hello and welcome!

I have always been a HORRIBLE blogger. I always felt like my life was so boring in comparison to other cool bloggers (I live in Iowa, for pete's sake....what is exciting about Iowa?). Most of my favorite bloggers have young, cute kids. My kids are cute, but they are teenagers (and one about ready to go off to college next year...).

I promised myself that when I had a blog redesign (that I still am not totally thrilled about....) I would be way better about blogging. well, that hasn't panned out so well, either. so, let's pretend this is my first blog post and go from there! :)

let's start with a pic of my lovely family....



my husband, tom, and I have been married for 21 years. he works as an inventory manager at my former work place. tom loves to garden (ours is HUGE) and do most anything outside.

my daughter, ashton, is 17 and a senior in high school this year. (gasp!) how did that happen?? she is hoping to be accepted to the university of iowa next year and wants to be a pediatric pulmonologist. ashton LOVES softball thanks to cat osterman and jenny finch. right now ashton is a cheerleader for football and loves her job at our local wellness center.

my son, john, is 15 and a sophomore in high school this year. john loves all things outdoors-fishing (regular and ice), hunting (ducks, geese, deer, pheasants), trapping and trap shooting. john also played tennis for the first time last year in high school and loved it.

tate, our cockapoo.....tate is six and full of anxiety, has been since the first day we brought him home. tate loves to play soccer in our yard and his duck plush toy that sounds so real it's scary.

me! I am so happy to say I quit my day job, after 22 years with the company, on may 20th of this year to focus on oak hill designs full time. definitely a hard decision to make, but I am loving the no stress of working at home doing what I love. the color pink, flamingos, reading, and attending my kids' activities are my favorite things!

now you know about me and my family.....leave me a comment with your blog or twitter address so I can get to know you!

first day of school 2011

today is the first day of school for my kids. yay!! :) hard to believe that this is ashton's last first day of high school. I don't like to think about that for too long.

as I was getting ready to take the picture with both kids, john turned to ashton and said, 'you might want to move up a step..'. yep, he definitely has passed her up!

this last sunday, we had lots of fun out on spirit lake with our friends. it was REALLY hot and humid, but it was perfect for the lake! I could have used last year's shot of the boys.....they still look the same from the boat, it is just when they stand up that you can really tell the difference! :)

here are some favorite shots of the day...

john and his goggles....keeps all that water out on the tube



ashton loved the leisurely tube ride...



while the boys liked it a little rougher and faster!



this was Ashton's favorite place on the boat...soaking up the sun!



what is your favorite way to beat the heat?

softball, softball, softball, softball, softball!

saturday, we watched FIVE games of softball. it was THE absolute best day for softball-80 degrees, the occasional (although the last game it was not as frequent as we would have liked...) breeze, and sunny skies! here are some shots for you to enjoy!

i'm in LOVE....

with this awesome new stamp I just ordered in! I made this fun piece for my sister! find it in my etsy store soon!

a few more new things!

you will all (all two of you that read....) that I am scheduled for a BLOG MAKEOVER!! I am really hoping this motivates me to blog more often, instead of just using twitter and facebook.

we've been super busy over here with softball games (this week is 8 games in 6 days...) so I've just been trying to keep my head above water! and trying to create a new piece here and there!

some great new pieces!!

I will be back with a 'real' blog post soon, but in the meantime, here are some great, new items!! which is your favorite??