I Have So Much To Be Thankful For!

     First off, I hope everyone had a blessed Thanksgiving Holiday!!!


Our holiday was such an enjoyable day spent with family. My morning started out with listening to Chuckie & Colby rustling around the house getting ready to go hunting. Then Brandon arrived (he has been house sitting for a family from our church) to gather his hunting supplies. Chuckie & Brandon kissed me by before they left. I think Colby was preoccupied. ;)  


I was able to sleep in until 8:30am which I am very thankful for! The only reason I woke up was because Newman was ready for me to wake up. I could hear him at the foot of my bed on the floor whining. Honestly it could have been because he needed to go potty. Chuckie new to keep the doggy door shut otherwise I would have been woken up earlier with Newman either barking or I would have a dirty comforter because Newman will get out in the backyard and run & play then come inside & sail up on our bed. Ewww, what a mess that would have been. I am thankful Chuckie left the doggy door shut! ;)


I left our house around 11:00am to head towards my Mother & Father in laws house. But not before I went my McDonald's and ordered a peppermint hot chocolate. This was the first time I've ever tasted one. I really liked the peppermint flavor! 


My job for Thanksgiving lunch was to make home made macaroni & cheese. We all just love it...even if I do say so for myself! My sister in law Amy, made her sweet potato casserole. ( I secretly had hoped she was making it!) We had a whole turkey, then a turkey breast, mashed potatos & gravy, acre peas, dressing, rolls, mac n cheese, & my mother in laws famous coleslaw which we all love (well the boys don't..)! Dessert was pecan pie, pumpkin pie & Kayla made a Reese brownie that you keep in the fridge. If anyone left the table hungry, it was their own fault!! :)

My in laws drive way....

My mother in law Frances & sister in law Amy...

My father in law & son ready to fix their plates!

My beautiful niece Kayla & brother in law Dennis. ( He is a nut!)

I asked Amy if she would take a few family pics for me because I wanted to do Christmas Cards this year with a family pic. So after lunch, you guessed it, we had a family photo shoot! The guys weren't thrilled at all, but I told them I don't ask for much & I really wanted a family pic of us! Our family has grown by one addition...well not exactly yet, but close enough: Sarah is in our family pics... her & Colby will be married Dec. 31st, so that's close enough! I told Sarah it was nice to look at our pics & for me not to be the only girl in the pic! Well for 21 years I've been surrounded by guys! I mean even our cocker spaniels are boys! Amy did an excellent job taking our pics! I am very thankful for Amy taking our pics. :)

This is going to be the pic I use for our Christmas Cards!!! 

Amy also took pictures of my niece which is her step daughter Kayla. The pics of Kayla turned out just perfect!! Kayla colored her hair red, which looks absolutely stunning! I've even thought about coloring mine red! ;)

Brandon our youngest son, Kayla, & Colby our oldest &

soon to be married!

Kayla & Brandon.. :)

Later that afternoon I decided to go hunting with Chuckie! I haven't been hunting in several years. We sat in hunting hut. It's big enough two hold plastic chairs, there is even a little shelf..just perfect to sit my camera on it! The only thing we saw was two deer tails because they were running very fast!! It was very nice and peaceful to say the least. :) I am very thankful being in driving distance to go hunting. :)


This year my Mom & Dad celebrated Thanksgiving with my sister Karen & her family at the hunting woods in Cross City, Fl. We will celebrate Christmas with my family. I can't wait because Kason will be big enough to have so much fun this year!!

I'm So Excited, I Won!!!

     While reading one of my favorite blogs, "The Macs" written by Jess, I see she announced winners from her giveaway week from last week. I was reading along when I spotted my name...MY NAME as a WINNER! I couldn't believe it. I had to read it again! I am thrilled as if you can't tell!! In my comment, I mentioned if I won I would give my item to my future daughter in law, so that is exactly what I'm going to do. I just can't announce on here what it is just in case she is reading this! ;) I know Sarah will LOVE the item...just sayin'!!

