I am Thankful for....

My Family

Dollar Store + Walmart = Cheap Gift!

I LOVE to give gifts but it is starting to get expensive

and with a couple of weddings, bridal showers and
birthdays coming up wasn't sure what I was
going to do until today!

I went to the handy dandy Dollar Store with my
mom on Saturday and hit the jackpot!
I love movies and popcorn so
I am Super excited when I found these CUTE
Popcorn bowls for a $1. So, I bought 10 of them. I really wanted to
buy more but I stopped myself. I also grabbed some filler and the
shrink wrap with a bow.


Who knew I would love the
Dollar Store as much as I do...

anyone who knows
me well knows that has never been my
personality but it is now.
I LOVE IT!

I then couldn't decided between Walmart or Target
( I Heart Target, a LOT!)
so I started with Walmart
{since its first on my way home}
and hit the Jackpot AGAIN!
One of my ALL time FAVORITE movies
for $5 (YES...Five Dollars)
so I had to get it then hit the candy isle and then the popcorn isle.


Now that everything has been purchased and
put together I have spent a total of $12 bucks!
How AWESOME is that!
I love giving Pretty wrapped gifts
I hope every one enjoys as much as I enjoyed giving!

Happy Cheap Gift Giving!

Give Thanks!

Tis almost the season to be grateful, I decided to start a little early this year. Oh so much has happen this past year and every ounce of it I am grateful for. As I was reading one of my amazing sis-n-laws blog it made me think about everything. She was talking about mental pictures, and I loved it. What is a mental picture? To me it is something that only I saw and now cherish. We all may see the same thing but we all interpret it differently.

Just in the last month I have a handful of mental picture that make me grateful for so much.

First, Elder Gurr turning around with a great big smile before he went through security! That smile was priceless. I can’t wait to see it again, but that smile gave me several things to be grateful for…that my heavenly father Loves me, that the church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints is the true church, Missionaries who are spreading the gospel all over the world, that families can be together forever and that 2 years isn’t that long (we’ll be back at the airport waiting for that GREAT BIG SMILE, before we know it.)

Second, this adorable little boy who was visiting my ward on Sunday, he might be around 8 well he was visiting because it was the primary program and his cousin had a big part so the whole family came to watch, they were sitting a couple of rows in front of me and I couldn’t help but watch him. Then I was able to help out in my old sunbeam class and he was in primary and we was so eager to answer all the questions and to help whenever he could, we sang “Hello, Hello” to him and his sisters and he stood there with a smiled from ear to ear. That smiled touched my heart and I will forever be grateful to know that we are all Children of God and that he loves us.

Third, the moon tonight about 7:30 was beautiful. It was low, so it was huge with a bit of a yellow tint. It makes me grateful to know that there is a great big world out there that was created by a loving heavenly father. My dad has a favorite primary song that comes to mind whenever I am sitting in the forest or on the beach, watching the sun come up or go down, whenever I am looking out the window of my house because it’s too hot to go outside or looking out a tiny window of an airplane. The song is…

“My Heavenly Father Loves Me”

Whenever I hear the song of a bird
Or look at the blue, blue sky,
Whenever I feel the rain on my face
Or the wind as it rushes by,
Whenever I touch a velvet rose
Or walk by our lilac tree,
I’m glad that I live in this beautiful world
Heavenly Father created for me.

How perfect is that! There have been times that this song has brought tears to my eyes, (which really isn’t a surprise, considering I cry at everything) but it reminds me to be grateful for the small things.

So, here are three of this year’s mental pictures, they are dear to my heart and had some serious impact on me, as I ponder each day before I read my scriptures and say my prayers, the first two just keep coming back to me, was I suppose to learn something from that little down syndrome boys smile or from Elder Gurr’s eagerness to serve the Lord , I don’t know, but what I do know is that it has reminded me of how much my Father in Heaven loves me and that I am not alone even though it feels like it sometimes, I have an amazing family who I love and they love me, I am a daughter of God, the Savior atoned for my sins so that I can return to him someday! I have so much to be grateful for why wait until Thanksgiving to say it!

PS…thank you Brittney!

Operation Redecorate

I have a friend from that I met at BYU. Well, she has started a blog called

Keep Home Simple, she has such great ideas and

has inspired me to redo my room.

I’m not the kind of person who does cheap but I am now!

I am so proud of myself,

I went to a thrift store for the first time on my own.

Yuck! I have to say I loved it!

I found a chair for my desk for $8,

I painted it purple and recovered the

seat with burlap and the best part about it,

I did it all by myself!!!

For years I have thought that it is time

I move from cheap, no style bedroom

to a more grown-up sophisticated bedroom.

I am no longer in my twenties (Shhhhh…) so,

I needed to stop having a mismatch

of color, fabrics and furniture.

Since I have the Raddest dad ever,

I was able to get an even better

headboard then the first one I saw.

I am so EXCITED...I absolutely LOVE IT!

For christmas this year I recieved

bookcases that are Awesome!
My brother Blake and my dad made them.

They are Perfect and I love them.

My curtains are UNBELIEVABLE.

So, my sister found this amazingly cheap Idea

somewhere and I decided that
I would try it. Not only did they cost me 15 bucks,

They are Amazing.

I purchased a drop cloth at Home Depot 2 for 10.

I then washed it a couple of times with
bleach and downy so it was softer in texture and color.

Then painted 6 inch strips with white paint,

I had to buy it because

I didn’t have any but I bet if I had looked a

little harder at my parents house I would have fun some.

(just because you’re painting on a drop cloth doesn’t mean it won’t soak thru to the ground,

I had white strips in the garage. Thank goodness for brothers and power washers.)

My pillows I made, all of them but 4 the 3 purple ones

They were a fabulous find at Home Goods,

Ralph Lauren $20.00 on clearance and

the round ivory one came from Kohl’s a couple of years ago.

The floral ones were my inspiration for everything.

I knew I wanted to do Purple, so

after many fabric stores, Mesa Sales is the BOMB!

They have so much to choose from.

Then I wanted to use Burlap, because everyone is doing and

just for fun I added some animal print.

I think it looks pretty Great!

So, after years of being boring and mismatched I am finally an adult.

Who knew it would take til my 31^st Birthday!

But I really don’t care because I am so in love with my New Bedroom!

Its so pretty and makes me oh so happy!

I am so Lucky and Blessed to have a Dad and 3 brothers that are

So talented and can do anything with wood!