friday's favorite

Fresh flowers are one of my absolute favorite things... but it's even a better favorite when I get to wake up to these beauties from my sweet husband. Oh, I just love him so much!

Aren't they pretty?! He's soooo good to me!

Even when I'm grouchy and mean, sick and whiny, he still treats me like a queen! He just wraps his arms around me (and maybe it's because he's trying to squish the grumpy bug outta me, I can't blame him for that... and I would say that most of the time it works!) and loves me no matter how tight my brows are furrowed.


When you have to stick something up on your fridge, why not do it with style?! That's why these cute magnets make it on my list of favorites.... and if you remember right, I'm having a giveaway to give you some of my favorite things. Some cute magnets like this will be yours if you enter and are the lucky winner!


Also, check out this great giveaway... how fun would it be to win some of those prizes?! I'm definitely keeping my fingers crossed!


(*Hey Jeffy, if I win this you can wrap it all up and give it to me for my birthday!)

Make a Difference

Life is scary.

so uncertain.

I read here about the sweet Nielson family who is fighting through a huge trial. I couldn't help but cry as I was reading some of the blog entries. I felt so awful, knowing that I've taken so many moments for granted, I don't want to live that way anymore.

Design Mom will be hosting an auction on Thursday (8.28.08) in an effort to raise money for the Nielson family. She will also include several links of other people hosting auctions. This is such a great way to help make a difference in this family's life.

I don't know the Nielson family, but I've read some posts from their blog, as well as several posts about them. They seem like incredible people, not to mention that they are a beautiful family. This is one of the posts I loved that Stephanie wrote... you can tell she truly loves life and her family. So beautiful.

I want to truly live each day to the fullest. To wake up and breathe in the fresh air. To hold tight to my Jeffy and tell him how much I love him. To play with my nieces and sweet nephew. To smile more, and laugh more. To serve and to love.

Life changes too fast.

Each day that I'm blessed to have a tomorrow, I will make the best of it.

Finally...

...A few pictures from the baby shower that I've told some of you about, thanks for being so patient! Unfortunately, I didn't get very many pictures, and the ones I was able to get, don't quite do it justice- it was a great night!

Here's the super cute invites my mom made. (sorry the picture quality isn't so great!)

The little star was hanging with mono filament, a cute touch!

The wording is blurry but it says,

"Twinkle, Twinkle little star What wonderful miracles babies are!

Baby Reef is on his way, let's honor his mom with a special day!"

We hung some cute clothes and baby items from a clothesline above the food table. It was cute and worked as some extra gifts for the mommy.

We served a light dinner which included:

-a savory chicken and veggie salad made by the wonderful Mariposa Mexican Grille (soon to be Mekenita Mexican Grille... that's a story for another day)

-delicious fresh fruit

-yummy wheat rolls

-hand dipped chocolate strawberries

-soft, tasty star shaped sugar cookies

{YUM, YUM!}

***EDITED: I forgot to mention we played a couple of games...One was super silly, but I liked it, and the guests seemed to have fun with it. Prior to the shower we had froze little plastic baby bears into ice-cubes. At the start of the shower we passed out water for each person, and then I went around and tossed in an ice cube. The first person's ice cube to melt shouted out "My water broke!" It was really funny! And the other one mostly to give the new mommy some essentials. We bought a bunch of baby stuff (onesies, burp rags, ointment, shampoo, lotion, pacifiers, thermometer....you get the point) and put it on a tray. We had the mom to be walk the tray around the room and told everyone to try to remember as much as they could. Then she left the room... we through in a little trick and the first part had them answer different questions about what the mom was wearing, or details about her. Whoever had the most correct answers won. Second, whoever could list the highest amount of items they remembered from the tray won a prize as well.

This was the table as you first walk in. The cute giraffe goes in baby Reef's room. For a favor we gave a star shaped cookie cuter and the little sign said "We thank our lucky stars for your love and friendship." (To go along with the little star saying on the invite and the yummy star sugar cookies)

I made a scrapbook for the baby, all ready to add pictures. As part of the book I did a couple of guest pages, where the party goers signed a message for baby Reef. We also had them write their name and address on an envelope, which we gave to Tiff with a pack of thank you cards- this saves her some time, now all she has to do is write the notes! (also, I'm sure you all do this already, but it's so good to have a person write a list as gifts are being opened. The name and a few details of each gift, to help the mommy with her thank you cards.)

Just a little closer look at my "Oh, Baby!" banner... I have to admit, I thought it was pretty darn cute.

All I did was find some coordinating papers, some patterned, some solids..... cute some triangles, come some circles and glued away. I attached each triangle onto some brown satin ribbon using some star brads and then stuck two small nails in the wall, one on each end, wrapped the ribbon around the nails and wah la! Easy as that!

Giveaway

I'm sorry to all of you who have "checked back" about the giveaway.... things have been a bit crazy around here. Babies, hurricanes, house hunting, family time, and all else that comes with the good things in life.

