A Lovely Vintage Find

Oh my goodness. So, I FINALLY got Harrison to agree to coming with me into the HUGE antique mall close to us in Springville, Utah. He has been fighting me on it for a while, but I finally convinced him. So, we were walking around and I was showing him all the different things that I want on my Christmas list. I was talking about how I would love to have a bunch of different pieces of antique china for entertaining (enough for lots of people to eat off of, but nothing would match... do you see my vision here people?... By the way, thanks for that fabulous idea Jane!).
Anyway, I was showing him what I liked and........ TA DA!!!!!! There was this set of antique CAVALIER china sitting on a shelf with a price tag of $24.99... NO WAY!!! This is too good to be true. I asked the owner of the antique store if it was true... sure enough... it was! Harrison was so good to give me his blessings and let me purchase them! YIPPEE!!!!

They are just dreamy, don't you think? And I love the gold detail on them! It is the best deal I have found on an antique since... well let's be honest... in my entire life. The owner of the antique shop didn't believe that the dealer was selling them for so cheap! They are made from egg shells (a little fun fact).



I know the pictures aren't great, but I couldn't wait for better light to take them. I wanted to share with the world what amazing china I found! WhooHoo! Thanks for letting me buy them hunny! You really do spoil me (all $24.99 worth)!

A Bit of a Change to the Blog Entries

Just an FYI for everybody... I have deleted some information out of some of my past blog entries... Personal information to be exact. I have taken out all last name from my blog. I would hate for any harm to come to any friends or family because of my blog... so, those are the changes.

THANKS!!!!

She's at it again!

I have been crafting again! I am so proud of these Halloween themed banners! I am done with the letter cards and now I am just waiting for my amazing garland to come to me in the mail from Speckled Egg (click here for the site).

I used an old book for the rosettes. Some of the scrapbook paper is from a new line by Jenny Bowlin (click here for her site). I thought about putting step by step directions on how to make these amazing banners, but I totally forgot. So, if you want to know how to do them, leave me a comment and I will be happy to email you some directions. It is so easy and pretty dang fun!

I also made a "SPOOKY" banner for my good friend Jane. She requested I make her one for her birthday (since her birthday is in October and Halloween is pretty much her favorite holiday).

An Unwanted House Guest

Harrison and I came home for lunch a couple of days ago and look what was meeting us at the door! Oh yes, that's right. A big BLACK WIDOW!



So, what did I do? I waited for Harrison to snap some pictures of the little wench and I got the bug spray and sprayed the life out of it. Or so we thought.

This picture is of the spider coming back to life after it tricked us into thinking it was dead. So gross. So, I just squished it with my shoe after that. So now it is gone. I hope to the heavens there are not anymore in or around the house! What a way to kick off the Halloween season!

The Goal Has Been Met!

So a couple of weeks ago Harrison and I went to my orthodontist to sign the last check I will ever have to write to them! YAHOO!!!! Through all of our hard work and dedication we met our goal of paying off all of our debt this summer! What a neat thing for us.

This is me explaining that this is our last payment!

Yippee Skippee! The last invoice letting us know that there is a $0 balance. I want to shout it from the rooftops that we are DONE!

Paying off our debt was no small feat. It was hard both emotionally and physically. I am proud that we reached our goal though. For anybody who wants to know where we got the courage and words of wisdom for this endeavor, click here to check out Dave Ramsey's website. It is great. It tells you all you need to know about getting to be debt free!

Happy Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday Aubrey!

Aubrey turned 15 and we all went to celebrate with her on Saturday the 13th of September. Jordan looks so happy for his little sister! HA

Joy, Gabby, and Eli look like they are having a good time, too!

Bryson, Jordan, and Robyn

This was funny... Harrison and I walked out of the house and realized that we were both wearing yellow shirts. HA! Well, neither of us wanted to change, so we just left the house as twins the rest of the day! HA HA HA. We jut told everybody we were on the same crew for some service project in the area. Hee hee hee.

Happy Birthday Gabby! You are 1 today!

This is Nick showing Gabby the very first picture that was taken of her on the day she was born exactly one year ago (well a year ago on September 14th). I think this is such a sweet picture.

Scary! Eli and Harrison were blanket ghosts for most of the morning. HA!

I was given the job of decorating cupcakes. WhooHoo. Eli definitely wanted to help. I didn't blame him. Cupcakes are fun. He was such a good helper!

It's Party Time!

... Happy Birthday dear Gabby, Happy Birthday to you!

So cute! She tried to blow it out!

Time to eat cake!

Here is what was left of the cupcake when she was done.

Eli was pretty excited to eat his cupcakes too!



Present time!

She was just so overwhelmed with emotion as you can see!

