Lately...

I officially wrote my last post in December 2012 and now its April 2013.  I have no reason at all other than life gets in the way sometimes.  Actually life gets in the way most of the time from doing things we enjoy.  We are having another one of those difficult years as it seems to go with the odd years for my family.  Its strange to hear myself talk so gloomy because I really am not a gloomy person.  Moody perhaps, but not gloomy.

Since Christmas we have attended 3 funerals and more than our share of visitations.  The hardest one being that for my almost 2 year old cousin who tragically drowned in their icy swimming pool at the end of January.  Soon after my husband's Aunt unexpectedly passed away and only 1 month after her spouse that had been suffering slowly over 2 years with Alzheimer's disease passed away. 

Praise Jesus that in the middle of all the tragedy he gives us tiny glimmers of hope.  We would all surely die of broken hearts if it weren't for those glimmers of joyous things like birthdays, weddings, and family gatherings. 

Besides all the tragedy we have had some fun happy moments that I will share in a bullet post because I'm lazy like that on Sunday.

1. Baked some awesome sweet bread.
2. Sent birthday flowers to a dear friend
3. Witnessed a gorgeous sunset.
4. Cheered on the Bachelor...ha!
5. Celebrated the nieces with the softball teams
6. Many cold walks at the park with our sweet dog, Trixie.
7. Remembered what would have been my sweet daddy's birthday.
8. Attended the Live version of the famous game show "The Price Is Right!"...super fun!
9. Bought a brand new truck. 
10. Laughed so hard watching "Duck Dynasty".
11. Giggled with the women in my family over the new boyfriend in our eldest nieces life. 
12. Reached my Change Angel goal for Arkansas Children's Hospital!
13. Made a birthday cake for our niece, Juliann, that turned 14!
14. Cheered for our friends daughter, Sydney, in the championship basketball game of the 5A division.  They lost but it was still fun seeing her play!
15. Easter happened.
16. Watched "Fireproof" with my sweet honey.  It really tugs the heart strings.
17. Dyed Easter eggs with the nieces.
18. Made funfetti cupcakes and maybe ate 2 or ...
19. Lots of March Madness basketball.  Go Louisville!
20. Spending a few nights each week watching the oldest niece play high school softball.
21. Watched that same niece attend her very first prom.  Talk about rip our hearts out.  She has grown up way too fast!

“I bless the Lord who gives me counsel; in the night also my heart instructs me, I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure.” Psalm 16:7-9

Christmas Cards by Shutterfly

This is a sponsored post. Shutterfly is giving me a credit toward my holiday card order to write this post.

This past weekend we took the mandatory Christmas photos and this was after searching the tons of cards on Christmas Cards trying to narrow down what clothes would be worn to match our favorite cards.  I forget sometimes how important the clothing aspect of your photo cards can be for us.  Everyone. Must. Match.  Right?!  Ha! 

We also learned last year in taking our pictures that we really enjoy the outdoor pictures the best.  The lighting is critical and sometimes the perfect red door in our little downtown is exactly what we needed for that special picture moment.  This year we went really outdoor as in to the deer woods in the middle of a pine forest because that is where we find our happiness the best. 

I tend to lean toward the whimsical and not completely traditional type, religious cards. I really tried to focus on the words Joy, Happy, Merry, and Bright.  I want people to feel our joy in our cards and to feel the love we have for one another.  The cards I picked I truly believe portray those feelings.  However, Shutterfly can fit any need you may have from religious, classical, traditional, whimsical, or even modern. You can find it all with them!

Let's get started on my favorites this year: 

Happy in Joy Card It looks exactly how it reads.  Full of joy!  I love the big red lettering and the full page picture on the card itself.  The full pictures on the front tend to be my favorites because most of the cards allow for another smaller picture or two on the back. 

Merry & Bright colors make me happy.  I love the add of pink to the traditional Christmas colors. 

 

Joy Card #2  Simple and beautiful.  I once again love the word "Joy" on this card.  I also love that the names are small because I think its sort of obnoxious to have your last name huge on a card.  That may just be me though. 

The next couple of cards are for those people that love to tell what happened to them the past year or about their families.  If I did that sort of thing I would pick out the following cards based on the cuteness factor of course, ahem.

