I am not perfect!

I might as well get that out in the open now!
I am not perfect!
My hubby is not perfect! Although I think he is pretty fantastic!!
My children are not perfect.
My parents are not perfect.
My siblings are not perfect.
My friends are not perfect.
We all mess up on a regular basis.
 I fail, I sin, I ask for forgiveness on a hourly daily basis. I spend many minutes praying for strength, just to get through the rest of the day. I walk away from my daughter when she is frustrating me so that I don't scream and yell at her. I snap at my handsome hubby and my children. They all have seen the worst in me. I am not proud of this but it is the truth. I have a short temper that I have to really watch.
I love my hubby and our children. I love the live that we have built. I would not change anything. All that has happened to our family in the past 21 years have made us who we are. We are beautiful. We are caring. We are happy. We are unique. We fight, we love, we mess up, we forgive, we live.
That is the wonderful thing for me about being a child of God. If he can forgive me for EVERYTHING I do, how could I not forgive others for what they have done. Now I am not saying this is always easy, oh no, but it is essential.
Because after all...
We are not perfect..
Only HE is!!!!

Random 11

Now I know that I do not normally post on Sundays but first of all my girly is not feeling well so she is in bed sleeping and even more exciting is that Ms Jennifer over at Mommy Y selected me to be one of her 11 chosen people. LOL So I figured when I have the spare time anyway, why not blog. :)
I actually think in weird randomness so this challenge works for me. So thank you Jennifer.

Here are the rules:

1. Post the rules.
2. You must post 11 random things about yourself.
3. Answer the questions set for you in their post.
4. Create 11 new questions for the people you tag to answer.
5. Go to their blog and tell them you've tagged them.
6. No stuff in the tagging section about " you are tagged if you are reading this" You have to legitimately tag 11 people.

Ok so that was number 1 taken care of.

Here goes number 2.

1. I secretly wish that we lived on a farm and were honest to goodness farmers. The same as my parents were. I just know it it VERY hard to make a living at it, and it is VERY hard work. But just the same I would love to raise cattle and horses not chickens.

2. I dislike chickens. Not to eat but just have an irrational fear of them. Not baby chicks either just full grown hens and roosters. When I was a kid my sister had a pet rooster that she convinced my parents to keep over the winter. In the spring it chased me and I still very much dislike hens and roosters to this day.

3. My eyes change color depending on my mood or how I am physically feeling. They normally are a boring shade of green but they can change from green to blue to a deep purple depending. A deep purple is a good sign. It means I am very, very happy.

4. I love large families and wished that we would have had about 7 children. Not in the cards for us but I still wish it would have been.

5. I dislike the dark. When I get ready for bed when hubby is at work I make sure to leave at least one light on till I am almost asleep.

6.I am in love with the color grey.

7. I collect recipe books. I even have one that was my Mom in laws, Mom in law. If you follow that. It talks about how to properly cut up a cow.

8. I love taking pictures. I am not very good, but practicing.

9. I love my new camera that my handsome hubby bought me for my birthday. It takes amazing pics.

10. I want desperately to live back on Vancouver Island. We have great friends there and I also have several family members there as well. I love the life style and relaxed atmosphere there.

11. The reason we haven't moved back yet is due to the age of our parents and the fact that our only child left at home will be graduating in 4 years. We figure we can wait that long. :)

Ok so now onto number 3. Here are my answers to Jennifer's questions. Good questions by the way Jennifer.

