Pinstripes and Lullabies....

Sometimes I still can't believe that my little sister is a mom.  She's a mom.  The little girl who used to drink her bottle full of kool aid every Saturday morning with me when we were little.  The little sneak that used to spy on me and my boyfriend kissing in 8th grade.  Well, that little brat is an incredible mom. 

She is about to have her 2nd baby...another little boy!  I'm so excited and can't wait to become and auntie again!  Brady is going to be a big brother and I can't think of anything cuter than that.  It's so fun watching him grow up and learn so much from his mom and dad.  They are truly amazing parents and I can't wait until they are a family of 4! 

On Saturday, my mom and my sister, Bri, threw Ginger a sports themed baby shower!  The rules were to wear something representing your favorite sports team and all of the decorations and food were extra sporty!  We were worried for weeks and weeks that it wouldn't come together....and let me just say, were we ever wrong!  It came out great!  My mom made a homemade sports flag banner and Bri bought tons of sports helium balloons that filled the living room.  She also mixed in some "It's a Boy" balloons and the curly ribbon flowed down from the ceiling and made the party area extra festive!  I hung clothes lines and attached baby baseball socks, onesies and bibs from mini clothes pins.  I must admit...it was adorable! 

The food was genius!  We had a hot dog and nacho bar, just as if we were at the ball field.  And for a sweet treat...I made sports themed peanut butter chocolate and cherry chip cupcakes!   My mom put together party favors that came in a classic ball park popcorn bag.  Inside, our guests found peanuts, cracker jacks and red licorice! 

We kept it very simple and played a couple cute games.  After our "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" lyric challenge, Ginger opened all her beautiful gifts.  It was a great day, spent with such special people.  Here are some pictures of the party!



My mom's awesome flag banner!

The clothes line I made!

Here's another clothes line!

Party favors!

Chocolate Peanut Butter cupcakes and Cherry Chip cupcakes!

Cutie preggie!

I just loved her sports outfit!

Her husband and son came to see the decorations before the party!

Sweet gals!  Victoria, Sherry and Julia...

Some VIP guests!  Barb, Sonna and Sally!

Best dressed....baby Emma!!

Ginger and her best friend of 20 years...Robin! 

My favorite Sally's in the whole world!!

She got such wonderful gifts!!

Go Cubs!

All of our wonderful guests!!

 

Two of my favorite gals....Rachel and Peggy!

And...of course we couldn't let baby brother have all the gifts!  Brady got some, too!

So Silent and Peaceful

Happy 2013 everyone. 

I am not going to make any resolutions this year.  I am just going to hope and have faith that peace and harmony will find me.  I want everyday of 2013 to prove to me that calmness can exist in our souls and that everything does happen for a reason.   Of course I am going to strive to be more healthy, more organized and hopefully incorporate simplicity into my life.  After a couple years of chaos and darkness....I am wishing for a year of reflection and happiness. 

Winter is such a gorgeous season, especially when it snows.  Very rarely does it snow here in Arizona, so when it does...it's extra breathtaking.  Yesterday, when I woke up to get ready for work, I felt an extra chill in the air and David softly said..."It snowed." When I looked out the window, our backyard had a thin, glittery blanket of white!  The huge tree outside my window had piles of snow covering the branches and leaves and the brick walls that surround our yard were all lined with glistening snow!  As I drove to work, I felt like I was in another place.  The trees were all covered in snow and the houses looked like a winter scene from a Thomas Kinkade painting.  It was absolutely gorgeous.  Although it probably wasn't very safe...I tried snapping pictures with my phone as I drove to work.  Needless to say...the pictures came out pretty blurry and by my lunch hour...the Arizona sun had melted all the snow away. 

The peaceful feeling stayed with me throughout the day, even though the snow was gone and the workload at the office was as plentiful as any other day.  I didn't care...for some reason, the crisp, snowy weather just made me want to listen to soft, folksy music and dream about the future.  For some reason, every New Year's Day, I just get the feeling to drive out to the Arizona Folklore Preserve here in our town.  It's a cozy little venue that hosts folk singers and poets.   It's on the way to the mountains, tucked away off a windy, country road called Ramsey Canyon.  It so quaint and charming and stays pretty cold, so the snow was definitely present.  I made cupcakes for a New Years wedding there a few years ago and I remember falling in love with the gorgeous scenery and snowy surroundings.  I decided, yesterday as I was daydreaming of the magical white New Years Eve we were having, that I wanted to make the trip to the Folklore Preserve, a New Year's tradition.  And so I did.  David, his mom and I all drove out there this afternoon so that we could see the snowy mountains a little closer and admire and snap pictures of the enchanting preserve.  Being out there was an absolute breath of fresh air and here are some pictures that I took. 

This one's my favorite.  I'm no photographer, but it's so beuatiful!

