Fancy Free Flynn Fam

I had so much fun last October when I went to Disneyland with Bek and "the boys". They always make me feel so welcome and needed. I was walking along behind them and this was what I saw. I love this family so much. I love how they interact. I love their individual personalities. Caden is practically dancing, he is so pleased to be here. Brock always needs to have a map, "Grammie, can I have that map?" Tadhg, Mr. Independent is out in front, leading the way. And then there are Bek and Curt... all this wonderful family because two people fell in love.
Lucky Grammie to have this view!

The Stranger in my Mirror

My sister, Sue, asked me about my hair nowadays and it got me to thinking that I needed to do a blog entry about this whole change. Back in August I got extensions and wrote about it then. It has been an interesting and not always easy journey. The hardest part for me is getting used to seeing myself in the mirror and thinking for a minute, "Who is that?" Or seeing my shadow and thinking..."That's not my hair!"

I actually started in November 2006, just before Stuart got home from his mission. I went to Desi and said, "Something new!" That style was short lived and I went back to my "old" hair until this last summer.

I knew I wanted something different than that same old hairstyle but growing it out was so painful. But I started...

That was when the extension thing came into being. Do you remember when you were a little girl and your Mom would get your ponytail too tight? (Guess I think that only happens when you are little because 1) your Mom probably doesn't still do your hair LOL and 2) I've had short hair most of my adult life!)



That is what it was like to have the extensions! I took 600mg of Advil around the clock for the first week! (see my poor red scalp?) By then the hair was grown out enough that it didn't hurt all the time but because of my fine hair the extensions started to slip off my hair (yup, and cause breakage in the bargain.) After 3 weeks I needed a "touch-up" and we put back in the extensions that had come out. Talk about high maintenance. I persevered with the extensions until about the 2nd week in Oct when I'd had enough, got out the acetone (to dissolve the glue), my little pair of jewelry pliers (to pinch the glue bead and break it up), and took out all of the extensions.

The one thing that I will say that is a positive about having the extensions is that it got me over that hump of going from having short puffy hair to a little flatter-not-so-poofy-hairstyle.

I have continued to grow my hair since then. I went through the "librarian" phase, as Gordon called it, with very dull hair.

About 2 weeks ago I got the courage to try something a little more exciting. I was just like a teen-aged girl... I got the bee in my bonnet one night about midnight to try this flat-iron-flip-out-thing. I showed Gordon and he said it was very cute. So I have another new hairstyle (The ladies at the Temple have just about given up on me. One of them asked if I was a hair dresser!)




My ultimate goal is to get my hair a little longer and then keep it on the long-end-of-short...But who knows... in another month or two I may have found a whole new look and I will have to get used to another stranger in the mirror!

Yosemite Falls

Orton effect layout

Liv@ the Spraground says,"Wow, Joanie, this photo looks ethereal!! Great job with the challenge!"

My niece, Cindy, made a post to her blog recently about Yosemite. That wonderful place has deep roots in this girls heart!

I grew up hearing wonderful stories from both my parents, but my mom in particular, always accomodated me with requests for my favorites: ie "Tell me about when I was born." ,"Tell me about when I was 2.", etc.

But there is one story that didn't get told too often but stuck in my brain. I'm not even sure my mom told me... I may have read it in my Granddad's (William Munce) writings. It is the story of him being told by his wife (Elsie Marie Ernestine Pump Munce) that "you planted a seed under Royal Arch!" That baby was my mom... the love affair with Yosemite started.

My grand parents- Bill & El Munce

Rebekah lives only an hour south of Yosemite in (aptly named)Yosemite Lake Park aka YLP. So now when I go to Yosemite to that place where so long ago Bill and El sealed their love I come with their great-great-grandsons! I love this circle of life.

The Flynns and Grammie 2/06 (also w/Orton effect)

Don't you dare try this!!
Granddad Bill Munce handfeeding bears at Yosemite
summer 1912
(when Elsie Louise Munce was conceived!)