Top Moments of 2012  Simple and to the point.  Who doesn't like a top 10 list?

Poinsettia Joy    I love this one with just pictures and not much listing of happenings.  Simple, happy, and to the point for each person pictured.  Great, modern design of the poinsettias with the red "Joy" and black background which all really makes me  love it.

Clothesline Card this is probably my very favorite.  Its full of whimsy and reminds me of how much I love old polaroid pictures from the past.  It brings my own childhood back to life and makes me want to hurry up and get our cards ordered! 

So tell me about your holiday cards. Do you send one out most years? Does it have a photo? How do you normally display the holiday cards you receive from others? 

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Long Live Summer

I have teamed up with Shutterfly.comagain to promote their Long Live Summer Photo Contest that is in full swing over on their Facebook page.  Be sure and visit their FB page between now and August 6th for amazing chances at instant win prizes, weekly prizes, and even a grand prize trip to the Bahamas (which includes a professional photo shoot just for the memories)!  All this for submitting your FUN summer pictures! 

All you need to do is upload your favorite photo and caption based on the theme of the week.  Get a gift from Shutterfly just for entering! You can enter at any point during the 5-week sweepstakes period.
PHOTO THEMES
•       Week 1(7/9): Americana
•       Week 2 (7/16): Great Outdoors
•       Week 3 (7/23): Water Fun
•       Week 4 (7/30): Sports & Activities
•       Week 5 (8/6): Parties & Celebrations
PRIZES
•       Instant win prizes just for submitting a photo!
•       Weekly prizes (contestants can enter one time/week)
•       Weekly featured photos: up to 5 weekly entries will be selected from the gallery and featured on the Facebook fan page and awarded a $500 gift card on Shutterfly and a copy of the new Lonely Planet travel photography book.
•       Grand prize: trip for 4 to Bahamas, 4 nights, family photo shoot

 For more information visit: Shutterfly's Official Rules

That's all you have to do!  So get busy capturing your summer fun and posting it to Shutterfly's Facebook page!

Here is a little fun summer picture of my sweet honey and I at our local Little Rock "Great War Memorial Balloon Race".  It was one of the best times ever this summer!

This post is completely sponsored by the amazing Shutterfly.com  Huge thanks to them for allowing me the opportunity to brag on their amazing products and services.

40th Anniversary

My parents would have celebrated their 40th Anniversary yesterday.  I know my mom celebrated in her heart.

Pretty sure she was overly excited and he was a nervous wreck with all those people.

I love this picture!  He looks so mischievous and happy about feeding her cake.  Haha!

I'm Alive!

Hard to believe it will be July come this Sunday and I haven't posted a blog since April.  I have so many things I want to write about and I will slowly.  My last post was April 26th if anyone is still out there in the world wide web that possibly still keeps up with me.  Right after I posted that delicious taco soup recipe we received devastating news that my Pa Roland had passed away.  May 1st to be exact and honestly I felt like what is left of my heart from losing my dad and my "aunt" Melinda had been ripped right out of my body onto the cold tile floor.  I'm not sure I even took a breath for a few minutes.

I still don't feel completely ready to even talk about it.  We buried my Pa a year to the day that my dad died and don't think I didn't think about that every single second as the pastor talked about the great legacy my Pa had left.  He truly was legendary.  Amazing man, father, farmer, and friend.  He was one of the greatest men (next to my daddy) that I learned a lot about life from in my short 32 years.  I didn't know my own grandfathers and had it not been for Pa I would not have had one at all.  I am so blessed to have had great male influences in my life.   My cousin Jera (Pa's 1st actual granddaughter) said it best "embrace this moment, just be in this moment right here and right now".  And when I did that I made it fine in the service (with a lot of tears) but I made it.  Thanks JB.

I'm not sure I will ever be the same after this past year.  Probably not.  I have a lot of grief to overcome.  We all do in my family right now and unfortunately we all grieve differently.  I'm not even sure we have talked very much about everything that's happened.  Some days I think about what's happened and all the loss to the point of not being able to breath again and wanting the Lord to just please come back.  Other days I remember the good things.  Praise Him the good always out weighs the bad. 