I love the cute sign.

Pretty!

I loved the chunks of snow falling off the trees!

I love this one with the trail leading to the old cottage.  So cute!

This one captures the gorgeous mountains.

:)

Cute bridge covered in snow...

Goregeous!

Orange, snowy leaves...

It's not even over, but it will be soon....

 

There's always a bit of a let down and a glimpse of depression when Christmas is over.  The month of December is so much fun, building up to Christmas.  It's all the preparing and hustle and bustle that's the real excitement of the holidays and when Christmas mornging rolls around....it is gone in a flash.  Then you're left with wrapping paper to clean up, too much candy to eat and upcoming resolutions to make.  However....not in our family!  We still have one more "holiday" event to look forward to every year!  New Year's Eve at my sister's house!  Ginger, my sister and Kevin, my brother-in-law, host a very special, family New Years Eve dinner at their house every year.  We do a fun "white elephant" gift exchange and they prepare a huge "Thanksgiving like" feast!  We eat, play card games, charades and toast with sparkling cider at midnight!   It's so much fun and a great way to end the year.  So, at the moment when we know Christmas has, once again, come and gone....we get to immediately look forward to New Year's Eve at the Beaman's! 

I Am Proud To Know You.....

We all lost an incredible man just 11 days before Christmas.   He entered my life 11 years ago, and I haven't been the same since.  There's some people that just strike it lucky with wonderful in laws...and I am among those few.  My father in law, Bob, was not only an amazing father in law....but his presence in my life changed me forever. 

Other than my own father, never have I known such a good man.  Bob was passionate, talented, kind hearted, warm, loving and most of all....selfless.  He truly loved his family and I am lucky enough to count myself as part of his family.  His loyalty and commitment to everyone he loved made everyone around him feel calm, happy and at peace. 

Bob helped me through some awful, tough times in my life, when nobody else seemed to know what else to say.  He understood my pain and showed me that time heals and faith bring peace.  He helped me so much and provided comfort in a time when the world seemed impossible to face.  The good times and memories we shared will forever be in my heart and I will always treasure them.

Before Bob passed, I wrote him a letter....and though I won't disclose all of what the letter said...I want to share part of it with you all.  Every year, David and I bought Bob, the "You Might Be a Redneck" desk calendar.  It was a tradition...and he loved it.  That calendar continued to tickle him, year after year...and though he never wanted Christmas presents....I know he looked forward to that one every year.   In the letter I told him that he is who he is and nobody can alter or change him.  If he's a redneck, he's a redneck. :)  But, most of all, he was a loving, caring man that was so in love with David's mom, Sonna.  I've never seen a man so crazy about anyone before in my life.  (I told him I was kind of envious of their mushy, gushy relationship!) Haha...just kidding, but they were pretty darn cute. 

Just the core of who is was and will forever live on to be in our hearts, is enough to make all of us extra thankful that, not only do we have proof that such a wonderful kind of person can exist in this world, but that we were lucky enough to have him in our lives.  I'm so proud to call him my father in law...and so honored to be his daughter in law. 

Oh the Days Go By So Fast....

Oh how I wish I had more time to blog.  I really love it.  There's so much to write about and so much I want to share and remember.  Hopefully, now with the busy holidays coming to an end, I will have lots more time to blog, blog, blog! 

I have been spending some of my time on my other blog, Trapeze Paper Crafts.  It's been a lot of fun crafting and making videos for my crafty YouTube channel.  I made several homeade gifts for Christmas this year and I will be posting pictures on my other blog very soon. 

So, I am very happy to report that I am home in Arizona!  Don't get me wrong, San Francisco was a lovely, artistic city and I was very intrigued by it....but I am so glad to be home!  We made it on time for Thanksgiving and I feel like it's been go, go, go ever since!  I always "overdo" the holidays.  There just aren't enough hours in the day to buy gifts, make gifts, decorate, clean, wrap, cook, bake, run a cupcake business, work 40 hours a week at my real job, plus do the things I WANT to do like spend time with my family, play with my nephew, watch movies with my husband, read a book...and blog!  I say every year that I am going to keep it simple, so I can actually enjoy the holidays.  You know, put the tree up, but don't cover every corner of my house with plaid and peppermint.  Bake, but don't take 17 cupcake orders in a period of 1 week.  Buy and wrap gifts, but don't use a different wrapping paper for each gift, don't start the shopping on December 22nd and don't go overboard!  Maybe handmake something, but don't be so unorganized that it literally looks like a tornado hit your craft room. 
Keep it simple!

