A Ray of Sunshine...and Awards

(First off...Kimmie had a moment this week where she wasn't looking her most beautiful and of all days to have that happen, on the day when she would me a sweet Blogging friend. It was right after getting a haircut and I hadn't had time to "style my hair" so it was straight and not fixed the greatest. When I meet new people I get a "red face" and so I was looking AWFUL in the photos they took. I think I'm a pretty person until I am standing next to someone with nice olive complexion and dark long hair etc...So, YES, I'm totally aware that these aren't the most flattering photos of me, but these are the only photos I have).

When I started my Blog this year

I had no idea that I would make so many wonderful friends! Women who truly inspire me to want to be a better wife and mother and women who teach me so many wonderful things as well.

Friday...

I was able to meet someone who inspires me greatly and is such an enjoyable woman in the Blogging world. Cherie from Bakow Babble. She had come to visit her daughter Brittany and had called me and wanted to visit and get acquainted. It was like talking to a long lost friend!
I talked Tracy's ear off the rest of the night about how amazing, fun and easy to talk to Cherie and her daughter were! It was truly a highlight of my week!

She is SO NICE...she is the queen of niceness in the Blogging world and is the queen of niceness in real life...just as beautiful and sweet and kind on the inside as she is on the outside!

TALENTED is what her and her daughter are. They were making the most gorgeous wreaths out of Christmas balls they had bought at the dollar store and the finished product looked like something you would buy in the store for over $50.00 and they spend less than $10.00 on it.

One of the things I love about Cherie's Blog is the passion and love that she has for her family and it was SO much fun to see this in real life as well.
I just felt sad that Ethan had been dealing with a slight fever the night before as she had brought her son Trent with her and he would have LOVED to have someone to play with. Next time we will have to plan better and do something fun with the kiddos!
Cherie is an inspiration to me and I feel blessed to have been able to meet her and get to know her better. I just feel bad because we got talking and enjoying ourselves so much that I hope I didn't overstay my welcome. I all of a sudden realized it was after 5:00 and getting dark outside and we had been visiting for over 2 hours.
She gave me a late birthday gift of the most beautiful jar and I have filled it with my glass leaves for autumn and we are enjoying the Candy Cane Hershey's kisses she gave as well.
I am now officially part of the Big Lips Vampire Club thanks to her generosity in giving me my very own Wax Lips.
I just love you Cherie and Brittany!!

AWARDS!

Tauna from "The Garden of Egan" gave me an "Over the Top" award. She is SO funny and always gives me a good belly laugh when I visit her Blog. She and I also live in the same town and keep on running into each on Saturday nights at Winco.

With this award you are to list your answers to the questions shown below in one word. I did my best at that, but some of the answers are multi-words.
Hope that's okay.

1. Where is your cell phone? Don’t have one
2. Your hair? Short Highlighted Blonde
3. Your mother? Sweet
4. Your father? Generous
5. Your favorite food? Apples, Salmon, Sweet Potatoes
6. Your dream last night? None
7. Your favorite drink? Water
8. Your dream/goal? Running a Marathon
9. What room are you in? Den
10. Your hobby? Being Frugal
11. Your fear? Walking alone in the Dark
12. Where do you want to be in six years? Debt Free
13. Where were you last night? Cuddling with my 3 men on the Beanbag
14. Something you aren't? Organized
15. Muffins? Oat Bran
16. Wish list item? Shelves in my Craft Room
17. Where did you grow up? Utah
18. Last thing you did? Cleaned kitchen
19. What are you wearing? Jeans/t-shirt
20. TV? Off
21. Your pets? dog/chickens
22. Friends? Cherish
23. Your life? THE BEST
24. Your mood? Energized
25. Missing someone? No
26. Vehicle? Sentra
27. Something you're not wearing? Bra
28. Your favorite store? Barnes and Noble
29. Your favorite color? Hot Pink
30. When was the last time you laughed? 1 hour ago
31. When was the last time you cried? Last Sunday
32. Your best friend? Hubby Tracy
33. One place that you go to over and over? Nature
34. One person who emails me regularly? Britt
35. Favorite place to eat? Plum Loco

The next award was given to me by Sondra at "Happy Clean Living". Sondra is an amazing and inspiring woman and said SO many nice things about me! I love her honesty, cleaning tips, thrifty-ness and most of all the LOVE she has for her family!

