going on, she has been working on the farm and continuing her work with her 4H girls. She was even painting the animal pens at the state fair with her girls last week. When asked why she would possibly do this, she said it was the best way to ignore the pain because it would be a long time before she would get to work with her girls again. She loves scrapbooking and is very dedicated to it. She even teaches her 4H girls and they make albums together.

Let's all send Barb a card and a note of support to let her know we are thinking of her. She leaves for Texas on June 15 but her family will forward the cards to her.

Her information is:

Barb Larsen
Box 116
Galata, MT 59444

When you send a card, just leave your name, hometown and state on this blog. I will be gone for the next week on vacation but when I return (Friday June 19th) I will randomly select two people who have sent a card. Here's the fun part. I will send a box of scrapbooking goodies to each of the winners! So--don't delay. Send your card to Barb today. It will surely put a big smile on her face to know people all over the world are thinking of her.

Also, I'm going to Mississippi for the first time in my life! This is one of the few states state I've never been to (Alaska is the the other) and I'm super excited. I'd love you to join me. I'll be attending Scrap-n-on the River, a wonderful charity event in Natchez, on July 23, 24 and 25th. I'm excited to teach some classes and to mingle with you. For more information, go here.

I'm off to Lake Powell. Cross your fingers that the weather cooperates better than it did a few weeks ago.

Sincerely,
Lisa

Thanks to everyone who entered the contest today by sending Barb a card. If you haven't yet, you still have a week before I'll select two winnters. For more information, read the post below.

Okay--so today was one of "those" days. I'm trying to get out the door for a week long vacation to Lake Powell. My hubby and I started packing last Saturday. It's such a pain to get ready for--bedding, food, towels, toiletries, life jackets, water toys, games, etc. But once I'm there, it's all worth it. On top of the mayhem of getting ready, here's what else I had going on today:

* A large deadline at work (I'm finishing it tonight--probably won't go to bed)
* Ten girls ages 10-11 over from church for an activity day.
* Thank you notes written
* A visit to the hospital--a dear friend had emergency open-heart surgery last Friday and just got out of ICU
* A trip to the airport to drop off a car for our Florida friends to drive down to Lake Powell
* A trip to the book store
* Took a present over to Jacquelyn Hurley for her birthday
* Rear ended a car (luckily no damage)
* A trip to Costco and my local super market
* Laundry
* Packing
* More laundry
* A quick smoothie break with a friend (thanks, Pam!)
* Clothes dropped off at the local Good Will
* Cleaned the car that was dropped off at the airport
* More laundry
* Ran to get a prescription
* Helped Collin with a golf fund-raiser
* Worked out pet sitting for our dog, house cat and stray cat
* Making food for the trip

Okay--you get the picture. I got home at 4:00 p.m. today exhausted. I was greeted by this:



Absolute shock! Brecken had rode her bike to the grocery store with a friend and came home with this 10-week-old kitten! I couldn't believe it. On top of everything else, I now had this responsibility. A grown woman was in the front of the store with this last little kitten. Brecken said she would love it while she was holding it and the lady suddenly vanished in thin air! Brecken said she didn't know she had ask me if she could have a kitten before she bought it home! What?!?

Now for my big question. Is it really legal for an adult to give a kitten to a kid without a parent being there?

After the shock rubbed off, we had a fun time playing pranks on my friends, Kristy Banks and Cherie Janiec. We placed the kitten in a beautiful basket all nestled in a pink fluffy blanket on the front porch and rang the door and ran. We even put a tag on the kitten at each house saying "To Alix (Kristy's daughter), Love, ??" or "To Cherie, Love ??." After a good laugh on each of the door steps (and a ton of convincing to Roy Banks but he didn't budge), we still had no takers. Cherie did help us find a place for "it" to stay (still don't have a name for it) for the next week.

If you live in Utah, let me know if you want a cat! As you can see, it's adorable and would make a lovely pet.

Thanks for listening. And, I'm off to the lake for some much needed rest and relaxation.

Sincerely,
Lisa

Hey Everyone!

I got back from Lake Powell last Thursday and had such a marvelous time. I've wanted to show you photos and tell you about our trip but unfortunately I can't download my pictures to my computer. Total technical problems. So--I will tell you about it in my next entry! Let's just say it was definitely a trip to remember.

