Oh, Snow Much Fun!!

Well, it has been a delightful 2 1/2 days since Brad arrived back for a short visit. Oliver and I picked Daddy up at the airport on thursday night...everyone was all smiles as Oliver ran to jump into his Daddy's arms. Wanna see the joy?

On friday we slept in and around lunchtime, we decided to head up to Mt. Charleston to check out the snow, and possibly do some sledding, depending on what we found. With all the rain the Las Vegas area had earlier this week, the mountain received 27 inches of snow. A mere 39 miles from our home took us into some pretty territory with plenty of snow for Oliver to see. Pure delight at his first glimpse and touching of snow.

We try to take a photo of Oliver in the pristine snow, so Brad carries him up the slope a short way and drops him down. The pure delight fades into uncertainty as the snow is thigh-deep on Oliver. It is a tough balancing-act for the little guy. Also apparent is our lack of appropriate snow gear. The ice crystals promptly crust onto Oliver's jeans, and his gloves are too big and keep falling off. Obviously, we are not prepared. :) Nobody seemed to mind, though.

We walk across the street to the sledding area to give our sled a whirl. I knew we would not be staying a long time, as Oliver was still getting over a cold/cough, besides the fact that we had no snow gear on and the temperature was a frigid 23 degrees. But Oliver was gung-ho...the snow had him mesmerized, and from this moment on the giant grin on his face never disappeared.

Oliver and I give the sled a try. Not a very big hill, but new to us so it was a thrill. A little tricky as it was extremely slippery, but once we got going the squeals of delight never stopped!







Brad comes flying down the hill sideways...


...and does typical Daddy-duty of pulling Oliver along.

A close-up of Oliver's face as he is being pulled by Brad. Notice the non-stop, mile-wide grin. :)


I don't think we were gone 2 hours. But after leaving our 15 minutes of thrills and frozen fingers, we wondered how it is that we have lived here 11 years and never visited Mt. Charleston in winter to enjoy the snow? We decided that it would not be our last visit!

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Sending out a lot of sweetness and hugs on this lovely Valentine's Day! Oliver sends out warm, chocolate-y kisses for Meme, Papa, Grandaddy and Uncle Wawa today, but the most special kiss goes to ReeRee, as this wonderful day is also her BIRTHDAY! We all love you lots! A special shout-out to Uncle Steve, too, as his birthday is today, too...it is hard to forget these Valentine birthdays! :)

Credits: All papers by Anna Aspnes-Aqua, Avalanche, Calypso, Confiture, Cream, and Sol .

Happy Birthday, Momma!!

'Nuff said. All the love in the world is being sent to you!

Love from Bid, Brad, and The Kid.

Credits: All papers by Anna Aspnes-Aqua, Avalanche 2, Confiture, and Cream.

Back on the Blog!

Wow. It has been 2 months since I have blogged! The last few months have been a bit harried, but things are starting to slow down enough where I can get in a few words. So many things have happened, but I will squeeze them in bit by bit, here and there. However, my first post back will be some fun and exciting stuff...

After a short hiatus I have actually had time to get back into my digital scrapbooking. Sometimes a little break is all that is needed to help get the creative juices flowing. I was able to produce FOUR layouts this last week. For me, that is a LOT. Not that I get anything done any more quickly, but sometimes I get lucky and the perfect pictures and thoughts hit me. Thwack!!! It worked out well! Today, this next layout, Breathe Deep, was featured at today's gallery standouts!! I am just so dang tickled I can't even tell you! This is a picture of Oliver at the beach in Gulf Shores, AL this past September. Normally I have the hardest time coming up with words that feel right, but this time I was struck by the beauty of the picture and the words (though few) just flowed...I LOVE the end result, too:

CREDITS: From Vinnie Pearce at Pixel Canvas--Baby's Breath paper (blended) and Page Mask. From Designer Digitals--Anna Aspnes-Monoblendz Oceana and Kakao papers (blended and clipped), Distressed Tool Set 3, 12 x 12 Distressed Edge Overlays 5, Katie Pertiet-Drop Shadows.

I love to experiment with different scrapping styles, and this is my attempt at the minimalist look that I really admire. Normally I have a hard time with this as I prefer my pictures to be BIG and the main focus of the layout, without a bunch of "stuff." However, I was very pleased with how this one turned out:

Leaves in Winter

Credits: From Designer Digitals--Katie Pertiet-Little Paper Leaves, Drop Shadows, Lynn Grieveson-Essential Bases, Anna Aspnes-Autumnal brushes and Scanty Journal Lines 3, Pattie Knox-Brad Bonanza and Staple Its. From Catscrap--Creashens-As I Am (papers).

Back to an easy style of letting the photo do all the work:

'lil Flap Hat

Credits: From Designer Digitals--Mindy Terasawa-Smilin' at Me Solids, Lynn Grieveson-In Distress, Pattie Knox-heart brad from Have Heart Felt, Anna Aspnes- 12x12 Edge overlays 6. The template I used is #46 by LizDesigns.

And lastly, this one was for the photo-tinting challenge over at 2PeasInABucket. This is more my usual style with lots of blending. Just Oliver being all sweet and sharing during our Valentine's Day 2007 Photo Shoot.

A Joy Shared

CREDITS:From Designer Digitals--Lynn Grieveson-Hint at It 3 and paper from Blue Water Kit (clipping mask), Pattie Knox-Hang Its and Staple Its, Anna Aspnes-Distressed Edges 3 and Distressed Tool Set 5. From Vinnie Pearce at Pixel Canvas--papers from Naturals and The Typography Corner (blended together), little heart from gemstone frame. And from Fei-Fei's Stuff-Joy Wordart.

Well, I will have to leave it at this for today. Dinnertime is calling...