Jedi Training {Digital Scrapbook}

I have been dabbling in digital scrapbooking over the past few months and had a little fun tonight with these photos. Using some Project Life templates that I purchased online, I was able to quickly put together these 2 pages.  I also used a few word bits from the Project Mouse collection by Sahlin Studio and Brittish Designs, but mostly I just wanted to include a ton of pictures.  Anthony had SO MUCH FUN with this!!!





I have been using our Disney pictures to learn digital scrapbooking, and I really like the quickness of the Project Life templates. 

Here are a few more pages I have created!

I wrote about this one here,


and this one here.


More photos yet to come!

Here are some more posts about our trip to Florida in March (Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Universal Studios Islands of Adventure, Downtown Disney, and more posts not yet written…).  Eventually I will finish writing about the other days to get them documented!

The Simple Things

I don’t remember what he was laughing at, but his joy is evident! Love you Anthony!


This was taken on a camping trip in northern Minnesota.  You can read more about our camping trip here and here.

Labor Day Weekend {Northern Minnesota}

If you follow on Instagram, you know that we were in northern MN for Labor Day weekend. I also mentioned it here. For years we used to go “up north” several times during the summer, but in the last few years we just haven’t made it happen. The drive is long – it takes about 5 hours of driving when we are pulling our camper, and that’s if we can avoid rush hour traffic through the Twin Cities.  We always love being there though!

Hubby’s grandparents bought two lots on a remote lake years and years ago. Over the years they have gradually made changes to the property – from adding an outhouse to electricity to running water and a sewer system.  There have been various trailers, multiple sheds, etc.  Now there is a permanent camper, a deck, gas grill, etc. that always stays there, ready for any of us to use.

We have never been “at the lake” without hubby’s family.  It just wouldn’t be the same if we didn’t have some of them there.

Here’s a few highlights from our trip!

Hanging out on the deck, playing a few games.  (There’s those teeth again…or lack there of!!!)


All set to go kayaking.  Is he cool, or what?!?



This little kayak has worked great for Anthony.  He loves being in control of his own “boat”. The only bummer is that he definitely gets wet. Not soaked, but wet. We don’t usually get very wet all all with our kayaks – just a few drips off the paddles.


Father-son time – these two make such a great team!


There they go! Headed to the “sandbar” for some swimming.


Can you see Anthony?  He’s standing on the sandbar in the middle of the lily-pads!


This is one of Anthony’s favorite things to do with his kayak – surf!


Fishing with the big boys.  It was fun to see them fishing near the dock.



I know I already shared both of these on Instagram, but I just love them. Besides, they were part of this trip, so they belong in this post too!



The boys went out for one last fishing trip the last morning we were up north. Anthony was a little chilly, so Grandpa shared his coat with him! Oh, and pretty sure handy hubby is to blame for the crooked pic. It wasn't me - I didn't even go out on the boat once this trip!

 Such a proud fisherman!

Here we are all set to leave with our truck, camper and kayaks in the background.  The others were staying one more day, but we had to get home for work and school the next day.

Northern Minnesota is truly a beautiful place. It’s calm, quiet and peaceful. I am so thankful that we made it work to spend a long weekend up at the lake with hubby’s family.

This Week… {Insta-Friday}

Here’s what we were up to this past week (and the two weeks before that) – I’m MomsGonnaSnap on Instagram if you want to follow along!

Once again I missed a couple weeks, so there are lots of iPhone photos to share!

One Friday evening we were going to have sweet corn. When I stopped to buy some from a local farmer, I convinced myself that it we could quickly and easily cook and freeze all of this corn. And still have time for other things. A couple hours and 75 ears of corn later, this was all in our freezer! And it was Anthony's bedtime. So much for family time!


Riding bike through the sprinkler – that’s what all dad’s do, right?!?


Different day… out for a family walk/bike ride. We walk and Anthony does circles around/through us.


We spent Labor Day weekend camping on some family land in northern Minnesota. It’s a beautiful place!  So quiet and peaceful. We took our kayaks too!


