2011 wrap up

There is so much that 2011 has brought. Good, bad, happy, and sad... and I am very glad that this year is on its way out the door. It wasn't a horrible year, but it wasn't my best. I am ready to bring in a new year with new hopes and new dreams, all to hopefully be fulfilled in 365 days. I thought I would talk about the good (and the bad) that 2011 has brought me.

January:
Although I feel asleep on new years eve at an early 10:00 I did wake up 30 minutes past midnight to kiss my lover farewell to another year and hello to a new year that lies ahead. By mid-January my year wasn't looking so bright as I spent a full week off work with a common cold... or so I thought, until I went to the doctor and found out it was the cold flu virus. But I hadn't thrown up.. until 45 minutes after I got home and spend the next 3 days doing just that with a stuffed nose, sore throat, and killer body aches. January wasn't much of anything for me :(

February:
When I wasn't down in January I was trying really hard to make my own creation. I know that it had been a couple months in coming but I finally completed the purple room. I love my purple room! I spent many night hanging out in there letting my creative juices flow.

March:
March was brought on by yet another photo shoot. I love Laine Images! March also brings the sense of summer coming in to our future... it starts off by the yearly world dutch oven competition. This has been a family tradition for years. This year was a first of not only 3 generations competing but of siblings, parents and grandparents competing against each other. My mom was on one team. My brother and his wife was on another, and my sister was my brothers son (nephew) were on another. Not to mention my brothers other son and my dad were runner and helpers in the competition. It was a fun time to see them all competing against each other.

April:
Hello Hollywood!!! Has that caught on yet? I had my 15 minutes of fame and that is what my dad now says to me. We had some amazing creatures at my work for 2 whole weeks. 'My what big eyes you have!'....

May:
With April bringing in good references to my work, May brought it a whole slew of bad! This month was one of my hardest months. One Saturday brought on a devastation to many in my company. It is still hard hearing bad words about the one person... even if is a small jab. Either way 2 families are hurting very very much. I was glad to see this month go!

June:
Ah! The summer months are here! Camping season began... although the farthest we took our trailer camping was to the back yard, our baby made her way down to the Paiute trail with us. This is the first time we went down there but it was we had an amazing time that I am for sure will be in our schedule for years to come. It was cold, warm, wet, snowey, and sunny while we were down there, We got all sorts of weather but it was still fun! Thanks Paiute!

July:
We had more riding... some new, some old. Mona Pole Trail was awesome.... soapstone was bug infested but if you kept on the move you did have a problem.... we also spent the first holiday with my family in a long time. Maybe because there was only a few there I was able to handle it. The 24th was fun, especially with kids. We cant forget to mention Red Butte gardens were a hit for my birthday!

August:
August lead us back to the Paiute with some family and friends. We had so much fun with lots of riding and some pretty amazing views in the morning. August I also started Wednesday wonders... I think they are a hit!

September:
This year for labor day we stayed back since both Bryce and I worked... but I decided to head out for some sister time that I hadn't had in a while. Our original plan was to take the kids swimming but we had a little accident and my niece broke her arm so we went to plan B - The zoo! I think the kids enjoyed themselves and I finally found my raspberry honey butter (the best!) that same day... YUM. 2 weeks after the zoo we had a new addition to my family. Welcome #17...

October:
October brought on a new store to me that is currently my favorite place. If you haven't checked this place out, I think you should... oh and make sure you have lots of money to spend! They rob me blind!!!! ok, I willingly give it to them.


November:
November brought me to Nablopomo... I failed miserably.... but at least I tried!

December:
December always brings me great happiness. I love this month and everything about it. December happens to be the month of Bryce's birthday. This year he turned 30 and thanks to some amazing friends and family I was able to pull of a surprise party for him. He really enjoyed himself.

Thanks to all of the people who are part of our lives. I don't think our year would be half as great without you. Now I better get going so I can say goodbye to this year and hello to a new one! Happy New Year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Merry Christmas!

 I figured since I haven't really blogged lately that I would do a blog post on my house before I tear it all down next week.. and pack it away for another 11 months. I will start with my living room. I will tell you when and where I got it and around how much it cost. :)

This is on one of my end tables. I love how this turned out. I got this from the wood connections (all raw wood) and painted it myself.

I added this believe to it. I bought it last year at tai pan the day after Christmas for 50 cents or something. It is actually a tree ordiment. I took off the wire and used the wire for the bells on the shoes. The ends of the wire were already curled. I think they turned out so cute!

These I made just this year...

This joy I bought last year at Tai Pan. You cant see but it has a transparent glitter on it. I wanna say I paid 8.95 for this. I saw them again this year.

This year I bought this at Tai Pan. I bought it thinking that is came apart and was individual letters. I think it is really cute and was looking forward to stacking it in my purple room but to my surprise it is all connected! You can twist it to make it all funky looking. It was still cute and I wanted to keep it. I think it works perfect in front of the TV, even for the steep price of $12.99

This train Bryce has had since he was little. His grandma bought it for him when he was really little. There are lights that go with it but last year they broke, but I think it still looks cute in front of our TV

This sled I got raw - from wood connections. The total cost of it was $35... with the bell, ribbon and extras. I love it!

