Merry Christmas 2013!!!

Well!  It has been quite a while….again….since I last posted!  No excuse.  This has been a very good year for us.  We've had our ups and downs, but we have survived and have been so thankful for the smooth stretches in our journey through the year.  This Christmas Season finds us feeling joyful and very content.  Excited for Christmas Eve and time with family.  We are thankful for the Lord's tender mercies and all the simple pleasures He continues to send our way.

May all of you feel the joy of the Season.  No matter how you celebrate it.  May you enjoy family and friends.  May you have good health.  And may a few magical moments happen here and there to keep your heart singing and a smile on your face.  And most of all….May you remember the One who's birth we celebrate.  I know the Savior lives.  He loves us and He knows each one of us.  I know this to be true.  Without a doubt.  It's true.

Merry Christmas to all of you!  Feel the joy.  And be safe.

     Okay!  So today I made my first loaf of french bread.  Yes, I did.  And...well...it tasted really good!  I made a double batch and rolled it into one big loaf.  It was as long as my big oversized cookie sheet.  After raising for an hour it was too flat.  So I pushed the outer edges toward the center of the loaf to make it a little higher.  And wouldn't you know it?  The minute I put it in the oven and left it to bake, it flattened out again.  It just flattened it's little self right out, just like that!  So!!  We ended up with a loaf of french bread that was about 24 inches long and 9 inches wide and maybe 2 inches high.  BUT!!!!!  IT REALLY TASTED GOOD!!!!!  We had left over stew with it and it was very yummy.  Kodi is laughing and making fun of my little old loaf of french bread.  She says you can't make a sandwich out of it.  But I say you can spread peanut butter or tuna on it just fine!!

     I think I'll try again tomorrow.  That loaf of bread has thrown a challenge at me.  Will it win?  Or will I?  Stay tuned.

     And I guess it's about time I wrote about our month long dream trip.  It was WONDERFUL!!!!!  A whole month to go see all of our kids and grandkids and we just loved it so much!  We even got to see our newest grandbaby before coming home.  She was born five days before we had to head back.  What a sweetie.  And Grandma caught a bug and had to keep her distance from her.  I was so afraid I would make her sick too.  It was very, very hard to see everyone else loving her and holding her and having to stay away from her.  But I was so grateful to be there and even get to see her at all.  The night before we left Kyran came up to me and put her in my arms.  My heart melted.  She was so tiny and so perfect.  I only held her for a couple minutes and tried to not breathe on her.  And then I gave her back. She didn't get my bug and I was grateful for that.

     All of our kids made us feel so welcome in their homes.  It was nice to see where they live - the ones we had never seen their homes yet - and it was especially good to be able to spoil the grandkids to our hearts content and get to know the ones who were so little when they moved away.  Then to finally meet the one we had never seen in person before was just wonderful.  This grandma came home with a full and happy heart.  I had been missing them all so bad.  I am content with it all now.  And that is very, very good!

     We traveled from our home clear to the Canadian border and even got to cross over it for a few minutes.  I stood with one foot in America and one foot in Canada and got pictures of that.  Now I can say I have been to Canada and Mexico.  Stephen and I went to Nogales on our honeymoon and spent a couple hours or so looking in the shops on the Mexican side.  Does this make us world travelers????

     Anyway!  This trip was a very good thing for us.  We loved being with our kids and grandkids.  Many special moments shared and heart's desires met.

     And we came home in a brand new pickup.  A Dodge Ram, Big Horn.  I know, I know.  The guys would describe it differently.  It's cherry red, four wheel drive, and soooooo much nicer than our Camry was - and I really loved our Camry.  We got it in Nampa, Idaho on our return trip stop over at Shane and Sherri's house.  Stephen disappeared one morning and I didn't know where he had gone.  When he came back he said he had been at the car dealership and had found a truck he liked.  He had been looking here in Mesa for a while and the prices here are a bit higher than up in Nampa.  Anyway, he had made an appointment to go back that afternoon when I could go with him and have me look at it.  I knew we had bought a truck!  We cleaned out our car and got it ready to turn in and after our meeting with the salesman we drove out in the pickup.  We drove home in BIG style!!  We had to buy me a little step ladder so I could get in and out of it.  And we had to buy big bins with lids to put all of our stuff in because we no longer had a trunk to take things home in.  Had to get tie downs to hold everything in place.  But that was all just a part of the fun.  We are still grinning from ear to ear and loving our new toy.  Ummmm...Stephen's new toy!  No regrets.

     After we got home Stephen made running boards for the truck so I don't have to use a step ladder anymore.  They really look nice, too.  He is so talented in making things like that.  When he went to pay his boss for the materials he had used to make them with they just told him to consider it a bonus and wouldn't let him pay them for anything.  Blessings!!

