Flashback Friday- A Hop, Skip, and Jump Away & Archery
I’m realizing that I have so many old pics that I ought to share here. . . . so I’m re-starting Flashback Fridays.
This Friday, I bring you some shots of Cody’s Uncle and Cousin back from April 2004. Barbara was working toward qualifying for the Olympic qualifiers in Archery and there was a tournament in College Station. We were really excited that they made the trip from Tennessee. . . they stopped here to visit with us. Then made the drive to College Station- down Hwy 21- If you’ve ever been down that road you know, since it’s one of the oldest routes in Texas, that there are tons of Historical Markers. . . . Barbara shared with us when we met up with them in College Station, that Uncle Jim stopped at all of them!
Here’s a few of the pics I took in College Station with my then pretty new first digital camera:
I love the shot above- Uncle Jim the coach and dad watching over things from a distance.
LOL and I’m remembering now that this was the trip I felt so lost in College Station- I kept looking for the Olive Garden, which I later learned had burned down. . . . . and it threw me off.
I See: Family and Friends
I’m working through a backlog of photos created because I needed to go through over 1,000 hot air balloons. I finished pairing those down and am now looking at the other shots I’ve taken. I know I’ve been quite here on the blog and truth be told, except for a few spurts, haven’t taken nearly the number of shots that I normally do.
But looking back, I see lots of family and friends. That’s a great feeling especially all the memories made. Here’s just a few of those shots.
“Nieces” and “Nephews”- Some being born, others getting older
Friends and Favorite Activities
Family and so much time spent in the Kitchen
A few short vacations. . . . a reminder of a stranger nice enough to stop us and let us know about this bird’s eye view of Dallas.
And lots of hunting. This was one of the best moments this month!
One Little Word Update, Blog Hop, and Giveaway
January’s Gone, but not my One Little Word. Home. In fact, I feel a bit renewed as a new month begins. This month should mean less travel and more time at home. I’m already tuning in to developing some better routines here at home.
Some observations from January:
1) I knew this year would I’d be spending more nights waiting for Cody to come home. But bright and early New Year’s Day, my One Little Word and the Future clicked. I hadn’t thought about waiting for Cody to come home when/if he works nights. He was out on a ride along when I woke up about an hour after he was to “get off”. . . and he wasn’t home. My One Little Word took on a different meaning before 5 AM on 1/1/11.
2) As part of exploring my One Little Word and a prompt from Ali’s One Little Word Class/Community, I looked up the definition from home. I hadn’t thought about baseball when I chose my word. How could I have not thought about that! or Home Field advantage. I love the idea of having home field advantage- at home! When I think of all that it means in sports, it’s brings confidence that things at home can be great this year. (or more confidence that I can keep house, run a business, etc with the advantage of being at home!) I’m also looking forward to SFA baseball starting this month- and sitting behind home plate.
3) Another definition that I loved- In One’s Element- as in at home within oneself. I loved this definition. I hope this year brings that sense to my life this year.
4) Cody and I’ve been getting more stuff done around the house- I’ve got frames nearly painted for the bedroom. We’ve done some re-arranging in the bedroom as well. I’ve cooked more at home. And we’ve got a few small projects we hope to get done in the next few days. (We’re also bringing a new washer into our home. . .)
5) I’ve really spent a great deal of time concentrating on Reflective Scrapbooking and am excited to have scrapbook products available online now and soon some free videos about how to scrapbook digitally. Loving the idea of working from home and my husband’s support as he helps out around our home while I’m working.
6) I’ve loved seeing pictures of my childhood home. As part of another class I’m taking, mom sent pictures my way. I’ve loved looking at all the old pictures- though I’m dreading trying to deal with that lovely orange shag carpet in my scrapbook pages. It’s been fun to see those pictures- including the things in the background of those pictures- the little bits of the stuff of life.
So now, it’s February. Wonder what surprises my One Little Word will bring home this month! I know that I want to work on exercising here at home and building some better routines at home. And I can’t wait to see what prompt Ali brings us today in our One Little Word. (It’s certainly not to late to choose a word for 2011. If you do, I highly recommend joining us in Ali’s class. The community is awesome!)
Speaking of Ali’s class, I’m participating in a blog hop! We’ll be sharing our January Prompts today. And, I’ll be giving away here on this blog the Sinton Paper Collection that I created and used on my January prompt and title page.
One Little Word Title Page
A New Picture taken in front of our home.
Page Protector Page
I created a template (available free here) for use with the page protectors for this class. I really wanted to do something digi that wasn’t just one flat page. This is the file before I printed it here at home and cut out the cards.
Since Ali urged us to handwrite- I decided I’d strike a balance and fill out part of the cards with my own writing. I also took advantage of the size to try some sewing on my page. . . that was pretty fun.
