Blue Angels Airshow

 

(Click on collage for enhanced pictures)
Since we have been going every direction this month, Goerge and I decided it was time for a family outting. Since we only had to pay for parking, we decided we would check out the airshow at the airport Saturday. When we were in line to park, we were able to see the acrobatic airplanes. We arrived just in time to not have to pay for parking. The Blue Angels was the last performance of the day and we arrived just as they were about to begin their routine. The Blue Angels had our attention from the time they took off to the time they landed. It was so awesome! We were amazed at their stunts. One time during the performance the planes were out of sight and then all of a sudden you hear this massive noise and there flies a Blue Angel jet over our heads! AWESOME! I took over 200 pictures of this event. Why? Because it was fun! We had a great time. ( I am so thankful we were not there when the massive wind gust took out the tents that resulted with one fatality and 12 with injuries. Our prayers go out to these families.)

Life is a Highway!

Life has been crazy here at the Walker Pad. This picture is a shirt that describes me these past couple of weeks. I have filled my car 5 times in the past two weeks. That tells you I have been busy and driving everywhere! Good thing we bought a Honda Civic for gas mileage two weeks ago. It's classified as a "compact car" and compact it is! Coming from a Chevy Blazer, this car is a matchbox! We are still adjusting to the much smaller car. The civic is going 100 miles more and is $25 less per tank of gas. Technically, I saved $125 in two weeks!

The last two weeks were so busy, I have stayed home all this week just to catch up. I had precamp at the Broadhurst's house in Tennessee the weekend before last. It was a lot of fun, minus the ticks! Last year, Pat and I stayed up till 4:30am talking. This year, we were too pooped! When I came home from camp, we had to pack Forrest so he could spend the week with the Stamps. Cay put on the distrcit Cub Scout Twilight Camp in Fayetteville, TN and Forrest was part of the staff. I was in charge of the physical activities on Monday, Wednesday and a Family Day on Friday. It was so hot last week I was very thankful that the camp was a "twilight" camp. We were there from 4-9pm. I provided parachute acitivities, speed staking (stacking cups) and Field Day events on Friday. I drove to Huntsville and Fayetteville everyday but one day last week. Crazy, I know! On one trip to Huntsville, I met my mom at her cancer doctor's office. Her xrays found a lung nodule he immediately ordered a ct scan. I wanted to be her support for the results. We waited forever for the to see the doctor, but the wait was worth a "NEGATIVE" result. YEAH! We were so relieved. The nodule was some scar tissue from her radiation from her breast cancer 5 years ago.

Once the Cub Scout Camp was over Friday evening, I brought Forrest home and we immediately began to pack for his week long Boy Scout campout. One of the drivers had to cancel, so Saturday morning, Cay and I made the trip with the boys. I thought it was in Knoxville, but it turned out to be almost to Virginia! We left at 10am and I returned to my house at 2am Sunday morning. Yes, I was exhausted! It was a fun trip with the boys. Forrest and Kagan cracked us up!

During this craziness, I was late to every appointment and obligation. I even mixed up the time of Forrest's orhtodonttist appointment with Sadie's dentist appointment from the previous week! I was even hunted down by a couple of friends because they couldn't get in touch with me. One came to the scout camp and the other called my parents in Athens and my sister in Georgia looking for me! (Since I have a "track" phone, I no longer can call while I'm driving!) This week I have ordered a mandatory lockdown for myself. I have stayed home except for a doctor's appointment on Tuesday and I am loving every mintue! I have really enjoyed my time with Sadie and not hearing the fighting of siblings is soothing! I have caught up on some much needed sleep and house cleaning. I have dechunked all week long. The feeling of a clean house is priceless!

Cay and I will leave tomorrow night to pick the By Scouts up and hopefully catch a tourist attraction on the way there. When I get back, I'll pack for YW Girls camp, drive to Athens to drop Sadie off at Granny's and then back to Huntsville to drop Forrest off at the Roper's for the week and I'm off to Camp Hulaco. I'm so looking forward to June being over! I want my family back and under the same roof!

Financial Crisis

I just read an article titled "How rising home value, easy credit, put your finances at risk" (usatoday.com/June 17, 2008) This article focuses on how the banks advertized for homeowners to take a line of equity to pay off credit cards during the peak of home sales and now they have over-extended themselves and have run the credit cards back up, as the banks raise the credit limits to allow for more spending and raising the fees associated with not having the money to pay this debt back. (I do not know how to link this article, so if you want to read it, leave your email in the comment section and I'll send it to you.)

