Peggysue is this week's Stampin' Sisters in Christ Challenge hostess. She picked the following words.



1 Thessalonians 4:11-12 "Make it your aim to live a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to earn your own living, just as we told you before.12 In this way you will win the respect of those who are not believers, and you will not have to depend on anyone for what you need."



What good advice. I struggle with the quiet life. With working full time and raising 4 kids there is always noise and busyness. This afternoon, my daughter and I went to the lake to take some photos. We had fun being together. After we took the photos, we sat on a bench and listened to "NOTHINGNESS" which was really quite a lot. We could hear birds singins, the wing blowing through the trees, the water lapping on the rocks, and in the distance we could hear thunder. I really enjoyed this quiet time. I would encourage everyone to find some quiet time today to go spend it with God.

The challenge this week was - Nothing bright. Use 'quiet' colors in your creation, either pastels, or low key earthtones, soft, muted shades of beige or neutrals.

This is my card. I used WORDart by Karen on my card.

Check out what my Stampin' Sisters in Christ have created:

Kris Linda Miesje Pegggysue Rebekka Traci Grace

Stacked butterfly

This is the telescoping card I made for the Technique lovers challenge at SCS. I used my two new Mark's Finest Papers sets. BUTTERFLIES AND WISTERIA and BLACK EYED SUSANS FOR ENCOURAGEMENT. I was inspired by this photo that I took yesterday at the park. I hope you enjoy. I used more sheet music for the Stampin' Sisters in Christ challenge to use music on our cards.

My wonderful kids

I took this photo last night of my wonderful kids.

Butterfly blessings

I have been very sick this week with a horrible head cold. I haven't spent much time creating this week. One of my blessings this week was on Tuesday afternoon, it was sunny and warm, and the butterflies were congregating in the parking lot at work. My husband and I run a small trucking company, so big 18 wheelers and delicate little butterflies was quite the contrast. There were about 35 monarch butterflies flying and landing on the parking lot. Most of them were male. We had rain earlier in the week and there were still some rain puddles, and that is what I think drew them there. They would fly around and land for drinks of water. When they would land, they weren't the least concerned about me and my camera and I was able to get really close to them. Made it easy to get some great photos. I love butterflies and this blessing of the butterflies was such a wonderful gift from my loving heavenly father.

Fall Butterflies

I took these photos of butterflies in the parking lot at work. The top one is a male monarch butterfly, the middle two photos are of a yellow sulphur butterfly and the bottom one is another male monarch butterfly.

Relay for Life

Both of my sons are active in Troop 43. This last weekend, they both participated in a flag ceremony for our local Relay for Life event. My oldest son Josh is carrying the flag.

Fireworks

My teenage daughter Johanna took some awesome firework photos. If you would like to see them Here is the link.

Happy Fourth of July

A few photos from last night's firework show.

My 11 year old son, Kaleb took the next one. He thought it looked like a cross.

My sons Joshua and Kaleb were part of a flag ceremony at Church

this morning.

Part of the reason my blog's been neglected

My oldest daughter Johanna, graduated from High School. I can brag a little about her. She graduated with a 4.0 and was tied for top student with 3 of her friends. She worked very hard and I'm proud of her. It has been crazy with graduation, end of school year, and getting ready for her graduation party.

Kaleb, Johanna, Joshua

I
It was awesome to have family come to visit for this special day. My folks came from Phoenix and, my in laws came from Georgia. We had a great time even though it was hot and muggy.

More spring photos

Little violets in the woods

Robin in the park


Pretty little blue jay

Prom photos

This weekend both of my girls went to PROM. I didn't get to make any cards, I was too busy being hairdresser. They went together and had a great time. My oldest daughter said going to prom with her sister was definitely less drama than going with a guy.

Kristina

Johanna


Johanna and Kristina

sunset photos

I love the bright colors of sunsets. I thought I would share a couple of my photos of sunsets. The first one was looking out over a farm. The second one was taken overlooking the Des Moines River.

Photo Evidence of Spring

Yesterday was such a pretty day. After work, I took all my kids to the park for a few minutes before we had to go to a cub scout meeting. These photos are my evidence that Spring has come.

This robin was only a few feet away. I was standing by the tree when he came to land on the branch. He had already decided to land when he saw me. I was almost afraid to breathe. He was only on the branch for about 20 seconds. Fortunately for me I had my camera ready and was able to take this photo.

Squirrel!!! I can't help but think of the movie UP and the little dogs in that movie when I see a squirrel.

The magnolia tree had already started dropping petals. It looked like a sea of pink around the tree.

I love this view of the garden.





I love seeing all the vibrant colors.

Fall Festival at Church

Here is a photo of me and my kids at the Fall Festival that our church puts on each year as an alternative to Halloween. This year we had 1200 kids come. We have a lot of carnival games, and inflatible games and about 500 lbs. of candy. A Zombie, Old McDonald, Pippi Longstocking (Me), Army of God soldier, Jedi Knight

Fall Family Tradition

Every fall, since we moved here to Iowa, I have taken photos of our family at a little lake near our town. It is really neat to see how my kids have grown.

Photos of Barn and Butterfly

I took these photos a couple of weeks ago. I thought I would share them with you.

An adventure with butterflies

Yesterday was a busy one for me as a mom and a scout leader. In the morning I lead a group of cub scouts on a butterfly tagging expedition. A lot of children in our area spend all their times on their computers or game stations and getting out into nature is so foreign to them. For the past few years I have been bringing not only my own kids but others, including my cub scouts to an event hosted by our local conservation office. Monarch butterflies are caught and tagged, and released. The conservation officer said that of the butterflies that have been tagged only one in the past few years has been tracked all the way from Iowa to Mexico. That butterfly flew over 2,000 miles. That is pretty impressive. We had been hunting the butterflies for about 15 mins when we caught one. It was a little female. Here is a photo of the boys as they are getting ready to release the butterfly. My son is the one in the turquoise colored shirt.


Here is a photo of the fearless butterfly wranglers!!! They would have liked to catch more than the one butterfly, but after hiking around in the open field of flowers for 2 1/2 hours they were ready to go get some lunch. I hope it is a memory that the boys will have forever.

After the parents picked up their boys, my son Kaleb and I went to the park to enjoy more of God's creations. We both had our cameras and we wer taking photos of the flowers in the gardens there. Here are a few of the flowers that I took photos of.

The irony of yesterday was that after spending all morning looking for monarch butterflies, that after we were done looking, that we would find one. Kaleb and I saw this male monarch butterfly sitting in the garden. We approached very quietly and were able to get very close. We both got photos of him.

What made the rest of the day busy was marching band competitions. My daughters had 2 band competitions yesterday. Their band took first place for their division at both competitions! YEA!!!!! We didn't get home until late though... Next week's band competition is even farther than this week's one. I guess I can catch up on sleep when they are grown. Sleep is overrated anyway...