Well, toady I turn 36 years young...

Yep, it's my birthday today!!! Pretty normal day for the most part... dishes, laundry and housework.. but I refuse to get out of my PJ's until much later in the day!
We DO have dinner plans tonight at a great steak house here called Penical Peak, just Michael, Keegan and I. I am So looking forward to it. I LOVE a good steak! Keegan is looking forward to getting his tie cut off (yes! It's that kinda of a restaurant!), Oh and he wants to tell them it's my b-day so they'll ring the cowbell... UGH!
I was blessed with some awesome gifts so far. Also with some beautiful cards from some of my fellow stamping friends! I am so lucky to call these talented gals my friends! I am anxious to open the two gifts on the table form my hubby and Keegan! All I know so far is they came home in a big Michael's bag!!!!! Can't go wrong there! My mom got me a food processor that I have really been wanting... Michael just doesn't understand why I am SO excited over it, LOL! She also got me a daughter bracelet with crystal beads and pearls. SO pretty!
Well I am off... the birthday fairy just reminded me to switch over the laundry!
Have a blessed day!
Amy

It's been tooo long!

Okay so I fell off the Blog wagon after our visit to Yuma! We have been kind of busy since we got home I guess. Michael's interview was great, and he ended up with two other promising leads as well! It's all just a waiting game...

I have been super busy making announcements for my cousin's new baby, invites to my mom's party and my sister's shower. I am also working everything else for the parties. (I am going back to Yuma at the end of this month and I will be throwing both parties on the SAME day- crazy huh?!). I have come up with some really CUTE favors for my sister's shower and some "not the same old baby shower games" game ideas! I decided on a nacho bar for the luncheon part of the shower (not my idea, my cousin had one at her baby shower and it sounded fun)! My mom's party has a "DIVA - girl's night" theme. We are having it at A friend's house there and she has been wonderful about helping with everything. Another gal my mom works with is taking on the decorating. I guess she is the bomb at party decor. What a belssing to have so much help. Oh, oh, oh and the best part is that we are doing a chocolate lovers dessert potluck, YUM! We have some other fun things planned for a little later that night! It should be a blast!! Needless to say, I am really excited about both parties! I will post some pictures of everything after all is said and done!

Not much else for now.
I hope you are all still having very blessed days!
See you tomorrow!
Amy

Need a refreshment?

This really speaks to me today... God is so good! I hope you know Him too!

Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.
Lamentations 3:23 NLT

I starting thinking, "Imagine if we gave this same promise to everyone in our lives", WOW! what a difference we could make!

A pastor of a church we once belonged to explained the difference between Mercy and Grace like this; Mercy is when you don't get what you do deserve and Grace is when you do get what you don't deserve. Something to ponder huh? Needless to say, that explaination made a huge impact on me.

Hope this refreshed you too!
Have a blessed weekend!
Amy

Good News!

My sweet hubby has a job interview in Arizona tomorrow!!! It's with the
News Paper in Yuma as an Ad Designer. He is going to have to do the "I need
more money than that" dance, but I really feel good about this!
Everyone please say a prayer for us.
We will also be there to pick up Keegan.
He has had such a great time with Grandma...They are truly such kindred spirits!
Sure hope we can convince him to come home, LOL! It's been like Disneyland there!
And uncase you are wondering, he's still claiming that he's not missing us.... guess we'll see !

I guess I will be off the computer for a few days, but I will update you all
when we get back!

Have happy, happy days until then!
Amy

Soda-pop cake!

Ugh, it's so warm here today! ( I know it's nothing compared to the temps some of you are dealing with right now, bless your hearts!)

I have such a sweet tooth today, and I am especially hungry for my favorite

summer time cake, but I just so don't t want to heat up the oven to make it.

So, instead, I thought I'd give you the recipe!

Soda-pop

one cake yellow or white cake (prepared to the directions on the box and cooled)

one large box of your favorite flavor Jello

one can of soda in a flavor matching the Jello-chilled

(lemon-lime soda can be substituted)

one large box of vanilla pudding prepared to the directions on the box

one tub of cool whip

--------------------------------------------

Cool the cake and then use the handle of a wooden spoon to poke

rows of holes in the entire cake (spaced pretty close together)

Prepare the Jello using the amount of hot water called for,

but them substituting the soda for the cold water in the directions.

Slowly pour the Jello/ soda mixture evenly over the entire cake

and chill for three to four hours until it is set.

mix the cool whip with the prepared pudding and frost the cake with it.

Chill for a bit longer, and then enjoy!

This is such a yummy cake anytime of the year, but especially yummy

in the summer because it's so nice and cold!

Let me know how your turns out and what flavor you picked!

Hope you are deel feeing Blessed today!

Amy

New Attitude!

I am a people watcher. That said, I was in line at Wal-Mart the other day, and there was a lady in the line next to me maybe a person ahead or so. She was older, in a wheel chair and she really didn't look well. She had two younger kids with her, maybe 6 and 8 or so (maybe her great grandchildren), and from what I could gather, I think she was raising them. From the over all picture, I would guess money was tight for her, her life was hard and her health was bad... As I found myself standing there thinking, "wow! what a sad situation"...I heard the cashier ask her how she was, and do you know what her reply was?? "I am BLESSED! How are you?"