The Giveaway
I’m giving away these papers, the Sinton Paper Collection, to three lucky winners.
To enter the drawing, leave a comment telling me what your One Little Word is or what it could be in 2011. I generate a Randomly drawn winner from those comments left by 8 AM PST time 2/2/11 and announce the winner later on Wednesday. (Comments can be left by clicking the number of comments just below the title of this post.)
The Blog Hop
I want to say thanks to Becky for directing folks over to my blog and encourage you to visit Marlene’s blog next. All of our posts are due up by 8 AM Pacific Time.
Here’s a full list of everyone participating:
- Margie http://www.xnomads.typepad.com
- Jill Conyers http://www.jillconyers.typepad.com/life_as_i_see_it/
- Monica http://www.scraplifters.blogspot.com
- Lynn W http://www.crafty-creativity.blogspot.com
- Miranda http://www,mirandasscrapsite.blogspot.com
- Mandy http://www.captureandcreate.wordpress.com
- Kathy http://www.katswonderings.blogspot.com
- Lisa http://www.makeyourownescape.blogspot.com
- Donna http://www.donnabryantdurand.blogspot.com
- Abbey http://www.athomewiththerichardsfamily.blogspot.com/
- Sam http://www.learncreatedo.wordpress.com/
- April http://www.capturethememories.blogspot.com
- Nicky http://www.seejanebake.blogspot.com
- Rebekah http://www.istampscrapcraft.blogspot.com/
- Relly http://www.rel.ly
- Nancy http://www.goshery.blogspot.com
- Cynthia http://www.paperpapereverywhere.blogspot.com/
- Kathryn http://www.katlodesigns.com
- Nikki http://www.inkyart.com.au
- Heather http://www.scrappyhare.blogspot.com
- Gayle www.lifeonlilypadlane.blogspot.com
- Kristina http://www.ciqis.blogspot.com
- Debra http://www.blakleyhomeplace.blogspot.com
- Becky http://www.beckyandjames.com
- Amy http://ordinarydetails.com You are Here!
- Marlene http://www.moore-fun-in-the-sun.blogspot.com/
- Maureen http://www.cookingmylife.blogspot.com
- Cheri http://www.cheriandrews.blogspot.com
- Monica Scrapmom http://www.questtoperfectimperfection.blogspot.com
- Jan http://www.mysimplelittlelife.typepad.com
- Junelle http://www.yesandamenblog.blogspot.com
- Margaret http://www.gutsymom.blogspot.com
- Sharyn http://www.analteredlife.com
- Tere http://www.terecontodomicorazon.blogspot.com/
December Daily: Final Pages
Wow! I finished this project and I’m so glad I did it. Thanks to all of my family and friends who put up with me “documenting” each day- and those that took shots for me as well.
I love how this project made me think about the little blessings throughout the day- and how I noticed even more afterwards while looking at the pictures and reflecting on each day.
Here are the last two daily pages:
December 24:
Traditional but untraditional- After a lazy day, we had our orange chicken without the gravy and rice for dinner. We opened gifts- I love this picture of Cody that captures the "Oh gee- I got a rain guage" I got until he realized why he got them. Our gifts proved we listen to each other. After Christmas eve service, Mom "helped" me with communion.
I needed an additional page so I made another hymn page to go to the left of my Christmas Day page:
December 25:
Christmas day was all about family-loving the little moments of togetherness like Cody and Coralyn in the kitchen, me and Jack making fritters, and everyone enjoying my scrapbooking.
That left me with the cover pages. Since I ended up documenting hockey fights, screaming, and winning the day I took pictures of the house decorations, I decided I’d use those along with a few pictures of the tree for my covers.
Now, on to other projects. . . My One Little Word for 2011 (I’ll be posting about that super soon as I’m really ready to begin 2011!), Yesterday and Today class at Big Pictures Classes, and Project Life/365- a third try to document the entire year.
December Daily: Dec 17-23
It’s almost Christmas and I’ve spent some time going back through the last week as I catch-up on my December Daily pages. It’s amazing to me how much this project has made me thing about the special things this month- or even the regular everyday activities that December brings. It’s also amazing that the project is almost over.
December 17
Journaling reads; Waiting, that was the name of the name of the game today. First, it was waiting for Cody to get done with his ride along so I could hear all about it- especially after he told me they went on a disturbance call. but, then, the wait was even longer for Lisa to get here so we could visit. Of course, by the time she made it, we were both ready for bed. But, we talked a while first.