First of all, thanks to all who sent Barb a card. Her friend, Lori, wrote me a sweet note and told me how excited Barb was to get so many cards of encouragement and cheer. Her local post office is forwarding them to Texas over the next few weeks while she's getting treatments. If you haven't sent one yet, it's not too late! See the post two below. I'll keep you posted on how Barb is doing.

Here are the two random winners for a box of fun scrapbooking stuff:

Vil4fun
Carol Stoler

Please leave me a message with your snail mail address.

Now a big favor. I have another random act of kindness that I'd love you to participate in. And--by participating, you could win a Creating Keepsakes Just for Fun kit.

One of my sweet neighbors, Dana Lyman, has a dear friend whose son is in the final stages of cancer.



He most likely will not live through the summer. She just spent the last week at his house in Portland, Oregon and since that time has been brainstorming to come up with something fun to do for Spencer. She finally thought of it. She's asking people everywhere to send an envelope to Spencer with a dollar bill inside. Think how great that will be--a mailbox full of envelopes containing a $1 bill. Do not include your return address. This will add to the fun and mystery. He'll know where all envelopes have come from by the postmark. And--if you live in a different country, please participate too. I think Spencer will get quite a kick seeing currency from different countries. This really is easy--no card or creativity required!

Please address your envelope to:
Spencer Hardy
17968 NW Gilbert Lane
Portland, OR 97229

The contest is simple. Once you've sent a dollar bill to Spencer, send me a comment with your name and state (hometown too if you want). If you want to include multiple envelopes, just keep sending me a comment with your information for each envelope sent. I'll choose two winners this Friday (promise!).

Here's what you you'll get the chance to win. One of my all-time favorite kits from Creating Keepsakes: Just for Fun! If you haven't had a chance to purchase it yet, it really is a must have for your scrapbooking stash.

Here is a page by Wendy Sue Anderson--made with contents of the kit:





The kit includes a 7"x12" clear album, 12"x12" paper, rub-ons, creative tags, oversized chipboard numbers, envelopes, chunky double-sided chipboard pages, amazing transparencies, stamps, stickers...the list goes on and on! And the really cool thing with this kit is you can use the clear album pages for an album or use them as dividers within your own 12"x12" album. So whether you're creating an year-in-review album, an album celebrating your vacation to the beach, or simply extending a scrapbook layout, this kit truly lives up to its name-it's Just For Fun!

I'll write again soon. Thanks for your love and support.

Lisa

Just a quick hello and wanted to let you know who won the Just for Fun Creating Keepsakes kit.

Kathy from Aledo, IL
Amy from North Dakota

Please drop me a comment with your snail mail info.

Thanks to all for your support. I know the envelopes are just filling Spencer's mailbox.

I will catch your up on my hectic life next week!

Have a great weekend!

Lisa

I promise that I really am going to post about what I"ve been doing these past few weeks. In fact, you'll never believe what I did for 12 hours on Saturday!

For tonight, I want to give you an update on Spencer Hardy (see post two down).

This is a note from his mom on their blog.

"Spencer got home from Crater Lake Saturday night EXHAUSTED but oh sooooo happy. He hiked the 1.1 miles down and back. What amazing church leaders he has! I think just feeling like a normal 13 year old boy was a gift for him.

Another amazing thing happened yesterday. We went to get the mail (after being neglected for a couple of days) and it was STUFFED with letters to Spencer. I brought the stack into him and one by one I read the postmarks from each envelope than tossed each one to him to him where he was sitting on the floor. The postmarks came from NY, Arkansas, Maine, Texas and on and on. Complete strangers, 130 letters in all each with $1 to treat himself to something fun. I don't know where to begin with this one. Just when you're ready to give up on humanity, 130 small acts of kindness come in your mailbox and you realize how amazing God's children can be! One was from a 5 year old boy in California. The note said, "I got this from the tooth fairy, but you can have it. -Aiden". Thank you angels whoever you are (especially Aiden). Your small act of kindness was HUGE for Spencer."

Spencer's mom has no idea we posted this on my blog. In fact, I'm pretty sure that she doesn't know her friend, Dana, is the initiator of it! And--she's in for a big shock when hundreds more come flooding in. All I can say is I love you all! I wish I could give you a great big hug and tell you how much I appreciate this kind act. You can read more about Spencer here.

Thanks again!

Sincerely,
Lisa