A L M O S T all girls

recently i had the girls photographed brie and jas in the summer  and just last month,  the three E's it had been a mere 8 years  since the last photo shoot here are just a few shots of the kids maybe i am biased  but i kind of think they turned out quite lovely         this probably won't happen again  f or another 8 years!  

Today we finished decorating... (well...sort of) But enough so that Christmas can now show up on the 25th

friday i spent the day up in logan with brianne for her birthday.  jasmine was there and we only had a few hours together.  brianne wanted to eat at le nonne which ended up being pretty good for a little house turned restaurant.  then we went to 'the mall' and she picked out a blackberry for her new cell phone.  it was a nice day and on the way home, i realized (again) how beautiful life is and how grateful i am for where we live, my family and my friends.  i am one very blessed woman...

this beautiful snow ... created happiness for me and  my family this weekend malcolm and i watched our children play in it (even the 18 year old college student) we snuggled together we had root beer floats during the storm we watched movies  and wondered if the power would go out we marveled as it came out of the sky it never seemed to stop this same snow fall  changed someone's life this weekend i met this man once my husband's boss his high school kids were out together brother and sister they had a car accident he lost his son how sad i am for his loss  how grateful i am for my children how confused i am... that while i have joy, others have sorrow “Thou shalt live together in love, insomuch that thou shalt weep for the loss of them that die.” ( D&C; 42:45. ) Moreover, we can’t fully appreciate joyful reunions later without tearful separations now. The only way to take sorr...

Actually, we have TWO trees up and still have two more planned.  The first tree is in our basement...my mom wanted a black tree this year and who can begrudge a woman the color tree she desires when she lost her husband and gave up her home of 46 years the previous year?  Not me! We went shopping while Carol and Kaylee were visiting and picked out the black, pre-lit tree as well as red and silver bulbs to decorate with.  Her's was the first to go up. Upstairs in our formal room, we used a 10  year old tree, strung with the  20 year old strand of lights that  hesitated to turn on but garnished  with new blue, white and silver  bulbs to bring it to life! The plan is to put another fake-o tree in the loft for the kids as well as cut down a 12 ft tree this year for our family room.  We are waiting until after the many early December birthdays to buy our noble fir (or whatever we decide on) and make a grand day of holiday decorat...

so i have this FRIEND AT WORK who is pretty darn amazing with the background thing for blogger. she's been creating backgrounds for a while i guess and recently she was kind enough to help me with mine. i wanted something that says 'joanie' or something that is personal to me and our family in some way. i asked her if i took a photo of our newly purchased love seat and chairs, which i love and adore, could she turn that into a background or incorporate it in some way? the answer was yes and i absolutely LOVE how this turned out.  the red striped header/banner is the fabric of our love seat and the blue floral background is from the two chairs that are placed under our window.  all three pieces are in our formal living room.  thank you chelsea .