My Lists of Loves @ This Moment In Time

     I have loved journaling since my high school days, which wasn't yesterday. A teacher in my 7th grade class by the name of Mrs. Beatrice Ellison actually sparked my love for journaling. At the very beginning of school one of our requirements was to bring a composition book to class. She asked us to write a 1/2 page in our composition book every day & it could be about anything. I really liked that because it didn't have to be on a certain topic.
     Do you know right now I remember some of the things I journaled? I do believe I can remember those certain things only because I wrote those entries down! I wrote about the first VCR, yes I said VCR not DVR, we ever bought!! Mom & Dad bought it at JC Penney's for $450.00! Can you believe that? Now you can buy them for around $40.00!! Wow how times have changed. I even journaled about the movies we rented, when my parents bought a new vehicle, what I did on weekends, my favorite TV shows, etc.
     So now I just love this whole blogging world. It's such a neat thing to have access to. I'm really trying to find my blogging niche here in blog land. I know I have to be true to myself & it has to be blogging in my own style. So I am trying to find that.
     As of November 17, 2011 this is my top 10 favorite LoVeS: 
1.)   Pinterest . Need I say more? I mean what did I do before Pinterest? I know, I know, I used the ole' favorites button, but it didn't save a picture. I am very much a visual girl. I also love that you can "follow" your  friends.
2.)   My camera. I love taking photos to document time. I love taking moments & creating a memory which can be looked back upon. Once the moment is gone we have a better chance on remembering it if we have a photo or have written about the moment.

3.)   A little boy named Kason who in case y'all didn't know is my little 20 month old nephew. Here he is right here:

He loves to be outside playing.

He loves his Pa (which is aka my Dad). :)

Kason has us all just wrapped around his little finger! 

4.)   I am loving the Breaking Dawn Soundtrack! I've been listening to it on my way to work & on my way home. #11 on the soundtrack goes with Bella & Eward's wedding! I found out yesterday that it will be on the playlist at Colby & Sarah's wedding! Listen to it here. It's called Northern Lights by Cider Sky. :)
5.)  White Chocolate Mocha here at Opus Cafe in the Shands Hospital Atrium. It's better than Starbucks!
6.)   I have an obsession using :) ;) & !!!!!!  It seems I just can't help myself. It describes the moment when txting, emailing or blogging. I know I use it way too much, but that's just me! See there it happened again.
7.)   Chalkboards, as in making them myself. I think they are just classic. I've loved chalkboards since Elementary School. I was always the one who wanted to wash the chalkboards for the teacher. I knew then I'd have a chance to maybe grab that piece of chalk & write on the board! I honestly wanted to be a teacher for that reason just so I could have my chalkboards look so pretty & neat for the kids. ( I definitely changed my mind - it takes a special person to be a teacher & I'm not cut out for it!)
8.)   Blogging. Reading Blogs. Learning about Blogs. Hunting new Blog layouts. You name it about Blogs & it interest me!
9.)   Picnik. This is by far my very favorite photo editing site. It's free for the basic editing features, but I do pay $4.95 a month  for the upgraded features. In my opinion, it's well worth it if you do alot of editing. I hardly ever post pics without editing. My camera is okay, but with out editing they would not look as nearly as good as they do.
10.)   Weddings. Wedding planning. Dreaming about Colby & Sarah's wedding. I'm so hoping they love their wedding photos because when it's over & done with all you have is the memory & the photos.

     What is your top 5 Loves at the moment? I'd love to know! :)

Sweet & Salty

     I first tasted this recipe at a secrect pal meeting I went to. ( A bunch of ladies from our church congregation are meeting once a month & we each have a secrect pal that we buy a gift for! After 6 months we will then reveal who our secrect pal is. I'm loving this!!)
     Back to the recipe, it's called Chocolate Chip Cream Cheese Dip. It taste so very good. It was served with plain cookies (I think!?) and you dip them into the choc.chip dip. Well I ended up dipping tostitos in the dip & this was my very favorite!!
     I like it with tostitos because the sweet & salty mixed together! It's a very easy recipe which I will share with y'all. I made it recently at my future daughter in law's Bridal Shower & everyone loved it!