Here is the set up of our living room (kind of) with the TV, sled, train, believe and tree!

This Grinch I got this year from wood connections. I cant remember the exact price but I think it was around $17 plus $2 for the wire that I used on it.

 Now on to the kitchen!

The manager I also got from the wood connections. With the star and everything it came to $15.95. You can see the brown runner in the pic but I picked that up at hobby lobby this year for $10. It has some pretty snow flakes stitched into it :)

Here is above one of our cabinets in our kitchen. I have had this present for a couple of years. I got it from hobby lobby for $5 It also opens up so it can hold all of your holiday cards. I just like it for decoration.

The blue bulb I got last year at Target the day after Christmas. It cost me a whole 50 cents!!! The Ho Ho Ho I have had for a few years. I got that from Tai Pan for $15

My candy canes (next to the HO Ho Ho). I big candy cane is HUGE. It stands about 3 feet tall. I saw this last year at Tai pan and I could not get over that thing! I kept thinking about it for over a week before I finally caved and went to get it. I think it cost me $10 which I had a hard time spending on a candy cane. I obviously wanted it that bad. The smaller one I got from Tai pan also. Cant just have one!

 I have had this for a few years.. I got that from Tai pan too!

I got these from wood connections. I paid $10 for the set of 3. I bought these this year

The sled I got from Roberts 2 years ago. I got it for $7. RIP Roberts (sniff sniff)

These stars I picked up at Tai Pan. I got them last year and the big one was $7 and the smaller ones were $5. They had them again this year in all sorts of colors and sizes.

I had to show our stocking. I couldn't get our longer railing in the picture that has Bryce's dads, grandmas and grandpas stockings hanging up. Bryce's grandma made their stockings when he was little. I got mine from hobby lobby this year for $7! Can you see Bryce messing around in the picture?????

 On to the purple room:

Here is my entire shelf!

I got this from hobby lobby this year! It was $5

Wood connections. I believe it was around $12 for the set of 3

I have had this since I was 16. My mom bought it for me. I find it really fun to bring things out from when I was younger.

I got this last year as a gift for Christmas from my SIL A.

I bought these for Bryce a couple of years ago from Kohl's. They say "You really jingle my bell! Merry Kiss mas!" and his tail jingles with the bell on it.

Here is the top of my shelf. All of these bulbs are different sizes. The giant ones (not picture but identical to the blue) I got at target last year. The red ones I got at albertsons for $3. The silver ones I got at smith's market place this year for $3 (they came with all sorts of colors, I just pulled out the silver ones, the rest are one our tree)

I got this Noel from wood connections. I paid around $10 for it... give or take, I cant remember one this one.

Well I hope you enjoyed the tour of my house at Christmas time. I wish everyone a fun, safe, great Christmas!

WW

OK I have to set this up. I have noticed recently.. Ok mayb not notice just more irritated.. That I have people at work who are nosey. I normally don't mind people knowing about my life but this goes beyond that. I have a few people that reguardless if I an up front or in the back at work that 'snoop'. If I have anything on my desk they will go searching through it to see what daily goodies I have. If I got prep my breakfast or lunch to eat at my desk, I will always put a paper towel over it to prevent someone from sneezing or coughing all over my food. It is like they have radar and will hunt me down just to poke under the paper towel and get thiscose to my food that I no longer want to eat anymore because my lasagna met their nose. When I say everything I mean everything including my purse. I wonder why people feel it is their right to snoop through my lunch sacks, purse, food, and even unopened Christmas presents that I would like to open... They do have my name on it after all ...

What a weekend!

I cannot believe we are into December. I am ready for the snow! If it is going to be cold, it might as well be pretty not ugly. This past weekend I had a surprise birthday party for Bryce! I cant believe I pulled it off. There is always a little bit of drama surrounding stuff like this but I pulled through and kept it a surprise. On Saturday I told him that we had reservations for dinner. When we got to dinner, I thought he was far enough away when I told him I didn't have reservations but he wasn't! He seemed a bit irritated so I told him I did have reservation but I didn't say where... so again I quickly lied and told him I reservation for dessert. Whew! only he didn't eat very much because he thought we were going out for dessert. Oops! After dinner we headed over to Keys on Main to meet up with a few friends and his family. We had a blast! He was surprised! We didn't get home until 2 am. He kept saying 'thank you' and 'I cant believe you did this for me!' I am glad I was able to pull off this one thing and that he had a great '30th' bday party (even though his bday isn't until tomorrow). Sunday we woke up around 9 and decided we were going to lounge around. We stayed in our pj's and only left to go get junk food and movies. We took naps and watched movies all day yesterday. My house was a complete disaster when I left for work this morning but I didn't care... It was one of the greatest weekends for us! I was so sad to see it come to end, but it had to. This weekend goes down in the history books for us.

nablopomo wrap up

I failed! I failed miserably. I let one small thing snowball to make one big thing and made me one grumpy person. It is so hard to attempt to list what you are grateful for when you are just not in the mood. There is always next year! I didn't want to go out in a lame sort of fashion so I thought I would try to do a wrap up. I have alot to be grateful for and often I don't express it enough. I wanted to save the best for last. I have some amazing friends and some amazing family that pretty much sums up my life. between those two I have a huge list of joy that they bring in to my life. so for my last post I would like to show you what I am grateful for.

