Twinkling Christmas Lights

TYPO NOW FIXED :) (11:23am EST 12/11/10)

First off, I wanted to let you guys know about my BIRTHDAY bundle. Yes, it's all birthday wordarts, but it's in celebration of my Birthday, too! I'll be 35 on Sunday (12/12)! Yeah me!

Click on the Bundle preview below to go to my store and pick it up 12 Birthday WordArt Packs for only $8.00. That's less than $0.70 a wordart pack! Sa-weet!


Hola! Hope today finds you happy and healthy, my friends! As you're reading this, I should be in Arizona at the Temple! We called and found out that the Albuquerque New Mexico temple is closed for cleaning, so we went to the Gila Valley, Arizona temple. Never been to that one! Captain America hasn't either :)

Anyway, we had SO much fun at the ball! I really really enjoyed my time :) I got up at 7am ish, and got the kids ready for school. And packed for the various houses that they were going to for the night. And yeah, I told Tom to pack, and he packed a pair of jammie pants and a tee shirt. Yeah, not quite what I had in mind. I had to re-pack for him...

Anyway, they got out the door and to the bus just fine. I cleaned up a bit around the house, and did some of the dishes. I'd baked yesterday, and there were pans and a little bit of a mess on a counter top that I cleaned up. Looked much better.

Jim was hanging in the living room, and Jake was doing school, and Captain America was sleeping in. He got up around 9am, we started talking about our plan for the day. It was a loose plan, and needed solidifying up a bit.

At around 10am, Kari texted to see if Josephine could come and hang for an hour while she ran to the grocery store. We still hadn't left, so I said it would be fine. She and Jake sat on the couch and watched a Christmas Movie, while Captain America and I helped Jimmy get ready for school. Did I mention that Captain America had the day off today! Woohoo!

Anyway, Jim got a hair cut, and a shower, and looked pretty good for school. Captain America and I walked him to the bus stop, and ended up chatting with Maggie for a while after the bus left.

We went back home, and started packing for our trip. We found maps to the temple, and called about what times it was open. We decided to drive most of the way there tonight, then stop at a hotel for the night, and then we could drive the last little bit to the temple in the morning and be there bright and early. That way, it's a temple trip AND a birthday trip - hehe :)I'm not sure what our plan will be tonight, I'm letting Captain America surprise me for my birthday :) Should be a good time.

It's now 1:31pm, and Captain America is just getting out of the shower, and we'll be ready in a few minutes. We're gonna go get some lunch, then head out! All the kids are taken care of, and have houses to be at for tonight. Friends are just wonderful, you know :)

I'll try and pop back on here tonight at the hotel and put on some trip pictures, but if not, enjoy this festive WordArt :)

I can't get this picture to rotate on Facebook - grrr. This is us before we left the house for lunch.

Us at Carlos and Mickeys

Big chips!

Isn't their Christmas Tree AWESOME!!!

Diet Dr Pepper. Mmmmm

Sombrero Salad - Mine was beef and Captain America got chicken :)
After eating, we came back home, continued packing, and were soon ready for the road. Jim went home with Maggie and little Jake after his bus, and soon Tom and Leo were home from the bus. They stopped by our house to pick up something, then walked over to Leo's house. (Kari's son). They're about 3 blocks away.

And Eme came home too, and we drove her over to Terra's house as we left town. Jake was gonna walk to Kari's house at 6pm, and spend the night. He's old enough to be on his own for a while, you know :) But not overnight. That would not be responsible - hehe. And we're very responsible :)

Anyway, we sent Tom and Leo off with some Banana bread, and dropped off Eme, and a loaf of banana bread too. And we stopped by Maggie's house and checked on Jimmy and dropped off Banana bread too. And we headed out. Listening to Christmas music the whole way :)

Here's the BEAUTIFUL sunset, right before Deming, New Mexico. The picture really doesn't do it justice! It was the most amazing shades of red and orange :)

We stopped in Deming for Gas and Dinner. And yeah, to show everyone JUST how classy we really are, here's our dinner, purchased at the Walmart deli, then ate in our car - ROFL!

OK, so it's fake crab. I think of it more as fish (which it is...)

Ha! These carrots were so big I thought they looked like tongues! hehe :)
And then we continued driving, for the last hour of the drive. I had a bunch of Christmas songs on my phone, and we went through them and decided which ones to put on our "best of" playlist. It was pretty fun :)

Lordsburg, New Mexico! Here's our Hotel. We paid a little extra to get a hotel room with a pool! Sa-weet! And a sauna and a hot tub and a weight room and free breakfast in the morning :) Awwww, heavenly! I pulled this photo from the website, as it's now DARK outside - hehe :)


Click on the link below to go to my account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work. Thanks!