Sorry for the damper first post back, but life has been sort of blah lately.  I hope to blog more regularly and I think it will help me heal or at least patch up the cracks left by 3 wonderful people.

On one last high note here is some of the things we have been up to that are fun:

1.  Celebrated my sweet honey and his dad's birthdays complete with the Avengers tablecloth.

2.  Celebrated my mom on mothers day.  Gave her a collage of pictures from life with my dad and she cried.  It was awesome.

3.  Attended the Hawkins family reunion at the actual Hawkins Hollow. 

4.  Spent a couple of days in NW Arkansas after the reunion which was the most relaxing thing I've done in forever.

5.  Our nieces, my sister, and my mom were all there at the same time for Pitch for the Cure.  So we had dinner together, found the Duggar's home, and longed to watch a movie at the Drive-In theater there in Fayetteville.  So fun!

6.  Took the long road home from Fayetteville with a slight detour in Arkansas' wine country.  It is really beautiful if you've never seen that area (Altus).

7.  Celebrated two more family birthdays (I'm always belated on getting gifts to them).  Sorry!

8.  Celebrated my father in law on Fathers Day.  We got him a Kindle Fire and I seriously think we did a great thing.  I think he loves it.

9.  Swimming!

10.  Hot Air Balloon Festival.  By far one of the coolest things I've ever attended and I want to go again!  Fun Fun Fun!





Taco Soup Recipe

Ms. Faye wrote this out for me one day at a church fellowship supper.  I love to see her handwriting.  She is one of the greatest cooks from that little church and I am blessed to have obtained a few of her priceless recipes. 
(Sidenote:  Please dont mind the shadows and the alien fingers holding the paper. Ha.)

Here is the recipe typed out in case the picture is difficult to read:
INGREDIENTS
2 lbs ground beef
1 large onion, chopped
2 cans of stewed tomatoes (mashed)
1 can diced Rotel
1 can black-eyed peas (rinsed & drained)
1 can kidney beans (rinsed & drained)
1 can great northern beans (rinsed & drained)
1 can hominy, yellow or white (rinsed & drained)
1 pkg dry Ranch dressing mix
1 pkg taco seasoning

DIRECTIONS
Brown and drain the beef.
Saute the onion
Add all other ingredients to the pot with the beef and onion. 
Cook for several hours on low heat or cook all day in the crockpot on low.
Serve with cheese on top of soup and also with tortilla chips.

My Variations
I used ground chicken in place of beef because its what I had on hand.  It was so yummy.
I only had cans of the petite diced tomatoes instead of stewed.  It worked fine.  I mashed them a bit.
I couldn't find hominy so I used a can of regular sweet yellow corn.
All can sizes are normal...not big and not too small...just right in the middle.  Haha!

Please make this recipe.  It really is wonderful!  Add some more spice if you want like red pepper flakes or something if you need more heat.  Or add in some diced jalopenos...etc.  Its yummy!

Chicken Cook-Off


My sisters family is what I would call in tune with their inner "Laura Ingalls" and that's not a bad thing. 
Both of our nieces are excellent cooks, house keepers, advanced academic students, barnyard animal trainers, chicken hyponotizers, athletes, and now BBQ chicken cook-off winners! 
They amaze me. 
One day they are playing tournament softball, winning state track meets, and then right on to all things involving the domestics of life. 
Well-rounded is what we like to call it and I truly believe they will be amazing adults one day because of it.  Here are a few pictures from the cook-off last weekend! 

Rebekah and her 1st place BBQ Chicken



Juliann watching the presentation.  She won the cook-off last year!

Bek was pretty pleased with her winning.  She didn't even know she was going to be in the contest until the last minute.  I'm pretty sure she's glad little sister let her in on her spice secrets.

Bek with her new charcoal grill.  Can I just tell you people that the kids participating in this contest must know how to light their charcoal grills, prepare their chickens, and cook it.  Some adults can't do those things! 
Like me..*cough cough*

Sisters being silly after the cook-off.  I'm pretty sure they are both excited that they have both won this contest.  State competition is in the next few weeks and if she wins at state she will go on to Nationals.  Pretty cool for a 14 year old!