Girl's First Crop
08-02-2003, 10:21 p.m.

I had such a great time yesterday, and today both. I was so excited to be done with work yesterday since it meant that we are officially on vacation. Chuck had brought the girls to my work, and dropped them off around 2 yesterday, and they hung around with Stephen until I was finished with my work. I had some stuff that I needed to finish up before I could leave but we were out of there around 3:30. The girls and I headed out towards my mom�s to meet up with Tricia, and Stephen headed to his mom�s to mow the lawn. We hadn�t gone very far at all when we ran into a horrible storm. When I say horrible, that is putting it mildly. It was raining so hard I could barely see in front of me, and the wind was so wicked. There was hail the size of golf balls and June and Chrissy were both scared every time it hit the car. I really thought at times that it was going to break my windshield, it was just so hard. I was tempted to pull over but then my mom called and told me that there were tornado watches in that area, and so I really just wanted to get out of there. It was really neat when we moved out of the storm.. in front of us it was sunny and bright, blue skies with white fluffy clouds and behind us just horrible� the contrast was actually very beautiful.. it is hard to explain how it felt seeing it� almost like a movie or something.

We got to where we were meeting Tricia, but she was stuck in a little traffic so we went on to my parents to visit for a bit. That was nice, and I got to hear my dad�s good news. He put in his papers to retire, and his last day is August 15th. He is so very excited about it, and I am excited for him. Good for him.

We went over to the diner where we were having dinner with Tricia and had a nice little dinner, and then went to get some snacks for the crop. The crop itself was a little crowded because they are having free ones all of August, and that worried me just a little bit, but it really worked out nicely because the store is pretty big and once everyone was working on their stuff at their own tables, it didn�t seem crowded at all. I was also worried that June wouldn�t be able to last for the whole time, but I had nothing to worry about, she did great! She got quite a few layouts done, and they are adorable. I am so proud of her, and while she did get tired of scrapping at the end (even I do sometimes), she just walked around looking at stuff and taking pictures, and was really very good. One of the things that I like about doing it at the store is that you can buy stuff as you go, and that really stokes my creativity, but I watched what I was getting knowing that I had to pay for 3 people rather than 1.. but I let the girls each get some stuff, and I really got some cute stuff as well, and ended up spending only about 20 bucks.. which is less than I spend when I go by myself. That worked out well, and it helps that the crop fee was waived, hehe.. I like that.

I got 3 really nice layouts done (I even finished my first Vegas visit book, yay), and Chrissy got only one done, but she really worked hard on it and it turned out really cute. I love how much she was into it, and both girls really ended up enjoying the experience. I am glad I took them, and I am especially glad that Tricia came as well. I really enjoyed spending time with her, but then I always do. Now she really came up with some adorable layouts last night, they were great. I love how we share ideas and really help each other out.. it makes our pages so much more special in the end.

We went to my mom and dad�s to spend the night. I invited Tricia to join us but she wasn�t feeling like it, hehe� but it was nice to only drive a minute vs. the hour to get home, and the girls and I ended up laying in bed giggling for over an hour before we went to sleep. We got up early this morning, and went swimming with mom, and shopping a little too. Mom and I went over to the travel agency and picked up some of our cruise documents too, so that was pretty exciting. We of course spent a lot of time talking about that and planning� our favorite thing to do these days. We headed home early in the afternoon, and all worked together to get some yard work done, and the house clean� then Chrissy and I started working on our scrapbook stuff while June played on the computer. I was able to talk myself into going for a walk too, even though I had done some exercising in the pool earlier. I am glad that I walked though... I am really determined not to get too off track while we are on vacation. Speaking of vacation, I realized tonight that Chuck didn�t give me the girls Six Flags passes the other day... great... How are we supposed to take them to St. Louis and spend 3 days at Six Flags without them?? I left a message for them, but I know that they are supposed to go out of town on Monday, man, I hope that they didn�t go early� that would really ruin our whole trip� we would have to cancel it� eek. Well, we won�t think that way.. only positive thoughts.