First is him:

I know I haven't been the best aunt growing up, maybe since he is now an adult it is too late, I don't know, but I have learned a thing or two from him (along with the others). I am grateful for the relationship that has been salvaged from my own teen years where I was... well... a teenager. We have had some good talks, simple mistakes, and some good laughs ( I swear I am buying this kid a calendar for Christmas so he wont forget his appts with me!) Here is to Chad... stop growing up.

Second is the guy:

He was premature, tiny and a fighter. I remember the first time he came home he literally slept in my bottom drawer from my dresser. He has been fighting his way through life since. He is small but tough. He is a kind of kid that everyone wants to be around because he can relate to everyone in some way. He is Bryce's mini me... heaven help me when they he stays at my house. I cant control either of them! Here is to Cam.... my mini Bryce.

Third is someone I cant post a picture of... sweet K. Someone that completes me! ok, in the girlish way that I have yearned for in a child that I don't have. She is simply a teenage girl. I love the little texts that I get in the morning. The calls when something exciting goes down. I can never have enough shopping trips with her! Maybe she could be a mini me in training???? no, I am too much of a devil :)

Fourth is also one that i cant post pictures of, T. I don't have alot in common with him but I have sat back and seen the once rambunctious child turn into one very tall, amazing, young man. He is one day going to make some girl very happy... but that is  along way off. He ceases to amaze me in just saying 'hi' and turning it into to some random conversation. He is very smart... oh and he likes to annoy his sister. Just like my brothers. Just like his dad. Yep, he is a spitting image of his dad. Heaven help his sisters!


of course I hope you all have stuck with me for the last. The last is the best and most important! Him:

I love him. yep, I love him.

 He is my life, my light, my reasons for breathing, thinking and living. He challenges me in ways I never thought someone could. He gives me thoughts to think about. He gives me time to myself. He lets me be selfish when I just wanna think all about me. He makes me laugh, smile and makes me want steal looks when I think he inst pay attention. He knows how and when to put me in my place. He lets me cry when I am having a bad day. When I least expect it, he pulls out surprises. He is my blond hair, blue eye, baby butt boy. Knight in shinning armor. He is my everything. and I. Love. Him.

Solutions

I am very sorry about the rant I was on yesterday. I had to get that off of my mind. It has been a full day and my mind has been filled with possible solutions. The one that came up first was to simply delete those that I work with from facebook. Easy and simple. But there are people who I truly enjoy working with and I like having them in my life and they are my friends. Even then, How do I punish all for one person's big mouth when I am not for sure who was the one that open their mouth????? So tonight, when I came home I made a 'group' on facebook that is strictly people I work with. From here on out my posts are now blocked from them. All of them, except one. It makes me really sad that something was turned around into something it wasn't. It makes me sad that one person broke my trust. And it makes me sad that someone has nothing better to do with their lives that MY life consumes them enough to have a conversation about my facebook posts. Now we will get back to my regular scheduled program.

Taking a time out....

I am taking a time out from my grateful month to say a few thing that are on my mind... Bryce and I were talking this weekend about protesting and Freedom of speech. I believe that everyone should be able to speak their mind but there is a time and place for that. Maybe there was a reason for that conversation at this particular point of my week. I had my manager approach me today about something he heard that was posted on facebook. This was not posted by myself but made to look like I posted it. Regardless, I laughed it off because there was nothing I could do about it but delete it. I wasn't mad.. Thing happen.. I do apologize if it offended anyone at all, it was not the intentions and it is not in my character to post something like that. However this is MY blog and it is MY Facebook page. I have never had ties to the company I work for on Facebook or my blog. I am very careful what I post and what I say. I also make sure my settings are under wraps for Facebook and I check my blog daily on who comes in. I don't post pics of certain people in my life out of RESPECT. I don't follow blogs because I want to maintain privacy for those who have blogs. With all of that said I think it is WRONG for people to say things that are not theirs to tell. It is very inappropriate for someone to bring my views/comments/posts to work when it isn't theirs to tell. These are MY things to share and no one has any right to drag my manager into especially when it had nothing to do with work. I respect all of my fellow bloggers and Facebook friends out there and I would hope they would do the same but I was obviously wrong. If anyone has a problem with what I put on here then don't read it... Plain and simple. Now it is time to go delete some people on Facebook. Trust no one. Again I am sorry if I have ever offended anyone but you bring that up with me... Not my family. Not with Bryce. And definitely not with my managers at work.. Especially when it has nothing to do with work. Period.