Dalyla's Birthday Weekend

What a fun and exciting weekend celebrating Dalyla's 2nd birthday.

It all started Saturday with a birthday lunch at Red Robin. Dalyla was the center of attention when the staff came out with an ice cream sundae and sang Happy Birthday to her. She was a little nervous at first but soon joined in the fun and was clapping along with them. She generously shared her ice cream with Grandma-ma and Pop Pops before giving Uncle Eric a kiss on the cheek. We ended lunch with a rare family photo. UGH!

Sunday morning I picked up Dalyla so Andrea could decorate and get things ready for the party. We spent the morning watching a little Wow Wow Wubbzy, some Hannah Montana (whoa is me she's only 2), playing with bubbles outside, making a video of ourselves being silly and having a snack. Then it was time to go to her party. The first thing she saw was the balloons. Oh my! She loved the balloons. Her best little friend Daniel came and was so cute with her as he always is. She loved us singing Happy Birthday to her and was so excited to blow out her candle. We had pizza, presents, cake and more pictures. (My dad says we are worse than the paparazzi. LOL) The Myrup family survived several hours together two days in a row without incident. Who knew? Yeah for us. Dalyla brings out the best in us.

Happy Birthday Dalyla! We all love you!

Singing

This is what Dalyla and I spend most of our time doing.

DVD Completed!

After much love, blood, sweat, tears and did I say lots of love I have completed Dalyla's DVD for her 2nd birthday. The quality of this one here is not that great because I had to convert it to such a small size so it would upload but you'll be able to see the basic concept. You will also see how much I have learned in Photoshop over the past year. LOL I hope you enjoy watching it. For those of you who live locally and want to see it in higher quality just let me know.

BuBbLeS

Who doesn't love bubbles? Dalyla and I can spend hours playing with bubbles. We have all sort of devices that we use to blow bubbles. Her favorite one is a bubble fan. You just dip and push a button and a little fan starts turning and it's bubbles galore! We can't help but laugh. We just love bubbles.

An Owl, A Fox and A Cloud Dance

When you live in an apartment you expect to see certain things when you go outside. Things like grass, trees, flowers, bunnies, squirrels, rocks, dirt, kids playing, bbq's, deck chairs, etc. I work at home and go out on my deck to read during my breaks or when I need to get away from the computer. (I'm outside on my deck ALOT!)

So one morning about a month ago I go outside and something catches my eye. I look across to the building across from mine and see this and yes, it totally FREAKED me out. I thought it was a real owl at first. I'm told these fake owls keep the pigeons away but this thing is so creepy looking that I can't decide if I'd rather have pigeons or a creepy looking owl. It's still there and I have a feeling it will be there until this person moves out. Ewww...

I'm not sure why looking at that owl creeps me out when this little guy fascinates me. He's been coming around here for as long as I've lived here and yes he comes that close to our apartments. He doesn't bother anyone human. In fact, if you are outside the same time he is, he will run away from you or right past you. Bunnies on the other hand he will bother and unfortunately that's when I go inside. I just cannot watch him or the poor bunnies once he starts chasing them. The bunnies also live here year round and I love them too. I know it's the circle of life but I just can't watch him eat them for dinner. Not after I've watched bunnies chase other bunnies. Not when I've watched them run through snow that's too deep for them. And especially not when I have seen the babies come out for the first time and eat grass with their mamas. So while I find this fox amazing, I just can't watch him hunt or eat. Yuck!

Yesterday evening I watched the clouds dance for almost 30 minutes. It was mysterious and beautiful all at the same time. Dark clouds and light clouds mixed together and a burst of clear blue sky behind them. It was almost as if the clouds couldn't decide if it should rain or not. The pictures obviously do not do the cloud dance justice but it was a spectacular sight that I would have missed if I let that creepy owl keep me from going outside. LOL

Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Couple of Days

I've been having a rough couple of days. When all else fails I digi scrap. It's a good distraction and I have something beautiful to look at when I'm done. Here are a few things I completed. I've been in the Designer Digitals chat room off and on all day for the All Day Chat Event. When I say all day I mean ALL day!!! It started at 6am MST and ends at 11pm MST. I've been to all except two of them. One of the LO below is from the Change Challenge. Boy, that one was fun. LOL

I'm still in a funk, crying and feeling horrible but I have some great new pages to look at and add to Dalyla's DVD. Of course Dalyla always finds a way to make me smile. :)

Credits: Anna Aspnes 12x12 FotoBlenz Canvas Clipping Mask and Perfect Princess Kit.

Credits: Anna Aspnes Ecstatic QP and WordART.

Credits: Lauren Reid Just Because Kit.

Credits: Pattie Knox Template - SpeedByte #3 and Katie Pertiet Sunprint Papers.

Credits: Reeta Treet Completely Random Paper and Shelley Rae Frame.

Credits: 30 Minute Masterpiece Challenge - All items by Katie Pertiet

Fun at the Playground

Last week Dalyla and I hit the playground for some fun before the weather gets too cold. It was a beautiful day and I got some great pictures to capture all the fun we had. She was quite the daredevil going for the BIG slide first thing without any help from Auntie. She climbed up the steps, walked past the small slide, crawled through the connector and went right over to that big slide like she knew exactly what she was doing. When she was done playing she told everything bye, grabbed my hand and proceeded to walk ME to the car. "Bye slide, bye swing, bye tree, bye frog (she's sitting on a frog in the bottom picture), bye guys, see you later."

Paper and Elements - Pool Party mega kit by Heidi Larsen - Little Dreamer Designs

Grandparents Day

For the past several years Grandparents Day has been especially hard for me. I was very close to my grandma and PaPa and each day I find something in my every day life that reminds me of them. I miss them terribly and now with them gone I have a void in my life that I will never be able to fill. Almost like my home away from home is no longer there. I've had many struggles over the past couple of years and how I wish I could have physically had them here to go 'home' to. In honor of Grandparents Day I have a poem I wrote for them a couple of years ago and some of my favorite pictures of us together. I hope you enjoy walking down memory lane with me. (I did not have time to edit the photos in Photoshop so they are not the best quality.)

Silence Of The Heart

In the silence of the heart,
a lifetime speaks softly.
In the palm of a hand,
tears of forever are shed.
And who would have known when we last met,
though our souls must have known,
that we would not meet again.
Even in the face of pain,
I want to sing about dreams.
About the torn edges of an old photograph,
and about the legacies I come from,
your past - my future.
In the silence of the heart,
maybe songs will echo again.
When the new day shines,
I want to sing about yesterday.
Let it be a place I can sometimes visit.
Let there be memories that I will never learn to let go of.
Let the thread tying me to you never break.
Walking down old roads,
I want to sing about tomorrow.
And though you will not be there,
you will still be around.
In the silence of the heart,
so much can be held.
When all direction is lost,
I only need to look toward the star of faith,
and there you’ll be.
I will not forget,
that the streams of the mountains,
are the ones that flow into the deep oceans far.
And far though I travel,
the songs of the mountains still echo on,
leading my lost soul home again.
Let a lifetime pass,
as the waves drift through my shadows,
and may I always remember you.
May you find what you sought in the light again.
And in the silence of the heart,
let echoes of eternity unfold.

Christi
6/8/2005

I love and miss you grandma and PaPa. You are always in my heart.

Thinking Chair

Another LO for Dalyla's DVD using At The Beach Papers by Sonya Johnston.

I Wish

New LO for Dalyla's DVD using Anna Aspnes True Kit.