Happy Days!

That was a tiny little holiday break there! :)
Mike was home an extra day for the 4th of July, so we have been busy with lots of fun activities.
I want to share a layout I did first though.
I had so much fun with this one because I finally opened up my new set of gelatos

and experimented a bit.

Ok, true story. This started out as a 12x12 layout. I used this photo because a lot of the colors matched the gelato set. And it's also a photo I have been wanting to scrapbook for a while. So I just started coloring and thought I would make a base for my photo after blending the colors with some water and a paintbrush. On my computer screen, the blue on the right is not showing up, but it is that pretty blue you see in the pack above.
Anyway, after I finished the page, it looked a little off to me. I showed it to my eleven year old son (the artist) and he said it looked too big. I thought about it a moment, took  a deep breath and cut it down! That took a lot of courage, because chances are, it could have completely ruined the page. But I think it actually looks better. Thanks to Evan! :)
Really like my new gelatos!
The journaling:
They have known each other since they were babies, and it is wonderful watching them all grow up together. Neighbors who are friends can't be beat! We are lucky to have such great neighbors and friends. We have celebrated so much together including birthday, and it is great that the kids get along so well. Looking forward to more happy days together!

And now for a few photos of our "happy days" the past week.

Evan loves to feed the koi fish at the Botanical Gardens. He even pets them!

Chalk drawings on the patio. My girl is looking so grown up!

Erin sparkling on the Fourth of July. We had a tiny celebration with neighbors :)

Erin and Mike make peanut butter chocolate chip cookies together.

Love the newly remodeled children's library downtown. It is so cool! Erin and I spent an hour and a half down there on Saturday.

Me and my girl waiting for fireworks to start on Saturday night. We found a new venue thanks to friends that isn't highly publicized. So we all went down there to check it out. It was worth the wait!

I will have a post on Wednesday over at Craft Your Nest, and then will be back here on Thursday.
See you then! :)