Feeling Really Blessed

Happy Thursday everyone! It’s my Birthday today and I just have to share with you how absolutely blessed I feel! To the point of tears in my eyes. It is overwhelming!
I started off my day with my husband and kids wishing me Happy Birthday! The cheesecake is already in the refrigerator just waiting for tonight! Yum! My nephew and his wife have offered to watch the kids so that my husband and I can go out for supper! Thanks Tyson and Mikaela! :)
Aren’t they the cutest newlywed couple you have ever seen!?  :)

Today I am really taking a moment to reflect on my family and friends. Like I said it is overwhelming. I have the most incredible family anyone could ask for. We are all here for one another in good times and in the not so good times. To know that I have that support whenever I may need it is a great comfort. Thank you family.  I appreciate and love you all more and more everyday!

Friends….old and new. They are a blessing. I will start with old friends. My best friend from high school, we are still in touch often, we still laugh about the same things! We can still finish each other’s sentences and we keep all of those “inside jokes” in our back pockets for whenever either one of us needs some cheering up! I recently had my 20th high school reunion. Re-connecting with those friends was so fun! It was like we stepped back in time! Most of us have now found each other on Facebook and it’s been great seeing everyone’s children, where they live, what they are doing etc.



So if you can’t tell…I feel blessed. Did I mention that I feel blessed? Haha! But the emails, texts and cards keep coming. I am just overwhelmed and overjoyed today. And I can’t help it!
Oh by the way…. I am 39 today! :)
Thank you all for taking the time to stop by my blog and leave such sweet comments! I appreciate each and every one of you!
Have a wonderful day! Until next time. Take care. ~Sarah~

A Little Dose Of Summer

Happy Wednesday everyone! Hope you are all doing well! I thought that we could all use a little dose of Summer. Just in case some of us have those “Snowy, Winter Blues”.

We are still buried in snowdrifts so high that you have to creep out very carefully at the intersections. Can’t even see over some of them. And the snow piles in the parking lots are HUGE!

I hope you enjoy these warm, Summery images!

Here is our front porch in the Summer. Look at all the green and the fresh flowers. Ahhhhhh…….

 

 

Can’t wait until I can sit here with my cold ice tea!

Now we are going to take a little virtual trip to Hawaii. These are photos that my nephew and his wife took there! Can you say paradise~

And here is one of my favorite pictures that my nephew took right through the lens of his sunglasses! 

And what says Summer fun like playing in the sprinkler with your clothes on!

 

 

If it is cold where you are I hope these photos warmed you up a bit! If it is warm where you are…enjoy the warmth and get out into that beautiful weather!

Until next time. Take care. ~Sarah~

And The Winner Is………

Hello! Hope you are all having a wonderful Monday! We are finally back to school. There is SO much snow everywhere! When it all melts we are going to have a very wet mess.

It’s time to announce the winner of my Blogoversary Giveaway! I took all the entries and gave them each a number. Then I used a random number generator. The whole process worked really slick!

I want to thank you all for your kind comments and entries! And a nice warm welcome to my new followers as well!

And the winner is…….. Carla! Congratulations Carla! I will get your prim goodies mailed out to A.S.A.P.!

Again…A BIG THANK YOU to all of you for entering! Maybe when I reach 100 posts I will have another giveaway!

Here is what Carla won~

Until next time, take care. ~Sarah~

Happy Blogoversary To Me! It’s Giveaway Time!

How exciting is this!? A year ago today I started blogging! I can’t believe it! What a journey it has been!

When I started this blog I had no idea what to expect. I didn’t know what I was doing. But with the help of some sweet fellow blogging friends, all of their tips and advice helped me so much.

I am still learning and will  continue to learn. There is always something new out there. If any of you are thinking of starting a blog, to you I say. DO IT! It has been a wonderful experience for me!

The friends I have made through blogging I will cherish forever. So many talented, generous people that are more than willing to offer their help and encouragement and most importantly their friendship.

Now let’s get to the Giveaway shall we!?

To sign up for my Giveaway~

~ You must be one of my friendly followers

~ Please leave me just ONE comment on this post and you will be entered to win

~ Due to the weight of this package and shipping costs my Giveaway is only open to residents of the USA (does not include Alaska and Hawaii

~ And lastly, if you don’t have a blog make sure that you leave me an email address where you can be contacted if you win!

I will be announcing the winner  a week from tomorrow on January 11th!

Good luck to everyone!

Oh….you didn’t think I was going to leave without telling you what the prize was did you!?  : )

Here is what the winner will receive~

~ My Spoon Rack Makeover

~ Two of my small bowl makeovers. ***Neither of these are to be used for food. They are all for decoration only***

~ A bundle of Sweet Annie

~ And a bag of my wintery salt dough bowl fillers.

Here are a few close ups~

Here is what’s in the bag~

And here are the two small bowls~

Once again, Good luck to everyone!

And most of all…THANK YOU to all of my followers! I appreciate each and every one of you for taking the time to stop by. I love reading all of your sweet comments!

Here’s to another fun year of blogging!

Until next time. Take care. ~Sarah~

Happy New Year!~Sharing Some Festive Recipes!

It is just about time to say goodbye to 2009. I can’t believe it. Where did the year go? Blogging has given me many gifts. I have made so many new friends. Learned so many new things and most importantly had fun along the way!