As I read this article, this statement pierced my heart:

Banks are "hoping that in an atmosphere of tight credit, these people will have nowhere to go and be forced to pay high interest on their card balances," says Elizabeth Warren, a Harvard law professor. "It's a straight forward profit calculation."


This articles blames the banks for making credit easily available to consumers while the bamks defend themselves saying the consumers had the choice to spend or decline the money.

After I read this statement, I instantly gave thanks to Heavenly Father for giving us council through latter-day prohets to not go into debt. Here are a couple of qoutes from The Church of Latter-Day Saints prophets and leaders given to us:

* President Heber J. Grant once said"If there is anyone thing that will bring peace and contentment into the human heart and into the family, it is to live within our means; and if there is anyone thing that is grinding and discouraging and disheartening, it is to have debts and obligations that one cannot meet."

* President Gorden B. HInkley:"We are beguiled by seductive advertising. Television carries the enticing invitation to borrow up to 125 percent of the value of one’s home. But no mention is made of interest.

* President J. Reuben Clark Jr., in the April 1938 general conference, said from this pulpit: Once in debt, interest is your companion every minute of the day and night; you cannot shun it or slip away from it; you cannot dismiss it; it yields neither to entreaties, demands, or orders; and whenever you get in its way or cross its course or fail to meet its demands, it crushes you.” (in Conference Report, Apr. 1938, 103)

* President Gordon B. Hinckley, CR October 1998 "I recognize that it may be necessary to borrow to get a home, of course. But let us buy a home that we can afford and thus ease the payments which will constantly hang over our heads without mercy or respite for as long as 30 years"

* Elder L. Tom Perry of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles reiterated this counsel:
Avoid excessive debt. Necessary debt should be incurred only after careful, thoughtful prayer and after obtaining the best possible advice. We need the discipline to stay well within our ability to pay. Wisely we have been counseled to avoid debt as we would avoid the plague. …

“ ‘Live within your means. Get out of debt. Keep out of debt. Lay by for a rainy day which has always come and will come again. Practice and increase your habits of thrift, industry, economy, and frugality’ ” (“If Ye Are Prepared Ye Shall Not Fear,” Ensign, Nov. 1995, 36).

* Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin, Quorum of the Twelve "Remember this: debt is a form of bondage. It is a financial termite. When we make purchases on credit, they give us only an illusion of prosperity. We think we own things, but the reality is, our
things own us." (Ensign, May 2004)

Go to lds.org to learn more about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

Feeling Scrappy Part 2

 

I combined a couple of challenges in this layout. I layered multiple flowers, I painted the chipboard and stamped swirls on it and I colored flowers using my ink pads. I love this layout!

 

This is my first graduation challenge using three of the techniques I learned in the class. I used brads as bullets, glitter on the flowers and a chipboard word in my journaling.

 

This is my second graduation challenge. I had to scraplift a design team member's layout.

I really enjoyed this class! It really challenged me. Since it ended on May 31, I haven't scrapped. Hopefully once we get on a summer routine, I'll be able to get back in my closet....

Embellish It! Part 1

I just took an awesome online scrapping class at Feelingscrappy.com. It was so amazing and Jayne and her design team ROCKED! I was skeptical of taking a class during the last month of school. I wasn't for sure if I would have the time or energy to participate. Once the class began, I was hooked! The assignments and tid-bits blew me away! This site was the first site I browsed on any given day in May. (and on some days, the only site I browsed that day!) The first five pages took me 5-6 hours to complete. When I do not scrap in a while, it takes time to get my creativity flowing again! It frustrated me, but I persevered and it paid off. Here are a couple of challenges I completed. Tomorrow I will post the last challenge and graduation. Enjoy! (click on the picture for enhancement)

 

My first challenge involved stickers. The assisnment I choose was to use word stickers in place of my own words in my journaling. This was a first for me!

 

My second assignmnet was to use old ABC letters in a shape or in the background. (I did this page when the schools shut down for severe weather. I wasn't scared!)

 

This assignment I had to cover the brads with either paint, stickers or rubons. I used Love,Elsie stickers to cover the large brad on the flower and the put a lady bug on the bard on the exclamation point.

 

With this assingment, there were many firsts. I needed to use glitter on the page. I sprayed glitter on the flowers. I never thought to use glitter before, so I'm thankful I tried it! It was the first time I used the red felt pattern behind the title and was excited it went well with the page. I also mrked my won journaling lines. I didn't get the look I was going for, but it's good for now.