Hubby is pointing over to the “sandbar” – if you look near the top right part of the water you can see the lily-pads that stretch across the lake. They headed over there and did a little swimming.


Hubby’s dad has a fishing boat (they were there too!) and the boys spent a TON of time out on the lake fishing. Over the 4 days we were there, between the 4 people fishing, they caught over 60 bass! Crazy!


Another big bass! Grandpa set Anthony up with the same lures the big guys were using, so Anthony brought in some big bass with his kiddie pole!


The boys out fishing – like they did all weekend!  One morning while making breakfast with hubby’s step-mom, they were close to the dock and we got to watch Anthony bring in a fish. We could hear him yelling, “Fish! Fish! Net! Net!” He was giving orders like a boss.

My favorite quote from the weekend up north was when Anthony had trouble casting his line out and hubby said, "It happens to the best of us" and Anthony said, “Don't you mean the REST of us?”  HA!


Last week I went for a walk with my neighbor. There are trails throughout our city, and we walked from our neighborhood down to the trails and just kept on walking. When we reached this bridge, I had to take a photo to text to hubby – he used to run this trail all the time! We walked five miles that morning!


We went camping at a local county park last weekend. The weather was crazy hot – in the 90’s in September! We spent a few hours at the beach. Yes, that water is green, but it seems like I’m the only one who really cared.


Anthony had a blast digging in the sand!


We decided to hit up a small town restaurant for some pizza. On the way through town we drove by these chairs. Free. I was holding back, when hubby said something like, “Did you see those? Looks like something you’d want” and we went back and got them. They are my next project, waiting patiently in the garage for the last one to be completed.


Our camping season has come to a close – yes, we could still camp over the next month or so, but our schedule is too full. We had to savor this fire last weekend!


Yes, that says 0 MILES TO E, FUEL LEVEL LOW. No, I was not driving! We have no idea how this happened. Both of us had driven our truck the previous day, and neither of us noticed the gas light on. Luckily we were only a few miles from home, and we had no trouble hauling our camper home!


Bedtime reading! It’s part of our (almost) daily routine!


Again with the Superdad. Look how serious he looks! This cracks me up!! The boys were having a water balloon fight – making the most of the crazy September heat we experienced earlier this week!

Several times during the summer we heard, “When is Cub Scouts going to start again?”  The wait is over. As of this week, Cub Scouts is back up and running!

This photo was shared on Instagram on 9/11 by Persnickety Prints. I requested permission to re-post, although I’m not sure who took the actual photo. This week America remembered 9/11. I was student teaching at a high school in Rochester, Minnesota. Where were you that day?



What did you do this week?



Linking to: Lauren Elizabeth, Life Rearranged

A Month in Photos {August}

Wow, it’s amazing how much our family gets back into routine after school starts.  July was way too hectic, so even with all kind of plans in August, life felt much more calm in August.

Camping with family at Clear Lake State Park in Iowa
Friends visiting
End of Anthony’s baseball season
Trip to WI to see Shawna’s family
Putting up the tire swing
Cub Scout camp
Camping in northern MN

Backyard Tire Swing

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade!


In our case, when life gives you a flat tire, use an old tire to make a tire swing!

On our way home from Iowa in July, we ended up with a flat tire on our camper. Luckily we had a full-size spare and we had no trouble changing the tire.  (This is one of those times where “we” means handy hubby).

After buying a new set of camper tires, hubby kept one of the old tires (saved the $3 recycling fee!) and picked up a rope and carabineers to make a tire swing in the backyard.  The best part?  We can unhook the tire swing and hang up a disc swing in about 20 seconds. 

Putting together a backyard swing is really pretty simple!  The funniest part was when hubby tied the rope to a hammer and threw the hammer up and over the branch.  Except the hammer didn’t go over the branch.  It got stuck.  It took some finagling, but he worked it out and even saved his hammer!  The branch is WAY up there, so it was a bit tricky!

Can you tell what Anthony thinks of his new swing?







Did you notice that single crooked tooth? Of course you did. How could you not?  His smile is one million times cuter without that tooth!

This swing is used almost daily!  He loves it!