Well they're gone!

Yes... my girl has really flown the nest this time! Matt and Britton were with us for 3 days and left this morning for Portland, Oregon! We'll miss the old girl ! It's gonna be strange not having her close by us. Iowa City was only 3 hour drive from us....now she a 1,900 miles away! She is definitely "On her Own" now!

Greg and I have all the confidence in the world that she will do well and success at whatever she puts her hands to. She wants to start her own Soap and Shampoo Company but first she will look for another kitchen position. She was told that restaurants on the West Coast love hiring hardworking Mid Westerns! And she is a very hard worker....they'll be lucky to get her!

Matt has a lot of connections in Portland...he use to live there about 3 years ago. Matt will do well there as he too is a hard worker! Not sure what field he will go into...he is a very talented Graphic Artist, has worked in the Food industry and built some websites too! Whatever Matt does he will do well!

They both love the simple life...they don't live above their means and live a life as what they refer to as a Self-staining lifestyle. Meaning the live as green as they can...don't buy more then they can offered and try to do everything as natural as they can. Neither own a car and prefer to ride bikes. By the way both are in great physical shape...Matt rides about 50 to 60 miles for exercise every day! This doesn't include riding to and from work everyday either. Britton rides more for pleasure and for transportation to and from work too.




Matt and Britton have rented a moving truck and plan on taking 3 days to get to Oregon. Not sure how much sightseeing they plan on doing but they did say they were stopping in South Dakota and again in Montana. Britton has always wanted to see Montana. I hope she gets to see more then just a view from the truck.

They also have their crazy cat with them...Britton said she cried for hours on the way up here. Hopefully she calmed down for them.

They're off to the BIGGEST ADVENTURE of they're lifetime!

Imagine having this for Dinner!!!

This is what I had for dinner last night...guess where?
At my house! By Chef Britton! Doesn't it look yummy? Well it was and I wish I had some more to eat right now! ha ha

After our long day of shopping Britton came home and cooked us this fabulous meal. Let me see if I can describe it for ya. Seared Scallops over a bed of zucchini herb flavored basmati rice, Maui Carrots in a savory sweet brown sugar sauce and a creamy avocado sauce, topped with red onion and napa cabbage!

Britton in action! Believe it or not...this was the first Meal Britton has ever cooked for us since going to Culinary School. Once she cooked us a steak..but that's not as glamorous as this meal!

Three plates ready to go...one for Me, One for Greg, and One for Britton! Matt missed out on a great meal...he's a vegan and refrains from food like this...but he did enjoy eating the rice! That's okay...just means more for us! hee hee

Daddy gives a big kiss for serving us such a delicious meal!

The girl has great talent and is a MUCH better cook then her mom will ever be!

Thanks Britton!

Girls day out...

Well maybe not all 5 of the Boyd girls. Lily and Tess stayed home...but me, Britton, and Leia had a good old time. We hit Hobby Lobby, Michaels, Barnes and Nobles, ate a Panera, and shopped for Food at Festival Foods in Onalaska. It was really nice to get out of the house for the day. The weather was perfect...really nice puffy clouds against a blue sky...temps in the upper 70's! Couldn't ask for a perfect day....

SNAP SHOTS IN THE CAR!

Making Signs and Piano Recital..

Matt helps make a sign for my friend Wendy. She needed one for an Out Reach that she is doing for the Youth in our town. Matt did an outstanding job on the sign...he did it all by hand! Guess that Artist degree did pay off! ha ha


And while Matt was creating the sign, I was at Tess' Piano Recital. She had an awesome performance! Even tho I'm partial she had the best performance in my opinion. She played, Old McDonald had a Farm... with no mistakes!


Tess has been waiting for piano lessons for 3 years now. When we lived in Iowa all the classes were full and stayed full so she could never get in. And now that we're in Tomah they offer FREE lessons in the Summer School Program! Now that she's completed the summer program she can move on the private lessons! We're so happy that she has the opportunity to learn to play the piano! Keep up the good work Tessie!

OH SNAP!!!

Greg snapped a picture of me and Lily in our whirlpool tub!

Since we moved into our new home I've taken only a couple of baths in this tub...and really didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would. But NOW...I love it! Lily and I take a bath together most every night. If she's not in here with me...then she's in it with Tess or Leia!


So much fun to watch the bubbles grow! Lily loves to blow them over and over again to watch them fly in the air. This is just a fun and specail time together...one day she will out grow this...or I should say... out grow baths with me!

Scrapping again...

