In the spirit of giving....

I just won a giveaway on one of my most favorite blogs. Homebased Mom. If you haven't heard of it you should check it out. She has fabulous recipes, great party ideas and I love her party decorations. One of the things I love best about her site is that she does it all on a budget and it looks fantastic.

She also just started an online business where she will help plan your party. And there are different levels. Basic is her helping plan the menu and it goes on from there with a deluxe package being that you get her for the whole event, start to finish. And her prices are reasonable.

So check her out.

If you go right now you can see my name as a winner of some darling personalized recipe cards. I hope this is a day that my mom doesn't read my blog because I'm having them personalized for her. She will love them.

Yay Me!

Blame it on the trees

Outside of my local grocery store there are Christmas trees. I went to the store today to pick up a few things and when I approached the front of the store the trees cast their scent on me.

They did.

I swear.

It's like they said, "here, have some of this."

And you know what? In that moment when the smell of rich Noble Firs permeated my body....

It was CHRISTMAS.

It's here, it's here.

Yes, I know Thanksgiving is not over yet but it's not my fault. The trees did it, I am blaming them for my early decorating.

What are YOU thankful for?

I Am Glad

Thanksgiving is around the corner and I'm glad. I love the way families and friends gather together and share food and memories. I love the planning of the menu, making the assignments of who is bringing what and then devouring all the yumminess. This year we are going to Coos Bay to be with my mom. Although it will be sad to have our first holiday without Ben, my stepfather, who passed away recently. It will also be a great time to think about all that we have to be thankful for. My sister will be there and we also have some good friends coming to spend the holiday with us as well. I am in awe that they are willing to drive so far to share a meal. It says to me that we are important in their lives and it makes me feel good. I am grateful for good friends like that.

I am also grateful for my mom's stuffing and rolls but that is a different story entirely.

I will be running my 5K on Thanksgiving morning. I talked the whole fam into doing it. I don't think Makenzie is too pleased about it either but peer pressure is wonderful at times and since her good friend will be there I have a feeling she will show up at the starting line. I am not ready to run the whole thing. Yes, I'm a bit sad about that. Having someone close to you pass away and then acquiring a urinary tract infection the next week and the swine flu the week after that put a hold on my gym attendance. But I have been in full force at the gym since then and doing great. I'm so happy with my accomplishments. I am not going to be upset about having to walk some if i need to. I figure I am way farther along in my preparedness than if I hadn't trained at all. And that counts for something. I am so happy that I get to do this and share the experience with not only my hubbie and kids but my mom in law, brother in law and close friends as well. I can't wait!

I want to hear what you are all doing for Thanksgiving. Shout it out!

Judy & Giles

Giles with his "Coos Bay Youth" and their spouses and children
This was taken this summer at our reunion.

Marilyn (my mom), Sabrina, Judy, Eva, Leah, Naomi, Michelle, me

When my family and I were in Coos Bay for my stepfather's funeral we stayed with the Parkers. We were thinking that my mom would have a full house and so when Judy offered to let us stay with them we took them up on the offer. We stayed there for four nights and it was wonderful.

One night the girls were in bed, Chris was working on his computer in the bedroom and Judy was asleep. As I was getting ready for bed myself I heard music coming from the family room. It was Giles playing the Ukulele. I listened to him play and sing along for a little while and then quietly went to sit down in the chair opposite of him. In the dim lighted room he told me about the songs, their history and how he learned to play. I have always known that he played but I didn't know how much a part of his life it was. It was beautiful and and made me happy that he has found opportunities to play and continue with his talent. He told me the story of receiving his bass ukelele from co-workers when he retired as supertintendent. I sat there listening to him play and sing. It was great. He admitted later that he doesn't play for very many people. I felt extremely blessed and special to have had that moment with him. I count him and Judy as two of the most special people in my life and I know that the other LDS girls I graduated with will all tell you the same thing. Giles was our bishop and a bishop like no other bishop I can guarantee that. We are all still very close with him and Judy and count them as extended family and they count us as the same. Also while I was there I was able to read his account of the events leading up to their move to Coos Bay. Wow. I now know that Heavenly Father meant for him to be our bishop and for their family to be in Coos Bay during that time.

