our little life lately...

there were some fires in the middle of march - tom took the kids to see what was going on and they saw the hankins & sabrina there also.... i like this shot.

different little odd things going on lately... matt went camping with his boy scout troop and saw a really cool civil war reinactment...

jon was in a fun musical play at school about the gold rush... here he is with his good friend eddie

cole is at a b-day party at disneyland right now with his buddies...

and me? i'm just trying to work my plan; trying to get this weight off and get healthy! i'm feeling better every day.... just gotta keep going. tom & i got to be a part of a fun thing at church yesterday- i'll post the pics later. :o)

the latest...

hey... thought i'd post a new photo i was working on and liked... our variety show auditions were last week! can't wait to post some photos on here soon regarding that. it will be a blast. i've been scrapping alot lately, that's been fun, too! i'll scan in the latest and post.

Haud Yer Weescht!!

As my Irish grandmother would say... In honor of St Paddy's Day we went to an Irish carnival with the bag pipers and all, so I'm uploading my favorite pics I took this weekend...




Cousin Christine having a blast with Cole

some photos i've been loving lately...

Matthew... my beautifully kind, sweet boy

the boys in the desert, click on it to see it in the best way

at a waterfall in the mountains of palm springs

Jon at the park near our house

Jon when he first got his violin... love this kid SO much

these guys rock...

i uploaded a photo of the kids- got a 16"x20" for under $30... great quality. They also do some square sizes - I got the photo way down below of Cole (the b&w of his face up close) in 10"x10" for about $6!! They're right there in Irvine, too. Just thought I'd share... ;o)
30 MINUTE PHOTOS ETC: Your 100% Kodak Digital Photo Service

Judi Singer Photography

Judi Singer Photography

my sweet friend... check out her blog...

sundance... what in the heck?

i LOVE this guy on american idol. he seems like the nicest guy and has a fantastic voice! i hate that he got voted off!!! i think we'll be seeing big things from this guy! (edited after being voted off)

interesting site...

Hey, just wanted to share with you a quirky site - it's called "the visual dictionary" and it is pictures of words from all over the world that people submit. i have a few on there myself (my user name is brookie) - here's the web address: http://www.thevisualdictionary.net/

The picture above is one of my submissions...

just thought i'd share... :o)

Palm Springs

click on the photos to see them larger :o)


a few pictures of p.s.... we went to this cool place called the living desert. it's always been on my list of "must do's" to see a giraffe i.r.l. and i finally did; and caught them kissing! :o) there's also a picture of the boys at the butterfly sanctuary - very cool place.
i'd really like to work on some more photos - i'm having a tought time learning photoshop... i am so used to my other program that i love but it doesn't do everything that photoshop does... it's pretty complicated; it's going to take me a while...

have you seen this?

I thought this was interesting... just wanted to share. This is a 2000 year old coin with Cleopatra on one side and Marc Anthony on the obverse... people are saying they don't think she was a "beauty" by the looks of this... interesting assesment - maybe she just had charisma...

Hooray!!

so i'm just so excited that i am finally able to log on to this stinking site... what a pain. it would not let me for a long while.
there are so many things swirling round my brain lately. i feel like i just want to put them all here; i just don't know if that's do-able.do-able. that word cracks me up. do you think our ancestors from the 1920's or so would even understand that kind of language? i just don't even know...

stuff that totally interests me lately, and this is going to seem totally random (in no particular order):

1. love this show, my boys and i tivo it and watch it after school


2. love to hear this guy sing... just call me a "Head Case"!


3. this is a fantastic magazine for disney-geeks


4. this company makes the best scrap paper hands-down... bar-none... whatever you want to call it


5. love this store... in case you don't have this link...


6. love this game when i'm bored...


7. a really interesting read about the real beginnings of greek mythology, with Electra and Darda, two of my ancestors; but of course, Electra was not a goddess, even though sometimes i want to think i am.


8. another interesting ancestry link that shows the lineage from adam and eve to darda(and electra)


9. ok, this may seem boring at first to you, but it's actually fantastic! it is the Gutenberg Book of The Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms, Amended by Sir Isaac Newton, it's all there, on-line; unbelievable... it's amazing what you can find on-line nowadays! :o)


10. these guys kill me... you've got to listen, either sat or sun at 10 a.m., 89.3 fm


11. one of the scrap projects i'm proud of... wait, i think it's "of which i'm proud"... you don't want to dangle those prepositions you know...

alright, that's all for now. it's almost one in the mornin... sheesh. thought i'd post some of my favorite ancestor photos, since we're on the subject... the one of the little boy is my grandpa bullmaster, then the girls in bathing suits are my mother-in-law's family, and the picture of the man with president truman is my uncle lee sage, who owned the farm next to truman's mother's farm.

wild...

oh man... what a great party... at the Christiansen's house, New Year's Eve... fantastic food and even better company. the theme was "Beauty and the Geek" and it seemed most of the men and women decided to be opposite. We played a game to go along with the theme, most also played "Guitar Heroes" (you'll see in the pictures).

It was a great way to ring in the new...

Christmas 2006

Wow... this Christmas was amazing... loved so many things about it, although I'm sure I'll look back someday and wonder how we got through it.

We went to the Christmas Eve service at church - I can not believe I didn't have my camera in church; it was SO beautiful. Everyone was given white candles and we all lit each others candle... with all of the lights out in the church and just the candles flickering... it was cool.

Then we went out to IHOP with the Christiansens and to the movies to see "The Nativity Story".

I really like going to the movies with friends... it's fun!

Christmas Day was SUPER DUPER fun with neat presents and then dinner at the Ronk's house!

good food and games...

There's Jeff and Melody Ronk and another picture with Tom with Mindy. We were playing games and there was some rough-housing involved... :o)

One of my favorite things was that all of our kids were together for Christmas... that was totally cool.

Here comes Santa Claus, here comes Santa Claus....

Football is done, Fargongo is done, school is done and Christmas is Here!!

I'm really excited; I'm especially excited because this has been an amazing Christmas so far! It's like God has us in the palm of His hand. We have been going through such extrodinarily hard times but He just takes care of everything! Just when I think there won't be breakfast for the kids tomorrow or anything at all for dinner, *poof* there it is!


Just amazing... and just when I think we might not have a Christmas *poof* there it is... He is so kind and good and we are just SO undeserving...

So I'm including some pictures from the end of Fargongo here - it's closing night and there are so many other great pics - I'll have to include them later. It was just such a fun experience!!!

I'm hoping SO much that my friend, Jude, comes through with a date to photograph her... I'm really excited to do that; you know, exercize my abilities with someone who understands why I might want to take a million shots, why I'd want to compose something a certain way... you know the deal. My other friends feel a little odd every time I want to just keep snapping away!

two gems...

My dear sweet friends, Beth & Linda... they indulged my camera in their face while I snapped away... after a while they wanted to wring my neck but I like some of the results- posted here.

They are two of the most talented women I know... what totally cool friends they are!

Couch for SALE!!

I have GOT to sell this wonderful couch... we got a new one and don't have a place for it in our garage...

That's all for now... can't wait to post the last few photos of Fargongo! It was a blast.