Soooo...

Apparently my grama is now a chicken. Yes...that's a joke. A bad one made by my mother. Around the same time when my grama passed away....the ranch where she was staying (which doubles as a horse ranch) had a mare that foaled WAY early. They name the foal Shirley Ann after grama. And my Uncle Vic (I will tell you the story in a moment) had a chicken hatch, also a the same time, 3 days early. So my mom's logic is that grama came back as a chicken. :) No we don't believe in reincarnation...but it WAS funny. Or maybe it was just my mood. Anyhow...when I type it all out and reread it...it's just near as funny as it was at the moment. *sigh* Toldja it was a bad joke. Thanks to everyone who has given me so much support through this time. All the thoughts and prayers are so appreciated at this time. The funeral is Saturday and I'm SO thankful it won't be drug out for 6 months like originally thought. So that means we will have 24 hours of driving in 2 days. Fun stuff. My grandparents farm is in the VERY far NE corner of MT...it's a 12 hour drive from here...and STILL in Montana if that isn't crazy. :)

The Uncle Vic thing. :) My aunt's name is Vickie...and I guess when I was little I didn't like calling her aunt Vickie (my cousin ALWAYS did...he still does...calls all the girls aunt and their name...cracks me up)...I told her it didn't sound right. And it doesn't really when you say it out loud. So I started calling her Uncle Vic. That is what she goes by to this day. I'm 31 if that gives you a clue!! She STILL signs things Uncle Vic. :) With everyone too....it's kinda funny. I think I should probably record that somewhere so generations down the line don't see Uncle Vic on a girl and wonder what the heck!!

So my weekend was REALLY nice. I cried a lot...and my eyes and head just ache. But the weekend was good...gave me really great time to grieve without the distraction of my kids etc. The retreat was AMAZING. The lodge is just fantastic and SO pretty. It snowed the entire time we were there. My friend Deanna and I sat near a window and it was just so pretty and peaceful. http://www.izaakwaltoninn.com/if you are curious. GORGEOUS location..and the food. UGH...was amazing. I actually completed TWENTY FOUR pages!! I've never gotten that many done at a retreat so that was awesome as well!! I think it really helped that beforehand I picked pictures out with paper and put them in packets. So I didn't waste all that time looking for the perfect paper (you know what I'm talking about!!). I took 22 packets and only came home with 20. (some of the packets had more than one set of photos). So that was really great. I think I might start doing that again. AND...I was able to go through and get rid of MORE paper. (Yes...out of the KF paper holder I have...after I've already unloaded almost 400 sheets I have more that I don't think I'll ever use!!). But the local scrapbook store is having a 'garage sale' so I think I'll just take it all over there. Anyway..that's my story on that.


Friday my camera arrived. It's BEAUTIFUL!! Seriously I'm in love. Although it has so much info on the screen that I have no clue what it all means. I'm going to use that driving time to read the manual and figure the sucker out. I cannot wait!! I'll share some photos once I've gotten it all perfected. :)



Here's one of my 24 layouts...I forgot to do my Random Chaos challenge but luckily I did a layout that completed the challenge!!