     Our trip threw my sense of time off.  Such a weird feeling.  I felt like I had totally missed out on summer.  We had been having such a good time with everyone that the time just slipped away from me.  And yet July dragged by.  And August came and school started and it felt like the holidays should be here!  I had to keep reminding myself that it wasn't even September  yet.  And why wasn't it?  Why isn't the rest of the world catching up with me and my new time table?  I found myself about two months ahead of where we were at.  So totally weird.  I had to accept that it wasn't even Fall yet.  What a bummer!!  I so love fall.  It's the beginning of the holidays for me.  The anticipation of the good family times ahead.  Time is finally back where it belongs in my life.  And now I'm wishing it would slow down a little and not pass by too fast.  I want to enjoy the coming holidays and not just be swept through them.

     Life is good.  We have been so very blessed.  This spring/summer was so fun.  And now we are waiting for our 25th grandbaby to arrive.  She should be here any day now.  And we don't know when we'll get to meet her in person.  But we already love her.  And Stephen and I just celebrated our 44th wedding anniversary.  I love him so much.  I'm so thankful he is my eternal companion.

     Have a great day, Everyone!  Take a minute to count your blessings and to enjoy a simple pleasure or two or three!

YAY!!!!! : )

Yay!!!   One of the layouts I did for Scrapgirls won the March Monthly Layout Contest!!!  And I get a $10 gift certificate to their boutique!!!!!  I'm so excited!!!!!  Here is my winning layout:

Thanks, Hope, for the beautiful photo!!  And the memories it brought to me!  Click on the photo to read the journaling on the layout.

Got LOTS Done!!

Yes!!  We finally got our living room cleared out and straightened up!!!  I'm so relieved to finally have it looking good again.  Still have things in the dining room and spare bedroom to finish up.  But at least we can relax a little now.

Our new entertainment console arrived on Friday afternoon.  It turned out absolutely BEAUTIFUL!!!!!  I'm so excited to have such a lovely piece of furniture.  It's well made, too.  We are super pleased with it.  Will have to get a photo taken of it to put here next time I write.

We got Kodi's art piece professionally printed out and matted for the Art Show down at MCC.  It turned out beautiful!  We are so pleased with how it looks.  She has to turn it in on April 4th and the show begins on April 9th and runs for about 10 days.  We think that some of the awards may be scholarships and are hoping she will get one.  That would be a blessing.  Here is a pic of her art piece.  You can click on it to see it better.

We are waiting to hear what Kodi's 10 days on the heart monitor showed if anything.  The EKG the doctor did was normal and all her blood work was normal.  So that is good.  He did diagnose her with Fibromyalgia though.  That didn't really surprise me as I have suspected that she had it for quite a while now.  I also found out in reading about it that Fibro can cause symptoms that make you feel like you have heart problems.  Tightening of the chest muscles and spasms, aching and chest pain.  I'm thinking this may be all that is wrong, but with the heart problems Stephen and Kyran have had, we don't want to take any chances.  So we are checking it all out.  Stress and anxiety can also cause you to feel like you are having heart problems.  So!!  Double whammy here for Kodi.  And we are hoping it's nothing to be worried about.

Stephen hasn't felt real well for a while now either.  So he has a dr appointment on Wednesday and we are hoping to get some answers as to what might be happening with him.  Kind of scary for me.  I worry so over him.  And Kodi.  It will be good to know what we are dealing with.  Could use prayers right now for both of them.

I have spent some time doing digital scrapbooking and have loved it.  I hadn't done any for a while so it did me good to be creative for a few days.

Here is Tyler's 2nd place winning Pinewood Derby car.

And a memory page of our Frankie.

Here are three using photos that my sister Hope emailed me.

One of Shane and Stephen R. with cousins Russ and Desiree.

This layout is one I have been wanting to do for a while.  The cute little Cox guys!

Kodi and Jayson celebrating their Graduations.

And one of just Kodi.

I had a lot of fun doing all of these and am hoping to do more over the next few weeks.

My Cuddlebug came today!!  Well yesterday...Monday.  It's now very early on Tuesday morning.  Yes...I'm up and not very tired yet...AGAIN!!!  Anyway, my Cuddlebug came and I'm excited to have it. I'm waiting on all the templates I ordered now.  Got them all at discount prices which made them much more affordable than regular price.  Is my Honey spoiling me rotten?  YES!!  He is so good to me!

On that happy note I'll end this for tonight.  Hope you are all doing well!  Don't forget to look for the simple pleasures in life.  And make a memory today!!

HEY!!

HEY!!

