Ironman Nate

This blog has been left unattended for a very good reason. My brother, Nate competed in the Ford Ironman this past Sunday. He has been on a rigerous training schedule for the past 14 weeks just for this event. For those of you that don't know, an Ironman is a triathlon that athletes swim 2.4 miles, bike 114 miles and run 26.2 miles.

My younger brother, Adam and I were a team for the day. He picked me up at 5:30 am to head down to the start of the swim. I also might add that brothers do not change as they get older- he immediately started ragging on me for not being in the driveway waiting for him and packing a backpack with way too much stuff in it. He changed his toon when he wanted some coffee out of my carafe, not to mention that I found 2 wicked awesome parking spots.

We found Nate in line, waiting for the swim to start. They swim 2.4 miles... in the Ohio River.

Adam was also Nate's "Coach." 

The National Anthem was sung before the event started. Nate takes it all in, beginning to focus and trying to breathe. The cannon is about to go off and all the athletes prepare themselves for a long day.

Cool as a cucumber, ready to swim...

Nate finished the 2.4 mile swim with no problem. I see him get out of the river and run up the path to get ready for the bike ride. The crowd was going crazy. Nate goes off to get his bike and gear up for the 112 mile bike ride. We sprint to see him ride down the shoot. Again, the crowd was insane... he was so pumped up, he was even cheering!

We get back in the car and drive to LaGrange, KY where the bikers make two laps in this one area. Adam is an insane driver. I can not believe I survived the day being his co-pilot. We steak out a spot to cheer him on at this point in the race. I figured it would be a good time to get a picture of all the signs we made.

Here's Nate on his bike after the second loop...

Now that he finished the second loop, we get back in the car and head back downtown to see the bike to run exchange. I caught this picture of Nate dismounting off his bike. He quickly drops his bike and gear and gets on his running shoes. Easy ladies, he's taken.

Run, Nate, run! You only have 26.2 miles to go.

My two brothers and I cheering him on every step of the way. Eric is on the left, Adam is on the right. It went downhill fast from this point with the sibling banter. 

Seriously, Nate is a machine. He only has 12 miles left to go in this race and he is smiling, high-fiving, and running like he's being chased with a knife.

Nates two older kiddos, baby Claudia is home cheering. Kendall and Daniel named Nates bike: "Zig-Dad" and "Blue Steel." We are all waiting at the finish line...

Here he comes, down the stretch...

"Nate Norrenbrock, You are an IRONMAN!" 

Unbelievably, Nate finished 140.6 miles in under 12 hours. He's freakishly amazing...

Mom and Stephen... they love to cry over everything. The Ironman was worth every tear, very emothional. 

Our Ironman Nate! We are so proud of him and his awesome accomplishment. He did amazing and look how great he looks!

After 140.6 miles, now Lara gets her husband back.  Nate is wondering what he's going to do with the extra 20 hours a week he has now that training is over. :)

One last hug and "good job" from Coach.

Nate, you are amazing. An inspirartion and a freakishly amazing athlete. You set your eye on the prize and went after it. You never lost focus and went after your dream. Your determination and will got you there. I can't wait to run my first marathon with you in October. I can't think of anyone else I would want to share my goal with than you. Love you, big brother. You 'da bomb.

Clean and Simple... again!

I loved the Clean and Simple Stamping blog so much after the Jingle Belles steered me their way, that I picked another one of their sketches to work with. I actually made two cards...

This one is most like the sketch: 

 Here's the sketch:

And this one, well, I flipped the sketch and added some ribbon and a button. Still CAS, but with a little "ooh!'

I used Paper Smooches flower stamp and stamped flowers in grey and one in black. Colored the black one in with my Copics and added one little rhinestone in the center. The sentiment is Papertrey Ink. Both cards were very easy and made them in less than 30 minutes.
I know you are wondering were I got that amazing color of seam binding ribbon... my mom. She gave me tons of colors all on these vintage spools! She said she paid like .10 cents for a spool of 100 yards! Gotta love that! And mom, I know you're reading this... these cards are part of your collection. ;)

Coloring Outside the Lines!

I love to color... I love fresh, new crayons and I love my big girl Copic markers! I admit, Copics are a bit intimidating. Is it the big price tag? All the blending? Technique? Probably a little of all that I mentioned! Well, this week, Papertrey Ink's Make It Monday Challenge is all about coloring outside the lines. Watch the video HERE.
Here's my card...

A close up of the scribble lines for candles...

I used Papertrey's lavender moon cardstock as my base and stamp sets "Make A Wish" (candles) and "Big & Bold Wishes (sentiment). I added a load of glitter to really make those candles *sparkle* and a few giant rhinestones to finish it off! Enjoy!

Clean and Simple = Love

Those cute Jingle Belles are teaming up with the Clean and Simple Stamping gals this week! I don't care what it is, I love clean and simple- it's my style... it's just how I roll, k? So, imagine my excitement when I was handed not only a sketch, (love!) but also the instructions to keep it clean and simple! Holy awesome, Batman! I'm on it!

Here's what I came up with:

A close up of all those delicious Basic Grey chipboard embellishments... I only have 3 left from the pack!!! I also used October Afternoon paper and stickers and added a few tiny clear rhinestones.

And last, but not least, the sketch:

I hope you'll play along! You have until Wednesday at 6 pm to add your link. AND, the Jingle Belles have a swell prize up for grabs to one lucky, random participant! Woo-hoo!

A Sketchy Thursday Layout on Monday!

It's been a while since I've played along with Sketchy Thursdays! When I saw this weeks sketch, I immediately knew what pictures I wanted to scrap. I liked the sketch, but flipped it clockwise once to work with my photos and title.