Naomi, Giles, Me and Makenzie

During that same trip I went up to our barn and got some of my things out of a storage bin to bring home. One of which was my personal progress book from Young Womens. I thought it would be fun to show my girls, especially Makenzie who just completed hers recently. As I was flipping through its pages I found some certificates of completion that had been signed by my YW leaders as well as my bishop. There was an area to leave comments and when I read the comments from my Bishop (Giles) I was dumbfounded at how well he knew me at the time. Way better than I knew myself. I remember feeling so frustrated at times with his advice to me and thinking he just "didn't know." Now, looking back at my life and the things going on in my life at the time I have no doubt that he was praying for each of us, his youth, his kids, his girls as he calls us. I am grateful that Heavenly Father sent Judy and Giles to us in Coos Bay. Fourteen young youth were baptized during the time he was bishop, most of which are still active in the church, amazing. A large part of who we are is because of the inspiration of a Bishop who knew how to reach and teach each of us.

So B. It

I just finished one of the best books I've ever read. I don't typically do book reviews on my blog but this is one that I have to share with everyone. I just finished reading

So B. It
by

Sarah Weeks

I picked it up at the library because it's on Emma's Battle Book list. The short summary on the back of the book sounded like something I'd like and the length of it looked like something I could actually finish. The main character is a girl named Heidi. That alone was intriguing since I have a daughter named Heidi. Heidi is one of those names that everyone has heard but you don't actually know too many of them. It's not used that often. She is even called Heidi Ho in the book by one of the other main characters. That is what I call Heidi as well so I loved that. The characters are warm, intriguing and deep. The story starts out in Reno Nevada where 12 year-old Heidi lives with her mentally disabled mother and her next door neighbor. Heidi eventually goes to take a bus ride across the U.S. by herself in search of who she is and where she came from. There are many questions in the book that unravel themselves as the story progresses. One of the main questions is, What is Truth? And it's very interesting to find out what Heidi discovers about the truth.

I could not put this book down. It was fantastic and I highly recommend it.

What's in Eugene?

On Friday night Makenzie and I packed up and headed to Eugene to do a Pampered Chef show at my sister's home. It was a fun evening. I got to catch up with old friends and meet some new ones. It's the kind of thing I love about my business. My sister had yummy food for everyone and we made a loaded baked potato chowder as well. Yum.

Before the show started we ate some pizza from the Coburg Pizza Company. It was so good. One of the best pizza's I've ever eaten. In fact, it's number 2 on my list. Number 1 goes to this pizza if you will remember. But since I don't live in AZ its kinda difficult to get number 1 pizza. So how glad am I that number 2 is only 2 hours away? Very Glad. This is my smile.


One of the best parts of the evening was that my mom came up from Coos Bay to be with us. She thought it was really good pizza too.

After a night of rolling over on top of my sister because I forgot I was sleeping with my sister and not my husband we got up for a fun morning. I said to my sister, "did I really roll over on top of you or just fling my leg over you?" She said it may have just been the leg, she wasn't sure. Now you know something about me that is weird. I don't know why but sometime during the night I start missing chris and so I fling my leg over him to show him I'm still there.

My mom, Krista and I got up, got ready and headed out to The Glenwood for breakfast

and then on to three antique stores. First up was Glory Days in Springfield.

I found a few treasures.

Then we went to a darling place called Cedar, Sage & Roses that was just around the corner from Glory Days. During our quick walk there I gasped when I turned the corner and I saw this:

I've been wanting one for about a year now. They are hard to find. I had to go in and sit on the seat. It was lovely. I wonder how good Santa will be to me this year.

Our last stop was to Bradley & Englert. This was my favorite stop of the day. I loved the new mixed with the old and the bistro and Patisserie inside was adorable as well as yummy. I saw some cookies that I just had to have a taste of. A lemon ricotta cookie. Are you kidding me? They were so good. There were so many parts to this store that you could spend hours admiring. And there was something for the young as well.

This was my find there:


I have a project I've been wanting to do and this was just what I've been looking for.

Thanks Krista and mom for a fun weekend. I love spending time with you.