Dogs are so perceptive.
They know how your doing at any given second. This sweet girl knows she is loved. She stays close and even wants to be on my lap as I sit at my desk working. It can’t be comfortable, but there isn’t a rug, or chair close by so she can be near me. She cries at my feet till I pick her up and put her on my lap.
What a blessing animals are to our lives.
I love this sweet Tayzie Mae!
Planning a wedding is so much fun!
It can be very stressful if you try to do too much and not let other people help. It is something little girls think about a million times while they are growing up. It is an event that moms look forward to sharing with their daughters from the time they are born. We build it up and have so many expectations about how it is going to be. It can be very beautiful and very reasonably done. It’s best to be realistic though, and know that things don’t always go perfect and that’s ok.
With that I will say I am very frugal. I have taught my children to be careful with their money, and I know they will be careful with their parents money, too.
I will never spend an insane amount of money on an event that will last a day.
The most important part of the wedding day is the Wedding, the actual vows. Making promises and professing your love to all, especially God. When you look into your sweetheart’s eyes and your know you want to be with them forever. That is the most important part of the day. You don’t need to spend a lot of money to have that.
Within a day or so of the announcement of the upcoming wedding, I usually find a book that I can use for the planning. The book I used for Emily and Anthony’s wedding was just an address book that I knew I would never use for it’s intended purpose. I separate it into sections.
I find it is easier for me to simplify the categories. Most of the planning can fit into one of the following categories:
1-Important-Things in this section are, you guessed it, important. *Research of and final choice for the wedding venue. *The address and phone # of the county you will be married in, with the information about when to purchase the wedding license. *Contact information about the officiator at the wedding.
2-Budget-Of course it’s very important to have a budget. You can spend a lot of money on a wedding, enough to save a small country. Or you can be very careful with most of the wedding and spend a little more on special things. Pick the part of the wedding or things at the wedding that matter the most to you. It could be the location, the dress, or something like the flowers. We bought Emily’s dress at a vintage clothing store and I made modifications to it to make it what she wanted. We used canning jars that were decorated for the centerpieces. They are very popular and cheap or free.
3-Guests-Start listing and gathering all the addresses of those who will be invited to the wedding, the wedding luncheon, and the reception. The same people may be invited to all of the events, but maybe not. I usually invite family and close friends to the wedding, and the luncheon. Then I invite more casual friends, neighbors, co-workers, and acquaintances to the reception.
4-Reception-I put everything about the reception in this category. Location: All of the possibilities for the location, their phone numbers, prices and details about what they offer. I went on google and checked addresses to see if the address for the wedding and the address for the reception are close enough to make it convenient for those attending. You need to know that we are LDS, and our daughter got married in the LDS Temple. They don’t hold receptions there, so the reception location was different. Decorations: Table decorations, back drop where the bride and groom will stand to greet guests, sign in table, pictures and decor placed here and there to add to the total feel of the reception, ceiling decorations (we used paper lanterns), etc. Food: What will be served, what type of food and how you will serve it. How you will present it? Will you have servers, or helpers to clear the tables. Some weddings serve a full meal. We didn’t do that, we served refreshments. More about the reception in a future blog post.
5-Misc-The wedding luncheon (or brunch or whatever you decide) can go in this category. I put information about the colors for the wedding. Swatches of the fabric we used, etc.
Another helpful part of the planning is to get a Pinterest account. It is a fantastic resource for planning fun “do it yourself” decorations. You can purchase a couple of magazines, to look through for ideas. A Google search of this place or that place, or different types of decorations, etc.
These are some things that have helped me. I planned two weddings last year. One was our son, and the second was our daughter. Both weddings turned out great and they were both different. It was very fun, and stressful, but I loved doing all of this for my kids and their sweet spouses.
-Just an FYI, I planned Emily’s wedding in 3 months. It can be done! I promise!
Where do I start?
I have been a slacker…..Only in my blogging!
Life is so wonderful, and hard, and awesome! Our family had a wonderful blessing on Saturday, January 30, 2016. Our daughter Emily, my Bonus Baby was married for time and all eternity to her sweetheart in the Jordan River Temple.
It was wonderful!
It was a blizzard.
It’s was very overwhelming and fun!
I have had my two son’s get married, but this is my first wedding for a daughter. Let me just say there is a big difference in what you do to get ready for a son to marry, as opposed to what you do to get ready for a daughter to marry. I have been sewing, and hot glueing and organizing for weeks and weeks for this blessed event.
It all turned out great!
