I am practicing for the coming year on keeping up with my blog better. I never make New Year's Resolutions, because I don't keep up with them and then feel like a failure. I decided to change that this year. I have found some very inspiring websites, blogs and printed material and will just keep re-reading and hopefully stay inspired. I can do this.

I have figured I don't need a new scrapbook page for each and every blog entry, which takes off a lot of the pressure I was putting on myself. So just for interest sake here is a photo of Maggie opening one of her gifts this year. She always opens all her own presents, and then tries to help anyone who will let her, open theirs!

She is such a love.

Merry Christmas

It has been a wonderful Christmas. I got wonderful gifts this year; Gabe got me an upright mixer and it is terrific, and the girls all went in together and got me a Kindle! How fun is that? The weather has been pretty good, although not enough snow for my liking. At least the ground is white.

Everyone came for Christmas Eve, except for Jeff who is now living in Arizona, and Kathleen who lives in Louisville, KY. Then we all had dinner here on Christmas day; I make Roast Pork and all the fixings and then the girls pitched in and did the clean-up. What a blessing.

The little ones all did really good, although the holidays are hard one them. Here is Teagan after a bath at Nana's, having a snack and waiting for everyone to come to open presents!

Here is a page I did with the new freebie kit from Owl Tree Studio. Maggie just loves playing in the water like that and is so funny blowing her bubbles when she goes under. She will even do it if you put a rock in her waterdish.

Selling Our Camper

We are going to sell our camper to get one with a little less set-up, so I though I would post some photos here so I have someplace to tell people to look.

It is a 2004 Travelstar hybrid camper. 22' x 7' 7", 2 axles, weight 3464, GVWR 5000. Super-slide makes very spacious living area. Queen bed on either end, dinette and couch make into full beds to sleep 8. Fridge with separate freezer, gas stove with oven, microwave, antennae with booster, gas furnace & hot water heater. air conditioner. full bathroom with corner shower, skylight and fan. Outside shower. RVQ with outside hook-up. spare tire with carrier. Well cared for and very clean.

This is the last page I have done about my Dad, I'll have to scan more photos and get to work, but in the meantime I'll start on my Mom with the next posting.

During World War II my Dad was in the Royal Canadian Air Force. He was an airplane mechanic, so he never went overseas. He was stationed in London, Ontario when he met my Mom and shortly after they were married he was transferred to Winnipeg, Manitoba. Here he is in his uniform looking all neat and trim!

My page about my Dad - "The Greatest Gift" has been published in Scrapbookking.com. You can read about it there at http://scrapbooking.com/article/74464 .
I was really thrilled to have it published. My Dad was such a special guy and this page is a tribute to him.

I love all these old photos of my Dad and his family when he was young. He did really well in school and my Gramma told my Mom she really regretted not being able to send my Dad on to college.

Journaling reads:

My grandparents, Florence Marie Carlson and Magnus Joseph Leander Wegren were both born and raised in Illinois. In 1903, Joseph and his family left for Saskatchewan to homestead 160 acres near the small town of Allan.

Joe and Florence corresponded and their families kept in touch. 1 Aug 1911 they were married in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. They went to live on his farm and raised their family - John, Rodney, Josephine and Dale.

Life on the prairie was very different from the life Gramma had lived as a girl. She had been raised in the city of Moline, Illinois and before she got married she had taught school. It was a complete reversal of what her life had been in Moline.

She learned and adjusted to life on the farm and was a wonderful wife and mother. She made a very happy life for herself and her family. She never got back to Moline. Her father had died efore her marriage and her mother moved west with them. Mom said she told her that she felt she couldn't spend he money on the proper wardrobe needed to go back to visit.

Grampa was a wheat farmer & a blacksmith. He was a mountain of a man, a gentle giant and people all around called him “Big Joe Wegren”.

This is my Gramma and Grandpa's wedding announcement and photos. I believe they were married in Winnipeg on their way west. Her mother was moving there with them and was the only one at the wedding.

I think Spring is finally getting here. It is 52 out and sunny - just a perfect day for Palm Sunday! Church was wonderful, the weather is super, and I can even hang some clothes out on the line! Thank you God for your blessings.

After I posted this page the other day with the white background, I decided it looked really stark; so I reworked it with some color and now like it a lot better.

The new page I am posting for today is of my Great Grandmother Johanna. My Dad always spoke highly of her. I think she must have been a very special lady.

Whoa the cold weather is really back. It barely made 32 today, but at least it won't last in March.

Continuing with heritage layouts on my Dad's family:
The top photo on this layout was taken in 1941. It is of the family home. My Dad had this in an album he had taken with him when he went in the RCAF. The photo of the family below was taken around 1934. Left to right is: Dale, Grampa, Gramma, John, Josephine and Rodney.

I have been so lax, thinking I would get pages done especially for this blog. I guess that isn't going to happen, as life keeps getting in the way. For now I will start uploading some heritage pages I have done. The first ones will be on my Dad's family.

This one, "Saskatchewan Winters", was done for a flashback challenge. The journaling is as follows:

When my Dad was growing up on the prairies of Saskatchewan, the winters were bitter cold and lots of snow. The roads were not plowed, so to get around they used horse drawn covered sleighs. When the weather was terrible they used the oxen. There was a window out front and a place for the reins to come through and a seat for the driver. There were benches along either side and a small woodstove in it for heat. They used these as late as the 1950’s. I can remember the one in the bottom photo.

Two Days in a Row?

Whoaa, this is scary. I am making it two days in a row! That is amazing to me.

It was very slow at the Library tonight. I was able to get a lot (500+), of guest passes made for the computer lab, and about 150 bookmarks with our hours on them done. Since I took over as the graphics person there, I do everything I can in-house. That way we don't have to get 1000+ of something from the printer, and can change things on a regular basis. I am there anyway for the circ desk, so my time doesn't really figure into the form making.

Jen came over this morning and brought the new Mario game for the Wii! It is just too much fun. I can't buy it, because I know I wouldn't get anything else done.

Here are the other two layouts I have done in my Travel Michigan series of scrapbook pages.

Happy New Year

I can't believe it is the 11th of January already and it is my first post of the New Year! I'm not very good at this, but I will keep trying. We are supposed to get a few bonus days this week; temps up to 30 which will seem like heaven after the last few weeks. We need some new snow too, it would clean things up. There is not much worse to look at than dirty snow!

I got a Wii and Wii Fit Plus for Christmas, so my New Year's resolution is to use it everyday. So far it hasn't been much of a hardship -- it is so much FUN!! I just love it. I love the golf, and the game of going down the river in the bubble. That is really fun. I may even get in shape in spite of myself! That would be the best Christmas present of all. LOL

The page I've posted today is one I put up on Two Peas a while ago. It is part of a series of pages I am doing on fun places we have gone to here in Michigan. Hopefully I'll end up with enough pages to do a Snapfish book. For now I only have 3 done.