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Hustle and Bustled

First off, here's my new stuff for the week! I hope you guys like it!!! Click HERE to go to my store. And remember, first week, it's 20% off!

Layout by Platinum Butterfly (Katherine)

Layout by Sharon

Good morning, all! Hope today is a FABULOUS day for you :) How was your Thursday?

I woke up at normal time, read scriptures, said prayers, got kids ready for school, then off to the bus, then hung with Jimmy for a while. I told him he couldn't turn on TV until his room was clean, so he complained for a while, and after about an hour, he decided to clean it - hehe.

And while I was supposed to be loading products into my store in the morning, I decided to bake zucchini bread instead. And didn't really have time to do it. But I did it anyway - hehe.

And soon it was ALMOST time for me to hike, so I got dressed, and left Jake with directions on how to get the bread out, and headed out with Kari. We drove to the Franklin Mountains, Tom Mayes area. SO awesome over there. It was sunny and beautiful today, PERFECT for a hike :)

Here's me right before leaving.

This particular hike was great! Wide enough for 2 people to walk side by side, and hard enough that it got the blood pumping, but not too bad. JUST right. Here's a few pics from the view on top of the mountain.




We headed back down, and noticed some park rangers, and a dude talking photos at the bottom. He came over to us and asked if he could use our pictures in the paper. He was doing a story about this particular park, and the hiking trails. So he took some pictures of us, and interviewed us about who we are, where we're from, why we like the park, and junk. And we're gonna be in the El Paso Times! hehe. I'm famous!!! LOL!

And then we headed back home. And yeah, I was running a bit behind. Jake and Captain America were home when I got there, and I had just enough time to grab an apple and head out the door. I had a counseling session on the West side. I took the Saturn, and headed out. I'd get lunch when I got back.

It was a good session, and I feel like I'm really learning a lot about myself. Thanks, Dr Slade! You rock!

I headed home, and talked to my mom on the bluetooth the whole way home. It was fun :)

Captain America got home a few minutes after me, and I had lunch, and started working on my work for the day. He went to take a nap, since he hadn't slept well last night, and we're gonna be out late at the ball tonight. Should be a grand time!

It's now 2:35pm, and I need to run and get Jim from the bus. I may or may not get back on here and blog about the ball. YOu may have to wait till tomorrow to read about it - hehe :)

OK, it's 11:53 pm, and I'm back. Briefly... Im SO tired, and need to go to bed. But I wanted to show you the pictures from the ball! It was SOOO much fun! I'll pop back on here tomorrow and give more fun details, but for now, here's the pics!

Me all pretty for the ball!

New eyeshadow color to compliment my dress

I like to be modest, and my underclothes kept hanging out, so I finally put on a white tank top to cover up the "skin" and such. I thought it was better :)






And we headed to Little Cesars to get the kids a pizza - hehe. We were the FANCIEST people at Little Cesaers, let me tell ya!

We dropped off the pizzas at home, and headed to the ball. Parked, and were almost to the door when Captain America realized that he'd left the tickets at home. So we went back to the car, drove home, grabbed the tickets, and back to the ball we went.

Here's Captain America and I when we found our seats. Actually, we switched tables (table crashed) with another couple so we could sit with the "fun" people. hehe. They were pretty rowdy!

Pretty centerpieces

German Chocolate Cake with a fudgey frosting, whipped cream, and raspberry glaze. OMGosh!

Here's what my meal was. Beef, with red potatoes (I don't eat potatoes...) and steamed veggies (yum!) and I had a dinner roll.
I scraffed down the dinner (we had a salad too) and then was the first person at my table to break out the dessert. hehe :)

There was a TON of alcohol, but no Diet soda. Hmpf! So I was stuck with WATER!

Tammy and I. She's pretty fun! Loud, but fun - hehe.

And then, after the ball was all over, we headed to Howdys for a soda. Mmmm, Howdys! We were SO fancy - hehe :)

And then, because we were out of a few of the basics, food wise, at home, we headed to Walmart. In our formal wear - hehe...

And let me tell you, wearing a Formal to Walmart gets you a TON of stares. Some good, some not so much - hehe. The greeter sure liked it!

Captain America was kinda embarassed, but I was loving it - hehe :) He noticed all of the weird looks, but I was enjoying all of the people smiling at me :) It's not every day you see someone in full Military Dress and a formal walking the isle of Walmarts, you know!

(Chocolate Chips and Gingherbread Marshmallows....only the basics, you know...)

Here's another FABULOUS layout by Sharon! I can't believe that I forgot to post this layout AND the preview last night! I must have been really tired :) hehe

Click on the link below to go to my account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work. Thanks!

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