Vintage Christmas

Merry almost-Christmas everyone!  Since I am in the Christmas spirit, I decided to finish up my scrapbooking of last year's Christmas pictures.  This page is based on C'est Magnifique December sketch.

And this layout is inspired by My Mind's Eye's December sketch.  I used MME's Vintage Christmas for both layouts.  

Here is the two-page spread:

Scrapbooking with Cappella

This month, I started scrapping last year's trip to Europe, and Basic Grey's Cappella collection is elegant and the perfect line to use!  My first layout is based on My Creative Sketch's November sketch, and showcases pictures from our first day with the Hamburgers in Belgium.

This second page is from our second day, exploring Antwerp.  I was inspired by Scrap Around the Word's mood board, particularly the elegance and combination of light blue, brown, and white.  I also used the Stuck?! sketch for this layout.

And here is a picture of the two layouts together.

The last page I have to show you is from the very end of our trip to Europe: when we saw the Germany v. Ireland World Cup Qualifying game.  I used Blue Fern's December sketch and chipboard layering stems.

It's a Boy!

 Due April 7, 2015

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Since we hung around here for Thanksgiving, we were able to put up our tree this weekend for the first time, well, ever!  Jesse picked up a cute little tree and we added a couple new ornaments we purchased this year to the host of usual suspects.  

Family picture!

I also started scrapping last Christmas using My Mind's Eye's Vintage Christmas collection.  The layout on the right is based on My Mind's Eye's November sketch, and the layout on the left is inspired by Swirlydoos' Beloved sketch.

Thanksgiving at Home

This year, Jesse and I had our first thanksgiving at home.  Here is Jesse cooking his first turkey . . . 

. . . and it's beautiful!

The mashed potatoes and sides came out well too.

Jesse did a good job of carving and we managed to get everything to the table nice and hot!

Hmmmmm!  (Keep in mind that this is supposed to feed just the two three of us -- yikes!)

Last 2012 Layout

I try to scrap somewhat chronologically, but sometimes I skip around a bit.  I realized that while I had finished about half of 2013, I still had one more page to do from 2012, so I finally did it!  Here is a two-pager from my firm's retreat to Las Vegas where Jesse rock climbed at Red Rock.

The page on the left is based off C'est Magnifique's November challenge, and the page on the right is inspired by Blue Fern Studios' November sketch and brick chippies.  In addition to finishing my 2012 layouts, I also finished the last of my stash of Pink Paislee's Bayberry Cottage line, with some scraps leftover to create this card.

At the Beach

We spent the remaining four days of our vacation on the beachy west side of the island, and snorkeled a lot! Our first snorkel destination was Makaiwa Bay, and we were treated to an array of colorful fish.

I love this next type of fish -- they are always adorably in twos!

After snorkeling, we had lunch at the Mauna Lani's lovely Napua restaurant.  Then Jesse practiced open water swimming in Anaeho'omalu Bay right in front of our hotel.  

We spent the rest of the afternoon in the infinity pool and reading books poolside.  And, of course, we were treated to another lovely sunset from our lanai.

The next morning, Jesse did the real open water swim deal and swam 1.2 miles in the place where they do the open water swims for the Ironman.  He kept getting further and further away, until I could only see his yellow cap, and then nothing, but he came back thinking that was fun!

After his swim, we tasted some Kona coffee (so delicious!) and took a tour of Greenwell's coffee farm.

We had lunch at Kona Brewing Company,

and then shared an even tastier treat.  Shave ice -- mmmmmm.

We went to church the next morning and had a nice acai bowls for brunch.  We headed down to Honaunau Bay to snorkel, and saw some more beautiful tropical fish,

super-weird looking ones,

a nice greeting,

just beautiful!

Right next to Honaunau Bay is Pu'uhonua O Honaunau National Historic Park.  We learned a lot about Hawaiian history and posed with these incredible statues (Jesse was less willing to do the bend-the-knees-and-butt-back imitation pose than I was).

Baby bump + baby coconut tree.

That evening, we did one of the coolest and unique things you can do in Hawaii: a night manta ray snorkel.  They are large, magnificent creatures and they got so close to us (and even bumped into us).

This video (one of many good ones Jesse got) captures their grace and beauty -- such a treat!

Our flight out was on Monday, but because the plane did not leave until 11pm, we basically had a whole final day.  We started the day with (surprise surprise) snorkeling!  We actually wanted to get on a sailboat, and they tend to have a lot of snorkel sails, so we really enjoyed both portions of our morning snorkel sail.  We snorkeled at Pawai Bay, and we agreed that it was the best snorkeling of our trip.

Not only did we see cool fish -- and lots of them, 

we saw a creepy/cool eel,

another manta ray,

and an eagle ray!

The sail was lovely too (as is our hair!)

At the very end of the trip, when we were heading back into the harbor, we saw dolphins!  A number of dolphins just appeared and swam alongside our boat for a bit.  Such amazing creatures!

After we spent the last few hours we could laying on the beach, we checked out and headed out for the best dinner of the trip at Ulu Ocean Grill at the Four Seasons.  The delectable food was matched only by our proximity to the water and the hotel's stunningly beautiful grounds.  It was the perfect way to end our lovely vacation.