So much to do, so little time!

There's been some serious activity happening in my life but not much of it Christmas related.  I'm way behind.  Usually by now I have the shopping done and the house decorated but alas I haven't even started some Christmas presents and I need to finish the outside lights and get a Christmas tree!  The entire reason I try to be prepared is so that I can enjoy the fun stuff like wrapping gifts with hot cocoa and Christmas music and curling up to watch all my favorite Christmas movies.  Soon... I hope.  But before that there were birthdays to celebrate and people to see.  We celebrated Truman's birthday with pizza, beer, and basketball which he loved.  For my daddy's birthday I made him a book which I'm really quite proud of so there are going to be a lot of pictures of it.  I'd say I'm sorry but I'm not.  Last  weekend was a blast because I got to see my cousins and hang out and watch football. Since I don't see them near enough it was totally worth it.  Now to get back to the grind so I can get to those Christmas movies!!!

Waiting to watch Chandler compete in the competition

Carolyn, Chandler, and Truman at the Cardinals game

He got second place!  And he was injured!

Family love in the Red Zone

Truman's birthday at 1702

Daddy's book

Isn't he the cutest?!

Loved the metal accents I got to use

It's been way too long!

If you didn't already figure this out, I can be a little inconsistent.  Then again maybe it's just that life has been so busy in a good way!  There was a lot of preparation for the tailgate that Truman hosted in October and then there was Halloween and Homecoming.  Let's not forget a baby shower to help with and my cute little nephews birthday.  Then there was Roxy's first camping trip and of course Thanksgiving!  I've been working on a few projects for friends Christmas presents and birthday presents.  I'm trying to move onto Christmas projects but I'm finding it hard to make time and focus and every weekend this December has events happening so please forgive me if I don't post as often as I'd like.  Here's some photos from the last month and a half.  I even get to post the project I did for a friend because he was so excited with the outcome he couldn't wait until Christmas to give it to his wife.  Quite a complement to me!  Enjoy this early part of the Christmas season my friends.

I might have already posted this from an earlier tailgate

Johanna, Guy, myself and Dave at our hosted tailgate

Truman making part of the grub at our Heroes and Legacies Red Army tailgate

The set up with the new grill

Black Widow and Asian royalty or fighter not sure really :-)

The whole family

Lake time

So tired from running around with all the other dogs and people. She LOVED it!!

A picture up at Roosevelt

The frame I made for Lizbeth's birthday

The frame I made for Kiki's birthday

One of the shadowbox scrapbooks I did for my friend

The one I made for his other daughter before I put it in the frame

Just some details

Happy Birthday To Me

Hey there everyone!  I know, I know it's been WAY too long since I posted anything and today will be short and sweet.  A lot has happened like a family trip to Mexico, my wedding anniversary, and now today is my 35th birthday.  I just wanted to take a minute to let you all know I haven't disappeared and to post a few pictures from the last few weeks.  I got some great birthday presents including a goodie package from my sister, brother in law, and the kids.  It was scrapping/art journaling bliss!  I'm really excited to start trying it all out.  I also decided to dye my hair red as a birthday present for myself.  For our anniversary Truman and I went to the vineyards down in Sonoita which is always a great time.  We tried a pizza place in Patagonia first by the name of Velvet Elvis and is was great with a wonderful atmosphere.  I'll share some more photos next time but here are a few to look at until I get off my behind and put up a real blog post.

Fun martini glasses from a friend, pool friendly!

My daddy and stepmom made me dinner and this cake

The fun package contents from my sister

Truman and I are our way to the vineyards for our anniversary

The new red hair! Though it's a little darker now

Labor Day, Tailgating, and Football

Sorry everyone!  It's been a bit since my last post because it's been a bit busy around here and honestly I'm not always motivated to do creative things, other than Pinterest that is.  We had a great Labor Day weekend.  Truman went out to the tailgate and U of A football game to watch our grand defeat of NAU and then the next day headed up to Phoenix to watch a Diamondbacks game.  I stayed in town and went to a friends birthday pool party which was a blast.  Then on Sunday Truman and I got to hang out with my cousin and her family and friends for a great dinner with Bobby Flay burgers.  On Monday we had some friends over for a BBQ.  Trumans skills as a grill master are very impressive and it makes me never want to cook again (not that I love cooking anyway).  then this week was full of work, getting new tires on my truck (sigh), and relaxing to watch the opening weekend of football.  It was more enjoyable for me than Truman however since my team (The Patriots) won and his (The Raiders) did not.  I think he's used to that.  Sadly I took no pictures of any of these festivities because I had no motivation to go upstairs and get my camera.  However I will post some pictures from my art journal these past few weeks and I'll really try to get better at taking more pics as the deliciousness of Fall approaches!

Just loved the picture and wanted to smear red paint on and use old scraps of paper

I mod-podged pieces of lace on

Once again I just loved the background paper and wanted to use some old alphabet stickers

I tried using gel medium to scrunch on tissue paper then used watercolors

Just another close up

Our Red Army picture from the newspaper

I was SO excited to try molding paste with a stencil! Loved how it came out!

Vino Love

About a week and half ago poor Roxy got an anal gland abscess and after we went to the vet she had to wear the Cone of Shame as most people call it.  She hated it but as usual per Alpha Mom sometimes you have to do things you don't want to fix something.  So on it stayed...for about six hours.  By then I was feeling sorry for her so I took it off.  Now this is something as a former vet tech I would NEVER advise (I don't know how many times owners took it off just to bring them back with something worse and they have to wear it even longer!).  However, my dog is amazing and didn't even bother the area, I'm sure it had nothing to do with the steroid injection she was given (wink, wink).  Now it's all healed up so I was able to give her a much needed bath.  

In other news, Truman and I headed down to Sonoita to visit a few vineyards with a couple of our friends this weekend.  It had been much too long since we had taken a trip down there and we picked the PERFECT day to do it.  We drove down in Johanna's convertible and there was a monsoon moving in!  It was one of the nicest days ever and made me so happy I live in Arizona.  We visited Keif-Joshua who was having a party for his grandmother who had turned 94.  The wine was great and the food was delicious!!  We went up to Sonoita Vineyards for a drink and then visited Hops and Vines.  The last one was a new one and it was simply fantastic!.  They were so much fun and gave you different kinds of chips for each wine.  We tried their signature cocktail and their goat cheese plate.  It was HEAVENLY and I normally do not like goat cheese!  Enjoy the photos and maybe tomorrow I'll post some finished journal pages and maybe even a scrapbook layout. we'll see how far I get tonight.

Poor, sad Roxy

See they can sleep in them

On the way to the vineyards

Another view of the monsoon

At Keif-Joshua enjoying the thunderstorm

Hops and Vines and friends

Put a coin in the hole ;-)

Goat cheese heaven! Who knew?!