A stroll down memory lane!

It was a stroll down memory lane
this weekend as I pulled off my snowman and winter village off my entry shelf and boxed them up until next winter (the towels that I wrap them in to protect them are some worn out apple dish towels that Tracy and I got 19 years ago for wedding gifts). Just seeing the towels brought back a flood of memories!

19 years ago "Bunny's" and cute "country decor" were really in style and Tracy and I had an apartment FULL of all kinds of these crafts!!
Lots of seafoam green, mauve and country blue!
Anyway, obviously these colors/decor is not really in style anymore and so that is why I LOVE my entry shelf, so I can display my cute holiday decorations, without having to have my whole house decorated this way. I Love it!!
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I am married to a very talented and artistic husband and he has made me many treasures over the years for Christmas, birthday, Mother's day, etc....and many of them I display on my shelf. Here is one of my favorites....

Tracy was "doodling" during our first General Conference together and he made a grid work and painted these hearts all different water colors and I just LOVED it! He wasn't too fond of it and so he just put it away, but I kept begging to be able to put it somewhere in our apartment becuase I liked it so much. But, little did I know that in his spare time he took some old scrap wood he found and made a frame for it, took matte board and made a matte for it and then took little tiny pieces of wood to frame each heart and he wrote in his fun handwriting....Hearts...Hearts....I love you!! around the edge of it. I received this as 1 of my presents on our First Christmas together.
One of the main reasons I love this so much is Tracy made this with minimal tools and materials. When we first got married he only had a handsaw, hand plane, hammer, sand paper, etc...(no power tools at all).
Tracy does not particularly enjoy this creation of his and he has threatened to throw it away on many occasions when I am not around.(wink)
Needless to say,almost 19 years later Tracy has a fully stocked garage with almost every tool imaginable and he also built our house with those tools and own two hands.
I'm a very lucky girl!
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Here is what it looks like!
Anyway, it was fun to put away winter and put out SPRING on my shelf!!
I love it so much and everything on my shelf is some kind of "memory"
from Tracy's and my wonderful 19 years together!!
May we all
"Scatter Seeds of Kindness"
this month!As Tracy always says:
"Life is Good!!

(here are some "memory lane" photos showing our Newlywed apartment days with our "cluttered" crafty apartment and showing our "closet work bench" area and Tracy's tools. )
1993
Tracy built me this desk...this is before we stained it!
1993
Here is the desk after it was all stained
(notice the lampshade...
Tracy made this by folding and scoring paper and he painted it a nice hunter green and even "flecked" on gold leaf paint).
1992
TOO many crafts!!
I can't believe this looked good to us!!
April 1994
My hubby the builder...
he built this barn over "spring break" with his good friend Jason while he was attending ISU and I was 8 months pregnant with Jade.
They built it from the ground up in 5 days!! Amazing!
April 1994
Inside of the barn they built...
this is the north side with stalls for horses...
Tracy is balancing on the log!
1994
Since we lived in an apartment
Tracy ran an extension cord out our apartment window
and hooked up his table saw to cut boards.
1994
Tracy assembling the boards together into what would now
be our Storage closet "Work Bench".
1994
This is how our work bench
and Tracy's "wall of tools"
looked like when he was done!
****************2004
We were SO thrilled to have a house
and Tracy was thrilled to have his "tools" organized
in a nice garage.

Tracy has a pile on his work bench
of "light weight backpacking stoves"
he makes for our yearly hikes.
Tracy very much enjoys puttering in his garage...
he is working on my entry shelf.
More Puttering....
Tracy is easing the sharp corners with his router on the blocks for my entry shelf!

"Cherish Every Moment"

My Thankful Heart!

In my Relief Society we were given a "Gratitude Journal" and were told to write in it daily or weekly to express our thanks for things that we are grateful for that day/week.....
I have decided that my Blog would be a great place to do this and so
I am going to title my gratitude posts:
"My Thankful Heart"!!

Who is this handsome man in the photo....
my hardworking hubby, Tracy of course!!