1. What is your favorite kind of book.
Romance. I love Christian romance, historical romance, really any kind of fictional romance just not overly trashy romance. I don't need details. :)
2. Do you fold your laundry and put it away right away or do you leave it in a basket?
Depends on my mood and how much laundry I have already done. Last load often gets left in the dryer. But usually I like to fold it up and put it away. Many years ago, I got my kids there own laundry baskets and I fold  up their clothes and put in them and then they have to put their own away as well as their own towels as we have separate bathrooms.
3. What is your favorite food to eat?
Chocolate. That's a food group right? LOL
4. What has been your favorite age to be?
Ok that's a toughie. I am not sure. I have enjoyed all the stages in my life ( mostly anyway).
5. If you owned a zoo, what animal would you feature?
Hmmmmm, giraffes?
6. What do you call your decorating style?
Unique collection of things that I enjoy? LOL My hubby is modern and I am more country, relaxed. So we combine. Shabby chic maybe.
7. What did you do for your favorite date ever?
My hubby is pretty romantic so he is pretty good about finding new ways to keep our romance going. One of the first dates we had he picked me up and we went to get a sub sandwich and then went on a picnic in the middle of winter. It was pretty cool. (literally LOL)
8. What is the craziest thing you ever done?
You mean other than getting married at 19 and having a baby at 20? We once drove from Vancouver Island back to here for a weekend. That is 24 hours one way. Not much sleep that weekend. Oh and we had two small kids at the time.
9. What is your all time favorite movie?
I am a sucker for romance so Dirty Dancing, Pretty Woman, PS I love you, that kind of thing.
10. What is your favorite quiet moment Mom breakfast.
Hahahahahaha!!!!
Oh your serious? Well first I don't really do breakfasts but I do smoothies. So I guess that would be it.
11. Are you a lawn gnome, a pink flamingo, or stationary kind of lawn designer. Elaborate.
Waterfall. Relaxing, always moving and always having people go pee? hahahahahahaha

Ok onto number 4, my victims er lucky chosen individuals. :)

Jenilee at Our Goodwin Journey
Sam at Sam's Noggin
Lynette at Dancing Again
Michelle at Lost in the Prairies...Found by God
Sharla at The Chaos and the Clutter
Brandy at The Marathon Mom
Marcy at Love my Life
Carla at Here I am
Melissa at A Penny Saved
Anne at Homeschool on the croft
Dawn at By Sun and Candlelight

Number 5. 11 questions my victims get to answer.

1. If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be?
2. What is your funniest childhood memory?
3. Do you have a favorite recipe?
4. If you never had to worry about money, what would you do?
5. What is your favorite tip on being frugal with money?
6. What is your favorite song?
7. Ok I am from Saskatchewan, Canada and we LOVE our football team here so, do you have a favorite sports team? Elaborate.
8. What is your favorite room in your house? and Why?
9. Do you have any photography tips that you would like to share?
10. I am a new home schooler in my first year, if you home school do you have any funny stories?
11. What do you enjoy doing most with your family?

Now I will be hopping over to everyone those fine ladies and letting them know. I sure hope that everyone can participate. I am looking forward to seeing some new randomness. :)

 

3 in 30 update

Well not a bad week. Did some of my goals and have totally shot down one of them. I guess I might have to carry it on to next month, or the month after that, or the one after that. LOL I will get it done honest.

1. Finish up my to do sewing list I have.
Fail!! I have not worked at all on this. I keep finding other ways to keep my focus. Like I said maybe February?

2. Clean up and declutter my desk.
I did not work on this particular one this week, but my desk looks actually pretty neat and tidy. I just opened mail today and sorted it out and placed it on top. Need to put in my phone when and how much to pay and then can file it under to be paid, until it is paid and can file it in appropriate files. Maybe tomorrow on my lazy day I can finish up shredding and putting away last year files.

3. Try new recipes weekly.
Ok this one I managed to do. I saw this recipe for Granola Energy Balls on The Marathon Mom. I thought for Sarah's dance these would be nutritional, handy to pack and easy to make, so it was a must try for me.