Well, we are still in a huge mess around here.  Have been painting and putting furniture together and dejunking.  I'll be soooooo glad when we are done with it all!  After tomorrow things will get some better.  Stephen R. is coming to put some wallboard up to cover the wall where the arched windows are in the north wall of Kodi's bedroom.  And he will be texturing it for us.  After it dries we will finish painting her room.  She chose a dark gray for an accent wall and a lighter gray for everything else.  Looks really nice so far.  We got her bed and two dressers set up in the last couple days.  Still have one smaller dresser to do tomorrow.  Got her big picture of the peacock put up on the wall above her bed.  It's really beautiful.  She also set up her new lamps and started working on her mirror arrangements.

Stephen has had a few days off work.  I think he has worked harder around here than if he had gone to work though.  It has not been a restful time off for him.  I so appreciate his willingness to get things in shape around our home though.  He is such a good Honey!  I could never do it all on my own.  Our waterbed dying on us began a domino effect of projects around here.  All of which have been nice to be able to do.  In spite of the work and chaos it has thrown us into!

Stephen and Kodi finally got Teddi Bear shaved and trimmed up this past week.  Her fur gets so matted and knotted up that we have to completely shave her down to nothing because you can't brush it out.  She looks like a roly-poly little rat - and I say that affectionately - running around here now.  For a dog who doesn't eat much she sure is a chubby little thing. And her legs are little toothpicks without all the fur on them.  I miss the cuteness of her furry little feet after we have to shave her and I'm always so amazed at how tiny her legs and feet really are.  Stephen always leaves her fur long on her ears and tail though.  And I love how we can see her little face.  Here are a couple of pictures of her with her new look!

Well, I hope everyone is being happy and content!  Enjoy a simple pleasure today.  Make a memory.  Give someone your smile.  And enjoy your day!

IT WAS A WATERBED CATASTROPHE!!!

Well.....the other night I could hear something in our bedroom but couldn't figure out what it was or where the noise was coming from.  But the next morning when I made the bed it felt wet when I tucked the blanket in.  So I lifted up the corner of our waterbed mattress and it was all wet underneath it.  Aaaauuuuugggghhhhhhh!!!!!  Upon checking around the bed I found the source of the noise I had heard the night before.  The water was dripping onto the carpet at the head of the bed.  I knew we were in big trouble.  Water under the mattress at the foot and dripping onto the floor at the head.  NOT GOOD!!!

SO!!!  I called Stephen and he took the rest of the day off work to come home and empty the mattress.  We quickly decided the bed was DEAD!!  A done deal!  No more patching.  No more, no more!!!  I figured we'd head on over to the waterbed store, pick up a new mattress, liner and heater and get us all set back up by nightfall.  But Stephen surprised me by saying that he figured it was about time we got ourselves a new BEDROOM SET!!!!  That we deserved a nice one as we had never had a new bedroom set before.  We've always had hand-me-downs from loving family.  Or, like our waterbed, leftovers from our waterbed store that we had years and years ago.  Our waterbed was a floor model in our store and we were happy to have it, but it wasn't brand new when we finally got it, or something that we picked out just because we liked it.  I got to thinking about how many years we've had that bed and was surprised when I realized it has been about 30 years!!  THAT is a LONG TIME!!!  Yes!  We did deserve a nice new bedroom set!!

Anyway, I was soooooo excited!!  We got the water all drained and threw everything away.  Then we headed to Kerby's to look at bedroom sets.  And we ended up with THIS!!

Isn't it just BEAUTIFUL!!!!  We loved the rustic country look it had.  And it is super well built.  It really fills up this small room, but that's okay.  We LOVE it!!  I think we need an electric blanket though.  I about froze to death last night.  I had the quilt, the throw, a comforter doubled up, and our old spread plus Stephen's snuggie like blanket over me before I could quit shivering last night....at three in the morning!!  Made me wonder if I was getting sick or something.  But it was just that I'm used to the waterbed being warm and nice all the time and this bed doesn't come with a heater!!

It's really true what they say....when you fix something up nicer or get something new, you find other things that need to be fixed up as well in order to make the first nicer/new thing look good.  We knew we would need new bedding as we were going from the waterbed to a queen size regular bed.  And as I was looking for something we would enjoy having, I found the quilt (which Stephen actually picked out!!) and matching shams AND two decorative pillows in a bundled deal.  Awesome!  Then....there was a matching throw!  And matching curtains!  Stephen let me add them to the order.  After I placed the order he came into the room and said....I guess this means we need to paint.  I said that would be nice!  He said...what color do you want to do it?  I said we had to wait and pick a color from the new quilt.  When the order arrived and I got the bed all made up nice I noticed how bad our ceiling fan looks with it.  I told Stephen that we needed a new one to match the color of the bed frame.  And he agreed.  So now we will be going to Home Depot to get a fan....hopefully this weekend.  We also had to get the carpets cleaned before the furniture came.  They were not in good shape and plus the water leaking all over the floor.  So I have been kind of laughing to myself about how it has all added up and up to make this room look so nice.  : )  Now if I could figure out how to get a new house to put this bedroom in.....wouldn't that be fun?!! HA!!!