With this award you are supposed to name 10 Honest things about me! Well, this is going to be a tough one because I just did a long detailed birthday list a few weeks ago and every time I post I tell some honest thing about myself, so hopefully, I can list more honest things about myself that most people don’t already know.

So here goes...

----I HATE getting my face wet! When I wash my hair in the shower I can’t put my face in the water and get it wet. I stand backwards and barely tilt my hair into the water and try not to let it run down my face. I would much rather backstroke when I’m swimming because of this. I’m a nerd about this and my hubby just doesn’t get or understand this quirkiness about me. Sometimes, I don’t either.

----When it’s cold out side I love turning up the heat in my car and putting my hand over the dashboard heaters in my car while I’m driving and getting really warm to the point of being hot. LOVE that!

----I am a very efficient person and so to avoid ever having to look for sunglasses, or stretch gloves, or gum I keep a pair of sunglasses in the house to wear out in the yard and all 4 of our cars has sunglasses in them. I keep chewing gum in every car so we can always have gum to chew and all 5 of my coats have stretch gloves in the pockets so I always have gloves to keep my hands warm.

----I have to have fresh air every day (and not just walking from the car into the store or the car into the house). I have to get out and go on a daily walk. Even if it’s Zero degrees outside, we bundle up (sometimes in multiple layers) and go out and embrace it. These daily walks of fresh air, sunshine and seeing the wonderful beauty where I live really feed my soul and are something I crave and need!
----Along with walks outside I get great joy in observing the clouds and the sky. I enjoy throughout the day seeing the cloud formations, the sun, the moon silhouette, the colors in the sky, light peaking through the clouds on a grey and cloudy day. It is something that I am always taking note of and I LOVE it!

----Anytime I close a Zip-loc bag I have to completely get all of the air out of it and if I see that someone’s put something in a Zip-loc bag that doesn’t have all of the air out of it, it drives me crazy until I can get it sealed correctly.

----I love to recycle, repurpose and reuse! I love putting an old item to use somewhere in my house, I enjoy recycling paper, cardboard and plastic containers. It’s become a quest of mine to see how far I can make something stretch as far as meals go. Frugality is in my blood and I don’t think it will ever go away!

----I LOVE learning new things and love reading! There are always books and magazines in my home that Tracy and I are always reading. If my home gets cluttered it is from books and magazines. In fact, my favorite place to go on our dates is to Barnes and Noble and read books/magazines together as well as enjoy great conversation together.

----If I’m going to cook I want to make one big mess so I only have to clean up once and so I will bake up bread, bake cookies and bake dinner all at once. My kitchen usually looks like a cyclone hit it by the time I’m done, but then I get it all cleaned up so it is nice and heavenly to enjoy family dinner when the kids and hubby get home!
----I really enjoy being creative and LOVE that I’m married to man who is creative as well. Our home is a creation of both of our personalities and talents. I enjoy decorating for the holidays and displaying photos showing the FUN things we have done in our lives. I also LOVE the creations my children make and can’t wait to finally have my wall finished in my house to display their creations in some nice black frames.

----I am a believer in PRAISE! It’s amazing the joy and excitement that comes from giving someone a word of praise or a genuine compliment. I love to see peoples faces light up. I try and make sure that every day I have given many compliments and praise.
----I LOVE MY FAMILY! My family is the most important thing in my life and if I were put on a desert island and didn’t have anyone else around me but my family I would be perfectly content. They are my everything and my greatest joy comes from seeing them succeed and being happy as well!

----Thank goodness for my positive hubby, because since we are both VERY positive and try our best to “look on the bright side of life”,

Our motto in life is…”It’s All Good”!

Summer, Fall, Winter Spring, vacations consisting of a cruise or a camping trip, wild flowers or flowers of any kind, greenery, bushes and trees of all kinds, sunshine, clouds, rain, snow, stars, the moon, High Caves, Mountains, low valleys, streams, rivers, water falls, the ocean. Historical sites, old buildings, new buildings, etc….Whatever it is I really try and enjoy it to the fullest!!
My Grandpa taught me a great lesson…
”Sometimes you aren’t able to change your situation, but you can always change the way you THINK about the situation.

The rules of these awards are to pass them along, but, I have decided long ago not to pass along awards because I really feel that everyone deserves them and it would be too hard to choose and so I gladly play along and will post them with honor.
So ladies...
"Thank you" for thinking of me!

Have a Happy Week!