Now that we have had our day with Em, I’ll share some of our preparations with you.
I have learned a lot about what works and what doesn’t in preparing. I’ll share some of the things I’ve learned. I will share pictures and fun ideas.
Watch for my next post!
It sure has been cold here in Utah!
I ran outside today barefoot and in my jammies to get this awesome picture of the longest icicle! I hope you all appreciate my effort. It has been growing for some time. My darlin and I heard a crash this afternoon and when we checked the icicle had fallen. I’m so glad I got the photo!!!
Stay warm!!!
I love the idea of a fresh start.
A new beginning.
The chance or opportunity to try again, to do better.
I am so thankful for the opportunity!
What will I do? How will I do better?
I’ll just keep moving,
or as Dori says, “Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming!”
I’ll look for ways to improve.
Right now I feel like I need to improve in so many ways. I won’t let myself get overwhelmed with all of the things that need to be improved.
I’ll start and keep going.
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“I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year, ‘Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.’ And he replied, ‘Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.’ So I went forth, and finding the Hand of God, trod gladly into the night. And He led me towards the hills and the breaking of day in the lone East.” -Minnie Louise Haskins
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God is always there to help us do better!
Have the best and most Happy New Year ever!
Back in September there was an amazing heavenly event!
It was all over the news. It was something not seen often and something that an effort should be made to see.
Photo credit: Larry Hanson
We watched and watched for the Blood moon to rise in the sky.
We could see a little bit of the moon, but there was a lot of cloud cover and it was almost bed time. I had a great idea! I told my darlin, “Let’s go to bed and set the alarm!” I was thinking, we’ll get some sleep and then we’ll have a better view of it a little later.
A few hours later the alarm went off. I got up all groggy, woke up my darlin, and made my way to the door. I went out on the porch and looked up. Wow! It was so big and bright! I called to my darlin to come quick!
As my eyes adjusted and I became a little more awake I realized I was looking at the street light! You read it right. I thought the street light was the Blood Moon!
I called to my darlin and said, “Never mind, the Blood Moon is gone, all we have is a really bright street light.”
We laughed and laughed!!!!
So thankful for:
Life*Love*Father In Heaven*Jesus My Savior
*Family*Home*Food*Clothes*Friends*Sunshine
*Snow*Mountains*Water*Warm*Work
*Turkeys*Cars*Fun Times*Hard TImes*Life*Love
Of course this is not a complete list.
Have a Happy Thanksgiving!!
This darling “Bonus Baby” is engaged!
I am so excited for them. They are a beautiful couple!
How do you celebrate?
How do you celebrate your birthday?
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My darlin said to me, “It’s your birthday Tuesday, what do you want to do?”
I answered, “What do I really want to do?”
He told me it really only matters what I want to do on my birthday.
I agreed!
“I want to clean the basement,” I announced.
He couldn’t believe it, “What?”
“We’ll do some work, take a load to the thrift store, then have dinner with family!”
Sounds like a perfect day to me.
We spend the first 5 hours of the day cleaning the basement. It hasn’t been organized since we moved into our new (old) home in March. When we moved, we downsized a bunch! We, as well as those helping us move just put items here and there. There was no rhyme or reason to the rooms. We had food storage with seasonal decor, sewing supplies, and cleaning supplies all in random places. It was very full, with just a pathway leading to the far corner of the room.
I don’t know how you feel about that kind of situation, but to me that is very overwhelming and frustrating. I learned from reading a book written by an organizer named Daryl Hoole, that you need a place for everything and to keep everything in it’s place, like put it right away once you use it. We didn’t even have a place for everything yet, how could we keep everything in it’s place? This drives me crazy, so to me this was a great way to spend my birthday, and then have the peace that comes from keeping it clean, and organized.
It went very well. We got a lot done. We took a load to the DI (thrift store) and met the family at the restaurant. It was so fun to see them.
We have a tradition in our family on birthdays. We go around the table and say something that we love about the person whose birthday it is. We usually go around a few times. I love it! It was the perfect finish on a wonderful day. I got to love on this sweet little grandbaby! My daughter-in-law Janet gave me the cutest thing from my grandbaby. She traced his cute tiny hands on paper, and cut it out, and attached a accordion piece of paper from one cut out hand to the other. On the one hand was written, “Happy Birthday” and on the other, “Grandma, I love you this much!” Oh my stars!!!! I love it!
It really was a great day!
Birthdays are fun when they’re spent doing what you want, with who you want to be with!
Alex and Amber
What a beautiful day! They are married and it was wonderful!
Love!
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