Oh it's so nice to be creating again! Here's some of my latest scrapbook pages...ENJOY!

Tess last year: Lil Lady




Final Finale: A rare photo of Greg, me and Lily together. My journaling talks about saying goodbye to our friends in Solon (photo taken at our farewell party) and saying goodbye to having more children...Lily is our Final Finale! She stole the show!

Rock the night away! Kids getting Rock Band for Christmas 2007!

Great Photo of our Kitty Scooter! eyeCATching! His eyes are so pretty!


Tess is the Speed Racer. Poppi brought this pocket motorcycle to us last summer...Tess loves it!
Here she is riding it this summer!

Thanks for looking!

They're ENGAGED!

I just received a phone call from Britton!


Matt proposed to her today!


This is such exciting news for Greg and I. We couldn't be more happier for the both of them! Matt is the prefect guy for her!

Congrats Britton and Matt.... we love you guys!




Oh boy...his gonna have his hands full with this one! ha ha

Last week we have flooding in our area!

UGH! We had yet another bad series of storms here. Lots of high winds...65 mph! Many people had damage to their homes and lots of downed trees and limbs. For us, we had some broken limbs and leaks inside our sunroom, livingroom, and basement.

Today, we had a visit from our Insurance agent...he said we have lots of wind damage to the roof...so they will replace it. thank goodness! Sure hope this fixes the leaks inside! More on that to come.

Britton's New Look!

How about this? Purple and Black hair! What a girl!
Sure makes her green eyes POP!

She looks so cute! Love the hairband!

Guess WHO Turned 14 today...

Beren Reese Boyd!

Love this photo....do you see his ADAM's APPLE? That thing is as big as his Uncle Luperts. I recently read that an adam's apple is really a sign of lots of hormones ...oh lordy the boy must be exploding with it! ha ha

And for his special day he finally got his Rockin Electric Guitar! The boy is in HAWG Heaven now! It's an Ibanez Stratocaster. See Beren Rockin out!

Now so you can understand why we need to wait to get Seth a drum set...soon we will have a real ROCK BAND at Boyd's Brood!

Couldn't resist posting this picture...Look at the O.F. (old fart) go! Humm...wonder who the guitar is really for? Wondering minds want to know!

Have a Rockin Birthday Greg...oh I mean Beren!

:-)

First day of Summer School...

It's time for Summer School!

Tess and Seth both have classes this year. Beren and Leia are lucky and get to stay home with me! Tess is lucky because she has the fun classes.

Piano Lessons and Cooking Classes!

For Seth, he's not so lucky... it's Reading, Math, and Band Classes for him!

Playing the drums is fun tho!

They're lessons run for 6 weeks and I have to drive them to school everyday...

Monday thru Thursday! This is the only draw back for me.

Hurts the Purse! Know what I mean?

I highly recommend this movie:

Totally cried my eyes out over this one and laughed my butt off too! It was Awesome...you gotta see it!



Click here for preview:

http://psiloveyoumovie.warnerbros.com/

Look who's 72!

Nothing like telling a women age!

I'm gonna pay for this! h Ouch!

But doesn't she look good! Way to go Mamma!

You're ROCKIN in the 70's!

Born: July 5, 1936

Happy 4th of July!

Well we didn't do too much on the 4th. We show our
patriotism by hanging an American Flag outside.
We also enjoyed grilled hambugers and brats.

Later that evening we went over to a friends house to
watch the fireworks. They're farmers and had a huge
field where we were able to blow all the fireworks.
Here's one of the many that were shot off.

There were tons of kids there and all got to play with sparklers.
I thought this was a great photo. Our friends daughter, Lindsey, twirling a sparkler in a circle.
























Here's the funniest shot of the evening.
Poor Leia...she really has to cover up to avoid getting bit from the mosquitoes...
so she took the covers off of the folding chairs and put them
on her legs like knee high wading boots...she looks soooo funny!






















Hope ya'll had a great 4th!

His a Tween-ager now!

Seth celebrating his 12th Birthday! We bought him a Reese's Cake...it was yummy!

We bought Seth 2 special gifts...

1. Lego Star War's Destroyer and....

2. a new drum system for Rock Band!

Can you believe that he wore out the orginial set in just 4 months? We bought Rock Band for Christmas and he already needs a new drum set. Seth is the only one

in the family that can play the drums...he hits every note. One day we'll have to invest in a REAL DRUM SET...just not yet! My head can't take the noise!

ROCK ON AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY BOY!