I was amazed by that answer. I actually wanted to say "What?" Then I realized at that moment that often times I tend to answer that same question with some sort of complaint... "Okay I guess, just tried", or "I'd be better if I didn't have to go home and put these groceries away!" or "Just running ragged today"... you know, something along those lines. But after hearing her simply reply "I am Blessed!" I realized that her response was the best I had ever heard. It was really a wake up call for me.

So I have a new attitude! I am going to put my focus on all of the positive thing in my life. I am going to spend every day looking for all of the blessings God gives me, not just the big ones, but the small ones that I often miss because I am focused on what's wrong with my day... and just so you know, I will be counting you as one of those blessings!

How am I today? "I am BLESSED!" I hope you feel the same way today!
Amy

Love you card

Copyright Stampin' Up! 1990-2007

Ever make something to give away and then love the final product so much that you almost couldn't give it away??? If you are a stamper, you probably really know what I mean. This card was one of those "somethings".
I belong to an AWESOME on line group of stampers called ~We Stamp!~ The ladies on this group are not only seriously talented, but they are the sweetest sincere group of women you'll ever come across! One of the things the group does each month is host a one on one friendship swap. Every month there is three project ideas, and, whoever wants to, signs up. Then everyone is paired up and for that month you send each other one each of the three projects. Basically you get three amazing hand stamped projects in the mail that are guaranteed to put a smile on your face and brighten even the worst day!
So any way, this is one of the projects I made for the June swap. It had to be a masculine card. So I pulled out one of my old favorite Stampin' Up! stamp sets (All about U), tried hard to pick a "manly" color scheme and decided to finally use some of my new designer paper for Stampin' Up! (I tend to be more of a collector of patterned paper than a user... it's a sickness!LOL!) Anyway, here is the end result, and I really loved it!
...just in case you are wondering, my stamping friend DID indeed get it in the mail. Although, I do think I will eventually make a couple more!
Thanks for letting me share!
have a happy, blessed day!
Amy

My sweet boy!

My sweet little guy, Keegan... He is a sweet, smart, imaginative, ornery, energetic, loving little guy. And most of all he is really a funny, funny little guy! My whole family quotes what we call "Keegan-isms" fairly often, because he just has a way of summing it all up!! (I am sure I will be sharing a bunch of "Keegan-isms" with you over time!) He cracks us up daily. He really has a funny take on things! I love the way his mind works!
One of my favorite things about him is that he has such a heart for Jesus! I love looking at God through his eyes! He talks to God like He is a best friend, relies on God with unwavering faith, seems sincerely grateful for the sacrifice that Jesus made for us. Keegan really puts his whole heart into living for God. Truly, his absolute faith inspires me.

So he is 5 1/2 and starting Kindergarten really soon. Boy where does the time go? my best advice to a new parent? "Whatever you do, don't blink... the ties flies by too fast!"

This week he is in Arizona with his Grandma (my mom) visiting for a week. This is my first time away from him- pretty much ever- at least over night, so I am having major with drawls. It's just so quiet around here, toooo quiet. I have called a total of 7 times since we dropped him off yesterday... yes, I know, enough already! Tonight he tells me "Mama, I am having so much fun, I not missing you or nothing!" Ugh, what's a mom to do with a comment like that? I am so happy he's having fun, but hey! I wouldn't mind just a little missing on his part!! maybe if I stop calling so much, he'll have time to miss me! LOL!!! I'll work on that...

The up side to this is my hubby and I are getting some much needed "us" time. He's been gone so much over the last few years, it's nice to get to know him again. And we can do some serious talking about his upcoming retirement for the Navy, our future in the civilian world and our up coming move. I have really enjoyed just hanging out the two of us! Oh and we BOTH got to sleep in this morning, so nice!!!
I guess the other side of this is I am getting some much needed "me" time as well. I have been working on baby announcements for my cousin and his wife. They just had their first baby a few weeks ago. (Ian William Stark. Such a beautiful baby!) I am amazed how much more I am getting done in one setting. I guess I don't realize how often I usually start and stop what I am doing! WOW!
So I off now to make a hot cup of tea and watch The Closer. Thanks for stopping by and and for letting this proud mama ramble a bit about her sweet boy!
Blessings,
Amy

Take Two!

Okay... I tried this blog thing once before in May, but I never made it past the first post. I was trying to make it all about my love of stamping & only about my love of stamping and for some reason that was just to much pressure for me.
SO, instead, this time it's going to be about a little bit of this and a little bit of that. A little about my family, a little about my faith, maybe a recipe once a week, maybe a cleaning or organizing tip that I find useful, maybe a devotional or verse that inspires me, maybe a little venting and/or drama (just to keep it interesting!) and of course I will have a little tid bit now and then about what ever I am stamping or scrapbooking or just generally creating.
I am really excited about THIS type of format, so I suspect that I'll keep this one current. So grab a hot cup of tea (or whatever beverage makes you smile) and come hang out with me whenever you have some spare time... see you then!
God Bless!
Amy