Goodbye 2011.... Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow!

As 2011 comes to its close I can only look back and feel blessed with all the many wonderful things that have changed for me. My family has been truly blessed over the last year.  Many of you already know that 2010 was one of the hardest years of my life. Things changed drastically in my life and I had to find courage to fight through it all. I know that I made the right decisions for me and that by making the choices that seemed impossible at the time that I was blessed immensely by my father in Heaven. I became a stronger person though the trials that I faced. Last December while I was in search of some “dang Christmas cheer” (My family remembers that line fondly I’m sure) I received the best gift that has ever been given to me. I received a 2^nd chance with my Robert. We had worked together many years ago and were able to spend a little time together but we both went our separate ways. In the years that followed we saw and did many things… we lost things that we worked hard for, we were lonely, we were happy at times but we were always searching for the missing part of our life. When we met up again Robert had to deal with my issues…I had been damaged and I vowed never to marry again. Robert of course had other plans. He stood by me and changed my mind by changing my heart. I found my very best friend in 2011 and I will always be grateful for that. He is my partner in every way. He makes me smile every day. He protects me in his arms. He’s a true gentleman. At times I feel as if I don’t deserve the giddy happiness that each day with him brings me but I am not giving it up! So as this year ends I am a little sad to leave all the wonderful memories behind but at the same time I am excited to see where 2012 will take us and our families. I wish you all a happy New Year. May you open up your heart, make the hard decisions, laugh until you snort, cry is someone’s arms, and thank our Heavenly Father for all the trials and blessing he gives us! Ready or not 2012 here we come!

(Hopefully Robert will still love me after posting this picture... I love him so much this is just an example of the smiles he gives me!!!)

Random Thought #3

Just one quick thought to leave you with. As a business I never think it is appropriate to use comic sans as a font for a document. That is just my opinion....now if you are in the comic business go a head but anywhere else it is not very professional!

Merry Christmas

I don't think I will be posting for a little bit with all the crazy holiday stuff coming up. Thought I would wish you  a Merry Christmas and leave you with a song courtesy of Laney's Jr. High Orchestra!

Graham Cracker Creations

The Beatty Family has a fun tradition of building graham cracker houses....and I use the word houses lightly they have become a competition for the coolest idea and structure. We usually build these on Christmas Eve so we have plenty of time to get them done....however with everyone going different directions this year we held it last night but even with the time crunch this year did not disappoint. (Oh and by the way we consider the Henrie's part of the Beatty Clan so this is their second year with the party!)

This was the Henrie's AWESOME Wizard of Oz scene. Stephanie brought her A game this year because she felt that she was robbed last year with my Uncle Jac's scoring system!

This is Mirissa & Jon's barn...once upon a time it had a really awesome silo but the twister that took Dorthy to Oz took it too!

Ok I'm not going to lie I am kind of jealous of Laney's great idea. This is the house from UP complete with Kevin, sails, and balloons  plus it is on stilts to make it look like it's floating!

Jake and Court gave us classic Christmas with a Christmas tree and stocking!

Brett made a dinosaur this year... We all thought he looked like Rex from Toy Story!

Stacy made the cutest tree house. You can also see the huge mess that we have behind her tree house too!

Last but not least Robert and I made a pirate ship. Well Robert really built it. I made the characters and contemplated stealing Stephanie's babies.....they are so dang cute!!!!

Hope you all have fun family traditions that make your Christmas special!

Christmas Card Pictures

I can't even tell you how nice it is to have Courtney as a sister in law. We went out on a Sunday afternoon for like 15minutes and got some fun pictures for this years Christmas card. I finally sent all the card out...I usually have them out the 1st week of December but I have been a total slacker this year. Anyway here are some of the pictures we got from our quick shoot.

Girl Friend Gift Idea/Tutorial

So this year I decided to make sugar scrub for my girl friends and put a little hand care basket together. Here is how it all turned out.

This is what you'll need:

*Mixing bowl and rubber scraper (or a spoon or even fork would work)

*Measuring Cups (1cup and 1/3 cup)

*Granulated Sugar

*Olive Oil

*Vitamin E oil (you can get in in a bottle like mine at Hobby Lobby but you can also just cut open some vitamin E capsules as well!)

*Essential Oils ( I used peppermint, Grapefruit, Honey Almond, and Lavender)

*Food Coloring

*Jars or bottles with a tightly sealed lid. (I used the stash I of jars I had left over from the wedding.)

1. Pour 1 cup sugar into bowl.

2. Then 1/3 cup olive oil (you may need to add more to get the consistency you desire.)

3. Then add a good squirt of vitamin E. If I was to measure I would say about 1/2 to 1 tsp....but really it's up to you. (this step can even be skipped but I like the idea of vitamin E in it!)

4. Next add a few drops of essential oil. Add it until you like the smell.

5. Then add a couple of drops of food coloring.

6. Mix well~ Especially to get the color mixed in.

When mixed scoop into jars.

So lovely!

How to put the package together!

1. Gather some hand care items. I had soap, sanitizer, gloves, and nail files. You could also have lotion, nail polish, cuticle cream...or whatever! I also found these cute boxes at Target to put it all in. Baskets work too!

2. Wrapping a Labeling. I printed off some cute Christmas Labels and just wrote the type of scrub I made on them . You could get really fancy and print the names on them. You will also need Mod Podge, a paint brush or sponge brush, little ornaments, a hole punch and ribbon/string/twine.

Here is one of the labels I printed out. I just wrote the name on it and cut it our to fit the lid of the jar.

Apply a little Mod Podge.

Place label on the lid and add more Mod Podge to the lid.

Voila you are done with that!

Place all the items in the box or basket with the tallest item in the middle (this gives you a place to tie it all up easily!)

Cut some cellophane and bunch around tallest item and add ribbon or twine.

I finished it off with a little ornament and a tag that said "I hope your heart and hands are warm this holiday season." I like alliteration..... I'm a dork!

Great gift and very easy and affordable!