I got some new decorative boxes at Joann's on Saturday.  Kodi and I decided that since we were getting new furniture...her Daddy got her a new bedroom set too...I know!  We just had such a fun time shopping that day!!  Anyway!  We needed a nice way to store things we use all the time.  Something that would work well for that storage and be pretty at the same time.  So here are my new boxes!

Aren't they pretty?  And they carry out the garden theme somewhat.

Well, it was Kodi's birthday on Monday.  My baby is now 23 years old!!!  It was just a quiet day for us.  I made a nice spaghetti dinner for her and we got some Dunkin' Donuts for dessert.  I still need to make her the rainbow Jello dessert she likes to have for her special day.  Will try to do that in the next day or two.  We just had too much going on to be able to make it for her birthday.  It takes about six hours or so to make.

And then Valentine's Day yesterday.  I hope you all had a nice one.

And that's about it for this time!  I hope you are all looking for the simple pleasures in life.  There are so many of them to enjoy.  Here is one of ours:

That's our Teddi Bear.  She can't quite figure out what is going on around here.  Her whole safe little world was just thrown into turmoil and chaos for a couple days there causing her to go into hiding behind the couch.  So much hustle and bustle with moving things around, her people gone for hours and hours and strangers bringing stuff into our house, that big noisy machine running across the carpets, and now the bed acting so strange when she is up on it.  No more jiggling around and a bit scary to get up onto and back down from.  She can hide under it though!  Funny little critter!

Take care, Everyone!!  : ) 

I CAN'T SLEEEEEPPPPP!!!!!

This is NOT fun!  I can't sleep again tonight and I'm tired.  I went to bed just before midnight and tossed and turned for almost an hour.  I told myself to relax and tried to do that.  I told myself to quit thinking and tried to clear my mind out.  Nothing worked!!  I am so envious of my Stephen who is asleep almost before his head hits the pillow.  I lay there listening to him sleep soundly while I watch the numbers change on the clock.  NOT FUN!!

So now I'm up.  Just took two Melatonin to see if they will help.  And I read my scriptures for a little bit.  I'm tired.  I just can't sleep.

Today I got up and did dishes and got the laundry going first thing.  And then I started dejunking my desk area.  I got rid of all the colored paper, stickers, markers and colored pencils, coloring books and crayons, stencils.  Took a big box of it over to our new neighbor for her girls to use.  I think they will have a lot of fun with it all.  I used to use those things all the time.  But my crafting needs have changed and I'm tired of having all that taking up valuable space.  Now I need to reorganize the shelves all of that came out of.  

My body feels like there is a storm coming or something.  My arms and legs hurt and ache.  My knees, my elbows.  And my hands are not feeling all that great either.  I think we are supposed to get some wind and clouds, but no rain.  So I must just be having arthritis pain from my busy day.  But I'm so satisfied with all I did that it's okay.

I found a bunch of photos in a box when I was going through things.  Fun stuff!  Kaitlyn was just a baby in them.  And all the kids were so little.  Brought back memories to look at them.  I need to do a few scrapbook pages on some of them.  Like the one of Rylin with the seat of his pant totally black with mountain dirt.  I have another pic somewhere of the little boys blowing bubbles into a hole they had dug on that camping trip.  They had totally filled the hole up with them.  And then there were the pics of Chad and Heather's kids riding their little cycles.  I really need to get busy scrapbooking!!

I did get a layout done this week.  I scrap lifted it from a gal on Scrapgirls.  And I'm real pleased with how it turned out.  Took me hours to do.  Here it is.

I didn't have a template or anything to work with on this one so it took a long time to get everything just right.  I had to get a couple template kits to make the shapes I needed and everything.  And of course, the kit with all the papers and elements in it.  Fun stuff to add to my stash!!

I got all my purchases burned on to DVD's this past week too.  That was a big job.  I had four DVD's that I thought were burned and they weren't so I had to redo them also.  Plus months of stuff I had sitting in the burn folder waiting for me to get to.  I really need to stay on top of that better!

We had fun playing games with Stephen R. and Karma and the kids last Saturday night.  They came and had dinner with us and we watched a movie and then played games.  We enjoyed having them all here.  Should do that more often!

Hope everyone is doing okay!  Be sure to take some time to enjoy the simple pleasures as you go about your day.  They make a day much nicer!