THE QUEEN OF QUIRK

lucky duck inspiration

Some lovely pages using my new kit, Lucky Duck. Hope you like them! :)

by brenda:

by lisa:

Thanks so much for stopping by! I hope you're having a fantastic Tuesday! :)

lucky duck

Sorry about the lapse in posting. Been a busy few weeks with school starting and lots of family stuff to attend to. :)

So excited about a new kit in my shop at Jessicasprague.com! I've had this idea in my head for weeks. "Lucky Duck" is a little phrase I say all the time and I thought it'd be cute to make a kit about how lucky I feel. :) 

lucky duck papers

 

lucky duck accents

You can pick up Lucky Duck in my shop at jessicasprague.com :)

Thanks so much for stopping by!

CO '10 : the first drive

On Friday morning (the 13th) we left for Colorado. We had a horribly long and tearful goodbye as the girls just couldn't seem to make their way to the car. We'd make a little progress and then they'd turn around and go back to hug my parents again. I have to say it's the hardest part about living so far away. The girls have so many wonderful memories of this week with my parents, though. It will stay with them forever.

We drove off and as we headed out of town we noticed an Oriental antiques store in Taos and I persuaded Colin to stop. We ended up buying a couple of pieces and asked my parents to hold onto them until we got back to the States. We then got back on the road but we didn't make it very far until we stopped again.

I'd forgotten that we would drive over the Rio Grande Gorge on our way out of town. The girls thought this was sooo cool.

 

We took the scenic route and ended up dipping back and forth across the NM/CO border for about 100 miles. It was worth it, though. Everything was just gorgeous.

 

It was so nice to just sit in the car and watch these gorgeous landscapes go by. I must admit it made us extremely homesick. We miss the endless blue skies and the wide open country. At every picturesque place we marked the town name on the map for future reference. Who wouldn't want to live in this gorgeous valley? :)

NM '10: eagle nest lake

My dad planned a fishing trip for us and we were hoping the girls would get to see a bit more action than the pond. We woke up not-so-bright but early, again, to meet Captain down at Eagle Nest Lake just 10 minutes from our house.

We waited for the clouds to clear so we could have a bit of sunshine. It was kinda chilly out on the water.

 

Mia, manning her station. The girls were on the edge of their seats to see who would get the first bite. It ended up being Mia so everyone on the boat owed her a dollar. :)
 

This is Norah before she got impatient. You would have thought we had been fishing for 30 days instead of 30 minutes the way she carried on sometimes. But, I guess that happens sometimes with a 4 year old.
  

Finally the sun came out and we warmed up a bit. Captain Dan was amazing and we never stopped reeling in the trout.

 

Lara, however, won for the biggest fish of the day. She was SO PROUD. And she should be. She reeled this sucker in all by herself. 19.5 inches and almost 3 pounds. She would not touch it, though, so Captain Dan held it up for her so she could get a photo.
 

After just 3.5 hours and 21 fish later we decided to call it a day. We didn't want to be greedy and the kiddos were tired from all the reeling. They had an excellent time although they will probably be spoiled as far as fishing trips go from now on.
 

Captain Dan cleaning the trout for us. A few days alter in the trip Mia said, "I don't really care what Captain Dan looks like. I'd fish with him anytime." Gotta love that kid. :)
 

And, of course, no fishing trip is complete without a few pranks. With the kiddos seated at the table my dad brought out Lara's fish and proclaimed, "You caught it, now you gotta eat it!"

She looks pleased, huh? ;)

NM '10: red river

We  decided to take a day trip to Red River, about 30 minutes from Angel Fire. They have a huge Harley rally every year over Memorial Day weekend, but normally it's pretty quiet.

I love the ski valleys during the summer. The lifts are always my favorite part. It's always nice to see the ski towns all green and purdy, too.

That's Colin and Lara and Mia behind me, 2 chairs back.

 

This is Norah with her chocolate goatee and her insanely chapped lips.
 

At the top of the lift, Colin and I had a bit of a misunderstanding. I didn't know we were getting off so I stayed on only to turn around and see him giving me the "What in the world are you doing?" look. Oops.

So, these are his photos from the top of the mountain. :)


 

The ride back down was just as lazy and relaxing as the ride up. However, I didn't realize my feet had fallen asleep so when I hopped down I almost landed on my face. It would have been totally funny if it had happened to someone else. ;)
 

After the lift, we went and got lunch at a malt shop (yes, I love saying that) and walked around Red River for a couple of hours.

Then we took the girls on a little nature hike. 

Colin found a cave and when Mia, Lara and he went in, Norah lost it.

This is her, breaking down because she doesn't want her daddy and sisters to be eaten by bears.

 

After the hike we met up with my dad at Texas Reds, our favorite little steakhouse for some yummy grub. It had been a long day so we headed home and called it a night pretty early. :)