kristinmyoungphotography

{flat} daddy

the offspring and i are down in orlando with some of our dearest friends--the barkers and alamins.  we connected with them here last year while we were on our rv cross country trip.  it was so much fun that we decided to do it again this year. only...bryant couldn't make it this time.  

and man, has he been complainin'--"yal are having all the fun without me this year.  first, you guys stayed in california this summer and now you are going to orlando without me." blah, blah, blah, blah... secretly, i would much rather be preparing to take on usc than dealing with four kids at theme parks for a week. but, ya know, it is all relative...

so in order to make daddy feel better, the kids came up with the greatest idea ever...flat daddy. i promise, they drew him up and cut him out all by themselves (ok, they had a little help. but it was completely their idea.)  i took a couple of head shots of bryant before we left and viola---we have flat daddy who goes with us everywhere....

here he is at the airport getting ready to fly out. he was SO excited to go...

 and then he saw the blues brothers at the airport (yal know what a blues fanatic he is...)

 

 

 

but he got a little scared on the plane, so colby held him...

 

at last we arrived in orlando and flat daddy was the perfect gentleman (as always) helping with the luggage. he was ready to start his vacation...

 

after unpacking, we hit the pool to max and relax a little bit...

 

dinner, kids bathed and in bed and then it was time to rest from a long day of traveling...

 

stay tuned for more of flat daddy's adventures this week...

unwritten at creative escape...

i have been hanging with my scrappy friends at creative escapes, the so-called "cadillac" of scrapping getaways, in phoenix, az.  with school starting this week, trying to catch up on the photog stuff and getting back into the midwest swing, i was really thinking about not coming. now, i am so glad i did. 

yes, there are women here wearing things that grown women just should not wear. and really, i haven't touched the glue, paper or scissors since we moved.  

being here has reminded me that it's more that just cutting paper and gluing embellishments.  the theme has revolved around the "unwritten" song by natasha b. certainly all these creations will be ashes or dust one day, but there are a host of unwritten words that i hope to leave my children.  words that they can read to relive their childhood, see the good moments as well as bad, understand my shortcomings and fears and know for certain that they are loved. 

so no longer will i quietly say, "i scrap." as if i am admitting to being a trekkie. 

scrappers unite...

it's not a scrap party unless the hands are messy:

awesome lamps designed by the teachers for the raffle:

hobby lobby run:

we did a gift exchange. ms. po made these necklaces for all of us with different words for each of us. mine was "believe." random fact: po is a rocket scientist who adjusts satellites out in space and still finds time to scrap. i feel like such an under achiever.

 

we made bets on when erin would start crying because it just ain't a party unless erin gets all sappy.  she lasted until heidi swapp's class on day two and then the waterworks began.

us with the awesome heidi swapp:

these are cookies:

loooooonnngggg stroll back to the room after a long day of scrappin'.

nw and i snuck out to have lunch with the our friends at ron blue and company. lurves them...

lil' miss hunter...

stephanie and kiddos have been in town visiting.  i {love} her and i am not just saying that because she bought me a draeger's carrot cake for my birthday.  we met in the crying room at church ten years ago--God knew that i would need a friend like her (He's just smart like that). she is one of my "go to girls."  and, i promise, steph has never met a stranger. she also birthed my future son and daughter inlaws--they just don't know it yet.  hayden has gotten so tall while miss hunter has become a camera bug since the last time we saw them.  anytime i whipped out bo this week, she was ready to strike a pose for him.  my mouth hit the floor when i saw her this morning in this tutu so we had a little impromptu photo shoot after church...   

after we were done "playing", hunter, in typical diva fashion, asked when i was going to put the pics on the web.  hope you enjoyed seeing yourself, hunter!