More Girls-getaway layouts

OK... can I just say that this is stressing me out? I love to be organized and having random photos all over my blog that belong together in one album... I can't like that! So I am going to go back and edit that old post and put all of the photos there... in one place. I will still do individual posts, maybe... I don't know... probably...

My View from here... daughter & friend

The NWR class is wrapping up this weekend. I am a little sad to already be at the end. But today's challenge sparked this layout.

It was several years ago that Bek and I were chatting on the phone and she said, "You know, Mom, just after Caden was born and we started hanging out."

It was said in such a casual way but it had a very profound impact on my heart. In those few short words was all the meaning - You are my friend, you are my buddy, you aren't just my mom! (and if computers could show tear-stains you would see them here!)

As a mother I've worked so hard to let my kids know that I love them so very much while still being the "heavy" and teaching them to do the right things. One of my favorite quotes is, "You teach your kids to grow-up and lead independent, responsible, adult lives... and then darned if they just don't go and DO IT!"

I am so grateful to call Rebekah my daughter, but more importantly, my friend.

Last week of NWR class

So... very sad... this is the last week of my class over at JessicaSprague.com. I have learned so much. Now I hope that I will be able to take what I have learned and use it productively. I tend to be quite slow when I am doing the lesson. I guess I will see.



I decided to work on some photos from our trip to Disneyland last October. What fun we had! But I have already gone on record with Bek that next time Grammie is only in for 2 days.(they did 4!)

You decide... (Sat Challenge)

Saturday (is a special day...) is always start to finish challenge at NWR. The idea is to take a photo (using the prompt as your guide) and then scrap the layout in 30 minutes! Can I just say that I only accomplished that the first week when I stayed up way too late (hmmm... I'm seeing a trend here!)

This week's prompt was our "nerdy little secret". The first thing that popped into my mind was my desire to organize everything especially by color. It all goes back to when I was a child... the first thing I wanted to do was get all of my crayons in color sequence (hence the background photo)

As I have gotten older this carried over into my quilting stash. I have a box (sometimes two) for every color with the fabric folded just so and standing on edge so it is like looking in that old box of crayons.

Then a few years ago when I was looking for my favorite red T-shirt and couldn't find it because it was hiding I decided my closet needed this same treatment. Now all I have to do it look through 4-5 shirts instead of the whole bunch... well, except for white. (Can anyone have too many white T-shirts?)

So the answer to "You Decide..." is "It just makes me happy..." Now some may say this is OCD but it is just so much easier to find things if they are color grouped!

The need to play

This week's class didn't include the normal Wednesday challenge so I decided I needed to play a little on my own. First I spent about half a day Thursday (always when I am able to get to the Wed challenge) getting all of my digi-scrapping elements reorganized. When I first started downloading all of the fun 2Ps freebie kits I renamed them! That makes for a nightmare now that I have a whole googalin of them!! I found some more kits that I'd passed up the first time around and added them as well.



I went looking for a fun photo to use for Jessica's Photoshop Friday prompt and ended up with this one from Disneyland last October. It makes me remember what fun we had and now I want to dive in and get the rest of it scrapped.

Riley discovers Gidget

Last Monday I told Gordon I wanted to make a trip to CA to see Auntie P and Spencer, Tricia and Riley. He replied, "Why don't you go this weekend!" And I said... why don't I? That being said... I flew out last Thursday from SLC to Burbank.

I'm having such a marvelous visit. The first night I was here Spencer, Tricia and Riley came over to Auntie P's, where I am staying. Riley has grown so fast. He is not even 7 months yet and already right off the chart! He is proportionate but right off the chart. He is 25 pounds and 33 inches tall. He has such a darling personality. Tricia says he is so dramatic. He throws back his head and laughs. He turns on the charm the minute you point the camera at him.

I love watching Spencer and Tricia with their darling little son. They are such a sweet and lucky family.