Happy Birthday Shawnie!

Happy Birthday to my Shawnie!  Love you!  

I made Shawnie a special birthday breakfast....turkey sausage, potatoes, scrambled eggs, onions, and Chalula breakfast burritos!  And they were quite yummy!

This year Shawnie got combined birthday/Christmas gifts (I usually do too; that's the bad thing about having a December birthday!)

I got Shawnie a Garmin GPS Golf Watch (now if the weather would cooperate so he could play golf!), the Jackery Bar charger (which I absolutely love ;)), a new wallet, and a No-Shave November t-shirt. 

We went out to dinner at Red Lobster and our friends the Robinson's joined us!  The weather that night was cold and very rainy so we just had dinner and then came home and relaxed the rest of the evening!

Hope you had a great birthday and enjoy all your gifts!  Love you more than you know!

Who wants to be my Valentine?

Another Pinterest project complete!!  I saw these dipped Oreo cookies and pretzels on Pinterest and knew I wanted to try them for Valetine's Day!  I always make dipped pretzels at Christmas time and have occasionally made them at Halloween.  They were so simple to make, however the little pretzels were time consuming.  Next time I think I'll stick with using the bigger pretzel rods.

 

The original pin's I used for the dipped Oreo's came from here, and the dipped pretzels from here. 

 

And now that I just went back to look at the blog for the dipped pretzels, I see that she actually used the larger size pretzels :/  Yeah, that would of been alot faster!  Oh well, you live and you learn!

 

Happy Valentine's day to ME :)

Happy Valentine's Day to me :)  I'm not normally a necklace person, but I think these Origami Owl necklaces are so stinking cute, that I decided to get one and give it a try.  A friend from church told me about them early last year and I looked at a book and thought they were cute.  That's as far as I got.  Then at the beginning of this year, another friend mentioned she wanted an Origami Owl necklace.  I was curious as to what that was so I looked it up and realized it was one of those necklaces.  I tinkered with the idea of getting one, but still wasn't sure about it.  By the time you get the necklace, the plate, the locket and all the charms, it can be pretty pricey and since I'm really not a necklace person, I still wasn't sold on it.  It wasn't but a couple weeks later that my friend Ivana Lane from Bana's Photography put on Facebook that she was going to start selling Origami Owl.  It was then that I know I was sold and was going to finally order one!  I told Shawn that's what I wanted to Valentine's Day.  I also told him it was a bit pricey to get it; but I knew I had it in the bag cause he is FOREVER telling me I need a pretty necklace on.  LOL!  I toiled over what I wanted for a week or two and finally made the plunge.  I couldn't wait to get it in!  It arrived yesterday and I am absolutely in love with it!  I can't wait to wear it to work tomorrow and show it off to all the girls!  You can get your very own by visiting Ivana's Origami Owl.  I know you will enjoy it! 

 

It comes with really fun packaging too!  I couldn't get a very good picture of myself wearing it so I'll have to have someone take a picture of me.  The chain is a short, chunky chain, but I love that you can take the locket off that chain and put it on other chains that you already own.  The charms I choose were a camera (of course), flip flops (cause I'm a summer girl), love my dog (for Hershey and Reese), love my cat (for Molly and Clifford), the initial G (for our last name Glenn and Gavin), a diamond ring (cause diamonds are a girls best friend), and an in memory of (for my daddy).  I also choose a plate that says blessed (because I am blessed!).  They also have little charms you can buy to hang off the lockets.  I wanted the "faith" charm, but told my friend that I had better hold off on getting it cause I had already racked up the bill.  When I opened my package up last night, she bought me the faith charm.  I am blessed to have such a great friend!  Thank you Ivana for your thoughtfulness and friendship! 

 

Smitten

Last Saturday, I went over to Bowen and Heather's for a pie party. Bowen's Aunt Terry was in from Texas and they made 7 different kinds of pies and they were all yummy. I've been getting Gavin on Saturdays so I had him with me. Zoe was so excited and when I pulled up, she came running out to the car and said "Thanks for bringing him to see me!". She just loves Gavi - that's her name for him and no one else is allowed to call him that. She also calls him Gavster. She loves holding him and playing with him and helping me change him and make his bottles. When we first got there, I had Gavin in his boppy on the couch and Zoe was talking to him and pretending to tickle him and giving him lovings. He was so excited to see her that he let out a few little giggles. Well that in turn caused us both to giggle.

You can see in these pictures that they are smitten with each other :)

(Yeah, his bib says Pooper! LOL!!)

20 Ways to Make a Good Marriage Great

So I was playing around on the computer this morning looking for info on altering a Rolodex and came across a blog with this article on it. I thought it was so true. Shawn and I already do a lot of these things, but some we don't and some we (er, mainly I) need to work on. The original article came from a LDS website.

Twenty Ways to Make a Good Marriage Great

1. Night and Morning Prayer … to say thanks, to ask for help in your marriage and family, to worship together.

2. A Weekly Planning Meeting … to discuss the calendar, talk over needs and problems, decide priorities and next steps. (Write decisions in a journal, including goals and discussion topics, and reasons for each.)

3. A Daily Phone Call or Personal Conversation … to say “I love you,” to touch base, to discuss the day, to show you care.

4. A Weekly Date … to a favorite park, a concert, the library, the gym; or staying home for a candlelight dinner, a game, or a mutual hobby.

5. Patience Regardless … of missed meals, tardiness, forgotten favors, a thoughtless remark, impatience.

6. Daily Service … helping with house or yard work, mending a piece of clothing, taking a turn with the sick baby, fixing a favorite meal. (Write it down. Do it!)

7. A Budget … to tie down income and expenses, help set financial goals, and give you control over your finances.

8. Listening … not only to what is said, but also to what is meant.

9. Regular Attendance … at church—and where possible—the temple.

10. Daily Scripture Reading … to learn the gospel, to receive inspiration for yourself and your marriage, to become more like Jesus.

11. Working Together … caring for a garden, painting a bedroom, washing the car, scrubbing floors, building a piece of furniture, writing a poem together, team teaching a class.

12. Forgiving Each Other … always learning from each other, trying a different way, being the first to make peace.

13. Courtesies … like saying please and thank you, not interrupting or belittling, not doing all the talking, continuing the niceties of courtship

14. Soft and Kind Words … of tenderness, compassion, empathy.

15. Learning Together by … reading to each other, discussing ideas, taking a class.

16. Respecting … opinions, ideas, privacy.

17. Supporting Your Spouse’s … Church callings and righteous goals.

18. Caring for Your Spouse’s Family by … enjoying their company, praying for them, serving them, overlooking differences.

19. Occasional Gifts … such as a note, a needed item—but mostly gifts of time and self.

20. Loving with All Your Heart. “Thou shalt love thy wife [thy husband] with all thy heart, and shalt cleave unto her [him] and none else.” (D&C 42:22.)

“Twenty Ways to Make a Good Marriage Great,” Ensign, Dec 1983, 64