Here's the recipe:

1 8oz. cream cheeseheese

1/2 c. butter softened

3/4 c. confectioners sugar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Beat above ingredients together until smooth then add 1 c. mini chocolate chip morsels!! 

{I added an extra 1/2 c. of morsels because I LOVE chocolate! :)

You can serve with teddy graham cookies, vanilla wafers or some good ole' 

tostitos scoopers!

~ENJOY~!

~Yes, I'm One Of Those!~

     Breaking Dawn. Need I say more? Yes, I'm one of those anxiously waiting to see Breaking Dawn, the fourth movie movie in the Twilight Series. Unfortunately, I will not be in the line at 12:01am November 18, 2011 because I have to work on Friday. I'm not young enough to pull an all nighter with no sleep. :)
     I've been listening to the Breaking Dawn sound track (thank you Amy!) & already have several favorites. I can't wait to see which song goes with which clip in the movie. I was jamming all the way to work this morning. Music just makes me happy. I have found out I go through phases where I will listen to music non stop & then go months with out listening to anything! You can tell which phase I'm into now. ;)
     Here's a few pics & trailers I found on Pinterest:

     My sister in law Amy & I are going to see it Saturday afternoon! We both are thrilled! I have the expectation that it will not be as good as the book, so at least I know that going into it. From my experience books are always the best.  They are able to go into so much detail and the movie isn't always able to capture that otherwise we'd be sitting there forever! So as long as I know that, I'm sure the movie will be great! :)

     Have you ever discovered where the movie was better than the book? I'd love to know! :)

Showering Sarah

     November 12, 2011, Saturday was an awesome day to shower Sarah with Love. It started bright & early for some of us. :) I woke up around 7:00 am and started my two crock pot of meatballs made with chili sauce & grape jelly. Then I started on my next food endeavor- choc. chip cream cheese dip. It taste delicious with either teddy grahams or I prefer scooper chips. There is just something about eating something salty & sweet together.
     Chuckie wrapped Sarah's present while I assisted him with pieces of tap. I must say he did an excellent job wrapping! I will let him wrap any day, but I have to buy the wrapping paper. I have to match wrapping paper according to theme & I have to match bows & any other item that might look just perfect on the present, like a little flower. ;)
     I had to run by the flower shop to pick Sarah's corsage up & 27 balloons. Chuckie ran to Subway to pick up a platter of subs then he met me at the Forever Flowers to help me with the balloons.
     Sarah's Shower started at 11:00 am. We started arriving around 9:30 to set up the food tables. Luckily we went Friday and decorated for 2 1/2 hours so it looked beautiful when we walked in.
     Here's a few  I mean alot of pics:

Love chalkboards & balloons!

My sister in law Amy, made this Paula Deen fruit platter. 

Yummy chocolate eclairs my sister Karen brought. 

Chocolate Chip Cream Cheese Dip I fixed. 

Some of the yummy food. :)

Moma found this cute plate & silverware caddy @ Sam's for 

only $19.99!

Moma's bacon tomato pasta salad. 

Moma also fixed this strawberry & raspberry cake. 

My sister in law Amy made this gorgeous cake!! Sarah had found one very 

similar at Pinterest!

I made this Pendant banner that says, "Love Is In The Air" inspired by Pinterest!

Sarah & her bridesmaids arranging the balloons. 

Whitney, Sarah & Hayley taking time to smile. :)

Whitney & Hayley are Sarah's Bridesmaids. Sarah H. couldn't attend 

because she just started a new job as Band Director @ Chiefland

High School!