Well...the first batch I tried straight as the recipe said she disliked. So I gave some to my son, who gave some to his roommate who LOVED them. When my hubby came home he saw them in the fridge and also had to try them and also LOVED them. For him they are fantastic as he is a diabetic and these (other than the choc chips) have no added sugar to them except for the natural honey! So I bought some more coconut and decided to give it another whirl. As I was trying to rack my brain on how I could get Sarah to eat them as she was complaining they had to much peanut butter in them I decided I would see what she thought of Nutella. So I bought the knock off variety as I did not even know for sure she would like it. Turns out she REALLY likes Nutella. To the point where she packs some up with bread sticks and sliced apple for dance snack as well.
So I decided to try and cut out some of the peanut butter, ( not all as I think it is an important ingredient to have in these even if just for the protein factor alone) so I added about half and half peanut butter and Nutella.
Verdict????
She LOVES them. In fact I have a hard time keeping her out of them during the day. She sneaks some while she is doing school work. Now I am not a huge fan of Nutella so I found a recipe on Pinterest that tells me how to make my own, that I want to try.
However for now she is in love and I am happy.

This is a pic of it being made. Note the iPad with the recipe on it.
Also side not I never added yogurt that is the container that my ground flax in stored in. Not very pretty but effective for now. I forgot to take a pic of it in the balls but if you hop over to Brandy's site you will see it all nice and pretty there.

Well this month was not fantabulous but not terrible either. Although I didn't get to all my goals I did do some and on top of that I did a whole pile of other stuff that I have been wanting to try forever. Keep checking back because I plan on writing about them in the next week.

Until then have a great night and have a fantastic week.

I am linking up today with Ashley at the weekly 3 in 30 challenge.
Also today I am linking up with Michelle at her Caffeinated Randomness.

Thankful Thursday

I am such a lucky lady. I have this wonderful, crazy, daughter who although sometimes I think know we would cheerfully bash each others heads in, we have a pretty decent relationship. It does help that now for the most part it is just us. At least I think that helps. LOL
I not only am homeschooling her but I also drive her to dance 3 nights a week and watch her practise every single day not to mention we also attend church together on Sunday. Yep that's right not a lot of time apart. :)

However I am so blessed to have her as my daughter. I love watching how God is molding her and shaping her into the extraordinary lady she is going to be.

Tuesday as we were driving home from dance we were both singing to worship songs that were on the radio. Here is my 13, almost 14, going on 21 still my baby in my eyes daughter singing her heart out in praise to our Lord. I mean does it get much better than that?

Yes sir like I said I am one lucky lady to have the privilege to raise this beautiful thing.

I am linking up today with Brandy over at The Marathon Mom. Pop over and see what some other fine ladies are thankful about.

A trip back in time...

Well its that time again.
Time for some reminiscing.

s 

Seeing this picture just makes me smile. 

Rob's parents came to Vancouver Island to visit us. We went to their hotel room, set up the timer and wham bam bob's your uncle that's how this picture came about.

I can hardly believe how much my family has changed since then. These two adorable, sweet, innocent looking boys are now 20 and 18. We have added another one to the mix who is almost 14 already. Wow time really does fly. Why is it that I truly feel no older than I am here. ( most days anyway)

Things were really tight for us. I was and am still a stay-at-home Mom. Rob has always been the main bread earner. During this period in our lives the bread was just sliced a lot thinner. But we were really happy. The kids were doing great and we were enjoying our time as a little family. And to think I felt really old here. LOL 

