♥ A Bloggy Giveaway ♥

Having lived in my hometown for several years
we tend to know many families.

Being a member of the Fire Department family

your "family" grows!!

We have made lifelong friends and have entertwined friends/families ~

I have the pleasure of keeping in touch with

a very special young lady...
Tracy over at Then I Got to Thinking !!

Tracy is celebrating a milestone of followers and is sponsoring

an amazing giveaway...

A giveaway of several of her FAVORITE THINGS!!!!

Do yourself a favor, go visit Tracy's blog as it it full of

charming wit, positive quotes

and the life of a newlywed firefighter's wifey :-)

**FLASH MOB**

This was too fun not to share!!!

A local high school's administration staff put together a "flash mob' performance for the student body...

I cannot watch this video enough!!!

I tip my hat to the staff for just getting out there

and having a blast!!!

MORE Shutterfly Love...

I simply cannot give enough praise to Shutterfly!!!

Several times throughout the year they offer excellent discounts, one of which allowed me to purchase my wedding rehearsal invites at a great price!!

If you haven't done so, be sure to check out Shutterfly.com ~

Rehearsal Picture Brown Rehearsal Dinner Invitation

Create personalized greeting cards and invitations by Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

Chasing skunks... and hunting!

This is our chocolate lab... Belle

The retired fireguy has trained

all of our labs to hunt ~

This picture is of Belle after

she scared up a skunk!!!

The mud on her face is self-induced...

After the skunk sprayed her she dropped

to her knees and was rubbing her face in the mud ~

Apparently, she took the brunt of the spray in her face

and her MOUTH!!!

I found a homemade concoction on the internet

to bathe her in which worked amazingly!! It was a mixture

of hydrogen peroxide, baking soda and dish soap ~

Here is our Belle a day later back out doing what she does!

Luckily she figured out the difference between

a skunk and ducks!!!

Holiday catch-up

This post is a bit late...

therefore a little long but I

wanted to update you on our holidays!

The week of Thanksgiving we traveled to Washington state

to visit our Son & his Fiance'.

Dear Daughter, Son-In-Law and granddog also came!

The day we arrived it was beginning to snow!

This was our view our first morning ~

The snow continued... For two days!!!

As you can see the roads made going anywhere impossible!

We were housebound due to the snow ~

Fortunately, we had enough iPhones, iPad

and laptops to go around.

These helped pass the time (Hehehe)!!!

Thanksgiving morning dear daughter, son-in-law and I

went for a run... in the snow!

It was amazing - The air was so fresh and

I loved how the snow sounded under my feet as we ran! A nice shot of the icicles left by the melting snow...

Next up was Christmas - My Sister hosted a brunch at her home ~

She always decorates so nicely...

Dear husband, me, my Sister and brother-in-law
Dear husband, me, my Dad's friend, my Dad
and dear Daughter
(son-in-law had a mandatory call back at work
and had to miss the festivities)
Me, my Sister and dear Daughter
My gorgeous 92 year-old Grandmother and our granddog...
The two of them were practically inseparable!
The day after Christmas we spent time with
dear Daughter & Son-in-Law
Dear Daughter & Son-in-Law
Although we were not able to spend Christmas with
#1 Son and his Fiance'
they were in our thoughts and in our hearts...
I trust you all had a wonderful holiday season
and enjoying the new year!!

Mommytography 365

For those of you that are new to my blog and

those who have been following me here,

I wanted to let you know about "my other blog"!!

I maintain another blog; LOLLYGAGGIN'

This blog is where I participate in the

Mommytography 365 project.

I take & post a picture a day.

This is my second year of participation;

I completed my first last year!!

You can see my top picks from last year HERE.

Please, if you have the time check out my last year of pictures.

Last year I celebrated my 50th birthday

and I wanted to capture my year in pictures.

I had alot of fun and

will be making a table book out of my year of photos!

I have enjoyed this project as it gets me out taking pictures,

learning more about photography and my camera...

I hope you choose to follow me there too

and enjoy seeing the world through my lens!!

Favorite Things - December

A short but FANTASTIC list for December...

I received this amazing kitchen knife set as a gift for Christmas!

I am so excited to use these as I perfect

our many recipes ♥

I also received matching steak knives as a gift!!

These too are a welcome addition to our cutlery set...

Finally, my annual favorite!

CIOPINNO...

My Mom used to make this treat

once a year and I look forward each year

to carrying on her tradition!!!