It was stressful all the way up to the end of Christmas Eve, but I have to say that Christmas Day was wonderful.  It's been a very different year.  A dear, dear, incredible man in our lives passed away  a couple weeks ago....my father-in-law, Bob.  He was like nobody I have every known before.  I will be writing a separate post about him soon.  He was so loved and will be dearly missed forever.  So, you see, with all that's gone on this year...I can really say that I'm glad this year is almost over!   I will be honest...I have struggled this year with things that were just thrown at me and to which I had no power over whatsover.  I am hoping that the new year will bring change and a fresh start.  The good things are a constant and those are the people in my life that make life worth living...so those can and will stay the same....but for everything else....change is necessary.  I will explain more about that in a separate blog post, too!

I'll leave you, for now, with this significant lyric...

"There's reason to believe, maybe this year will be better than the last..."

And it will be!

My Crafty Momma....

This weekend starts the beginning of CRAFT SEASON!  Our first craft fair is on Saturday, and it's definitely one of my favorites of the year!  I won't be home from San Francisco yet, so unfortunately, I will miss out... not to mention that Town and Country will miss out on Tootsie Tillie Cupcakes this year!  However, in the spirit of this first weekend of craft shows...I am bound and determined to go to one out here!  I have found this one and it's this weekend in Mill Valley, CA!  Mill Valley is such a charming and beautiful little town...and very artsy, so I am excited!  It's about a 10 minute drive from where we are and for a bonus, it's where my favorite crafting store is located just a little ways down the road!  It's so much fun to attend craft fairs to look and get ideas and inspiration.  The crafting store is hosting a free scrap day for paper crafters that day, so it looks like maybe it will be a very crafty Saturday for me! 

I am still very excited for my mom and sisters to do good in the craft fair back home.   They have been making some adorable things and my sweet mom has even sent me the most adorable fall tote/purse to cheer me up and give me a taste of our favorite time of year.  Here it is...isn't it ADORABLE??!!

 

 

I'm so in love with it and I'm gonna load this baby up as my purse and show it off at the craft fair this weekend. 

 

My mom will be selling some of these at her craft show this weekend along with a lot of other handmade items.  She's so talented and can make anything!  She always made us outfits when we were little and provided endless supplies of sheet pants during that craze.  If I ever need something hand painted, sewn or created....she always comes through with something even better than I imagined!  If I needed a shirt the next day for a pep rally in high school...she'd get out her air brush and create away!  Now that she has a grandson, she has really gotten good at baby blankets and with another grand baby on the way....I can't wait to see what she will make next!  I'm so glad that I have such a creative mom and that I can share this passion for crafting with her and my sisters.  How lucky are we to have the BEST MOM IN THE WORLD??  Very lucky..I must say. :)

Flying High Above the Sadness and the Fear....

There never seemed to be "an end in sight" as some are calling it...until today.  With what started last March seemed like a never ending journey that just got harder and harder as the days progressed.  There's the medical factor, which is what is on the surface and what has been the most exhausting element of this stressful period of our lives.  For the patient, I know it's the hardest.  It takes a toll on your body, your mind and your emotions.  It makes it difficult to fight through anything when all you are doing is jumping from one doctor's appointment to another and from one procedure to another and from one major surgery to another.  It takes a strong willed person to survive all of that and I don't know if I could ever do it. 

For me, it's the worrying in waiting rooms, waiting on lab and pathology results, care giving, driving places I would have never done alone before, making life altering decisions, getting no sleep and most of all...watching my husband go through it all.   

Today, we got some great news that hopefully marks the beginning of the end of this time in our lives.  It seems like we've been on the "waiting" end of so many pathology reports and this is the first one to give us fantastic news!  No malignancy is music to our ears!! 

With the medical part well on it's way to calming down, there's so much more that I hope to be looking back on one day.  When we are cleared to go home by the doctors, I will be so happy, but at the same time, scared.  The things I must face have been here all along, but I know now, it's getting closer to me facing them head on...like a train coming right at me.  So, while the illness we have had to deal with was awful and interrupted our lives immensely, it allowed me to take things day by day....and now I have to be ready to decide for my future. 

Never Gonna Forget....

We are swimming where the snakes are....at the bottom of the well.
So silent and peaceful in the darkness where we fell.
But we are not snakes and what's more, we never will be.
If we stay swimming here forever we will never be free.

I heard them ringing the bells in heaven and hell.
They've got a secret they're getting ready to tell.
It's falling from the sky.
It's calling from the grave.
Open your eyes boy, I think we are saved...
Open your eyes boy, I think we are saved.

Let's take a walk on the bridge.... right over this mess.
Don't need to tell me a thing baby, you've already confessed...
And I raised my voice to the air...
And we were blessed.
It's hard to give.
It's hard to get.
But everybody needs a little forgiveness.

We are calling for help tonight on a thin phone line.
As usual we're having ourselves one hell of a time.
But the planes keep flying right over our heads...
No matter how loud we shout.
Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey
And we keep waving and waving our arms in the air but we're all tired now.

