Birthday Gift

Okay so I thought that I was blessed to get the mothers day gift that I did and then I got this birthday present

 Inside was this satchel that smells wonderful and had my baby girls favorite flowers

 And next was this gift... It was wrapped in fabric that has elephants and butterfly's on it. 

It's ELEPHANTS and BUTTERLY"S I was so happy when I saw this, at first I said excitedly "It has butterfly's and elephants on it" to my husband and his reply was "Yes! did you expect any different" lol. He is right... We have a really super neighbor and friend living next door and she is so nice and these are what she makes...  she is so talented. 

I have a blog dedicated to my baby girl and the blog address is here the address is elephants and purple butterflys lol although the blog says sugar and spice in the title and she knew this.

 After opening the fabric I found a candle very similar to this one that she gave me in June of last year

Oh so beautiful... I love these candles that I have been so blessed to receive 

A great big thank you to my dear friend and my sweet husband

Mandy's Elephants

While on vacation last week I was moving our things up the mountain to Reno, I stopped by my sister and brother in law's house and this is what they gave me.

My brother in law made this I love it. He collects rocks and polishes them and makes things with them.

He found a large rock and sliced it in to slices and then polished it and that is what the elephants are standing on. 

The elephants were my baby girl's favorite animal and she collected them. 

So in honor of her he made this for me and I LOVE it very much! Thank you Al, I think the rock is beautiful and it is very nice

Mother's Day

 

Today I came home from an outing with my dear husband and found this sitting on my table

Inside I found this candle from my sweet neighbor she makes them. 

The picture is me and my sweet daughter she was 16 months old and we had gone for a visit to the local pond where it was covered with migrating birds. 

We are sitting in front of my 1972 pinto which later became my husbands race car. In this picture I am pregnant with our second child, My baby boy!

On the back side is this picture of Mandy and me from when we went to the old mining town of Virginia City for a fun outing. 

I took this picture just as we had entered a tunnel, it was pitch black inside and I leaned over to Mandy and said "Smile" and this is the picture that came out. I cherish this picture it is one of those that you take without any effort and it works out well

Such a lovely gift! From a very kind soul! Thank you Vicki your the best!

A little rest

With all the searching, packing, moving and cleaning I am exhausted and looking forward to going back to work after my vacation for some rest.

but as soon as I am back to work I know I will want to get home and start packing... It's a viscous cycle I know lol 

It is early in the day and I am sitting here thinking "I need to get up and start packing" but I find myself just wanting to sit here a moment longer and rest 

enjoying the silence...

. . . . . . . . . . . . 

Okay moments up back to the grind

We got the key today!

How about a tour of our new home! I am so excited even if it will be a month before I can move in but my husband and son and our three dogs will go now and then when my job transfers then I will follow!

The front room 

 Kitchen 

 other side of the kitchen

Dinning room 

 Bedroom  #1

 Bedroom #2

 Bedroom #3 (this might be a sewing room)

Bedroom #4

 Master bath, although you can not see it there is another sink in the corner on the right

Hall bath

 This is really the best part of the house for me!!! The thing that I am so excited about. I have ALWAYS wanted a walk in pantry! I am so excited about using Pinterest ideas for this place

Laundry room

OH I am so excited!!!!! I will post more pictures later 

Butterfly Origami

My First Origami Butterfly 

New House

Well here it is...

our new home!

It's a bit run down from not being occupied for some time but we will have it ship shape soon enough

The house is on a half acre of land with trees shrubs and bushes all around

I am happy that it is on a drip line so that I will not have to water a half acre of plants

The back yard has a nice place for planting a garden so I am really ready to start planting

BUT!......

Now comes the really physical part...

MOVING

Here we go.. wish us luck

I will post more pictures later of a features that I am really excited about

Moving...

A really dear friend of mine is moving and she made this for me as a parting gift along with a jar of preserves and a sweet note. 

These are so pretty! I love bracelets and have since I was a child playing with my mothers bracelets pretending that we were grown lady's out for a day of shopping

I had just found out this week that she is moving and I was a little surprised and sad... I would miss her very much but then I remembered that this week we have put our house on the market and are moving ourselves 

We are up rooting and re transplanting in a whole new state three hours away from where we live now

It has been a hard decision to make but it needs to be done for the benefit of both of our families my husbands and mine as our parents are ageing

Although the prospect of moving to a new place for a new life and friends is exciting... I find myself saddened that I will be leaving the place that we lived with my sweet daughter and that is quite difficult 

I am conflicted!

But I will be looking forwards to new friends, being closer to family, enjoying a totally new climate (with snow) and a opportunity to start a new journey with my sweet husband whom I love with all my heart

So...

I will be furiously packing for the next two months preparing to say good bye to one journey and saying hello to our next and hoping that this one will be just as filled with love from friends, family and life! 

Green Smoothies

 OH! ! ! I went to this great seminar with Robyn Openshaw for making green smoothies and it was great

 I learned a bunch of new information and already new some but the best bit I am taking from the seminar is

To get enough nutrition in my life today I need to eat more veggies and fruits! I love them all and this way I get everything that I need in one cup. Also I found out that when drinking a green smoothie a day... I do not crave crappy food anymore and I am not as snacky as I once was... All really great things for me!

San Francisco Zoo

Today my son and daughter in law went to the San Francisco Zoo for a visit and it looks like they had fun...
Here are some of the pictures they sent me...

This was dinner on the roof... that's romantic 

I love this picture... Can you see the Giraffe in the back ground

Feeding the goats... I love the swans in the back ground

Here is a hippopotamus

Prairie Dogs

The Zoo has small statues all over the zoo like this one

Elephant baby aw... My daughter love the elephants 

My son is sooo FUN! I love his sense of humor 

It was raining... My daughter in law is so sweet! I love her

Gluten Free Cookies

These cookies are really yummy to me, but I am use to healthy treats. The sugar content is low and they crumble but for me they are a really great treat.

Even my Sweet husband liked them and he is my worse critic when it comes to healthy treats. He is all for the opposite of healthy eating lol just kidding.

I made a batch of these today and gave one to our neighbor and she liked it to so I consider this a hit.

Here is the recipe...
1 pound of your favorite trail mix (I think all trail mix should have chocolate but that's my opinion)
1 cup lightly packed brown sugar
2 egg whites
2 cups creamy peanut butter

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and cover a cookie sheet with baking parchment or a silpat

In a large bowl mix egg whites and sugar together then add peanut butter and mix well. Next add trail mix and mix until blended about two minutes. I put mine in my kitchen aid and mixed it all up. 

For the next step you could use a ice cream scoop but I just used my hands and made a cookie ball about the size of a ice cream scoop. Next you have to smash it into your cookie shape as it will not spread like a cookie with butter in it does. 

Now bake them for ten to twelve minutes. When they come out they will still look undone. Let them sit for about eight minutes then you can eat them up! 

Wee Bear Village

 Cleaning my garage the other day I came across these

 They had belonged to my sweet baby girl

 She loved the way each bear was dressed up in a costume 

 And each one could be removed

 They really are so cute

 This one has wings...

 The whole group will be going to her auntie in Colorado

I know that would make my baby girl happy that her auntie has them