We tried to have a photo shoot of sorts with the little Birthday Girl at the end of the day... she wasn't too interested in it at all. She had had all the fun she needed for one day.

I thought I could tickle her into laughing or smiling for the camera... no use!

And finally... she got tired of our making a monkey out of her and she just crawled away!

What fun we had with family and friends for the two birthday parties. It is so nice to have family close so we can spend time with them!

Through The Years

20 years ago: I was 4 years old. I lived at home with my family and I was pretty excited about starting Kindergarten I am sure. I had two younger brothers and my mom was pregnant with my sister... my first sister!

10 years ago: I was 14. It was my Freshman year of high school and the beginning of my rebellious teenage years. I had terrible friends (with the exception of a few) and I had mid-length blond hair. I wore too much make up and I was in love with about 30 boys.

5 years ago: I was 19. I was not yet out of my rebellious stage. I still had terrible friends. I worked at a preschool in Henderson as a teacher. I still did not have my drivers license. I had medium length red hair.

3 years ago: I was 21. I had finally grown up and become a contributing member of society. I was married (for about 4 months) and I lived in Grand Junction, Colorado. I worked at a preschool as a preschool teacher and I was loving my new life as a married woman.

1 year ago: I was 23. I had just received a promotion at Nu Skin in Provo, UT. I had just finished one of the most stressful weeks of my entire life. I worked long hours and I was the Young Women's President in my ward in Orem, Utah.

1 month ago: I worked two jobs to reach our goal of paying off all of our debt. I worked about 65 hours a week. I was celebrating having weekends to spend with Harrison.

1 week ago: We were in Salt Lake for our niece's 1st birthday party.

1 day ago: I did the grocery shopping and watched Wild Strawberries (a wonderful foreign film) on the couch with Harrison.

Playing Catch Up

Oh my goodness. There is so much to catch up on. It has been a busy week. There have been two birthday parties, debt pay off, and a Thankful Thursday that I need to post about. I have had the flu the last couple of days (it was bad too) so I didn't get around to posting anything about our adventures. I have a feeling I will have time later today... so get ready for lots of pictures!

Yearbook Yourself!

So I found a VERY entertaining website called Yearbook Yourself (click here for the link). It brought me about an hour of enjoyment. So, the first photo below is the photo I used to begin with and then I just slipped it into the template they had and WHALAH! I have a yearbook photo for the last 40 years! AMAZING! So anyway, I have included my favorites. Enjoy and go ahead and do them yourself. I think I may go on and do Harrison's photos next! Well, ENJOY!!!!

Original

1952

1956

1964

1966

1968

1982

1990

1992

1994

A Very Very Thankful Thursday

I came into work late today and my co-worker asked me why the flag was draped on the side of the building. It took me a split second to register myself why the flag was out today and then it occurred to me. Today is September 11th. A flood of thoughts came to my mind as I thought about the significance of this day. So, in honor of my country, this special day, and those who have fought in the past and the present for my freedom, this Thankful Thursday is dedicated to them.

Our Troops

I am so thankful to the men and women who fight (and have fought) for our freedom. My dad was in the Air Force when I was little and I knew from a young age what patriotism was. I hold those who wear the uniform of our country in high regard. It isn't easy to do what they do. I admire the decisions they make to CHOOSE to serve our country and to leave their families (for long stretches of time) to stand up for what they believe in. I am so so so thankful for them.

Freedom of Religion

I try to thank my Heavenly Father every night for this freedom. I am thankful that I can go to the place that I choose to worship when I want to worship. My faith is such a huge part of my life. I don't know how I would feel or what I would do if I had that liberty taken away from me. I am what I am because of my faith. I am so thankful for the freedom to have that faith.

The American Flag

The American flag is more to me than just a symbol of where I live. It is a symbol of what our Forefathers intended it to stand for. For the blood that is shed for our freedom and for the country that I live in today. It breaks my heart when I see others disrespect my country's flag. I have much reverence for the flag.

I am thankful to live in a country where I can be who I want, go where I want, and live the way I want to live. I am thankful to others who share my love of country. I may complain about the things that go on around me and in our government, but I know that the basics of how we function is right and just and true.

My thoughts and prayers go out this day to those who were effected by the tragedy of September 11, 2001 (and I truly think that was just about all of us in the US). Do any of you remember where you were when you heard the news? I am sure you do. I was on my way to Early Morning Seminary my Senior year of high school. I got to the building and everybody was talking about it. I watched the second plane hit the building on TV. Later that year, we had a woman who was right down the street from the Twin Towers during the attack speak to our seminary class. I am still get really emotional when I see footage of that day.

I am proud to be an American and live in this country! What a great Thankful Thursday this has been.