But, there is still a giveaway to be had! So, here's the rundown:

{How to enter}
Go here to check out the talents of my sweet husband.
Listen to the songs then come back and leave a comment on this post telling me what song you love most.
*For a second entry, post a link about this giveaway on your blog, then come back and post a comment with a link back to your blog entry.

{Rules}
-you don't have to have a blog to enter, just a valid email address
-anonymous comments will not be accepted unless a valid email address is included (otherwise, I have no way of contacting the lucky winner!)
-US residents only (sorry!)
-One entry per person

{Prize}
Because music is one of my favorite things, this giveaway will be some of my favorite things:
-for starters we have a set of 6 note cards made by yours truly
-some of my favorite scrapbook embellishments
-a CD with a few of my favorite tunes
-one of my favorite treats
-a favorite way to relax
and a few other wonderful favorites... it's a growing giveaway!

Winner will be chosen by a random drawing.
{You have until 12 am Sunday 8.31.08 to enter}

8.16.08

Reef Garrett Packer
7lbs. 6oz.
20.5 inches
8.16.08
6:13pm

Baby Reef,

I am so excited you are here and part of our family!!! I am so lucky to be your Auntie Amy and can't wait for all the memories we will share.

I am already so in love with your sweet face, your tiny toes and your little hands. You are so adorable and absolutely lovable!

You are growing so fast already! I love the way you look at me and those little smiles you make while you're asleep. (even if it is just gas bubbles.... the smiles are still so cute!) I can't wait to go on walks, catch frogs, play at the beach and take you on dates. I know the time will come oh so fast. So for now, I will continue to be enthralled with your sweetness and cuddle you in my arms as long as you'll stay.

{I love you, Reefy!}

seriously?!

I drove by a gas station today and had to take not only a double or triple take, but a quadruple take! $3.73 per gallon at one of the most expensive gas stations in the area, that's crazy! I was really excited about it... and then I laughed at myself and realized it's really bad when we think $3.73 for a gallon of gas is CHEAP! Well, at least it's a little less painful to fill up!

Check back soon for my first ever giveaway!!!

still....

still NO baby. waiting, not so patiently though.

still totally amazed with the Olympics and all the talent and strength of the athletes

still loving "Breaking Dawn"

still trying to get through my mound of laundry

still fighting this stupid cold

still going to post pictures from the baby shower

still looking for a new place to live (oh yeah, we have to move... great timing, right?!)

still happy to have mom in town

still in love with my sweet husband

friday's favorite

This week has been CRAZY! My mom came in Tuesday, instead of Wednesday because we thought baby Packer was coming early, but no, he's not here yet... we're still waiting! :)

My mom and I ran from here to there, back to there and over yonder like 50 times. But, after much running and chaos we had a successful baby shower for Tiff. There was a great turn out and everything went smoothly, other than a few little crazy moments in the set up. (pictures to come)

So, my favorites for this Friday are:

#1: Having my mom in town. It's always so much fun and it's so nice to have someone around to be crazy with and keep me busy.

We saw "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" on Wednesday and it was great. Yes, I do love those silly teen-chick flick movies. It was funny, sad, happy and all the in between. I loved that it was rated PG-13 because compared to other PG-13 movies out there it was really like G-PG. The language was clean. They eluded to some things, but didn't show much of it. They showed "consequences" of decisions. And just like the first movie, they portrayed great friendships and truly "finding yourself". And of course, I love the actresses.

I give it 4 1/2 stars.

#2: 8-8-08 and hoping my little nephew is born today, that'd be the coolest birthday ever. And if he came out at 8:08 pm weighting 8 pounds 8 ounces, that'd be crazy!

Keep your fingers crossed.

upgrade

After I dropped my "razr" in the toilet (I know... yuck.) I took over Jeff's old phone, and it worked great for me. (For those of you who don't know, Jeff works at Verizon as a supervisor so they provide him with a phone and all that jazz.) He has a "Voyager" and I'm always playing with his phone. So naturally, Jeff would always ask me if I wanted something different, and my answer was always the same, "No, it's ok. I'm fine with this phone. I don't do anything besides call and text."


And then one day, Jeff came home from work with a surprise:

Ta Da! My very own Voyager!


I really didn't think I needed anything else, and the truth is I didn't need anything else, but it sure is nice to have it. I love my new phone! I downloaded a couple of fun ring tones and a game (I'm a sudoku nerd, it's fun- you should try it!) and I really do love this phone!


So yes Jeffy, you were right. Having a cool phone is fun!

Other than phone upgrades, this week will consist of:
-reading the last 100 pages of "The Host" before my copy of "Breaking Dawn" arrives at my door step
-finishing touches for the baby shower
-mom comes to town
-and I'm guessing baby boy Packer will be here before the end of the week... YEA!

Dear Daddy,

Happy Birthday!

I am so lucky to be your daughter! You are amazing and I hope you have a fabulous day. I'm so grateful for our friendship, I know I can always count on you to be there for me, even when we're on opposite sides of the country. You've always known how to lift me up, strengthen me and help me see the good. You have always been one of my very best friends, and I'll always be your little girl.

I love you Daddy, happy birthday!