Truth Tuesday

I was sitting here thinking about this little slice of me here called Love, Laughter, Friendship and Faith and I am amazed where I am from where I started.
Confused??
Ok I will explain.
When I first started to blog I wanted a way to put down my feelings, talk about my life without fear of discrimination, or persecution. I know, I know you are all saying so you started to blog??? Yep I did.
I live in a very small community. Although there is two churches ( a catholic and a protestant) it is still a very tight closed community. Most of the individuals in this town ( some of my friends included) like to drink a lot and party a lot. Church, God and faith are not high on their priority list. I have been shunned because I chose to attend church, I believe in God, I take my daughter to church ( and she is now a Christian!!!!), and I have also recently started homeschooling our daughter.
Most of the individuals around here think I am kinda crazy.
Now don't get me wrong I still like to go and visit my friends, maybe even have a glass of wine or two but my family very rarely parties like that. We prefer to get together with friends, visit, maybe play cards, love to quad, and sled with or without friends.
We prefer to spend time as a family maybe watching a movie, a football game or just simply hanging out and visiting.
Yes that is why I started to blog. I had already been on several blogs reading and getting some ideas for homeschooling as well as reading about some fantastic Christian women.
However things have changed. I never in a million years think that I would get to know (through their blogs) some really amazing ladies.
 Some ladies such as Jenilee at Our Goodwin Journey or Lynette at Dancing Again I feel like we would be fantastic friends if we lived closer together. They constantly inspire me and entertain me. I laugh a lot with them over their daily living and can relate amazingly well. Other ladies such as Ann at A Holy Experience inspire me to be a better person. Then their are ladies that live right here in Canada and actually not that far from me that I love to read about and to hear what is happening in their lives. They also inspire me and lift me up. Such as Sharla at The Chaos and the Clutter and Marcy at Love my Life whom both have adopted some wonderful children to help complete their lives. As well as Carla at Here I am.... I mean come on this girl is living in my home province, plus she simply inspires me to be a better person. Then there is this cool lady, Michelle at Lost in the Prairies...Found by God,  who is actually friends with my cousin ( which all in all I think is pretty cool), but then she goes and writes this great blog that continually causes me to evaluate my Christian walk in a very good way.
There is few other ladies that I read and I thoroughly enjoy but these ones I keep coming back to time and time again.
I hope that they know how much they inspire me, make my day, brighten my day, and cause me to be a better person.

So now I blog not just to talk to cyper world aka no one in particular, but also to talk to my 'friends'. A chance to visit the only way we can and the chance to get to know one another a little better.

3 in 30

Well not a great week as far as my goals. But oh well, not a bad week either all in all.

1. Finish up my to do sewing list I have.
Nope and in fact I found some more things on Pinterest that I would love to make. Darn Pinterest. LOL
I did however manage to finish up a fleece blanket that I crochet around the edges. It was supposed to be a gift for my son's girlfriend but my daughter is going to a birthday party tomorrow and needed a last minute gift so gave that. Off to town tomorrow to buy more fleece and make more. Maybe make a couple so that I have an extra gift on hand. LOL

2. Clean up and declutter my desk.
Ok this I was actually fairly successful on. I found my desk, filed a lot of stuff and worked on throwing out some stuff as well. I still need to shred last years bills but getting closer to getting this task done.

3. Try new recipes weekly.
Did not manage to accomplish this. Although again same as sewing I found some more Pinterest recipes that I would like make. One of them will be this Sunday so I will let you all know how it goes.

I know that this week was not all that I wanted it to be, but it's not the end of the world. My main goal is to work on it and work on it I shall.

I can do all things through God who gives me strength. :)

I am linking up today with Ashley over at the 3 in 30 weekly linkup.
Come on over and encourage some wonderful ladies out.

A few days packed into one.

Wow I can hardly believe that it is already Thursday. I went to bed last night and realised that I had not blogged in a couple days. So today I will catch you up.
Tuesday I went off to my home town which is 2.5 hours away for the funeral of one of my cousins. I made this trip a tad bit longer as just as I was leaving my house my sister called me and asked if I would take her as her vehicle had no heat. ( When I drove away from my driveway my truck registered -38C before the windchill.) So of course I said for sure, however this took me a half an hour out of my way. Oh well the things little sis's do for their big sis's. LOL  Anyhoo ( I do tend to ramble), off to the funeral we went, had a very small visit with my parents and drop my sis back off at her house at 5 and then took off to Sarah's dance to relieve my hubby who had been up at 2:30 so that he could finish his work and then take Sarah to dance for me. ( I am a very lucky lady that he would do that for me. :)  ) I never got home until after 9 at night. So I decided to skip with my Truth Tuesday, I will write next week about it.
Wednesday was a cold day here. With temps with the wind chill in the -50's I decided that after Sarah's elive she could also have a cold day. It was rather a lazy day around here other than my hubby had to take a small trip to town to help out our son and Sarah had to practise dance for 2 hours it was till pretty lazy dazy. When I went to bed last night I realised that I never posted so here is A trip back in time.

