Friday, December 19, 2008

I Hope You Dance! - Afton, Box Album




I made this box with an accordion booklet for Afton, using the lyrics to the song "I Hope You Dance" by LeAnn Womack.  I've always thought they fit for Afton's personality.  The bright colors are a good representation of her too.

What I do

Journaling:
Kid driving, camera toting, hubby loving, scrapbook designing, house cleaning, dog walking, dinner making, stay-at-home mom

My life is to make your life easier
I wouldn't change a thing

as of Sept. 2007

Perfect Excuse 4 A Party

Journaling:
4th Grade
IT'S THE LAST DAY OF SCHOL!!!
Estaban, RJ, Jacob, Marcus (hidden in back) and Brady played and partied and WHOOPED IT UP! all afternoon on the last day of school!
June 6, 2008

The Making of...



Journaling:
It's so fun to see the cousins work together on these movie projects.  Kelsi is a great writer/director.  Afton, Kaylinne and Brook are willing and talented actresses and even the little kids do a great job despite, bit words, hot weather or tough working conditions.  The making of GREAT MEMORIES!
The making of A Pirate's Life!

100 Miles

October 11, 2008
Condor Classic
Hollister, CA
Loren Dickson
Brad Meyer
Rick Shattuck
100 miles in under 7 hours (barely)

Heidi's Favs

I stamped the blue and pink flowers on transparencies and then painted the back.

My cat Heidi died this year. When I knew the end was getting near I wrote down these things she liked to do. After she died I made this page in her memory.

Heidi's Favs
sitting in the sun
helping me feel better when I'm sad
clawing cardboard
knocking over her bowl
following me around
talking
taking care of Truly
standing up to dogs
coming when I call
playing with her tail
rolling around on the sidewalk
growling at brad


Go Big or Go Home

I wanted to create the feel of a faded OP shirt that I used to wear back in the 8th grade

Empathy

I love customizing existing paper to make it my own creation, ink, stamps, paint, sandpaper are some of my favorites

Confessions of a Jacket Junkie

I used bleach on a rubber stamp on the photo and the paper to make an interesting effect.

I don't know, maybe it's the snaps, the zippers, the rivets, buttons, zipper pulls, great textures, or the tneed I have for layering or the fact they cover a multitude of unsightly bulges, but whatever the reason I LOVE JACKETS!!! I've been known to buy 3 jackets on the same day. I've been known to solicit the help of friends and family to keep me from buying a jacket when we venture into a store.

Every year I try to cut back.  I start off by donating 2-3 jackets to charity.  But at the first hint of fall fashions hitting the stores 3-4 seem to automatically jump back into my closet

I don't usually intend on buying a jacket when I go shopping.  But it all goes out the window (or should I say the door) when I find the cutest jacket, in the best color at a great price.

Some of my favorite places to shop for jackets?  TJ Maxx, The Gap, American Eagle, and Costco.  As you can tell, a great jacket does not need to be pricy.  In fact 2 of my very favorite jackets cost under $7, a price like that only makes the attraction sweeter.

There are probably those who feel I need a 12-step program to help me overcome my addiction.  But I, at least for now, don't see it as a problem.  It's just something I do to treat myself nice.  And I deserve it.

At last count:
1 camo
6 denim
3 leather
1 rain
5 corduroy
3 ponchos
3 with fake fur
2 fleece
4 sweatshirts
1 velvet
1 beach pullover
2 plaid
2 super bargains
3 paid way too much



The Five

Kelsi's 13th Birthday
Angela
Bonnie
Kelsi
Alyssa
Anna

Music

Journaling:
Audio technology is changing so fast right now.  I thought it would be appropriate to document the beginning of the ipod.  the ipod has revolutionized the way we listen and purchase music.  My initial reaction to ipods was that they are way too expensive to be worth it.  But now.  I think I've beenconverted.  I love listening to country, rock and 80's music all at a touch of a button. No changing disks, no scratches, no cases sitting aroun making amess, songs organized by group, genre, date, in alphabetical order or even random.  Playlists can be changed or updated in an instant, there are all sorts of websites to preview and sample different  songs and different artists. No wonder my music interests broaden and change daily.

I am even enjoying my daily walks more with my ipod strapped to my arm, keeping up with the beat of Erasure keeps me bopping along and I find myself home before I know it.  I'm sure the neighbors think of me as the dancing neighbor.  I just can't help it.

It's not just limited to music either, we downloaded comedy clips and sound bites: and now with the new video ipods we can watch music videos, movie shorts and even feature length films.

Here are some of the things I like listening to on my ipod nano right now
May 11, 2006

(My favorites are listed all over the page.)

Special Bond

Owners of Mustard Moon (Past and Present)
Awww, I love these guys!

Nothing

Journaling:
Human nature is so funny and so dramatic.
It cracks mu up that when we have a small inconvience we dramatize and say, "Oh, there's nothing worse than..."  when in reality, there are LOTS of things that are worse.  Of course I have to marvel also when, we as humans, revel in a simple joy and then say, "Oh wow! There's nothing better than..." and for the moment there IS nothing better.  I love being human.
Here are some of my nothings...

