ONE WEEK LEFT

One week of summer that is
I think every summer for the last three years I've taken the kids out into the yard the last week of summer vacation and taken photos of them by the sunflowers and morning glories. They are so think and prevalent this time of year, as most everything else has wilted and dried up from the heat. I had to show off a couple photos I took of Zoe and her cute new layered haircut that she wanted for "back to school!" Everyone here is pretty excited about it. Max can't wait to be a big 1st grader and eat lunch at school for the first time, Zoe is going to be at a new school now that she's the "middle school kid", (UUUUGH, I still can't believe that one), I'm excited to start a new career as "on call" sub at both schools. I'm hoping I'll stay busy enough to keep the bills paid and have the freedom enough to play and design more, not to mention I get to take my own two kids to school on their first day for the first time in 6 years! Jeff??? Well, I'm sure he would love to have a little more down time before his crazy hectic school year begins, but I did catch him heading off to his classroom a couple times already and it looked to me like he was practicing some fun computer stuff (creating animated buttons for his classroom's webpage), so I think he's getting the itch to go back a little bit anyway. If our kids' constant picking on each other isn't enough to send him back to work, maybe my constant nagging about keeping his things picked up is. I know... I've been awful, Poor guy, just trying to get the break he needs and deserves. Truth is I need them all out of the house as bad as they need something new to do!

Layout Done, and a Freebie
No, not from me, but from the very talented Trish Jones. I'm on her creative team and she is currently working on revamping her website. It is awesome. It's going to have forums, a newsletter, a entire gallery of inspiration, and more! For now though, while she works on the site, she is offering a sneak peak download of some of her new stuff. Find it at Trishjonesdesigns.com

And here's a layout I did using Trish's Access All Areas, UnderCover goodies. My Dad deserves the credit on this fabulous photo of my son and niece though. I barely even saw her with her eyes open this visit, but he captured her perfectly!

More Fire, UUUUGHHH!!
I can't believe it! We had another huge fire burn right behind us a couple days ago. We know a lot of people that live in the area, and a lot of land was burned, but as far as I know no one was hurt, no homes lost, and it's OUT! The Tripod Fire which has been burning since July is up to 121,000 acres and is still filling the valleys with smoke every day! And then this afternoon, as long as it took Zoe and I to go into the shoe store and come back out another fire has rushed across the hillside right across the river from us. It's the area we let our little duckies go last month. It sounds like 10 homes are threatened and they are grabbing up firefighters wherever they can find them to help put it out. I think all the firefighters in the state must be right here in our county this month! I took this photo of the valley from a friend of Zoe's house right after the fire started.

We'll keep you updated. Have a good night!