Here's the layout:

This is Mac at the Crossover Ceremony for Cub Scouts. They walk across a wood 2x4 and "crossover" from a cub to a bear. He was so proud to be in the next level of scouting... A Bear!

Here's the sketch: 

I hope you get to play along... you have until 10 p.m. on Wednesday to get your scrap on!
Have a good night!

Late... again!

Hi friends... I'm late posting my Jingle Belles card... again. *Sigh* I'm not too good with time. But late is better than never, right? This week those Belles wanted to see some *bling*! Let me first start off by saying that I don't use much bling on my cards. In fact, when I showed Anna this card, she wanted to know who made it. Exactly! It's not my style. I'm more of a CAS gal.

So, this is my bling-ed out card:

Yowza, that's a lot of rhinestone cowgirl goodness, huh?

Well, this is my kind of bling:

Clean and simple, and jazzed up with a few pearls. Pearls are always in style and they are so classy! I added some vellum that I used one of my punches on too.

Even though I tend to stay CAS in my style, it was fun to totally cover a card with rhinestones, and step outside of my comfort zone. :)

Lastly, yesterday was the first day of school for all of my kiddos. They had a great first day and were ready to go back this morning. Finally, I feel more organized and my house is staying clean a bit longer!  

Mac, 3rd grade, Anna, 1st grade, and Elan, 4 year old Preschool. Here's to another great year at St. Albert the Great!

Bunny Love

The newest member of our family is the bunny. Anna has wanted a bunny since she could talk. Well, after talking to Stephen and batting her eyes, she got one. We got it from a "rabbit farmer" if you will, and she carefully chose the perfect one. A cinnamon colored bunny that she would later name, Cinnamon. how original... :)

So, Anna has treated the bunny like a stuffed animal. She carries it everywhere, holds it and pets her until her fur starts falling out. She takes her up to her bedroom and plays, but the funniest thing I have ever seen, is Anna taking this bunny for a walk in the wagon. It needed documenting...

This little bunny just sits in the wagon and rides! It's so funny- she doesn't even try to hop out!

Anyway, all the little embellies are mostly from October Afternoon and that stitching along the edges, it's faux... drawn on with a white pen. :) 

Well, this little bunny has grown a lot since these pictures were taken. She's about 8 pounds and 3-4 times bigger than in these pictures. She is awfully sweet though!

Cards, Cards, Cards!

I swear, I am being crafty and creating a lot, but since doing so, I haven't had time to post and share. So, today, I'm going to just go on and post 'em all! Woo-hoo! Let's get to it:

First, I'll start with birthday cards. This one was for my nephew, Graham. It was his very first birthday:

Next up, a belated birthday card. This one was for one of my oldest, dearest friends who lives in Chicago. I sent her a texty birthday wish the day of, but to bandage any possible hurt feelings, I also added a Starbucks gift card. ;)

Now, time for some friendly little creations. These cards were for some friends "just because."

Here's a thank you card, I love how this turned out...

And lastly, a baby congrats card. I had one dear friend tell me she is expecting and another had her baby! Yay! I love babies!

Most of my cards are created with scraps left over from scrapbooking. I love making cards because it takes little thinking, prepping and planning and they are finished quickly! I'm an instant gratification kind of girl. :)

Okay, now I'm off to run 8 miles with my running group. We reward ourselves with margaritas and tacos afterward. Ole!

Jingle Belles- Shape Up!

Shape up! The Jingle Belles challenge this week is to make a shaped card! Okay, I think I made a shaped card back in the 90's, but haven't since, so this was actually a challenge for me! Once I got an idea in my head, I got excited and eager to start.

So, here's my not so Clark Griswald decorated home for the holidays:

AND, I even made the house shape attach to a card that actually opens! Squeal! I was so impressed with myself!

If you look close, really close, you can see the coarse glitter I used on the chimney, trees and window edges. Those trees are cut from a Papertrey Ink die and the snow drifts? Those are die cut clouds from felt, cut in half. My wreath was assembled with Hero Arts poinsettia flowers and leaves, all attached with a vivid green brad. The Christmas lights are from Michael's and they have glitter on them too! ;) Whew!

Now, shape up, or ship out! That's what I always say to my kiddos... get yourself going on a shaped card- it was fun!

8 is Great!

Mac turned 8 this past February and I just now did his birthday layout! Eight has been a great year for Mac, he has grown up so much and has become so independent! He started playing tackle football a few weeks ago and loves it, and he is active in scouts. He {I think} is finally excited, getting ready to start third grade next week!

Now, on with the layout... 

Lots of odds and ends going on here, but they all seem to work together. Old and new supplies... I love when that happens!

We finally have a break in humidity today, so I'm getting the kids outside! Hope you have a great day!

Jingle Belles- Blue Christmas

This week, the Jingle Belles are blue... the prompt is "Blue Christmas" and every time I say it, the Elvis song pops into my head and my kids are wondering why the heck I'm belting out Christmas songs in August! I tell them I'm trying to stay cool... they think I'm crazy. :p Well, I am. It's 100 degrees and the kids aren't in school yet. That's enough to make anyone a little whacked out!
So, here's my blue Christmas card:

Don't you love the October Afternoon paper? Those houses are so cute! Here's to staying cool...

Stars and Stripes!

Hello there. Just quickly stopping in to post a layout I did of this past 4th of July. We go to my cousins house every year and have an absolute ball. This year was no different!

A neighborhood parade, trolley rides with Mimi, the Bubble Truck, popsicles and ice cream, sparklers, fireworks, music, food, family and loads of fun! We had a blast!

Hope you are all staying cool... it's really HOT in these parts. I stayed in most of the day, making Christmas cards, thinking cool thoughts! ;)