December 18
Today was a great day. Cody was off hunting at the deer lease and left Lisa and I to ourselves. Lisa and I watched old videos of Jack when he was younger- we even posted one on his facebook- oh how Jack’s face in it made us laugh. then, we got down to business. . . creating a website for Lisa’s work. While web work isn’t exactly fun, it was fun being able to help Lisa out with all the things I’ve learned. We had a few challenges but they are just opportunties to learn. . . and a few tricks I’m even going to try on my website. But, in all the time we got to spend working on the site, we also got time to talk and catch up. We simply just got to spend the day together.
December 19
Journaling Reads: We had dad’s birthday lunch a day early. Conversations included their new cell phones, working out, the football game Cody was watching, and Cody’s ride-a-longs.
December 20
Journaling Reads: After Cody left for Lisa’s, I baked cookies, put on music, and decorated our tree. It was the first time we’ve put the King Ranch ornaments Coralyn has gotten us since 1996 on the main tree.
December 21
Journaling: Today seemed to be about preperation. Cody’s present arrived and I wrapped it before he had the chance to see it. I made several batters for cookies to bake Wednesday, and Cody helped me clean house before Coralyn came up.
December 22
Journaling Reads: 234 Cookies plus a few. Today, Cody and I made five different kinds of cookies for the troopers at his office. Sad thing is, they’ll only get a dozen and a half each. We had less than 10 extra cookies. I don’t know how I’d have done it without Cody’s help.
December 23
Journaling Reads: Our traditional Christmas eve eve dinner wasn’t quite traditional. We used the mixture from Cody’s oopsy instead of mexican meat. Cody had put picante instead of spaghetti sauce with hamburger meat the night before. It still tasted good.
Birth Announcements
Amongst our travels, work, football games, deer lease prep, and just otherwise crazy times in the past month, we got to meet our new “neice” and “nephew”. Born just 1 week apart.
Meet Amy Lynn ‘s Sister:
And then Amy and Callie’s new cousin:
(Funny side note, both brothers said the exact same thing when they called after getting their announcements. . . . “We got a package and we thought you might have something to do with it.” . . . . exactly a week apart. Strange deja vue)
Then and Now: 5 Years- Some Pancakes and a Stink and Triggers
So, a few months back we went to the Caldwell Zoo with Lisa and Jack. (We won’t talk about all the problems with the truck that followed that trip!). While there I “manufactured” a shot to compare Jack then and now. I knew I wanted a similar shot of him, so I helped myself with a little gentle push of Jack.
I thought I’d share those two pics today now that I’m starting to catch up on a back log of pics that I have for editing. (New Computer= Freeing Lightroom with some Speed!- Sorry got geeky there, didn’t I.) As I looked at them I noticed that I also had then and now shots from the same two visits in our kitchen.
It’s amazing to me how much this kid has grown in such a short time, but then again, part of me can’t believe it’s only been five years since the 2005 shots. Was he really that little then? It won’t be much longer and he’ll be taller than me. . . and really not that much longer than he’s taller that Cody. . . or at least I expect he’ll get that tall.
Ok. . . Comparison #1- In with the Rhinos where it definitely stinks. I couldn’t quite get him to make the same expression. . . .
Summer 2005:
Summer 2010
;
A side note that I find interesting: The difference in his size and my camera is fairly obvious. But what’s not as obvious is the similarities in his shirts. The first shirt, a humorous look at 10 things not to say on a road trip, is from a trip he took with his Nana and Papa. The second shirt is from the trip we took with him last year.
Comparison #2- While #1 is somewhat staged, this one certainly isn’t. It’s something that happens everytime Jack comes up. In fact, it even happens at the deer lease and finally happened just last week when we were at his house.
Summer 2005
Summer 2010
Back then of course, we helped him make the pancakes. These days we just sit in the living room demanding he cook us breakfast. . . not that he isn’t a willing participant or that if he wanted us to come in there we would. But, he can make them from start to finish on his own now- all those early mornings of getting up to help him fix pancakes are paying off now- I can be lazy now.
Comparison #3. . . so while typing this, I realized I had yet another pair of then and now shots from these two visits. While the others show progression in size and cooking abilities, this one shows a whole other progression- one that I’m sure Uncle Cody is super proud of and one that Jack is more than happy to make.
Summer 2005
Summer 2010
Cody had promised that Jack would get to shoot the pistols next time he came up, so they had to squeeze a little time in this trip to do so. Jack posted one of the pics from shooting pistols on his facebook and his comment says it all “I love that gun”
Another interesting to me side note: Back then, we had introduced Jack to Johnny Horton music (is there any better road music at that age?) and so the coke cans he was shooting became the “Bloody British”. Just last week, Cody said that a Johnny Horton song came on the TV while he was down there and Jack started singing it.
