playing catch-up is a great form of exercise.

so merrill is home.

(sigh.)

he has been home for a week, but I have been too busy enjoying his presence that I have not mentioned it.

we have already enjoyed our first halibut dinner.  delicious.

we were also thrust back into real life (i.e. work and the daily routine) rather quickly.

so while trying to be creative, take pictures, mother, cook, clean, organize (because fall puts me in the mood to de-clutter and visit the d.i.), prep. for a certain 8 year-old to be birthday+baptism, soccer, tumbling, and getting a new hotel ready to open, I have managed to have some fun.

I had an especially fun night last night while I cleaned-up the old hard drive on my computer.  organizing the c drive and the external hard drive seriously define what fun is to me.  I am a geek.  I did a little happy dance when I found a long lost (think almost 8 years long) video.  I also did another happy dance when I freed up about 100 gb on my c drive.

I have many projects to document, I allowed only a week of the two merrill was gone, to be depressed, then I got crafty.  they are quite cute, if I do say so myself.

so, you can sit back and be patient, enjoy these here posts as they come.

here’s the scrapbook layouts I got done in september:

(click on the image for the list of products and junk.)

I wanted to do a quick layout of all the snippets of memories from this year’s trip to lake powell, and that is what the journaling of this layout consists of, those little bits.

my favorite memories:

- merrill surprising me with a playlist for the drive that had old, sentimental songs on it.

- ashley jumping off the top of the houseboat!!!  (she is my dare-devil daughter.)

- staying in reflection canyon.  (gorgeous.)

here’s a layout featuring a quote that I have used before, and HAD to use again.  the picture told me to do it.

and, well, I will NEVER get tired of pictures of my girlies reading.

never.

ash was so excited to start moby dick.

meanwhile, at the pitcher house..

I have some pretty awesome intentions.  like, they are unfathomably incredible.

but, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

yup.

I had dreams of the many things I would accomplish when the girls were back in school.

all the time I would have.

all the blogging and recording and picture editing I would catch up on….

not so much.

here is a bit of what has been going on whilst I have been truant:

merrill turned 33.

he didn’t want cake, but “crunchies” (our version of no bake cookies) instead.

(and it was nice to not have a large, delicious cake, sitting around, tempting me to eat it all, for every snack and every meal for the next 3 days…)

the girls started school.

*sniff*

we went to the brigham city temple open house.

we have been reading…  a lot still.

and we went to lake powell…

we rather enjoyed that.

now soccer season is upon us, and two of the three girlies are enjoying it.

currently, I am depressed.

(seriously.)

merrill has left me for two weeks.

left me for alaska.

I love the guy just a bit and miss him terribly.

if he brings me home some halibut, it might not be so bad in the end.

meanwhile, being a single parent has it’s sucky moments.

but mostly, I just miss him.

I {heart} faces: B&W Scenic.

We should all know how much I love B&W photographs..
We should also all know how much I love Lake Powell, the beauty there.
So it’s only fitting, that this pic be my submission for I {heart} faces this week.
Take a look what other submissions are there.

The end of summer.

The years that we are most fortunate, our summers end with a trip to Lake Powell.

This year, we were very fortunate.

I still feel like I am on a boat at times.

At times I wish I were still on that boat…

Since all the days run together as far as happenings on the lake go, I will note some of my favorite, and I will try to narrow down my favorite pics as well.

(Thanks goes to my sister-in-law Brooke for sharing her D90 with me, she has an awesome zoom lens on that thing and for sharing the pics she took of me and Merrill playing on the lake.  I can hardly wait to see the rest!)

- Sleeping und er the stars and showing the girls the milky way.

- Jumping the wake of the tour boat.

- Merrill getting run over by the wave runner..  twice.

- Finding seashells.

- Campfires on the beach.

- Soaking up the sun all day long.

- The near death experience on the water weenie.

- Ashley giggling and screaming, “That was WICKED!!” when we would jump waves on the wave runner.  She is so chill and fun on that toy.

- Taking the girls up a side canyon on the wave runner.  Having them giggle all the way jumping waves.

- A body so sore from the previous day’s activities, it required yoga in the mornings.

-Family time.

- Gorgeous scenery.

- Being bitten by that one fire ant.

- Merrill drenching everyone on the front deck with the wave runner.

- Pumping poo at the pump-out dock and finding a “clog” in the opening.

- Crashing too hard and too much while water skiing.

- Breaking a few laws (shhh!).

- Jumping off the houseboat (see above).

- Watching the sunrise every morning (thank you Peyton).

- Hallie discovering a new way to wear you life jacket and bathing in the lake.

- The slide.

It’s a place that I can’t get enough of, and can’t wait to get back…

My summer in review..

This week’s challenge at I heart faces is a summer review.

Fun, I know!!

So here’s a re-cap in case you’ve missed what we’ve been up to:

Running through the sprinklers..

Enjoying the garden..

Laughing..

Trips to Lagoon..

Riding bikes..

Lots of fireworks and hanging out with cousins..

Swimming…

Soaking up the sun..

Yard work (and the accompanying farmer’s tan)..

Parties and all the treats that come with..

Games of kickball, with or without sprinklers..

Camping..  and S’Mores.

Trips to the Dam to play..

Jumping on the trampoline..

Reading..  A LOT!

And to cap it all off, Lake Powell…

See you next year summer!

P.S.  Don’t forget to head over to I Heart Faces to see some more fun summer pics.

September 6th..

 

September 5th…

September 4th..

September 3rd..