Generous Boss, Grateful Me

By Amy

I'm home again. And it feels good! I missed everyone so much. I did have alot of fun in Arizona. I go to help my boss with her guests there. She is so wonderful and always includes me in everything that they do. Check out the menu at one of the dinner parties I attended.

It's kind of hard to read but believe me, it was fancy food. REALLY good fancy food. It feels kind of weird because I am after all "the help." Not only does she include me in going out to dinner and any excursions she has planned, she also buys me stuff. Take a look......

See what I mean? So incredibly generous. I am so spoiled by her!! And that's not all! She treated me to a massage, manicure and pedicure at the Four Seasons Spa. Complete luxury!

can you guess what color I picked for my toes? (:

I love her. Not just for the things she does for me. But for the kind of person she is. I have learned so much from her. I have been with her for ten years. I'm hoping for ten more.

Beautiful Arizona

By Amy

I'm really a country girl at heart. I love the mid-west. I love the change of seasons. The freshness of spring, the heat of summer, the cool of fall and even the bite of winter. I love looking out my window and seeing cows in the field across the way. Of course there isn't a whole lot to do with no beach or mountains nearby. But that's ok. We don't have to deal with tourists or outrageous prices. My city is just big enough and just small enough for me. However, that doesn't mean that I don't appreciate other places. I really love to travel and feel that every state has it's own kind of beauty.

On Tuesday I arrived with my boss to Scottsdale, Arizona. The weather is perfect. Highs in the 70's and lows in the 50's. I've been working but have still got to enjoy the beauty here. I love the landscape that is so different from home. Take a look.

I have to admit after being here for a few days, it will be hard getting off the plane back home and feeling the sting of cold on my face. Did I really say above that I liked the "bite of winter"? I guess that's not exactly true. I like watching the snow fall and the windows frost up from the INSIDE. I like the fires we have and the hot chocolate I make my kids when they come in from being outside. But I guess you can't have one without the other. So the Midwest awaits. In the meantime, I'll enjoy wearing my flip flops here in Arizona.

M.I.A

By Amy

Hi All! Just wanted you to know that we will be missing in action for the next few days. I'm leaving to go out of town with my boss on Tuesday and Ange will be leaving for out of town shortly after. I'm sure we will have some great post and pics to share when we get back. Maybe if I get some down time I'll post while I'm away. In the meantime here are some pictures of our favorite little baby girl. What has she been up to? Well.......

She's eating solids....

She's sitting on her own......

She loves her momma......

She loves to "read"......

She loves her daddy.....

She's crawling.....

She's just being plain cute!!

Have a good week!!

Rainbow Photography Project

By Amy

I've been playing with my camera the last couple of days. Just taking random shots here and there. It's fun but my subjects lack rhyme and reason. Not that I need rhyme and reason. But I like to share my pictures with you. And taking 14 pictures of my diet coke can while playing with aperture settings isn't something that you all probably want posted here. So I was trying to think of something that would be half way interesting that I could take pictures of. There is always my kids. But if I get tired of seeing them I know you do. And sometimes they aren't very cooperative when I whip my camera out. I need something to shoot that comes in a variety of subjects but with a common theme. So I was thinking about all the beauty we have around us. What if I just focus on one color for one week. What if I took pictures of all the different varieties, shades, textures, of just one color. It's the best I could come up with. And I'm not going to assign myself a time period to get this done. These next few weeks are going to be crazy. I'm heading for out of town on Tuesday. I'll be working on it but I probably won't post my first color for another 2 weeks. So that's the plan. Happy color hunting to me!

*The M&M's at the top of the post are at my work. Talk about tempatation.
**And yes, I did eat the ones in my hand. Yum.

41 Pairs

by Ang




Sunday night I went to Amy's for dinner. They had a bunch of people over, including some of my brother-in-law's family. Amy's niece, T, was there too. She is adorable and so GIRLY and has this curly hair and is very huggable!



Sunday night she was rooting through the 'girl' toy bin that Amy keeps at her house. She dug out all of the shoes she could find and arranged them very neatly and by pair on the table and began to play.
The dolls had no clothes on, but T made sure they had on shoes. Priorities, right? The shoe obsession is starting already. It made me think about when I was that age....I had dolls, but didn't seem that in to shoes. And honestly, I never really thought of myself as a shoe person until I counted mine last night.

I have 41 pairs.

Is that obsessive? I'm sure there are lots of people that have more than me. But it seems like a lot. I DO wear almost all of them often. I'm going on a trip in a few days and I was talking to a certain fella about it and I told him I was going to try to only pack 5-6 pairs. I think he thought I was joking.

I hope T has a big closet, because it's only going to get worse!

Weekend and Family Pictures

By Amy

Another busy weekend has came and went. I spent most of the time cooking and getting the house company ready. All the while questioning why we invited people over on a Sunday night. Then Sunday night came and after everyone left I wondered why don't we do this more often. It was so fun. I didn't take any good pictures because I was to busy talking. Now it's Monday and my house is dirty again but at least we had leftovers for dinner!

The photographer who took our family pictures did a awesome job. She was so nice and just really easy to be around. We went to the Lake that we live by. She has a few up on her blog that you can check out for yourself. I'm trying to be a good girl and not pick myself apart. For the most part they are beautiful pictures and exactly how I see my family. I can't wait to see the whole gallery! Here is her blog address....http://melindarichardphotography.blogspot.com/

A Shout-Out To My Mom and Pops

By Amy

Hi Mom and Dad! I just wanted you to know how grateful I am that you have internet now! Now you can read our silly little blog whenever you want. Sometimes it's funny, happy, boring, thoughtful, sad or just plain weird. But whatever it is that day you read it, I know you will read every single word. And love it. I love you both!

What I Like About Living in a 104 Year Old Apartment

by Ang

The doorknobs:

The fireplace:

The radiators:

It's full of charm & quirkiness!

Wanting Less

By Amy

My new motto........

(pillow from Etsy.com)

At this time last year I was insane

By Amy


I like to check back on my pictures to see what I was doing around this time last year......... Ok I guess that's not being completely honest. Truthfully, it's my turn to blog and I'm to lazy to upload any new pictures so basically this is a excuse to dig around for pictures that are already on my computer. Onward! Last year at this time I was having a cowboy party for my then 7 year old and 14 of his closest friends! That's when the insane part comes in. I planned for weeks but it was worth it. My husband donated his time and skills and made us a tee-pee! (that's not how you spell tee-pee is it? That can't be right.)

And a cactus with cut-outs for a toss game.

Goodie bags above the clothes line.





A jail for all the outlaws.

A real saddle and real hay. And boy did that make a mess!

But worth it!

The table for eating and crafts.

Plenty of grub!

I didn't take alot of pictures after everyone arrived. I was sort of busy. Here's two.

I did managed to get a few of the whole crowd. What a bunch of mean lookin' cowboys!

Ok boys, go crazy on me!

The party was super fun, the boys had a blast and I vowed to never do it again. Well, maybe. For this guy. In 2015.