Amy & I smiling away. :)

Me and my Moma & Sister. :)

Chocolate Cupcakes Miss Jean brought. :)

Another pic of the food table. We still had more coming at this 

point!

Granny Driggers & Aunt Kathy made this wonderful

strawberry punch. It was so very good!

Can You Say Pendant Banner?

     Well, I totally forgot to to take a pic of my new hair style last night. I thought about it as I was stepping in the shower! I will try my best to post a pic tonight!  I do have a good excuse as to why I totally forgot: I am working on finishing a pendant banner for my future daughter in laws Bridal Shower on Saturday!!
     It's not quite finished because I have to stop at Michael's on the way home to buy some brown or tan card stock to use for the lettering. I've coordinated scrapbook paper with green, pink & white designs to glue on the burlap,but the paper will be a smaller size than the burlap with the same pendant style. I realized the white letters were not going to stand out enough...they were going to blend in with the paper. So I am going to cut  3 1/2 inch letters with my Cricut to glue on each pendant in brown or tan. I'm going to spell out "Love Is In The Air". I thought of this quote all by myself!!
     I found my inspiration at: Pinterest. This is the coolest site ever; I'm slightly addicted!. Here's the photo that originally inspired me at Pinterest:

      I will post a photo as soon as I finish my creation, which should be tonight! I'm so hoping it looks like the way I envision it!?
      Have you created anything lately that made you smile?

Time For Change

     Change can be a good thing. Especially if you're talking about a change in hair style! I am so wishy washy about my hair. (I am not trying to be vain, but this girl loves to change her hair.) I go through stages thinking I want long hair and I'll try to grow it out & then after 8 or 9 months I usually go cut it short. I also have tried to grow my bangs out to no such luck. I will let them grow for months & then I'll fed up with them & grab the scissors. I just know Pam  @ Tonya's Salon loves me! (By the way I have the best hair stylist ever!!!)
     So here is the past styles I have worn. I also love changing the color of my hair. I'll add a little blonde or a little red & sometimes dark dark brown! The joys of a bottle of hair color!! ;) My styles are very familiar:

My most current hairstyle ^^



Me trying to grow my bangs out..(they are pinned back).

Wow, this pic was taken a few years ago. Note the blonde color..me & Newman
matches hair color. :) He is my love.



    Oh yeah, I forgot to say I went to my hair stylist last night & I have a new style! I'll post pics tonight. ;)

     As I'm looking at these pics I see a so need to go on a diet or I should say change my eating habits! I'm getting on board. More on that later.....

     So do you love switching it up with your hair style or do you stay with one style forever?

The Simple Things in Life

     A recent visit with my sweet little nephew Kason,  proved to me that it's the simple things in life which are so amazing. Haven't you always heard a child has more fun with something that really wasn't meant to be a toy? Well Kason has proved that point.
     As his Mommy (which is my little sister, aka Karen) was folding clothes when he spotted the laundry basket & believe me, she could not get those clothes out of there fast enough for him. He was throwing one leg over the basket trying to get in before she could remove the freshly dried clothes. It's funny how he looked at that basket & thought, wow I'll climb in it. (Kason is 19 months old, btw)
     I made a few scrapbook pages documenting my recent visit using this awesome digital scrapbooking software called My Memory Suite. I've found this one to be the best one for me! I bought it a few months ago & was able to get it for 40% off! It's $29.97 at amazon.
     Here's my digital scrapbook pages:

Kason's love is french fries!

(note to self to double check to see if any digital items like the brown photo corners are still on page after

I thought I deleted them!)

Laundry basket = boys best friend!

Kason loves to play with Karen's iPhone. 

He LOVES to be rocked! Most especially if it's his Mommy rocking him.

This sweet little guy calls me "Aim Aim".  <3

I love this little fella so very much. It's always so much fun to go visit Karen, Jay & Kason. I leave there 

feeling so thankful to have them in my life.