Christmas Day 2009

The banner above was made using the GIMP. The ornaments in the picture are from my Christmas tree. GIMP stands for Graphic Image Manipulation Program and is a free program that is similar to Photoshop.

I enjoyed spending Christmas Day with my family. Below clockwise from Shanna are my Aunt Karen, cousin Sheryl, my Dad, my cousin Russell, Jim (Sheryl's husband) and me.

Kristin went incognito to Christmas. Russell kept calling her Lindsey.
Below is my Aunt Joann (Sheryl's mom) with her new great grandson Brayden.
The picture of Shanna below was taken Christmas night in our front yard with my camera on the night setting.
Russell and Kristin in our front yard Christmas night.

Shanna, Mocha, and me.

I had fun playing with the light settings on my camera. This is one of my favorite ornaments.

Shanna put up the little tree this year, next year I think we will put the big one up again because I had a lot of fun playing with my camera and the light settings.

Shanna put up all the lights and decorations this year. This is a picture of the front of our house Christmas night.

I hope everyone enjoyed their Christmas this year!

Newest Member of the Brown Family

The Brown Family had a nice new addition this year for Christmas. The picture above represents five generations of the Browns. My maiden name is Brown. We have been very lucky in our family to have made five generations many times. When I was born I made a fifth generation on both my Mom's and Dad's side of the family. My son made another fifth generation on my Dad's side. My grandchildren Micheal and Bryanna made the first additions to a fifth generation which was the first time my Grandma Mimi became the oldest generation. My grandchildren are now joined in this generation by Brayden, my cousin Stacy's new baby. I have been the only grandparent in my generation in my family for 10 years. Now my cousin Gary joins me in grandparenthood! My Dad (Great-Uncle Denny), is standing in for his brother Gary. My Uncle Gary died when I was in my 20's, but we think about him all the time and miss him. He would have been proud of his great-grandson!

My Grandma Mimi was born in 1917 and Brayden this year in 2009. I love the idea of all the history that is represented in this picture. A living example of our family reaching back into the past before I was born and forward into the future. Time captured in this moment of our family in the present.

New Toys: Cricut Create & Cricut Design Studio

After Thanksgiving I took advantage of some of the sales and got a new toy...The Cricut Create machine. I also took advantage of some online deals and bought the Cricut Design Studio. The design studio allows you to combine cartridge elements to create designs that combine the elements together. It also allows you to weld elements so that you can get any phrase or design you want created from the elements on the cartridges you own. I bought the design software on memorymiser.comBelow are my first attempts at exploring the software. I created the tag by combining and layering elements. The border below was created by welding elements together.

So now I just want to play with my new toy and scrapbook!

Oak Glen Thanksgiving Weekend 2009

One of the places I really enjoy going this time of year is Oak Glen. On Friday we went up for the day. I love the colorful fall leaves and the crisp air scented with the sweet smell of apples. The picture above was taken on our drive up and the one below was taken at our first stop at Parrish Pioneer Ranch.Can you see the moon in the bright blue sky? The day was just beautiful. I am so glad we had such nice weather for the Thanksgiving holiday. I am thankful that I have a job that allows me to spend time with my family at this time of year. Fall is a favorite time of year for my family.
The apples look and smell yummy! Shanna took this picture just before they yelled at her and told her she could not take any pictures in the store. We are all below trying to fit in between two branches of a tree. Shanna and I really enjoy taking pictures. We both took up cameras and wanted to get pictures of the fall colors. Some of the animals you can see are peacocks. They also have goats, sheep and chickens that you can see at Parrish Ranch. Shanna took lots of peacock pictures.

My girls and I. The first picture below is Kristin acting geeky. She fits into our family so well. Below her is Shanna sticking her head in the wanted poster. Did I mention we are all a bit geeky?
We ended the day enjoying the sunset and some Carmel apples.

Time spent together is the best!

Thanksgiving 2009

Russell, Me, Shanna, Ryan, Kristin and Nick

The Dessert Table

Enjoying the beautiful day and yummy Thanksgiving Dinner in Aunt Karen's backyard.

A little bit of it all!

Thanksgiving was relaxing and the day was beautiful. It is always wonderful to visit with family and enjoy spending time together. I am always thankful for my family and the people I love.

I hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving! I know we did!

New Moon & Twilight

I went to see New Moon and I have to say that I really enjoyed the movie. Watching the movie has made me want to reread the series. I have re-watched the original Twilight movie 3 times this week. Okay, I am a total geek! I do think they did a better job on the second movie.

I am just a sucker for a love story.

Charlotte Moves In

I went out to the garden in the morning to water and I found a new creature had taken up residence. One of the many things I enjoy about gardening is a garden spider and it's web. I love the way the sunshine glistens on the fine silky threads of the web and the way it shivers and shakes in the breeze. The spider also helps keep down the harmful garden pests as well, so this new resident is welcome in my garden. Below is a sugar snap pea flower. I keep thinking the sugar snap peas are going to stop producing and suddenly another flower appears on the vine! These are so tasty, crunchy, sweet and good I will always plant them from now on.

My first green beans are starting to grow. These are some of the first beans from my square of bush beans. The first bean did not make it long enough for me to get my camera. I ate it and enjoyed it's crunchy goodness as soon as I saw it was large enough to pick!

Here is a pic of my first bell pepper. This was planted as a start in May and it is just now starting to grow. The square foot garden is very productive and I am starting to have a little trouble keeping up with the produce and I only have two 4x4 and two 3x3 boxes. Now I am just waiting for my corn. Summer is so yummy and gardening is so relaxing. I love being on vacation....ahhhh....lovely, restful summer....

4th of July

Happy 4th of July...Summer has truly begun....

We spent 4th of July relaxing at home. I always feel like summer vacation really begins with the 4th of July. It always seems to take that long to wind down and really feel like I am on vacation. We watched the fireworks in the neighborhood and did some ourselves. We always like the sparklers the best... We had our 4th of July dinner, which always includes macaroni salad, a family favorite, along with baked beans and corn on the cob...yum...For dessert, I baked up some homemade shortbread...I like it warm and fresh from the oven...

While the shortbread bakes, I like to whip up some fresh cream....

So that we can have fresh strawberry shortcake with blueberries for 4th of July desert....