Sorry about the terrible graininess with this picture but my scanner is not working so I took a picture with my phone of a scrapbook photo.

This picture sure takes me back. Here we are with our week old son. We are very new parents and so young and naive. I must say though that I am glad that I was not that aware of things. I did not realise all the dangers that could exist. We were starting out life together the three of us. Rob and I so young married less than a year and here is our adorable son. I remember all the fear that I had but also all the false confidence that I had. When Matthew was one month old I suffered from severe post partim (sp?). I was put in the hospital for a couple of nights. Mostly because I very sleep deprived. Then when our son was two months old my hubby was hospitalised with undetermined fevers. We almost lost him at that time. He was so sick he lost almost 100 pounds in two weeks. He was packed in ice with fans to try and bring his temp down. Two months after that our adorable son had reactions to his needles and he was hospitalised. ( Makes you kind of wonder how we managed to have more children. hahahaha) He was such a sick little guy. Fevers, coughing, phlegm build up so bad. It is so terrible when your child is sick no matter what age but for new parents with all that we had gone through already I think I might have started to get a little crazy. LOL

Looking back life became easier some years and harder some years but through it all we survived with God's grace.

So today is thankful Thursday.

Today I am thankful for my hubby. My heart still skips a beat when he calls me or when he walks into a room. It most defiantly stops when he gives me that smile or when he looks at me like there is no one else around.

After almost 21 years of marriage and close to 22 years of being a couple we are still finding ways to be romantic and show the other one how much we care. For me it was sending him notes or making him supper that I know he will enjoy. For him it is buying me that chocolate bar or working so hard to support us.
He put on facebook the other day asking me for a date this Saturday. He asked me formally. I must say it was awesome. I loved being 'courted' like that.

This marriage of mine has not been without its downs but I can honestly say they most definitely pale in comparison to the fantastic times we have had.

He is always there to support me when things are rough and when things are great. He knows how to make me smile when I really am not in the mood to do so. He can make even the worst day seem even a little brighter.

I love this man so much and I am so thankful that this May we will be celebrating 21 years of marriage!!!

I am such a lucky lady. :)

I am linking up today with Brandy at The Marathon Mom.
Come and pop over and see what is happening with Brandy and her soon to be 8 adorable sons.

Homeschooling, Busy day and Another loss

Well today was not necessarily the best day we have had. Not even by a long shot.

What do you get when you have a hormonal mother and a hormonal daughter working together? Not love and roses that is for sure. LOL

It could have been a lot worse I suppose and we did manage to get some things done that have been postponed but really not the best time in this house.

However this afternoon when she was allowed to go outside and play with her friends I managed to accomplish quite a bit. Some things that I have been putting off and dreading.

I managed to finally find my dresser and desk again. Whoohooo!! I managed to clean up our bedroom and I will go to sleep tonight not only in a clean room but also on clean sheets. ( I love laundry day!!)

I managed to clean up my kitchen including wiping stove completely down and cleaning behind some appliances.

I managed to get all the laundry done! Most of its folded and put away just waiting on some of the stuff that is hung to dry.

I managed to tidy up the spare room that used to be the school/craft room until my son's living room furniture is being stored in there. ( We now do school at the kitchen table which actually works pretty good)

We both managed to blow off some steam and with our time apart we are enjoying each other more fully now. :)

I also made quiche for supper tonight. This is one of mine and Sarah's favs. The boys and Rob do not care for it at all so I only usually make it when its just us girls. (which now is more often than not just us two)
I love this supper because it is so easy and really not overly bad for you, other than the bacon and the whipping cream ( but that is only 1/2 cup so not terribly bad).