Better than:
Good music while I'm cleaning
Costco frozen yogurt
Wearing super cute shoes
The smell of fresh baked bread
Waking up in the night and realizing you still have 3 hours to sleep

Worse than:
Cigarette smoke blown in your face
A cold toilet seat
Forgetting your cell phone in the charger
Having to unload the dishwasher to load it again
Food stuck in between your teeth with no toothpick or floss handy
Stubbing your toe while making your bed
Traveling when you have the flu

Sweet Freedom





Journaling (behind photo):

So this is what it's like to have complete freedom.  Last October we planned, with Rob and Christy Eggers, to have a weekend away to go antiquing up in the Jackson area of California. After much deliberating over dates, places to stay, stores to shop at, and general itinerary, we decided to just "wing it", something none of us had ever done.  It was strange when people asked us where we were staying we had to say, "I don't know."  We knew the area  we wanted to go, but we decided we really didn't need that kind of structure.  How weird!  We stopped where we wanted we ate when we felt like it, we stayed as long or as short as we wanted.  At our first pit stop while waiting in line for the facilities we started looking at the dumb hats lining the wall of the gas station.  We decided we all needed a hat, a new identity for the trip.  So, that was that, we got new hats.  Later as we were flying down the highway we saw this old... I don't know... water wagon, in front of another gas station.  Laughingly we commented that we should stop and take a picture in front of it.  We weren't on any time frame.  Within moments we were standing in front of a broken down water wagon, camera set precariously on the hood of the car... and voila... this picture came to pass. How fun this all was, is this what it is like to be free of responsibility for a day or two.  Free from cooking and cleaning, free from work, from kids, free from church callings, from the phone ;and from almost all of our daily routines.  We stopped at a roadside chocolate shop, took pictures with strange statues (of course sporting our new hats). We ate Mexican food, we strolled in and out of antique and art stores, we drove up the road we drove back we went to a movie (opening night of Zorro) We chose a hotel, we registered, we then stayed up late watching the dumbest movie on the planet (Terminal) and eating Hershey's hot fudge.  In the morning we ate breakfast at... what was it?  The Waffle Barn? (I can't remember for sure)  We shopped more, we laughed, we scored good deals, we bought seemingly strange things, rusty wagon wheels, dented fire extinguishers and an LP record called "The Stripper and other songs for the whole family"  Say what?  We ate ice cream and took more photos.  We had a great time and possibly even convinced our husbands that an antiquing trip could be fun.  So much fun in fact, that we might do it again, especially after swallowing a big dose of freedom... sweet freedom.

Afton Style

No journaling necessary on this layout.  I like the bright colors, it fits Afton's personality.  I also liked what I was able to do with the photo.  It was an old "film" photo so I couldn't do any computer editing.  It was a very cluttered photo with people in the background and a head in the front.  I was able to cut the top and put a flower on the bottom.  Now you would never know it started out to be a pretty lousy photo.

You Cutie

Man I love this kid! We have this little thing where we call each other cutie.  I never get tired of it.

Journaling:
I love when he puts his hands on my cheeks and says, "You cutie!" I know it means I love you.

Magazine Collage

Ok, I know this isn't really a scrapbook page.  But I've always liked the randomness of this collage I made from old magazines.  And I made it for really, no apparent reason.

I Love Your Guts

Ooooo, I like the way this one turned out. Paint is one of my favorite things to put on a layout, just for that extra touch!

Journaling:
How could I do without this guy? My life would be dull and boring without having his guts to love!
Hale' Ewa '07

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Baby Love

Journaling: 
Brenna is the first girl after 4 boys... She has the cutest face and is very mild mannered.  She is so easy to love.
Apr. 11, 2007

I Like to Move It, Move It

Journaling:
Collin has been known to  walk up to people, complete strangers as it were, and simply state "I like to Move It! Move It!"  And you know what? It's true!  That kid is Crazy!!

The Latest Buzz

I love this one.  Just fun and quick. 

Journaling:
Brandon can sell ice cubes to snowmen.  The snowmen in this case were Arnell and Ari.  The ice cubes...buzzed haircuts.

Saturday, December 6, 2008

My Tribe -- Mini-Album











The title, "My Tribe" was taken from an article I read about friends, co-workers, neighbors etc. taking the place of families that, in these times of great transiency, often live far away. I have a great group of friends, and while I have a little bit of family around, my friends fulfill a huge role in my life.  This book is a tribute to them.

Tranquil

I love the word Tranquil and this picture I took at Yosemite is perfect tranquil photo

Journaling:
Yosemite in the Spring is so beautiful.  I was totally taken with all the "new green" I saw, and the peaceful, serene feeling it gave me as we hiked.

Too Much Black & White

Journaling:
Halloween 2006
Brady knew all year waht he wanted to be for Halloween.  I don't know where he got the idea, but in the end he had had just a little too much BLACK & WHITE.

Essence of Afton

Enjoy Life
Sweet
Sassy
Spunky
eleven

Meyer Family - mini-album



You're Only As Old As You Are

Journaling:
One of Brad's cock-eyed sayings
it sounds wise
but makes absolutely no sense

Trinity Lake 2006
Brad and Loren

Love -- Mini-Album










I love all the "LOVE" sayings from the movie Moulin Rouge.  It was fun to put them together with some notes and photos of Brad and Me.