I heard somebody say...today's the day.
A big ol' hurricane...she's blowing our way.
Knockin' over the buildings...
Killing all the lights...
Open your eyes boy, we made it through the night.

It's hard to give.
It's hard to get.
It's hard to give.
But still I think it's the best bet.
Hard to give....
Never gonna forget...
But everybody needs a little forgiveness.
Everybody needs a little forgiveness.

Time's Up

Search history, my boy, and see
What petty selfishness has done.
Find if you can one victory
That little minds have ever won.
There is no record there to read
Of men who fought for self alone,
No instance of a single deed
Splendor they may proudly own.

Through all life's story you will find
The miser—with his hoarded gold—
A hermit, dreary and unkind,
An outcast from the human fold.
Men hold him up to view with scorn,
A creature by his wealth enslaved,
A spirit craven and forlorn,
Doomed by the money he has saved.

No man was ever truly great
Who sought to serve himself alone,
Who put himself above the state,
Above the friends about him thrown.
No man was ever truly glad
Who risked his joy on hoarded pelf,
And gave of nothing that he had
Through fear of needing it himself.

For selfishness is wintry cold,
And bitter are its joys at last,
The very charms it tries to hold,
With woes are quickly overcast.
And only he shall gladly live,
And bravely die when God shall call,
Who gathers but that he may give,
And with his fellows shares his all.


-"Selfishness," a Poem By Edgar Albert Guest

No Apple Pie For Me...

For the past several years, the excitement and build up to a certain special, fall day in late September has always been well worth the anticipation.  All it really is, is a day in the country with my mom and sisters, apple picking at Apple Annies, a charming little apple orchard and pumpkin patch in Willcox, Arizona.  It's also known as, my happy place.  We always go on the first official weekend of fall, which is when they have their all you can eat, apple pancakes and sausage and their country craft fair.  The years we've gone have been some of the best days of my life.  You may think that it sounds silly, but spending that day with my mom and sisters make it pure bliss.

We arrive at the apple orchard just in time for the fresh pancake and sausage breakfast.  We find our parking space in the huge dirt lot and as we step out of the car, we are instantly hit with the smell of fresh kettle corn and apple cider donuts.  We see all the craft tents and huge barrels of granny smith apples only steps away.  As we make our way through the entrance, we start to smell the apple smoked sausage and cinnamon apple syrup.  We fill our faces with the delicious breakfast and head out for some apple picking. The orchard is beautiful.  It's granny smith season when we go, so the fields are filled with gorgeous trees of deep green, with hints of yellow and orange.  The apples are bright yellowish-green and the trail is lined with fallen red and green apples.  We take about a million pictures of every inch of the orchard every time!  Through the years, we've learned that we only need to pick a few and then purchase the rest back at the apple stand.  After we choose our apples, then it's time for the country bakery.  We usually come out of there with arms full of apple bread, apple butter, pumpkin fudge, honey sticks and lots more!  We have learned through the years, to be prepared, so we come with empty coolers with ice packs for the goods.  Next, we usually hit up the county craft fair.  It's so much fun to see all the artsy booths.  We are usually feeling pretty crafty about that time of year, so the excitement we have while studying all the new creations is beyond the greatest feeling.  After checking out the booths, we hit up the apple cider donut stand and the country gift shop.  The gift shop is filled with primitive decor and whimsical country items.  It's so much fun and really hard to resist buying something! 

After the apple orchard, we head about a mile down the road to the pumpkin patch.  This is where we buy fresh produce, including fresh corn!  I have been known to purchase their fried green tomato mix and lots and lots of fresh jalapenos.  We usually take pictures of the bright orange pumpkins laying in the huge patch and also get some shots of the golden corn fields.  It's so breathtaking.  I love it. 

It's also become a tradition, that on our way home,  we stop and have a late lunch at our favorite Mexican food restaurant in Benson called McGaley's.   They have the best chile rellenos I've ever had in my life.  It's just an amazing day, all around, filled with fun, fresh air, shopping and lots and lots of delicious food!

The next day, Sunday, we always have a full-on baking day at my mom's house.  We bake apple pies, apple struedle and apple cupcakes.  At the end of the day, every inch of my mom's kitchen is covered in flour, cinnamon and apple peels.  It's definitely worth it and I wouldn't trade it for anything. 

Sadly, I missed our annual trip this year.  I'm tied up in Northern California still and surely did not want to still be here come fall.  My mom and sister, Ginger, did still go, which I am happy about, but it's also a little bit sad that Bri and I weren't there, too.  This is definitely an off year and I hope that it only means that next year is all the more better.  The tradition will continue for years and years to come and I hope that it never fades away.  So, next year, I hope we will all find ourselves, once again, in my happy place.