Now I sit and rest abit before I have a bit more to do as I am heading to my parents home for a funeral tomorrow. I lost another cousin. After I had lost so many in the past two years I was hoping that there would be a reprieve but no such luck. I am truly happy that this wonderful lady whom has suffered so much is now at rest and able to be with Jesus, her husband and her Mom. I am sad particularly for her sons as they truly mourn her loss.
I am lucky that my handsome hubby will be heading home on the early flight tomorrow so he will be here to take Sarah to her dance and I don't have to worry about that at all. I makes my heart happy knowing he was able to do that for us.

Well I guess I must get up and finish up, going to be an early morning tomorrow as I must do Sarah's bun hair plus get all the little stuff done for her dance tomorrow.

3 in 30

Ok ok I know I am really late for this month. I know that I more than likely will have to spill into next month, but I am ok with that. Truly I am. LOL
I am planning on using 2012 to make my home into a fine oiled machine. Make myself into an amazing wife and mom and last but not least strengthen my walk with Jesus.

So without further ado here is my January 3 in 30 list.

1. Finish up my to do sewing list I have. I still have a couple of blankets unfinished so I really want to get them done this month.

2. Clean up and declutter my desk. I like to go through all my files in January shred the old ones and refile last years away so that the new year files are clean and ready for the current year.

3. Try new recipes weekly. This will probably end up being an on going goal all year. Even if I don't always write in my 3 in 30. I have recently fallen in love with Pinterest and have found so many delicious looking recipes there. Many that are gluten free as well so going to try and make a whole bunch of new recipes for my family.  I have tried a couple and they need to be tweaked a bit for my fussy daughter (although my 18 year old son loved them).

There it is, my first 3 in 30 for 2012. I must say it feels a little bit surreal.

Happy Birthday to my Mom!!!

This is my Mommy. Yep I still sometimes refer to her as my Mommy. She turned 83 today. This picture was taken just this past Christmas.

What can I say about this lady? Well like any good Mother - daughter relationships we have definitely had our ups and downs, we have had disagreements (mostly when I was growing up and testing the waters), but for the most part things are pretty smooth.

She is a very talented lady. She quilts, she sews, she bakes, she cooks amazing meals, she helped my

Dad farm for many years, she bore six children, she lost many brothers and sisters as well as her parents, she had tuberculosis and was put in (at the time) a asylum because of it. ( To keep her quarantined)

She has suffered many losses, many pains but also she has had some pretty great joys in her life.

My parents were married 63 years this past December. They still live on their own. Mom still makes 99% of the meals. The other 1% Dad buys. Lol

My Mom has taught me so much. I learned how to parent through her, I learned how to sew, how to bake, ( I much prefer baking over cooking). I learned how to be a good wife ( at least I like to hope that I am). I learned how to love God.

I am blessed that God choose this wonderful lady to be my Mom!!

Happy Birthday Mom!! I love you!!!!

Thankful Thursday

We started back to homeschooling full time this week. I am finding such a lack of drive on my part to get back at it. I find myself easily frustrated and tend to let her slack off a it more.

Yesterday I decided that enough is enough and she schooled for a good chunk of the day yesterday. So today back to alarm setting earlier and getting back full force into the swing of things. It was bumpy. Very very bumpy. But something happened today that I knew right away I was going to blog about it. Very conveniently for me that today is Thankful Thursday. :)

We did our morning devotions and prayer and then she started school. Now most of her school work is done on the laptop, predesigned by her homeschool teachers. I teach religion and spelling as well as writing.
Anyway a little off topic but back on I go. She started off today with home ec. She had to make a smoothie and than write a lap report on it. For the lap report there was a section in which I graded her on her work. There was 5 questions for 10 points each. Ok here is the part where I got excited. Are you ready for it???

