Giving Thanks

Hi my loves!

I hope ya'll had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

My Aunt and cousins were here from Texas for Thanksgiving this year. We had the most fun possible. We played games, ate, watched Christmas Vacation, ate, played more games. Fun was had by all. Tums were had by all. 

This is going to be pretty much a massive picture post and not much else. If you're not into that- I totally understand. Sign off now, we'll catch each other later.

If you're still here, you are either a. my mother b. another family member c. bored. If you are any of the above, I  love you. Thanks for sticking around.

Cooking together, one of my most favorite things about Thanksgiving. 











Chloe taking a pre-dinner nap. 

Some of were not on board with the picture taking

Stories about Great Grandma...where I get some of my spunk. 

Then there was napping. There are no pictures of this because I was asleep. But then when we all woke up, there was pie. Five of them to be precise. And Aunt Bev made an incredible cheesecake. Lord. I made myself sick.

Even Chloe had a treat.

 Day two: Shopping, hence no pictures. I was much too busy. We had dinner at Maggianos, it was fabulous.

Saturday we headed to Estes Park. Did more shopping, and eating.

They have the cutest candy store. The men spent a good amount of time in there. 

This is Jim. He works at the kitchen store in Estes. Every time I go in there I have to buy something. Because look at him. Adorable. 

Looking for a 'first Christamas' ornament!  Newlyweds are so sweet. Especially these ones!  

This is Chichi the chihuahua. I had to take a picture. I mean look at her. Her owner informed us that she is a therapy dog that goes to Children's Hospital. And her real name is crazy. Like I can't even repeat it because it was in Spanish and it was like seven names long. But man was she cute. And she knows it too. 

And of course we had to stop and pick up caramel apples from the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. So. Good. 

We took this before they left. Just couldn't let go. 

I honestly can not remember a better Thanksgiving. We had four days of fabulous and we were blessed to our bones. 

How did you spend your Thanksgiving? Please comment below, I would love to hear all about your traditions! 

Blessings, 

Dainele 

a stress free christmas

I love Christmas. I come from a long line of Christmas lovers. I believe it started with my Grandmother. She was married in December and had a "Christmas" wedding. She would always make Jesus a birthday cake and the grand-kids would gather around and sing Him "Happy Birthday". My mother starts listening to Christmas music in October and designs and decorates our church every year, always before Thanksgiving. She is so talented and I love to see all of her amazing ideas come together. They have definitely passed this love on to me, in fact, most of the women in my family are crazy about Christmas. We start pinning ideas in July, buy every Christmas magazine we can get our hands on and it progressively gets worse until we are neck deep in Christmas by October. 

I say all of this with affection, except for one thing, stress. I am usually a hot mess by December 26th. Saying that I will NEVER attempt to do that much for Christmas again. Until next year comes. Then the sick cycle starts all over again. I suffer, my husband suffers, my family suffers. Does this sound familiar to any one? Lord, I hope so. I would be so disappointed if I was the only one that brings this on myself. 

Continue to read here...

what do you study?

What do you study? 

It's a question I often get and a question I love to answer. I love to answer it for a few reasons, I LOVE Bible study. And I LOVE to read. And I LOVE to share what I learn with other people. I know, there is a whole lot a lovin' happening right now. I also know what it is like to wonder where to start. So, with out further ado, here is a short list of what I study and who I listen to. 

continue reading here....

when dreams turn into idols

This is a post that has been a long time coming. It's long, and it's personal. But I need to say it, so bear with me. 

 For the last two years, Josh and I have been trying to move to Texas. To understand the magnitude of this, you have to understand a little bit about me first. I was born and raised in Colorado. I have never lived anywhere else. My family is here, our friends are here, this is my home. I have never had a desire to move and have always said that God would have to specifically call me to another place for me to move away. Well, that happened. Two years ago I was standing in the church I grew up in, was married in and planned to stay in, when I saw Josh and I living in Amarillo. I am very visual and I believe God shows me things so that I pay attention. I was hoping it was just something I ate, so I made a little deal with God. I told Him the only way I would move, and the way I would know it was really Him, was if He changed my heart to the point that I had no desire to live here anymore. It took a week. I told Josh and we began praying about it. We decided that is where God called us to be and so the journey began. There is an amazing church in Amarillo that we stay very connected with when we visit and we consistently listen to their podcasts. This place became home to us. The company my husband works for is also in Amarillo and so he began trying to transfer. It proved to be harder than we would ever have thought. Every door shut. Every job he applied for was filled. In June of this year, he applied for the position that he currently has. He went through all of the interviews and did well. We prepared to move. I went through all of our stuff, put it in a garage sale. We were ready.

Continue reading here....

Hi everyone! Whew, it has been a while! I have been a busy girl, lots of projects getting done before football. J's first game is next Friday (yay!) and there are some things I really wanted to get done before the season gets started. I have cleaned our entire house top to bottom. We're talking blinds, baseboards, windows, carpet (still need to do that, yuck), cabinets. You know, the works. Organizing has taken place. It's a good thing. I re-did my grandmama's hutch, and I love it! If you are interested in chalk paint, I have the greatest recipe for you! (Post coming soon) No need to buy the expensive pre-made stuff.  

I made a fun gift for my best friend that lives in Branson. And I made a delicious pecan pie for some sweet people that just bought a beautiful house. In the middle of all of that we had the 3rd annual football potluck. I told you I was busy! I hope you have been well. Be looking for some posts on decorating for fall and football entertaining- two of my favorite things. 


Much love to you all!

Dainele