I am SO grateful to him for being by my side during my good days and bad days and for making me the luckiest girl in the world.
My favorite part of the day is when my hubby comes home each night
and I get to give him a big hug and kiss!
My second favorite part of the day is the LAUGHTER that he fills our home with....there is never an hour of the day when we are together that we aren't laughing out loud and I LOVE that!!

And after dinner we try to go on nightly walks around our neighborhood and these are just cherished times for us as we get to talk about our day, life, etc....without noise and interruptions from the kids. Plus, we get to enjoy looking at a beautiful sunset, moonlit sky and constellations and be able to enjoy the beautiful area that we live in.

I am thankful for my wonderful sons Jade & Ethan!!
Next to my hubby they are my pride and joy and I just cherish every moment that I get to be with them.

I am also thankful for kids who are NOT picky eaters and will eat whatever is fixed for dinner, lunch or breakfast.
In fact, I feel so lucky as a mom because not a day goes by that my kids don't come home from school and tell me:
"Thanks for the yummy lunch today mom"...
"I sure did like that yummy cookie in my lunch today mom"..., etc...
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Being a mom to my 2 boys is such a blessing!!

I am grateful that I get to look out my kitchen and dining room windows and get to see gorgeous sunrises and sunsets....
because in these gray winter months where the sky and ground are a blanket of white and gray and we don't get to see the blue sky very often,
I am grateful for the rays of light that shine at the horizon scattering gorgeous colors of pinks, blues and oranges to brighten our day for a brief moment!

I am SO grateful for PROGRESS!!

Our basement has been in a state of disarray for years because with Tracy working full time and going back to school there hasn't been much time to do anything
and Tracy's motto has been to have FUN everyday...because you can't take any of your stuff with you...all you can take with you is memories!!

Well, anyway, Tracy and I finally decided that we needed to get our basement in order because that is the key to the rest of our house being in order
and so as you can tell from the above photos we are building in our Storage Room...
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we took a room with piles all over and put up some shelves
and got more order to the room.
Now mind you there is ALOT more we have to do, but I am SO grateful for the progress we HAVE made
and I can't wait to update my Blog as soon as it is finally finished and moved into!!
Progress is a good thing!

I am SO grateful for my wonderful hubby who 6 years ago built me the most beautiful entry shelf.

I wanted 1 place in my house that could have
"holiday cheer"
(so we didn't have to have holiday stuff all over the house)
and so Tracy built me the above shelf,
complete with a switch/outlet to plug my lights into on the top shelf.

It is SO much fun to decorate it for each season/holiday.
Here are photos of the past 4 holidays I put on it. I just LOVE having a place in home to express my creativity!

Notice the BLOCKS.....Tracy cut these out for me and then we took a weekend and painted, sanded, stenciled on the letters (which was actually ALOT of work)
and now I can create FUN SAYINGS on my shelf each month...
Because I LOVE quotes and sayings!!
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I just can't say it enough how much I am the luckiest girl in the world.
I am thankful for Peace and Serenity!

My living room and my bedroom are 2 places in my house that are ALWAYS in order.

Despite what the rest of the house looks like I can always
go to my bedroom or the living room and sit
and it is tidy, orderly and a place where I can sit and meditate
and read a book or collect my thoughts.

In fact, the first thing that always gets done in my home is our bed gets made and the room tidied up in my room and then I tend to the rest of the house.
That way when Tracy comes home each night, even though the rest of the house might have chaos,
he can find peace and order in our bedroom.

Speaking of this, here is a quote that I have hanging on my Fridge from a book written by Spencer W. Kimball. It was advice given to a new couple getting married entitled "John and Mary". Tracy and I read this on our way to get married in the Logan Temple almost 19 years ago
(of course, I have put mine and Tracy's name on the quote).

"And so Mary,
you will remain at home making it attractive and heavenly...
And when John comes home tired;
You will be fresh and pleasant,
the house will be orderly,
the dinner will be tempting
and life will have REAL meaning!!

First Winter for some new hens

Our old hens have had a drop in egg production so we just recently acquired 6 new layers just in time before the big snowfall we just received the past few days. They are doing well and once again we have more eggs than we can handle! Jade was a gem and shoveled a path to their coop today and has been good at keeping their water fresh, keeping them in feed and collecting the eggs.
He's sure a hard worker!