When I finished grading her she was adding up the total she got. That's not the exciting part, this is. She added it up all in her head. No fingers, no calculator, nothing but her cute little brain. Math is something she struggles with. She is in grade 8 and this is the first time she added something like that up. I am so happy!! It totally solidified why I am doing this again.

I am so thankful that this is working despite all my anxieties, all my grumpiness that happens occasionally, despite all my fears, it is really working. She is learning!!! Yay!!!

Praise be to God!!!!

I am linking up today with Brandy over at the The Marathon Mom. Pop on over and she what Brandy herself has wrote as well as some fabulous other ladies that have linked up today.

A trip back in time.

I was reading Jennilee's post on taking a 'trip' back in time. Essentially posting old photographs and sharing them with her readers as a means of scrapbooking for her.
I thought that this was a fantastic idea and I think I will try and remember to do this every Wednesday.

I have so many old photographs as most a good chunk of my married life so far was without digital cameras. I had three babies and took a fair amount of pics of them.

I must admit I had a very hard time trying to decide which one I would put up first.
This picture takes me back in time to when my sonny used to run across the room to throw his arms around me for a great big hug. To when I received kisses freely and snuggles daily. As much as I love the young man that he has grown in to, ( he is now 18), I very much miss the days of cuddles and love.

Loving the outside

In our family a bad day outside is still way better than a good day inside, and a fantastic day outside is well simply wonderful.

We all love to get outside and go. We camp, quad, hike, etc in the spring summer and fall and in the winter we love to ride our snowmobiles. This winter however we have had very little snow which makes it awfully hard to get out on our machines. So today we improvised. Although we have some snow we hardly have enough to deter us from taking our quads out and going for a ride.

Rob, Sarah and myself loaded up the quads, added a picnic lunch some warm clothes and away we went. We drove about a half hour away to a very good trail, unloaded, dressed up and took off for some quality time.

We rode for about an hour, touring different things on the way until we came to a staging area. We stopped, started a fire and had a picnic.

Sarah off playing while we get the fire going and the lunch laid out.

My handsome hubby starting the fire.

Hubby grabbed the camera and snapped me being crazy. Pretty usual around these parts. :)

Apparently we were disturbing a squirrel from his winter respite. I popped on my good lens and went over for a couple pics. He didn't seem to mind at all as long as I stayed far enough away.

My hubby and daughter enjoying some food. Nothing like a picnic in the middle of winter. The weather was so gorgeous here. +9 Celsius.

My turn for lunch.

Such a beautiful day.

Such a glorious time enjoying His creation.

I am so thoroughly blessed.

Happy Sunday everyone!!!

Welcome 2012

Happy new year!!!!

I hope everyone had a great holiday season.

Ours was filled with special time with just our family, time with our son's girlfriend, time with my side of the family, time with Rob's side and time with great friends.

Also Sarah and I managed some relaxing time as we didn't school for a few days before Christmas, all last week and now are just slowly getting back into it again.

As always I find this time of year such a time of reflection and such a time of planning. I don't usually do resolutions I usually find I don't always keep them and that leads to disappointment in myself.

As I looked back over 2011 I realized that it was a pretty emotional year. One of my sons very good friend's mom past away. In 6 weeks I lost 4 cousins and one long time family friend. My second son graduated and moved out to start his life. Good friends got married. Yep a few tears was shed this past year, some happy and some sad.
I started this blog and have cyber met some really wonderful ladies. I have grown so much and learned so much since I started to do this. I'm a better person than I was a year ago at this time. I have grown leaps and bounds as a Christian and I hope leaps and bounds as a wife and a mother.

For 2012 I'm looking forward to doing some exciting stuff. My daughter and I are going to Las Vegas for a dance festival for her. Hubby and I are hopefully going to purchase a home and we are hoping to maybe be able to start the adoption process.

I pray that each and everyone of you has an amazing 2012 full of love, laughter friendship and faith!!!