Desert Heat Retreat

We headed up to Arizona's high country for a 3 day retreat from the heat. We met up with our great friends Brian and Lindy Francom for 3 days of camping along the Mogollon Rim. On Friday afternoon when we arrived, we were met with a thunderous sprinkling rain which was an awesome way to cool our heels. We set up camp and had a dinner of fajitas, fresh tortillas and fixings, then afterwards a campfire with plenty of SMORES! The kids (and Lindy) were in heaven! Thanks to Brian for cutting all that wood. I don't think Caris would have let him rest if he hadn't gone out and got that wood chopped right away. She was just dying to get that fire going so she could toast her 'smarshmallows'.



The next day, Zeke woke up at the break of dawn and we were up early, ate some yummy breakfast burritos and then Brian used his Arizona map and GPS to find us a hatchery to visit. We were off on a new adventure to God's Country. We found out that we made a wrong turn on a forest service road, but ended up at a beautiful stream called Clear Creek Ranch. It was truly a beautiful place. You could still see the remains of the fire that burned all around the rim a few years back. That ranch was completely encircled by burned trees as far as the eye could see. We then back-tracked and made it up to the fish hatchery. The kids loved it. Thanks to the kindness of strangers who gave me a couple quarters to buy some pellet food for the kids to feed the fish. We had a great time, then after a morning of driving around the forest, went back to camp for some rest.


We then made steaks for dinner and an ominous monsoon storm looked like it might hit us at any minute, but was uneventful. After a delicious dinner, we enjoyed our campfire and Brian and Lindy surprised me with a birthday cobbler in their dutch oven by the campfire. They even brought along ice cream. It was so yummy! I think that with all the relaxation and eating, I'm going to have to go on a serious diet.
It was such a great way to spend a weekend.



On our way home, we took a detour by Saguaro Lake and ended up deciding to pull in and hop in the lake with all our clothes on for a dip! The hot desert had already gotten to us so a cool-off in the lake was just what we needed. I wish we could do it all over again this coming weekend!

PAYDAY Friday!

Hi Peeps! Just rolling thru a Friday afternoon wondering what I'm going to have for lunch. I am due to get out of work at 3:15. I sure hope I can cram all my work into the next 3 hrs! haha

I have been a blog-slacker, but since I saw a chance to get a completely free Bo-Bunny Blinkie AND a chance to win a great prize from them, I decided I better get crack-a-lackin'.





As for some scrap news, I have to say I am SUPER disappointed with Creating Keepsakes magazine. I got the new August issue in the mail this week and happened to notice an article and picture of a Seashell album on page 112. Well, I read and re-read the article 3 times and nowhere did I see any credit to a gal named Glynda Roffman. I happen to follow her blog http://glyndaroffmann.blogspot.com/ and several months back, she sent me an email that she had put together a cute seashell album kit made out of REAL shells that she drilled herself. Well, I was amazed by her creativity and how cute it was, went over to etsy and decided that while I didn't have $25 to blow right then, I'd keep checking back and buy one eventually. Fast forward to this past week and what do I see but her exact same idea with credit given to someone else. I emailed Glynda and asked if she had come up with the idea herself or if she had seen it somewhere before because I had seen the CK article with almost her exact same album. She replied that she was HORRIFIED because it was her own god-given idea and that she had submitted the idea to several magazines months and months ago and after she didn't get any response, she decided to make up kits to sell on etsy and ebay. So for you CK readers and fans-I challenge you to decide for yourself....Cruise on over to Glynda's blog which will lead you to her etsy stuff where she has the seashell albums for sale. Then take a look at page 112 of CK mag./August issue. I'd love to hear your comments. The pictures posted here on my blog are copied from Glynda's etsy kits that she has for sale.

Happy Friday everyone-keep it scrappy!

p.s. in all fairness to the CK contributor, I emailed her directly this afternoon and she replied that she really had come up with the idea all on her own and cited a timeline to when she submitted it. So in all fairness to both parties (neither whom I have ever met in person)-it is a probable coincidence.