Hello.

Hello once again.

For several months, I've either gotten home from work if it was a weekday, or gotten up on a weekend, and gone straight to my Craftination Station. I've been crafting so much and have enjoyed every minute of it. Obviously I haven't posted anything, so you wouldn't ever know. I haven't even taken pictures of my products (what else would you call them? works? but it's not work, it's fun?) in weeks.

This is my stack of cards that I created in just the last week. Yesterday I created probably 15 cards. I was on a streak!

Above my work area is a window where I put some of my recent cards that I think are super spectacular. Some of them inspire me to be better. Others remind me to cheat when I want to. My brother Scott says "if your'e not cheating, you're not trying". (Actually, the first person that said that was Mark Grace).

That second to last card on the window is just printed off of the computer. I guess you could say I didn't quite cheat on it because it took a long time for me to find the exact center after a 8.5"x11" paper was split into two cards.  Then I just used fonts that I already had that I .l.o.v.e.d. and printed a bunch off. All I did to finish that one off was colored part of the letters. Maybe you'll get to see the silly detail of that card someday.

This is my photo area and my smash book that's just one page from complete.

I'm smash happy. Get it? hah.

For the record, smash books are freaking AWESOME.  I've gotten nearly every one of my friends to buy one, and not every one has gotten necessarily "into" it, but they've each tried it! I think the problem is that they think of it like a scrapbook... when it's more like a random art book and a place where you can put random mementos like ticket stubs and cards you received, and can just paint a page bright orange because you feel like it.

Last bit of update I have is this inspiration board I made of Pinterest pieces Erin and I found for a wedding reception we threw for her sister at their parent's house. It was SO much fun and such a huge adventure that I've started (and I AM going to finish) a scrapbook about it.

I haven't been on Blogger at all, so I haven't even been following your creations, Michelle. I intend to fix that immediately!

Utah.

Our Christmas vacation was amazing! My parents are so generous and as our combined birthdays and Christmas presents they helped us out with tickets to fly out there. I got to spend time with my goofy brother, Scott, and his family whom I haven't seen in years.

That's him on the right making the stupid face. He posed like that. He always takes pictures like that.

Adam's only sibling is his younger brother, so he doesn't know the joy of nieces and nephews. Being the youngest of 8, I've known about that since I was 11. It's strange how you take things like family for granted.  

Ok I don't know what's wrong with Blogger, it's not letting me edit the formatting, like the justification from center to left, left to center, etc. It's probably user error. Whatever. You get the idea even though it's not pretty.

This little girl's name is Karis. She's Scott's youngest and Adam's favorite niece. To be fair, he hasn't met any other nieces or nephews except her sister, Kiah, but Karis is pretty awesome. Scott calls her Tessa all the time, says her mannerisms are a lot like me. *shrug*

This is the rest of the family. We're at Rob's house here for Christmas Eve dinner. The Christmas dinner was down at my parents and, of course, I forgot to take pictures.

It was so nice to relax and play games with half of my family. We never want to leave.

Mini.

I am creating a mini album for our New York trip this summer. I'm using grungeboard and I am having a ton of fun. Here are a few pages I altered:

embossed!

This is a piece of grungeboard I'll be adding to one of the pages:

I'll have finished pictures SOON, hopefully!

Shutterfly

Ever hear of Shutterfly? I did, but I thought it was a waste since I love to scrapbook. Boy was I wrong!

Erin got a code that gave a free 8x8 photo book from Shutterfly and she gave it to me. It was the perfect way to document our trip to New York. Check it:

front

back

first page

There are a total of 27 pages. Here are just a few:

Fun in the Sun

I never talked about our trip to New York. Remind me to do that.

Adam and I got back yesterday from a fabulous weekend getaway with my best friend Erin and her boyfriend (also Adam's brother), Jerrod. We went to Wisconsin Dells! Home of some of the biggest water parks (yes, there are several water parks) in the country!

Unfortunately, since we were at the water park majority of the time, I didn't take any photos. All photos are from Noah's Ark's website and Flamingo Hotel's website.

We stayed at Flamingo Hotel... nothing fancy. It was the cheapest out of nearly all the hotels close and they have a partnership with the main water park, Noah's Ark, so not only did you get Noah's Ark tickets at a discount, but you got two free tickets with your room!

Our room looked very similar to this.

The shower water was either freezing cold or scalding hot, and it made a loud sound when you changed the temperature. The TV was from the 80s. The pillows were like rocks. But honestly, how can you complain with the price!?

We spent nearly the entire day Saturday at the water park. It's the only park I've been to at Wisconsin Dells, and I think it will be the only one. It's just that amazing.

49 water slides, 2 wave pools, 2 endless rivers, 3 arcades, 18 hole mini golf ...

The best ride, and with the best stories, is Scorpion's Tail. It's America's first looping water slide and it is truly terrifying. I honestly cannot believe we got Jerrod to go on this ride... he's deathly afraid of roller coasters. Here's an idea of what it looks like from top the top:

The scariest part is waiting in line. Of course the minimum wait time is like 45 minutes because it's the best ride, everyone wants to go on it, and only one can go at a time. Throughout the entire wait you can see other riders and listen to their screams. You see signs telling what to do in case of an emergency evacuation while on the ride. You hear the *thunk* of the trap door releasing and the hydraulics of the machine getting back into position for its next victim. When you get to the top of the ten stories, you see your coffin. You get to watch as every rider ahead of you is weighed, instructed on what to do, stands in the casket, and awaits their death. You get to watch their face as the trap door they're standing on releases and they are sent down the slide. 

When it's your turn, you step in - nearly tripping as your whole body is shaking. You hear a voice through speakers overhead: 3... 2... 1...

The trap door releases. You scream bloody murder as you face imminent death. You fall so fast down the chute that it feels like your heart is going to collide into your skull. Then water drowns out your screams and you come to a quick halt. You wipe your eyes and realize you're alive and 50 faces are staring at you, amazed that you went on that ride. The lifeguard blows his whistle at you to get out of the damn water so the next rider can go. 

So dramatic. It ends so quickly - probably less than a five second ride. But it's awesome!! They have to weigh everyone to make sure they are heavy enough. When Adam and I came here on our honeymoon we saw a young, skinny girl that got stuck and used the emergency hatch. It wasn't anything exciting... she just weighed too little to make it around the loop - she teeter-tottered in the middle, stood up, and easily lifted herself out of the enclosure. There are steps right outside the hatch so there wasn't a dramatic rescue - quite anticlimactic, if you ask me.

The absolute best part? I was with my most FAVORITE people in the entire world. Jerrod paid for the hotel and the extra tickets - he said it was an Anniversary gift. Hella expensive gift! Every ride was so, so much fun and no one got sunburnt! The food was super delish... minus me forgetting I'm lactose intolerant and ate a buttload of cheese pizza Saturday night. Who forgets they're lactose intolerant!? I forget when I eat ice cream, too! Some dairy is ok - eating a little here or there - but I cross some sort of threshold sometimes, and I don't know that I've crossed it until minutes after I'm done eating.

Enough of that. I'll have pictures tomorrow of an awesome project Erin and I did Friday.