Our New Years Eve plans are nearly the same every year. A night in with the family. Watching the ball drop in Time’s Square. All of us enjoying a toast with Sparkling Cider. And then usually sending the two little boys to bed after the ball drops! Hey…..They think it is midnight, so we play along!  :)

I thought I would share a few of our favorite festive recipes! Maybe you might want to try one or all of these yummy appetizers to ring in your New Year!

Sausage Stars~

Ingredients

• 1 lb cooked pork sausage (2 cups cooked)
• 1 1/2 cups sharp cheddar cheese, grated
• 1 1/2 cups Monterey jack cheese
• 1 cup hidden valley original ranch salad dressing
• 1 (2 1/4 ounce) can sliced black olives
• 1/2 cup chopped sweet red pepper
• 1 (60 count) package wonton wrappers
• vegetable oil

Heat oven to 350 degrees

Combine drained cooked sausage meat with the cheeses, salad dressing, olives and red pepper. Lightly oil muffin tins and press a wrap in each tin so there are 4 corners sticking out. Brush with oil bake 5 minutes until golden, remove wraps from pan, place on a baking sheet Fill wraps with the sausage, cheese mixture bake for 5 minutes or until the cheese is bubbly& brown.

We had Sausage Stars for Christmas Eve~

Close Up…Mmmmmm~

Sweet Chicken Bacon Wraps~

Courtesy of  Paula Deen

• 1 1/4 pounds boneless, skinless, chicken breasts (about 4 breasts)
• 1 (1-pound) package sliced bacon
• 2/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons chili powder

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Cut chicken breasts into 1-inch cubes. Cut each bacon slice into thirds. Wrap each chicken cube with bacon and secure with a wooden pick. Stir together brown sugar and chili powder. Dredge wrapped chicken in mixture. Coat a rack and broiler pan with nonstick cooking spray. Place chicken wrap on rack in broiler pan. Bake 350 for 30 to 35 minutes or until bacon is crisp.

Makes 12-15 appetizers.

Hot Spinach & Artichoke Dip~

Also courtesy of Paula Deen

• 1 (10-ounce) package frozen chopped spinach
• 2 (13 3/4-ounce) cans artichoke hearts
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 cup freshly grated Parmesan
• 1 cup grated pepper jack cheese

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a casserole dish with nonstick spray.

Heat the spinach in a microwave oven on high for 5 minutes and squeeze dry. Drain the artichoke hearts and coarsely chop in a food processor.

Combine all the ingredients except the jack cheese in a large bowl. Stir well. Scrape into the prepared casserole dish and sprinkle the jack cheese on top. Bake for 30 minutes. Transfer to a chafing dish and keep warm over a low flame. Serve with bagel chips.

Makes about 4 cups of dip.

You will notice two of my three recipes were from Ms. Paula Deen! If you want appetizers SHE has the BEST ones! These are all holiday staples in our house! I hope you enjoy them too!

Be watching ….my Blogoversary is in 5 days! I think a Giveaway is in order! So stay tuned!

I want to take this time to wish you all a VERY Happy New Year!! Whatever you do, where ever you are. Be safe, be happy, be healthy and be with the ones you love!

All the best to you in 2010!

Until next year. Take care. ~Sarah~

A Merry Christmas & Digging Out

Hello everyone! Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! We sure did! Christmas Eve the whole family helped make appetizers, we baked & decorated cookies. Our five kids drew names so they got to open their name draw gift. And of course, cookies and milk were set out for Santa. We didn’t forget the reindeer! Carrots for them too!

Here is the gift that our son Alex gave us. How sweet is this?! He was so excited for us to open it, and so proud when we did! He made it in Preschool. All I had to add was a tea light! Looks like stained glass! These are the gifts we love the most!

Our Christmas Day was wonderful as well. Up early to open stockings and gifts. Then a big meal and some games on the new Wii!

The whole time we were doing all  of these fun things it was snowing and blowing outside! We didn’t care. We had no where to be. So Let It Snow Let It Snow Let It Snow!

This is what we had to deal with when all the festivities were over~

Yikes!

Hey…Where did my sled go??

 

 

 

You will be happy to know that we are all dug out! It took over 3 hours, but we got the job done! And to top that off Mother Nature thought that we needed another inch the night we had  just snow blowed and shoveled!

I  found this quote and thought…oh how true!

“Snowflakes are one of nature's most fragile things,
but just look what they can do when they stick together”.

Until next time, take care. ~Sarah~

We Wish You A Merry Christmas

 

Happy holidays everyone! It is December 24th! The presents are wrapped, the stockings are ready to be filled. Our agenda tomorrow consists of making gingerbread houses & baking , frosting & decorating Christmas cutout cookies, just to name a few of our festive holiday plans!

One of my favorite things to do is to take a drive and look at all of the beautiful holiday lights. Of course having Christmas music playing and a Starbucks hot chocolate in hand is a must! I thought I would share some of my “light looking” photos with all of you.

I hope you don’t mind, I am taking a little “Memory Lane” time out. Christmas light looking is something that my best friend and I always did together back in high school. I know she reads my blog and I want her to know that I love her and miss her. Anne…these photos are for you.

I hope you all enjoy this little tour~

This is the gorgeous tree at our outdoor mall~

This is my husband’s hometown main street~

So from our house to yours….we wish you the most Merry Christmas! May we all count our blessings and may we all keep our loved ones in our hearts, those that are near and those that are far.

Thank you so much for stopping by my blog, your friendship and your comments mean so much to me.

Until next time, take care. ~Sarah~