Jack Plays Basketball and About Winning
What a busy month so far. With Cody taking on his new job, travel for his job, travel for my job- it’s been busy. And I decided to do a Layout-A-Day Challenge this month. But there have been some really great times this month as well. Like seeing Jack play basketball Tuesday night. It was most definetely worth the travel and it messing up our NCIS date night.
His team had been undefeated until Tuesday when they lost to their league’s other undefeated team. Jack impressed me with both his speed and his persistence throughout the game. We talked a lot about the game over Pizza Tuesday night. Cody stayed behind and spent yesterday afternoon doing sports stuff with Jack. When he got home tonight we talked more about Jack and what seems to be a natural ability to learn and play sports. So, it’s only natural that when I sat down to create my layout today, Jack was fresh on the brain.
Journaling Reads: Winning, Losing, and Performance. It was the theme of our dinner conversation Tuesday after you lost your basketball game. No one likes to lose a game, I know. When we asked about whether you had fun, you said that the football coaches you’d seen earlier in the day said it wasn’t about fun, it was about winning. As Cody and I were talking about how well you could do in sports today, we talked about how much I wanted you to learn about winning. Some say winning isn’t everything- some say it’s the only thing. I lean towards it being the only thing. Only it’s not the win ming “the game” that is the only thing. I want you to learn and know that there’s more one way to measure winning or success. You win when you give it you all. You win when you give have fun. You win when you’re a great teammate and show great character. Do you remember when David DeJesus got the triple in the 9th inning as the Royals were losing badly? He had a smile on his face as he signed your baseball. He knew that you can measure winning in more than one way- he hadn’t given up. I heard Mitch Maeir talking about it just yesterday- you have to learn to control what you can control and let go of the rest. You possess their winning traits- you give it your all and you’re always learning to be better- it’s what makes you so good. Sure, playing sports isn’t all fun, and I want you to learn to work hard. Losing the game is certainly not easy to take. But, you have to look in your heart not at the scoreboard- if you know you did the best you could do and you took some joy from the game, you’ve already won.
Jack’s Infamous Hungry Cranky Butt Incident
I scrapbooked an infamous moment in history this week. . . . I’ll share the story via copying the journaling:
“Cody and I knew better. We’ll never forget the time we went with Jack to Brenham- the bottle warmer incident and oh how he cried. At that time, we thought poor thing is hungry. This time, not so much. We had a goal in mind- for Jack to get to eat while watching the Giraffes at the Caldwel Zoo. But, it meant we waited too long to get some food in him. Out came hungry-cranky butt. It didn’t help that the flies kept buzzing his head. He made us pay for making him wait to eat. And, of course, he never really understood why- the giraffes for some strange reason weren’t out in the area that the food court overlooks. All he knew was that he was hungry and flies wouldn’t leave him alone. After eating, petting a few animals and taking some pictures with my new DSLR camera, he was fine again. And we enjoyed the rest of our day at the zoo. Now, we talk about the Hungry Cranky Butt episode at the zoo. It’s been a chance to learn about how emotions and being hungry can be tied together. In fact, we were able to laugh about it together at the Oklahoma City Zoo last year because we thought we’d be home free- their food court was indoors. We joked about how we were eating early enough for no Hungry Cranky Butt at the zoo- especially because the flies shouldn’t bother us. And they didn’t- most of the time. The Caldwell Hungry Cranky Incident proves sometimes we all just lose it.”
And it probably doesn’t help that his Aunt is a scrapbooker and had the camera in his face either. . . wouldn’t you think!
Friday Night: Jim and Marie’s Small World
Friday night we were blessed with free tickets to the NWTF Banquet in town. We really wanted to go and were so thankful to get a call Friday at lunch that would change our boring plans for the evening.
They had Brenda Valentine visitng there from Tennessee. She’s a big hunting personality and on many shows. We don’t really get into the celebrity thing but we realized as we met her she just might know Cody’s Uncle Jim. She was from Tennessee after all. And if you ask us, we think Uncle Jim knows just about every one in Tennessee. . . if his wife doesn’t. Probably not, but he’s well known for his archery skills.
Sure enough, she did now Uncle Jim. And Aunt Marie. She knew Aunt Marie from her endurance horse rides. It was so great to hear a bit about how they are doing. We miss them terribly.
We talked about how Aunt Marie never stops.
And how Uncle Jim is the polar opposite. But, don’t let him fool you, he’s as into archery as Marie has been into endurance challenges. . We also talked about his taste for mayo sandwiches.
We talked about the place they used to have on the Buffalo- where Cody has some fond memories and we have some pics somewhere- not yet scanned. But, I did find these fun pictures that pre-date Cody.
We’re hoping to find a way to go visit them when the weather gets warmer.